''Four-Calendar Café'' is the seventh studio album by Scottish 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 ...

, released on 18 October 1993 by

Fontana Records Fontana Records is a record label that was started in the 1950s as a subsidiary of the Dutch Philips Records. The independent label distributor Fontana Distribution takes its name from the label. History Fontana started in the 1950s as a subs ...

Background

The album distinguishes itself from the rest of the Twins' catalogue in two major areas: The sound is much more pop-oriented and less ambient than previous works, and vocalist

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 ...

's lyrics are more intelligible than usual. Their single "

Evangeline ''Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie'' is an epic poem by the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, written in English and published in 1847. The poem follows an Acadian girl named Evangeline and her search for her lost love Gabriel, set during t ...

" was a moderate hit in several countries. "Bluebeard" was a moderate success on the United States

modern Modern may refer to: History * Modern history ** Early Modern period ** Late Modern period *** 18th century *** 19th century *** 20th century ** Contemporary history * Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century Phil ...

charts.

Title and artwork

The album took its title from

William Least Heat-Moon William Least Heat-Moon (born William Lewis Trogdon August 27, 1939) is an American travel writer and historian of English, Irish, and Osage ancestry. He is the author of several books which chronicle unusual journeys through the United States, ...

's book ''

Blue Highways ''Blue Highways'' is an autobiographical travel book, published in 1982, by William Least Heat-Moon, born William Trogdon. Summary In 1978, after separating from his wife and losing his job as a teacher, Heat-Moon, 38 at the time, took an extende ...

'', in which the author considers the quality of a restaurant by how many calendars it has hanging on its wall. ''

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 ...

'' named it the 46th best record of 1993. The cover image was taken by

Walter Wick Walter Wick (born February 23, 1953) is an American artist and photographer best known for the elaborate images in two series of picture book activities for young children, ''I Spy'' (1992 to 1999) and ''Can You See What I See?'' (2002 to 2013), ...

, who is known for his photography for the children's book series ''

I Spy I spy is a guessing game where one player (the ''spy'' or ''it'') chooses an object within sight and announces to the other players that "I spy with my little eye something beginning with...", naming the first letter of the object. Other players a ...

''. The picture is a set of various small objects scattered across a dark blue background. Inside the booklet, the objects are scattered across a white background.

Release and promotion

To promote the album, Robin Guthrie appeared on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

's ''

120 Minutes ''120 Minutes'' is a television program in the United States dedicated to the alternative music genre, that originally aired on MTV from 1986 to 2000, and then aired on MTV's associate channel MTV2 from 2001 to 2003. After its cancellation, MTV ...

'', marking the first television interview by a member of the band in the United States. As part of the promotion, the band performed "Bluebeard" on '' The Tonight Show with Jay Leno''.

Sales

As of 1996, it had sold 146,000 copies in the U.S. according to

Nielsen SoundScan Luminate (formerly Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen Music Products, and MRC Data) is a provider of music sales data. Established by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett in 1991, data is collected weekly and made available every Sunday (for albums sales) and eve ...

Track listing

All songs written by Cocteau Twins. #"Know Who You Are at Every Age" – 3:42 #"

" – 4:31 #" Bluebeard" – 3:56 #"Theft, and Wandering Around Lost" – 4:30 #"Oil of Angels" – 4:38 #"Squeeze-Wax" – 3:49 #"My Truth" – 4:34 #"Essence" – 3:02 #"Summerhead" – 3:39 #"Pur" – 5:02

Personnel

- vocals * Robin Guthrie - guitar * Simon Raymonde -

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

;Additional personnel *Lincoln Fong - additional engineering

Cover versions

The songs "Bluebeard" and "Know Who You Are at Every Age" were covered by Cantopop artist Faye Wong for her 1994 album '' Wu Si Lyun Seung'' or ''Random Thoughts''. "Bluebeard" was renamed to become the album's title track, and "Know Who You Are at Every Age" became "Ji Gei Ji Bei" (or "Know Yourself and Each Other"). Wong's cover version of "Bluebeard" was featured in the film ''

Chungking Express ''Chungking Express'' is a 1994 Hong Kong romantic crime comedy-drama film written and directed by Wong Kar-wai. The film consists of two stories told in sequence, each about a lovesick Hong Kong policeman mulling over his relationship with a ...

'', in which she also starred.

Charts

References

Cocteau Twins albums 1993 albums Fontana Records albums {{1990s-alt-rock-album-stub