http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFWKJ2FUiAQ The Cocteau Twins were famous for their wordlessness, as beautiful as Liz Frazer's voice was, for their first few albums she just made sounds - you could pick out the odd word, but that was usually something to do with nothing that meant anything at all. But that was the point, they didn't need words, the sound they made did the talking for them. So on a sabbatical from their day job, she and Robin Guthrie set their sights on a song by Tim Buckley, (whose son makes this list in his own right), and they unleashed something magical. This is the denial stage of grief "Swim to me, swim to me, let me enfold you, here I am, here I am, waiting to hold you." The endless waiting at the end of the shore and the hope that your siren will come back one day - coupled with the suppressed knowledge that they never will. This bird has flown. All of the songs included here have two things in common, and that is the music and the words both have to work as hard as each other to tell the story of heartbreak and 'Song to Siren' does this in spades, a minimal guitar accompanies the wonder that is her voice. To blow Tim Buckley's original version out of the water takes some doing, but this does so effortlessly.
What makes music fantastic? Star quality, amazing music, breathtaking lyrics and the ability to bring something new to the table, even if that means a new take on the classics. That's what I love to listen to and write about.
As well as writing for What Culture, I occasionally write a blog http://tedney.blogspot.co.uk and sometimes use Twitter, but sparingly @TedneyNash