Review Summary: The girl band of shoegaze, Lush were often underrated by the music press, but they also were the most pop-oriented 'gaze band, and the most commercially successful, both in the UK and across the Atlantic. A great band with a gift for writing impeccable me
Ah yes, Lush. The little girly band with the swirly, fluffy, cutesy songs. The Cocteau Twins knock-off band, going as far as hiring Robin Guthrie to produce their material and signing to 4AD. The band that had not one, but TWO rather attractive women. They were so good on their EP's but couldn't translate that on the album. Oh man, what a trip. These cliches were often thrown Lush's way in their hey day by the NME and the Maker. Truth be told, they were more than that. They were probably the most pop-oriented of any of the shoegaze bands back in the day, writing very melodic and harmony-driven tunes. But man, could they write melodies. Emma Anderson, the band's main songwriter, was super talented at that. The songs on here are strong, but some of them are held back by the production. Robin Guthrie was on the knobs here and got a little into it, trying to make them sound like an exact copy of the Cocteaus circa mid-80s. As a result, some of the songs which should be strong, bright moments are held back by a rather murky sound and loads of overdubbed guitars and way too much flanger. Add to the fact the siren-like vocals of Emma and Miki aren't that much different from Liz Fraser's voice, and you start to think, this sounds WAY too much like the Cocteau Twins at some points. There are strong points however. For Love is a near perfect pop song, with it's Smiths-like guitars a bit and a pretty melody. Superblast! amps everything up and rocks the hell out, sounding kind of like the Jesus and Mary Chain a bit guitar wise, very aggressive sounding, probably the hardest Lush ever got, but in contrast to the loud guitars, the vocals still had that enchanting, choir-like sound to them. It's great. Other gems on here are songs like Untogether, Ocean (could of been much better without Guthrie), Monochrome, and Nothing Natural. Strong album all around.
