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. 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] On the other hand, its general dismissal by critics and fans as a lesser Cocteau Twins album may have less to do with the album itself and more to do with the fact that it is bookended by better and more ecstatically creative works. There are moments of disarming beauty on Blue Bell Knoll—the melting keyboards on “ Cico Buff”, the lush vocal layering of “ Athol-Brose”, the shooting-stars opening of “ A Kissed Out Red Floatboat”, Raymonde’s syncopated bass trudge of “ The Itchy Glowblo Blow”, the whatever that is at the end of “ Spooning Good Singing Gum” (I think it might be a herd of lovelorn goats playing saxophones). But the standout is “ Carolyn’s Fingers”, which would become the Cocteau Twins’ first American single. The band never utilized its rhythm section to better effect: Against Guthrie’s crisp guitar line, that churning momentum pushes Fraser’s vocals to greater and greater heights, her unexpected swoops and eloquently rolled consonants creating a bewildering indie-pop aria. 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 "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. 22 September 2020 . Retrieved 22 September 2020. Martin, Aston (2013). Facing the Other Way: The Story of 4AD. London: HarperCollins Publishers Limited. ISBN 978-0007489619. OCLC 853505613. a b c "Heaven or Las Vegas is 26 today". Form. 17 September 2016. Archived from the original on 20 September 2016 . Retrieved 5 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.

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. The 100 greatest British albums". The Observer. London. Archived from the original on 8 April 2016 . Retrieved 3 January 2013. 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.

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. 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. Putting my heart on the table, I admit this was never my favorite Cocteau Twins album (that honor is reserved for Treasure). However, I know that for many a Cocteau Twins fan, Heaven or Las Vegas is the popular peak. It was their final for the 4AD label (their record company home in England) and it reached number seven in the UK, their highest charting release. 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.

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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] 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.

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]

LeMay, Matt (17 November 2003). "Top 100 Albums of the 1990s – 090: Cocteau Twins Heaven or Las Vegas". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 5 April 2016 . Retrieved 15 October 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. Smith, Robin (8 September 1990). "This Week: The Next Seven Days in View - Tours". Record Mirror. p.33. ISSN 0144-5804.

Music Direct reserves the right to select the carrier and ship method within the terms of this offer. 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.a b c d e Aston, Martin. "Searching for Heaven". 4AD. Archived from the original on 14 December 2015 . Retrieved 8 August 2017. 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).