Tokyo, Japan :: September 18, 1996

15 Years Ago Today...

September 18, 1996, Lush performs at the Shinjuku Liquid Room, Tokyo, Japan. This was to be the final live performance... yet for fifteen years onward now the band still lives on in the hearts and minds of a strong following!

Up on YouTube, you can view the videotaped performance of Single Girl (Live) from this very gig (which so happened to be shared here in a earlier post).




Be sure to pour over ALL the Tokyo show's vivid imagery by photographer Takamori Fukuda/Brownhat over on Bill's paramount Lush site lightfromadeadstar.org.

And as if that's not enough (because it isn't really, now, is it?!) there's this gem just in from lushlive.com's Lush and Miki Berenyi Facebook page:

Now available - The LAST Lush show, performed 15 years ago today in Tokyo is available for free download! Don't forget to also get the artwork at the site www.lushlive.com in the audio section. Enjoy!! http://www.lushlive.com/audio/tokyo/09_18_96.zip

Rockband Remix of De•Luxe

Afternoon All! It's been a very busy summer here, so new updates are slow and sparse in coming (my apologies for that!).

There is something I would like to pass along now however, in the form of a very interesting mp3 link posted by Tom Aresto a few weeks ago on the PurpleVeinsScenicGreens group. It is a remix of Lush's 'De•Luxe' minus the drum track.

At first I had my doubts... I mean, NO Chris and NO drums?? After a listen though, I think I've converted over to the opinion that it's a great new alternate version of one of the band's best releases for ravenous fans always starved for fresh Lush recordings.

Here's a direct link to the file: Lush - DeLuxe (Rockband remix)

Tom explains that he came across the recording on a site called mp3skip, taken from the video game Rock Band 2.

Thank you again Tom for sharing your great find!

'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.

Lush/Melting Lemon Downloadable CD Sleeve

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

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

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.

"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 ;)

The Early Lush Demos :: 1988, '89

Pretend that you just happened to lay your hands on a copy of the original demo tapes from Lush. Actually you don't have to, because it's provided to you right here and now, free for the taking. You can d/l all of the demo tracks (found on another blog) here: The Early Lush Demos :: 1998, '99 - The dates as listed on the bootleg for the demos obviously are incorrect. This should be dated '1988,'89'.

Note! This bootleg includes a track attributed simply as "Emma Vocals" (demo II). Emma emphatically refutes that the vocals are her's in a comment made on the YouTube video, and states that this is not a Lush song. Listen to the track yourself, "Emma Vocals" sounds oddly out of place compared to the other tracks. I don't believe this is a demo by Lush at all.

Album: Early Demos
Release: Unreleased
Label: N/A

TRACKLIST
Demo I
(recorded between March-October 1988 w/ Meriel Barham, Emma, Miki, Steve and Chris)

1. Grotesque (band's title is "Female Hybrid" see the March 1 post )
2. Truth Or Fiction
3. Skin
4. Sunbathing

After they cut the above four-song demo, Meriel left the band to join the Pale Saints.

Demo II
(first two tracks likely recorded in early 1989, w/ Miki, Emma, Steve and Chris)

1. Etheriel
2. Second Site (Second Sight)
[3. Emma Vocals] (according to Emma herself, this is NOT Emma singing and should not be considered as a recording made by Lush!)

Lush sent this second demo tape off to 4AD, One Little Indian, Rough Trade and Mute, before heading off on a mini-tour with House Of Love in May 1989.

Lush: The Black Sessions

Lush: The Black Sessions @ captainsdead.com

The unofficial yet excellent recording of Lush playing live on French Radios’ Black Sessions. Recorded at Studio 105 in Maison de Radio, Paris on 28th June 1994. The last three tracks are bonus tracks later added to the original French release. There was also an introduction before the song tracks, but this has been omitted.

TRACKLIST
1 Blackout
2 Lit Up
3 For Love
4 The Childcatcher
5 Kiss Chase
6 Lovelife
7 Desire Lines
8 De•Luxe
9 Sweetness and Light
10 Hypocrite
11 Sunday Girl
12 Starlust
13 Babytalk
Total duration: 56:51

Ciao :P

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.

New Lush Distort Poster

Just what you wanted but didn't get for Christmas, a brand new piece of Lush fan art from me to frame over the mantlepiece. It's Chris, Steve, Emma and Miki featured in a classic band poster design to commemorate the band as they were twenty years ago. It's also sized to fit just right for printing on a sheet of legal-size paper, or, if you're feeling really ambitious, to wallpaper your bedroom with. But remember my rules for downloading one of my unique one-of-a-kind works - absolutely no distribution of this for any type of financial compensation whatsoever! Now hurry and purchase that new toner cartridge so that you can print your copy out in all it's glory... God Bless and Happy New Year!

