Music review: Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas (1990)

Finally reaching the first "normie friendly" entry in my list, huh. And not just any entry, I'll probably get death threats if I give it less than 9.

I probably don't have to present Cocteau Twins, one of the most famous acts under the "post-punk" umbrella, part of legendary label 4AD's heavy hitters, genesis of the ethereal wave and dream pop genres, almost reinventing themselves with each LP, etc… you get it, legends.

This album was one I never disliked, but which I took years to fully appreciate. It just seemed too soft, less interesting than Garlands or Head over Heels. I don't remember why or how my opinion changed, but I know why I now rate it higher than the others: CT finally knew what it wanted to be and stopped mixing so many different sounds together.

The result could be described in so many words and superlatives… but I'll try to select a few: modern impressionist music, sonic embodiment of strong nostalgia, volatile dream wavering between bliss and melancholy, redcurrant coulis on fresh cottage cheese. You'd have to have literally no imagination at all to feel nothing while listening to the opener; even more so with this uncannily matching cover art.

Now, onto the final rating, the hard part in my opinion. Because despite all I've written above, this album doesn't fix their quality consistency issues: "Cherry-Coloured Funk", "Fifty-Fifty Clown" and "Frou-Frou Foxes in Midsummer Fires" are just so much better than the rest, especially "Road, River and Rail" and "Pitch the Baby", that I want to give it an 8. But even then, those three are simply otherworldly and the whole is more than the sum of its parts, so 9 it is.