Customer Reviews

Head Over Heels

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Most albums feature music which reveals the era in which they were recorded. But "Head Over Heels" by Scotland's Cocteau Twins doesn't sound like it belongs to ANY era, even though it was released in 1983. A beautiful rush of etheral magic, "Head Over Heels" stands in a class of its own. The slow-moving opener "When Mama Was Moth" has vocalist Liz Frazer delivering hypnotic (yet incoherent) chants, while the brooding "The Tinderbox (of a Heart)" marches along in all its dark glory. Things get upbeat in "In Our Angelhood" with great melange of guitars, and the single "Sugar Hiccup" holds up well. I've owned this CD since my days in college, and I like it more with each listen. The melodies these guys craft are some of the most beautiful I have ever heard. Mainstream listeners may not realize it, but the Cocteau Twins are among the most influential acts of the last 25 years, developing a unique and distinguished sound that would inspire later genres known as trip hop and ambient. Indie label 4AD re-released "Head Over Heels" with remastered sound supervised by Robin Guthrie. At first, I was reluctant to buy this CD, which, after all, was already reissued by Capitol in 1991. But the sound quality of the new 4AD release is a definite imporvement over the original, featuring a full-bodied sound that projects much better than Capitol's edition. So, even if you already have the Capitol release (or if you have no copy of "Head Over Heels" at all), you should make the upgrade and buy this great album reissued by 4AD.

Although The Jesus & Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine deservedly enjoy the accolades accompanying their respective positions as pioneers of the shoegazer genre pervasive in the late 1980s, the JMC's fellow Scots, Cocteau Twins, can be identified as a crucial component in the (semi-) popularisation of the style.

Following the departure of bassist and founding member Will Heggie, Head Over Heels relies almost exclusively on the Twins' two strongest suits: Robin Guthrie's often-abstruse guitar production, and Elizabeth Fraser's wraithlike vocals (which she lent most famously to the 1998 Massive Attack single 'Teardrop') and indiscernible lyrics.

The result is something of a synthesis of the trite precepts of punk, rock, dream pop and new wave combined to otherworldly effect. Although far removed from it's ominous predecessor Garlands (1982), Head Over Heels paradoxically both maintained the (considerable) critical and (modest) commercial appreciation the band had previously garnered, and signalled the dawning of a band honing their influential sound.

A central ambivalence in the album's sound is that although Fraser's iridescent vocals could pass as lullaby ('Sugar Hiccup'), Guthrie's coextensive opaque guitar layerings and vapourous arpeggios ('Glass Candle Grenades') are often their very antithesis. The variance works however, as the album sweeps effortlessly from would-be requiem (the dirge-like 'The Tinderbox (of a heart)' and would-be jazz ('Multifoiled') to would-be U2 ('My Love Paramour') and back again.

Indeed, Robert Fripp (King Crimson) and The Edge (U2) are as present in Guthrie's guitar as Will Reid and Kevin Shields (The Jesus and Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine respectively).

Fraser's voice is the central attraction however, with a transcendent quality that can be deciphered in the work of vocalists as diverse as Jeff Buckley (with whom she was romantically involved), Bjork, Thom Yorke (Radiohead) and Chino Moreno (Deftones).

Yes, this album is staggeringly brilliant; a jaw-droppingly gorgeous, stultifyingly mesmerizing, inhumanly haunting wall of sound. A masterpiece; a dramatic peak in the Cocteau's canon. It is also a stunningly profound leap forward in terms of both sound and song writing when compared with prior work. I have nothing against their debut, Garlands; it's an essential and lovely slab of post-punk dirge. But Head Over Heels opened the doors to an infinitely more sophisticated palette of color, with loads of newfound nuance and emotion to boot. A 5 star album all the way.

However, my intent with this review is to dissuade people from blowing money on the remaster (hence the star deduction). Yep, it was remastered by Robyn Guthrie himself (and it was apparently remixed by him as well). But to these ears, Guthrie has, quite oddly, seriously sabotaged his own work! I a/b'd the remaster with both an original copy of the LP and the original 4AD CD. And, shock! gasp! - the original versions are both miles better.

