The Moon and the Melodies

The Moon and the Melodies
Studio album by Harold Budd, Simon Raymonde, Robin Guthrie & Elizabeth Fraser
Released 10 November 1986
Genre Ambient, dream pop
Length 37:15
Label 4AD
Producer Harold Budd, Simon Raymonde, Robin Guthrie & Elizabeth Fraser
Cocteau Twins chronology

Victorialand
(1986)		 The Moon and the Melodies
(1986)		 Blue Bell Knoll
(1988)
Harold Budd chronology
Lovely Thunder
(1986)		 The Moon and the Melodies
(1986)		 Myths 3: La Nouvelle Serenite
(1987)
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Allmusic [1]

The Moon and the Melodies was an album produced by the collaboration of the Scottish group Cocteau Twins and the American composer Harold Budd. It was released by 4AD in November 1986. The album's heavily treated guitar sounds and euphoric vocalising can be heard in the group's other work from the same period, such as the EP "Echoes in a Shallow Bay" or the album Victorialand. Harold Budd's stylistic piano tonalities and phrasing on this project are echoed in his solo album Lovely Thunder, released in the same year. A version of the track "Memory Gongs" was released on Lovely Thunder as "Flowered Knife Shadows" and is dedicated to Simon Raymonde.

The phrases "bloody and blunt" and "ooze out and away, onehow" come from Elizabeth Fraser's lyrics on the songs "The Tinderbox (Of a Heart)" and "My Love Paramour", both from the 1983 Cocteau Twins album Head Over Heels. Reusing phrases from old songs as titles for others can be considered one of Fraser's signature characteristics, as can her habit of emphasizing syllables in ways that differ from standard usage.

Elizabeth Fraser sings on tracks 1, 4, 5 and 8. Saxophonist Richard Thomas appears on tracks 5, 6 and 7.

Track listing

All songs written by Elizabeth Fraser, Robin Guthrie, Simon Raymonde and Harold Budd.

  1. "Sea, Swallow Me"
  2. "Memory Gongs"
  3. "Why Do You Love Me?"
  4. "Eyes are Mosaics"
  5. "She Will Destroy You"
  6. "The Ghost Has No Home"
  7. "Bloody and Blunt"
  8. "Ooze Out and Away, Onehow"

Personnel

Cocteau Twins
Additional personnel

See also

References

  1. ↑ Stepek, Peter. The Moon and the Melodies at AllMusic