Heaven Or Las Vegas

Product Information

The album title was suggested by Lawrence (Hayward) of Denim/Felt, who liked the line from the song of the same name. a b Lindsay, Cam (10 July 2015). "An Essential Guide to Cocteau Twins". Exclaim!. Archived from the original on 12 June 2015 . Retrieved 8 August 2017. Martin, Aston (2013). Facing the Other Way: The Story of 4AD. London: HarperCollins Publishers Limited. ISBN 978-0007489619. OCLC 853505613. a b Perry, Andrew (October 1990). "Viva Las Vegas". Select. No.4. p.95. Archived from the original on 5 August 2021 . Retrieved 28 January 2023.

Bambarger, Bradley (6 April 1996). "Radio Climate Could Boost Capitol's Cocteau Twins". Billboard. Vol.104, no.14. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. p.14. ISSN 0006-2510 . Retrieved 4 August 2017. The songs “Cherry-coloured funk,”“Pitch the baby,” and “Frou-frou foxes in midsummer fires,” were performed live with new arrangements by Elizabeth Fraser during her Meltdown Festival solo performances in 2012. There was salvation in [Fraser's vocals and lyrics] too, in terms of helping save her relationship with [Guthrie], the joy of bringing a baby into the world that they could love. It did give them a new lease of life, and it gave the album an energy and vibrancy. It was very easy to make the music. [10]Music Direct reserves the right to change the terms of this promotion or discontinue this offer at any time.

Even as the band soared commercially and creatively, personally they suffered. Between the release of Blue Bell Knoll and the recording of Heaven or Las Vegas, Fraser gave birth to the couple’s first child, a daughter, yet Guthrie remained deep in the throes of drug addiction, which made him paranoid and angry. Raymonde mourned the death of his father. Suddenly the stakes for the Cocteau Twins seemed impossibly high. “Fraser named the album Heaven or Las Vegas [as] a suggestion of music versus commerce, or perhaps a gamble, one last throw of the dice,” Martin Aston writes in Facing the Other Way: The Story of 4AD, implying that the band was close to imploding. Road, River, and Rail” was included on the two-disc compilation that accompanied the 2013 book, Facing the Other Way: The Story of 4AD, by Martin Aston. Music Direct reserves the right to select the carrier and ship method within the terms of this offer.The music does sound a lot like the cover image, especially Guthrie's über-lovely guitar-lines that coat the songs with a sweet heady warmth until along with Fraser's voicings they're nearly bursting with beauty, really like only most things this most unique band does here, or ever did - Anyhow…. the CD sounds pretty good for a 1990 release, with surprising warmth for what is probably by then an all digital release (I am guessing here, folks). I associate this record mostly with springtime because of the balance of warmth and chill it has, and also the songs have that same kinda power and mystery as those deep spring nights that are so full of the promise of summer even in the comfort of their darkness...

a b Aston, Martin (October 1990). "The Cocteau Twins: Heaven Or Las Vegas". Q. No.49. Archived from the original on 20 June 2000 . Retrieved 15 October 2018. EDIT: I still stand by much of what I've written above, but this does sound way better through some headphones rather than speakers in my experience. The album master on vinyl is very bassy and sounds bloated on my stereo system, but through some nice bright headphones, it's manageable. If you're dead set on getting a quality copy of this album, go for the original pressing or even the CD. Cocteau Twins had spent most of the 80s progressing from jangly chamber pop to the deeply sensuous, abstract sound and aesthetic evident on The Moon And The Melodies, their collaborative album with minimalist composer Harold Budd. Yet 1988's Blue Bell Knoll still feels like something of a stepping-stone. 4AD had suggested that Brian Eno produce the record, but the band spurned the idea, opting instead to build their own studio and produce the album themselves. This is clearly the action of a band straining at the leash to take control over every aspect of their sound. However it's a decidedly front-heavy album, with most of the poppy big-hitters inhabiting the first side of the LP whilst a general sense of poor sequencing is evident. The languid stroll of 'For Phoebe Still A Baby' would have served better as a moment of afterglow towards the end of the work, whilst 'The Itchy Glowbo Blow' just sounds tired; an example of how insipid the Cocteau's productions could sound without a decent tune to flesh it out.

