''The Pink Opaque'' is a 1986 compilation album by

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

band

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 ...

, composed of tracks recorded between 1982 and 1985. A joint release by the UK-based 4AD and the American

Relativity Records Relativity Records was an American record label founded by Barry Kobrin at the site of his company, Important Record Distributors (IRD) in metro New York. Relativity released music that covers a wide variety of musical genres. When it entered in ...

, it was their first official U.S. release.

History

After signing to 4AD in 1982, Cocteau Twins released three albums and five EPs between the autumn of 1982 and January 1985. Despite not having American distribution, the band gained popularity there through college radio, particularly with the 1984 single "Pearly Dewdrops' Drops." The American label Relativity Records distributed their albums on license from 4AD. Rather than reissuing all of the band's releases to that point, it was decided that the compilation ''The Pink Opaque'' would be issued instead, as a sampler of the Twins' output up through early 1985. ''The Pink Opaque'' is also significant in 4AD's history, as it was the label's first CD release.

Track listing

#"The Spangle Maker" (4:40) — from ''

The Spangle Maker ''The Spangle Maker'' is an EP by Scottish band Cocteau Twins, released on 4AD in April 1984. It was the first recording to be issued after bassist Simon Raymonde joined the band. The EP featured two versions of "Pearly-Dewdrops' Drops", and tw ...

'' (12"), 1984 #"Millimillenary" (3:40) — from ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' compilation ''Department of Enjoyment'' (cassette), 1984 #"Wax and Wane" (3:51) — (remixed) from '' Garlands'' (album), 1982 #"Hitherto" (3:51) — from ''

Sunburst and Snowblind ''Sunburst and Snowblind'' is an EP by Scottish alternative rock band Cocteau Twins. It was released on 18 November 1983 through the label 4AD. The EP features "Sugar Hiccup" from the album '' Head over Heels'', as well as three other tracks. ...

'' (EP), 1983 #"Pearly-Dewdrops' Drops" (4:10) — from ''Pearly-Dewdrops' Drops'' (7"), 1984 and ''The Spangle Maker'' (12"), 1984 #"From the Flagstones" (3:40) — from ''Sunburst and Snowblind'' (EP), 1983 #"Aikea-Guinea" (3:56) — from ''

Aikea-Guinea ''Aikea-Guinea'' is a March 1985 7" single and 12" EP by Scottish dream pop band Cocteau Twins, released on 4AD. The 7" featured two non-album tracks, while the EP added two more. Release ''Aikea-Guinea'' was included as a bonus with some Can ...

'' (EP), 1985 #"Lorelei" (3:42) — from ''

Treasure Treasure (from la, thesaurus from Greek language ''thēsauros'', "treasure store") is a concentration of wealth — often originating from ancient history — that is considered lost and/or forgotten until rediscovered. Some jurisdictions leg ...

'' (album), 1984 #"Pepper-Tree" (3:57) — from ''The Spangle Maker'' (12"), 1984 #"Musette and Drums" (4:36) — from '' Head Over Heels'' (album), 1983

Personnel

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 ...

sang and

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 ...

played guitar on all tracks. * Bass guitar by

Will Heggie Will Heggie is a Scottish musician. He co-founded Cocteau Twins in 1979 with Robin Guthrie, and served as the bassist for them until 1983. Immediately after departing Cocteau Twins, he helped form Lowlife A low-life (or lowlife) is a term ...

on track 3; by Guthrie on tracks 4, 6 and 10; and by

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 ...

on all other tracks. * As on all Cocteau Twins releases, a drum machine was used for percussion. * The band were credited as producers on all tracks, except for "Wax and Wane," where

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 ...

was credited as co-producer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pink Opaque, The Cocteau Twins albums 1986 compilation albums 4AD compilation albums