Added: 5 years ago
From: JohnAdrenochrome
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  • Please check out our video Hall for more of the same.

  • love this performance. even Robin's flat G string can't take away from it.

  • Such a great band.

  • The things Elizabeth Fraser does with her voice are well under-rated.

  • @PlasticR0b0t the vibration in her vocal chords couldn't possibly come from a human being...only Elizabeth Fraser.

  • powerful!!!!

  • both about 20/21 years old here. unreal.

  • Guthrie has the R. Smith look before him.

  • @STIGMAMUSIC It's true and Liz is showing some homage to Siouxsie.

  • we need to all work together to mend the bond between Liz and Robin. they just make good music. period. there doesn't need to be anything else going on. maybe they're ready for it. eventually, they will have to be. just hope it's not too late for us Earthlings...imagine how good they can be when all the stupid stuff is gone....singing and playing their real Hearts to eachother...

  • @SanFranciscoJames I hate to say it, but it's best that they remain apart.

  • @PlasticR0b0t hey Robot! eventually all things have to come back together. might as well be sooner than later. this is just my guess, but i'm guessing that the problem is about jealousy and lack of communication. nothing unusual, but when you have two so highly talented and sensitive people, it turns into Thermonuclemotional War....the ridiculous result of the 'Christian' dogma of Monogomy, which is totally unnatural..but i'm guessing that Robin is being the bigger..... Asshole.....

  • @SanFranciscoJames i mean, ........insensitive......

  • hey Robot! eventually all things have to come back together. might as well be sooner than later. this is just my guess, but i'm guessing that the problem is about jealousy and lack of communication. nothing unusual, but when you have two so highly talented and sensitive people, it turns into Thermonuclemotional War....the ridiculous result of the 'Christian' dogma of Monogomy, which is totally unnatural..but i'm guessing that Robin is being the bigger.. Asshole. INSENSITIVE

  • how does she sing like that, my god, I love this

  • Que dire, trente ans plus tard et cels est toujours aussi puissant et fort en emotion.mari el bicho

  • 6/8 my favourite meter......I loved the Cocteaus since the moment my ears first heard them back in 82 i think.. Ivo was friendly with Nick Ralph who ran Midnight Music - the label we were on - and was 'competing' with 4AD at the time.....memories

  • This one's for John peel.

  • still 28 years later ..chills everytime!! it is such a beautiful mistery...this music <3 <3 <3... light&love

  • Scotland and Britain blow my mind, Such world shattering innovation in such a small place

  • i see 8 fools disliking this masterpiece. people, i wish we could have at least a couple of great bands like this right now.

  • @mercy3d it would make me believe in music again.

    if any band would..lol. 8 people who never saw magic on a summers eve.

  • frighteningly good band,

  • Magnificent!!!

    One of my favorite Cocteau tunes!

    What a time, what a venue!!!

  • Fuck!...I think this version is even better than the recorded one.

  • Guthrie gives us a glimpse of Robert Smith would turn into 20 years later

  • esta canción me hace mierda, pero igual la amo y la escucho siempre :-)

  • Does anyone know, which guitar is he playing?

  • @GreenGrayRain no but he used an array of effects pedals filtered through each other. In fact this band is ethereal, other worldly and pure Alice Through Looking Glass Victoriana for sure but it's sounds is spawned totally from the techno engineers and electronic innovators who transformed the music industry in the 80s with their wonderful new technologies including drum machines. In short ; No geek technology No Cocteaus. Cocteaus unplugged? I doubt that would've happened

  • @emile235 I did not get the " Alice Through Looking Glass Victoriana"

  • One of the few songs that, almost by accident, had me in floods of tears when I first (and second and third) heard it. A sheer emotional gem from the place that needs no language.

  • @midnighterrant Well said my friend, I totally agree.......!!!! :))

  • So rare it was back then to see the Cocteau's on the box. Remember well standing beside the tv with and old 70's style tape recorder, fingers pressed on pause and record, ready to go, trying desperately hard not to move an inch throughout the performance of "Musette...." and praying that no one rang the door bell!!! Even though the Cocteau's recorded many many beautiful and brilliant pieces of music in the following years, it is THIS when they were truly unique, creating a wonderful sound.

  • mmmm...dug this as a teen in the early 80s...all the lovely new wave/pre-goth girls liked them...one reason why i listened!

