Lloyd Cole

Cole was born in Buxton, Derbyshire, England.[2] He grew up in nearby Chapel-en-le-Frith and went to New Mills Grammar School[3] and later attended Runshaw College in Leyland. He studied a year of law at University College London but switched to the University of Glasgow, where he studied philosophy and English, and also met the future members of The Commotions.[4]

The Commotions' 1984 debut, Rattlesnakes, contained literary and pop culture references to such figures as Arthur Lee, Norman Mailer, Grace Kelly, Eva Marie Saint, Simone de Beauvoir, Truman Capote and Joan Didion. The group produced two more albums, Easy Pieces and Mainstream, before disbanding in 1989,[1] when Cole relocated to New York City and recorded with various artists, including Fred Maher, Robert Quine and Matthew Sweet.[5]

This solo setting produced two albums, Lloyd Cole in 1990 and Don't Get Weird on Me Babe in 1991.[1] The latter was recorded in two parts: one side continued the New York rock of his first solo album, while the other side featured a session orchestra, much in the style of Burt Bacharach or Scott Walker. Although some reviewers have claimed Don't Get Weird on Me Babe (the title being a quotation from the American minimalist writer Raymond Carver) to be a creative peak, it produced significantly fewer record sales. While he remained with Polydor as his record label, the US distribution contract with Capitol Records ended. (US rights were immediately picked up by Rykodisc.)

His song "Downtown" (from Lloyd Cole, 1990) was featured in the movie Bad Influence (1990) – starring Rob Lowe and James Spader – while "Pay For It" (from Don't Get Weird On Me Babe, 1991) was on the soundtrack of When The Party's Over, starring Sandra Bullock.

Cole continued redefining his sound with Bad Vibes (1993),[1] a collaboration with producer/remixer Adam Peters, using a harder sound. Love Story (1995) established stripped-down, largely acoustic sound landscapes with the help of Stephen Street (known for his work with Blur and The Smiths) and former Commotion Neil Clark; the album produced a minor hit with the song "Like Lovers Do", affording Cole a mid-90s appearance on Top of the Pops. The album's song Let's Get Lost would later be used in the movie Danny Deckchair (Jeff Balsmeyer, 2003). However, following a massive purge of the artist roster that came with Universal Music's takeover of PolyGram and Cole's disappointment with the label, his contract was terminated, despite at least two full-length recordings being locked in its vaults (later released in 2002 by One Little Indian).

In 1998 Cole's song "Margo's Waltz" (off 1991's Don't Get Weird On Me Babe album) was featured in the movie There's Something About Mary.

In 1997 and 1998 Cole played with some New York musicians under the name The Negatives.[6] The group consisted of Jill Sobule, Dave Derby of the Dambuilders, Mike Kotch and Rafa Maciejak, who recorded an eponymous CD, released mainly in Western Europe and North America. He has since released solo albums on smaller independent labels. Sanctuary Records released Music in a Foreign Language (2003) in the UK. Recorded largely by Cole himself (including tracks recorded directly onto a Mac), the songs had a stark, folk-inspired singer-songwriter style. The album was released in the U.S. by the One Little Indian label, which also collected a number of outtakes (recorded from 1996 to 2000) on 2002's Etc. and released an instrumental ambient electronica album, Plastic Wood, the same year. Music in a Foreign Language's title track and My Other Life would later be used in Eytan Fox's movie Ha-Buah (The Bubble, 2006).

In 2004, to mark the 20th anniversary of the release of Rattlesnakes, Lloyd Cole and the Commotions reformed to perform a one-off tour of the UK and Ireland which generated some media interest, mostly in UK broadsheets. The reformation was never intended to be permanent, and Cole released another solo album in 2006, Antidepressant, using his usual home recording outfit by playing all the instruments himself with friends like Sobule, Derby and the guitar work of former Commotion Neil Clark on some tracks.[7] The follow-up Broken Record, released in September 2010, marked a departure from his solo recordings, as it was performed by a band of longstanding friends and working partners, including Fred Maher, Joan Wasser, Rainy Orteca, Dave Derby and Blair Cowan – as well as two musicians, Matt Cullen (guitar; banjo) and Mark Schwaber (guitar; mandolin), with whom Cole tours, billed as 'Lloyd Cole Small Ensemble'. The recording of the album was entirely financed by advance purchases by his fans and contributions from Tapete Records, which later distributed the album and also oversaw and negotiated the rights to release a boxed set with his complete collection of b-sides, alternative takes and previously unreleased material, under the title Cleaning Out the Ashtrays.

A further album co-funded by fans, Standards, was released in June 2013, and includes contributions from Fred Maher and Matthew Sweet,[8] Blair Cowan (The Commotions) and Joan Wasser (a.k.a. Joan As Police Woman). The critically acclaimed album returned Lloyd Cole to the UK Album Top 75 for the first time since 1999. In February 2013 a new album of electronic music by Cole and Hans-Joachim Roedelius was released.[9]

In 2016 Cole went on tour with The Leopards to celebrate the release of the Lloyd Cole and the Commotions Collected Recordings 1983–1988 box set. Live album Lloyd Cole and the Leopards – Live at Brooklyn Bowl was released through his website along with several live recordings of shows he performed with his son William on guitar.

