Starlust Mailing List Reviews

Ladykillers. Umm. i love the title track, it's great. but. um.. some of the other tracks are cack. well, okay, cack is too strong a word. they're just, kinda, average. but there are a couple of (whoa) swirly tracks.

Let's do a review of sorts :)

disc one

Track 1: Ladykillers

Track 2: Matador

this is a, kinda, acapella type affair (except with backing instruments) but the only singing is 'bom-badada, bom-badada (aaaaaah)' and the like. so, i dunno who's gonna do the lyrics for that one :)

Track 3: Ex

a pretty-sounding pop song, about.. well, can you guess? quite verbose (lyrics later, maybe), maybe a little over-produced, but still catchy, and very Lush.

Track 4: Dear Me (miki's 8-track home demo)

this is the one that stands out most. a track with Lush stamped more times on it than the horrible CD covers :) swirly, ethereal.. dare i say it? bliss. oh, it's about going out and getting pissed up, in some parts at least.

disc 2

Track 1: Ladykillers

Track 2: Heavenly

hmmm. it would appear to be another instrumental, albeit with a bit of whispering in it. kind of rambling, kind of plinky. it's nice, in a kind of "don't play this too often" type way.

Track 3: Carmen

a bit nondescript at first listen; not a classic, but not dreadful by any means. it's just a mid-tempo pop song. i'm beginning to wonder quite how much Lush have really changed, actually.

Track 4: Plums and Oranges

errrrrrr. umm. uhmmmm. starts off kinda dubby, actually. it's a strange one, this track. it reminds me of the Police in some ways (!?) it's all that strange offbeat, nearly butnotquitereggae. anyway, there's a Lush song that is more of Split than of Single Girl in there somewhere, as well. but i can take or leave the backbeat, thanks. (well, okay, i'd rather leave it.)

well. that's it. i'm not quite sure why i did that, cos i'm sure you've all got the singles, but i've been reading Vox so i've got my reviewing head on.

Now to more relevant matters. Lush's "Ladykillers" EPs - I haven't listened to the 7" (when I move house at the end of the week I must give serious consideration to sorting out my record deck - let's get the important things sorted first!). But the CDs are excellent, which is odd. When "Split" was released, it was preceded by two EPs which were basically Emma's ("Desire Lines") and Miki's ("Hypocrite"). As usual, I preferred Emma's songs. This time, the singles and B-sides have a similar division - "Single Girl" was mostly Emma, "Ladykillers" mostly Miki, but this time Miki's songs are far stronger.

Title track is one of the less good ones, about being in a bar in Camden and meeting a man who goes on about being sensitive but really only wants to talk about himself and watch you fight his girlfriend. Phil's song, "Matador", is an attempt to win the world "ba da dum" trophy from Stereolab, "Ex" is about splitting up, and then the first real killer - a demo of "Dear Me", which I presume is going to be on the album. It's Miki backing herself, an introspective song about self-loathing with those slowed down backing vocals that they used to use years ago, very "Mad Love"-ish.

Second CD: "Heavenly" is another great one, piano and atmospheric sounds with subliminal whispering lyrics, extremely sexy. "Carmen" is an Anderson/Berenyi song, great lyrics, and "Plums and Oranges" is Emma's only solo composition, a weak song given a dub production, lots of echoing and effects, which saves it. Unlike "Single Girl", there are three or four really good B-sides here, which wouldn't disgrace an album.

This review was actually posted to the 4AD list, but was reposted to Starlust

Hello all

I just picked up the new album today ... I listened to the promo copy while in the store, and well ... I'm extremely dissappointed. Of course, I still bought the damn thing. 12 tracks of drivel... well, I did like SG, but it's nothing in comparison to the earlier material. I'm sure they'll do well on popular radio stations though *sigh*

That's all my pessimism for today.

Hm... "Lovelife". It's not Lush, but it's not bad. The album is actually quite addictive, well, if you play it several times... That version of "Childcatcher" has got to go, though. The original was much better.