Here's why: The original is rich with detail and texture. It's airy, open, layered, and dynamic. The higher frequencies are silky and light. The remaster, by contrast, is much louder and dense, but also very compressed and sonically quite murky/muddy. As a result, a lot of detail is *lost*, buried under the swampy muck, especially many subtle flourishes in the arrangements. The guitars, once ranging dynamically from shimmery to full, now just all sound MASSIVE. It's as if someone cranked up the volume, boosted the bass, and threw some blankets of the speakers. It really is *that* bad. And for that reason, I strongly urge you to track down the original 4AD copy, or the early 90s Capitol reissue. If you don't believe me, find copies of both and a/b them for yourself. The differences are *not* subtle!

Ignore the whiny naysayer that cried a river because the Cocteau Twins "weren't anything like Siouxie & The Banshees"...By the end of the CT's career they were better than they ever were, whilst S&TB were pop-encrusted shadows of their former selves and glory.

This is one of their top three albums (if not their best, competeing with the PINK OPAQUE and THE MOON & THE MELODIES). Still can't stand the track "Sugar Hiccup", though...definitely the least favourable on the album.

This is without a doubt the greatest Cocteau Twins effort, in my opinion(even Liz has said she favors this album). If you're just now hearing about them and looking for a good place to start, this would definitely be it. The full range of moods contained in this 10 track album will give you a pretty good idea of what you might find in the others, and yet not one is like the other. It may take time to warm up to their music and Liz's other worldly vocals, but once you settle into the sound its hard to escape. This album alone has gotten me through many a dark times and it continues to be one of my very favorite recordings to date. Listen to it. Take a chance. Forget about music you know. And let yourself slip into the sounds. You'll enter into another world all together. Also, try Victorialand. Incredible sounscapes... like snow drifting in the sun.

Reduced to a duo after the departure of Will Heggie and reacting violently to Alan Rankine's sharp-focus production on the Peppermint Pig EP, Cocteau Twins' sophomore LP Head Over Heels opens dramatically with "When Mama Was Moth," a whirlpool of reverb and tremolo sludge - thick, black, and endless. Immediately it becomes apparent that there has been a major shift in the band's aesthetic and focus. Gone are the plodding post-punk basslines and any pretense of sounding like a live band. Head Over Heels is a diverse and synaesthetic work, each song evoking its own set of mental images explicitly suggested through careful mood-setting.

"Five Ten Fiftyfold" adds saxophones and compressed 12-string acoustic guitars to the stew, Elizabeth Fraser's soaring vocals drawing plaintive and romantic emotions out of the desolation of the cold, crystalline landscape. "Sugar Hiccup" is graceful and bouyant, riding a wave of mysterious choral effects and liquid guitar arpeggios - this song is a daydream encapsulated in sound, the occasional dissonant guitar is so small against the pretty background that it isn't disturbing and only adds to the fantasy.

"In Our Angelhood" is the last Cocteau Twins song to ever resemble late-70s post-punk and early-80's goth-rock, and it sounds as if the band included it just to prove retrospectively that they had always been the best band of that genre even if their earliest recordings never reflected it. Peter Hook and Siouxsie Sioux are audible influences, but neither Joy Division nor the Banshees ever used sound to paint a picture so effectively - a listener could drown in this mix!

"Glass Candle Grenades," a sci-fi cabaret fanfare of sorts, doesn't sound like anything at all recorded before or since. It sounds more like an H.R. Giger painting, but with more grace and femininity. "In The Gold Dust Rush" is a lilting anthem of angelic voices and slashing acoustic guitars. Its choruses are placid mirror-surfaced ponds from which verses ascend like Martian spires. "The Tinderbox (Of A Heart)" is hushed and cyclical, hypnotically beckoning the listener draw closer until all of the instruments vanish suddenly leaving the vocals and drum machine hanging like a spider's web to ensnare the entranced. In case anyone listening was still questioning the band's range, they include the bluesy "Multifoiled," the closest to filler on this disc. It's still oddly intriguing and works well in the context of the album. "My Love Paramour" is seductive and cryptic, using moaning guitar sustains to create a sense of tension and danger. The album ends as dramatically as it began with "Musette and Drums," a minor key waltz full of queasy harmonic intervals and feverish vocal acrobatics. It rises to a climax and dissolves, only to return like a freezing gale. Robin Guthrie's guitar screams atonally as the song fades into nothingness.

