Date: Tue, 16 Jul 1996 14:54:29 EDT 
              From: Dez (100702.123@COMPUSERVE.COM) 
              Subject: Lush: Cinquecento


         Lush's ode to the ugly, tiny and ridiculously under-powered Fiat 500 appeared on
         single yesterday, and as with Single Girl and Ladykillers, there are two CDs
         with a total of six unreleased tracks between them. 500 you'll all know. A great
         piece of summer pop froth, already blasting out regularly from the nation's
         trannies. CD one (and the rosy seven inch) include a beautiful version of I Have
         The Moon (is this a Magnetic Fields song?), a great swirling ballad: Piledriver,
         a jolly Amps-like romp, and an acoustic version of Olympia that's the equal of
         the album version. CD two has I'd Like To Walk Around In Your Mind (credited to
         unknown - anyone know this song from anywhere?). It's a gentle 60s-ish
         brill-building type thing. There's also an acoustic version of Kiss Chase which
         is merely so-so, and the Hexidecimal Dub Mix of Last Night which I like even
         better than the original.

         Having lived with Lovelife for a few months now, it's great that Lush have
         stopped becoming perpetual under-achievers and have really established
         themselves as one of the UK's best pop bands. It's taken them long enough. After
         having started so promisingly with Scar and the first two singles, Spooky was a
         huge let-down - good enough songs all but destroyed by the ham-fisted production
         job. The a two-year wait for Split - half a great record, and half a very
         ordinary one, but driven by an insane marketing campaign which virtually
         condemned it to near zero airplay. Now they're getting the hits they deserve.
         You may think that doesn't matter, and so it doesn't if you're talking about
         leftfield types of music. But pop music needs radio and sales for it to be truly
         be pop - it's the soundtrack of summers, a collective thing.

         Spookily, talking of Spooky, the duo of the same name have released their second
         LP, Found Sound. I've not had the chance to listen to it all yet, but there is a
         track called Hypo-Allergenic that is co-credtited with the Cocteau Twins, and
         contains an extensive sample. Don't know of what though.

         - Dez


     Date: Thu, 18 Jul 1996 09:34:53 +0100 
     From: Andrew Norman (nja@LEICESTER.AC.UK) 
     Subject: Lush "500"


Bought the singles yesterday.  By a cunning selection of covers,
remixes and acoustic versions Miki and Emma have managed to avoid
having to write any new songs, though they did let the drummer (?) do
one.  Remember that "New Wave of New Wave" scene that the NME was so
keen on a year or so ago?  Enough said.  The A-side has been remixed to
make it even more irritatingly saccharine, and it seems to be playing
everywhere I go these days, so it may be a Big Summer Hit and they can
all go and buy yachts and hang out with Bill Wyman in the South of
France.  Great pop music.




         Date: Wed, 24 Jul 1996 11:58:35 +0200 
         From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen (larsi@IFI.UIO.NO) 
         Subject: New things, new things...



     Lush - 500 (Shake Baby Shake) 1 & 2

     So, they decided to release the most annoyingly sweet song from the
     album as a single.  Blecch.  It's even sweeter here, and I can't bear
     to listen to it again.  As for the extra tracks -- Emma and Miki have
     cunningly avoided to write a single new tracks, so it's a mixture of
     covers, rerecordings, remixes and a song written by the bassist.
     Yawn.  The design of the singles follows the lead of the other
     singles, except that they have used the same imagery on both
     releases.  My guess is that they ran out of pictures.  In fact, this
     whole thing has "Will This Do?" written over it in ten feet high neon
     letters.  Steer clear of this, well, crap.  (What's my excuse for
     buying them?  They were *cheap*.  What's up with that single sale in
     the UK?  Why are all the singles so cheap these days?)