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Ciao! Best Of
Lush |
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It's an eighteen track career spanning sendoff for one of the more under appreciated and unusual bands to walk in and out of our lives… we'll dwell momentarily on the negative before revealing the niceties of this band, of which there were many. Their end came in the aftermath of drummer, an integral part of their overall make up, Chris Acland's suicide which threw things into an utter turmoil and eventual conclusion. Oddly enough, Acland was considered the bright light in the times of darkness and an otherwise flighty Pop band that created many memorable moments faded out along with him… sad. But Lush's "Best Of" collection celebrates the splendor of a wholly respectable career noteworthy for an impetuous talent for writing catchy, sometimes off beat Pop tunes with a subtle flair for the dramatic. Move along from opening track "Ladykillers" with its R.E.M. "Driver 8" persona to the more sensual "500 (Shake Baby Shake)," to the gentle sincerity of "Love At First Sight," and as a listener you're hard pressed to think of anything more stirring, leaving you welled in a palpitative swell of emotion. And then following unsuitably, even unthinkably with "Hypocrite" and its edginess, again reaching from the post-modern bag of swag and harmonious hum along intent, richly devouring the tenderness of a moment ago with a burning determination that for late nineties newcomers fits well with late model Breeders' heroics. And the pretty "Desire Lines" next to return to that lake of tears, softly swaying in the light breeze of distant memory returning back to their 1994 "Split" LP… Lush was a breath of fresh air in an otherwise sore spot of a musical climate. Theirs was a starting place that few female-led bands could've hoped to entrench during the mid-to-late eighties and though things opened up for them as time went on, their reliance on subdivided musical variance, working a clear Pop harmony to exhaustion… And radiating gleefully their lyrical appeasement and light folk-shades wistfully dancing in the distance, you get an idea they're at peace with their chosen art for it's own sake and such a lasting durability should be fully acclaimed only years later as the many greats of the game only are. Lush was a vibrant, opinionated and sometimes fascinating musical wandering that stayed within the confines of blended Pop, light though sometimes contorted Rock, Modern with Folk-like inspirations, and a talent that came to an unfortunate end while they still had plenty left to offer. Released by 4AD Records Review by Vinnie Apicella
[va85@columbia.edu] |