Lush: The John Peel Sessions 1990

It takes a little patience to track down anything regarding Lush on the Peel Sessions. To be honest, I still haven't uncovered what I've really been after, the complete works. Do know that the date for the recording was February 19, 1990 and broadcast broadcast March 22 1990, which included "Hey Hey Helen, "Leaves Me Cold" and "Breeze."

There may have been another Peel recording made later on, or maybe not – one which included "Blackout" (from Split in 1994) which which has been mislabled as being of the '90 session... or maybe this has been incorrectly associated with Peel all together... See why my head is starting to churn from sorting this out?

Such a shame these were never released together as an EP (though one song, "Breeze" I think, is included on one of the many Peel Sessions compilations - "The New Season" is one containing 20 British bands). No doubt such an offering would have been in every Lush fan's arsenal if it had.

However, I do have a few free downloadables below to share; three vids through youTube, the others are mp3s of "Hey Hey Helen, "Leaves Me Cold" and "Breeze", which are slightly cut off, obviously recorded off a broadcast. These are simply lurvely renditions of the three songs recorded as only the late great John Peel could do. Not at all like "remixes" of the album versions, but still totally Lush sounding. Full guitars thrumming, yet they're still etheriel, a bit more like the band would naturally sound live with maybe a little hint of dare I say a 'darker' feel as with "Leaves Me Cold." And both "Breeze" and "Hey Hey Helen" are arguable as good as the original studio versions.

Sure would love to have heard the whole segment in it's entirety, though.



'Breeze' on Peel




'Blackout' on Peel, would this have been from a later session from the three recorded in March 1990?




All three recordings from the 1990 Session, if you don't mind the funky "home-grown" graphics *smirk*




And finally . . .
Lush: The Peel Sessions, Feb 19 1990 @ filestube.com

TRACKLIST
1 Hey Hey Helen
2 Leaves Me Cold
3 Breeze


I wouldn't share this link if these songs were official releases. To the best of my knowledge they are not (unfortunately). With that said, I will not post any full studio song much less full-length album for free distribution, this is NOT the way to promote your all-time fave band... it's just not Proper!

So... don't let me catch you doing it :P


update:
I found a few extra details and a correction to add concerning the tracks and dates.

Lush - Peel Session, in 1991 (Feb. 1990 is likely the correct date)
recorded Breeze, Hey Hey Helen and Leaves Me Cold

There are some recordings currently in circulation online which are incorrectly attributed as being from another Peel Session in 1993 (Blackout, Childcatcher, Kiss Chase and Lit Up). Lush only had one Peel Session. These other tracks were not recorded for John Peel, but were live recordings for The Evening Session with Steve Lamaq and Jo Whiley in June 1994.

Fan Club Obscura

Been up to no good again, digging through the ancient historys and recordings of the legend of Lush. I've really been hoping to turn up with enough for a decent post, I guess. So what is my topic this time? It would be concerning the fan club. Yes, there was a Lush fan club back in the day, unbeknownst to me in my isolated little world on the other side of the world (why are such things kept so hush-hush?). I would have dearly loved to have gotten wind of it back then, let me tell you... I did count myself lucky just to live in a town which had several thriving indie label/import shops.

Anyhoos, Bill's Light from a Dead Star site – the Holy Grail of all Lush websites – has as much dirt on this secret society as one can hope to dig... here's a link: We Love Lush was a fan mailing from November 1993, created by the band while they were holed up in Norway while working on the mixing of the yet to be released Split album. Everybody's seen the cartoon of the band from the cover, but the contents are equally intriguing: a lengthy hand written note and lyrics of ALL the current songs. I Especially like Phil's carefully detailed Lush Family Tree – truley fabtabulous stuff!

This mailing also contained the now famous flexi-disk with the tracks "Rupert the Bear" and the "Lit Up" demo, plus a holiday postcard (All links take you directly to Bill's site).

Now, a real prize find of some Lush obscura would be an old copy of "Alphabet Soup," pre-Lush Emma's music fanzine :D

In the beginning...

A Lush Chronology

1960
April 28 - Philip King born in London, England

1966
September 7 - Christopher Acland born in Lancaster, England

1967
March 18 - Miki Berenyi born in London, England.
June 10 - Emma Anderson born in London, England

1981
At the age of 14, Berenyi met future bandmate Emma Anderson at Queen's College in England. They found they had a common bond: their parents had bounced them both from school to school depending on family finances at the time.

Emma: Me and Miki have known each other since we were fourteen and we both got into music sorta around the same time

1983-85 (approx.)
Young Miki and Emma work together on music fanzines (Alphabet Soup)
the two teenagers wrote and produced a fanzine called Alphabet Soup, which only lasted for five issues.

