Rocktrospectiva: The Brilliantly Nerdy "Cloudcuckooland" Turns 35

Released on 29 January 1990, "Cloudcuckooland" was the debut album by Ian Broudie band The Lightning Seeds, the album peaked at 50 in the UK and No. 46 on Billboard 200, the album spawned three singles "Pure", "Joy" & "All I Want", and "Pure was the band's first hit in the United Kingdom, and their only top 40 entry in the United States.

A 12-track album of nerd-pop with tthreads of imagery about shooting stars, crystal lights, butterflies and sleeping giants, it's the stuff of easy access imagination, earnest lyricism that conflates love poetry with moony sentimentalism. 

The Lightning Seeds was originally a solo project for Ian Broudie, pictured on the album cover with spectacles and a bowl cut, captured in a moment of wistful confusion. Broudie was an institution long-before this release, he was a fixture on the Liverpool scene as a member of Big in Japan, Original Mirrors and Care, and more notably as a producer, collaborating with Echo & the Bunnymen on their early albums, so the guy really knows how to play.

The hit from Cloudcuckooland, was definitely "Pure",  a fanciful sparkler of a love song that charted both in the UK Top 20 and on the US Billboard Top 40. Demure horn chirps accented by low-high guitar string plucks make this prelude sound like a dawning, as gentle strumming seeps into the background and three note synth arpeggios advance and reverse like a proud, pretty birdsong, but the album had other hidden gems, "All I Want" the follow-up single, embraces the same qualities as "Pure", the track introduces a choppy toy harpsichord voice in the bridge, leading into a final stanza emboldened by swaying, long-bowed string phrases. The instrumentation is synth-sourced it seems, so the grandness it’s going for actually sounds quaint in its artificiality, back in the day the singles like "Pure" and "All I Want", drew comparisons to a less burlesque Pet Shop Boys or a Matthew Sweet synth tribute band, also "All I Want" was covered by Susanna Hoffs, formerly of the Bangles, on her 1996 album Susanna Hoffs. Which was a minor US hit and a UK hit at No. 33 for two weeks.

Other worth track are "Control the Flame” is the jazzy expression of Broudie’s inner horndog (“Can’t control/ Control desire/ But who the hell’d want to calm this fever”), On this song the intent is to give voice to the beast within, the mid-tempo prayer for action "Bound in a Nutshell," digging deep in the euphemistically titled "Love Explosion" the extreme contrast between the low-tone swampiness and Broudie’s own fluttery vocals settles in as cartoonishness. Some other experiments resound more favorably. 

The other single "Joy" recalls a processed beat of George Michael's "Careless Whisper" vibe, and of course "Frenzy" pops off with a scritchy-scratch and lathers up into a hooky synth-pop party song. 

The Lightning Seeds debut album it's truly charming, a little more bite, and the mechanized percussion is hardly an attribute, but it's a credit to Broudie's craftsmanship that this record's low-key charm is only enhanced with repeated listens, and cool memorie from the fancy days of yore. 

 

Cloudcuckooland Track List: 

1. All I Want

2. Bound In A Nutshell

3. Pure

4. Sweet Dreams

5. The Nearly Man

6. Joy

7. Love Explosion

8. Don't Let Go

9. Control The Flame

10. The Price 

The Compilation: Tomorrow's Here Today "35 Years Of Lightning Seeds"

Celebrating 35 years of career, The Lightning Seeds release this compilation "Tomorrow's Here Today: 35 Years Of Lightning Seeds", this is an absolute masterclass in modern pop songwriting from Ian Broudie. 

Kicking off with their classic debut single "Pure", this really is a greatest hits compilation worthy of the title from a band who have sold over 8 million albums. Across 19 tracks the compilation features Lightning Seeds favourites including 'The Life of Riley', 'Change', 'Lucky You', 'Sense', 'All I Want', 'Sugar Coated Iceberg', 'You Showed Me', '3 Lions' and more. 

Tomorrow's Here Today: 35 Years Of Lightning Seeds Track List:

Disc 1

 
1. Pure
2. Emily Smiles
3. My Best Day
4. Lucky You
5. Waiting for Today to Happen
6. Sense
7. Perfect
8. Change (Single Version)
9. Life's Too Short
10.  Sugar Coated Iceberg

Disc 2

 
1. The Life of Riley
2. All I Want
3. You Showed Me
4. What If
5. Marvellous
6. Ready Or Not
7. The Nearly Man
8. Like You Do
9. 3 Lions

Rocktrospectiva: Lightning Seed's Finest Album "Jollification" Turns 30

 

Released on 5 September 1994, "Jollification" was the third studio album by English rock band the Lightning Seeds. All songs were written by Ian Broudie, with contributions on some tracks from Alison Moyet, Ian McNabb and Terry Hall. The album spawned four singles "Lucky You", "Marvellous, "Change" and "Perfect" those singles helped the album to peaked No. 12 in the UK.