Tracklist

Raymonde wrote "Frou-Frou Foxes in Midsummer Fires" the day after his father's death, [12] and Heaven or Las Vegas straddled the two themes: "writing songs about birth, and also death, gave the record a darker side that I hear in songs like 'Cherry-Coloured Funk' and 'Fotzepolitic'". [10] Despite being in a "very good space musically" and describing the recording process as an "inspirational time", Raymonde said: "It was trying to mask all the other shit that was going on that we didn't want to stop and think about for too long". [12] In a retrospective of 4AD by music journalist Martin Aston, he noted that Fraser named the album Heaven or Las Vegas as "a suggestion of truth versus artifice, of music versus commerce, or perhaps a gamble, one last throw of the dice". [18] a b c Deusner, Stephen (16 July 2014). "Cocteau Twins: Blue Bell Knoll/ Heaven or Las Vegas". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 27 October 2022 . Retrieved 16 July 2014. The 30 Best Dream Pop Albums". Pitchfork. 16 April 2018. p.3. Archived from the original on 24 April 2018 . Retrieved 24 April 2018. a b Raggett, Ned. " Heaven or Las Vegas – Cocteau Twins". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 22 June 2018 . Retrieved 30 March 2018.

Riley, Danny (1 August 2014). "Cocteau Twins – Blue Bell Knoll/Heaven or Las Vegas (Reissue)". The Quietus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2018 . Retrieved 8 August 2017. Pitchfork Staff (28 September 2022). "The 150 Best Albums of the 1990s". Pitchfork . Retrieved 26 April 2023. By 1990, when Cocteau Twins released Heaven or Las Vegas—their final album for 4AD, the independent UK label that had shepherded their journey from post-punk mystics to ambient-pop dream-weavers... Instead, they turned all that turmoil and uncertainty into the best album of their career. Heaven or Las Vegas explodes in Technicolor from the first melty guitar chords on “ Cherry-Coloured Funk”. Every note sounds like a new and richer shade of indigo and scarlet and violet than the previous one, and it doesn’t fade until closer “ Frou-Frou Foxes in Midsummer Fires” descends into silence. If Blue Bell Knoll is spare and ambient, Heaven is supersaturated: lush without being vulgar, luxuriant without being indulgent. Tellingly, some lyrics bubble up to the surface, often loaded with personal meaning: “cherry,” “perfection,” “burn this madhouse down.” On a song called “ Pitch the Baby”, ostensibly written for—or at least sung to—the couple’s infant daughter, Fraser repeats, “I’m so happy to care for you, I only want to love you,” as a sweet lullaby. We may not always be able to understand her lyrics, but that doesn’t mean they’re not important. In fact, her lyrics would never be more vital or confessional than they are on Heaven or Las Vegas, which lends the music added emotional and conceptual heft. Colin Larkin, ed. (2000). All Time Top 1000 Albums (3rded.). Virgin Books. p.105. ISBN 0-7535-0493-6. The band took on new familial responsibilities as bassist Simon Raymonde married his first wife, Karen, and vocalist Elizabeth Fraser was expecting her first child with guitarist and co-founder Robin Guthrie. [12] The latter's cocaine habit previously "escalated" during the recording process for Blue Bell Knoll; [13] Fraser and Raymonde believed that the new baby would prove a diversion from Guthrie's dependency and allow the pair to "play [as] happy families." [12] Their wishes did not pan out, with Guthrie relying heavily on drugs as the band developed Heaven or Las Vegas, causing him to experience "deep" paranoia and mood swings. [13] [10] His relationship with Fraser grew increasingly strained as a result. [14]Albums to Hear Before you Die: Artists beginning with C". The Guardian. London. 19 November 2007. Archived from the original on 30 September 2013 . Retrieved 3 January 2013. Smith, Robin (8 September 1990). "This Week: The Next Seven Days in View - Tours". Record Mirror. p.33. ISSN 0144-5804. a b "Cocteau Twins: 'Blue Bell Knoll' and 'Heaven or Las Vegas' LP Represses Coming this July". 4AD. 22 May 2014. Archived from the original on 13 February 2016 . Retrieved 5 August 2017. Heaven or Las Vegas displays musical evolution, with the music becoming more accessible. Fraser's lyrics were more intelligible; many concerned her newborn child Lucy Belle, particularly "Pitch the Baby", which is about her experience in giving birth and welcoming a child. [12] [17] Despite most of Fraser's lyrics "[emerging] in alien tongues", which she sums up as "laziness" and "bad diction", she attributed the album's more identifiable words to Lucy Belle's influence. [15] a b c d Brown, Joe (9 November 1990). "Trying to Get a Twins Peek". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on 15 October 2018 . Retrieved 8 August 2017.