Significant longplayers from yesteryear
17 September 2025
Scottish synth-pop trio COCTEAU TWINS, featuring Robin Guthrie (guitars, drum machine), Will Heggie (bass), and Elizabeth Fraser (vocals), active from 1979-1997, released their 6th album HEAVEN OF LAS VEGAS on 17 September 1990, today 35 years ago.
It peaked at number 7 on the UK Albums Chart, becoming the band’s most commercially successful release. Music critics have categorised Heaven or Las Vegas as a dream and ambient pop.
The album carries psychedelic, experimental and electronic textures, especially in its soundscapes. It displays musical evolution, with the music becoming more accessible, warmer, and more inviting.
Regarding the artwork, the band wanted a visual representation that would
capture “the ethereal” The final artwork is a long exposure of Christmas tree
lights against a colour backdrop, with its typography produced by hand on
an acetate overlay.
Rob Morton of The New York Sun described it as “a colorful
swash of Vegas neon swirling against a deep blue and red sky.
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