Fitchburg, MA :: April 30 1991

Twenty years ago...

Lush plays the Wallace Civic Centre in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, with Jane's Addiction opening.

New York :: April 29 1991

Twenty years ago...

Lush plays the Marquee in New York, New York, opening for Smashing Orange.

'Lush: The Early Demos 88-89' Downloadable CD Sleeve

There was some big to-do earlier today in London, wasn't there? To add to the celebritive festivities going on in the UK on this historic day, here's the new CD sleeve I made-up for Lush's earliest demo recordings... Actually, this post doesn't have a thing to do with royal weddings. But it does have everything to do with Lush's historic first 'official' recording (allow me enough words and I can make a Lush connection to just about anything - ha!).

If you're not already aware, there's a bit about the demo recordings I detailed here: The Early Lush Demos :: 1988, '89.

Incidentally, the photo of the band I chose for the sleeve originally appeared in the March 18, 1989 issue of Melody Maker, the first ever major write-up focused on Lush.

Happy Birthday to Phil!

Philip King celebrates a Birthday today, April the 29th. We hope he has a splendid 51st with family and friends...

Happy Birthday Phil!

Lush/Melting Lemon Downloadable CD Sleeve

Here's another idea using the lemon theme... told you I was having a creative fit today.

Portland, ME :: April 28 1991

Twenty years ago...

Lush plays the Cumberland County Civic Centre in Portland, Maine, the opening act is Jane's Addiction.

Lush 'For the People' Pinback Downloadable CD Sleeve

Today was a creatively inspired day, so inspired that I forgot all about having dinner. Today I designed some new sleeves for my various Cd's. It makes it so much easier to identify what you hold in your hands at a glance, plus making up original album art is always fun (for me anyways). Here's a new one that materialized out of thin air for one of my collections of various Lush recordings, maybe it'd be perfect for something of yours too.

'For the People' sounds like a good title for a live album, doesn't it? I've had it stuck in my head from a long-ago Lush piece in one of the music mags called 'Automobile for the People'. It'd be a great slogan for a long-dreamed of reunion tour too (yes, I've already had a fictionalized tour poster in the works, it's still being tweaked though). And the image of the heavily worn vintage pinback button with the lemon graphic?... it doesn't really exist, at least it hasn't until now ;)

The art has been sized to fit a standard CD jewel case. As always, you're free to d/l and print this out for your own personal use, as long as you do not claim it or sell it as your own work. That would be dishonest... and Lushheads should never be that :P

Troy, NY :: April 27 1991

Twenty years ago...

Lush plays the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Fieldhouse in Troy, New York, the opening act is Jane's Addiction.

Philadelphia :: April 26 1991, and a little more...

Twenty years ago...

Lush and Ride wrap-up their joint tour with the performances at the Theatre Of Living Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Ride performs the honours of opening for Lush one more time before the two bands go their seperate ways. It won't be for the last time however as the two bands will be co-headlining again back in London come December.

Lush has just five dates left on the '91 US tour.

To celebrate the anniversary of their joint US tour, I've made up the 11x14 poster above based upon the design created for one the original promo banners used at the time (you can see an example of one on Bill's Lush Remembered site).

Also, since I've been rather silent about co-headliners Ride, I have yet more goodies to bring you...



Ride - a live recording at The Town and Country in London via the BBC, performed (March 7?) 1991.

And lastly, this video which I've posted on here before...



120 Minutes' Dave Kendall (MTV) interviews Mark Gardener of Ride together with Miki. Though undated, this had to have been recorded during the 1991 US tour.

Lush :: Words + Music

I'm a little late adding this to the ongoing chronological-listed discography, but this one is a recent addition now up at Discogs.com

This was an official (though often overlooked) Lush promo release, not meant for sale purposes. http://www.discogs.com/Lush-Words-Music/release/2733375.

It's a promotional cassette distributed for the US market by Reprise Records to coinicide with Lush's American touring. Made in 1990 and almost a copy of the Gala LP, the material is compromised of thier ealier recordings which had as yet not been released overseas except as an import. It was Printed and hand written photocopied glossy sleeve. Gala album music and interviews. White cassette. 1 sleeve double sided.

