Cocteau Twins

Heaven or Las Vegas

Please, Miss, I want some more.

Review Score:

(10/10)
I and a friend went to the concert supporting this album at UC Irvine in 1990. It was in the gym. Halfway thru, as we sat in the stands, Lizzie's voice began to pull at us, and we joined the swaying crowd on the floor of the gym, the music swirling around our heads like invisible leaves on the wind. I had heard the previous albums many times, but there is nothing like the immediacy of Miss Fraser's voice. The concert began with I Wear Your Ring. There were four men playing guitars on the stage, and as layered and dense as the music was, the individual voicing of the instruments rose above the sequencers.
The CD version of this tune may not soar as the live did, but the Twins have alloyed a rare blend of pop and electronic music on this disc, drawing as always from an obscure folk catalogue, as on Fifty-fifty clown, which reminds me of an Anglicized Celtic tune, and Road River and Rail, which has a bit of Kentucky Hill ballad in its dark dirge-like approach. I don't care for Fotzepolitic, but I do admit that this is a melody that would be at home almost anywhere, in a Musical or a cabaret. Finally, this disc is the bridge between the Twins of trance music days and the more pop oriented later albums, "Four Calendar Cafe" and "Milk and Kisses". If you are on the brink of discovery of this musical genre, Heaven or Las Vegas is an ideal Lovers Leap.

More Reviews: