Where bought? I've been lugging this one around for years, well over a decade, and as such I can't remember where I would have acquired it. I can't even remember what kind of mindset I'd have been in to think "ooh, Cocteau Twins, I'll have some of that!", which makes me think I came into owning it by accident or something.
I've know a few people to like Cocteau Twins - historically, the kind of women that I liked in my late teens and early twenties tended to like them, whatever that means I do not know - but the spell of their enchanted tundra indie-goth never quite rubbed off on me at the time. One of them was a superfan, had Robin Guthrie's email, went to Cocteau Twins fancons, the works. Wonder what she's up to now.
I digress: I haven't listened to this or any Cocteaus for a very long time, which has brought me back around to being open-minded about it. Most of my own youth is held in such general disdain that I'm almost willing to like things I didn't like then just to spite that boring selfish bastard.
Working backwards you can definitely hear how this has crept into modern music like Beach House and Julia Holter and Bjork. It seems icy and austere in parts, but having a singer like Liz Fraser helps smash through the ice and penetrate into the emotional core even if I haven't a blinding clue what she's singing about.
The problem, and maybe this will change for me again, is that what sounded weird and unlistenable 12/15 years ago now sounds only too ordinary. Obviously the production is lavish and unique, and they're absolutely not an 'ordinary' band; it's just I've been listening to all the Cocteaus-by-proxy for so long that this feels like I've heard it before. I'd recommend it to others though. 'Amelia' is a good one for a mixtape.
There's no point selling as there are 79 different versions and has never been out of print, but I might gift it on to someone at a later date. It annoys me that music that is formal and pretty like this does nothing for me, and would rather someone else tried.
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