In One Ear

Cocteau Twins, Ivor and Me

Simon Raymonde

• Publisher: Nine Eight Books
• Year: 2024
• eBook ISBN:
  9781788709378
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Music Biographies

A Rough Trade Book of the Year
A Resident Book of the Year
A Classic Pop Book of the Year

Nominated for the 2025 Association for Recorded Sound Collections Awards for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research

'A wonderful book' ELTON JOHN

'Beautiful, insightful and honest' CILLIAN MURPHY

'A love letter to a charmed life lived through music' OBSERVER

As one-third of seminal band Cocteau Twins, Simon Raymonde helped to create some of the most beautiful and memorable albums of the '80s and '90s - music that continues to cast a spell over millions. This is the story of the band, in his words.

Beginning with Simon's remarkable childhood and exploring his relationship with his father, Ivor Raymonde (the legendary producer, musician and arranger for acts such as the Walker Brothers and songwriter for artists including Dusty Springfield), the book will journey through the musician's rise to prominence and his time with Cocteau Twins and This Mortal Coil.

It will also chart the successful career he has forged running his own label, Bella Union, for the past twenty-seven years, discovering, developing and working with globally renowned artists like Beach House, Fleet Foxes, Father John Misty and John Grant. And the narrative will lead us back to the present day, reflecting on Simon's most recent experiences in the music industry - all while going deaf in one ear.

A must-read for music fans, this is the incredible tale of Simon's life and legacy.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Praise for In One Ear
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• Contents
• Introduction
• Chapter One: School
• Chapter Two: The Dawning of an Age
• Chapter Three: 1979
• Chapter Four: Stan
• Chapter Five: In the Beginning
• Chapter Six: BBC
• Chapter Seven: This Mortal Coil
• Chapter Eight: Japan
• Chapter Nine: Acton
• Chapter Ten: The Greatest
• Chapter Eleven: September Sound
• Chapter Twelve: Birth, Death and Vegas
• Chapter Thirteen: A Bit of Old Wood
• Chapter Fourteen: Trouble at Mill
• Chapter Fifteen: Fish out of Water
• Chapter Sixteen: ‘Let’s Start a Label’
• Chapter Seventeen: UPS
• Chapter Eighteen: Mexico City
• Chapter Nineteen: 2001: Aerospace Oddity
• Halfway to Paradise: The Ballad of Ivor Raymonde
• Chapter Twenty: Bella Union: Early Years
• Chapter Twenty-One: John and Josh
• Chapter Twenty-Two: Montreal
• Chapter Twenty-Three: Brighton
• Chapter Twenty-Four: The Flaming Lips
• Chapter Twenty-Five: Mum
• Chapter Twenty-Six: Shaken to the Core
• Chapter Twenty-Seven: Scott
• Acknowledgements
• Plates