1987
September - LUSH is born, conceived by Chris Ackland, Steve Rippon, Meriel Barham, Emma Anderson, and Miki Berenyi.

Miki: We just wanted to be in a band together really. I met Chris and steve at Polytechnic doing a degree. And um, Chris joined first and then, I think, Emma was playing bass then and I was playing guitar and we had a different singer. And then we all changed what we were playing and stuff and then Steve joined.

Emma: He could play a bit of guitar so I just asked him if he wanted to play bass and he said yes and that was it really. Really ropey beginnings.


1988
(According to other sources) Lush formed in London, England, in 1988 Berenyi studied English literature at London's Polytechnic University, where she met drummer Christopher Acland, bassist Steve Rippon, and singer Meriel Barham. Along with Anderson, they decided to form their own band. Anderson's friend Kevin Pickering told her he thought Lush would be a perfect name for a band. Anderson agreed, suggested the name to the band, and they started writing and rehearsing. After that conversation, Anderson never saw Pickering again.

On March 6, 1988, Lush played their very first performance at Camden Falcon in London. Not long after the band's first show, the U.K. press started to take notice with favorable reviews. But Barham decided he didn't want to stay with the band and later went on to join Lush's 4AD labelmates, the Pale Saints. The remaining members of Lush placed ads in local papers looking for Barham's replacement, but they couldn't find the singer they wanted. Berenyi took over the vocals, and the band continued to perform in clubs around London.

Miki replaced original lead Meriel Barham on vocals

Emma: Well, I think what happened was, well, yeah, we did want to start playing gigs as soon as possible however abyssmal we were. we just went out and did it. We had, I don't know about five, six songs. And we just played and played and played. And this line-up was really finalized, if you like, around October 88 - no...yeah, October 88. And we were sorta just still playing, sorta just improved our song-writing and our playing. It wasn't like we all got together and we could play and it was really good. It was a slow learning process.

Miki: We did a demo of two songs: "Etheriel" and "Second Sight" and we sent them out to about six companies - independant ones. We were going to go with another one first and do a single, but Ivo kept phoning to see what was going on, so he was interested, but I think he heard, from people, that we weren't very good live and whatever, so he was a bit cautious. but in the end he said "Well, I'll put you into the studio and you can record three songs. If I like them, we'll see what happens". So that's what we did. We went in the studio and we did "Babytalk", "Thoughtforms" and "Scarlet". And he really liked them. so he said "well, why don't you go back in the studio and do three more?" so we did and we did "Bitter", "Second Sight" and "Etheriel". and that was "Scar." So really, Scar's like demos, really.

Miki: Once we did release "Scar" it made it a lot better for us live 'cos it meant people already knew what we sounded like having bought the record. that made live a bit easier and then when we got a tour with...was it the Darling Buds? Yeah. We got a support tour with the Darling Buds, which was alright. It was okay and then we played with loop. We did a tour with them almost straight afterwards. As soon as we finished that was when we recorded "De-Luxe". Then we did our first headline tour the following year, followed immediately by a european tour with the Pale Saints.

1989

In January of 1989 Chris Roberts in Melody Maker wrote a rave review of Lush, describing them as "a delta," "irresistible" and "monstrously wonderful." Once the magazine hit the street, Lush received nonstop phone calls from record companies interested in the band.

Signed with 4AD Records in the U.K., 1989. By the summer, 4AD Records had sent them into the studio with producer John Fryer to record a three-song demo called Etheriel. Those three songs became the first side of Lush's debut mini-album, titled Scar, which they released that fall.

Lush is four people: Emma Anderson (guitar & vocals), Miki Berenyi (vocals & guitar), Chris Ackland (drums), and Steve Rippon (bass). The band came together in Camden (North London) in 1989 while Miki, Steve, & Chris were finishing up their degrees at London Polytechnic. (Emma was Miki's school-chum from way back. The two had put together a 'zine of sorts called "Alphabet Soup" that was apparently mostly just rude!). Steve left the band in Feb. 1992, after recording the B-sides the "For Love" e.p. He was replaced with former NME employee Phil King. Also, it should be noted that way back at the beginning, Muriel (now of Pale Saints fame), was the lead vocalist, before she moved onto her present band.

"Scar" tracks 8,9,10,11,12,13, recorded at Blackwood Studios, London July 1989, released as "Scar" ep / debut mini-LP October 1989.

"Scar" tracks 4,5,6,7, recorded at September Sound and the Church, London, December 1989, released Feb 1990 on "Mad Love" ep.

1990
On February 26, 1990, Lush released their next EP, Mad Love, and its first single, "Sweetness and Light." Produced by Cocteau Twins' guitarist Robin Guthrie, "Mad Love" provided another step in their musical growth and got the attention of Warner/Reprise Records, who licensed the band's releases in the United States. Lush didn't set out on a certain plan in their career from this point; they put aside ambition and decided to take things one step at a time.

