Now Playing on the Groove Machine - Ciao! best of Lush

Tweet

Led by guitarists/vocalists/songwriters Miki Berenyi and Emma Anderson, Lush were a shoegaze/dream pop band formed in London in 1987, breaking up in 1998, shortly after their drummer, Chris Ackland, committed suicide. The band released 3 studio albums, 1 mini-album, and 6 compilations. I’m listening to one of those compilations, 2001’s Ciao! Best of Lush (my copy is a 2015 reissue, 2 x LP, clear dark red vinyl.) Since I prefer the proper albums, I try to stay away from “Best of’s” and “Greatest Hits” (other than this, a Best of by Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers is the only other “Best of” in my collection) records. However, this was the only record in the bin with “Ladykillers” on it, and I was really in the mood to hear “Ladykillers.” So I bought it. 18 songs, 6 written by Berenyi, 10 by Anderson, one co-written by the pair, and one by Stuart Moxham of Young Marble Giants. And it is a fine representation of Lush’s, well, lush sound. The rocking, non-stop vocal, “Ladykillers” leads off the album. I saw the Miki Berenyi Trio here in Denver a couple years ago. She was clearly suffering from our altitude. Yet she burned through “Ladykillers” without a problem. I was impressed. There are some Lush classics on here. The single remix of “500 (Shake Baby Shake)” is still as fun as it was in 1996. “Desire Lines” is 7:38 of gloomy shoegaze, while “De-Luxe” and “Sweetness and Light” show off the band’s more-dreamy shoegaze side, with lots of dream pop vocal harmonies between Berenyi and Anderson. Most definitely worth the purchase (I bought it two days ago!) R.I.P. Chris. U.S. video for “De-Luxe” below: