And "Ladyfingers", though it sounds a million miles from where they started, delivers the uplift they always promised (love to hear Pink cover it). "Deep Shag" was one of the few times the soul-loving Jill Cuniff was able to inhabit a song in an earthy way, and I wasn't surprised to find it on one of the zeitgeist-defining mixtapes mentioned in Rob Sheffield's book Love is a Mixtape. "Naked Eye" successfully integrated rap for the first time since the debut, and the chorus hook rules.
And the limp affirmation "Strongman" can in no way be considered a highlight ("It takes a strongman/ To stand by a strong woman/ Yes, it does").Įven so, Luscious Jackson managed a few good singles. The clean and dinky roller-rink pop tune "Here" hinted at disco but didn't have the courage of its convictions, possibly because the old school downtown club sound was far from mainstream in 1994.
Still, the best of the rest are present, even if some tracks sound pretty weak today. I'd like to say it collects the highlights, but that's not quite accurate- those first few songs on In Search of Manny are their peak, and only one of these, "Let Yourself Get Down," is represented here. Some time after 1999's bland Electric Honey they called it quits to pursue other projects, and now comes their first career overview. Two more albums followed, and Luscious Jackson's profile bumped a notch higher. They weren't preachy, exactly more the cool older sisters who had their shit together and were always around to remind you to keep your eye on the ball. Like so many alt-pop groups in the 1990s, Luscious Jackson focused on positivity, writing songs about respect, inner strength, and "the state of the world" (which, in retrospect, was pretty great). But Natural Ingredients was clean and bright pop-rock with only the barest hint of wise-ass sass, and it pointed the way for the rest of their career. The grooves found on the first five tracks of their EP- created by Jill Cuniff and Gabby Glaser alone- were built from samples and mirrored the blunted Bomb Squad-by-way-of-Muggs style so prevalent at the time. They were middle class, they knew their NBA references, they rapped, and, most important, they had an inside track on hip New York culture from the 1970s and 80s, which in those days was hard to come by.īy the time they released their full-length debut Natural Ingredients in 1994, it was clear that Luscious Jackson were on their own trip. Word was the band's drummer used to be in the abysmal hardcore version of the Beastie Boys before they found hip-hop, so the "Beastie Girls" tag stuck with Luscious Jackson for a time, which was forgivable given the history and some other parallels. They sounded cool and even a little dark back then on dense tracks like "Daughters of the Kaos" ("Insane and unknown is my only creed/ Enjoy, destroy, then set you free"). If you're still able to enjoy funky boho Mellow Gold Gen-Xisms, In Search of Manny is an overlooked gem, and Luscious Jackson never lived up to its promise. The first record by another band on the Beastie Boys' Grand Royal label was a nifty EP called In Search of Manny by their East Village pals Luscious Jackson.
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