Lush "Split" (1994)

vinyl cover

Split
release date: Jun. 13, 1994
format: vinyl (CAD 4011) / cd (Deluxe Edition)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,90]
producer: Mike Hedges and Lush
label: 4AD Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: A) 1. "Light from a Dead Star" - 2. "Kiss Chase" (4 / 5) - 3. "Blackout" - 4. "Hypocrite" (live) - 5. "Lovelife" (4,5 / 5) - 6. "Desire Lines" - 7. "The Invisible Man" (4 / 5) - - B) 1. "Undertow" - 2. "Never-Never" (4,5 / 5) - 3. "Lit Up" (5 / 5) (live) - 4. "Starlust"

2nd studio album by English, London-founded band Lush. This is just another great album released in 1994, and it's just outside my personal top-10 favourites. The debut release Gala (Nov. 1990) compiles the band's first releases, a single and two eps. It's dark and promising shoegaze and the follow-up, which is the actual full-length studio debut Spooky (Jan. 1992) turned out as what seemed more like an unfinished Robin Guthrie-project.
Split has a fine balance between dream pop and indie pop, and it both comes with long progressive dreamy sounds as well as more direct almost power pop energetic tracks, all kept together by the same touch. The front duo is made up of Emma Anderson and Miki Berenyi who are both doing lead vocals and play guitars, with Phil King playing bass, and Chris Acland handling drums. The album is produced by Mike Hedges, who used to work with post-punk and gothic rock bands like The Cure, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Bauhaus but also with more synth pop and new romantic bands like Associates, Thomas Dolby and that seems like a better choice than Guthrie's strong production signature of dream pop reminding me of album productions for This Mortail Coil and his former main band Cocteau Twins. After this, Lush released its perhaps least interesting album, Lovelife (1996), which indicated a change in style towards more indistinct britpop, and then the band's career came to a devastating end by drummer Chris Acland's tragic suicide in '96 and the remaining members then decided to call it a day. Berenyi featured on a few releases and then changed career, Emma Anderson continued in the duo-band Sing-Sing, and King appears to have chosen a way out of the backdoor of the business; however, and although being the band's lowest charting album, Split is a mighty fine album, and it stands as this band's most coherent and best effort, imho. The cd issue comes in a 2-disc Deluxe Edition with a 3-track bonus disc.
Recommended.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5 stars, Rolling Stone 4 / 5 ]

[ collectors' item - 1st pressing in NM condition from ~ €120,- ]

cd issue

Lush "Gala" (1990)

Gala (compilation)
release date: Nov. 13, 1990
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5]
producer: Tim Friese-Greene; John Fryer & Lush; Robin Guthrie
label: 4AD / Reprise Records - nationality: England, UK

Compilation album by Lush originally released by 4AD Records and produced by various producers: Tim Friese-Greene (tracks #1-3); John Fryer & Lush (#8-13); Robin Guthrie (#4-7, 14-15).
Tracks #1-3 have previously been released as the single "Sweetness and Light" (Oct. '90), produced by Tim Friese-Greene; tracks #4-7 are identical to the ep Mad Love (Feb. '90), produced by Robin Guthrie; tracks #8-13 were previously released as the Mini-album debut Scar (Oct. '89), produced by John Fryer; track #14 is a previously unreleased cover song, originally made by ABBA, and track #15 has previously only been released on the compilation album Gigantic! 2 - Nineteen for the Nineties featuring various artists and sold with an issue of the music magazine Melody Maker - these two tracks were also produced by Guthrie.
Imo, I've also found this particular album a strange and incoherent listen but knowing that these songs stem from various releases with individual (strong) producers, it's no really wonder it's such a varied release. It functions more as that of a musicial documentation.