discography between the band’s earlier, more ethereal work and their later pop-oriented records. But it should also be seen as a terrific little pop album that hits all the right notes.Blue Bell Knollmay not be the Twins’ most challenging work, but it is certainly among their most satisf...
Treasure Hiding was mastered at Abbey Road, from the original tapes, and approved by the Cocteaus’ founding member, Robin Guthrie. Housed in a study box designed by James Isaacs, the set is completed with a booklet, featuring photos and a discography from the era plus sleeve notes by noted...
Cocteau Twins: Blue Bell Knoll (1988) Though it was once seen as the stopover en route to Cocteau Twins’ 1990 masterpiece, Heaven or Las Vegas, Blue Bell Knoll occupies its own wondrous space in the band’s canon. It’s the sound of the dream-pop trio exploring musical terrain beyond...
“I think it’s dark and it looks like rain,” Robert Smith’s love observes in the greatest weather prediction in rock since John Fogerty got portentous 20 years earlier, and really, by the Cocteau Twins-like first chord, you’re already soaked. There’s not a ton of song to “...
star who makes tear-jerking alt-R&B. But as Apollo, who asked Buckingham to join him for Musicians on Musicians, puts it: “I got layers, you know?” (That’s evident as the singer jumps between playing the Cocteau Twins and norteño legend Ramón Ayala during the duo’s photo shoot...
45)Cocteau Twins– You could argue that my personal bias is showing here. After all, the Cocteau Twins never really had much mainstream success. But they certainly changed alternative music forever. In fact, I’d argue that the Cocteau Twins were the first true dream pop band (unlike say,...
Cocteau Twins: “Cherry-Coloured Funk” (1990) Cocteau Twins entered the ’90s with birth (Elizabeth Fraser and Robin Guthrie’s daughter), death (Simon Raymonde’s father), agony (Guthrie’s substance abuse), and success (their highest charting U.S. single, “Carolyn’s Fingers”). This ...
It was today ten years ago that I declare when The Spangle Maker was started. I believe the rationale behind it was that it had to do with the Craigslist posting asking for a female vocalist. The original intent was to start a dream pop group in the tradition of Cocteau Twins (hence th...
Artistically, Feeding the Flame is considered to be their finest work and hints at a potential that could have elevated them to the status of their contemporaries The Chameleons, The Cocteau Twins and Modern English. But tensions within the band caused a complete disintegration, with Tristan Garel...
Indeed they do, and these sessions, self-financed by Lee without any label interference, are pretty different from the majority of the releases in the influential group's discography, but definitely something special. Lee is in fine voice throughout, and the songs are absolutely solid, with ...