Cocteau Twins: Blue Bell Knoll LP

When they first emerged in the early 80s, the Cocteau Twins were compared most often to Siouxsie & The Banshees, but in truth they never sounded like anyone – or anything – else. Taken together, their nine albums, and sixteen EPs/singles, sound less like a band and more like an element of nature. Which was very 4AD. Ivo Watts-Russell has always claimed that his aim was to unearth music that was timeless, free of any trend, movement or era and even in their earliest incarnation, the Cocteau Twins were true to that remit, firmly charting their own course.

 

Blue Bell Knoll is the fifth album by the Cocteau Twins. Originally released in 1988 by 4AD in the UK and Capitol in the US, Pitchfork listed the album as one of the best albums of the 1980s. This was the band’s first full studio album to be released in the US via a distribution deal with Capitol. The album also marked a major turning point for the band. 

 

Robin Guthrie stated, “At first you’re just trying to make a record, and then you’re trying to make a really good record. And then you’re trying to go further...Blue Bell Knoll was a really important record to me. It really sticks as one of my favorites. Perhaps not because of how it came out, although it is quite listenable, but because of the experience of making it.”