It'll End in Tears

It'll End in Tears is the first album released by the 4AD collective This Mortal Coil, a loose grouping of artists brought together by label boss Ivo Watts-Russell, released on 8 October 1984. The album features many of the artists on the label's roster, including Cocteau Twins, Cindytalk, Dead Can Dance and Colourbox. While side one mostly cover's selected by Watts-Russell's favourite song's, side two is more focused on original tracks.

Howard Devoto of Magazine sang "Holocaust", one of two covers of songs from Big Star's 1978 album Third/Sister Lovers; the other Big Star cover, album opener "Kangaroo" was released as a single and both helped to re-popularised the then-forgotten band. Two of the cover songs are performed by Elizabeth Fraser of the Cocteau Twins: Roy Harper's "Another Day" and a cover of Tim Buckley's "Song to the Siren", released as This Mortal Coil's debut single a year before the album. Gordon Sharp of Cindytalk sings on three tracks: "Kangaroo", "Fond Affections" and "A Single Wish".

4AD recorded two further This Mortal Coil albums: Filigree & Shadow (1986) and Blood (1991), although neither were met with the same critical acclaim, sales numbers or cult status.

Conception

The album was intended by 4AD label boss Ivo Watts-Russell as a collection of cover versions of his favourite songs performed by artists on his label. `The project was conceived by Watts-Russell with the help of long-term 4AD producer John Fryer.

Simon Raymonde of the Cocteau Twins took on a far larger and more important role than was initially planned. Raymonde somewhat modestly wrote in his 2024 biography that he was just a "gun for hire...playing under direction". However he was not neither paid a flat-fee nor given a royalty percentage for his work.Template:Sfn However, across the three This Mortal Coil, he played on twelve different including on several of his own origional compositions.Template:Sfn

This Mortal Coil never played together live, although the Cocteau Twins did perform "Song to the Siren" a number of times in the mid-1980s.

Recording

The album was preceded by the 1983 single "Song to the Siren".

Man with dark hair wearing dark clothing against a plain background

Simon Raymonde in 1986

It'll End in Tears was recorded in 1984 at Eric Radcliffe's Blackwing Studios in Waterloo, south-east London. Blackwing is located inside a deconsecrated building that was formerly All Hallows Church, and is best known for recording many of the early 1980s Mute Records bands such as Depeche Mode and Yazoo.Template:Efn The location was chosen in part because Fryer had worked there on Depeche Mode's 1981 debut album Speak & Spell, and as a non-musician Watts-Russell was depending on the producer to realise his abstract ideas into actual music.Template:Sfn

When called into the studio, the musicians were typically unaware of what tracks they would be interpreting, and were given vague instructions. Raymonde recalls arriving on his first day and being asked to listen to Big Star's 1974 song "Kangaroo" and provide a "minimalist take" with the bass guitar as the main instrument. Similarly with "The Last Wish", Raymonde was given a simple drum pattern and asked to come up with a bass line within around a half an hour. When he did so, Watts-Russell said it sounded good and "let's record it". Soon after Guthrie entered the studio, according to Raymonde "for an hour or so", and recorded his guitar part. However, after the early parts were laid down, the musicians were allowed to add additional layering and instrumentation.Template:Sfn

Music and lyrics

Side one

File:Cindytalk (cropped).jpg

Gordon Sharp (aka Cindy Sharp or Cinder) performing in 2009. Sharpe sings three songs on the album: "Kangaroo", "Fond Affections" and "A Single Wish".

The album opens with "Kangaroo", the first of two covers from Big Star's third album Sister Lovers (recorded in 1974, released in 1978). In a press release for the 4AD album, Watts-Russell spoke of his admiration for Big Star's singer and songwriter Alex Chilton who by the early 1980s was little known and recovering from alcohol and drug addiction. The success of the 4AD project renewed interest in Chilton's music.Template:Sfn The track was a long-term favourite of Watts-Russell's who described it as "a cross between the Velvet Underground and Syd Barrett on heroin".Template:Sfn The track was sung by Cinder Sharp of Cindytalk and arranged by Raymonde, who stripped its melody down to a dominant and strummed bass line.

Woman with dark hair in partial profile

Elizabeth Fraser provides vocals for "Song to the Siren" and "Another Day" .

The album's best-known track, "Song to the Siren" is a cover of a 1970 Tim Buckley song and was one of the first of the album's tracks to be recorded. It is sung by Cocteau Twins vocalist Elizabeth Fraser and arranged by their lead guitarist and songwriter Robin Guthrie. The Cocteau Twins eventually became unhappy with the track's success, particularly because they were paid a flat rate for the recording, while Guthrie believed he was not given enough credit for his accompanying guitar. The song's popularity led to tension within the band; Guthrie and Fraser worried that Raymonde was dedicating too much of his time to the record, and that the song's popularity was eclipsing their main band.

