Search - Lush :: Ciao! Best of Lush

A great, great band receives the compilation treatment.

D. Mok | Los Angeles, CA | 06/17/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The amount of artistic growth Lush exhibited in the '90s was simply stunning. From the lush, cooing soundscapes of its earliest EP recordings (available in the States as the collection entitled Gala), Lush evolved into a songwriting showcase of magnificent proportions, so it was a shame that just as the band was creating some of its best music, internal ruptures (and a fatality among the membership) put a stop to everything.Lush's legacy remains a dazzling one. While the earlier, slightly naive songs like "Sweetness and Light" and "Nothing Natural" hold up, it's the music from the last two albums that's stunning. Along the way lead singer Miki Berenyi stopped trying to hide her limited voice within an ambient mix and instead relied on a much more powerful weapon, songwriting. While bandmate Emma Anderson's complex, U2-esque compositions continue to seduce, it was Berenyi's later, confessional, often painfully intimate writing that became the band's richest mine. Still, it was the tension between these two songwriters that made Lush's albums great. On this compilation you get less of a sense of that dynamic, but you can still tell which personality is which. Anderson's songs succeed on sonic grandiosity and innovative arrangements: "When I Die" is a truly moving account of the loss of a loved one, even more haunting in the context of drummer Chris Acland's suicide; "Desire Lines" slowly ebbs and pulls you into its sensual dreamscape; and even "Lovelife", a buoyant pop song, achieves a sense of high drama via almost inhumanly sparkly guitars and vocal tapestries. When Anderson shifts to pure-pop mode she tends to be less satisfying: "Single Girl" and "500 (Shake Baby Shake)" are enjoyable but forgettable pop tunes. Though this collection leaves out one of Anderson's best, "Tralala" from the Lovelife album, she remains well represented in the compilation, having written most of the early material.Berenyi's songs are Lush's deepest cutting work. Though the song that lent this collection its title, "Ciao!" (a duet with the odious Jarvis Cocker), is about the worst piece of garbage this band has ever produced, a wink-wink, nudge-nudge, I'm-so-cute shuffle with no charm whatsoever, the majority of Berenyi's songs are amazing, especially on the lyric front. Even with "Ladykillers", which Berenyi herself describes as an attempt to write a very basic, accessible pop song, she puts in verbal hooks to spare and some rumbling guitar riffs that show her rocker side. Same for the breathless "Hypocrite", a concise 2-minute dash of complex anger. "Light from a Dead Star" is possibly Berenyi's penultimate song, a unique, eccentrically arranged midtempo ballad with a stunning string section, simple structure, beautiful but forboding harmonies, and an aching lyric that examines love and loss with impressive economy -- three verses and out, leaving more to be suggested.Unfortunately, Ciao! leaves out many of Berenyi's equally beautiful work in the same vein -- the amazing "Papasan", the majestic, melodic ballad "Olympia", the slowly building, dramatic "Last Night", chillingly upbeat and catchy morality tale "The Childcatcher", as well as "Kiss Chase" from Split, which was a perfect marriage between energetic power-pop anthem and an incredibly dark, disturbing lyric telling a tale of pedophilia and helplessness. Still, what the compilation loses in the coherence of a Lush album, it gains in offering a sample of the band's work over the years. I have the whole catalogue and still I play this one, taking a reverse-chronological journey through this band's history and watching it explore, grow, and then flourish, if only for a brief time.I'd say if you're new to Lush, Ciao! would be a good place to start. Then again, even better places would simply be the Lovelife album, the zenith of Lush's songwriting career (again, "Ciao!" and "500" not counting), and Split, the band's artistic coming of age. For me, though, the compilation just serves as a sad reminder of what the world lost. Anderson and Berenyi, as musicians, had certainly only *hinted* at what they were capable of. So Ciao! becomes a eulogy -- complete with well written notes and the band's first photo appearances on their own albums! Just as Anderson and Berenyi were starting to reveal themselves, their journey was cut short, and we're the worse for it."