New Poster

This year we're celebrating the 20th anniversary of the release of Mad Love. And in artistic tribute, here is a new Lush poster brought to you straight from me! The image file is big to make it printable for larger sizes, but you can resize it as needed of course. I used colors reminiscent of their first video "De-Luxe" which is the first track from their ep Mad Love. The original black and white photo of the band was dated October of 1990. The poster art turned out a little different from what I had originally in mind, but I think it worked nicely.

Lush's First North American Tour

Twenty years ago Lush embarks on their first overseas tour, three weeks of spanning half the globe. The tour begins with Canada on the 4th of November, hits both coasts of the US and then wrapps up in Japan on 15th of December.

While on tour overseas, the new compilation Gala LP, a collection of all Lush recordings that was initially released for the US and Japanese market, is made available for a limited edition run back home in the UK.

You may want to put on your shades for viewing this colorful commemorative tour poster , a new downloadable I created just for the occasion. ;P

1990 NORTH AMERICAN TOUR
11.24 Toronto
11.26 Boston
11.28 Hoboken
11.29 New York
12.01 Washington D.C.
12.03 San Francisco
12.06 Los Angeles
12.08 Hollywood
12.11 Tokyo
12.12 Tokyo
12.14 Osaka
12.15 Nagoya

12 SHOWS

The Sound of Indie & Lush

Great site? This is an absolute treasure horde of over a dozen very rare live recordings and video (whole sets!) spanning 1988-1996 posted by Kevin of The Sound of Indie... Thanks Kevin! One recording is thought to be from Lush's second show ever, with Meriel Barham at lead vocals. The recording quality is very listenable, all in all, this trove is just about too good to be true. It's like Christmas in July...

The Sound Of Indie / Lush

Have a look, stay a while and a listen long - Enjoy ;)

SETS AVAILABLE:
Lush (audio) earliest known live recording
Unknown Live Recording
1988

Lush (audio) thought to be 2nd show ever
Greyhound
London, UK
4/6/88

Lush – Breeze (video)
Royal Holloway College
Egham, UK
3/3/90

Lush – Thoughtforms (video)
The Venue
New Cross, London, UK
3/15/91

Lush (audio)
The Palace
Hollywood, CA
4/11/92

Lush (audio)
Slim’s
San Francisco, CA
4/14/92

Lush – Sweetness And Light (video)
Water Place Park
Providence, RI
6/6/92

Lush (audio)
Commodore Ballroom
Vancouver, B.C., Canada
4/11/96

Lush (audio)
The Whiskey
West Hollywood, CA
4/17/96

Lush (audio)
Paradise
Boston, MA
4/29/96

Lush (audio)
First Avenue
Minneapolis, MN
5/10/96

Lush (audio)
WXPN Radio
World Cafe
Philadelphia, PA
7/12/96

Miki & the Seinking Ships Album is Out!

Miki fans have something to smile about today!

After 15 years Miki is back singing lead vocals with the long promised debut of the Seinking Ships album 'Museum Quality Capture.' Three songs, You Didn't Love Me, We Will Drink Wine, and Digging His Own Hole are the only ones on the album with lyrics. American band Seinking Ships is made up of Eric Matthews and Christopher Seink who are primarally instrumentalists. Being a Lush admirer, Seink put out the call hoping that Miki would answer, and indeed she did! Up until then the recordings were strictly instrumental, so Matthews penned the lyrics with Miki in mind. Miki then recorded the vocals in London. The album is now available on S-Curve Records.

You can also preview and order the CD at Amazon . One track with Miki is available as a free download: http://bit.ly/9Cr6YI

What an excellent job she did, too ;) Miki has expressed that her voice is not what it used to be, but her singing talents sound just as brilliant to me now as though it were 15 years ago.

Thanks Miki for taking some time from your family (I can definitely relate!) to plunge back into the hectic recording business, and wish you continued happiness...

Print Your Own CD Sleeve - Enjoy!

And a Happy - if somewhat early - Christmas!


Last year I made up a sleeve for one of my own mixes of Lush music. It turned out none too shabby if I do say so myself ;) I want to share this piece as a printable CD sleeve for your own mixes (only asking that it is never to be used for commercial purposes).

Miki in Green Wallpaper

Here's the old background I used on one of my earlier Lush websites six years back- feel free to use it as a desktop wallpaper on your computer.