  • It was bands like The Cocteau Twins that made The Eighties bearable musically..all that Boy George, Whammy rubbish

  • God. This is just wonderful.

  • Amazing, and only two..

    sounding like far more

  • 2:22 it builds up, 2:30 gets even cooler, & by 2:50 the singer becomes dancer! but no match for "bellydancing laverne", which in my opinion is less pretensious, but that's just because i love laverne so much! it's easy to rag on people that are involved in enjoying music...get into it yourselves, people, when you feel that Urge To Critique! lol!

  • this lady sang the "lament for gandalf" in LOTR:FOTR (:D

  • surely this is as good as it gets

  • Elegance... pure ELEGANCE.

  • even here, where elizabeth and robin had yet to refine the 'magic' that was their sound the are amazing - unique . . . .

  • 2:50 makes me :D

  • @ lazord 1981 - the guitar is a 'Gordon Smith'

  • @kozluk THANK YOU!

  • Does anybody remember the finger pulling during live gigs?

  • @iersdutch I do. What the fuck do the likes of Lady GaGa have on this? (nothing)

  •  Elegance...

  • it's just unbelievably beautiful music...

  • Please, can someone tell me what kind of guitar is robin using? and how he make this ethereal sounds? Cause I'm thinking to buy one and learn how to play it.

  • WTF ! This is amazing !! PLEASE COME BACK !!  We need you...

  • Robin's guitar is made in heaven

  • @lazord1991 who else makes a guitar sound that way ;) only Robin!

  • @synch08 I know! :( LOL, but let's try it.. why not?

  • Guthrie is (more accurately was) a major influence on musicians from all areas of music. Yep! Frazer not on her best form, but I can forgive her that because, when at her best she was utterly inspiring.

    The guitar solo here is a shortened version, but is musically important. I am now an artist and writer, but peviously I was a musician and after exploring jazz, experlmental and contemporary classical music, I have never heard anything quite like Guthrie's guitar solo in this song.

  • @crescentsi I couldn't agree with you more! I am 26 and got into this band a few years back after they were done recording as a band. I remember the day I came across this clip and first learned of Robin. I have never heard guitarwork quite like that in a song. Musette and Drums is one of the first tracks I heard by the Twins and remains one I am most drawn towards. Always great to meet another Twins fan...

  • John - goes without saying, thanks for putting this up, remember watching it live back in the day and it was just SUPERB to see the Cocteau's on what we call(ed) mainstream television. Had this song played earlier tonight on Irish radio and it sounded as great tonight as it did back then. Without trying to sound all controversial, the Cocteau's better moments were pre-heading across the pond. By the proverbial mile!

  • makes my skin tingle every time i hear this version,,thanks for posting and the twins for keeping me alive,,,,,,

  • love this era where it was just the two of them and the reel-to-reel tape machine.

  • Love them so much. Miss them

  • this is unbelievable! Just brilliant!

  • They were just a dynamite band with a powerful feel to them. I'll always miss them.

  • Incredible performance!

  • This is an awesome 'version' of their song, principally because the sweeping arpeggios on the guitar for the chorus is much, much better and clearer here, whereas on the record it is overladen with production and simultaneous guitars which make one lose the clarity and crispness eveident here, live

  • Thumbs up. Anyone who makes reference to Guthrie's genius sweeping arpeggio guitar line in this song has my respect.

    I absolutely love how the arpeggio line hits you like a brick when it comes back in after the breakdown at 2:50. Definitely, one of the highest emotional points for me in any song ever made.

  • @sonuvabix

    Know what you mean...from when I first bought Head over Heels that moment when the guitar cuts in again sends shivers down my spine...that outro is what Gothic is all about...and the solo is incredible, quite unique and awesome in the true sense of the word....

  • @sonuvabix TOTALLY AGREE. . EVERY TIME IT GETS THAT PART THE SPIDERS RUN DOWN MY SPINE. . . . EVERY TIME. . .FOR THE LAST 25 YEARS

  • I had this recorded on VCR once.....amny..many years back....I love the song....the melody is so, so melancholic...the chord changes in the song are so awe inspiring....its like...like the leaves on the trees still dripping after autumnal/winter rain...it reminds of England!!! Classic song

  • I love Liz soo much, her voice is like a piece of crystal, and she's really beautiful

  • Breathtaking....

  • This is a really good performance. I don't even care that that the lyrics are, as usual, mostly indecipherable because Liz's voice is amazing, as always.

