A Cocteau Twins album poll

I know that I am not the only Cocteau Twins (and Elizabeth Fraser) fan here. Please vote your favourite or at least a favoured album by Cocteau Twins.

My favourite was Heaven or Las Vegas, but then after immersing myself more in the rest of the discography it became Head Over Heels. Treasure is my other particular favourite at this time. I still have not heard the last two albums. I love various Cocteau Twins albums and my favourite is mutable.

Quite recently I had a 19 year old kid in the car who is friends with my eldest and I was playing Heaven or Las Vegas, and he said that it was one of his favourite albums.

* I decided to include the collaborative album The Moon and the Melodies from Harold Budd, Elizabeth Fraser, Robin Guthrie & Simon Raymonde.

Cosmiclawnmower wrote: I love the first 4 albums equally (and have a particular softness for the track 'Pearly dew drops drop') but i think 'treasure' just takes it. Of course Elizabeth Fraser quested most beautifully on Massive Attack's Mezzanine. A complete aside; My wife taught Elizabeth Frasers daughter in Kindergarten/ reception in primary school in Bristol.

Treeasure is a treasure. Speaking of Bristol, I really got into Cocteau Twins because of Elizabeth Fraser's vocals on Mezzanize's "Teardrop" which is a song I got into because of being very big on Portishead (Portishead is from Bristol)... See/ hear:



I guess that was Lucy Belle that your wife taught. I know Fraser had bad issues/ tough times with her daughter's father.



Edited by Logan - July 22 2023 at 14:34

Victorialand

The only one I have is Blue Bell Knoll which is ok. I'm not sure I have an inclination to check out more.

Thanks. I'll check those out. I think I was a little overly harsh with my comments. BBK is a nice album it just didn't blow me away. 

I'm not sure I ever heard a Cocteau Twins album in full. I always liked what I heard, but I'm not sure if that will stand with listening to a whole album. Something to test this summer...

Saperlipopette! wrote: Logan wrote: * I decided to include the collaborative album The Moon and the Melodies from Harold Budd, Elizabeth Fraser, Robin Guthrie & Simon Raymonde. The songs featured are as wonderful as ever, but it's not among my favorites simply because it's an Ambient album for the large part. Nice Ambient music, but I want to hear Elizabeth Fraser.

I agree. This off it is one of my favourite tracks ("She Will Destroy You" -- love her vocals):



By the way, this is a favourite track of mine with Elizabeth Fraser vocals (Yann Tiersen ft Elizabeth Fraser - Kala)





Edited by Logan - August 06 2023 at 18:01

BrufordFreak wrote: One of my Top five all-time bands, so this choice was difficult.  Wish you'd have considered 1986 when the band released three AMAZING four-song EPs: Aikea Guinea, Echoes in a Shallow Bay, and Tiny Dynamine--the only combination/period that tops Treasure for me.

Consider them well-considered by me now. I have only really been into Cocteau Twins seriously relatively recently and while I have heard the studio albums up to and including Heaven or Las Vegas, I have not listened to the EPs, at least none in full that I can think of (16 of them I see at RYM). RYM lists those as 1985, not that it matters to me the exact year. And in 1986, they have a highly rated there EP, Love's Easy Tears. https://rateyourmusic.com/artist/cocteau-twins. I often say that I don't care that much about the poll itself or the votes there, but the discussion that develops, and often I discover music thanks to these kinds of topics, and I hope others do too. The poll itself is more like a starting point, an accessory to discussion , and a means to focus the topic somewhat. That said, I too often wish favourites of mine not included in people's polls were included as I like to see it getting the recognition/ attention, and it can make it more comfortable at attempting to initiate conversation with the topic starter and some topic respondents about that and related music. Then it often gets into people explaining why they did not include something rather than talking with someone about the music itself, which is not so personally satisfying (even if I over explain my reasons for omission rather than actually focusing on my impressions of and thoughts on the music itself with any detail).

I really got very into Cocteau Twins because I was into Portishead which led to me re-discovering Massive Attack's "Teardrop" (with Elizabeth Fraser's vocals) off Mezzanine because of that video I included in my second post in this topic that combines "Teardrop" with Portishead's "Roads" brilliantly. So then I started exploring Fraser in Cocteau Twins. I fell in love with Heaven or Las Vegas, then Treasure, then others. And anyone that likes Fraser, please check out that Yann Tiersen one with her that I posted before in this topic. I had included that in an Interactive Poll some time back where I focused on Elizabeth Fraser songs (wish more people regularly participated in those). I love it.

Starting with the title track from the Aikea-Guinea EP, very nice:



Thanks for bringing it up and any and all Elizabeth Fraser work is most appreciated in this thread (I had thought about doing this as an Elizabeth Fraser appreciation thread). Great to see the appreciation of the music from various people and thanks to all for the comments.



Edited by Logan - August 07 2023 at 01:16