Blue Bell Knoll

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Customer reviews

review by: Trust Me, I'm a Stomach date: 2009-04-09 rating:
The Best of Cocteau Twins? I Reckon So.
I bought the Cocteau's second album, 'Head Over Heels' on a whim a few years ago and, while I certainly enjoyed it, I wasn't overwhelmed by the urge to delve further into their catalogue anytime soon. However, about a year later I found a cheap second hand copy of 'Blue Bell Knoll' and decided to give it a go. It was unquestionably the best £3.50 I have ever spent. br /For anyone new to Cocteau Twins and intrigued to know more, I would recommend this as the place to start as it succinctly encapsulates the group's definitive sound. br /'For Phoebe Still a Baby' is just over 3 minutes of perfection. Rendered beautifully by Liz Fraser's exquisite vocals, the simple lullaby is at once comforting and yet, somehow, utterly heart breaking. It's the kind of track I could listen to on loop for eternity and never tire of. br /'Carolyn's Fingers' puts forward the case that Fraser is one of the all time great female singers as she pulls off some deliriously euphoric vocal acrobatics. br /As with practically all of the Cocteau's output, don't go hunting for deep meanings or poignant messages in the lyrics. In fact, don't hunt for lyrics at all because you'll struggle to decipher them, let alone make sense of them. The emotions conveyed through THAT voice coupled with the enveloping wash of Robin Guthrie's guitar work speak infinitely greater volumes than identifiable lyrics ever could. br /

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review by: stipesdoppleganger date: 2008-09-06 rating:
Another Cocteaus album to Teasure
;Someone once said to me that their favourite Cocteau Twins song was always the one they were listening to at the time which is pretty succinct and effective way of surmising how special this band are /were. Released in 1988 and coming after the sometimes airily wonderful collaboration with Harold Budd "The Moon and the Melodies" Blue Bell Knoll saw the band revert to their classic line up of Robin Guthrie (guitars and general grumpiness) Elizabeth Fraser( mercurial vocal gorgeousness) and Simon Raymonde ( bass and spectacular spiky haircut) though there is a feel of some programming having gone into this album (just listen to the skittish backing rhythms on the title track or "A Kissed Out Red Floatboat" )but there are also br /marimba, xylophone, harpsichord, and various elemental percussive sounds. It helps create an even denser tapestry of sound than ever before and although Guthrie with typical curmudgeonly tones has said this was to cover up the lack of true song writing on the album the results rather speak for themselves . br /Not that you can tell much from the lyrics .Liz Frazer as usual sings like a possessed angel and has stated that the lyrics were simply a portmanteaux of made-up and borrowed words sung with poor diction and bad grammar and that they were a mask for her true feelings. Christ alone knows what she would sound like if she was truly in touch with the words issuing forth from her mouth for she is inspired on Blue Bell Knoll. br /Listen then to her extraordinary vocals on "Carolyn's Fingers" where her almost supernatural ability to skip over her unbelievable vocal range is matched by a lovely. pirouetting riff. "A Kissed Out Red Floatboat" is one of my favourite Cocteau songs ever a genuinely gorgeous effusion of regal melody with a dip in Fraser's vocals-around 50 seconds in- that renders it almost heart breaking . br /Really though with the exception of the wonderful Treasure this is the most consistent Cocteau Twins album. . From the diffident strains of "For Phoebe Still A Baby " ,the more regimented arpeggio's of "The Itchy Glowbo Blow" and the sky scraping chords and choral majesty of Cico Buff it's an absolute pleasure ."Suckling The Mender" prompts the usual clichés like celestial ...with very good reason and Ella Megablast Burls Forever is just hypnotically wonderful. br /Anyone who tells you that "Heaven Or Las Vegas" is the quintessential Cocteau's album is talking rot. They are always worth listening to of course but it's this album and the monumental Treasure that best encapsulate their exceptional divinity. As good as music ever gets this ...though the song titles are still a tad silly. As complaints go that's a pretty minor one ...they could call all their songs Clive for me as long as they were as good as the ones on Blue Bell Knoll. br / br / br / br /

