Lush – Chorus (2015)      


Review:
In 2015, Lush -- masters of celestial harmonies, stab-and-swirl guitar lines, and one-word titles -- announced their full reactivation. The 4AD label, with assistance from the band's Emma Anderson and designer Chris Bigg, also assembled and issued Chorus, a comprehensive set of the band's 1989-1996 output. Each of the five discs leads with a full-length in its entirety and is filled to capacity with an assortment of extras. What's missing is negligible, mostly forgotten remixes and redundant 7" edits. Gala, the compilation of early EPs with dream pop touchstones "Sweetness and Light" and "De-Luxe," is joined by previously unreleased, career-spanning BBC radio sessions. A set recorded in January 1990 for John Peel's program -- performances of three songs that had yet to be released in proper studio form -- effectively displayed as many distinct sides the band fully explored and refined throughout the following years. The discs that feature the Top Ten U.K. hit Spooky, a patchy if often brilliant debut album, and Split, a twisting and dizzying work of near perfection, conclude with B-sides and strays. Among the better supplemental cuts are a blurrier early version of "Starlust," a spirited version of Wire's "Outdoor Miner" (released three years before Elastica lifted a different song by the same band), and the exceptional "Desire Lines" B-side "White Wood." Third and fine studio full-length Lovelife, the one that got Lush labeled as Brit-pop opportunists, even though they were headed in that direction all along, is appended with a smattering of demos. "Single Girl" and the Anthony Kiedis-inspired "Ladykillers," two sharp singles from Lovelife, sent Lush close to the Top 20 of the U.K. pop chart, thanks in part to two-part CD singles and 7" releases that all contained exclusive tracks. The B-sides from that album alone were enough to prompt the existence of Topolino, a compilation that appeared in Japan and Canada with varying inclusions. All of those offcuts, as well as some earlier ones, are collected on Chorus' fifth disc, highlighted by covers of "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep" (popularized by Middle of the Road), "Mannequin" (Wire again), and "Demystification" (Zounds). Packaged hardcover-book style, Chorus is somewhere between 4AD's similarly thorough This Mortal Coil and Colourbox anthologies in terms of aesthetic indulgence. The image-rich book makes it more fan-friendly than either release, illuminating one of the era's most dazzling bands. — By Andy Kellman at allmusic.com


   


Track List:
CD1: Gala
01 Sweetness And Light
02 Sunbathing
03 Breeze
04 De-Luxe
05 Leaves Me Cold
06 Downer
07 Thoughtforms (Version 2)
08 Baby Talk
09 Thoughtforms (Version 1)
10 Scarlet
11 Bitter
12 Second Sight
13 Etheriel
14 Hey Hey Helen
15 Scarlet
16 Leaves Me Cold (BBC Radio Sessions)
17 Breeze (BBC Radio Sessions)
18 Hey Hey Helen (BBC Radio Sessions)
19 Blackout (BBC Radio Sessions)
20 Kiss Chase (BBC Radio Sessions)
21 The Childcatcher (BBC Radio Sessions)
22 Single Girl (BBC Radio Sessions)
23 Runaway (BBC Radio Sessions)
24 Heavenly Nobodies (BBC Radio Sessions)
25 Ladykillers (BBC Radio Sessions)

CD2: Spooky
01 Stray
02 Nothing Natural
03 Tiny Smiles
04 Covert
05 Ocean
06 For Love
07 Superblast!
08 Untogether
09 Fantasy
10 Take
11 Laura
12 Monochrome
13 God's Gift
14 Fallin' in Love
15 Starlust
16 Outdoor Miner
17 Astronaut
18 Sweetness and Light (The Orange Squash Mix)
19 Undertow (Spooky Remix)

CD3: Split
01 Light from a Dead Star
02 Kiss Chase
03 Blackout
04 Hypocrite
05 Lovelife
06 Desire Lines
07 The Invisible Man
08 Undertow
09 Never-Never
10 Lit Up
11 Starlust
12 When I Die
13 Cat's Chorus
14 Love at First Sight
15 Girl's World
16 White Wood
17 500 (Acoustic Session)
18 Olympia (Acoustic Session)
19 Kiss Chase (Acoustic Session)

CD4: Lovelife
01 Ladykillers
02 Heavenly Nobodies
03 500
04 I've Been Here Before
05 Papasan
06 Single Girl
07 Ciao!
08 Tralala
09 Last Night
10 Runaway
11 The Childcatcher
12 Olympia
13 Sweetness and Light (Demo)
14 Covert (Demo)
15 Problem Child (Demo)
16 Desire Lines (Demo)
17 Hypocrite (Demo)
18 Lit Up (Demo)
19 Light from a Dead Star (Demo)

CD5: Topolino
01 500 (Shake Baby Shake)
02 I Have the Moon
03 Ex
04 I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend
05 Matador
06 Outside World
07 I'd Like to Walk Around in Your Mind
08 Carmen
09 Shut Up
10 Cul De Sac
11 Demystification
12 Tinkerbell
13 Piledriver
14 Plums and Oranges
15 Half and Half
16 Dear Me (Miki's 8-Track Home Demo)
17 Sweetie
18 Heavenly
19 Pudding
20 Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep
21 All This Useless Beauty
22 Mannequin
23 Rupert


Media Report:
Genre: indie-pop, shoegaze
Country: London, England
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits
Compression mode: Lossless
Writing library: libFLAC 1.2.1 (UTC 2007-09-17)


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