The closest thing that the 4AD label had to a jam super session effort — even though the albums were anything but a jam, being so thoroughly and carefully arranged and produced — This Mortal Coil arguably achieved its apex out of the gate with the Robin Guthrie-performed/Elizabeth Fraser-sung cover of Tim Buckley’s “Song to the Siren.” But the album that followed, It’ll End in Tears, was its own dark beauty, with participants from Dead Can Dance, Modern English, Cindytalk and others blending covers and originals throughout.

– Ned Raggett