1 post tagged “lush”
I first heard of of Lush when their album Spooky conquered the College Radio charts. I remember being impressed because that album sat at the top of the college chart for weeks! But there was so much great new music coming out around that time, I wasn’t even sure I’d heard any of their songs on the radio yet. It wasn’t until months later when a friend brought over the Spooky LP that I discovered I already DID like a song of theirs, the awesome For Love, which had been in rotation while that album was dominating the college airwaves.
About a half a year later, I started working nights at an Art Studio with this really cool guy named Steve, who became my alternative music guru. One night we were talking about musical groups we were fans of, and he asked me, “Do you like 4AD Groups?” I had to pause and think before asking, “Wha…what ‘s 4AD?”
He explained that 4AD was a music label ,a pretty eclectic music label, at that, and he was an absolute fan of the groups in the roster. He was especially appreciative of 4AD’s unique artistic covers, featuring moody dreamlike designs by Vaughan Oliver.
He then proceeded to run down the list of some of his favorite artists on the label, and there were a few that I actually DID like, such as Cocteau Twins, Clan Of Xymox, Pixies, and his favorite group at the time: LUSH!
I mentioned that I DID get to hear the album Spooky, and I did like that song of theirs “For Love”, but didn’t really know too much more about them. He asked if I’d ever seen how the group looked, in particular the lead singer, to which I answered a polite, “No.”.
He smiled and said, “O.K…I’m gonna make you a VHS tape of some of their videos.”
Well, Steve was true to his word, and the very next week, he gave me a videotape with maybe six or seven LUSH videos, and quite frankly, yes, I was blown away! The songs were just terrific, the group looked cool, and the two girl vocalist / guitarists, well…what can I say? They were just beautiful!
The VHS tape Steve made for me had a the PV for “For Love”, as well as a few other videos for songs I only vaguely remembered hearing from Spooky, “Superblast!”, and the ultra-gorgeous “Nothing Natural” vid. He also included earlier songs from the band that I just fell in love with as soon as I heard them, “Sweetness and Light”, and a beautiful video for what has become my favorite clip of Lush, the incredible “De-Luxe”. From that point on, I was hooked! The two LPs that were out, GALA and SPOOKY, became some of our most-played discs at that studio late at night!
When I started working at Tower Records, I met a couple of really cool chicks named Christl and Leigh, and boy, these were some MAJOR Lush fans…I remember their lockers were covered with Lush pics, and as I recall, Christl was even in the Lush fan club, or at least had access to the fan club letters (which printed LYRICS, a must for the burgeoning Lush Fan!), and she really widened my scope of the world of Miki and Emma! (Christl also was a big TORI AMOS fan along with me, and she even introduced me to the band IVY, as mentioned in a previous post!) It was a wonderful time, because I made friends with these big fans just as Lush was set to release their NEW album, SPLIT! There was a LOT of excitement that year, I tell you!
Not only was there new LUSH music to listen to and learn, but there also was a whole slew of new Lush VIDEOS to get and love! Then the crowning present that year came when my friend Herb visited a Music store in Pennsylvania and bought me a COMPLETE Bootleg LUSH CONCERT! This was the famous Texas show, and I was simply blown away. To see them performing an entire concert was incredible, the quality was A+ perfect, and Oh My did Miki look just GORGEOUS! What a Gift!
It’s probably around this point that I morphed into a manic “must have it all” Lush fan, and I soon discovered there were TONS of Lush songs out there, tucked onto flip-sides, One-off compilations and EP bonus tracks, that needed to be acquired! Soon I was picking up different 4AD single variations, collections like “Alvin Lives in Leeds” and those terrific “Volume” series for collectible Lush stuff!
There were these three cool musicians I knew (Ray, Jon and Misti, by name!), who loved Lush as much as I did, and they invited me to play in a side-band project they had which did very Miki Berinyi-ish shoegazer music! I happily agreed, and for a while there, we were rockin some pretty nice tunes! We even did out version of “I wanna Be Your Girlfriend”! Ah, happy times!
In 1996, one of my dreams came true when LUSH announced they were coming to Hawaii to play in a little venue called “Nimitz Hall” to promote their brand new CD, LOVELIFE! Me and my friend Larry made our way down to that gig, and MAN, we were not disappointed. We got choice viewing positions on a balcony that looked right above the club stage, the scene couldn’t have been better if we were sitting front row!!!!
Miki and the gang started the show with “Heavenly Nobodies”, and I immediately started laughing, for this was their way of saying to the adoring crowd, “Don’t worship us-We may not live up to your standards!”
They ran through their catalog of hits, but the song that really knocked our socks off was their blistering performance of “Runaway”…the song was just POUNDING!, Miki and Emma’s soaring vocals never more spot-on! And of course I don’t have to say how great those two gals looked!
Miki had this habit of putting her guitar pick in her mouth whenever she changed guitars, and a lucky friend of mine managed to catch the pick when she flicked it into the audience. The next day, he showed it off, and I was in awe as I examined the pick – Miki’s pink lipstick was smudged into all the cracks of the “Fender” relief logo!!!
Sadly, as everyone knows, Chris would take his life a few weeks after this gig, and the wonderful group of LUSH would separate for good. When I think about it, I feel so blessed that I got to see them, because a few weeks difference and the concert I saw would never have happened. That makes me savor my memories even more. And even though the group is gone, I’m still collecting their stuff, only now instead of looking forward to the new releases, It’s acquiring those old/rare/unreleased/bootleg stuff still waiting to be discovered! Every time I acquire a new collectible or song (boy, ya shoulda been there when I finally got a copy of “Sweetie”!), it takes me back and reminds me what a fine group Lush was, and still is!
An uplifting and encouraging song, telling you that everything's gonna work out alright, with its infectious "Groovin" Young Rascals vibe!
"One day, things won't seem the same way, I know!"
While the “newer” version of Thoughtforms became (to me) the ‘real” version of said song, Scarlet’s two versions both had different things to offer for me. The newer version was more polished and dreamy (and bears a slight resemblance to “Monochrome”) while the ealier one was more “raw” in sound, almost live. It was THIS version that I slowly found myself attached to, especially during the choruses where Emma’s Guitar chords sound positively sonic following the lines “But What’d you say” and “When nothing’s meant? ”, “What’d You Do” and “When all is Spent?”.The tone of the guitars have this “british” feel to it and I for some reason, it reminds me of “Sparks” by The Who,,,
In fact, the huge, dreamy guitar washes during the lines “No one to fall…in love” and the subsequent spirally guitar picking behind the lines “Facless, faithless night…vanity’s delight” all have decidedly Townshend-ish flavouring, at least in my opinion, and that’s a major Who fan talking here!
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