Contrary to what you may think and despite releasing 3 albums, a band called This Mortal Coil never existed. This Mortal Coil was the dream child of 4AD president Ivo Watts-Russell. He brought together musicians from his label in order to re-create some of his favorite songs in the gothic style in which these bands excelled. It all started with an amazing cover of Tim Buckley's "Song to the Siren" with vocals from Liz Fraser (Cocteau Twins). An album was soon finished with contributions from guest vocalists and musicians while Watts-Russell and producer John Fryer tinkered with the results at the studio, adding instruments or programmed loops at will. "Blood" is the third and last album produced in this way and participants include members of Breathless, Cocteau Twins, the Breeders/Pixies, producer/arranger Martin McCarrick and vocalists Alison Limerick and Heidi Berry. Songs blend into each other with instrumental passages acting as bridge retaining the melancholic ambiance and natural flow. The first highlight is "Mr. Somewhere", a pop song with beautiful strings and vocals by Caroline Crawley. Also the two songs by Big Star's Chris Bell "You And Your Sister"(vocals by Kim Deal & Tanya Donelly) and "I Am The Cosmos" (Vocals by Dominic Appleton & Deirdre Rutkowski and some nice electric guitar for a change). "I Come And Stand At Every Door" is performed as a celtic lament and features touching anti-war lyrics by the Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet "I come and stand at every door/But no one hears my silent prayer/I knock and yet remain unseen/For I am dead, for I am dead/I'm only seven although I died/In Hiroshima long ago/I'm seven now as I was then/When children die they do not grow...All that I ask is that for peace/You fight today, you fight today/So that the children of this world/May live and grow and laugh and play". There are many more highlights in this album, mostly covers from artists long forgotten. In one sentence, "Blood" is, like the other two albums by This Mortal Coil, a melodic gothic masterpiece.
**** for Mr. Somewhere (The Apartments), You And Your Sister (Chris Bell), Nature's Way (Spirit), I Come And Stand At Every Door (Byrds), Carolyn's Song (Rain Parade), I Am The Cosmos(Chris Bell)
*** for The Lacemaker, With Tomorrow (Gene Clark), Bitter, Several Times (Pieter Nooten), Late Night (Syd Barrett), Help Me Lift You Up (Mary Margaret O'Hara), D.D. And E., 'Til I Gain Control Again (Emmylou Harris), (Nothing But) Blood
** for Andialu, Loose Joints, Baby Ray Baby, The Lacemaker II, Ruddy And Wretched, Dreams Are Like Water
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