Rykodisc
1999
BBC Sessions
About This Album
On the surface, this isn't as essential a release as other BBC sessions LPs. Because the Cocteaus used drum machines, the backing tracks and the rhythms replicate the known versions much more than other bands forced to record live in the studio. Yet BBC Sessions is still a whopper of a treat for fans and the uninitiated, two hours of sound that builds and builds until one is overcome with unspeakable, barely understood emotions. At 30 songs on two CDs, it's an overview that sheds light on the masterful way the trio mutated so subtly, until their artistically premature end. It starts a bit too slowly on disc one, when the band couldn't really fight accusations of being Siouxsie & the Banshees wannabes -- they were stealing whole dollops of the Banshees' vanguard style -- but were somehow captivating anyway. The first half of the CD indulges liberally in this period before the magic really starts in, firing off with one of the two previously unreleased songs, a stark and sharply striking cover of "Strange Fruit" that has to startle fans of the Billie Holiday standard. Haunting! From there it starts to upshift, gaining more confidence and bushels of beauty as Elizabeth Fraser starts to blossom into one of the most riveting voices to ever blow air into a mic.
Track List

Disc 1 (try tracks 1,8,12 and 15)

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Disc 2 (try track 12)

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