Luscious Jackson – Fever In Fever Out

3.5 stars. I love this album, but this particular press is absolutely… ok. Mine has surface noise and the overall quality is consistent with mid-late 90s vinyl lps. Muffled and base heavy. The CD was the definitive version - shrug. It could use a new 180gram remaster from a label committed to vinyl. The lanois production makes this the “smoothest” of the LJ albums which some fans of the earlier albums were not huge fans of - preferring the raw, punkier edge of earlier albums. For me, this is their best album from top to bottom. I think stereotype a by cibo matto makes a great pairing with this if you care. Both albums are slickly produced pop music from the coolest girls you ever met. Whats not to like? Smart and catchy. 4-5 stars for the music. 3 stars for this particular physical pressing. Liner notes have lyrics. Thats still rad.

This album has always been a go-to for my wife and I while gettin' it on! I highly recommend trying this album out for that!

No two ways around it, you’re either gonna get on the bus with Luscious Jackson, or you’ve got someplace other to be. And all in all, in the scope of things, it really doesn’t matter. What does matter is that Luscious Jackson prove that a group of women can come across absolutely cool, swing to the jazzy side of the moon, the funky side of the sun, seamlessly dance with a bit of sinisterness, and fallout laughing when slighted that anyone would dare attempt to lock them in step as proteges of the Beastie Boys.

This is intelligent intricate music designed for the urban landscape, music that’s filled with pop hooks that are often dark, nevertheless catchy, and immersed in not so much of a swirling motion that’s held in place, but rather one that’s continually inching forward … suited for a hurried pace down an overly crowded sidewalk, where you’re bouncing off of others passing by, stepping ahead of those slowing your pace, and constantly on guard that you haven’t dropped half of what you left the house with.

There are those who would suggest that the music from Fever In Fever Out is entirely self-absorbed self-involved and overly strident, though I would suggest that those same people were not fans of the Talking Heads’ Fear Of Music either, failing to find the strolling groove and syncopation of polished movement. While certainly being pop oriented, especially with the opening track “Naked Eye,” on the rest of the album the band exhibits a sincere sense of restraint, especially when it comes to their laid back rhythm section that stands in stark juxtaposition to their calculated cool vocals, and overall presentation.

What I want to say, and what I fear will be misunderstood, is that Fever In Fever Out is not so much music to be played in the company of others, it’s more that it’s music that is contextually designed to exist in your own head, played on a Walkman or iPod, where the streetwise and subtle harmonies nearly demand that sort melodic intimacy, an intimacy that allows for a sparking joy to shimmer across the irises of your eyes like a low dose of amphetamine making everything feel rosy and perfect.

*** The Fun Facts: The band’s name was inspired by the now retired basketball play Lucious Jackson [with a change in spelling] who spent most of his career with the Philadelphia 76’ers.

Review by Jenell Kesler