It ruined my day.

With the exception of "500" and "Last Night" this is unbearable,with those two songs being the least unbearable.

Im a real [often dirty] old GEEZER Lush fan and I have not been so sad since Van Halen came out with Diver Down. In fact, I feel the same way that I did the first time I listened to that. This was insult added to injury with those two mini-CDs of "Single Girl". I think Ivo or Reprise or both have it figured out that they've got it made with all the 4ad and Lush fans who will buy any product regardless.

Diver Down followed up what I would call Van Halen's masterpiece "Fair Warning"...a really great dark album. It too was considered "poppish" and a "sell-out" with its catchy cover of "Pretty Woman". From my point of view Diver Down had awful writing, musicianship and production. They even pulled old songs from their stage act, before they made it, and put them on the album.

Like Van Halen's Diver Down, "lovelife" lacks the quintessential qualities that attracted me to the band in the first place: the etheriel kaleidoscopic harmonies are for the most part absent. There are bits and pieces of the old Lush here and on the SG maxi-singles, but for the most part, they are weak efforts and re-treads. Its "Britpop" alright...although I'm thinking its more ....pop (you fill in the blank). I won't see this tour (I once paid $60 to a scalper to get into the show at Bottom of the Hill), instead, I'll stay home and watch my boot video of the last tour.

I loved Split from the get-go, with the exception of Hypocrite, which I guess was the shapes of things to come. Spooky was perfect, as were the first eps, which I bought as soon as they came out. Lovelife is a really mediocre album which shows what happens when you get an amatuer to co-produce. I would have loved to keep "The Childcatcher" where it was, as a rarity, its as out of place on this "singles collection" as "Sweetness and Light" wwould be.

As I've said about the Oakland (formerly Los Angeles) Raiders since 1985, there is always next year. 1996, for Lush has been a real disappointment. Maybe they could redeem themselves with a "Sugabuilt Remix" of Last Night, or get George Martin to re-produce the whole album, but, if this is their new direction...I DONT WANT ANY!

Today was a DARK day in Lush history :(

Very Very Sad Monty

As a long, long, long time Lush fan (yes, even here in the US of A we managed to root out the EP's pre Gala), I can understand why a great number of people are unhappy with Lovelife. To this, I can simply say, "bummer". It's a great album. I'm really very happy with it. I stopped at Tower this morning on the way to work to pick it up, and had a wonderful day at work listening to it about 50 times. I'd venture to say that this is the first Lush album in which I've loved EVERY song.

Now, I'm not saying I don't like the other albums. In fact, I'd rate either Gala or Spooky as Lush's finest moment. But there are a few tracks on Gala, Spooky, and Split that I just never listen to. So far, I haven't had an overpowering urge to skip over any track on Lovelife.

It's different. Shoegazing is dead. Lush's sound has certainly changed, but I suppose the reason I still enjoy the band is due to a different sort of change. The songwriting has grown increasingly mature. The lyrics keep getting better, the group have grown as musicians (particularly in a technical sense - some of the playing on Gala - phwar!)... and the songs are structured so much better nowadays.

And, by gods, Miki actually sings now. Quite wonderfully, I might add. Puts Jarvis to shame on Ciao!, I'll tell you that much.

Here's a brief rundown of my first impressions:

Ladykillers - great "sitting in the bar" song - now to find a bar in L.A. that will play it... yeah, right. This one will be incredible in concert.

Heavenly Nobodies - this could be the one that I end up wanting to skip. But for now, I still enjoy it. The "whoa, whoa, whoa"'s can go though.

500 - classic Emma songwriting. A great track. Who'd have thought you'd hear the line "Shake, baby, shake" from Lush? (shake dog shake, maybe...little cure humor).

I've Been Here Before - the bells gave me the chills first time I heard it - the arrangement is incredible, and I'm particularly fond of the lyrics. "Too many vodkas and too many beers..."

Papasan - killer title, if nothing else. I can relate to the lyrics in this one, so I'm very fond of it.