TRACKLIST
1 De-Luxe

2
Baby Talk

3
Bitter

4
Etheriel

5
Thoughtforms

6
Downer

7
Hey Hey Helen

8
Scarlet

9
Sweetness And Light

10
Sunbathing

11
The Lush Interview

Washington, DC :: April 24 1991

Twenty years ago . . .

Lush does a repeat performance at the 9:30 Club of Washington, DC, this time opening for Ride

Washington, DC :: April 23 1991

Twenty years ago . . .

Lush plays the 9:30 Club of Washington, DC, opened by Ride

Chapel Hill, NC :: April 22, 1991

Twenty years ago...
Lush plays Cats Cradle in Chapel Hill, North Carolina on April 22, 1991 opening for Ride.

Photographer Tom Poston has a wonderful set of images which he took of the band during this and other performances. He has posted these at Flickr.

Lush - Chapel Hill NC, April 1991, originally uploaded by Tom Poston.

Emma Anderson, originally uploaded by Tom Poston.

Atlanta :: April 20 1991

Twenty years ago . . .

Lush plays the Cotton Club of Atlanta, Georgia, opened by Ride

Miki Berenyi of Lush at the Ritz, March 1992

Miki Berenyi of Lush at the Ritz, March 1992 (1 of 2), originally uploaded by scottcrawford.

Houston :: April 18 1991

Twenty years ago...

Lush plays at the Numbers venue in Houston, Texas, opening for Ride

Austin :: April 17 1991

Twenty years ago...

Lush plays the Backroom at Austin, Texas, opened by Ride

Dallas :: April 16 1991

Twenty years ago...

Lush heads south and plays the Deep Ellum at Dallas, Texas, opening for Ride

Irvine, CA :: April 14, 1991

Twenty years ago...

Lush performs at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, Irvine, California with Sisters of Mercy, Gene Loves Jezebel, and Danielle Dax

San Diego :: April 13 1991

Twenty years ago...

Lush performs at San Diego State University together with Sisters of Mercy and Danielle Dax

"Show Us" - 1994 Reading Festival

New stuff from a great Lush site!


Lush's complete live performance recorded 26th, August 1994 at the three-day Reading Festival is now available for download at lushlive.com. The recording is from the hard to find Italian import/bootleg disc – the memorably titled "Show Us Your Tits." And being a bootlegged live recording, free downloading should not present a copyright issue.

The files are located in the Audio section. They are in .FLAC format, this is a lossless format that preserves the original sound quality. When you "unflac" them they'll be .wav files. This is done to save space. You need a program called FLAC which is free, and can be downloaded here.

Thanks Eric!!


'Show Us Your Tits'
LABEL: Insect (Italy)
RECORDED: 26th, August 1994 - Reading Festival - England

TRACKLIST:
1 Introduction
2 Blackout
3 Stardust
4 For Love
5 Lit Up
6 Lit Up (Take 2)
7 Kiss Chase
8 Desire Lines
9 Lovelife
10 Hypocrite
11 Downer
12 Undertown
13 De-Luxe
14 Leaves Me Cold
15 Sweetness & Light

TIME: 60 minutes

Additional sleeve artwork:

back insert

inner sleeve fold-out

On a side note, I imagine that "Show Us Your Lemons" would have made a somewhat Lush-ier title for this famous bootleg ...

Sorry, I couldn't resist ;)

Hello Hollywood!

Around the time Lush were enjoying the sunny California leg of their American tour back in 1991, the NME sent a journalist and photographer (Martyn Goodacre) to meet up with the band at their dressing room located at Sunset Boulevard. They're in the midst of meeting record execs and charming the local press. What follows is the article prepared from that occasion, published in the May 4th issue of NME.