By the time of Head Over Heels, Robin Guthrie has developed into a masterful producer and guitarist, building oceanic panoramas from heavily-effected guitar overdubs and sputtering drum machines. Elizabeth Fraser is no longer the sheepish mumbling girl-child of Garlands. She has grown into a powerful feminine presence capable of shredding hearts and brains with only her voice, but wise and benevolent enough to exercise restraint. Intellectually free to explore new ideas and emotions as well as technically capable of creating exciting and complex textures, Cocteau Twins undergo a cathartic rebirth with Head Over Heels, and in doing so begin a succession of masterful albums among the most unique and intriguing in the history of rock music.

"Head Over Heels" was the second album from Scottish group The Cocteau Twins and marked the beginning of their trademark ethereal "dream-pop" sound. However, to some degree at least, the sound was less atmospheric and more rhythmic than on later releases, especially on the techno-ish "The Tinderbox (Of A Heart)" and the amazingly hot funk of "Glass Candle Grenades" a song which showed this band's roots, like those of Jane Siberry, to lie just as much if not more in soul and jazz than experimental rock.

Liz Fraser's hymnal vocal style was already at the forefront here, though it is more comprehensible than on their fabled Victorialand. On the opener "When Mama Was Moth", Fraser's voice was low-key and Guthrie's electronics backed by an oboe took us through a slow, gothic, soundscape that was remarkably hypnotic (especially on the outro "mother and chain"). Then, on the beautiful "Five Ten Fiftyfold", Fraser's voice came into the forefront and her soul-like harmonies and wonderful embellishments to the acoustic guitars, thus creating a feast of melody never seen before. "Five Ten Fiftyfold"'s beautifully spare saxophone just shows the listener how this band could keep continuity with itself on Victorialand (compare "Lazy Calm").

"Sugar Hiccup" was a continuation of this, but Fraser's magical singing was even better, whilst the brilliant "In Our Angelhood", with its lightning, danceable rhythm, was a highlight of the album, as was the almost-exuberant "In The Gold Dust Rush", and the haunting "Multifoiled". "My Love Paramour" showed Fraser's voice take on a new dimension from traditional folk and soul spirituals with her glossolalial tone in the intro of the song, whilst "Musette and Drums" was the rocking closer that most subsequent Cocteau albums were to have.

An acquired taste like all feminine music, but the most essential Cocteau Twins album. Though the Twins were to delve even deeper into ecstatic atmospherics, they never bettered the power of this collection

The songs on this album are good. Unfortuneatly, I learned that the remastering left something to be desired in the mid-range of most of the album. I do not own a copy of the original, however, I would purchase that instead.

I have listened to Cocteau Twins since 1986. I have gone thru so many phases , trying to decided my favorite CT album. I can say, that i truely love all of them, but for some reason, i keep leaning toward this album. I think this album appitamized the darker time of their music career.. Garlands seems to be the known "dark" album to most CT fans, but this one i think is a little deeper. I think this album set the tone for CT in the next few albums to come. "Mussette and Drums" is probalby one of the most powerful songs they have ever written. "Tinderbox of the Heart", to me, is probably one of their most beautifuly depressing songs . "Suger Hickup" took a while to grow on me, but finally, i saw the light. "My Love Paramor" is truely one of the songs that punishes my heart time and time again. I can say this, if you are a TRUE Cocteau Twins fan, you might agree with me. Some might not ( and i can understand why).

Head Over Heals is total punishment for the soul. If like to torture yourself to depressing, dark music, THIS IS IT!!

I bought this on cassette when I was 15 years old - 20 years later, it's still by far the best album I've ever heard. From the haunting bass notes and guitar of "Five Ten Fiftyfold" to the easy-going "Multifoiled" and "My Love Paramour" to the thundering climax of "Musette and Drums" this one is absolutely not to be missed!

Although this album has been tagged as a Banshees ripoff it's far from it. I've never heard another band or album that was even close to sounding like this. Every track is great, and when it's over you'll want to start it back up again from track 1.

Unfortunately, the remaster DOES leave something to be desired. It just doesn't live up to the original - but if you haven't heard the original, this isn't so lacking that you won't be able to enjoy it. Sadly, this has been the curse of many remasters. The Banshees' first 3 albums (and the b-sides box set) all suffered from poor remastering, and several other recordings have fallen victim to this as well. I'm not why a record company would bother to "remaster" something that will end up sounding WORSE than the original recording.

Regardless, I wouldn't let this scare you off - this disc is as good as it gets. When you listen to bands who played afterward like Lush, My Bloody Valentine, etc. you can definitely see the influence.