22 Comments
User's avatar
Mitchell Stirling's avatar

This was on my to listen list today anyway

Expand full comment
Mitchell Stirling's avatar

The great thing about the track listing is looks like the register for a north London primary school.

Expand full comment
Kevin Alexander's avatar

Lol. Awesome.

Expand full comment
Jack Roscoe's avatar

Well they do say 'each to their own'.... to my ears this is the DEFINITIVE Cocteau Twins album which sonically and culturally is far superior to HOLV; it is creative genius where everything the CTs had been brewing came to perfection, combining those Fraser 'lyrics' with her utterly unique voice and Guthrie and Raymonde brilliantly creating a superb musical landscape.... There is so much to love and admire from this album - we even chose it as the soundtrack for the labour ward when our firstborn came into the world - even toyed with calling her one of the album names :) ; I got it on vinyl recently and it is even more brilliantly through a loud hi-fi... 'Persephone' literally shook the room. I'm about to start working on my second album which will be a darker and more expansive sound - I love the drum backing on 'Treasure' - so simple but amazingly powerful. Apparently (and I didnt know this until recently) the band used an EMU Drumulator with rock samples from John Bonham - and boy can you hear on 'Persephone' - hence the wall-shaking!!

Expand full comment
Kevin Alexander's avatar

I definitely find something new with each listen, and I love that they were sampling Bonham here! I had no idea, but it totally makes sense.

Expand full comment
Sam Colt's avatar

I'm of the opinion that "Heaven or Las Vegas" should absolutely be in the conversation as a top 10 album of the '90s. But I haven't really dug into the Cocteau Twins beyond that album. I should give this a spin.

Expand full comment
Kevin Alexander's avatar

Oh, HOLV is definitely a top 10 contender! Let me know what you think of this one once you get a chance to spin it!

Expand full comment
David Perlmutter's avatar

I'm assuming they named themselves after Jean Cocteau?

Expand full comment
Kiley Larsen's avatar

Always wish my local theater named after him had two screens so it can be referred to as Jean Cocteau Twins Cinema.

Expand full comment
Kevin Alexander's avatar

Lol. If only! At least yours had a cool name. Mine was "Westgate."

Expand full comment
Kiley Larsen's avatar

When George RR Martin buys a theater, he doesn't name it "Westgate." 😂

Expand full comment
Kevin Alexander's avatar

I'll have to do some digging, but I think they took their name from the title of a song by Simple Minds. Maybe that's an urban myth.

Expand full comment
E. Lewis's avatar

GREAT BAND.

Expand full comment
Kevin Alexander's avatar

Yes!

Expand full comment
Jeremy Shatan's avatar

An odd band for me...taped several albums from friends as they acquired them, enjoyed listening, but never bought a thing by them.

Expand full comment
E. Lewis's avatar

I didn’t even get into them until pretty recently. I remember them from the 90’s, and I listened to similar music at that time, but it took a while for me to give them a good, attentive, listen.

Expand full comment
Kevin Alexander's avatar

It's never too late! Just out of curiosity, whose similar music were you into at the time?

Expand full comment
E. Lewis's avatar

Oh man, lol! This is when I was about 13-16, so the usual time when one’s musical taste is really starting to become one’s own, (u might not yet know WHY u like A over B, but by that age u at least know WHAT u like): Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jane’s Addiction, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Joy Division, Ministry, Misfits, REM, the Clash, Sex Pistols, Sisters of Mercy (a personal favorite), Jesus & Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine, Nirvana, Rage Against..., Urge Overkill... Stuff like that. I was also into hip-hop but that’s another whole list lol

Expand full comment
Kevin Alexander's avatar

Our lists have a ton of overlap. Great minds think alike! :)

Expand full comment
Mark Nash's avatar

I’ve listened to bits of their catalog over the years (usually on some sort of compilation album) but never sat down with one of their albums. Listening to this now and will go on to HOLV later this weekend. Thanks for putting this on my radar Kevin!

Expand full comment
Kevin Alexander's avatar

Of course!

Expand full comment
Kristin DeMarr's avatar

I'm not sure how I missed this!! Cocteau Twins have been among my top favorites forever! When I came back to music after my 16 year hiatus, the first thing I did was favorite 4AD on spotify and listen to newer bands on that label because so many of my favorites from the late 80s/early 90s were on that label. The absolute worst crime I ever committed was selling my Cocteau Twins box set when I was starving in college! I did make copies and burn them onto CDs first, but still...

Expand full comment