Cocteau Twins: Victorialand [4AD]

Why you'll love it

This 4AD reissue was remastered from the original analogue tapes and comes with a printed inner sleeve and a download card. It put the album back on vinyl for the first time since the 1980s, and the Spin Alternative Record Guide called it the band's most beautiful.

This edition

• Remastered from the original analogue tapes
• Printed inner sleeve
• Download card included
• Lyrics included

About the album

Named after a stretch of Antarctica, Victorialand sounds about as close to weather as a pop record gets. Bassist Simon Raymonde was away working on This Mortal Coil's Filigree & Shadow, so Elizabeth Fraser and Robin Guthrie made it as a duo and took the chance to strip things right back, dropping most of the percussion and bass in favour of Guthrie's delicate guitar filigree and lush, layered textures.

Several song titles come from David Attenborough's book The Living Planet, which explains "Throughout The Dark Months Of April And May," while Fraser wrote the words for "Whales Tails" from a passage in a non-English book without knowing what they meant. That rather suits a singer whose lyrics have always been more sound than sense. "Lazy Calm" opens with six and a half unhurried minutes and a saxophone drifting through the haze, "Fluffy Tufts" and "Little Spacey" sparkle, and "Oomingmak" turned up years later as an instrumental behind the credits of 4AD's Lonely Is an Eyesore video. The artwork follows the original 23 Envelope designs by Vaughan Oliver and Nigel Grierson.

The first UK vinyl spun at 45 RPM because the quiet passages were so hard to master. This one runs at the usual 33, so for once nobody has to check the speed switch before the hush sets in.

Also at Kops: more Cocteau Twins on vinyl · browse Alternative

Tracklist

Listen

On 4AD (cat# 4AD0193LP), a reissue of the 1986 album.