Lush - Gala poll

We have not polled Lush yet? WTF?

So, it would have been easy to just do the complication greatest hits albums. Decided not to do that as all their albums need to be polled and I will do that over time. I do realize this is also a comp but different bcz it was my intro being a Yank and all that.

I'm going to do four shoegaze bands in a row, over this next month. Though, I will admit, that not all those albums are going to be a shoegaze album. With that Dinosaur Jr. poll that just finished, it will be a fun five weeks thorough the 90s.

This album RULES and can't wait to listen again as it has been a minute.

either the second version of “thoughtforms” or the first version of “scarlet”. The guitar rips on the chorus of the latter are so deeeeeep atmospheric

Sorry about my grammar yet again, screwing up the first run at this just stressed me out.

I see I even managed to screw up the album art work, to be fair it seems like it has changed over the year so I originally thought I was correcting it.

https://i.discogs.com/VycMu7uNa_DPm1ZslHxEMYIaaD27wSAj5id1hnsMQVU/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:585/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTEwNTg2/NjgxLTE2NTIxNDQw/MDMtNDc1OS5qcGVn.jpeg

They seem to be using this one, these days:
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41U3MpTymNL._UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg

The second one was the cardboard sleeve around the CD (which had a detachable glue so you could fold it out). The first one was the insert of the jewel case inside.

I was on board the Lush bus from EP 1 (which I mail ordered without hearing any of it beforehand) and being a million miles from anywhere, I was the only person I knew who was into them. I followed their adventures in the NME. Scar I loved, but it was Mad Love which blew me away, after another lengthy mail order. I've got to vote "De-Luxe" for that reason. Second place to "Sweetness and Light" which just shimmers. God I loved them.

Went with "Thoughtforms" version 2.

I considered throwing a bone to Sunbathing, but Sweetness & Light is just a perfect song/performance/production.

I was on board the Lush bus from EP 1 (which I mail ordered without hearing any of it beforehand) and being a million miles from anywhere, I was the only person I knew who was into them. I followed their adventures in the NME. Scar I loved, but it was Mad Love which blew me away, after another lengthy mail order. I've got to vote "De-Luxe" for that reason. Second place to "Sweetness and Light" which just shimmers. God I loved them.

― assert (matttkkkk)

This is a great story as it's always fun to see how we become fans of certain bands Did you also mail order Sweetness and Light EP?

This is such a super great album. I wish I could get it on vinyl. So many of these tracks could be #1, but I'm rolling with De-Luxe for the 6/8 groove and the great outro.

xp by that time folks knew about them so I was able to find a 12" in a local store, I think! I did get a shock when Gala dropped because I'd heard nothing, I thought it was an entirely new record. Still bought it anyway because I'm dumb like that.

Not sure if I'm voting for this or not but damn, isn't it beautiful?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7cqkpy4QrQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPjGcHMGiTk

just remembering I got the debuts by Lush, Pale Saints and The Breeders by mail order, Jan 1990, in a pack from Red Eye in Sydney (I was in Tasmania). Boy those three shaped my tastes. I knew Pixies and the Cocteaus etc but the rest was terra incognita.

To go along with those lines and hell I'm doing four shoegaze bands in a row. This might be my favorite music ever. For me it all started and ended with Ride. Nowhere was my heart and soul but then you had Slowdive, the Boo Radleys, Swervedriver, Pale Saints and Isn't Anything. I was so alive and having the time of my life in Southern California where I could watch all these bands live while not living in London or New York City.

Lush were so pretty and here is a story...

Prince had a club in the middle of Los Angeles and they had live bands from time to time. The club was gorgeous all decked out in purple with naked girls statues pretending to hold up the roof. Tonight's show was Lush, who I bought tickets for, with a opening band called Weezer. I only heard the Sweeter Song on KROQ and made sure to catch their show. Weezer played and were great fun and I was there with my girlfriend Amy. There was this huge pause as we waited for Lush. The only conversation I remember having with Amy that night was telling her about a new band I heard and that they were going to be massive, lol. I told her and her friends to be in the lookout for Oasis. One of the reasons why I had to run the Oasis poll. The other was because no one else would run it and there was just too much history there for ILM to overlook them but I degrees.

Turns out the PA announcer said Lush's Uhaul broke down from their way down from San Francisco and won't be able to preforming tonight but come back tomorrow and Weezer will also play again. Weezer played again the next night and still to this day, was the only two times seeing them live. Lush were worth the wait even if it wasn't the only time I saw them.

Lush is the perfect name for this band:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hhIudIuKzA

god that is hilarious, it's Miki! oh and three other people showed up and we couldn't keep them out of shot. I only knew the original with them playing in a tree, much more 4AD. They must have shot the US one a year later judging by Miki's hair.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKrw5wOlSng

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

i have never heard this album.

"sweetness + light" is the first track and this has to be some calibre of acknowledged classic, right? is the whole album this good? because uhh... yeah, that's gonna be a hard one to beat.

It's a compilation of their first mini album and two EPs, in reverse chronology. So it starts with the three tracks from the Sweetness and Light EP, then the four tracks of Mad Love, then six from Scar plus a couple of one-off oddities. The band grew in sophistication - a lot - across those three releases, so the later tracks sound a lot rougher and less developed than the Sweetness EP.
Thanks for listening to my lecture on early Lush.

Superior Breeze here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGAPMMCHwi0

no, that's actually really helpful! bee broke the dates down in the tracklist but it does make the album make a bit more sense after listening. the different versions paint that picture -quick evolution- fairly succinctly i'd say lol.

voted "sweetness + light" but hm to-
"bitter" (sounds very akin to throwing muses!)
"de-luxe"
"scarlet" og version

really good stuff!

Nice choices! I gotta say the cover art for Spooky atop the poll is one of the worst sleeve designs ever to come out on 4AD, a real head scratcher.

Had a blast relistening to this again after all these years. Ended up voting for "Sunbathing" as "Sweetness and Light" will get enough votes.

+1 for Thoughtforms 2

I had this massive spookysubway poster in my bedroom in high school

https://www.lightfromadeadstar.org/Memorabilia/Content/Posters%20&%20Flyers/Spooky%20Subway%20Poster.JPG

i don't mind the cover art for this one but I always thought it looked...a bit cheaper than v23 designs that came before. I'm not sure why. I think it's the orange.

(this one being Spooky. I like the cover art for Gala)

xxp i had that poster! i was at the Liverpool date.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I had the equivalent Mad Love giant tour poster but I can't find an image online. The deluxe version of Spooky is easier on the eye:
https://i.discogs.com/oug2YSfWCKgNSTRq2kgwzG6-EmRQXy_cshQkyWcNPx8/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:533/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTQ3MDc2/ODctMTQ2MjA3MzIx/OC05NDc4LmpwZWc.jpeg