Natural Ingredients

Luscious Jackson | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 23, 1994)
• Original Release Date: August 23, 1994
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Capitol
• ASIN: B000002TOK
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #83,730 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect blend of hip hop and pop, March 29, 2002

By 

Mark Janovec "mjanovec" (Hudson, WI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Natural Ingredients (Audio CD)

This CD, along with the Manny EP, make up the more hip-hop sounding releases from the Luscious Jackson catalog. While their last two albums (Fever In Fever Out and Electric Honey) are great CDs in their own right, they never quite captured this wonderful blend of hip-hop and pop again. They took a more direct route to pop after this.

This is where I started and it's a good place for new fans to start at well. All the Ingredients are there (forgive the pun) to show you all facets of this underappreciated band. They managed to tread the hip-hop waters without losing their sense of melody and their appreciation for how music has to compliment the lyrics (and not just serve as background). But they also practiced pop-flavored songwriting without sacrificing the edge and immediacy of the lyrics. Rewind to the Manny EP for more hip-hop. Fast forward to Fever In Fever Out and Electric Honey for a smoother pop sound (Naked Eye, anyone?).

Too bad Luscious Jackson is no longer around. They left a void that no one else has managed to fill.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Most Eclectic and Groovylicious Albums of the 90s..., January 9, 2006

By 

Alberto Cifuentes "Retroactive Zen Lover" (Stratford, CT United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Natural Ingredients (Audio CD)

After reading all the other eight reviews of this album, I am upset that there are, after all, only eight of them and that this group, I just learned, disbanded in 2000. What a shame, because, coming from a person with a profound appreciation of music that defies categorical boundaries, they are the REAL thing.

This is one of the few albums- of which I'm listening to right now on my discman at 3 A.M. that I wouldn't be able to live without, in fact- that I can listen to at ANY time, any day, any mood, and not skip a track, or a groovy, hip beat. I tend to have favorites on any album, but on this one, EVERY song is my favorite, even though I discovered Luscious Jackson by listening to "Here (Squirmel Mix)" on the Clueless Soundtrack and was simply captivated by its hard-to-pin vintage allure. How truly smart Clueless was to use one of Luscious Jackson's, to quote one reviewer, "smooth, mellow, upbeat fun funky city grooves" on their already eclectic and wondrous soundtrack.

Natural Ingredients is an album that humbly and gracefully defines a generation of Reality Biters and angsty, lovestruck males and females. Even though Luscious Jackson is described as a "feminist" band, and they certainly are, their grooves and lyrics can ONLY be described as transcending every gender barrier in the book and achieving a brilliance and simplicity that makes the daily suffering of everyday existence seem all right and even necessary. I have NEVER heard a more life-affirming or revelatory album in my ENTIRE life! A big admirer of musicians who fail to be categorized easily, such as Bjork, Radiohead, and M.I.A., I NOW can add the tenderly understated and sadly underappreciated NY-based quartet Luscious Jackson to my fabulous list. :-)

Ladies, you got it GOING ON! Please reunite and let the WHOLE wide world know you're BACK in business, creaing music of such illustrious beats, seamless grooves, and endlessly creative lyrics. There are simply NO words, simply, to express my gratitude for finding your album (in the LIBRARY of all places!) and immediately, almost breathlessly, being wrapped in your bittersweet sanctuary of love, confusion, candor, humility, and, most importantly, redemption. ;-)

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Fabulously Easy Disco Divas..., November 15, 2005

By 

winkingtiger ";oD" (Oakland, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Natural Ingredients (Audio CD)

N.Y. -based Luscious Jackson are one of my all-time favorite groups, hopefully I do them justice! This is their first full-length, following the lo-fi but brilliant ''In Search Of Manny" Mini-album.It's one of their most popular, although I recommend any of their four releases. Sadly, they disbanded in 2000...

LJ is unique in that they blend so many styles so seamlessly, 70's-style funk, soul, hip-hop, pop, country, 60's-style rock/psychedelia, folk, you-name-it, they've heard it and they incorporate it. Yet their influences are not obvious and there's no blatant 'borrowing' of riffs like you sometimes see. Almost all the songs have intense, funky grooves...yet a lot of the time this album seems very relaxed and laid back. Yes, it's hard to pin down!

Opening with the ominous funk of 'City Song', the album maintains this sort of spacey, funky, rockin' tone until the final, dub-influenced 'LP Retreat' (an ode to vinyl). I love the interplay between Jill Cunniff's 'strong' melodic singing and Gabrielle Glaser's sung/spoken 'rapping'. You can always tell who's who, that's for sure! This is also the paragraph to mention Kate Schellenbach's stellar drumming. She's truly great, it's hard to create a distinctive style on the drums, but she does it! When most 'funk'-oriented groups would use a drum machine, LJ goes the opposite way...

And then there's the lyrics: brilliant, witty, totally understated. IMHO, Luscious Jackson have the best 'feminist' lyrics of any group, ever! Not that I'm a rabid fan or anything! It's just that Glaser and Cunniff are so articulate, to the point, never preachy, always witty. They only got better on subsequent albums. I'd say 'Ladyfingers' on their final album 'Electric Honey' is the best feminist anthem ever, but I AM only a man! :) Cunniff did say once that their music was for 'smart girls and quiet boys'...if you like progessive pop/rock/funk with a large dose of melodicism, that includes you, too! ;oD