''It'll End in Tears'' is the first album released by 4AD collective

This Mortal Coil This Mortal Coil were a British music collective led by Ivo Watts-Russell, founder of the British record label 4AD. Although Watts-Russell and John Fryer were the only two official members, the band's recorded output featured a large rotating ...

, an umbrella title for a loose grouping of guest musicians and vocalists brought together by label boss

Ivo Watts-Russell Ivo Watts-Russell (born 1954) is a British music producer and record label executive. He was joint-founder with Peter Kent of the indie record label 4AD. He has produced several records, although he prefers to use the term "musical director". Ea ...

. The album was released on 1 October 1984, and reached #38 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

. It features many of the artists on the 4AD roster at the time, including

Cocteau Twins Cocteau Twins was a Scottish rock band active from 1979 to 1997. They were formed in Grangemouth by Robin Guthrie (guitars, drum machine) and Will Heggie (bass), adding Elizabeth Fraser (vocals) in 1981 and replacing Heggie with multi-instrum ...

Colourbox Colourbox were an English electronic musical group on the 4AD label, releasing a number of records between 1982 and 1987. The band was formed by brothers Martyn and Steve Young, Ian Robbins, and vocalist Debbion Currie. Currie and Robbins left ...

, and

Dead Can Dance Dead Can Dance are an Australian music duo first established in Melbourne. Currently composed of Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry, the group formed in 1981. They relocated to London the following year. Australian music historian Ian McFarlane des ...

; as well as key

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

figure

Howard Devoto Howard Devoto (born Howard Andrew Trafford, 15 March 1952) is a retired English singer and songwriter, who began his career as the frontman for punk rock band Buzzcocks, but then left to form Magazine, one of the first post-punk bands. After M ...

, who sang "Holocaust", one of two covers of songs from the ''

Third/Sister Lovers ''Third'' (reissued in 1985 as ''Third/Sister Lovers'') is the third album by American rock band Big Star. Sessions started at Ardent Studios in September 1974. Though Ardent created promotional, white-label test pressings for the record in 197 ...

'' album by

Big Star Big Star was an American rock band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1971 by Alex Chilton (vocals, guiar), Chris Bell (vocals, guitar), Jody Stephens (drums), and Andy Hummel (bass). The group broke up in early 1975, and reorganized with a new l ...

. The other

Alex Chilton William Alexander Chilton (December 28, 1950 – March 17, 2010) was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer best known as the lead singer of the Box Tops and Big Star. Chilton's early commercial success in the 1960s ...

-penned track, album opener "Kangaroo", was released as a single to promote the album. Two key songs were performed by

Elizabeth Fraser Elizabeth Davidson Fraser (born 29 August 1963), is a Scottish singer, songwriter and musician. Hailing from Grangemouth, Scotland, she is best known as the vocalist for the pioneering dream pop band Cocteau Twins who achieved international ...

, including

Tim Buckley Timothy Charles Buckley III (February 14, 1947 – June 29, 1975) was an American musician. His music and style changed considerably through the years. Buckley began his career based in folk music, but his subsequent albums experimented with ja ...

's " Song to the Siren", which reached #66 on the UK Charts when released as This Mortal Coil's debut single a year before the album. The song remained on the

UK Indie Chart The UK Independent Singles Chart and UK Independent Albums Chart are charts of the best-selling independent singles and albums, respectively, in the United Kingdom. Originally published in January 1980, and widely known as the indie chart, the rele ...

for almost two years. Fraser also performed on "

Another Day Another Day may refer to: Albums * ''Another Day'' (Steve Ashley album) * ''Another Day'' (The Hurt Process album) * ''Another Day'' (Lene Marlin album) * ''Another Day'' (Oscar Peterson album) * ''Another Day'' (Racoon album) * ''Another ...

" by Roy Harper. 4AD would go on to release two further albums under the name of This Mortal Coil: ''

Filigree & Shadow ''Filigree & Shadow'' is the second album released by 4AD collective This Mortal Coil, an umbrella title for a loose grouping of guest musicians and vocalists brought together by label boss Ivo Watts-Russell. The supergroup consists primarily o ...

'' (1986) and ''

Blood Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood in the c ...

'' (1991). Valentino Records, a sublabel of

Atco Records ATCO Records is an American record label founded in 1955. It is owned by Warner Music Group and operates as an imprint of Atlantic Records. After several decades of dormancy and infrequent activity under alternating Warner Music labels, the comp ...

, released the album in the United States in late 1984, the only time a This Mortal Coil album was released simultaneously in the UK and the US. All three This Mortal Coil albums were later re-released in the US in 1993 on 4AD/

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...

, and in 1998 solely on 4AD. A remastered and repackaged CD edition of ''It'll End in Tears'' was issued with the complete This Mortal Coil recordings in a self-titled box set, released in late November 2011. The CD was released individually shortly thereafter. In 2018, ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

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

Track listing

Personnel

– vocals *

Robin Guthrie Robin Andrew Guthrie (born 4 January 1962) is a Scottish musician, songwriter, composer, record producer and audio engineer, best known as the co-founder of the alternative rock band Cocteau Twins. During his career Guthrie has performed ...

– guitar *

Simon Raymonde Simon Philip Raymonde (born Simon Philip Pomerance; 3 April 1962, in London) is an English musician and record producer. He is the son of the late arranger and composer Ivor Raymonde. He is best known as the bass guitarist and keyboard player ...

– guitar, bass, synthesizer *

Lisa Gerrard Lisa Germaine Gerrard (; born 12 April 1961) is an Australian musician, singer and composer who rose to prominence as part of the music group Dead Can Dance with music partner Brendan Perry. She is known for her unique singing style technique ( ...

– vocals *

Brendan Perry Brendan Michael Perry (born 30 June 1959) is a British singer and multi-instrumentalist best known for his work as half of the duo Dead Can Dance with Lisa Gerrard. Early life Perry was born in Whitechapel, London, England, UK, in 1959 to a mot ...

– bass drone, yangqin *

John Fryer John Fryer may refer to: *John Fryer (physician) (died 1563), English physician, humanist and early reformer *John Fryer (physician, died 1672), English physician *John Fryer (travel writer) (1650–1733), British travel-writer and doctor *Sir John ...

– multi-instruments, production *

Cindy Sharp Cinder (previously known as Gordon Sharp; born 1961 in Linlithgow, West Lothian, Scotland), sometimes known as Cinder Sharp, is a Scottish singer, musician and record producer. She has led several music projects since 1976, the most significant an ...

– vocals *Robbie Grey – vocals * Martyn Young – synthesizer, bass, guitar * Mark Cox – synthesizer * Steven Young – piano * Manuela Rickers – guitar *

Martin McCarrick Martin McCarrick (born 29 July 1962) is an English cellist, keyboardist, guitarist and composer. Aside from being a live and recording artist, he is also a teacher and visiting lecturer in music. Career His first recording in the pop/rock ar ...

– cello *Gini Ball – violin, viola *

– keyboards, production *

– vocals

Charts

Singles

*" Song to the Siren" – #66

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

(3 weeks), #3

(101 weeks), #8 NZ (15 weeks), #39 NL (4 weeks); released September 1983. "Song to the Siren"'s 101 weeks on the

was the 4th longest chart run. *"Kangaroo" – #2

(20 weeks); released August 1984.

References

{{Authority control 1984 debut albums 4AD albums Albums produced by John Fryer (producer) This Mortal Coil albums Albums produced by Ivo Watts-Russell