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review by: my heart bleeds Tel! date: 2008-06-25 rating:
Yes the remaster is worth it...(sure...why not...)
Whilst the earlier albums were crying out for remastering the original BBKnoll was certainly a clearer production...the sparkling crisp guitar effects gave a brightness which contrasted the darker elements br /(e.g. minor chord progressions )giving a very different feel to this album to previous outings...the remastering makes these elements even sharper ...I wonder if the original recording took the slight dampening of the treble into account because ,fully clarified, some of the guitars are almost too sharp. A very slight niggle as the remastered tracks are even more orgasmic in places than before, and certainly it just proves how suprisingly clearer the remaster really is. br / br /Rest assured that every odd numbered track is a classic (amongst the twins' best), and some even numbered tracks are so-so..still worth 5 stars for the even tracks alone. br / br /Ps the credits for the remaster are tiny and put at various hard to find points on the case, different places for different albums!?

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review by: carole_bristol date: 2008-03-06 rating:
Ecstatic, uplifting, awesome
There is not really a great deal to be said, except that if you have love in your heart, poetry in your soul and you seek beauty then you MUST own this album. br / br /It is one of the most enchanting and uplifting collections of sound that you will ever hear. br / br /It is the sun on your face, the crisp, cold frost on a Winter morning, the touch of a kitten's fur and the warm, sweet smell of a baby's skin. br / br /If there was a better place than here, this would be the soundtrack to the journey.


review by: date: 2007-12-10 rating:
A real nice listen, with the odd GORGEOUS song here and there....
Rating: 7.5/10 br / br /Best tracks: "Ella Megalast Burls Forever", "Spooning Good Singing Gum", "Athol-Brose", "Blue Bell Knoll". br / br /Okay, Blue Bell Knoll is the weakest Cocteau Twins albums since Garlands....but it's still great! There are some truly gorgeous, sensual, lovely songs to wrap yourself up warm in here. Just listen to the title track...blimey, they make it all sound so easy! Yet if it's so easy, then how come so few bands rival the Cocteaus for sheer beauty? To be honest, this album sets a template that the band admittedly didn't deviate from too much from here on in. The next album, Heaven or Las Vegas takes this lush sound and takes it even higher, but after that, the band became a more predictable (though often still seductive) proposition. br / br /Second track "Athol-Brose" is so euphorically delightful you'll be walking on air from start to finish; it flutters, it swoons, it's a fairy tale come to life, though the song is not as grossly sentimental as that description might suggest. "Carolyn's Fingers" was the single from Blue Bell Knoll, and like "Iceblink Luck" from the next album, I'm impressed with it, but not as much as some of the other tracks here. It's perfectly fine; it glides seamlessly in the way Cocteau Twins songs do, but the band were always better when they let atmosphere and texture dominate their songs, not melodies and conventional song-structures. Still, it gave them some chart attention, so good on them! br / br /"For Phoebe Still a Baby" is pretty, real nice, with some dreamy-licious vocals in the, what I suppose is the chorus. Yep, you still can't understand what on earth Liz Fraser's singing about on this album, and that's just the way I like it! "The Itchy Glowbow Bow" has a title that almost borders on self-parody doesn't it? I must add that Blue Bell Knoll has some of the most unusual song titles of any album, ever. This song's nice too. A lot of this album's nice, you know? Very pleasant, very sweet, very huggable. Maybe there's a few too many nice fillers on this album, and that's what stops it falling short of classic status. "Cico Buff" was a single too, and it's very pretty, though half of the other songs on here would have made a better single choice. "Suckling the Mender" has some luscious verses and "A Kissed Out Red Floatboat"'s great vocals are just one of many fantastic touches and moments spread over the album that help to make it such a nice listen. br / br /Yet the two best songs here are what really make Blue Bell Knoll something rather special; "Spooning Good Singing Gum" is way, way up there with the best Cocteau Twins songs and a truly dreamy thing to behold; a wobbly, watery refrain, a delicious, icy, yet adorably cosy chorus and a swoonsome finale all add up to a few minutes of musical paradise. Remarkably, this song is surpassed by the sensational "Ella Megalast Burls Forever", which is enough to make a grown man cry with happiness, so wondrous is its transcendent, magical, ethereal atmosphere. Yeah, I'm using the word `ethereal'! The most overused word when describing the Cocteau Twins music! There's a reason why. It's because their music so maddeningly, gorgeously, heartbreakingly, overwhelmingly ETHEREAL. Listen to the the last minute of "Ella Megalast Burls Forever" and simply believe. Believe.

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