Unlimited Streaming
Listen to this album in high quality now on our apps
Start my trial period and start listening to this albumEnjoy this album on Qobuz apps with your subscription
SubscribeEnjoy this album on Qobuz apps with your subscription
Digital Download
Purchase and download this album in a wide variety of formats depending on your needs.
Expectations were high for Lush's debut album. Although 1990’s Gala compilation was, for U.S. audiences especially, the first real, full-length exposure to the London band, that set brought together three very different EPs and was more a catalog of a young band's genesis and rapid evolution. With production from the Cocteau Twins' Robin Guthrie—who, at the time, was in the midst of his main band nearly breaking up over his substance abuse issues—and the music press hype machine swirling into overdrive about the shoegaze scene, Spooky was supposed to be a diaphanous bit of jangle-pop confection that fused together the prettiest and pushiest bits of Gala into a more cohesive form. Instead, it turned out that Guthrie rarely turned up to the recording sessions, leaving the band and two "assistant" engineers to put together an album that wound up being a coherent, complete, and current statement of who Lush was as a band. That band was a surprisingly daring one. Chordally and structurally, few of the cuts on Spooky proceed in a predictable manner. In fact, surprises abound, whether it's when the angels-on-speed aggression of "Superblast!" collapses at its climax into a flanged-out whirlpool of weirdness or when the chiming vibrato of "Take" actually turns out to be a bit of feminist post-punk. To be sure, there's enough gauzy guitar work and multi-tracked vocal harmony to easily warrant the album's position at or near the top of any ranking of Best Shoegaze Albums Ever, but the prickly tension that defined Lush's earliest recordings is still present throughout Spooky. That tension manifests on the rhythmic, staccato open chords of "Tiny Smiles" just as much as it does in the straight-ahead punkiness of "Laura" which, weirdly, is the most aggressive and the most beautiful song on the whole album. Ultimately Spooky recasts much of the "shoegazey-ness" as off-kilter individualism, rather than a de rigeur textural choice. The result is an album that managed to subvert those initial expectations while simultaneously exceeding them; it's not only the best album in Lush's catalog, but it ranks among one of the strongest debut albums of the '90s. © Jason Ferguson/Qobuz
More info
You are currently listening to samples.
Listen to over 100 million songs with an unlimited streaming plan.
Listen to this playlist and more than 100 million songs with our unlimited streaming plans.
From 12.49€/month
Kevin Vanbergen, Engineer - Robin Guthrie, Producer, Engineer - Emma Anderson, AssociatedPerformer - Lush, MainArtist - BMG Rights Management, MusicPublisher - BMG rights Management (UK) Ltd., a BMG Chrysalis company., MusicPublisher - Miki Berenyi, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Chris Acland, AssociatedPerformer - CMRRA, MusicPublisher - Steve Rippon, AssociatedPerformer
2023 4AD Ltd 2023 4AD Ltd
Kevin Vanbergen, Engineer - Robin Guthrie, Producer, Engineer, Programmer - Emma Anderson, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Lush, MainArtist - Domino Publishing, MusicPublisher - Domino Music Publishing, MusicPublisher - Miki Berenyi, AssociatedPerformer - Chris Acland, AssociatedPerformer - Steve Rippon, AssociatedPerformer
2023 4AD Ltd 2023 4AD Ltd
Kevin Vanbergen, Engineer - Robin Guthrie, Producer, Engineer - Emma Anderson, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Lush, MainArtist - Domino Publishing, MusicPublisher - Domino Music Publishing, MusicPublisher - Miki Berenyi, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Chris Acland, AssociatedPerformer - Steve Rippon, AssociatedPerformer
2023 4AD Ltd 2023 4AD Ltd
Kevin Vanbergen, Engineer - Robin Guthrie, Producer, Engineer - Emma Anderson, AssociatedPerformer - Lush, MainArtist - BMG Rights Management, MusicPublisher - BMG rights Management (UK) Ltd., a BMG Chrysalis company., MusicPublisher - Miki Berenyi, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Chris Acland, AssociatedPerformer - CMRRA, MusicPublisher - Steve Rippon, AssociatedPerformer
2023 4AD Ltd 2023 4AD Ltd
Kevin Vanbergen, Engineer - Robin Guthrie, Producer, Engineer - Emma Anderson, AssociatedPerformer - Lush, MainArtist - BMG Rights Management, MusicPublisher - BMG rights Management (UK) Ltd., a BMG Chrysalis company., MusicPublisher - Miki Berenyi, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Chris Acland, AssociatedPerformer - CMRRA, MusicPublisher - Steve Rippon, AssociatedPerformer
2023 4AD Ltd 2023 4AD Ltd
Kevin Vanbergen, Engineer - Robin Guthrie, Producer, Engineer - Emma Anderson, AssociatedPerformer - Lush, MainArtist - BMG Rights Management, MusicPublisher - BMG rights Management (UK) Ltd., a BMG Chrysalis company., MusicPublisher - Miki Berenyi, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Chris Acland, AssociatedPerformer - CMRRA, MusicPublisher - Steve Rippon, AssociatedPerformer
2023 4AD Ltd 2023 4AD Ltd