  • Please forgive me, I was voting a thumb up but I missed! sorry, I agree with you!

  • She's absolutely lovely, there !

  • Liz, our Lady of the Cold Wave. God bless you !

  • I just love her voice, you know?

  • Amazing voice and a classic song

  • This has to be one my favourite, if not MY favourite CT songs.

  • great song, fabulous ound - but I always thought they could do something different in the way of stage set up - they weren't a standard band so why be standard on stage?

  • What like?!

  • @harrykillingworth104 - something other than standing still on the stage (as they did when I saw them) - why not place themselves at different points in the room/venue and use clever lighting to pick them out - so that you are surrounded by them as well as their music (academic now, I guess)

  • blimey i remember this like yesterday.loved this performance.i was heavily into numan and kraftwerk but fell in love with the sound of the twins.thanks so much for posting.

  • I wish I had their lyrics.

    Elizabeths voice is just unique....

  • esto es un remolino que me hunde en el cosmos de mi soledad

  • mi adolescencia vivio con cocteau twins, ensueños, noches largas, punk...

  • cocteau twins , lo mejor , elevada y muy lejos , aun nada sale igual que ellos.  the best music ¡¡¡¡

  • Bien dificil ke salga algo igual a ellos...

  • Awesome!

  • I love this song so much!

  • an age of interiority, gone for ever

  • I've been listening to their music for almost 10 years. Liz Fraser's voice is otherworldly.

  • Simon rips it up big time,thanks for posting it

  • i remember this well,fantastic performance,thanks for putting this on;-)

  • I saw them live back in '85 in Groningen (NL). This clip brings back good memories!

  • This is such a magical clip! I love how in those days it was just the two of them and the tape machine rolling. One of my favorite Cocteaus songs -- LOVE the Head Over Heels album!!

  • the best voice with lisa gerrard and the most poetic guitar player with professor Fripp.

  • I've been a fan for many many years, and they still take my breath away. Liz is so beautiful, and the music never ceases to stop me in my tracks. Truly magnificent, and deserving of great worship & accolades.

    Chrissie xx

  • One of my most watched videos on YouTube and most played songs on my Ipod. I never tire of it - great, great post, whoever you are.

  • i can't believe that she sounds like this live. you can't put anyone on stage anymore without being horrified at how different they sound from the album. she's amazing.

  • this is probably the best video on youtube.

  • No kidding.

  • GeoA109 - they had a big Goth following back in the 80s - they were certainly considered Goth appropriate, but I do not think that they would have ever considered themselves to be doing Goth music.

  • Listening to a Cocteau Twinss album is liking swimming in the ocean.. you are lost in your own world

  • Pardon the mistakes lol

  • The best voice of ever!

  • arnt they considered to be goth music? cause ethereal is a form of goth. more so of the "darkwave" subgenre. i love this song so much. i discovered this band 2 days ago and wow awesome

  • They are not goth music...i can't tell you more

  • the music is just a esensia this is what we called the old dark ethereal Cocteau Twins as estodo that there will be no other group alive esensia.

  • Get out of here aracatamus and hansonszoo with your ridculous comments don't try to classify their music like you know what you are talking about. Its not thrashing thats the point music is all about expressing yourself as you see fit. Thats your opinion so take your Black Sabbath and take it elsewhere because it doesn't belong in a discussion with the Cocteau Twins. Don't try to classify the Twins as anything they are their own genre. Get it right!

  • And you need to read my comment to JohnAdrenochrome as well. Also, I'm not the one who even mentioned Black Sabbath. Learn how to read then post your comment. Furthermore, I can comment any way I see fit as this is open forum for just that, COMMENTS. So grow up!

  • Gorgeous. Thank you so much for posting this.

  • One of those once rare moments, Oxford Apollo 1984. Transfixed. The whole audience motionless in a trance.

    Played tapes of them solidly for the next few months.

    Then that was it.  Caught them a couple more times, but not the same! Treasure (appropriate comment!) the moment. Thanks for putting this on (and so much better a grainy copy of TV than all those bloody hand held cameras you get at gigs now). Yes I was a lucky bastard.

  • so that's where robert smith got his look from

  • Cocteau Twins are absolutely awesome... But, thrashing to them... Come on, really...

  • Yeah, they are awesome but this isn't the type of Rock Music you're meant to Thrash to. It's Indie Rock, Post-Punk and Dream Pop. If you want to Thrash listen to the album 'Paranoid' by Black Sabbath, awesome.

