Blue Bell Knoll
"From start to finish, it's a record that gleams with grace and emotion; chiming, mournful guitars and layered tapestry of sounds evoke a vast array of imagery, and five minutes into the album you're no longer listening to Robert Smith of The Cure's favourite band, you're listening to soaring gulls, golden skies and incomprehensible stratospheric heights, all contained beneath the arc of your own imagination." — Gen Williams, Drowned in Soundhttp://drownedinsound.com/releases/4811/reviews/5580-
"Arguably their second essential album after 'Head Over Heels', this record bursts with euphoric greatness. Liz Frazer's vocals are at their acrobatic best from her opera-style trilling on 'Carolyn's Fingers' to the Karen Carpenter-style intonations on the blissful 'Cico Buff'." — Johnathan Leonard, Leonard's Lairhttp://www.leonardslair.co.uk/bluebell.htm
updated 2010-12-09 04:53:53
comments: 0
Head Over Heels (1983 album)
"Losing original member Heggie might at first have seemed a troubling blow, but in fact it allowed the duo of Fraser and Guthrie to transcend the darkened one-note gloom of Garlands with Head Over Heels. The album introduces a variety of different shadings and approaches to the incipient Cocteaus sound, pointing the band towards the exultant, elegant beauty of later releases." — Ned Raggett, All Music Guidehttp://www.allmusic.com/album/head-over-heels-r4255/review
"By the time of Head Over Heels, Robin Guthrie has developed into a masterful producer and guitarist, building oceanic panoramas from heavily-effected guitar overdubs and sputtering drum machines. Elizabeth Fraser is no longer the sheepish mumbling girl-child of Garlands. She has grown into a powerful feminine presence capable of shredding hearts and brains with only her voice, but wise and benevolent enough to exercise restraint." — Cody Gassier, Cody-Gassier.comhttp://cody-gaisser.com/cocteautwins.html
updated 2011-01-12 19:54:59
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Heaven or Las Vegas
"All over the record Guthrie's guitars writhe and buck like watercolor ponies. They often burst on the scene without warning, like on "Fotzepolitic" when Guthrie holds back, holds back, then wham–drops one of his keenest solos, a full-throated rasp every bit as emotive as one of Fraser's famed ululations." — Anthony Strain, Treblehttp://treblezine.com/reviews/2739-Cocteau_Twins_Heaven_Or_Las_Vegas.html
"Deciding to scale back the overly pretty sound on Blue Bell Knoll while experimenting with more accessibility -- -- the Twins ended up creating their best album since Treasure. From the start, Heaven... is simply fantastic..." — Ned Raggett, All Music Guidehttp://www.allmusic.com/album/heaven-or-las-vegas-r4258/review
updated 2011-01-06 05:24:38
comments: 0
Milk & Kisses
"And so to what now appears to be the final Cocteau Twins' album. 1996's 'Milk & Kisses' saw a return to a more vibrant sound and Fraser's unintelligible lyrics. Strangely, for a finale, the mood is largely celebratory as a band soon to call it a day seem more alive than ever in both invention and demeanor." — Johnathan Leonard, Leonard's Lairhttp://www.leonardslair.co.uk/milkandkisses.htm
"Still unique in a new age-friendly world they helped spawn, the Cocteaus return to the rapturous style of old after the failed mainstream bid of Four-Calendar Cafe (1993). What was once minimal and meandering is now an ornate spiderweb of riffs, rich beats, and Liz Fraser's ghostly vocalese on beauties like "Serpentskirt," and "Calfskin Smack." — Jeff Bateman, Amazon.comhttp://www.amazon.com/Milk-Kisses-Cocteau-Twins/dp/B000002U3K
updated 2011-01-11 05:20:17
comments: 0
Slowdive
"I always thought we made good records, some better than others, but I think when we started the idea of anyone listening to our records this far down the road would have seemed pretty nuts.." &mdash Neil Halstead, interview with Drowned in Soundhttp://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4136653-shoegaze-week--dis-meets-neil-halstead
"I feel very happy to have been part of something musical that has influenced how people make music or even just listen to it. I remember hearing My Bloody Valentine and The Cocteau Twins and thinking "this is the sound I want to make" so I am delighted to be associated with something so positive and inspiring." &mdash Simon Scott, interview with Drowned in Soundhttp://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4136609