In December of 1990 4AD/Reprise compiled and released Lush's two preceding EPs as "Gala," their first release in the United States. The group named the album after Salvador Dali's wife.

Released two EPs before licensing for U.S. distribution with Reprise Records, 1990

Released debut LP, "Gala," 1990

"Scar" tracks 1,2,3, recorded at Greenhouse, London 1990, released October 1990 on ep.

"Scar" track 14 recorded at First Protocol and September Sound, London, February 1990.

"Scar" album is released.

1991
Embarked on U.S. tour, 1991

In April of 1991 they returned to the United States for their second tour co-headlining with Ride. Then, at the end of the year, bassist Steve Rippon left the band to concentrate on writing novels full time. To replace him, Lush approached Philip King, a former New Musical Express journalist, who had played bass for many U.K. bands, including Felt, and Biff Bang Pow!

July-October: "Spooky" album is recorded at September Sound, London.

August: tracks on "Black Spring" ep recorded at September Sound, London, released that same year.



1992
With their new lineup in place, Lush headed back into the studio and released their next EP, "For Love," in January of 1992. Later in the year, Lush arrived in the record stores once again with their next album--also produced by Robin Guthrie — called "Spooky." Although it debuted at Number Seven on the U.K. charts, it received a negative reaction from the press. Some critics berated the band for bad songwriting, and others accused Guthrie of subduing the band's talents.

"Spooky" album is released.

They toured Great Britain, the United States, and Europe, then returned to the States to join the second annual Lollapalooza tour with Pearl Jam, Ministry, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Soundgarden, the Jesus and Mary Chain, and Ice Cube. At the end of the summer, the band took their tour to Japan and Australia.

Performed on Lollapalooza tour '92

Miki, under the influence on many tequilas, stage-dived during Ministry's set one night (Dallas I think) and landed on the barrier between the stagefront and the audience, leaving her with 15 stitches, and meaning she had to perform guitarless at the following show.

At an afterparty, Emma smashed a pane of glass with both fists which caused a few major cuts.

Rippon left, the band at this stage in order to concentrate on writing, though his book Cold Turkey Sandwich - a fictionalized chronicle of his time in touring - was rejected by publishers.

Philip King replaced Rippon on bass.

1993
October-December: Recording (for "Split") at Rockford Studios, Wales Berry House, Sussex and Abbey Road London.

Lush played in 4AD's "13 Year Itch" celebration at England's Institute of Contemporary Art and joined Rage Against the Machine for a special benefit concert for the Anti-Nazi League at the Brixton Academy.

1994
Releases: "Hypocrite" and "Desire Lines" ep's, and "Split" album.

On June 14, 1994, Lush released "Split," produced by Mike Hedges. In Great Britain, 4AD simultaneously released two EPs along with the album — "Hypocrite" and "Desire Lines." Berenyi wrote four of the album's songs, and Anderson wrote the other eight. Chris Gill in Guitar Player commented, "Split shares moments of hypnotic, resplendent pleasure-punk and hard, lardy angst-pop" and added that the album was "easily the British dream-pop band's most varied, cocksure, and commercial effort."

1995
May-August: Back to the studios to record (for "Lovelife")- Protocol Studios, London

1996
"Lady Killers (disc one and disc two)" ep's, "Lovelife" and "Topolino" albums released.

Acland killed himself in October 1996

One of the songs performed at Chris' funeral touchingly is "When I Die"...I'll see you again.


1998
The remaining band members officially announce that Lush has permanently disbanded.

2000
Miki records "Smile" in 2000. The song appears on a Japanese-only various artists release titled "Possessed".

2001?
"Ciao! Best of Lush" (4AD) 2001, a compilation of singles is released

Miki's daughter Stella is born

Emma: Yes! she has had a baby, it is her first baby, there were some rumours about three years ago, so she’s had a little baby girl and she’s at home looking after her at the moment, Phil is working for NME still and some other magazines off and on, I’m not sure if he’s doing anything musically at the moment - he has done bits and pieces over the last few years, but nothing that’s really... well he was in the Mary Chain for a while after we split up but I don’t think he’s made any records and Steve lives in Ireland with his wife and he works at a computer company and he writes sometimes for Mojo and Q, mainly reviewing reissues and stuff, back catalogue type things.

Emma: I have a day job, and I work for another band... who were big in the 80’s....
their initials are DD (*editor note-Duran Duran) and they’ve just got back together in the original line up.

2002
September 3: Emma's new band Sing-Sing releases it's debut album, "The Joy of Sing-Sing"

2004?
Miki's son Ivan is born

2005
Targeted Release of Sing-Sing's second album





(2011 note: not sure at all who originally started this excellent timeline and the sources — aside from some interviews ... but took someone's hard work, edited/expanded on it a bit myself, and now resharing it sheerly for the wealth of info provided in a simple timeline form for the benefit of those interested)