"Fond Affections" is a cover of a 1980 song by the short-lived 4AD band Rema-Rema, written by Marco Pirroni (formerly of Adam and the Ants) and Gary Asquith. The dramatic and theatrical original is very different to the TMC cover, which is sung by Fraser to a sparse arrangement by Raymonde.Template:Sfn

Side two

Middle-aged man with beard playing acoustic guitar on stage

Roy Harper performing in 2001

Side two opens with a cover of Roy Harper's nostalgic 1970 song "Another Day", and is also sung by Fraser. The original was described by the critic Peter Beaumont as a "story of a recollected affair in the domestic setting of his past lover's home...prefiguring the idea that whatever happens the time for second chances has long past; that there can be no magic in this encounter." Guthrie was against the song's inclusion as he viewed it as hippie "Progressive rock" sung by a "bearded old man". While the cover led to renewed interest in Harper's career, the critical consensus is that Fraser's vocals elevated the original, an assessment that Harper agrees with.Template:Sfn During this period Fraser was transitioning from her early "Goth" vocal style to the emotive and expansive vocals for which she is best known, and so was experimenting. Watts-Russell claims to have considered editing out some of what he described as "Kate Bush-isms" from the final track.Template:Sfn

Man and woman with dark hair, both in dark clothing against plain background

Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard of Dead Can Dance, 1989

The tracks "Waves Become Wings" and "Dreams Made Flesh" were written and sung by Lisa Gerrard of Dead Can Dance. Watts-Russell had intended for her to provide vocals for a cover, but she disliked the idea and asked if she and fellow band member Brendan Perry could write an original track. Although Watts-Russell was still married to the idea that the album would only contain cover versions, he was impressed by their recording, which was eventually split into the songs "Waves Become Wings" and "Dreams Made Flesh".Template:Sfn

"Barramundi" was composed and arranged by Raymonde, who plays guitars and a Yamaha DX7 synthesizer.Template:Sfn

The rhythm parts for the second Gerrard track "Dreams Made Flesh" were provided by Perry.Template:Sfn

"Not Me" is a cover of a solo track by Colin Newman of the post-punk band Wire, from his 1980 album A–Z. It is sung by Robbie Grey of Modern English.

The album closes with "A Single Wish", which is built on a piano part by Steven Young of Colourbox, with additional instrumentation and arrangement by Raymonde. Sharp wrote the lyrics and provided vocals, which appear after the long instrumental intro.Template:Sfn The cello sound was achieved by Raymonde's use of a Gizmotron, a mechanical effects device that emulates bowing and has a rapid natural attack. Because the Gizmotron is a particularly difficult device to control, the recording proved very difficult.Template:Sfn

Cover art

The cover art was designed by Vaughan OliverTemplate:Sfn and features a black and white and out-of-focus photograph by Nigel Grierson. Both Oliver and Grierson were long-time member of 4AD's in-house design team 23 Envelope.Template:Sfn The photograph image shows the visual artist Yvette (also known as "Pallas Citroen"). Grierson describes the artwork as an attempt to "create an intriguing image, influenced by both the subconscious, and scenes from David Lynch's Eraserhead and Luis Buñuel's Los Olvidados - eyes closed, hair pulled back."Template:Sfn

Reception

The album was met with universal praise on release.

In 2018, Pitchfork ranked It'll End in Tears at number eight on its list of "The 30 Best Dream Pop Albums".

Writing for The Guardian, the critic Dorian Lynskey listed the group's version of "Song to the Siren" as number 7 in their 2006 list of "Covers that are better than the original songs", writing that "by turning Tim Buckley's 'Song to the Siren' into a tremulous ambient hymn...the original version seem like a mere sketch."

Influence

The album's atmospheric and melancholic sound has been hugely influential, and is cited by numerous bands, including Bat for Lashes, Perfume Genius and Amen Dunes, as influencing their own music. Both Anohni and Beach House have cited "Song to the Siren" as specifically important, and many other artists and bands have covered This Mortal Ceoil's cover versions (described by the critic Sean O'Neal as "covers of covers").

Personnel

• Ivo Watts-Russell – conception, production
• John Fryer – multi-instruments, production
• Simon Raymonde – production, arrangements, guitar, bass, synthesizer
• Elizabeth Fraser – vocals
• Gordon Sharp – vocals
• Lisa Gerrard – vocals, yangqin
• Robbie Grey – vocals
• Howard Devoto – vocals
• Robin Guthrie – guitar
• Brendan Perry – bass drone
• Martyn Young – synthesizer, bass, guitar
• Mark Cox – synthesizer
• Steven Young – piano
• Manuela Rickers – guitar
• Martin McCarrick – cello
• Gini Ball – violin, viola

Charts

Chart (1984–85)	Peak position
New Zealand RIANZ Albums Chart	42
UK Albums Chart	38
UK Independent Albums Chart	1

Singles

• "Song to the Siren" – #66 UK Singles Chart (3 weeks), #3 UK Indie Chart (101 weeks), #8 NZ (15 weeks), #39 NL (4 weeks); released September 1983. "Song to the Siren"'s 101 weeks on the UK Indie Chart was the 4th longest chart run.
• "Kangaroo" – #2 UK Indie Chart (20 weeks); released August 1984.

External links

• Template:Replace on YouTube
• Template:Replace on YouTube