Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas

["HTCFC(BC" <ash@tcom.stc.co.uk>]

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A Small Recommendation for the new Cocteau Twins album 
  "Heaven or Las Vegas" on 4AD (Cad 0012 cd)...
UK Release date - 17/09/90
CD length - just a shade under 38 minutes.
Suddenly the Cocteaus have hit the big time!...the general public/press
are going really wild about what they believe is a 'new phenomenon' in
British music....."Iceblink Luck", the current single and I believe, the
first single the Cocteaus have taken from an album (a bit of useless trivia),
has hit the UK charts at Number 38 having been put on the Radio 1 'A' 
playlist (Radio 1 - the most popular national radio station - certainly
NOT the best station, except for shows like the John Peel shows).

So, what about the album? ..............on first listening
one might think that it is the natural progression from the last album;
"Blue Bell Knoll", in that the Cocteaus seem to be "lightening up"; a
conscious overall change of mood from 'dark and sombre with the occasional
ray of sunshine beaming through' (<-- pre Blue Bell..) to a feeling of
bright sunshine with the threat of occassional storms (am I trying to
be too clever for my own good!).

"Heaven or Las Vegas" opens with 'Cherry-coloured funk' a repetitive single bass
note/bass drum beat dominating this track with Liz Fraser's voice hovering low
and then soaring way up high and fluttering at the peak....THAT voice!...the
tingling of my spine....'Pitch the baby' comes next with a simple sequencer
intro, heavily flanged instruments and yet again Liz's voice 'darting below
water for the most part and every now and again shoot up above water in
sheer delight'. 'Iceblink Luck', the single, ACTUALLY sounds like a single
in format...verse, chorus, verse, chorus, middle-8, chorus etc. BUT there's
nothing like it in the charts! 'Fifty-Fifty clown' brings to home the fact
that whereas in the past, the Cocteau's music has provided the general mood
and the voice has been the dominating factor, on THIS album, the music
by Guthrie and Raymonde has been the most diverse yet...more use of spacey
synths, more variations of mood within each piece and at times the music
is fighting with Liz's voice for dominance. The title track 'Heaven or 
Las Vegas' is an up tempo song which travels in different directions in 
moods but never reaches a destination.

'I wear your ring' is my fave track so far (I've only heard the CD 3 times
so basically my comments are first impressions), Liz's sings at an
exact military tempo and then swoops in and out of time in the 'chorus'.
'Fotzepolitic' and 'Wolf in the breast' seem to be more personal songs in
that the music is lower keyed allowing Liz's singing/breathing to be
heard clearly. Liz has had a baby recently and you know that she wants
to tell everyone....phrases like '...baby cries..' and '...mother's
daughter...' can be heard amongst the ethereal vocal lines....I know that
the following statement with sound blasphemous to certain people but
in these 2 songs, she does come across as having an upper pitch vocal lines
similar to Kate Bush's and a lower range vocal lines similar to Chrissie
Hynde's...sorry to those that I have offended....'Road, river and rail'
is a more sombre piece with Liz's voice floating and bobbling on. The
final track 'Frou-frou foxes in midsummer fires', the longest piece on
the album and follows in the footsteps of the previous 2 albums as the
anthem track of the album but never quite reaches the climax that you
expect it to.

OK, so I loved the album but I'm not sure that all Cocteau fans will take
to this album with as much enthusiasm. I'd always wanted the Cocteaus to
develop in the direction that they have taken...i.e..to vary the moods
much more but with the emphasis on optimism because Liz's voice is a 
joyous one and the music should promote that. Other people will listen
to the album and think 'commercialism' or 'they've sold out'. I like to
think that they are wrong because I think that the more 'mainstream'
music has given Liz's voice new scenarios in which to develop her voice.

Let's hope that this album will give the Cocteau Twins the recognition
they deserve....

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