Single Girl - a good pop song, but the second runner-up in the possible skip category. But I'm all for it if it helps them make some money. I can see KROQ-of crap playing it. (PS - for you non-LA types, is KROQ really world famous? I think not)

Ciao! - I wasn't sure that a duet was a good idea when I first heard about it... but it works. Again, I like it. Haven't bothered listening to Pulp, regardless of the mega-hype, and now that I've heard him, I can't help but think he sounds like a cockney Elvis. But Miki sounds incredible in this one.

Tralala - This one's simply gorgeous. Big time turn out the lights and lit a few candles track.. makes me yearn for my goth days.

Last Night - The opening (very quiet) keyboard part made me wonder if I had slipped in Underworld... but it quickly got properly Lush. Interesting arrangement on this one - I haven't heard Lush do anything so blatently instrumental before. Good job. It's got a great moody feel to it. Kind of an old Clan of Xymox, almost Sisters of Mercy Floodland era vibe.

Runaway - another little rocker. Again, I'm not fond of the little vocal runs. But all you Miki obsessives can imagine she's singing to you on this one, huh? At least until the chorus...

The Childcatcher - loved this track on that Select tape a few months back. Still like the raw production on that version more, but the handclaps provided a great deal of amusement... still gives me the chuckles. And they buried Phil reading the poem... too bad.

Olympia - the now requisite slow introspective closer. A gooder, but Monochrome kicks it's ass all over town musically. I'm really not sure about that easy-listening horn part... Probably my favorite on the album lyrically, but I've always been fond of mythical references.

Well, that's my $.02

flood

agreed!....lovelife, to put it best...sucks big eggs...well, single girl and ladykillers are ok and childcatcher in my opinion, even survives, but the rest can go to the recycling bin...prediction: dont pay full price like me ($18), in a week or so, there will be plenty at the used record stores...i am saddened by lovelife...the only thing that kept me from tears while listening to it was that there was a really pretty full moon tonite...oh well, guess it's time to go to bed and give lovelife another chance...

tom lam, i am

I must say, I picked up the new lush today and it is really the worst they've ever done. The ballads like "Olimpia" and "Papasan" just don't work. Remember how everyone was saying how bad Single Girl was, well it's one of the best songs on the album.

There are, however, some OK songs "Ladykillers" and "Lastnight" but other than that.....

The lyrics on this one just aren't there. They buchered "Childcatcher" and Lovelife really is remenisint of Elastica. I did notice that on emma's songs, that there are some effects, at least we can rely on Emma! I think it was Miki's idea to go punk and Emma is just playing along.

I would really like to see them go their own seprate ways if thats what it takes to get the spacey effects back. If Emma goes her own way we'll get Spacey, Miki and Chris' band will probably be punk. I know I've said that before but its a really viable prediction IMO.

Recap:
Lovelife is Bad
Lush will break up
Miki and Chris = Punk band
Emma = Spooky type band
Phil = Will get a termanal illness and spend the rest of his days with the mother of the british kindom, Queen Elizibeth

I, like many others I would assume, am coming out of lurk mode to give a brief review of the new Lush album.

I, like many others, have been a Lush fan for a LONG time, and absolutely adore all of their other material. BUT, this new album just doesn't cut it for me. I would have preferred an EP with the best songs off Lovelife, rather than a whole LP. I thought "Ladykillers" and "Single Girl" were great when I heard them, and I've been slagging my friends who've been knocking those songs for being too poppy. It's not the poppy stuff that I mind, rather the poorly written ballads and silly lyrics that run throughout the album. Being a big Pulp fan as well, the duet with Jarvis doesn't work at all in my opinion. His voice doesn't blend with Miki's at all. Many of the other songs sound like they should be B-sides. They're just not complete or catchy.

Save 4 - 5 songs from the album, but I can do without the rest...

Bret

P.S. Maybe the album will grow on me...I'll keep listening to it because Lush is the best band with female vocals ever and I really WANT to love this one...