This Mortal Coil - It’ll End in Tears '1984/2018

Tracks list

 The first of 4AD owner Ivo Watts-Russells multi-artist studio sessions under
the This Mortal Coil name, 1984s Itll End in Tears was a surprisingly
influential album in many circles, key in the reawakening of interest in artists
like Alex Chilton and the late Tim Buckley by a younger generation of listeners.
(Two songs from Big Stars Third are included, a version of Kangaroo featuring
Cindytalk vocalist Gordon Sharp that sounds even druggier and more disorienting
than the original, and a chilling piano and strings version of Holocaust with
haunted vocals by Howard Devoto; the simple but ravishing version of Buckleys
Song to the Siren by Cocteau Twins Liz Fraser and Robin Guthrie was cited by
David Lynch as the direct inspiration for Julee Cruises first two albums and has
since been used several times in commercials and films.) The covers are the most
memorable part of the album -- a Robbie Grey-sung version of Colin Newmans Not
Me, cleverly incorporating a hypnotic riff from another Newman song, B, is the
most conventionally hooky song on the album, to the point that folks who havent
listened to the album for a while tend to forget that half of the songs are band
originals. These six songs mark 4ADs definitive break from its origins as an
artsy post-punk imprint (Bauhaus, Modern Englishs first few records, etc.) to
the development of the 4AD sound, a heavily reverbed wash of treated guitars and
atmospheric keyboards with vocals treated as another instrument in an amorphous
wash of sound. The problem is that these largely instrumental tracks sound more
like half-baked studio doodles than fully formed songs; a three-song stretch on
side two featuring Dead Can Dances Lisa Gerrard is particularly tiresome. As a
whole, Itll End in Tears is a lovely, often exquisite record; taken
individually, the power of some of the songs is lost.
:: TRACKLIST ::

1 Kangaroo 3:31
2 Song To The Siren 3:30
3 Holocaust 3:38
4 Fyt 4:24
5 Fond Affections 3:51
6 The Last Ray 4:08
7 Another Day 2:54
8 Waves Become Wings 4:26
9 Barramundi 3:56
10 Dreams Made Flesh 3:48
11 Not Me 3:44
12 A Single Wish 2:27

Personnel
 Elizabeth Fraser – vocals
 Robin Guthrie – guitar
 Simon Raymonde – guitar, bass, synthesizer
 Lisa Gerrard – vocals
 Brendan Perry – bass drone, yangqin
 John Fryer – multi-instruments, production
 Gordon Sharp – vocals
 Robbie Grey – vocals
 Martyn Young – synthesizer, bass, guitar
 Mark Cox – synthesizer
 Steven Young – piano
 Manuela Rickers – guitar
 Martin McCarrick – cello
 Gini Ball – violin, viola
 Ivo Watts-Russell – keyboards, production 

Related artists