Genuine soul - beautiful and eerie soundscapes

Review Score: (10/10)
"Head Over Heels" was the second album from Scottish group The Cocteau Twins and marked the beginning of their trademark ethereal "dream-pop" sound. However, to some degree at least, the sound was less atmospheric and more rhythmic than on later releases, especially on the techno-ish "The Tinderbox (Of A Heart)" and the amazingly hot funk of "Glass Candle Grenades" a song which showed this band's roots, like those of Jane Siberry, to lie just as much if not more in soul and jazz than experimental rock.

Liz Fraser's hymnal vocal style was already at the forefront here, though it is more comprehensible than on their fabled "Victorialand". On the opener "When Mama Was Moth", Fraser's voice was low-key and Guthrie's electronics backed by an oboe took us through a slow, gothic, soundscape that was remarkably hypnotic (especially on the outro "mother and chain"). Then, on the beautiful "Five Ten Fiftyfold", Fraser's voice came into the forefront and her soul-like harmonies and wonderful embellishments to the acoustic guitars, thus creating a feast of melody never seen before. "Five Ten Fiftyfold"'s beautifully spare saxophone just shows the listener how this band could keep continuity with itself on "Victorialand" (compare "Lazy Calm").

"Sugar Hiccup" was a continuation of this, but Fraser's magical singing was even better, whilst the brilliant "In Our Angelhood", with its lightning, danceable rhythm, was a highlight of the album, as was the almost-exuberant "In The Gold Dust Rush", and the haunting "Multifoiled". "My Love Paramour" showed Fraser's voice take on a new dimension from traditional folk and soul spirituals with her glossolalial tone in the intro of the song, whilst "Musette and Drums" was the rocking closer that most subsequent Cocteau albums were to have.

An acquired taste like all feminine music, but the most essential Cocteau Twins album. Though the Twins were to delve even deeper into ecstatic atmospherics, they never bettered the power of this collection

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