Lush :: Baby Machines Downloadable CD Sleeve

I've been sitting on this one for a while, another CD sleeve I made up for you to download. Its one-of-a-kind. A sleeve for a live recording I have, from the original line-up of Lush back in April 1988. The recording is believed to be taped from their second ever gig.

Ah, the miracle of Photoshop. I may have earned scornful rebukes, but before you purists start hurling your shattered beer bottles and bits of rock at me for this, hear me out first. There are no photos in existence, so far as I know, of Lush as a five-piece, pre-Meriel Barham's exodus from the position as the original lead vocalist for another band.

To fix that slight yet glaring detail I picked a fitting publicity photo taken soon after Lush (Miki, Emma, Steve, Chris) was signed with label 4AD, and combined in a pub-shot from the Pale Saints (specifically Meriel) from the approximate same time. Overall it isn't too much of an atrocity, is it?

To add a little more pseudo-authenticity, I also decided to use a historic name for the title: the Baby Machines came from the original idea that the mates started with for a band name, before a friend suggested that they go with 'Lush' instead.

And there you have it... my hopefully semi-accurate imaginary portrayal of Lush as they might have appeared together on a record sleeve when they were still a five-piece.

A Lush and a Push and the Land is Our's

Twenty years ago, this two-page center spread feature was published in New Musical Express (4th May, 1991).

I neglected to add closeups of the article photos in my post last month, so today probably would be an appropriate time to do that, eh?

Incidentally, for those of you who missed out the first time around (tsk-tsk), the title of the article is a takeoff from a popular release of the Smiths at the time. Actually, every word and breath uttered by Morrissey and Marr of the Smiths was popular.

But back to Lush, and the publicity photos shot while on tour in Los Angeles...

Lush's hard-core alter-ego: the band named 'Thrush'

A Phil Phest

With it being his birthday (so what if it has been a few days ago!), its a fitting time to share a bit of a bonus centered on Phil. The male half of Lush had to take a distant backseat to Miki and Emma, though for Phil it seemed a comfortable role for him more or less.

If one just digs around, there's quite a bit of Phil to be had available on the web. So let us kick off a mini phun-philled Phil Phest!


Select Youtube Videos featuring Phil King, Past and almost Present :

• Primal Scream - Gentle Tuesday (playing drums)
• Felt - Primitive Painters
• Apple Boutique - Love resistance (Phil's own band, pre-Lush)
• J&MC - Happy When It Rains (August 2007 tour)
  

Warwick, RI :: May 1 1991

Twenty years ago...

Lush plays the Rocky Point Palladium in Warwick, Rhode Island, with Jane's Addiction opening.

And then its time to go back home.

Thus comes to a close a two-month long whirlwind tour of the United States. There won't be much time for a break back home in the UK – another tour begins in July to promote the upcoming Black Spring release.

On an interesting note, Lush made a definite impression on Jane's Addiction frontman, Perry Farrell. The following year he would personally request Lush for his new tour program (he was the organizer) - the inaugural Lollapalooza roster in 1992.