Four-Calendar Café

Four-Calendar Café is the seventh studio album by Scottish alternative rock band Cocteau Twins. It was originally released on 18 October 1993 on Fontana. It 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's lyrics are more intelligible than usual. Their single "Evangeline" was a moderate hit in several countries. "Bluebeard" was a moderate success on the United States modern charts.

Four-Calendar Café
Studio album by
Cocteau Twins
Released18 October 1993
Recorded1993
StudioSeptember Sound, London
GenreDream pop
Length41:23
LabelFontana - 518 259-2
Capitol (US)
ProducerCocteau Twins
Cocteau Twins chronology
Heaven or Las Vegas
(1990)		 Four-Calendar Café
(1993)		 Snow
(1993)
Singles from Four-Calendar Café
  1. "Evangeline"
    Released: 20 September 1993
  2. "Bluebeard"
    Released: 7 February 1994
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
NME(8/10)[2]
Pitchfork8.1/10[3]
Q[4]
Rolling Stone(favourable)[5]
Rolling Stone Album Guide[6]
Spin(favourable)[7]

Title and artwork

The album took its title from William Least Heat-Moon's book Blue Highways, in which the author considers the quality of a restaurant by how many calendars it has hanging on its wall.[8] NME named it the 46th best record of 1993.[9]

The cover image was taken by Walter Wick, who is known for his photography for the children's book series I Spy. 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.

Sales

As of 1996, it had sold 146,000 copies in the U.S. according to Nielsen SoundScan.[10]

Track listing

All songs written by Cocteau Twins.

  1. "Know Who You Are at Every Age" – 3:42
  2. "Evangeline" – 4:31
  3. "Bluebeard" – 3:56
  4. "Theft, and Wandering Around Lost" – 4:30
  5. "Oil of Angels" – 4:38
  6. "Squeeze-Wax" – 3:49
  7. "My Truth" – 4:34
  8. "Essence" – 3:02
  9. "Summerhead" – 3:39
  10. "Pur" – 5:02

Personnel
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, in which she also starred.

Notes
  1. Ankeny, Jason. "Four-Calendar Cafe – Cocteau Twins | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
  2. NME: 32. 16 October 1993. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. Dorris, Jesse (19 October 2018). "Cocteau Twins: Four-Calendar Café". Pitchfork. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  4. Q: 104. October 1993. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. Rolling Stone: 64. 10 March 1994. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  6. https://books.google.com/books?id=t9eocwUfoSoC&pg=PA174&lpg=PA174&dq=rolling+stone+cocteau+twins+four+calendar+cafe&source=bl&ots=BkQiui3RZ7&sig=ACfU3U2HJrpXkFAb15hTIRvfbSxwg_Zo5A&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi68deFqpXqAhVPgK0KHfNmAcEQ6AEwFnoECBQQAQ#v=onepage&q=rolling%20stone%20cocteau%20twins%20four%20calendar%20cafe&f=false
  7. Spin: 120. December 1993. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  8. "History". Cocteau Twins. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
  9. "Albums and Tracks of the Year: 1993". NME. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
  10. Bradley Bambarger (April 6, 1996). "Radio Climate Could Boost Capitol's Cocteau Twins". Billboard: 14.


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