The Cocteau Twins/Faye Wong - rare collaboration - "The Amusement Park"

Is this possibly the most obscure Cocteau Twins track ever?

Faye Wong (王菲 Wang Fei) (b. 1969) is a Chinese singer who collaborated with the Cocteau Twins in the 1990s. In 1996 she released the album "Fu Zao" (浮躁), usually translated as "Restless" or "Impatience". The Cocteau Twins wrote two original songs for her, "Fracture" (分裂)(which was later "covered" by Cocteau Twins as "Tranquil Eye") and "Repressing Happiness" (掃興) (later covered by Cocteau Twins as "Touch Upon Touch"). Both of these are available elsewhere on Youtube, and are often described as "Chinese versions".

For the Cocteau Twins purist who has yet to hear any decent cover of their work, Faye Wong is perhaps the only singer who can come close to reimagining the unique sound of Elizabeth Fraser's wonderful vocals. It certainly helps that she has worked so closely with Robin Guthrie and Simon Raymonde. Before working with them on "Fu Zao" she had covered their work ("Bluebeard", retitled "Random Thinking", and "Know Who You are at Every Age" as "Know Oneself And Each Other"), and had even recorded vocals for a special duet version of "Serpentskirt" on the Asian release of the group's 1996 album, "Milk And Kisses".

In 1997 she released the eponymous "Faye Wong" album for EMI (王菲). Guthrie and Raymonde wrote two original compositions for the album, but only one, "The Amusement Park" (娛樂場), was used. The album also included an acoustic cover of the Cocteau Twins' "Rilkean Heart", renamed "Nostalgia" (懷念) (live versions can be found on Youtube.)

"The Amusement Park" does not appear to have its own Youtube appearance, so here it is at last, perhaps the most obscure Cocteau Twins track ever. The video is made up of images from the video for "Crushed" by The Cocteau Twins and two by Faye Wong, "Know Oneself And Each Other" and "Repressing Happiness".

Please note that copyright on the music and images is held by Faye Wong, Elizabeth Fraser, Robin Guthrie, Simon Raymonde and their various publishing and record companies. This purposely low-res video has been created so as to make fans aware of the great music produced by all of them.