A relatively well selected compilation of Lush material

Christopher Culver | 12/05/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"CIAO!, the best of Lush, is a collection of material not only from their 4 LPs but also "Love At First Sight" from one of the singles for their 1994 album SPLIT. Fans of Lush should probably already have all of their albums and some of their EPs and singles, but CIAO! is a superb compilation ideal for introducing people to the work of one of indie rock's finest bands musically.Organised in reverse chronological order, CIAO! opens with "Ladykillers" from their last album LOVELIFE. While by this album in 1996 the band had moved to a britpop sound that some perceived as a bid for public attention, the crystal-clear production of the LOVELIFE material and the excellence of the performance makes Lush's material to the uninitiated attractive from the start. The incredible drumming of the late Chris Acland on "Ladykillers" and Phil King's powerful bass on "Single Girl" can only thrill a person hearing them for the first time.From there, the songs on CIAO! in my opinion only get better. Six tracks are present from the era of their 1994 album SPLIT, the first of which is the gorgeous "Light From A Dead Star." Concisely packing its glory into 3 minutes, this is nearly perfect song is one of Lush's best efforts. One of my few nitpicks is that on CIAO! "Light From A Dead Star" is not followed by "Kiss Chase", as those two songs formed a great combination on SPLIT. But instead of that, we get "Love At First Sight" is here from one of the singles released to promote SPLIT and is relatively entertaining. "Hypocrite" is a friendly piece of pop goodness where Acland again shines. "Desire Lines" is one of the several longer pieces found on SPLIT which built from simple rhythms, grow into long jams, and finish with a lovely use of strings.I find the selection of tracks from Lush's 1992 album SPOOKY to be less satisfying. "Ocean" and "Covert", that album's most hyponotic songs, are missing. We get instead simpler, more radio-friendly tracks. "Nothing Natural", "Untogether", and "For Love" aren't bad, they just aren't Lush's best material from that period in my opinion. Nonetheless, "Monochrome" is here to give a glimpse of what Lush's strongest output sounded like during that time.CIAO! closes with selections from Lush's three debut EPs that were later released together as GALA. "De-Luxe" and "Sweetness and Light" are typical of Lush's shoegazing style during this first era. To my chagrin, the version of "Thoughtforms" here is the first version Lush did, the quiet and badly produced one that shouldn't have been put here in favour of the second version that would blow any listener away and which is one of Lush's best songs. Finally, this compilation closes with "Etheriel", a track from SCAR, their debut EP. Showing a band still begin to explore their musical abilities, "Etheriel" is a fitting conclusion to CIAO!Lush was one of the 4AD label's best bands, and listening to CIAO! is a sober reminded of how much was lost with Chris Acland's suicide and the band's subsequent breakup. Lush had incredible musical talent. The duo of Miki Berenyi and Emma Anderson on guitar constantly pushed the bounds of what etherial rock should sound like. Phil King, the bassist on Lush's post-1992 work, provided a steady base to the sound but displayed excellent improvisation as well. Finally, Chris Acland was one of rock's finest drummers, capturing the attention of drumming greats such as Neil Peart as soon as Lush began performing publically. While Lush fans know all this already, I would recommend getting CIAO! if you're curious about the band, or a long-time fan who wants to turn other people on to Lush."

An excellent farewell compilation

Erica Anderson | Minneapolis, MN | 05/09/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"My heart broke in two when I heard the news that drummer Chris Ackland took his own life. Back in '97 I didn't know if that was the end of Lush or not. Now I know that it was and as a farewell to the band's fans is a lovely best of compilation. For an import cd that is 72 minutes long I was pleasantly surprised to see how cheap it was. There will never be another band like Lush. Their songs were catchy and ethereal.I consider "500(Shake Baby Shake)" the most perfect power pop song to date. The lyrics are cute and melodies are infectious and sugary sweet. It would be difficult not to sing along to this wonderful song. "Ladykillers" totally rocks out in a way that the band never has on their previous albums. I can't imagine not hearing Pulp's Jarvis Cocker croon on "Ciao!" with Micki Beranyi. No filler tracks on this delightful album. It is a shame that the band ended the way it did but at least the fans got a final farewell from them in the form of this best of cd."