[Friendly Coil] -- I'm ending the fourth week of September 2026 with a pair of albums that were not commercially successful, but are critical and cult darlings.
Filigree & Shadow – This double LP was the second release from the 4AD collective known as This Mortal Coil. They are considered a collective rather than a band because it was a loose grouping of the label's guest musicians and vocalists. Of the 25 tracks on this release, a full 13 are instrumental. And most of the tracks are obscure covers. Supposedly, the four sides are intended to flow together, each side being a whole and complete offering. (Note: If that is true, and I can find no citation for it, listening to either the YouTube playlist or the CD will not create that experience. For the former, advertisements will interrupt the flow; in the latter case, the whole album fits on a single CD so it's all one, sonic entity.) Filigree & Shadow peaked at #2 on the UK Independent Music chart. The album was not released in the US, so stateside fans had to snag import copies. I was fortunate because one of my colleagues in Holmes Hall at PSU did just that. At least, I count myself fortunate, because I'm a fan of experimental dream pop, especially when it's kind of pretentious, or comes across as trying to be.
Here is the LP track listing for sides A, B, C, and D:
- A1 Velvet Belly
- A2 The Jeweller
- A3 Ivy And Neet
- A4 Meniscus
- A5 Tears
- A6 Tarantula
- B1 My Father
- B2 Come Here My Love
- B3 At First, And Then
- B4 Strength Of Strings
- B5 Morning Glory
- C1 Inch-Blue
- C2 I Want To Live
- C3 Mama K(1)
- C4 Filigree & Shadow
- C5 Firebrothers
- C6 Thaïs(1)
- C7 I Must Have Been Blind
- C8 A Heart Of Glass
- D1 Alone
- D2 Mama K(2)
- D3 The Horizon Bleeds And Sucks Its Thumb
- D4 Drugs
- D5 Red Rain
- D6 Thaïs(2)
Friends – The debut album from London-based The Bolshoi, Friends hit record shops in late September 1986. This record boasts The Bolshoi's two best-known songs: "Sunday Morning" and "A Way" (alternatively written as "Away" on some releases). That latter song got buried on the UK Singles chart at #100, but it did chart, so that's something. Friends did get a US release, and the band expanded their touring to include the states, but it seems that neither the album nor the singles charted here. It is kind of difficult to nail down the style of The Bolshoi. They are usually categorized as post-punk or gothic rock, and sometimes lumped in generally as new wave. Think ... The Cure, but with a sneer. (I recently read that, if this album came out today, streaming algorithms would basically add it to your queue if you liked The Cure).
Now, on to the music. 🎶
Flashback #1: Filigree & Shadow (September 22, 1986)
Flashback #2: Friends (September 22, 2026)
And that's all till next week. Dedicated 80s-philes can find more flashbacks in the Prophet or Madman archives or via Bookended's 80s Flashback tag. As always, your comments are welcome on today's, or any other, flashback post. And if you like what I'm doing here, please share the link with your friends. If, however, you don't like the flashback, feel free to share it with your enemies.
See you in seven!
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