Four-Calendar Café

Four-Calendar Café
Studio album by Cocteau Twins
Released November 1993
Recorded 1993, September Sound, London
Genre Dream pop, alternative rock
Length 41:23
Label Fontana - 518 259-2
Capitol (US)
Producer Cocteau Twins
Cocteau Twins chronology

Heaven or Las Vegas
(1990)		 Four-Calendar Café
(1993)		 Milk and Kisses
(1996)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic link
NME (8/10)[1]
Q [2]
Rolling Stone (favourable)[3]
Spin (favourable)[4]

Four-Calendar Café is the seventh and penultimate album by three-piece Scottish band Cocteau Twins. It was originally released in 1993 on Fontana. The album distinguishes itself from the rest of the Twins' catalogue in two major areas: the sound is much more pop-oriented and less ambient than previous works, and Liz Fraser's lyrics are much more intelligible than usual.

The album takes its title from William Least Heat-Moon's book Blue Highways, in which the author considers the quality of a restaurant by how many calendars it has hanging on its wall.[5] NME named the album the 46th best record of 1993.[6]

Track listing

All songs written by Cocteau Twins.

  1. "Know Who You Are at Every Age" – 3:42
  2. "Evangeline" – 4:31
  3. "Bluebeard" – 3:56
  4. "Theft, and Wandering Around Lost" – 4:30
  5. "Oil of Angels" – 4:38
  6. "Squeeze-Wax" – 3:49
  7. "My Truth" – 4:34
  8. "Essence" – 3:02
  9. "Summerhead" – 3:39
  10. "Pur" – 5:02

Personnel

Additional personnel

Cover versions

The songs "Bluebeard" and "Know Who You Are at Every Age" were covered by Cantopop artist Faye Wong for her 1994 album Wu Si Lyun Seung or Random Thoughts. "Bluebeard" was renamed to become the album's title track, and "Know Who You Are at Every Age" became "Ji Gei Ji Bei" or "Know Yourself and Each Other". Her cover version of "Bluebeard" was featured in the film Chungking Express, in which Wong also starred.

Notes

  1. ↑ NME: 32. 16 October 1993. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. ↑ Q: 104. October 1993. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. ↑ Rolling Stone: 64. 10 March 1994. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. ↑ Spin: 120. December 1993. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. ↑ "History". Cocteau Twins. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
  6. ↑ "Albums and Tracks of the Year: 1993". NME. Retrieved 3 January 2013.