Treasure by Cocteau Twins

Treasure, Cocteau Twins' third album, came out on 4AD on 12 November 1984, and it's the record where the Grangemouth band found their true shape: Elizabeth Fraser singing, Robin Guthrie on guitar, Simon Raymonde on bass. It's also where they gave themselves over completely to the ethereal sound that would define them.

Guthrie's guitars smear into great glowing clouds of effects, and Fraser's soprano soars and tumbles through words that often don't belong to any language you'd recognize. "Ivo", "Lorelei" and "Beatrix" feel less like songs than weather systems, and "Lorelei" even became a minor dance hit. Critics fell for it, and it became their first UK Top 40 album, peaking at No. 29, though the band themselves thought it underdeveloped. The dream pop they pioneered crystallises here.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.