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1989-1996 Ciao! Best Of Lush  >>

Where Lush is concerned, the career-spanning retrospective of Ciao! is more necessary than usual. This is for two reasons. The first, and most immediate, is that many of Lush's finest moments appeared on their first two EPs, "Scar" and, especially, the Robin Guthrie-produced "Mad Love", and neither are terribly easy to get hold of. The second, and more important, reason is that this compilation makes it clear just how much arrestingly great work this (still) largely underrated band were responsible for. Lush existed at a period when indie groups were still indie groups, operating on the cultural and musical margins, drawing their inspiration from left-field sources like My Bloody Valentine and Hugo Largo. Lush's later singles, including "Single Girl" and "Ladykiller", almost earned them a slice of the mid-1990s Britpop boom enjoyed by so many of their friends and contemporaries (Pulp's Jarvis Cocker duets with Lush vocalist Miki Berenyi on the title track) but the songs that stand tallest now--particularly "Nothing Natural" and "Light From A Dead Star"--are the less breezily poppy and more lyrically opaque tracks.--Andrew Mueller

Lovelife  >>

If you haven't caught up with Lush for a while, you may be astonished when you put this on. Songs. Hooks. Choruses. Singing--more or less in tune. Looks like Lush stopped glanced up from gazing at their shoes and saw that there was an audience wanting to be entertained. So they dug out their old new wave albums and got themselves inspired. The opener, "Ladykiller," is just that: a stone killer that sets the lyrical mood for the whole record--relationships gone sour, the way "boys" act, and how women can be strong. Real life or what? Musically, it's as though a picture has just finally come into focus. Lush always denied their poppy side. Here they've given it full rein, and the effect is glorious, catchy as hell, filled with clever arrangements, and only "Last Night" has any kind of spook quotient. Wonderful stuff. The new wave of new wave of new wave? No, just a new lease on life for Lush. Welcome back. --Chris Nickson

Gala  >>

Split  >>

While many of their contemporaries have branched out in intriguing new directions since their dream-pop debuts, the members of Lush remained committed to a hazy wall of Cocteau Twins guitar, breathy harmonies by Miki Berenyi and Emma Anderson, and a fairly straightforward dance beat. The English quartet's third album, Split, isn't an improvement or a departure from Gala (1990) or Spooky (1992). Lush continues exploring pleasant but slight sounds on songs such as "Hypocrite" and "Light from a Dead Star," and it's likely that the group will always be remembered as the opening act on Lollapalooza '92. --Jim DeRogatis

Spooky  >>