Milk & Kisses
Still unique in a new age-friendly world they helped spawn, the Cocteaus return to the rapturous style of old after the failed mainstream bid of Four-Calendar Cafe (1993). What was once minimal and meandering is now an ornate spiderweb of riffs, rich beats, and Liz Fraser's ghostly vocalese on beauties like "Serpentskirt," and "Calfskin Smack."--Jeff Bateman