Cocteau Twins’ ‘Blue Bell Knoll’ turns 38 on 19 September
4AD released Cocteau Twins’ fifth studio album, “Blue Bell Knoll,” on 19 September 1988. The dream pop record turns 38 this year.
Cocteau Twins released their fifth studio album, “Blue Bell Knoll,” through 4AD on 19 September 1988. Capitol Records licensed the record from 4AD for North America, making it the first Cocteau Twins album to receive major-label distribution in the United States. The dream pop album turns 38 this year.
Vocalist Elizabeth Fraser named the album after Bluebell Knoll, a peak in southern Utah. Guitarist Robin Guthrie produced the record and handled keyboards along with synth and drum machine programming, while Simon Raymonde played bass and keyboards. All ten tracks are credited to Fraser, Guthrie and Raymonde: the title track, “Athol-Brose,” “Carolyn’s Fingers,” “For Phoebe Still a Baby,” “The Itchy Glowbo Blow,” “Cico Buff,” “Suckling the Mender,” “Spooning Good Singing Gum,” “A Kissed Out Red Floatboat” and “Ella Megalast Burls Forever.” Fraser sang the whole album in her own constructed language.
Raymonde later described the sessions as a settled period for the trio: “it really felt like a period of creativity and freedom, we were all getting on great musically and socially, Liz and Robin were about to have a baby, I was about to get married, there was lots of joy around. Very productive! It was a really fun record to make.” Fraser connected that ease to the decision to drop conventional lyrics, telling The Quietus in 2017: “I gained so much from [inventing language] […] Writing Blue Bell Knoll I had a wonderful freedom to put lyrics aside and not to worry [about people’s opinions].”
The album reached number 15 on the UK Albums Chart and number 109 on the US Billboard 200, and “Carolyn’s Fingers” climbed to number two on the US Alternative Airplay chart. Promotional videos accompanied “Carolyn’s Fingers” and “Cico Buff.” The vinyl edition came in a limited gatefold sleeve, and the album was the first 4AD title issued commercially on DAT. After 4AD reclaimed the North American rights to its back catalogue, Guthrie remastered “Blue Bell Knoll” for a 2003 reissue, and the album was repressed on 180g vinyl in 2014. It streams on Spotify.
About Cocteau Twins
Cocteau Twins formed in 1979 in Grangemouth, Scotland, around guitarist Robin Guthrie and bassist Will Heggie, who took the band name from a song by fellow Scots Simple Minds. Guthrie met Elizabeth Fraser in Falkirk in 1981 and asked her to sing. The group signed to 4AD and issued its debut album, “Garlands,” in 1982, followed by “Head over Heels” in 1983. Heggie left that year and Simon Raymonde replaced him, arriving in time for 1984’s “Treasure.” Two albums came in 1986: “Victorialand,” recorded largely as a duo while Raymonde worked on This Mortal Coil, and “The Moon and the Melodies,” a collaboration with ambient composer Harold Budd. “Blue Bell Knoll” followed on 19 September 1988 and became the band’s first record to enter the US Billboard 200, a direct result of the Capitol licensing deal. “Heaven or Las Vegas” arrived in 1990 and closed the group’s run on 4AD; Cocteau Twins then signed to Fontana for “Four-Calendar Café” (1993) and “Milk & Kisses” (1996), and disbanded in 1997. All three have kept working since. Side-Line covered Raymonde’s Bella Union label presenting the debut album by his project Lost Horizons in 2017, Guthrie’s ‘Riviera’ EP in 2021 and his ‘Springtime’ EP in 2022, and reported that Fraser had returned with her first new material in 13 years in 2022. “Blue Bell Knoll” turns 38 this year, the record that opened the American market to the band two years before its 4AD run ended.
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