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.

An alternate version of “Pitch the baby” was recorded and released on the Mute Records/4AD compilation “Red Tape.” Heaven or Las Vegas peaked at number seven on the UK Albums Chart and number 99 on the US Billboard 200, [3] [4] becoming the band's most commercially successful release. It eventually sold 235,000 copies by 1996, according to Billboard. [5] The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, [6] and was voted number 218 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums. [7] In 2020, Rolling Stone listed it at No. 245 in its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. [8] 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]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] Smith, Robin (8 September 1990). "This Week: The Next Seven Days in View - Tours". Record Mirror. p.33. ISSN 0144-5804.

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.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. 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. Selected items are only available for delivery via the Royal Mail 48® service and other items are available for delivery using this service for a charge.

recently reissued these two excellent albums by the Cocteau Twins on vinyl and in a way it feels like the timing could not be more pertinent. The band's influence is evident everywhere from the keyboard-drenched power-pop of recent Beach House to the fizzing rhythmic synth-gaze of The Horrors' latest. They'll even be touched on in the eagerly anticipated shoegaze documentary Beautiful Noise later this year. Yet it's almost impossible even now to view the band as nothing other than an idiosyncratic unit inhabiting only their own self-made soundworld. No artist has been able or even attempted to mimic their style; resting on Elizabeth Frazer's seemingly wordless, melismatic vocals and guitarist Robin Guthrie's maximalist approach to effects including flange, phase, chorus and delay that give the impression of an enhanced depth. I think that is a bit too dismissive Jim. Granted that i totally agree with you that Head Over Heels, Treasure and Blue Bell Knoll are their 3 best albums, just limiting an inquisitive fans listening to these and the early singles would be a real shame. Dreampop essential! By the time Cocteau Twins released Heaven Or Las Vegas, they had been perfecting their singular sound for nearly 10 years, recording exclusively for Ivo Watts-Russell’s highly respected indie powerhouse 4AD. After the fallout of goth & post-punk, 4AD became a buy-on-sight label for fans of lush & dreamy indie pop sounds, largely due to the Cocteaus ' near-perfect run of albums in the mid to late 80s. On Heaven Or Las Vegas, Liz Fraser’s uncanny voice and lyrics are higher in the mix and more intelligible than ever before, and Robin Guthrie’s masterful, proto- shoegaze guitar playing and Simon Raymond’s atmospherics fully distilled, culminating in this most critically and commercially successful record of their career. Watts-Russell called it his favorite record in the entire 4AD catalog “by a long shot”, and while it may be a bold statement, we’re inclined to agree with him. This should be in any record collection, period. Recommended. 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 -NME named Heaven or Las Vegas the 28th best album of 1990. [36] Retrospectively, The Observer listed the album as the 97th-greatest British album ever made. [37] In 2017, NPR listed Heaven or Las Vegas 138th of the 150 Greatest Albums Made By Women. [38] In 2018, Pitchfork ranked it first on its list of the 30 best dream pop albums. [39] Music Direct reserves the right to change the terms of this promotion or discontinue this offer at any time.

Cocteau Twins – Chart History". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Archived from the original on 10 April 2015 . Retrieved 4 August 2017. a b "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. 22 September 2020 . Retrieved 22 September 2020.

Companies, etc.

a b c d e f g McAuliffe, Colm (1 July 2014). "Divine Rapture: Simon Raymonde Revisits Cocteau Twins' Purple Patch". The Skinny. Archived from the original on 1 April 2016 . Retrieved 8 August 2017. Phillips, Shaun (15 September 1990). "Heaven scent". Sounds. Archived from the original on 5 August 2021 . Retrieved 28 January 2023. Heaven or Las Vegas was listed as the 90th best album of the 1990s by Pitchfork, who complimented Fraser's more direct vocals and the album's complex songwriting. [33] It was also included in the 2008 edition of 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, [34] and in The Guardian's online edition of a similar list. [35] It was considered the band's strongest work since Treasure by AllMusic reviewer Ned Raggett, who called it "simply fantastic" and successful in creating "more accessibility". [23] 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. Victorialand is a beautiful album and far from poor. Sure it works to a slower pace than its predeccesors and could be accused of being slightly one dimensional but it sounds so spare and lovely. Simon Raymonde's return for Blue Bell Knoll gave them fresh impetus and their finest album but there was some great releases around those records. The Echoes In a Shallow Bay/Tiny Dynamine ep's (which you can get coupled on one cd making them effectively an album between Treasure and Victorialand) are superb. Also the single between Victorialand and Blue Bell Knoll, Love's Easy Tears/Those Eyes That Mouth is brilliant.