The article is a large file, a 1-mb download. Inside you'll meet Lush's alter-ego - Thrush. They meet Sky Saxon of the Seeds (Miki shared a personal pic from this on Andy Von Pip's excellent interview). Miki reveals she used to visit California as a teen to see her mum. Also, of special noteworthiness (to me!), Miki recounts that their tour bus broke down somewhere in the deserted wilderness of Nebraska, only a couple 100 miles from my hometown. After repairs and the Lush caravan eventually leaves, its 3 hours later before its learned that someone was missing... what tour would be complete if your roadie doesn't get left behind?

Los Angeles :: April 11 1991

Twenty years ago...

Lush does a repeat performance at the Roxy in Los Angeles, this time opened by Ride.

There are recordings made of this show, and possibly a radio broadcast.

Los Angeles :: April 10 1991

Twenty years ago...

Lush plays the Roxy at Los Angeles, opening for Ride

San Francisco :: April 8 1991

Twenty years ago . . .

Lush plays the I-Beam in San Francisco, California, opened by Ride

Palo Alto :: April 7 1991

Twenty years ago...

Lush plays The Edge at Palo Alto, California on April 7, 1991, opening for Ride

Phil's Philm from the '94 'Split' Tour

Lemons, a Fiat 'Topolino' 500, the swirly colors art photography of Jim Friedman — they're all vivid images that have come to be as symbolically associated with Lush as the three versions of the band logo, and the flamy red hair (well that's an icon that goes without saying). Even casters have been used... or perhaps that's taking it too far.

Funhouses also come into the mix though. Yes, with all the glitter of the carousel and ferris wheels and the funhouse mirrors, etc, etc. Which, in a very roundabout and very sneaky way brings me to the following...


If you're anything like me, you've visited Lush Remembered scores of times. Which means I should know the site like the back of my hand, right? Apparently I need glasses and get to know things better.

Today I was browsing for some inspiration for a poster I'd been designing, when I noticed this particular one. Bill has on his memorabilia page a flyer for Phil's tour film shown for Chris' Memorial (the direct link is here). The memorial event was held in honor of Chris, taking place on October 29, 2006, close to the 10th anniversary of his loss. Note a good date, but meant to remember the good times.

We're immensely indented for Phil's photographic hobbying. His viewfinder saw a backstage-life record of the band that so easily would have been lost forever (most all Lush imagery was strictly magazine shoots and promotional material). Some of Phil's film footage was also used in the Undertow Spooky Remix video. I love this Lush video just for that fact alone. The imagery strongly plays with the remix - unforgettable!




The photograph of the band (shown at top) used in the poster was published in a feature story for the June 4, 1994 edition of NME, "From Despair to Mayfair." The shot is of the band's reflection in a funhouse mirror, and I assume taken during the production of the Hypocrite music video. Notice Phil kneeled at the bottom aiming his famous Super 8 movie camera. Nice touch!

I'd always thought this funhouse mirror shot could have been made a memorable gig poster. It was a surprise to find this — I had to post about it as much for my own future reference as to share with others.

And now for a bit of fun. Or in this case, the Funhouse as seen in Hypocrite.

Get Your Tickets

A ticket from Lush's first European venue on the second leg of their Split Tour back in 1994, the Zapp Club in Brighton, headlining for Echo Belly and These Animal Men, dated for the 5th of September.

As this was sponsored by Radio 1 FM, accordingly this concert was broadcast on Radio 1. Which means that there are bootleg recordings of the event, floating around out there.

The gig received the typical scathing review in Melody Maker, which was the fashionable journalism slant of the day. I think it can be safely argued that Lush's music did not fade away as some had thought. Can the same be said of an arrogant little music journalist? :)

Sacramento :: April 6, 1991

Twenty years ago...

Lush plays the Cattle Club in Sacramento, California on April 6, 1991, with opening by Ride

Denver, Colorado :: April 3, 1991

Twenty years ago . . .
Lush plays Gothic Theatre in Denver, Colorado, opening for Ride

There was also a recording made of this concert (though unfortunately I haven't heard a copy)

Minneapolis, Minnesota :: April 1 1991

Twenty years ago . . .

Lush plays First Avenue in Minneapolis, Minnesota, opened by Ride