Debut of The Lillies :: The Spur :: September 1991

Twenty years ago...

In the September issue of the Tottenham Spurs fan magazine "The Spur" (Number 24) there's a special item attached - the Lilies flexi.

The Lilies are a one-time supergroup whose members include Miki and Chris, who just so happened to be rabid fans of the Spurs football team.

I've posted about the flexi before - if you'd like, you can view my original post right over here. But why redirect you when I can repost it the story in it's entirety below?



The Lillies
An indie rock band formed in 1991 as a one-time collaboration between members of the bands Cocteau Twins, Lush and Moose.

And here's what the the Lillies were about - a recording with the very memorable little title:

"And David Seaman Won't Be Very Happy About That"

Background
Although originally from the Lake District, Chris was a keen Tottenham Hotspurs football fan. Miki was a huge fan as well, and the Lillies' 3-1 trouncing of local rivals Arsenal in the 1991 FA Cup semi-finals was an occasioned to be celebrated. So how do musicians best express their praise of such a victory? They co-create a specially recorded track aptly and humorously entitled 'And David Seaman Will Be Very Disappointed About That', and have it pressed-up on a flexidisc to be glued to issue 24 of 'The Spur', a football fanzine. The sound bites used throughout the song deal with a goal Gary Lineker scored for the Spurs against Arsenal.

Joining forces with Kevin McKillop and Russell Yates of Moose and the Simon Raymonde of the Cocteau Twins they became the Lillies - effectively a super-indie rock band. And Simon wrote the song. The lyrics? "Three-one, three-one, three-one!" Miki's sole lyrics, vocalized all the way through.

The track was recorded at the suggestion of The Spur’s editor Stuart Mutler. After rejecting suggestions that they should record a cover version of an old football song, such as "Nice One Cyril", they decided to come up with an original song.

Yates said of the track: “…we’ve all been Spurs fans for years, and for myself making this flexi has probably made me more proud than making any Moose record”

The Lillies
"And David Seaman Will Be Very Disappointed About That..."
Release : September, 1991
Flexidisc insert, The Spur #24

Lushlive.com presents Lush at the Trocadero, Philadelphia, PA :: August 31, 1996

Fifteen years ago Lush performed at the Trocadero in Philadelphia, PA on their fianl American tour.

Today Lushlive.com presents a recording of that appearance made on August 31, 1996 to mark the 15th anniversary of this amazing show (that Lushlive.com's veru own Eric was at).

Enjoy this gem!!
http://www.lushlive.com/audio/philly/lush_08_31_96.rar

Unreleased Recordings Coming to Lush Live

Seen over on the Lush and Miki Berenyi page on Facebook...

"As you may know, this year is the 15th anniversary of Lush's final tour (can you believe it's been that long already?). It was the first and only time I had the honor of seeing them. I'm going to unleash two audio gems from that tour within a month's time. I surfaced these shows many years ago and to this day only myself and perhaps 4 or 5 other people have them. Soon you can all enjoy them! Stay tuned..."

We can look forward to seeing these two unreleased recordings being made available on Eric's LushLive.com.

Lush Return to September Sound

What were Lush up to, say... twenty years ago today?

It's August 1991. The band is enjoying a break after touring overseas in the US with Ride and the two European festival gigs. It is well time to now return to the September Sound recording studio and begin laying down some fresh tracks. A new release is needed to support their growing popularity. And so, with the returning talents of producer/engineer Robin Guthrie and engineer Mitsuo Tate, Miki, Emma, Chris and Steve make it happen...

Lush's new song material for the upcoming EP are to be Nothing Natural, God’s Gift, Monochrome, and a cover of the Dennis Wilson song Fallin’ In Love, with a targeted release date for October.

And now, a bit of trivia...

• September Sound Studios is located in Twickenham, England
  
• It is most popularly associated with Robin Guthrie's band, the Cocteau Twins, set up for the purpose to record their own albums
• It has since been closed down
  
• The studio was formerly Pete Townsend's Eel Pie
• And finally, as a rare bonus for you, the reader, I've included this link leading directly to the actual September Sounds loo! - The Seat (as seen on cocteautwins.org)

Excerpt of Nothing Natural
by Emma Anderson

Before I met you I was blind
Pills and liquid filled my mind
Beneath your outline I was new
Overflowing with your tune

And don't you know you're beautiful...

Sweetness & Light' / Live At The Dome :: May 1991

There's something new to be seen on YouTube, thanks to JulosiMac who shared this video over at PVSG @ yahoogroups.com.

Finally we have the entire, full performance of 'Sweetness & Light' from Live At The Dome, May 1991 (the original broadcast came in 3/4 of the way through their song).

I'm just a bit shy of passing this along in time for a May anniversary date, but I'm sure you won't mind terribly ;)

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!

July '91 BNM On the Street

Lush are interviewed by Karl the korrespondent at BNM and reveal their answer for the following pertinent question:

Q: If you were each on a desert island, and had only one album to bring with you,
which one would it be?

Emma: An inflatable one.

AND, have their music compared with a Tommy-era, Who influence...

Emma: What?!?
Chris: Hmmmmmm...

See it Here, Live, Now! - July 1991 BNM @ Lush Remembered

Giessen, Germany :: June 30

Twenty years ago today, the band Lush put on another outdoor live performance for a festival, this time for the Bizarre Festival in Giessen, Germany.

Opening acts for the band are Iggy Pop and House of Love. Video exists of the performance (though I can't find out much more about this bootleg except that Neil has a brief review online: Neil's Lush Video Page).




Bizarre Festival
setlist
Thoughtforms
Breeze
Bitter
Leaves Me Cold
Covert
De-Luxe
Ocean
Sweetness and Light
Downer
Baby Talk

Kobenhaven, Denmark :: June 28

Twenty years ago today Lush plays in Kobenhaven, Denmark for the Roskilde Festival.
The band are opened by Sisters of Mercy and followed by Stereo MC's. Both audio and video recording were recorded for this gig, as well as photographed. You can view these over at Bill's site: Roskilde Festival @ Light from a Dead Star.

Miki, Emma, Chris and Steve seem to be enjoying the media attention as they pose for photos.

Happy Birthday Emma!

Today we would like to wish Miss Emma a splendid day celebrating her birth -
May it be the best ever!


Emma Anderson, originally uploaded by Tom Poston.
Emma plays at Powis Square Tabernacle, October 9, 1991

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.