Kevin Vanbergen, Engineer - Robin Guthrie, Producer, Engineer - Emma Anderson, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Lush, MainArtist - Domino Publishing, MusicPublisher - Domino Music Publishing, MusicPublisher - Miki Berenyi, AssociatedPerformer - Chris Acland, AssociatedPerformer - Steve Rippon, AssociatedPerformer
2023 4AD Ltd 2023 4AD Ltd
Kevin Vanbergen, Engineer - Robin Guthrie, Producer, Engineer, Programmer - Emma Anderson, AssociatedPerformer - Lush, MainArtist - BMG Rights Management, MusicPublisher - BMG rights Management (UK) Ltd., a BMG Chrysalis company., MusicPublisher - Miki Berenyi, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Chris Acland, AssociatedPerformer - CMRRA, MusicPublisher - Steve Rippon, AssociatedPerformer
2023 4AD Ltd 2023 4AD Ltd
Kevin Vanbergen, Engineer - Robin Guthrie, Producer, Engineer - Emma Anderson, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Lush, MainArtist - BMG Rights Management, MusicPublisher - Domino Publishing, MusicPublisher - Miki Berenyi, AssociatedPerformer - Chris Acland, AssociatedPerformer - CMRRA, MusicPublisher - Steve Rippon, AssociatedPerformer
2023 4AD Ltd 2023 4AD Ltd
Kevin Vanbergen, Engineer - Robin Guthrie, Producer, Engineer - Emma Anderson, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Lush, MainArtist - Domino Publishing, MusicPublisher - Domino Music Publishing, MusicPublisher - Miki Berenyi, AssociatedPerformer - Chris Acland, AssociatedPerformer - Steve Rippon, AssociatedPerformer
2023 4AD Ltd 2023 4AD Ltd
Kevin Vanbergen, Engineer - Robin Guthrie, Producer, Engineer - Emma Anderson, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Lush, MainArtist - BMG Rights Management, MusicPublisher - Domino Publishing, MusicPublisher - Miki Berenyi, AssociatedPerformer - Chris Acland, AssociatedPerformer - CMRRA, MusicPublisher - Steve Rippon, AssociatedPerformer
2023 4AD Ltd 2023 4AD Ltd
Kevin Vanbergen, Engineer - Robin Guthrie, Producer, Engineer - Emma Anderson, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Lush, MainArtist - Domino Publishing, MusicPublisher - Domino Music Publishing, MusicPublisher - Miki Berenyi, AssociatedPerformer - Chris Acland, AssociatedPerformer - Steve Rippon, AssociatedPerformer
2023 4AD Ltd 2023 4AD Ltd
Album review
Expectations were high for Lush's debut album. Although 1990’s Gala compilation was, for U.S. audiences especially, the first real, full-length exposure to the London band, that set brought together three very different EPs and was more a catalog of a young band's genesis and rapid evolution. With production from the Cocteau Twins' Robin Guthrie—who, at the time, was in the midst of his main band nearly breaking up over his substance abuse issues—and the music press hype machine swirling into overdrive about the shoegaze scene, Spooky was supposed to be a diaphanous bit of jangle-pop confection that fused together the prettiest and pushiest bits of Gala into a more cohesive form. Instead, it turned out that Guthrie rarely turned up to the recording sessions, leaving the band and two "assistant" engineers to put together an album that wound up being a coherent, complete, and current statement of who Lush was as a band. That band was a surprisingly daring one. Chordally and structurally, few of the cuts on Spooky proceed in a predictable manner. In fact, surprises abound, whether it's when the angels-on-speed aggression of "Superblast!" collapses at its climax into a flanged-out whirlpool of weirdness or when the chiming vibrato of "Take" actually turns out to be a bit of feminist post-punk. To be sure, there's enough gauzy guitar work and multi-tracked vocal harmony to easily warrant the album's position at or near the top of any ranking of Best Shoegaze Albums Ever, but the prickly tension that defined Lush's earliest recordings is still present throughout Spooky. That tension manifests on the rhythmic, staccato open chords of "Tiny Smiles" just as much as it does in the straight-ahead punkiness of "Laura" which, weirdly, is the most aggressive and the most beautiful song on the whole album. Ultimately Spooky recasts much of the "shoegazey-ness" as off-kilter individualism, rather than a de rigeur textural choice. The result is an album that managed to subvert those initial expectations while simultaneously exceeding them; it's not only the best album in Lush's catalog, but it ranks among one of the strongest debut albums of the '90s. © Jason Ferguson/Qobuz
About the album
- 1 disc(s) - 12 track(s)
- Total length: 00:48:22
- Main artists: Lush
- Composer: Various Composers
- Label: 4AD
- Genre: Pop/Rock Rock Alternative & Indie
2023 4AD Ltd 2023 4AD Ltd
Improve album information
Why buy on Qobuz...
-
Stream or download your music
Buy an album or an individual track. Or listen to our entire catalogue with our high-quality unlimited streaming subscriptions.
-
Zero DRM
The downloaded files belong to you, without any usage limit. You can download them as many times as you like.
-
Choose the format best suited for you
Download your purchases in a wide variety of formats (FLAC, ALAC, WAV, AIFF...) depending on your needs.
-
Listen to your purchases on our apps
Download the Qobuz apps for smartphones, tablets and computers, and listen to your purchases wherever you go.
Playlists