Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
The soundtrack to heaven, 3 Feb 2004
It seems funny but before this album the world had no sound like the cocteau twins - this album transformed the independent music landscape and created a new genre based on beautiful, ethereal soundscapes, backed by sinewy 3/4 drum patterns and haunting chiming guitar refrains. But that was only the start - Liz Fraser's gorgeous, haunting and evocative voice was the defining and compelling instrument which set the Cocteau's apart - at once melancholy yet uplifting, caressing yet plaintive, articulate yet mysterious - and above all simply the most beatiful voice you will ever hear. Influences from Bulgarian folk singers, Billie Holliday and even opera can be heard but nothing prepares you for it's sheer delight. This, the Cocteau's first album with their more accessible sound provides ten tracks which, in my opinion, represent the best of a long and very productive career. If you are new to the Twins it's the perfect start - despite being nearly 17 years old - if this is missing from you collection then - remedy that anomaly now. One of the best albums I have ever - and probably will ever hear - pure undiluted bliss. Enjoy
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
The start of something special, 14 May 2006
This review is the starting point of a journey to find my music and marks the start of a sporadic series of reviews to try and chart this journey and hopefully provide some pointers on the way. Not the first record I bought (anyone who says a record this good is the first record they bought is obviously a liar - mine... 'Remember your a Womble' aged 7) but the first record I bought that felt truly unique, that I felt was mine, and it instilled a need from thereon to find music that did the same.
I first saw the Cocteau Twins on The Tube perform what is still for me the defining track - 'Musette and Drums' and was awestruck. It sounded like music from another world - Liz's voice was becoming her own and Robin Guthrie was finding the sound that would become a cornerstone of my collection.
The nostalgic in me has given this album 5 stars, looking dispassionately at it now it is probably only a 4 star record, but to forget the passion I had then and still do (Lullabies to Violaine made sure of that - 'Sugar Hiccup' especially) would be to forget what made the Cocteau Twins then and now a special band. They would go on from here to make their masterpieces, for me Treasure and Victorialand plus the EPs in-between, but this is as much a landmark for me as for them and is essential.
From this point on the label 4ad could do little wrong - this was a period when you could buy a new 4ad release without even hearing it and be guaranteed something special (not only the record either, with Vaughan Oliver and 23 envelope producing some of the most beautiful artwork to grace a sleeve). Soon after they would release the much coveted This Mortal Coil album 'It'll End in Tears' which again featured Liz on 'Song to the Siren' - another remarkable performance on a remarkable record.
However I'm going to skip labels from here to another that could be relied upon for the same combination of outstanding music and beautiful artwork - that of Factory records, Peter Saville and most importantly The Durutti Column with 'Return of...' - another pivotal release from the criminally underated Vini Reilly.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Head over heels? Five ten fiftyfold!, 20 Oct 2005
The Smiths, the Bunnymen, New Order - these 80s' indie heroes are frequently cited as influences by today's bands, but the Cocteau Twins? No one ever mentions 'em. There is a reason for this of course. Liz Frazer's astonishing vocals and Robin Guthrie's miraculous guitar sounds are far harder to replicate.Many Cocteaus' fans view 'Treasure' as their creative high-water mark, but I always preferred this harder, rockier record. What I particularly love about this album is that it showed that it was possible to make BIG music without it getting all stadium-y and Simple Minds. Who would've thought that drum machines could've BOOMED so. The opening track, 'When Mama Was Moth', plunges you immediately into the Cocteaus' strange and eerie netherworld, with its huge swashes of sound and unfathomable lyrics. 'Sugar Hiccup' is especially fine, showcasing Frazer's vocals and Guthrie's expansive guitar work. Elsewhere we have the frantic stomp of 'Glass Candle Grenades', the irresistible drive of 'In Our Angelhood' and the album's closer, 'Musette And Drums,' which is one of those songs that just makes you want to lie back and HOWL!! In the words of massive fan, John Peel, truly "one that will change yer life." One critic at the time described the guitars on 'Musette...' as "sounding like a giant crying inside a mausoleum." Hyperbole, perhaps, but if you've never heard it before, it's a track to make you fall 'head over heels' in love with them.
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