I do be liking all that This Mortal Coil stuff. More an ad hoc collective than a band, they were formed by Ivo Watts-Russell, the man behind 4AD records - which brought, and still brings us, the likes of The Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance, The Pixies and The Breeders. All he did, basically, was go through his roster of bands, pick a dream team of vocalists, guitarists, etc; and get them into the studio to do cover versions of long-forgotten or completely ignored classics. It might sound very silly and indulgent, but just take a listen to the albums, bub. The very first single exemplified what the deal was: taking Tim Buckley's Song To The Siren, he got Cocteau singer Elizabeth Frazer to do the vocal - just like Massive Attack used her almost 15 years later - put on some sparse guitar backing, and the end result was magical. When he stretched the concept out to album length on It'll End In Tears (1984), Watts-Russell assembled a bunch of songs by Alex Chilton, Roy Harper and Lisa Gerrard (from Dead Can Dance) and threw them to his 4AD light orchestra to put a spin on them. Howard Devoto sang Chilton's Holocaust, Cindytalk's Gordon Sharp did another Chilton song Kangaroo and Gerrard sang her own compositions, in her own unique way. The only thing connecting the songs was the arrangements - which gave us what is still lovingly known as the This Mortal Coil sound - all stripped back, a bit spooky, ethereal and weird. Compulsive listening and great chill-out stuff too.
The second album, Filigree And Shadow (1986) delved into the songs of Gene Clark and Syd Barrett (shine on, you crazy diamond, indeed) and that was in turn followed up by the final This Mortal Coil album, Blood (1991) which used Kim Deal (The Pixies), Tanya Donnelly (Belly) and 4AD stalwart Heidi Berry. The albums, like everything else on 4AD, never sold that much but were quickly picked up by other musicians - Therapy's Andy Cairns is a big fan. Maybe if the albums were called The Best 4AD Songs In The World - Ever! they would have sold better. But then again, maybe not.
The new This Mortal Coil has just been released by the label, except the musicians now go under the name The Hope Blister (don't ask). The slimmed-down players on the album, which is called and written `. . . smile's ok' are Louise Rutkowski (who was also involved with the original This Mortal Coil), Lawrence O'Keefe (ex-Levitation) with string arrangements by cellist Audrey Reilly. The songs covered are by David Sylvian (ex Japan), Eno, Mojave 3 and The Cranes, and they're all executed in the same sparse, string-drenched manner as before. But why the new name, Ivo? "When Blood was finished, I said that that would be the final This Mortal Coil album, and I meant it," he says. "It stems from the fact that groups usually outstay their welcome [tell me about it - ever visited Dublin?] and make records that aren't as essential as their earlier work. I felt happy with This Mortal Coil and wanted to leave it feeling happy, and not interfere with its legacy."
Bloody odd name though, The Hope Blister? "I wanted two words that worked together that normally don't," he says. "Hope Blister popped into my head sitting in a traffic jam one day. It means different things to me, but the meaning is pretty much contained within the name, simultaneously positive and negative. Virtually everything in life is like that." Shine on Ivo, you crazy hippy.
`...smile's ok' by The Hope Blister is out next week on the 4AD label.
Saw this show in Edinburgh last summer and cannot recommend it highly enough. Labi Siffre, best known for writing Something Inside So Strong and It Must Be Love, among others, is doing the sort of thing that Ray Davies from The Kinks is doing - a one-man show interspersed with songs, stories, anecdotes and funny bits. Called A Day In The Knife, Siffre's show is a portrayal in songs and spoken word of his journey from childhood to adulthood. It's powerful, moving and quite brilliant. It's at The Da Club next Tuesday night at 8.30 p.m. . . . Junkster are having a bit of a do at The Red Box to mark the release of their album tonight (doors 10 p.m.) while Scouse scallys Space are over in The Olympia doing the midnight slot.
