lambchops's Full Review: Electric Honey by Luscious Jackson
Luscious Jackson is a girl group. The members are...you guessed it...female. What makes them different is the fact that their roots are the 1980's New York punk scene. In fact, the members of Luscious Jackson have been long-time friends of the uber-famous and for that matter genius Beastie Boys.
The band's name derived from a Philadelphia 76ers basketball player from the 1960's. Luscious Jackson is made up of three women: Kate Schellenbach (drums), Jill Cunniff (vocals, bass), and Gabby Glaser (vocals, guitar). The three have been friends since the early eighties when they were teenage high schoolers. Also featured on many of the older albums besides Electric Honey is Vivian Trimble (guitars, keyboards, vocals).
Luscious Jackson released their debut album entitled In Search of Manny on the Beastie Boy's own label, Grand Royal. That album was followed by the major label (Capitol/Grand Royal) releases of Natural Ingredients (1994), Luscious Jackson (1995), and 1996's Fever in Fever Out. It was with the 1996 release that I first remember hearing Luscious Jackson. They released the breakthrough single entitled "Naked Eye" and I was hooked.
Electric Honey was the band's 1999 release that featured just the original trio of women. It's sad that the band broke up after years in 2000, but we listeners are left with a legacy of creative and overall interestingly good music. The album is funky alterna-pop with layers and complicated grooves. It did manage to produce a few minor college radio hits with the Cunniff-written "Nervous Breakthrough" and "Ladyfingers". These were the songs that re-introduced me to Luscious Jackson and that led me to purchasing this album.
"Nervous Breakthrough" is a continuation of the sound that made them semi-popular in the mid-90's with the album Fever in Fever Out and the aforementioned single "Naked Eye". It's got a groovy, techno feel with complicated beats and noises. The vocals provided by the women are absolutely infectious. It's really got an 1980's pop feel about it with horns and beats and noise, yet there are really great 90's additions. Luscious Jackson is also known for their hip hop-esque rapping as evidenced by parts of this song. An absolutely necessary must-listen track. This song would definitely be a good reason to consider other tracks and albums from Luscious Jackson.
The strangely acoustic guitar and drum meshed with techno beats track "Ladyfingers" is great. In fact, this is a less groovy track than the last. It's very much a "female" track in that the focus really is on the voice and sound. It's very, very interesting and very, very listenable. Again, it is reflective more of their earlier albums than this one. Another must-listen. Don't miss out on this track I first heard on MSU's student radio.
"Christine" is also a wholly interesting track with hip hop synth beats. I love the sound. In fact, I have to say that it's very unlike music produced by Americans in general. I've heard it from the English Stereo MC's. It's just great. I don't really like the track "Alien Lover". It's just too, um, interplanetary for me. I wish that the synthesizers weren't so strong. In fact, the track bores me.
"Sexy Hypnotist" is also an interesting song. I like the complicated sounds in the background of Cunniff and Glaser's smooth, multi-layered vocals. The music is just plain fun and complicated. Others that are interesting to me are the sparse "Devotion", "Fantastic Fabulous", and "Beloved".
Despite the really great tracks described above, there are a few that aren't good in my opinion. "Summer Daze," "Friends," "Gypsy," and "Country's a Callin'" among others. The ones that I don't like lean toward over production. They are in some cases too complex and too full of noises. For example, "Country's a Callin'" assaults the listener with a rooster and stereotypical country rhythms. Both are horrible.
I wish I could give this album a higher rating based on the few gems of songs. Instead, I am forced to consider all fifteen tracks. Since half are at least okay and half are less than okay, I have to give the album simply an average rating. Of course, I want to mention that there are some absolutely awesome tracks on this album. It is worth overlooking the bad ones in favor of skipping to the good ones.
I give Electric Honey a very strong 3/5 stars. And I do recommend it based on the really great tracks. Also, you should check out their earlier CD's...especially Fever in Fever Out. Happy listening!
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