Blood by This Mortal Coil (CD, Jul-1998, 4AD (USA))

Album Features
UPC:	652637100525
Artist:	This Mortal Coil
Format:	CD
Release Year:	1998
Record Label:	4AD (USA)
Genre:	Art Rock, Rock & Pop

Track Listing
1. Lace Maker, The
2. Mr. Somewhere
3. Andialu
4. With Tomorrow
5. Loose Joints
6. You and Your Sister
7. Nature's Way
8. I Come and Stand at Every Door
9. Bitter
10. Baby Ray Baby
11. Several Times
12. Lacemaker II, The
13. Late Night
14. Ruddy and Wretched
15. Help Me Lift You Up
16. Carolyn's Song
17. D.D. and E.
18. 'Til I Gain Control Again
19. Dreams Are Like Water
20. I Am the Cosmos
21. (Nothing But) Blood

Details
Playing Time:	76 min.
Contributing Artists:	Kim Deal, Heidi Berry, Alison Limerick, Rain Parade, Tanya Donelly
Producer:	John Fryer, Ivo Watts-Russell
Distributor:	Alternative Dis. Alliance
Recording Type:	Studio
Recording Mode:	Stereo
SPAR Code:	ADD

Album Notes
Personnel: Louise Rutkowski, Ikuko Kozu, Anne Garrigues, Tim Freeman, Caroline Crawley, Deirdre Rutkowski (vocals); Pieter Nooten, Ivo-Watts Russell (various instruments); Jon Turner, John Fryer (various instruments, programming); Jim Williams (guitar); Gini Ball (violin); Martin McCarrick (cello, strings); Jocelyn Pook, Sally Herbert, Sonia Slaney (strings).Recorded at Blackwing Studios, London, England and Palladium Studios, Edinburgh, Scotland.Personnel: Louise Rutkowski, Dominic Appleton, Deirdre Rutkowski, Heidi Berry, Tim Freeman, Anne Garrigues, Caroline Crawley, Ikuko Kozu, Kim Deal, Alison Limerick, Tanya Donelly (vocals); Jimmy Williams (guitar); Gini Ball (violin); Martin McCarrick (cello, strings); Sonia Slaney, Jocelyn Pook, Sally Herbert, Sonia Slany (strings); Jon Turner (piano, programming); Rain Parade (drums); John Fryer (programming).Recording information: Blackwing Studios, London, England; Pallidium Studios, Edinburgh, Scotland.Photographer: Nigel Grierson.The third and final album by This Mortal Coil, 1991's Blood is neither as unfocused as Filigree & Shadow or as conceptually pure as It'll End in Tears, but it's a solidly enjoyable set. Once again, nearly half the tracks are instrumentals (or tracks with minimal and often wordless female vocals) written by Ivo Watts-Russell and John Fryer, but this batch of tunes holds together much better than the much more amorphous originals on Filigree & Shadow; lengthy atmospheric explorations like "Dreams Are Like Water" sound composed and thoughtful rather than merely pretty. And as always, the covers are brilliantly chosen. The twin highlights are two songs written by Big Star's Chris Bell; "I Am the Cosmos" is reinterpreted as a ragged, brink-of-chaos rocker that sounds like it could have been on Big Star's post-Bell magnum opus, Third, while a delicate acoustic version of "You and Your Sister" with wispy, unsure vocals by Kim Deal and Tanya Donelly ranks with the first album's reinterpretation of Tim Buckley's "Song to the Siren" as one of the group's masterpieces. Other gems include a near-symphonic reading of Spirit's "Nature's Way" and a version of Syd Barrett's "Late Night" that strips the song down to not much more than Caroline Crawley's voice and a low-frequency hum. ~ Stewart Mason