  • I totally agree! Re-read my comment... They are thrashing to this in the audience and it looks totally stupid.

  • It's John here who uploaded this. "Thrash"??? What's that?! Don't forget, the Cocteaus had a punk/goth following in the early 80's, up to about '85. I know this because I was one of them :-) The descriptions "Indie Rock" and "Dream Pop" hadn't even been thought of in '83 when this was filmed. And the guys in the audience, well that's just how goths danced at the time. John.

  • I am in total agreement as I was there as well as I am currently in my early to mid 40's.  I'm NOT trying to classify them as snych08 supposes incorrectly. However, this IS NOT the type of music to thrash to and my opinion is it is very distracting and looks ridiculous.

  • @JohnAdrenochrome All true! Cheers

  • @JohnAdrenochrome

    Dead right. If Garlands is "Thrash", them I'm Saint Augustine!!

  • @JohnAdrenochrome yup, I was one of them too and that is just how it was ! it always did amaze me tho' , how quiet the audience would be when Elizabeth sang. Seen them many times, they were always great !

  • So able to infiltrate my very being, I Love Cocteau Twins, one of the 2 best ever (my other fav is the Cure, of course) OMG sometimes I dance like she is at 2:55, it just makes you want to move. Fluid movement and closed eyed dancing all alone.....

  • You fuckin' bastards!!!!!!!

    Guido

  • Brilliant! Amazing! More than this... Definitively, a great Era and the best band of the humanity.

  • hello twinsmode..you from brazil?..hope your world is good..my world loves you.XXXXXXX

  • only idiots cant see something special..what do these fools do all day.. the cocteau twins are so special.hey jealous!!!..write somethin negative.

  • Amazing song

  • I grew up listening to the cocteau twins.I was either a wierdo(most)or a genius for my musical choice but I did'nt care because it floated my boat.there are loads of copycat bands influenced by the cocteaus,you only have to listen to the'shoegaze and dreampop'compilation that was made by some guy who's name I cant remember(download from some torrent somewhere)to hear this.they're so cool now that when I bought one of theyre albums recently the HMV assistant complimented me on my choice of music!

  • So cool- I went to see them in '84, the singer seemd to be in a constant state of terror but I guess she must have got something out of performing, or maybe it was just the way she came across. Can't remember her name.

    The gig was in the Royal Festival Hall on the same day the Queen opened the Thames Barrier so we came out of the gig to a full moon and a fantastic firework display over the Thames.

  • Her name's Elizabeth Fraser, aside her singing, that state of terror was nothing but that. This is the way an artist like her interprets her overwhelmingly vocal endowment. More of a state of trance. Concentration in order to develop such a master piece of singing.

  • the way an artist interprets their 'endowments' are by what is within them not without.the movements are trivial an unique to the artist.only mantras would induce trance states but yes she has focus

  • This is the way I interpret their work, lunarsiege. Regardless of any scholastic or theoretical explanation of what a mantra should be or induce, Elizabeth Fraser's voice is like a mantra for me. I think the preception of a piece of art like this, relies only on the listener. It is a personal thing, a subjective matter. If it doesn't appeal to you as much as it does to me, that doesn't put the artist in a lower or higher creative standard. It's just a different perspective.

  • Well said, misteriobuffo! There is an interesting article by Simon Reynolds about the music of Cocteau Twins and I'll quote his words- "They imagine a song that comes before language or grammar, the first voice of love... there's just a fluid uninterrupted exchange between mother and child. The Cocteaus are like a mother's song, all succour and softness, closeness without having to say anything at all."

  • you didnt address anything i said.the mantra thing was a joke so erase anything you thought i was implying there.i was just poking fun at your idolatry of her.but i only read that 1 comment u left so i'll concede that maybe i didnt get your full point there.thanx for the reply.i dont try to incite bickering btw.cya

  • best song ever .

  • Why can't anybody produce anything approaching this today?

  • Because if they do it they will be consided a retro copycat band

  • Yea, but they'd still be better than any new, popular band today.

  • Yes, when I purchased "Garlands",sort of on impulse, although I'd heard bits and pieces via John Peel, I got home and stuck it on the player, and it just did my brain in. My Dad, he thought I was ill. And school next day was a mess up, I couldn't concentrate on anything

  • Unbelievable just how good they are live. This was one of the greatest bands of all time.

