Cocteau Twins
Stars and Topsoil – A Collection (1982-1990)
(4AD)
Convention suggests that a Cocteau Twins review demands sentences that evoke the enigmatic trio’s songtitles - something like: "Shimmering sugar spangle shards cascade as spindling spirals of opaque yarn spin pearly dewdrop drops o’er the tremulous, rippling opaque." And with that formality dealt with we’re free to re-evaluate the proto-dreampop namedrop whose tinpot beatbox and early Banshee gloom soon blossomed into a unique entity – an integral part of the Gothy / Indie fabric of the ‘80s, and a companion to swooning Pandoras whose dreamboxes ached for glaciers melting.
They may have been a one-trick pony, but what a glorious trick it was: Liz Fraser’s indecipherable, angelic warblings cast over a glimmering sheen of chiming, chorus-pedalled guitars; delivered with a grace that was enough to make Annie Lennox wet herself.
And who’d have thought that a kooky-cool Chinese star would one-day opt to cop a lot of the sound to great effect? So, not only an 18-track reminder for some, but also a potential revelation to many Faye Wong fans.
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