Cocteau Twins – Blue Bell Knoll

Giving it 5 stars because it sounds amazing, BUT. Side A came very scratched up. Anybody else have this problem?

Mine sounds fab but no download card included
Anyone else?

Was it necessary to make such a short album at just 35 minutes. When the glorious guitar solo begins in "The Itchy Glowbo Blow" the track is curiously faded out, far far too early.

Lovely pressing with great dynamic range and a cool sleeve. Be careful to put it in a protective sleeve because the cream card can pick up fingerprints really easily making the cover look dirty. Fab album - and still bloody cheap….

Sounds good and the disc is flat but very flexible and not rigid. Additionally, the cover is not a gatefold but a sort of flimsy import style jacket. Aesthetics of the disc and jacket are just not on par with what I would come to expect from the 4AD release but I’m not let down because the music sounds good and how can get angry listening to Cocteau Twins? Considering I picked this up used and it’s reproduced and on an import label Stiletto records I love it

May be the most glorious dream pop albums ever - an intangible oneiric wall of sound, gleefully swirling atmospherics & warm unmoored fuzziness that floats around you like a whirling fog. Utterly beautiful.

Put another ✅ in the SOUNDS GREAT column with rich full dynamics. Recommended!

Well, it's a great album. But let me do some comments about two songs from this LP. The first one is "Ella Megalast Burls Forever" which I think is a attempt to reach 1993's "Blueberd" as I can identify some very similar parts. And the second song is "Carolyn's fingers" which has a similar structure and chords as My Bloody Valentine's "Blown a wish" from 1991's masterpiece 'Loveless'. Recently I've readed an interview with Kevin Shields from MBV and he tell how he loved Cocteau Twins and he acquired every LP they published, so, well, it is not impossible that "Carolyn's fingers" will influence Shields as MBV was in the studio recording at the time.

Taste is subjective but geez... if you can't rate this yet another masterpiece of the CT arsenal who knows...!
Decades of memories now to this one, sniff.
Just listened to it now for the first time in many years and means just as much if not more than back in '88.

I love this pressing a lot. It is crystal clear and punchy. It was pressed from different lacquers than the UK first press from what I can tell (the UK one being pressed at MPO). Admittedly, I have not heard the UK first press but I find this US pressing rather perfect.