  • Amazing. Love the Head Over Heels album.

  • Grangemouth's finest.

  • Nay.Britain's finest!

  • Kak I totally know what you mean. I always wondered how this band would sound live and after seeing this I'm speechless. I've seen a lot of Cocteau videos but this one will always hold a special place. An image in time of a band at its creative peak :).

  • una delle migliori bands di sempre. Antonello

  • this song,toghether with HITHERTO bring me in a sort of a post-apocalyptic world.Even if the melody is wonderful I feel a sort of desperation inside the whole songs.Does anybody feels the same thing?Cocteau Twins are a piece of music history.Never forget them!Gianluca.

  • Ah yes! this and Hitherto are defenetly my favourites. I also kindda get the same feeling with millimilenary and beatrix.

  • And definetely The Thiner the Air. Although I like Trance to the Sun's version better.

  • Holy crap. I was 15 when this came out? My daughter's right - I am old! Great stuff.

    Horrible Princess Di hair, though I'm glad there are no pics of my blue crimped mop.

  • One of my all time fav bands,brilliant stuff, remember seeing this on the tube,ace programme.

  • 80's = Cocteau Twins + Dead Can Dance + Talk Talk

    great song, rhytm, Liz voice, guitar, all awesome

  • excelente cancion , como in your angelhood de head over heels

  • 25 years ago. Still sounds awesome

  • Thanks for uploading. Early Cocteau Twins so much better than the later stuff.

  • First UK TV appearance - after this, they skyrocketed, deservedly.

  • She has horrible 80's hair. This was before I discovered them, her hair was better in 1985!

    I can't get over the Twins having a mosh pit!

  • lovely liz and her lullabies

    God, I wish I knew what she was singing about!!

    good stuff though

    Saw them live with Wolfgang press,about 300 years ago, or it seems that way

  • That's Buzz from the Melvins!

  • lol

  • are those post punks?...

  • they are brilliant, enjoy!

  • So often I hear about people who want to know what she is saying and I think to myself why does music always have to be self explanatory for us to understand. Some things are better left for the imagination and it's the feeling that flows through you when you hear it. What a performance...thanks for the post!

  • Awesome. I always assumed they coudn't sound as ethereal live but they do.

  • Bought Garlands in Glasgow the week it was released. Have been listening to the Cocteaus ever since. Have never understood a word Liz sang but it always made perfect sense.

  • Wow, I wish I had heard of them all the way back then. Although actually the year of this video was the year I was born, so I'm not sure I would have understood them yet. hehehe.

  • OMG I remember this - oh how wonderful they were. I remember poor Liz breaking down in tears at Leicester Uni cos her voice had given way and there was dear John Peel to cover. And I think the support were the Wolfgang press?

  • Amo a Cocteau Twins, es lo maximo desde siempre!,tiene hartos fans en Peru!I Love U Guys and THANKS for your music!

  • Still love Cocteau Twins. Music Proper. 38 years old and the same chills everytime they match chorus.

  • Wow!!! I think they live on for so many of us is that they were a head of the curve back 20 years ago... when I go to heaven, I'll be streaming the Cocteau Twins... :)

  • Liz and the rest were the soundtrack of my 20-30 years...and still are now that I am above 40..I had the great luck to meet them in 1983, after their first concert I ever saw, it was around the time this video was recorded..and kept in touch with Liz for over 10 years, she not only has a fantastic voice, but she also is a beautiful person, always kind to everybody, and so sweet, being close to her has been one of the greatest emotion I have lived

  • Julianne, you'll pass for a genius, Mary Ann, what a genius you are , you write a song, and prove you're a genius, somebodys...tragedy, am i pretty enough, musette and drums, we write a song and prove our genius, we are genius two......amazing...and the bit where liz moves her arms and the way her beautiful eyes look out at the crowd, i cant get enough of this.

  • cant stop watching this.everything about it is perfect, it jsut makes me so sad that this was 25 years ago..i want to feel this feeling again now, help

  • i know. passage of time can be so sad anyway, and when you add the intensity of her singing, it's a pretty strong experience watching this. agree with you about her little arm movements too - effortlessly elegant!

  • !!! I had forgotten about this group!!! I used to play them a lot on the radio station back in college. I'd mix them in with Dead Can Dance and Black tape for a blue girl!

  • el guitarra es una increible fusión entre Pedro Almodovar y John Smith, o no?!