It updates the span, running from 1982's Lullabies to 1996's Violaine (get it?), and it packages everything neatly on four discs to be sold in sets of two. Lullabies to Violaine is a lot more economical. It wasn't efficient, but it may have been the right way to appreciate it- pulling out coherent, individual pieces, seeing the art, figuring out what each one had to say. For a long time, the only way to access that work on CD was a maroon box filled with 10 individual discs. In fact, the band made terrific use of the format, giving each 12' a distinct aesthetic, from the sound to the cover art to the song titles. Like a lot of UK bands of their era, much of that terrific Cocteau work was released on EPs. The Cocteaus' best songs seem to be creating whole new sorts of beauty and energy, from scratch, and something about that gets to the root of what a lot of us want music to do in the first place.

Neither are they merely coexisting with them- they're actually the same things. The things that are special and adventurous here aren't competing with beauty and accessibility. The list of things I want is long and complicated (I hope), but start with just this one abstract thing: This band is absolutely unique in its vision and sound, and yet that uniqueness is an integral part of creating something beautiful. This is because their music, at its best, offers nearly everything I want out of pop records.

Of all the acts to have circulated through the list of my personal favorites, the Scottish band Cocteau Twins have always been the one that's impressed me most.

Cocteau twins the spangle maker