The result, Fever in Fever Out, was released in fall 1996. At the time, Luscious Jackson was continuing work on their second album, working with producer Daniel Lanois. Natural Ingredients eventually sold almost 200,000 copies.Įarly in 1996, Trimble and Cunniff released a side project under the name Kostars. Following the release of Natural Ingredients, the group spent most of 1995 on the road, including a stint opening for R.E.M. Before the release of Natural Ingredients, Luscious Jackson spent the summer of 1994 on the second stage of Lollapalooza, per the request of the Beastie Boys. "Citysong" became a minor modern rock hit in the fall of that year. Natural Ingredients, the group's first full-length album, was released in the late summer of 1994 to generally favorable reviews. In Search of Manny received very positive reviews and the group quickly became a hip name to drop in alternative rock circles.
The following year, the group released its debut EP, In Search of Manny, on the Beastie Boys' record label, Grand Royal it was reissued the following year on Capitol/Grand Royal. Eventually, the duo recruited Schellenbach and Jill's friend Vivian Trimble to form Luscious Jackson, taking their name from a '60s basketball player for the Philadelphia 76ers.
In 1991, Cunniff and Glaser returned to New York and began writing songs. Schellenbach stayed in New York, where she drummed with Hippies with Guns and attended college, while Cunniff and Glaser attended art school in San Francisco, where they both played in a punk band called Jaws Cunniff continued to edit her fanzine. When the members graduated from high school, they went their separate ways. Eventually, the trio began hanging out, seeing bands that ranged from hardcore and arty post-punk to reggae and hip-hop. Schellenbach was the drummer in the original hardcore punk incarnation of the Beastie Boys she met Cunniff when she interviewed the Beasties for her fanzine, The Decline of Art. The core of Luscious Jackson - Kate Schellenbach (drums), Jill Cunniff (vocals, bass), and Gabby Glaser (vocals, guitar) - all met as teenagers on the New York post-punk scene of the early '80s. Luscious Jackson's first two recordings, 1992's In Search of Manny and 1994's Natural Ingredients, earned the band a cult following and positive critical reviews. Like the Beastie Boys, Luscious Jackson's eclecticism doesn't acknowledge boundaries instead, it takes freely from every kind of music. Half great.With their dark hip-hop-influenced alternative rock, Luscious Jackson re-creates the dense, multicultural bohemian world of New York in a collage of sound, where Spanish guitars, jazzy keyboards, funky beats, and breathy, singsong vocals combine into one. Debs gets a Blondie-song-that-isn't-quite (Fantastic Fabulous) which just adds to the forgettable latecomers that rather let that first side down. All are helped by LJ's sweetly nonchalant vocal delivery. But up front, it's one groovy pop confection after another, from the DIY disco of opener Nervous Breakthrough, the sassy funk of Alien Lover and the dreamy electropop of Lady Fingers (featuring Harris). That's rather helped by their efforts at going gospel-ish (Friends, aaah, it undoubtedly went down a treat at Lilith Fair), country-ish (Country's A Callin'), or slow blues-ish (Fly). But then, about the time they start bringing in the guest stars like Debbie Harry and Emmylou Harris, it starts to unravel and goes into overtime. So we get a run of handclap dancebeats and sunny tunes with sardonic words making for a highly enjoyable beginning.
Like their previous, it's another product of their indie rock/hip-hop bent meeting memories of the last days of disco. The first half of the fourth album by an outfit long nicknamed "the Beastie Girls" is great. (Capitol) *** Review: Russell Baillie Sounds like the worst thing this New York female trio could do, musically speaking, is get out of town.