Four-Calendar Café

Four-Calendar Café
Studio album by Cocteau Twins
Released	2 November 1993
Recorded	1993, September Sound, London
Genre	Dream pop
Length	41:23
Label	Fontana - 518 259-2 Capitol (US)
Producer	Cocteau Twins
Cocteau Twins chronology
Heaven or Las Vegas (1990) Four-Calendar Café (1993) Snow (1993)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
NME	(8/10)[2]
Q	[3]
Rolling Stone	(favourable)[4]
Spin	(favourable)[5]

Four-Calendar Café is the seventh album by Scottish band Cocteau Twins. It was originally released on 2 November 1993 on Fontana. The album distinguished itself from the rest of the Twins' catalogue in two major areas: The sound was much more pop-oriented and less ambient than previous works, and Liz Fraser's lyrics were much more intelligible than usual.

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.^[6] NME named the album the 46th best record of 1993.^[7]

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

• Elizabeth Fraser - vocals
• Robin Guthrie - guitar
• Simon Raymonde - bass

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