Lucy Show - Remembrances

  by Benjamin Howarth

published: 27 / 2 / 2012

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Review

Formed in 1983 by two Canadians living in London, the Lucy Show were a post-punk four-piece whose sound has echoes of early-REM, the Cure, Jesus and Mary Chain and the occasional hint of Joy Division. Listening to their music three decades after it was made, you are forced to consider just how much success in the music industry is a matter of pure luck. The Lucy Show were good enough to get regular airplay on the John Peel show, to be snapped up by a major label and to support REM on tour in the US, where they were a hit on the college circuit. But they never quite had the commercial break through a band on a major label needs, and were beset by label problems during their short career. After the band’s break-up in 1989, their two albums were out of print for more than a decade. Enter the Ostermeier brothers, who you may know as the brains behind dreamy slowcore band Should. Having had their musical tastes shaped by ‘literally hundreds’ of listens to the two Lucy Show albums, they contacted the band to reissue the back catalogue on their Words On Music label. Evidently, the reissues have been a success, because they are now followed by this collection of singles, outtakes and vinyl-only releases. The 17 songs on 'Remembrances' have not been available on CD before. Anyone who likes the bands listed above will find something to enjoy here. Opening track and first single ‘Leonardo Da Vinci’ has a buzzing urgency, and a gothy tinge that any Cure fan will recognise. Its not hard to see why John Peel liked it. But, I prefer some of their other early songs – as the Lucy Show gently eased keyboards and eerie atmospherics into their sound. Most of these songs are demos, and by the time they came to record the albums, they’d clearly decided that they wanted to make a jauntier sound. Yet, while these outtakes are clearly ‘of their time’, they make for fascinating listening, as the band found their feet. By 1985, the band were recording with John Leckie, and had clearly been listening to their tour-mates REM. ‘The Lap of the Gods’ could easily have popped up on 'Fables of the Reconstruction', and by this point, an increasingly confident rhythm section make the keyboards redundant. Fans of post-punk will lap this up, and will surely wonder why they hadn’t heard it before. The album ends with three tracks recorded after their second (and ultimately final) album 'Mania 'was released. ‘Only Moments Away’ was released a b-side in 1987, and with a jangly acoustic guitar line, and a softer production, is very different from anything else here. Then, in 1993, comes an abortive attempt at a reunion. ‘She’s Going Down’ is a snarling, feedback drenched rock song, as good as anything else on this album. ‘Where It All Comes Down’ sounds a bit like an Oasis b-side, with wailing harmonica and a wistful melody. Fans will be disappointed the reunion didn’t last longer. And yet, they’ll be glad of this album – a good summary of a band who didn’t change music history, but who deserve to be better remembered.

Track Listing:-

1 Leonardo Da Vinci
2 Kill The Beast
3 History Part 1
4 Prove It
5 Comeback To The Living
6 Undone
7 Twister
8 7 Hours / Remembrances
9 Better On The Hard Side
10 The Lady Lies There
11 The Price Of Love
12 See It Goes
13 Lap Of The Gods
14 Waiting For You
15 Only Moments Away
16 She's Going Down
17 Where It All Comes Down

Label Links:-

http://www.words-on-music.com/
https://www.facebook.com/wordsonmusic
https://twitter.com/WordsOnMusic
https://www.youtube.com/user/shouldfis