In early 2017 the single Man on the Verge was released as a taster for the Lloyd Cole in New York – Collected Recordings 1988–1996 box set.

A new studio album, Guesswork, was released on 26 July 2019 by earMUSIC. The electronic sounding album featured contributions from a.o. Fred Maher and former Commotions Blair Cowan and Neil Clark. The album was received very positively by both fans and press (MOJO 4 stars, Q Magazine 4 stars, Uncut 7/10). It was pronounced Album of the Week by the UK's Independent. On iTunes it entered at No. 2 in France, No. 4 in UK and No. 5 in Germany. In Sweden it went to No. 1. On his Facebook-page Lloyd wrote on the day of release: "Career wise (ie family stuff excepted) this is the happiest I've been since Rattlesnakes charted at #13 in 1984 or was it #14? This record took a lot out of me. I'm happy it seems to be doing what I hoped it would do."

Cole is on tour frequently, playing small club venues in a one-man acoustic setting and presenting rock songs from his past career remodelled as simple folk songs. He interacts extensively with the audience and some songs are told rather than played, in a manner like spoken word or comedy. Performances recorded in April 2008 at Whelan's in Dublin and in 2003 in Bremen (also broadcast by Radio Bremen) were used for two live albums called the Folksinger series.[10] In 2010 he formed a small ensemble consisting of American musicians Mark Schwaber and Matt Cullen and, in October and November of that year, completed an extensive tour of Europe. Further tours of New Zealand and Australia and Europe followed in 2011. In autumn 2016, Cole undertook a short tour of the UK and Europe, titled 'The Retrospective', playing acoustic versions of songs written between 1983 and 1996.

Cole married his American wife, Elizabeth Lewis, in December 1989.[11] They live in Easthampton, Massachusetts, USA with their two sons.[12]

Cole's parents were golf club stewards and he is an avid golfer. Cole's 5.3 handicap tied 11th place on Golf Digest's top 100 list of musicians with Alice Cooper and Dan Tyminski.[13] An article he wrote, about playing the famous golf courses of the Melbourne Sandbelt while being on tour, was awarded with the Best Feature of the Year Award by the Australian Golf Writers Association.[14]

Cole has recorded and performed a number of songs by Marc Bolan: "Children of the Revolution", "The Slider", "Mystic Lady" and "Romany Soup". Cole has also covered "I'm Not Willing" by Moby Grape; "Famous Blue Raincoat", "Tower of Song" and "Chelsea Hotel" by Leonard Cohen; "People Ain't No Good" by Nick Cave; "Vicious" by Lou Reed; "I Don't Believe You", "She Belongs to Me", "You're a Big Girl Now", "I Threw it All Away" ", "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" (Black session live) and "Most of the Time" by Bob Dylan; "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?" by The Beatles; "Waterloo Sunset" by The Kinks;[15] "Human" by The Human League (with Stephin Merritt's 6ths); "Being Boring" by Pet Shop Boys; "Believe" by Cher; "Glory" by Television; "If I Were a Carpenter", "Lady Came From Baltimore", and "Reason To Believe" by Tim Hardin; "Pocket Calculator" by Kraftwerk; "I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself" by Burt Bacharach; "These Days" by Jackson Browne (not to be confused with Cole's own song "These Days" on Mainstream); "Rock 'n' Roll Ain't Noise Pollution" by AC/DC; "Please Don't Tell Me How This Story Ends" by Kris Kristofferson; "Memphis" by Karen Black; and "Chinese Translation" by M. Ward. His versions often differ significantly in arrangement to the originals.

Cole's "Rattlesnakes" has been covered by Tori Amos, while Sandie Shaw has recorded a version of "(Are You) Ready to Be Heartbroken?".[16]

In 2006, Scottish band Camera Obscura released the song "Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken" as an answer song to Cole's 1984 hit "(Are You) Ready to Be Heartbroken?".

• 1990: Lloyd Cole (UK No. 11, Sweden No. 6, Australia No. 49, Germany #38)
• 1991: Don't Get Weird on Me Babe (UK No. 21, Sweden #7)
• 1993: Bad Vibes (UK No. 38, Sweden #8)
• 1995: Love Story (UK No. 27, Sweden #9)
• 1998: Collection (UK No. 24, Sweden #56)
• 2001: Plastic Wood
• 2001: Negatives
• 2001: Etc.
• 2001: 2001 – Collected Recordings by Lloyd Cole
• 2003: Music in a Foreign Language
• 2006: Antidepressant (Sweden #20; France #152)
• 2009: Cleaning Out the Ashtrays (4-CDs of B-sides and rarities collection)
• 2009: Radio Bremen: Folksinger Volume 1 (live recording)
• 2009: The Whelan: Folksinger Volume 2 (live recording)
• 2010: Broken Record (Sweden #12, Germany #58[17])
• 2013: Standards (Sweden No. 22, UK No. 74, Germany #98)
• 2015: 1D
• 2019: Guesswork (UK No. 75;[18] Germany No. 93, Switzerland #84)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lloyd Cole.

• Official website
• Lloyd Cole at AllMusic