Cocteau Twins – Blue Bell Knoll

A remarkable and somber album. Utterly beautiful at times and achingly sad in moments. Do not listen to this if you had a bad breakup. Favorites include Cico Buff, Suckling the member and Ella Megalast Burls Forever, Not a bad song on here though. Some towards the first half just have tough memories tied to them now. I tend to like Heaven and Las Vegas and Four-Calendar Cafe more because they are a bit more dreamy and uplifting where this album feels a bit more somber. But there is hope thanks to the 2nd half of the album. Maybe that was the direction they took and why this album seems to be one of their most loved. Its a bit of their early stuff and a bit of their later stuff. Production wise, possibly their last colder sounding album. Thin in the lower range compared to Heaven and Las vegas. And maybe because its moving from 4AD to mainstream label. All and all i give this album a 84/100. Very, very strong.

Record sounds good. However, Am I the only one who notices that on the pressings where the jacket is made in Czech it immediately gets a small seam split at the top of the jacket. This also happened to me with the first Interpol album

Promo materials should be removed from this release in notes and pictures. I just opened a sealed copy and none were in there. Very frustrating given the price I paid. Hopefully someone else will see this before over paying, or be able to correct the master release to remove this info.

While undoubtedly better than the other recent reissues, the new master still suffers from an overdose of compression that limits the dynamic range. That said, the pressing itself is flat and dead silent. My hat's off to MPO. This is truly well-executed on their part.

I recommend this as a budget-conscious alternative to seeking out a first pressing on LP, but frankly I greatly prefer the original LP or CD masters to this vinyl reissue.

A great lp, with some of the worst cover art of any 4AD release.,It really distracts from the sublime music inside, I'm surprised the group agreed to it- it looked crap when released and put off a few people I know from bothering with it.
One mate said it looked like mutilated fingers on a cheese grater.

Both 23 Envelope & Pete Saville seemed to loose their mojo about the time ';e' culture became the big thing in the uk at the time.
The naff art for later FACTORY /New Order records is a phenomena in itself, especially considering how brilliant they were originally.

Great sound and LP. Just a heads up: mine has the side one label on both sides.

My 2018 remaster (with the HD remaster hype sticker) has a very noisy side A. I’m disappointed particularly after reading other reviews and nobody noted this problem. This is one of my favorite albums of all time and I was hoping this vinyl version would be great.

This sounds immaculate. My copy is dead quiet. Equal quality to the 2018 reissue of 'Treasure'

Does this release come with a printed inner sleeve or a generic sleeve (what color)?

WOW this sounds amazing. This reminds me why I love listening to vinyl.