Galaxie 500 - Classic or dud?

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I see (where) JtN has changed his name but not his opinion in the last 5 years.

― the bellefox, Monday, 10 April 2006 12:31 (twenty years ago)

I'd say yes to buying their records, but I admit to being unsure as to how you'd like their narcotizing haze. But it sounds like you are already convinced to an extent.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 10 April 2006 13:44 (twenty years ago)

with respect, jtn is an idiot 8). 'today' is a perfect lp, one of very few i have where every single track is a blinder. in fact i'm going to listen to it again now. second and third lps less good though, still lots of good on 'on fire' but by the third i think there were more tracks i didn't like than those i did.

(um, first google result for 'galaxie 500 today' is this
http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/store/artist/album/0,,89998,00.html written by someone we know)(oh, hi ned)

― koogs (koogs), Monday, 10 April 2006 13:54 (twenty years ago)

Never heard of him.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 10 April 2006 13:56 (twenty years ago)

Crikey, Koogs, that's a tossed gauntlet.

― the bellefox, Monday, 10 April 2006 13:59 (twenty years ago)

ha. i think you'd like it, there's something of a sunnier house of love about it.

― koogs (koogs), Monday, 10 April 2006 14:20 (twenty years ago)

If I see one of their LPs for £5, I think I will buy it.

I wonder if Nabisco feels the same about them now as he did in 2001?

― the bellefox, Monday, 10 April 2006 15:22 (twenty years ago)

This Is Our Music is selling for £10. That felt steep. I bought the Delays LP instead.

― the bellefox, Tuesday, 11 April 2006 19:10 (twenty years ago)

"Today" is far from perfect (bleh tracks = "Instrumental", "Oblivious") but the rest of it is so insanely great that they hardly affect the album's greatness as a whole.

― NoTimeBeforeTime (Barry Bruner), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 19:30 (twenty years ago)

"Instrumental" = bleh??? NO WAY DUDE. I love "Oblivious" too!!!

― i'm from hollywood, Tuesday, 11 April 2006 20:18 (twenty years ago)

i second andy, today is the perfect album from start to finish... could there be better bookends than "flowers" and "tugboat?"

― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 20:57 (twenty years ago)

(also "oblivious" was the song that made me buy that album)

― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 21:02 (twenty years ago)

i have nothing to say to the sort of sad act who thinks the delays are better than galaxie 500. for fuck's sake.

― electric sound of jim (and why not) (electricsound), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 22:32 (twenty years ago)

> could there be better bookends than "flowers" and "tugboat?"

yes! - the cd has two extra tracks after 'tugboat': 'king of spain' (one of my faves) and 'crazy' (both b-sides of early singles, iirc)

'today' is £4 (+ postage) from amazon.co.uk marketplace

― koogs (koogs), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 06:57 (twenty years ago)

I think I have seen that CD, Koogs.

The last bit, about the price, is quite exciting! Is that some kind of used CD sale?

― the bellefox, Wednesday, 12 April 2006 13:51 (twenty years ago)

I bought "On Fire" a while back to see what the fuss was about, and it blew me away. In a good way, mind. It is an amazing record, and if you like that kind of thing you will love it.

But I thought maybe "Today" was not so good. And I don't know about the other one.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 21:36 (twenty years ago)

holy shit This Is Our Music was one of the best and first important albums of the early 90's.....I'm disappointed that not everyone owns and loves it

― kyle (akmonday), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 22:21 (twenty years ago)

The Peel Session disc is even better than I thought. Could be my fave release of theirs.

― LOL Thomas (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 23:05 (twenty years ago)

I know they are a great band and even bought that box set a long time ago. I have never been able to get into them like I think I should.

Luna, on the other hand, is amazing, one of those bands that I have turned to over and over again. They seem to fill that fix when I'm in the mood for some Dean Wareham.

― BeeOK (boo radley), Thursday, 13 April 2006 03:35 (twenty years ago)

I have never been able to get into them like I think I should.

I mock you, but with love. (And I like Luna and all but Galaxie 500 is a beautiful case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 13 April 2006 04:04 (twenty years ago)

Oh, I think I have a tape of Luna, here!

Yes! It's called LUNAPARK. It's quite fun to listen to!

― the bellefox, Thursday, 13 April 2006 13:26 (twenty years ago)

luna are so meh in comparison. I don't get it.

― kyle (akmonday), Thursday, 13 April 2006 14:34 (twenty years ago)

In contrast to the raving about the bass player, I've always found the bass lines to be the most annoying thing about Galaxie 500. They always remind me of myself in a 9th grade band with some friends. I wasn't good enough to play guitar, so they stuck me on bass, and I would slowly slide my shitty lines up the fretboard until I was playing all these one-stringed guitar solos on the highest bass string.

Let me find an example...

Hmmm..."Fourth of July". Now, I love this song, indisputable classic. But the bass part in this song sounds like what you'd play when you listen to the radio and play solos over the top of other songs.

― Zachary Scott (Zach S), Friday, 14 April 2006 07:59 (twenty years ago)

That sounds accurate, but I really like this particular bass technique.

― Mark (MarkR), Friday, 14 April 2006 09:55 (twenty years ago)

I love love this band. And Naomi is great. So fohgettabowtit.

― Freud Junior (Freud Junior), Friday, 14 April 2006 22:26 (twenty years ago)

Yowsah, "Instrumental" is about 17425436 miles from bleh.

And I suspect Naomi would've agreed that she had precious little idea what she was doing with that bass, bless her. All "sum >>>>> parts" type arguments vigorously seconded.

― Nag! Nag! Nag! (Nag! Nag! Nag!), Saturday, 15 April 2006 00:51 (twenty years ago)

I think Zachary Scott makes his point well. I fear that the band were not very good at playing their instruments, and that this could become tiresome.

