TURN-ONS AND TURN-OFFS IN CURRENT HOME ENTERTAINMENT RELEASES : Excellent Good Fair Poor : COMPACT DISCS

“Head Over Heels/Sunburst and Snowblind.” Cocteau Twins. 4AD. AAD. Combining this LP and EP on a 52-minute CD makes perfect sense except for one thing: the British trio’s charming “Sugar Hiccup” was represented on each collection and consequently shows up twice here. These works from 1983 represent an improvement over the debut album and EP that would lead to the full flowering of this enchantingly atmospheric band’s unique sound on the “Treasure” LP a year later. Some may even prefer the more substantive rhythms and discordant edges here over the later mistiness. However, the CD sound, though quite good, is not markedly better than that of the vinyl versions. 1/2