Lloyd Cole and the Commotions

Infobox musical artist
Name = Lloyd Cole and the Commotions

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Img_capt = Lloyd Cole and the Commotions (October 2004)
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Origin = Glasgow, Scotland
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Years_active = 1982-1989;2004
Label = Polydor
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Current_members = Lloyd Cole
Blair Cowan
Lawrence Donegan
Neil Clark
Stephen Irvine
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Lloyd Cole and the Commotions were a popular British pop music band of the mid-1980s, based in Glasgow, Scotland.

Line-up:
* Lloyd Cole, vocal and guitar, lyricist - (born January 31 1961)
* Blair Cowan, keyboards
* Lawrence Donegan, bass guitar
* Neil Clark, guitar - (born July 3 1955)
* Stephen Irvine, drums - (born December 16 1959, in Scotland)Also:
* Derek MacKillop, manager, was listed an official group member on the group's three LPs. However, MacKillop did not feature in any group photographs, nor did he play on any albums.

Formed in 1982 and signed to Polydor in 1984, the band was known for combining Clark's encyclopedic, yet often twangy, guitar savvy with Cole's low-key singing style. Their auspicious debut effort "Rattlesnakes" (1984) was initially dismissed as a "student bedsit classic", but now is regularly citedFact|date=April 2008 as one of the important works in rock music (and is much revered as a student bedsit classic...). NME included in its top 100 album of all times list and the title track was also covered by Tori Amos. Manic Street Preachers included "Rattlesnakes" amongst their top ten albums of all times.

Paul Hardiman gave "Rattlesnakes" a clean and elegant production, and Anne Dudley (who had scored "The Lexicon of Love" for ABC) was brought in to provide the album's much-noted orchestrations. The album was scored with a keen desire to keep it elegant and avoid "schmaltz", and string arrangements began coming back into rock music in the years following its release. Due to insistence by their label, the follow-up, "Easy Pieces", was produced by the Clive Langer & Alan Winstanley production team (who had shaped efforts by Madness and Teardrop Explodes and were hot off working with Elvis Costello and the Attractions on "Punch the Clock") "Clanger" as they would become known, applied their established '80s britpop sound to the Easy Pieces recordings, making for a dramatic contrast between the two works. It contained their biggest commercial success, the single "Lost Weekend", which made #17 in the UK charts. The swansong of the Commotions, somewhat provocatively titled "Mainstream" was produced by the group and Ian Stanley, keyboard-player of Tears for Fears.

Particularly notable were Cole's knowingly pretentious lyrics (he was studying Philosophy at the University of Glasgow when the band started) and namedropping the likes of Norman Mailer, Leonard Cohen, Arthur Lee, Grace Kelly, Truman Capote, Simone de Beauvoir, Nancy Sinatra, and Eva Marie Saint as well as referring to Sean Penn (somewhat sympathetically) as "Mr. Madonna".

For a period in the mid-1980s, The Commotions were one of the most successful indie acts in Britain (despite being on a major label, Polydor), vying with The Smiths. The band broke up in 1989 amid reports of personality clashes between members. The band reformed in 2004 to perform a 20th anniversary mini-tour of the UK and Ireland.

Post-breakup careers

* Lloyd Cole moved to New York City and later to New England to pursue a solo career with Polydor/Capitol Records and later appeared on Rykodisc before establishing self-published entities in the United States. His solo career has found him collaborating with the late Robert Quine, Fred Maher, David Derby and Jill Sobule. He can often be found touring solo with acoustic guitar and commenting wryly as he performs with characteristic sardonicism.
* Neil Clark continued working with Lloyd Cole on almost all of his solo releases and full band tours. He was also member of the short-lived group Bloomsday, with Stephen Irvine of the Commotions and Chris Thomson of The Bathers.
* Blair Cowan collaborated with Lloyd Cole and his new backing band in New York on Cole's first two solo albums. He played with Del Amitri, Paul Quinn and the Independent Group, the Kevin McDermott Orchestra and Texas but is today an IT-specialist at British Telecom.
* Lawrence Donegan is a journalist and an author - he is a golf journalist and Scotland correspondent for The Guardian and published several non-fiction titles, including "No News at Throat Lake" and "Four Iron in the Soul".
* Stephen Irvine joined Neil Clark in the group Bloomsday and as a session musician with Del Amitri, Etienne Daho and Sarah Cracknell. He is also managing artists and bands.

Discography

The band released three studio albums and several best-of compilations:
*"Rattlesnakes" (1984, #13 UK), includes the hit singles "Perfect Skin" (#26 in UK), "Forest Fire" (#41 in UK) and "Rattlesnakes" (#65 in UK, #31 in the Netherlands)
*"Easy Pieces" (1985, #5 UK), includes the hit singles "Brand New Friend" (#19 in UK), "Lost Weekend" (#17 in UK) and "Cut Me Down" (#38 in UK)
*"Mainstream" (1987, #9 UK), includes the hit singles "My Bag" (#46 in UK), "Jennifer She Said" (#31 in UK) and "From The Hip" (#59 in UK)
*"1984-1989" (1989, #14 UK), first official compilation
*"Lloyd Cole. The Commotions. The Singles" (2004), second official compilation
*"Rattlesnakes" (2004), a Universal Records "Deluxe" re-issue with extra tracks and bonus CD
*"Live at the Apollo, London" (2004), official concert registration by InstantLive records