Adam KennyHeaven or Las Vegas?
Heaven or Las Vegas. The title comes across as though the album is struggling to understand where it is. Is Las Vegas it’s idea of heaven? Or is heaven Las Vegas for everyone? It’s curious really. It’s philosophical, eye catching and elusive. There’s an air of mystery that is supported by the art cover which can only truly be described as ethereal. Maybe the red, blue and purple hues shown in the art are representative of the night sky in Las Vegas? The hundreds of neon signs polluting the dark sky with advertisements of your dreams coming true. You’ll get the jackpot on the next try! Roll a few dice while the waitress fills your glass with some expensive bubble. Get married with that random girl you met 15 minutes ago whilst Elvis officiates. Is this heaven? Or is it just the bold mind bending ways of Las Vegas?
The Cocteau Twins
Heaven or Las Vegas is the sixth album from legendary dream pop band the Cocteau Twins, whom were led by Elizabeth Fraser, Robin Guthrie and Will Heggie. Simon Raymonde would go on to replace Heggie in 1983. Heaven or Las Vegas was hardly a new affair for them. They were active since 1979 and had several albums in their discography. Albums like Treasure, Victorialand and Blue Bell Knoll are all amazing and worth their own listen.
Heaven or Las Vegas was different. It was their most commercially successful album by far (and still is). But sales aside, it’s also considered critically to be one of the greatest albums of the 90s and in music… period. It’s got the full package. The title. The album art. And then the music, it was a perfect storm. It’s easily recognisable, but not as easy to fully understand.
Executing a concept
There’s so many albums that try their damnedest to sell a concept or idea to their listeners. Pink Floyd, with The Wall for instance deals with social isolation in an effort to maintain individuality and it does a very good job of selling this. Heaven or Las Vegas however does not attempt this through conventional means. You can tell what mood a song is supposed to be just by listening to it, particularly the lyrics.
With Heaven or Las Vegas however, we actually do not know what Elizabeth Fraser is singing about. There’s of course been guesses and interpretations of what she could be possibly singing about, but really, there is no official confirmation for this. Can you hear Fraser sing on the album? Of course, in fact her vocals are one of the best part of the album. Her vocals are often layered and obscured by frankly her own vocals being layered on top of them! Echoes of what could be. The only thing that you can understand is that they’re unbelievable. They’re lush, ethereal and harness the wonder of the album perfectly.
The Music of Heaven or Las Vegas
The first song you’re treated to on Heaven or Las Vegas is “Cherry-coloured Funk” which is possibly the most appropriate song title the album could start with. In my opinion, if there’s any song on the album that is the cover art in musical form it’s “Cherry-coloured Funk”. You get hit immediately with the entire melody of the song at once. Guitars are thick with a lush tone that fills yours ears, then comes in Elizabeth’s vocals, which, at first, you think you can fully understand. Soon you realise, “oh I think I got a word there”. This does not detract from the track (or the album), if anything it adds to the mystery and allure of the album. It almost sounds like another language.
This vocal style is quite prominent on “Pitch the Baby” where Fraser seems to be almost muttering something to herself before breaking out into some final declaration. Again, it borders on impossible to truly understand what is being said, but you learn to go with it. You don’t sing along with the songs, the only other option is to soak it in and dance.
A lush atmosphere for an ethereal presence
“Heaven or Las Vegas”, the titular track continues with the mantra the previous songs have set. Ethereal, otherworldly and lush. Fraser’s vocals continue to be hypnotic and indecipherable but the melodies themselves are addicting. You find yourself going back to each song wanting to try and sing along and understand but you’ll only get so far.“Heaven or Las Vegas” opens up with the thick and sharp guitars that really bring shape to the track. Each track on the album follows the same formula, but at a different each time. Fraser’s vocals will be layered, distorted and seem to come in and out of the fore ground of the track. The guitars are effect heavy, thick and loud but the melodies are clear. There will be a sprinkle of synths, drums and other techno-esque sounds.
The varied yet genre defining traits
Typically associated with dream pop, the Cocteau Twin’s sound cannot be be slotted into one genre. Shoegaze is a prominent feature throughout Heaven or Las Vegas. The melodies and atmosphere is as dream pop as you can get, but the collage and mix of instruments meld together as one singular sound much like a shoegaze track. You can distinguish each aspect of the song but the mixing is almost kaleidoscopic where you can see something new at the slightest change in attention.
Whilst you can’t fully grasp the content of the lyrics, Heaven or Las Vegas is undoubtedly romantic. The melodies and atmosphere create this intoxicating haze like on Fotzepolitic. This track sounds almost euphoric, like there’s some great rush of love and synchronicity that the song can’t hold back. The guitars and Fraser’s vocals working together to build up a tension that results comes to fruition in the final 40 seconds of the song.
The story unfolds
“Wolf in the Breast” winds things down a bit. The Cocteau Twin’s have this great ability to utilise the same methods and sounds throughout the album but are still able to convey a different tone and energy in each track. “Wolf in the Breast” for instance carries a much more somber and relaxed sound. The rush and adrenaline and romance of “Fotzepolitic” has subsided, but the romance and comfort has not. It’s an easy listen that keeps your attention throughout.
On the next track, “Road River and Rail”, there’s this air of skepticism brought in. Again, the formula is there for the usual Heaven or Las Vegas track. It’s airy, ethereal but it’s almost as though there’s this doubt that has been sewn into the song. Things were great, romantic and borderline spiritual up to this point, but “Road River and Rail” disrupts that. It’s a great track that I found really helped add to the story I’ve been slowly putting together in my head as the track goes.
The conclusive regret of romance
The last track of the album, “Frou-frou Foxes in Midsummer Fires” starts off with a downtrodden but dramatic piano, followed by Fraser’s vocals which come across as firm but vulnerable. The track comes across as regretful and almost in mourning. As though the album has drawn itself a conclusion. Heaven, or Las Vegas? Which is the desirable option? What does the album want? The result, regardless of speculation, results in a finale that is one of the only tracks on the album to go against the formula of the album where the first half of the song is only Elizabeth Fraser’s vocals and the piano drenched in afterthought. It’s as though the song is processing has happened. What became of the romance and how should it react? The response to this is to go back to formula. Thick, heavy distorted layered guitars with Fraser’s vocals muttering on as though to curse something. It’s a fitting end for the album. For the romance, for Heaven or Las Vegas
Legacy of Heaven or Las Vegas and the Cocteau Twins
Heaven or Las Vegas is a classic. Everybody should listen to at least once in their life. It’s truly and album up for interpretation. It’s difficult to try and capture the essence of an album we don’t even have official lyrics for that people still debate about, but it’s worth trying to. The legacy of Heaven of Las Vegas lives in every dream pop album you’ve listened to. Without the Cocteau Twins, we might not have “Loveless” by my bloody valentine. Julee Cruise’s “Floating into the Night” which is heavily used throughout David Lynch’s Twin Peaks, a beloved classic. The Sundays, Beach House, Slowdive, Lush and even Jeff Buckley whom was very close with Elizabeth Fraser.
If you excluded Heaven or Las Vegas from the Cocteau Twin’s discography, you would have some legendary records that would inspire many artists to come. To add Heaven or Las Vegas to the mix is just mind boggling. It’s a renowned album by a celebrated band, and is one of the most important albums of all time. And that’s without us knowing what the bloody hell they’re actually saying! It’s a interpretive ethereal opera that you could spend forever trying to figure out the grand lush details of, which I implore you to give a try.
