Luscious Jackson - Greatest Hits

Genre rock Publisher Capitol Records External Links Official Luscious Jackson Website Official Capitol Records Website

In the early 1990s, Grand Royal, the label and magazine owned and operated by the Beastie Boys, couldn't be cooler, and leading the charge among the label's roster of talented young acts was Luscious Jackson, an all-female band that strove to combine elements of modern hip-hop, folk, dance, and organic rock 'n roll into one tasty package. The first band to sign with the label, Luscious Jackson's career was timed perfectly; not only was the Beastie Boys' hip-hop/rock crossover going over huge, but alternative rock was exploding, Spin magazine actually had clout, and there was a genuine hunger from Gen X'ers for creative, young musical talent. And the New York band was as diverse as the music the foursome created: they were led by sweet-voiced bassist Jill Cunniff and guitarist Gabby Glaser (who "rapped" in a Neneh Cherry-like husky voice), and was rounded out by fashion model-turned keyboardist Vivian Trimble and punk drummer Kate Schellenbach, who had previously worked with the Beastie Boys and the Lunachicks.

The music was vibrant, smooth, danceable, and sexy as hell, a high point in a decade that was loaded with many musical high points, progressing gracefully as the decade wore on. The band started off as hipster darlings, became a college radio smash, played Lollapalooza, enjoyed success as an MTV buzz band, won over audiences at Lilith Fair, had their own Gap commercial, and became a VH1 staple. The sales were never overwhelming, and although Luscious Jackson managed merely one EP and three albums, the music they left behind still holds up, as the fine new Greatest Hits compilation attests.

The big question of what to do with a best-of compilation, aside from picking the right tracks, is how to sequence it, and the Luscious Jackson disc opts for the non-chronological route, and while some might have preferred to hear the band's decade-long progression over the course of the CD, the 20 tracks are arranged very well, making for a very smooth 72 minutes. 1994's much-hyped Natural Ingredients is well-represented here: the lazily funky "Citysong" evokes summer in the city, Cunniff and Glasser trading lead vocals while bongos and jazz saxophone do battle in the background like buskers on the street. Piano and a trilling jazz flute highlight the loose yet insistent "Strongman" and "Here" channels late-70s Giorgio Moroder as Cunniff gets downright racy ("Hold this for me down here"), while the lugubrious "Deep Shag" offers an effective character sketch of a woman trapped in a futile relationship.

Recorded in New Orleans with Daniel Lanois, the much more sultry Fever In, Fever Out (1996) was Luscious Jackson's creative peak as well as their biggest seller, led by the breakthrough single "Naked Eye", as song as erotically-charged as it is musically intricate, the band, Cunniff especially, sounding more confident than ever. "Under Your Skin" is propelled by a wonky yet contagious groove, and the acoustic shuffle of "Why Do I Lie?" is underscored by Lanois's trademark ambient touches. 1999's Electric Honey was much more polished and streamlined, and while the hooks were as prominent as ever, the edge was nonexistent. Still, tracks like the breezy "Ladyfingers", the lightly pulsating "Nervous Breakthrough", and the gooey-sweet, sentimental "Friends" are all worthy inclusions.

If there's one major fault with Greatest Hits, it's that only one track represents the 1992 EP In Search of Manny, that being the aggressive funk of "Let Yourself Get Down". To ignore the band's early signature tune "Daughters of the KAOS", the song that introduced so many of us (including yours truly) to the band, is tantamount to heresy. The disc is rounded out by a handful of compilation contributions, ranging from the excellent ("Love is Here") to the forced (the awkward cover of Serge Gainsbourg's "69 Année Erotique"), while the four remixes that close the compilation lack the immediacy of the original versions, and should have been replaced by numbers such as "KAOS", "Energy Sucker", "Electric", and "Space Diva". Carping aside, though, this is nevertheless one of the better 90s compilations to come around in a long while. Not only is it a perfect introduction to such a fine band, but it reminds those of us who lived with the old albums just how well Luscious Jackson's best songs have aged, and serves as a harsh reminder of how so few indie acts today show the same kind of ambition and devotion to song craft as these four talented ladies did a decade ago.