Male, British, ex-RAF. Is anyone else experiencing REALLY bad lag in the review text box at the mome...
Male, British, ex-RAF. Is anyone else experiencing REALLY bad lag in the review text box at the moment? Its so bad I have stopped writing & editing reviews completely. Can't Ciao fix this?
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For some reason neither of the Lush fans on Ciao (that'd be me & Larsbaby) had reviewed this & seeing as how this album actually contains a single that shares this sites name I thought I'd better sort that out so here goes.
Lush were a shoegazing band during the 90's who enjoyed small success with "Single Girl" & are best known for their slightly trippy phased jangly guitars & breathy female vocals provided by the musical & song writing talents of Miki Berenyi (one day I WILL learn to spell that without looking it up) & Emma Anderson, bass guitar was manned by part time goth Phil King & the drums were helmed by the sadly deceased Chris Acland.
Lovelife was their 3rd & final studio album released in March 1996, after touring & doing various festivals that year Anderson announced she wanted to leave the band (and did going on to form "Sing SIng") on October 15th 1996.
2 days later Acland hung himself at his parents home. Lush decided to disband after this with bassist King returning to his gothic roots joining The Jesus & Mary Chain, Berenyi went into journalism only recently coming back to the music scene & Anderson stuck with Sing Sing until 2008 when they disbanded on New Years day after releasing only 2 albums.
So whats on Lovelife?
1 - Ladykillers. This whole album is a complete change in musical direction for Lush trying to appeal more to the Britpop crowd and this track sounds a lot like early Blur. Gone are the layered vocals and in are very clear guitar lines with complimentary
drums. This track was released as a single reaching #22 in the UK & #18 in the US in 1996.
2 - Heavenly Nobodies. More of a ska or post punk style influence here with a nod to old style Lush with guitars cranked up to the point where vocals are barely discernable. If anything this song kind of reminds me of "Secret Agent Man" by Johnny Rivers.
3 - 500 (Shake Baby Shake). For the writing of this album & especially this track I get the feeling the girls invested in a couple of Les Paul or early Gibson guitars & decided to completely cease all usage of effects pedals as the guitar lines are so 50's & very clean, very like early Mock Turtles (circa "Can You Dig It") or Saint Etienne (circa "Your In A Bad Way"). This track was also released as a single reaching #21 in the UK in 1996.
4 - I've Been Here Before. I think Emma Anderson had been listening to too much Oasis, Stone Roses & Happy Mondays as their influences really show here. Emma was definately in a 60's style mindset when she wrote this thats for sure, even the writer of The Avengers theme Laurie Johnson would have liked this too.
5 - Papasan. Or Papa San. However you want to spell it this is Miki citing her Japanese heritage although her mum is the Japanese one as her dad is Hungarian. No-one ever said Miki Berenyi was an easy person to understand! This is a rather unusual song, its like a lament as far as the words and musical style go.
6 - Single Girl. Its probably the song Lush are best known for & was the 1st single release from the album reaching #21 in the UK in 1996. It's the most like their previous stuff if slightly more commerically orientated with clearer lyrics than is usual for Lush. The hallmark jangly guitars are still there along with the RiotGrrl attitude & super clean drums from Acland with Kings great bass line dovetailing in nicely. As good now as it was then if not better with age.
7 - Ciao. Lush meets The Eurovision Song Contest with the intro of this anti love song, Miki sings with Jarvis Cocker of Pulp & a nice acoustic guitar line backed with a mixed down electric guitar backing up with understated drums. Basically this is Lush's answer to songs like "Fairy Tale Of New York" but its rather fabulous if I'm honest, a right little rocking poppy tune with Cocker adding extra clout to show how well Lush were respected at the time.
8 - Tralala. A nice breathy intro with a solo guitar jangling for all its worth being e-bowed to within an inch of its life even in the subdued mode that is the way this starts, its typically old school Lush singing about love & Mr Right. Its quite down tempo but a rather haunting melody & vocal reminding me of "High & Dry" by Radiohead to be honest.
It's rather like Emma Anderson recorded this when Miki Berenyi had stepped out of the studio for a break as she sounds like she's all on her own singing & providing rather Pink Floyd like (think "Wish You Were Here)" guitar backing all on her own.
9 - Last Night. French film noir soundtrack meets Hotel California here in this brilliant intro that devolves into truly sublime trip hop which had me LOVING this from the open seconds, even more so with the dischordant guitars & even more dischordant layered vocals.
Now this is the Lush we know & loved, why the hell wasn't this released as a single? It's fricking AWESOME with Emma Anderson writing a great song and Miki Berenyi giving it out large! You could release this today & the emo fans would lap it up and ask for more, its just so bleakly beautiful. This one has earned its place on my mp3 player for sure.
10 - Runaway. Another return to the poppy roots of Lush rather unsurprisingly penned by Miki, again though its very 60's in its style in the genre of psychedelia but fitting in very well with the late 90's "baggy" Madchester soundscape. It is HUGELY reminiscent of "She's not there" by The Zombies though which is suitably on the right edge of listenable for Britpop fans.
11 - Childcatcher. Rather gothic in its opening anti chords but again a return to classic Lush with vocals low in the mix underneath the guitars & drums. The harmony lines are very good and its very fast with Lush's punk influences showing here though that middle 8 has a touch of dub reggae hidden away in it .
The Punk bits are very like The Rezillos in a good way. Clearly by this point whoever from their record company had told them to appeal to the Britpop crowd had been told to sod off home and leave the song writing to the talented people.
12 - Olympia. Lovely mellow opening with crisp guitar & flute right into typically thick vocals that scream Emma Anderson as all these types of songs seem to have come from her. This is Lush staying where they were most comfortable, guitars set on jangly and vocals set on maximum layering like we love and adore.
It's almost Emma Anderson trying to write a classic Lush style song that also oozes elements of The Carpenters to be honest and they were going as they wanted to be remembered, The Awesome Foursome that was Lush.
It's sad that this was the final album from Lush that wasn't a compilation and I still think that if they had the right drummer Lush could still reform and be as popular today if not even more popular than they were as they have a much bigger audience to appeal to with the sk8ter set and the emo crowd.
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Hmm to be honest I find this album a very bitter, man-complainer of a long player! Too poppy for me too and far to much "oh woe is me I choose bastards" kind of stuff. Still, I agree, shame that was it for them.
arnoldhenryrufus 15.06.2009 01:33
nice review I have only read about them not heard them yet - lyn x
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