I Own That CD! - Luscious Jackson

Today's featured release on I Own That CD! Is a fun throwback to 1999.

Luscious Jackson’s Electric Honey is their third studio album, released on Capitol Records/Grand Royal label (originally set up in 1992 by Beastie Boys).

When all-female bands are discussed, sadly Luscious Jackson isn’t normally the first name mentioned off of most people’s tongues. However, the band, at this point made up of Jill Cunniff, Gabrielle Glaser and Kate Schellenbach (keyboardist Vivian Trimble left the band), broke new music boundaries for women musicians who would follow.

The most radio friendly and catchy album they’ve released, Honey is also a transitional one, more complicated and diverse than their previous two releases. It’s a more polished sound which made critics extra critical (“they sold out”) but made fans sit up and take notice.

Working with a large group of eclectic musicians (including Emmylou Harris, Debbie Harry and Daniel Lanois), Jackson created a cool mix of free flowing funk with disco beats and some sweet rock guitar.

Songs like “Ladyfingers” and “Gypsy” would have fit right in on their previous releases. Then you’d hear “Summer Daze” (should be on all Summer playlists) and “Devotion” and wonder why they weren’t played more on commercial radio.

Back in 1999, the charts were filled with pop music, but diverse alternative music hadn’t full caught on. This was the type of release that could have bridged the two.

Luscious Jackson never saw this release as selling out, just expanding their already cool sound from a cool band to a wider audience. It’s time you took a dip into Electric Honey.