Heaven Or Las Vegas

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Raymonde wrote "Frou-Frou Foxes in Midsummer Fires" the day after his father's death, [12] and Heaven or Las Vegas straddled the two themes: "writing songs about birth, and also death, gave the record a darker side that I hear in songs like 'Cherry-Coloured Funk' and 'Fotzepolitic'". [10] Despite being in a "very good space musically" and describing the recording process as an "inspirational time", Raymonde said: "It was trying to mask all the other shit that was going on that we didn't want to stop and think about for too long". [12] In a retrospective of 4AD by music journalist Martin Aston, he noted that Fraser named the album Heaven or Las Vegas as "a suggestion of truth versus artifice, of music versus commerce, or perhaps a gamble, one last throw of the dice". [18] a b c "Heaven or Las Vegas is 26 today". Form. 17 September 2016. Archived from the original on 20 September 2016 . Retrieved 5 August 2017. Cocteau Twins – Chart History". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Archived from the original on 10 April 2015 . Retrieved 4 August 2017. a b Lindsay, Cam (10 July 2015). "An Essential Guide to Cocteau Twins". Exclaim!. Archived from the original on 12 June 2015 . Retrieved 8 August 2017. Cocteau Twins released their fifth album, Blue Bell Knoll, in 1988. Despite signing a major label deal with Capitol Records, the band declined to promote it extensively but nevertheless shot a video for "Carolyn's Fingers" which was issued as a single only in the US. The album was not supported by a tour. [10] The band brought on a manager for the first time as they had run into tax trouble previously. Watts-Russell, 4AD president at the time, reportedly "didn't care" for the new manager and his relationship with the band began to sour. [11]

Heaven or Las Vegas was listed as the 90th best album of the 1990s by Pitchfork, who complimented Fraser's more direct vocals and the album's complex songwriting. [33] It was also included in the 2008 edition of 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, [34] and in The Guardian's online edition of a similar list. [35] It was considered the band's strongest work since Treasure by AllMusic reviewer Ned Raggett, who called it "simply fantastic" and successful in creating "more accessibility". [23] a b Aston, Martin (October 1990). "The Cocteau Twins: Heaven Or Las Vegas". Q. No.49. Archived from the original on 20 June 2000 . Retrieved 15 October 2018.

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Selected items are only available for delivery via the Royal Mail 48® service and other items are available for delivery using this service for a charge. Instead, they turned all that turmoil and uncertainty into the best album of their career. Heaven or Las Vegas explodes in Technicolor from the first melty guitar chords on “ Cherry-Coloured Funk”. Every note sounds like a new and richer shade of indigo and scarlet and violet than the previous one, and it doesn’t fade until closer “ Frou-Frou Foxes in Midsummer Fires” descends into silence. If Blue Bell Knoll is spare and ambient, Heaven is supersaturated: lush without being vulgar, luxuriant without being indulgent. Tellingly, some lyrics bubble up to the surface, often loaded with personal meaning: “cherry,” “perfection,” “burn this madhouse down.” On a song called “ Pitch the Baby”, ostensibly written for—or at least sung to—the couple’s infant daughter, Fraser repeats, “I’m so happy to care for you, I only want to love you,” as a sweet lullaby. We may not always be able to understand her lyrics, but that doesn’t mean they’re not important. In fact, her lyrics would never be more vital or confessional than they are on Heaven or Las Vegas, which lends the music added emotional and conceptual heft.

Cocteau Twins – Heaven Or Las Vegas [2003 reissue]". Redsun Records (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 8 August 2017 . Retrieved 8 August 2017. a b "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. 22 September 2020 . Retrieved 22 September 2020.a b Perry, Andrew (October 1990). "Viva Las Vegas". Select. No.4. p.95. Archived from the original on 5 August 2021 . Retrieved 28 January 2023. The songs “Cherry-coloured funk,”“Pitch the baby,” and “Frou-frou foxes in midsummer fires,” were performed live with new arrangements by Elizabeth Fraser during her Meltdown Festival solo performances in 2012.

Morton, Rob (2006). Dimery, Robert (ed.). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. New York: Universe. pp. 634. ISBN 0789320746. On the other hand, its general dismissal by critics and fans as a lesser Cocteau Twins album may have less to do with the album itself and more to do with the fact that it is bookended by better and more ecstatically creative works. There are moments of disarming beauty on Blue Bell Knoll—the melting keyboards on “ Cico Buff”, the lush vocal layering of “ Athol-Brose”, the shooting-stars opening of “ A Kissed Out Red Floatboat”, Raymonde’s syncopated bass trudge of “ The Itchy Glowblo Blow”, the whatever that is at the end of “ Spooning Good Singing Gum” (I think it might be a herd of lovelorn goats playing saxophones). But the standout is “ Carolyn’s Fingers”, which would become the Cocteau Twins’ first American single. The band never utilized its rhythm section to better effect: Against Guthrie’s crisp guitar line, that churning momentum pushes Fraser’s vocals to greater and greater heights, her unexpected swoops and eloquently rolled consonants creating a bewildering indie-pop aria. The band took on new familial responsibilities as bassist Simon Raymonde married his first wife, Karen, and vocalist Elizabeth Fraser was expecting her first child with guitarist and co-founder Robin Guthrie. [12] The latter's cocaine habit previously "escalated" during the recording process for Blue Bell Knoll; [13] Fraser and Raymonde believed that the new baby would prove a diversion from Guthrie's dependency and allow the pair to "play [as] happy families." [12] Their wishes did not pan out, with Guthrie relying heavily on drugs as the band developed Heaven or Las Vegas, causing him to experience "deep" paranoia and mood swings. [13] [10] His relationship with Fraser grew increasingly strained as a result. [14] Pitchfork Staff (28 September 2022). "The 150 Best Albums of the 1990s". Pitchfork . Retrieved 26 April 2023. By 1990, when Cocteau Twins released Heaven or Las Vegas—their final album for 4AD, the independent UK label that had shepherded their journey from post-punk mystics to ambient-pop dream-weavers...Bambarger, Bradley (6 April 1996). "Radio Climate Could Boost Capitol's Cocteau Twins". Billboard. Vol.104, no.14. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. p.14. ISSN 0006-2510 . Retrieved 4 August 2017. Music Direct reserves the right to select the carrier and ship method within the terms of this offer. Anyhow…. the CD sounds pretty good for a 1990 release, with surprising warmth for what is probably by then an all digital release (I am guessing here, folks).