Lush - Lovelife

 

Lush - Lovelife

By

Jesse E. Mullen

An American distribution deal can make or break a British band. If an album is licensed to a sympathetic American label, it can be a success. There is mutual respect, and the label doesn’t set the band up for failure.

On the flipside, a bad deal can run a talented group into the ground. Or exhaust them to the point where tragedy strikes. Such was the case with Lush. A songwriting partnership between singer/rhythm guitarist Miki Berenyi and lead guitarist Emma Anderson, the British quartet were initially a part of the shoegazing scene of the 80s and 90s.

However, they made a gradual shift towards Britpop, culminating in 1994’s Split and 1996’s Lovelife. Sadly, their American label Reprise didn’t understand how to promote them. A grueling, highly misguided tour opening for The Gin Blossoms in the latter half of 1996 proved too much, and Lush were on the verge of breaking up.

Tragically, they wouldn’t all make it through the year. Drummer Chris Ackland committed suicide on October 17^th, 1996. He was 30.

But the year didn’t start off this bad for Lush. It was actually quite good at first. “Single Girl” and “Ladykillers,” received a strong reception. And the album Lovelife made the top 10 in the UK album charts. Statistics are one thing, but how an album stacks up as a whole is another. So how does it hold up?

The album gets off to a rocking start with “Ladykillers.” Berenyi is in punk pop fashion, describing humorous accounts of egotistical men. She winds up dating one for a summer, before dumping the narcissist for good. It’s a strong start, but Emma Anderson was not one to be upstaged.

Things improve further with the jangly “500 (Shake Baby Shake.” Using a Fiat 500 as a metaphor for a man of her interest, Anderson turns in her sunniest composition of the album. Musically, the song resembles the lighter moments on Wish by The Cure. The bright, arpeggiated guitar tones recall “Friday I’m In Love.”

“Last Night” is something new entirely. Anderson is experimenting with club beats and trippy tremolo guitars. It wouldn’t sound out of place on Radiohead’s The Bends. Lyrically the track is in supernatural territory. Anderson writes of a magical recipe for a serum to keep its user young forever.

The track seems to be a sly commentary on celebrity culture and how humans are obsessed with looking younger than we really are.

Anderson is back in dreamy Lush territory on “Tralala.” The lyrics describe those who only want to kick us when we’re down. Musically, it’s a stripped back ballad. She uses shimmering chord changes and subtle leads to great effect.

For her part, Berenyi contributes a gorgeously poignant vocal. Much like her work on previous Lush ballads such as “When I Die,” her slight rasp adds texture and resonance to Anderson’s words.

Berenyi tried something totally different on “Ciao!” She invited Jarvis Cocker of Pulp to sing the male role in a character-based breakup duet. It’s not entirely successful, as both Berenyi and Cocker’s characters come across as particularly insufferable. But maybe that was the point.

The album ends on another poignant note with the Anderson-penned “Olympia.” The lyrics describe admiring another girl to the point of wanting to be her. In our current world of celebrity culture, it’s possibly even more meaningful now than it was in 1996.

Musically, it’s another sweet ballad with gentle acoustic guitars and mellotron. Anderson and Berenyi sing in harmony before the band enters. A horn and string section joins in the final third, bringing the track to another level. The final line “And now, time to switch off” is even more poignant, knowing what we now know.

Some bands go out with a whimper, not a bang. Not Lush. Although they were unfair victims of a changing musical landscape, and a fickle British music press, they proved they could make a great album under terrible – and soon to be tragic – circumstances.

4AD/1996

 

Moose albums

Moose albums

By

Jesse E. Mullen

If we’re going to talk about criminally underrated records, then we can’t go without discussing Moose. The band formed in Camdentown, London at the height of the “Shoegazing” movement in 1990. Fronted by singer/songwriter Russell Yates and guitarist/ songwriter KJ “Moose” McCillop, , the band also included various rhythm sections and at one point, a keyboardist. Active throughout the ‘90s to 2000 (with a break between 1996-99), Moose never achieved the success they deserved, despite having one of the most consistently great discographies of any of the big bands of the scene (Ride, Lush, My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive), and the decade in general (Pavement, Pixies.) What follows are my assessments of every album Moose ever made, plus the Jack EP from 1991.


Albums:

…XYZ (1992)
Propelled by the bright, crisp production of Mitch Easter (R.E.M., Let’s Active) and would-be hit single “Little Bird (Are You Happy In Your Cage?)", …XYZ is an exceptionally strong debut for Moose. Highlights include “Soon Is Never Soon Enough” (a duet with Cranberries frontwoman Dolores O'Riordan), and the aforementioned “Little Bird.” Perhaps the strongest though, is the ballad “Polly.” A tender love song, with just enough ambiance to qualify as dream pop, Russell Yates tells a story of love that has possibly been led astray.

Honey Bee (1994)
Kicking off with the spritely “Uptown Invisible,” Moose’s first self-produced record is a strong affair. Going back to the more textured guitar tones of their earlier EPs, the band cook up some tasty concoctions for the ears of shoegazing fans the world round. “Uptown” is a definite high point, introducing the more prominent use of brass, something that would later become a hallmark of Moose’s sound. Featuring perhaps their best attempt at a Velvets style indie pop tune, “Around The Warm Bend” is gorgeous in every way.

Live A Little, Love A Lot (1995)
Moose continue their evolution on their third album, Live A Little, Love A Lot. “Play God” features Liz Frasier of Cocteau Twins on guest vocals, their second famous guest vocalist. “The Man Who Hanged Himself,” as in “I don’t want to be” is a definite highlight, along with “First Balloon to Nice.” The more urbane brass sounds continue to pop up, this time, on the wonderful “Rubdown.” And the record also features two of their most Mary Chain-esque numbers, “Poor Man” and “Old Man Time.” “Poor Man” is evocative of the indie pop that the Mary Chain perfected on Darklands, and “Old Man Time” is evocative of The Mary Chain’s biggest song, the majestic “Just Like Honey.” “So Much Love, So Little Time” is a springtime dream pop tune for the ages, complete with cooing backing vocals, light pianos, and tremolo guitars.

High Ball Me! (2000)
After a four year break, Moose returned to the studio in 1999 to record their fourth and final album, High Ball Me. The hip, urbane sounds that previous two albums only hinted at are out in full force here, particularly on “Can’t Get Enough of You,” “The Only Man In Town,” “High Ball Me Baby!,” and “Keeping Up With You.” “Keeping Up With You” in particular will be of interest to fans of the shoegazing genre, as it features Lush vocalist Miki Berenyi on backing vocals during the chorus for Moose’s final famous guest vocalist appearance. “The Only Man In Town” is another highlight, with it’s textured percussion and typically warm vocal from Russell Yates.

EPS:

Jack EP (1991)
The album that got them tagged as “Shoegazing,” a tag that would dog them for the rest of their existence. Despite only being four songs, the Jack release contains some of the finest moments of their early career. The title track has layers upon layers of noisy guitars, with enough FX to qualify as shoegazing. “The Ballad of Adam and Eve” balances pleasure and consequence with ambient guitars, and pounding drums. Clearly form and creativity were a balanced affair with this band from the beginning.