― the bellefox, Tuesday, 18 April 2006 15:46 (twenty years ago)

a case could be made for naomi, although i would disagree, however dean and damon are great on their instruments by any normal rock music standards. i mean, i just dont see how you could say they werent - can you give me some examples?

― AaronK (AaronK), Tuesday, 18 April 2006 15:56 (twenty years ago)

Not really, because I don't own the records. But I don't remember hearing any G500 track and thinking: this playing is above average.

I know that people can sometimes make exciting pop music without great skill or experience - and those can indeed get in the way. But a lack of skill can get in the way, too, perhaps. For one thing, perhaps it can make you more repetitive and predictable (though that doesn't quite seem to follow logically and automatically; and again, very skilled musicians can be predictable too).

― the bellefox, Tuesday, 18 April 2006 16:00 (twenty years ago)

two months pass...

why oh why did it JUST occur to me that he was writing the poem ABOUT the dog biscuit and not physically scrawling words on a schmacko? goddamn

― electric sound of jim [and why not] (electricsound), Thursday, 29 June 2006 02:42 (nineteen years ago)

three months pass...

can anyone help me out? i could have sworn i once had a recording of archers of loaf covering "tugboat." does this in fact exist? did i dream it up?

― Godfrzej Ljang (godfrzej), Saturday, 7 October 2006 04:38 (nineteen years ago)

You may have dreamed it up, because I was at one point the world's most dedicated Archers fan and I've never heard of such a thing.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Saturday, 7 October 2006 16:23 (nineteen years ago)

Are you thinking of Mercury Rev? I believe they did an acoustic cover for a radio show.

― Cunga (Cunga), Saturday, 7 October 2006 17:30 (nineteen years ago)

pretty sure it wasn't mercury rev. crooked fingers maybe?

― Godfrzej Ljang (godfrzej), Saturday, 7 October 2006 17:43 (nineteen years ago)

Nabisco's comments from over a year go now about 'Strange'

That song encapsulates alienation and nihilism to me ; It's great.

If Wareham was commenting on having the munchies then so be it, but I don't want to know.

Sorry but i have no idea about the Loaf's potential cover version

― Jessie the Drunk Dutch Mountain Dog (Jessie the Drunk Dutch Mountai), Saturday, 7 October 2006 19:14 (nineteen years ago)

You're thinking of Portastatic. They covered "Tugboat" for the G500 Tribute album Snowstorm.

― Wub-Fur Internet Radio (wubfur), Saturday, 7 October 2006 23:59 (nineteen years ago)

i have that g500 tribute, so i know the portastatic version. but if nobody knows, i probably did dream up that aol cover. too bad, because i remember it being awesome.

― Godfrzej Ljang (godfrzej), Sunday, 8 October 2006 00:21 (nineteen years ago)

The band you are thinking of may well be Submarine. I believe their cover of "Tugboat" is on an EP titled: Kiss Me Until My Ears Burn Off. In retrospect, I don't think they added that much to the song - but there is a great track on that album called "Salty Killer Whales."

― Sexy MFA (Hexy M.F.), Sunday, 8 October 2006 09:28 (nineteen years ago)

Dang, I thought for sure you were mixing up the Archers & Portastatic 'cause of the Chapel Hill connection.

― Wub-Fur Internet Radio (wubfur), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 04:34 (nineteen years ago)

British Sea Power did a really lovely cover of "Tugboat".

― harvey (harvey1), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 05:43 (nineteen years ago)

two years pass...

This is to commemorate my own private 4th o' July bed-in, to which I forgot to invite anyone (but which my gf brazenly crashed). I didn't pull the shades, though, & am quite enjoying all the flashes & whizz-bangs encircling my apartment. We partied so hard last night that we didn't even have the stamina for public fireworks!

― Jermajesty's Secret Cervix (Pillbox), Sunday, 5 July 2009 03:26 (sixteen years ago)

dud, even though i like dozens of bands similar to them.

― Mike Crandle, Financial Analyst, Bear Stearns, New York, NY 10185 (res), Sunday, 5 July 2009 04:04 (sixteen years ago)

maybe I should change my style...but I feel alright, when you smile...

― dan selzer, Sunday, 5 July 2009 05:19 (sixteen years ago)

such a classic alienated loner song; though the band specialized in those, didn't they?

― Cunga, Sunday, 5 July 2009 05:37 (sixteen years ago)

Love G500. I'm going through a serious reacquaintance with their awesomeness after renting the live dvd's. Classic band thru and thru.

― Marcus Brody Ta-Dow! (Capitaine Jay Vee), Sunday, 5 July 2009 05:49 (sixteen years ago)

yet again i forgot to have my damn bed-in

― c.c. crabcock (electricsound), Sunday, 5 July 2009 06:23 (sixteen years ago)

Incidentally listening to This Is Our Music as I just came upon this thread, still one of the classicest albums by one of the classicest bands ever.

― Ruining pedantry with humour (EDB), Sunday, 5 July 2009 17:47 (sixteen years ago)

five months pass...

Galaxie 500 reissues
http://dummymag.blogspot.com/2009/12/galaxie-500-rerelease-albums.html
Rerelease fever, and late 80s fever, continues with the announcement that Domino will be sending out double CD editions of ‘Today’, ‘This Is Our Music’ and ’On Fire’ by Boston dream pop band Galaxie 500 (1987-1991).

― djmartian, Monday, 14 December 2009 17:22 (sixteen years ago)

Nice.

― Action Orientation (Eazy), Monday, 14 December 2009 17:23 (sixteen years ago)

wtf? so pointless. is the box set out of print or something?

― a triumph in high-tech nipple obfuscation (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 14 December 2009 17:23 (sixteen years ago)

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