Heaven or Las Vegas

For the song, see Heaven or Las Vegas (song).

Heaven or Las Vegas
Studio album by
Cocteau Twins
Released17 September 1990[1]
StudioSeptember Sound, Twickenham
Genre
Length37:42
Label4AD
ProducerCocteau Twins
Cocteau Twins chronology
Blue Bell Knoll
(1988) 		Heaven or Las Vegas
(1990) 		Four-Calendar Café
(1993)
Singles from Heaven or Las Vegas
  1. "Iceblink Luck"
    Released: 27 August 1990
  2. "Heaven or Las Vegas"
    Released: October 1990

Heaven or Las Vegas is the sixth studio album by Scottish alternative rock band Cocteau Twins. It was released on 17 September 1990 by 4AD. It is the band's second major-label release, following Blue Bell Knoll in 1988.

Heaven or Las Vegas peaked at number seven on the UK Albums Chart and number 99 on the US Billboard 200,[3][4] becoming the band's most commercially successful release. It eventually sold 235,000 copies by 1996, according to Billboard.[5] The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die,[6] and was voted number 218 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums.[7] In 2020, Rolling Stone listed it at No. 245 in its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[8]

The album was voted 18th of Scotland’s 100 Best Rock and Pop Albums in 2003 and was the focus of a BBC Scotland programme, Classic Scottish Albums in 2007.[9] Despite 4AD president Ivo Watts-Russell proclaiming it one of the best-ever releases on his label, he released the group from their contract at the end of 1990 because his relationship with the band had soured.

  1. ^ Smith, Robin (8 September 1990). "This Week: The Next Seven Days in View - Tours". Record Mirror. p. 33. ISSN 0144-5804.
  2. ^ Pitchfork Staff (28 September 2022). "The 150 Best Albums of the 1990s". Pitchfork. Retrieved 26 April 2023. By 1990, when Cocteau Twins released Heaven or Las Vegas—their final album for 4AD, the independent UK label that had shepherded their journey from post-punk mystics to ambient-pop dream-weavers...
  3. ^ "Cocteau Twins: 'Blue Bell Knoll' and 'Heaven or Las Vegas' LP Represses Coming this July". 4AD. 22 May 2014. Archived from the original on 13 February 2016. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
  4. ^ "Cocteau Twins – Chart History". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Archived from the original on 10 April 2015. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
  5. ^ Bambarger, Bradley (6 April 1996). "Radio Climate Could Boost Capitol's Cocteau Twins". Billboard. Vol. 104, no. 14. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. p. 14. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
  6. ^ Morton, Rob (2006). Dimery, Robert (ed.). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. New York: Universe. pp. 634. ISBN 0789320746.
  7. ^ Colin Larkin, ed. (2000). All Time Top 1000 Albums (3rd ed.). Virgin Books. p. 105. ISBN 0-7535-0493-6.
  8. ^ "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. 22 September 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  9. ^ "Cocteau Twins: Heaven or Las Vegas". Cocteautwins.com.