Blue Bell Knoll

The idea that such a seemingly, almost defiantly arty group as the Cocteau Twins would end up on a major label at some point was likely viewed with incredulity more than once, but by the late eighties that’s what happened in the US as Capitol signed them, though they remained on 4AD for a little while longer. Blue Bell Knoll is a bit rich, almost too rich, in its sound — Robin Guthrie’s layers had never been so detailed, and the songs sometimes felt lost — but on the title track and especially “Carolyn’s Fingers,” Elizabeth Fraser’s voice in excelsis, it all perfectly clicks.