Cocteau Twins
Blue Bell Knoll

THE REVIEW

More than four years after the undisputed success that was "Treasure" (1984), Liz Fraser, Robin Guthrie, and Simon Raymonde make a comeback, enthusiastic about their fulfilling accomplishments in recent years: after the unconvincing attempt with "The Moon And The Melodies" three years earlier, the Cocteau Twins have relaunched themselves with an album featuring intense sonorities such as "Victorialand" (1986). Since then, they've solely focused on producing an LP whose anticipation is destined neither to betray nor, at the same time, to astonish die-hard and occasional fans alike. Thus, in 1988, "Blue Bell Knoll" is born, apotheosis and decline, a work that represents the acme of the group's musical research but at the same time gives a clear indication of the beginning of the exhaustion of their creative streak.

In this LP, there is a fantastic series of unforgettable tracks, and it's curious to note how, unlike the acclaimed "Treasure", everything is now more easily digestible: the clarity of musical expression that was lost years earlier in the hidden sounds of tracks like "Ivo" or "Otterley" is now a structural foundation, a true melodic progression based on basic chords; "Cico Buff" and "For Phoebe Still A Baby" are splendidly clear, all the more so as Fraser's magnetic linguistic play, less pronounced here than in previous performances, is more easily brought under the aegis of musical harmony: "Blue Bell Knoll" is, in fact, first and foremost, an immediate product. The interest in the oriental element, together with the recovery of the group's goth-rock origins is expressed through tracks like the title track or the fascinating "The Itchy Glowbo Blow", where, needless to say, Fraser's splendid vocals always dominate, blending seriousness and playfulness. In this regard, the masterpiece is perhaps "Carolyn's Fingers", one of those tracks that almost everyone knows without knowing its source (it was the jingle for the Honda Civic commercial for years): of unusual beauty, it's a frenetic succession of Liz's vocal orgasms, a supreme example of music serving the voice; in the same vein are "Athol-Brose" and "Spooning Good Singing Gum", with their liquid sonorities.

An album of apotheosis, as mentioned, but at the same time a work of decline: it seems that the Cocteau Twins are beginning to face the problem of not having much left to say and having to rummage in the trunk of memories to produce something interesting: in "Spooning Good Singing Gum", it seems like one is listening to "Sugar Hiccup" again, an old hit from five years earlier, while in "The Itchy Glowbo Blow", the reference to their origins, as mentioned, seems more obligatory than allusive; there is undoubtedly an initial aporia of ideas, and as often happens, the crisis appears irreversible. Since then, the Cocteau Twins will reinvent themselves to the core, touching the brink of commercial pop-rock, with three more albums (arguably the best being "Heaven Or Las Vegas" two years later) that will leave a somewhat bitter taste. Fraser, Guthrie, and Raymonde, always and in any case, interpreters of sophisticated pop music.