updated 2010-10-25 11:58:46
comments: 0
Souvlaki (album)
"A significant chunk of Souvlaki wound up on Catch the Breeze, but anyone hoping the remainder was forgettable is out of luck: Even as collaborator Brian Eno led this album off into a few dub-deep explorations, Halstead's pop songwriting hit a peak, and the album's tracks wound up good-as-"Alison" almost straight across. (Same goes for the cover of "Some Velvet Morning" on the bonus disc-- just Slowdive putting the swirl on someone else's dreamy, narcotic country songwriting.)" — Nitsuh Abebe, Pitchforkhttp://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/11841-just-for-a-day-souvlaki-pygmalion/
"Hard to imagine now but at the time of its release 'Souvlaki' was described by the music press as a "soulless void" and "pretty but unfulfilled" yet nowadays it is accorded special praise amongst shoegazing fans as something approaching a masterpiece. Quite right too but moreover 'Souvlaki' is an ambitious, diverse record which is as nightmarish as it is dreamy and as forceful as it is gentle." — Jonathan Leonard, Leonard's Lairhttp://www.leonardslair.co.uk/souvlaki.htm
updated 2010-12-23 04:35:52
comments: 0
Loveless (1991 album)
"To call Loveless the best shoegazer album of all time would be true, but doesn't scratch the surface of just how mesmerizing it is. To call this the best rock album of the '90s would also be accurate, but still doesn't quite cover it. My Bloody Valentine recorded a perfect album in Loveless, but even saying that isn't enough. Quite simply, My Bloody Valentine's Loveless is the perfect album." — Jeff Terich, Treblehttp://www.treblezine.com/reviews/2758-My_Bloody_Valentine_Loveless.html
"Yet here, still, My Bloody Valentine sound wide open to the universe, the opposite of blank, the opposite of bland, and their historical significance can go hang, because everything that's ever happened, or ever will, is happening right here and right now in the best of this extraordinary music." — Taylor Parkes, The Quietushttp://thequietus.com/articles/00081-my-bloody-valentine-isnt-anything-and-lovelessreissues-reviewed
updated 2011-02-01 23:58:45
comments: 0
Victorialand
"Certain songs and records are potently evocative of places, times, and seasons — no rock record so perfectly conjures the chill and gothic wonder of winter than Victorialand. The Cocteau Twins made an entire career playing indistinct, dark guitar pop and none of their work brings the shivers quite like this album." — Brett Warner, Ology.comhttp://ology.com/music/record-rewind-victorialand-cocteau-twins
"Rhythms are subtler, with bass and drum machine often totally eschewed in favor of Guthrie's delicate guitar filigrees and lush, produced textures. Fraser is, as always, in wonderfully fine voice; her words are quite indecipherable, but the feelings are no less strong for it." — Ned Raggett, All Music Guidehttp://www.allmusic.com/album/victorialand-r4256/review
updated 2010-12-11 21:18:35
comments: 0
The Moon and Melodies
"Budd's use of spacious treated piano and keyboard sounds (influenced by a previous collaborator, Brian Eno) combines with the Cocteau Twins' shimmering waves of guitars and Elizabeth Fraser's layered wordless vocals to create what amounts to a soundtrack to a dream about sleeping, with saxophones courtesy of Richard Thomas (of the now defunct Dif Juz) breathing further life into the music. Too bland to be the best introduction to the music of either, but a welcome addition to the collections of fans of both." — Peter Stepek, All Music Guidehttp://www.allmusic.com/album/the-moon-and-the-melodies-r2895
"Not exactly a Cocteau Twins album proper, rather a collaboration with composer Harold Budd. Eight songs here, several of which are entirely instrumental and lean more towards the Harold Budd side of things. Other songs sound like regular Cocteau Twins, albeit not as inspired as anything from 'Treasure' or 'Victorialand'. A few other things sound like interesting, if not quite executed seamlessly, amalgamations of the two." — Adrian Denning, AdrianDenning.co.ukhttp://www.adriandenning.co.uk/cocteautwins.html