The story began in 1989 when Ian Broudie began recording alone under the name Lightning Seeds and achieved success with the psychedelic and synthpop hit "Pure", from the album Cloudcuckooland, which reached the UK Top 20. The same year "Joy" and "All I Want" were also released but failed to make an impression. "Pure" had some success in the United States Billboard Top 40, reaching No. 32. Both "Pure" and "All I Want" also reached the Modern Rock Tracks top 10.

So, when Jollification, the third album by the Lightning Seeds, was released, practically proved the band was at their finest moment. Jollification was recorded and completed in 1993. However, in 1994 with a new record deal with Epic, the Lightning Seeds were about to become a serious concern. One of the conditions were the Lightning Seeds needed to become a band and tour.

The album is considered a sort of a slow burner, Jollification failed to set the album charts alight initially, the same with lead single Lucky You. However, some joint dates with Terry Hall and touring got the name out. In 1995 saw the release of "Change", with a Top of the Pops appearance giving the Lightning Seeds their first top 20 single since Pure. This gave Jollification the boost it needed, and with playing live and the release of Marvellous, Perfect and the re-release of Lucky You, the sales of Jollification increased at the point to reach No. 12 in the UK charts.

"Jollification" is where everything successfully coalesced for Broudie. With Britain now ready for great pop singles again, Ian was in his element. Alison Moyet is at her imperious best guesting on break-up drama My Best Day, yet it didn’t make the cut as one of Jollification’s five singles. Terry Hall is on backing vocals along with Ocean Colour Scene’s Simon Fowler. Yet it’s Broudie’s wistful voice which makes the album.  

There are funk touches in the shuffling "Open Goals" (with Moyet present again, on backing vocals), and a grandiose sweep to the closing "Telling Tales". Mostly, though, for all the gloom cloaked in the lyrics, Jollification is where the 36-year-old Ian Broudie became a brilliant pop star. In the album’s wake, the FA chose Broudie to write England’s theme song for Euro 96. We all know what happened next.

The album became a critical success althought certain critics felt the album sound too produced, even thought it was Broudie's strongest batch of songs ever recorded, by the way, the album cover used computer graphics to create an enormous strawberry and depicting seeds with imposed human faces.  

Jollification Track List: 

 

1. Perfect

2. Lucky You

3. Open Goals

4. Change

5. Why Why Why

6. Marvellous

7. Feeling Lazy

8. My Best Day

9. Punch & Judy

10. Telling Tales

Placeres Sonoros: Sunshine

           

Tras una ausencia de 13 años, Lightning Seeds vuelve con nuevo disco del cual se desprende este primer single "Sunshine" un tema co-escrito junto a Terry Hall y que mantiene la esencia sonora de la banda que sigue siendo única después de más de una década de silencio, el nuevo disco sale a la venta el próximo 14 de Octubre.

La Noticia: Lightning Seeds Esta De Vuelta Con "See You In The Stars" Su Nuevo Disco

 

Tras una larga ausencia de 13 años que marcó el lanzamiento del último disco de la banda llamado "Four Winds", el grupo de Ian Broudie, Lightning Seeds esta de vuelta con un nuevo disco llamado "See you In The Stars", a publicarse en el mes de Octubre.

 

Son un total de 10 tracks del cual ya se desprendió el nuevo single "Sunshine", que trae una colaboración con el gran Terry Hall, quien también co-escribió Emily Smiles, no es la primera vez que Hall participa con los Seeds, en los discos "Jollification" hizo su parte en la icónica "Lucky You", mientras que los otro dos temas "Great To Be Alive", y "Live To Love You" llevan la marca de James Skelly de The Coral. 

Tras una espera de más de una década, Broudie dijo: La música es como el ataque y la defensa en el football o en la política, lo mismo es en la vida, todo es acerca de un balance y de lograrlo, y eso ha sido el motivo de tanto tiempo y de por cual me ha sacado de mi zona de comfort. El disco vendrá en CD y vinilo, siendo este último en verde bosque y una más exclusivo en azul quemado de media noche, se están anunciando la venta de boletos para un tour este otoño en el Reino Unido, el disco sale a la venta el próximo 14 de Octubre y a continuación el track list.

See You In The Stars Track List:

1. Losing You

2. Emily Smiles

3. Green Eyes

4. Great To Be Alive

5. Sunshine

6. Fit For Purpose

7. Live To Love You

8. Permanent Danger

9. Walk Another Mile

10. See You In The Stars