Pros: Well crafted, catchy pop tunes. Distinctive style.
Cons: Disjointed in tone, if not in content. Not their best work.
The Bottom Line: A nice pop album in its own right, but neither their best or even a representative effort. However, even their weakest album is better than legions of other releases.
The third and final full length album released by the British quartet, Lovelife found the band at a crossroads of sorts. Their previous effort, Split, was a commercial disappointment--though in the eyes of many fans it is their masterpiece. It could be that the sting from the poor reception of Split, magnified by widening differences in the band's two dominant creative forces (dual vocalists Emma Anderson and Miki Berenyi), is what led to what was both a very fractured sounding album that was uniformly different from their previous efforts. Though it was the death of their drummer that ultimately signaled the band's demise, there were clear signs in the album that the band had fundamentally changed and that more changes were due. While Lovelife is a fairly good pop record (and contains Lush's greatest U.S. hit) it is also an album that perplexed existing fans and did not garner enough new fans to put them over the top. The band that was (arguably) the greatest of the British Shoegazer bands would not release another album of original material.
Track by track:
Ladykillers - [5/5] - A couple of things are apparent right away when this song rumbles on. If it finds the radio (it did) it would be a big hit (it was) and that this Lush album was going to be completely different than anything thay'd ever done (it was). Gone were the lush (and somewhat offkey) melodies that were their trademark sound, replaced by Elastica-like girl power grumbles. The arrangement here is stripped-down, straightforward punky power pop and they pull it off well (even with the hand claps). Strong, if unexpected, opening track. The lyrics aren't too kind to all things male, but we probably had it coming.
Heavenly Nobodies - [4/5] - Nice fast track, warning of placing too much faith in celebrities. The music has a nice rhythm to it, and the vocals are done well. Still sounds a bit "thin" compared to the group's standard sound in songs such as "Cat's Chorus" (from the cookie Japanese EP) which has a similar structure.
500 - [3.5/5] - Also released as a single. An ode to a compact car. Honestly, it sometimes drives me up the wall, but many Lush fans think it's the cat's pajamas so I'll just say it's a light, bouncy tune that's very, very (very) happy. "Shake, Baby shake..."
I've Been Here Before - [4/5] - A jaded look at the bar scene. Another Elastica-like tune in the attitude and delivery dept, but the arrangement and vocals come off nicely. Catchy guitar and beat. It's a nice tune, ok but not great, and is in a good spot behind the syrupy "500". The vocal harmony that closes the song is the first hint at their former sound.
Papasan - [4.5/5] - Very sparsely arranged music with oddly touching vocals. A song that very easily could be about devotion and pity simultaneously. An interesting listen, with some Asian influence sprinkled in for flavor.
Single Girl - [4/5] - The somber mood from the previous track is obliterated by this straight-ahead rock n'roll tune which sounds almost Bangle-ish with it's 80's rock structure. The lyrics here details the voice professing how good her single life is, and somewhere along the line realizing that maybe she'd rather not be alone.
Ciao! - (with Jarvis Cocker) - [3.5/5] -This is a song you're either gone to love or hate. A talk-like back and forth between two people who have just split up and are declaring how much better off they are without the other. It has some interesting and sometimes funny elements, largely the "protesting too much" feel of the lyrics and the juxtaposition, though it's anything but easy listening.
Tralala - [4/5] - A song about taking the problems in life in stride. String dominated track, with a slow, reflective vocal delivery. It gives a feeling of distance and isolation in the arrangement, particularly near the end when the electric guitar placed into mix. A decent lead in to the strongest three tracks on the record.
Last Night - [5/5]- The high point of the album. Even though it is the track that is closest to the spirit of the seminal Lush sound, here it sounds almost like it belongs on a different album (perhaps it was a Split outtake). Still, it's a song that is one of their best and in a way redeems the entire effort. It's both eerie and dreamy as the blended voices try and piece together what happened one lonely night. "You're not going to get away with it this time..."
Runaway - [4/5] - This track rocks out a bit. One of the better tracks on the album, as the band sings about getting away from it all--maybe too far to come back again.
The Childcatcher - [4.5/5] - Another standout track. The music is frenetic and the vocal harmonies are used effectively here. Written about a young woman trying to assert herself in the face of her much older boyfriend who'd been controlling her. Very much a regular Lush track in that it can be enjoyed while having no idea what they're singing about.
Olympia - [3/5] - This is perhaps the weakest track on the album. A sleepy wrap-up track that stays around too long. It does improve near the end, but not enough to really save the track. A song about envy and whether or not life could ever be the way we dream it. I'll be kind to it because it's the last song on their last album. "And now, it's time to switch off."
All in all, this is a nice pop album, and had it been released by another band it may have been much better received by music fans--or had it been a debut rather than an anticipated followup. After re-listening to the album, it is better than I remember it, but when placing it side by side with their more representative work it doesn't hold water. I think I'll give it a four star rating (when I started writing it was a three) because they were a quality band and this is a good album, but they really deserved to go out on a better note.
Although this is a good album that is worth adding to a 90's era pop/rock collection, I'd recommend starting with Split, then you can work through Lush's music in either direction chronologically as it is both their best album and a bridge between their old and new styles. Between the EPs and singles, there is a lot of Lush material out there. As a complimentary piece to their catalogue this does well, but it is neither their best work or representative of the general style of their music.
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