Cocteau Twins remasters news
02 April 04
Last year, their first four albums by the Cocteau Twins were reissued by 4AD having been remastered by Robin Guthrie and featuring repackaged artwork. The remaining two albums 'Blue Bell Knoll' and 'Heaven Or Las Vegas' have been given the same treatment and are released on the 5th April as mid-price releases for the very first time.
BLUE BELL KNOLL
With the Cocteau Twins signing an American deal with Capitol Records to co-release 1988's sophisticated 'Blue Bell Knoll', their commercial viability was greatly increased. It did not, however, alter their identity to make their music any more mainstream or any less enigmatic.
To their credit, tracks like 'Carolyn's Fingers', with Elizabeth Fraser's giddy arabesques, 'The Itchy Glowbo Blow' and the implied funk of 'A Kissed Out Red Floatboat' are archetypal Twins' efforts. The Cocteaus had ground their soft-focus soundscapes with low-key, bass-driven rhythm tracks; a strategy that nicely enhanced their music’s appeal.
tracklisting
Blue Bell Knoll
Athol-Brose
Carolyn's Fingers
For Phoebe Still A Baby
The Itchy Glowbo Blow
Cico Buff
Suckling The Mender
Spooning Good Singing Gun
A Kissed Out Red Floatboat
Ella Megalast Burls Forever
HEAVEN OR LAS VEGAS
Heaven or Las Vegas was like a beacon in the fog - more than any other release in the Cocteau Twins catalogue - it made a sincere attempt to cut through the group’s impregnable atmospherics to convey a more concise message. While the true intent of tracks like 'Iceblink Luck', and 'Cherry-Coloured Funk' remain anyones guess, they were performed with a renewed sense of focus and urgency.
Heaven or Las Vegas is considered by critics and fans alike to have captured the Cocteaus at their creative and musical peak. This album was written while Elizabeth Fraser was pregnant with her first child by husband, musical partner, and leader of the Twins, Robin Guthrie. Many speculated that her condition may have had something to do with the joy and spiritual radiance of her voice on this album.
tracklisting
Cherry-coloured Funk
Pitch The Baby
Iceblink Luck
Fifty-Fifty Clown
Heaven Or Las Vegas
I Wear Your Ring
Fotzepolitic
Wolf In The Breast
Road, River and Rail
Frou-frou Foxes in Midsummer Fires