In 2018 Lush Fresh Handmade Sound and Mark Constantine released a compilation album titled The Self Preservation Society, a colossal vinyl-only (with USB) triple album of songs with their roots in the late 1960s and early 1970s, covered by some of the finest contemporary folk musicians. In 2019, they followed with Instant Replay, a 32-track collection of newly recorded covers of songs originally released between 1971 and 1981, embracing the worlds of folk, jazz, indie and pop. Next month, on ‘Life’s What You Make It’, they turn their attention to the 1980s with Jackie Oates covering The Cure, Eliza + Martin Carthy covering Propaganda, Marry Waterson covering Eurythmics, Teddy Thompson covering Tina Turner and many others (see tracklist below).
One that is sure to capture a lot of attention is a cover of Kate Bush’s Cloudbusting, the second single released from her no.1 1985 album Hounds of Love. Having crowdfunded a movie (The Tape), which she then directed, co-wrote and starred in, Martha Tilston is a singer who never backs down from a challenge. With Cloudbusting, she ably delivers a beautiful rendition and gives it that magical Tilston touch. Needless to say, she co-directed the music video with Anna Gudbrands. Top marks again.
On Life’s What You Make It, you’ll find the familiar and the unfamiliar, unexpected collisions of styles, radical re-workings and faithful renditions, all in celebration of a musical golden era. Many of these tracks will have specific associations for each of us, but collectively they formed the soundtrack to Mark Constatine’s decade during Cosmetics to Go and the pre-Lush Cosmetics years: “What I remember from that time is working every hour God sent,” he says. “We’d be waking up at 4am, switching on the boilers and mixing up product as fast as we could. And there’d always be music playing.”
Compositions by artists as diverse as The Cure, Phil Collins, Tina Turner, Kate Bush and Nirvana have been reinterpreted by a galaxy of established and rising stars including Teddy Thompson, Eliza + Martin Carthy, Jackie Oates, Lisa Knapp, Marry Waterson, Stealing Sheep and Honeyfeet, many of which you’ll found on Lush’s bespoke Spa Treatment soundtracks. The result is a magnificently diverse, six-sided jewel of a record.
This record has been 2 years in the making and did not only start off as a continuation of the compilation album series but also out of Mark’s desire to support the artists Lush has been collaborating with for a long time through the difficulties during the Covid lockdowns.
‘Cloudbusting’ is out April 22.
‘Life’s What You Make It’ is out May 27th
Awaiting the Vinyl purchase link.
Digital Pre-Save via: https://lush.bio.to/LWYMI
TRACKLISTING:
SIDE A
1. Life In A Northern Town – Afro Celt Sound System
[originally by The Dream Academy, 1985]
2. The Thinner The Air – Lisa Knapp
[originally by The Cocteau Twins, 1986]
3. Untitled – Jackie Oates
[originally by The Cure, 1989]
4. What’s Love Got To Do With It – Teddy Thompson
[originally by Tina Turner, 1984]
5. Jesus Doesn’t Want Me For A Sunbeam – Eliza & Martin Carthy
[originally by The Vaselines, 1988]
SIDE B
1. Simply Irresistible – Barney Morse-Brown
[originally by Robert Palmer, 1988]
2. The Island – Ríoghnach Connolly
[originally by Paul Brady, 1985]
3. In The Air Tonight – Ben Murray & Richard Evans
[originally by Phil Collins, 1981]
4. Chant No. 1 (I Don’t Need This Pressure On) – Wattle & Daub
[originally by Spandau Ballet, 1982]
5. Cabin Boy – Eliza Carthy
[originally by Tom Robinson, 1984]
SIDE C
1. The Party’s Over – Da Da La La
[originally by Talk Talk, 1982]
2. There She Goes – Lockwatchers
[originally by The La’s, 1988]
3. Duel – Marry Waterson
[originally by Propaganda, 1985]
4. It Ain’t What You Do (It’s the Way That You Do It) – Palm Skin Productions featuring Ríoghnach Connolly
[originally by Fun Boy Three and Bananarama, 1982]
5. Fifteen Minutes – Teddy Thompson
[originally by Kirsty MacColl, 1989]
SIDE D
1. Come As You Are – Barney Morse-Brown
[originally by Nirvana, 1991]
2. Cloudbusting – Martha Tilston
[originally by Kate Bush, 1985]
3. Little Fluffy Clouds – Palm Skin Productions
[originally by The Orb, 1990]
4. Hippychick – Beagle & Amalthea
[originally by Soho, 1990]
5. Enter Sandman – Fibreglass
[originally by Metallica, 1991]
SIDE E
1. Blister In The Sun – Stealing Sheep
[originally by Violent Femmes, 1983]
2. Dance Me to the End of Love – Jackie Oates
[originally by Leonard Cohen, 1984]
3. Paint A Rumour – Honeyfeet
[originally by Eurythmics, 1983]
4. Everywhere – Sheema Mukherjee
[originally by Fleetwood Mac, 1987]
5. Wig – The Duloks
[originally by The B-52s, 1986]
SIDE F
1. Long Hot Summer – Honeyfeet
[originally by The Style Council, 1983]
2. Here Comes The Rain Again – Marry Waterson
[originally by Eurythmics, 1984]
3. The Opium Eaters – Lockwatchers
[originally by Madness, 1981]
4. Small Blue Thing – Rosie Doonan
[originally by Suzanne Vega, 1985]
5. Life’s What You Make It – Julie Tippetts
[originally by Talk Talk, 1985]
