Luna: S&D

This doesn't make sense. I love Galaxie 500 and Luna, but I couldn't compare them if I hadn't listened to one for 14 years.

1. Penthouse
2. Luna2
3. Bewitched
4. Pup Tent
5. The Days of Our Nights
6. Luna EP

but hands-down best ever song is the b-side, "Roll in the Sand".

"Indian Summer" (Beat Happening)
"Ride into the Sun (VU)
"That's what they always say" (Dream Syndicate)

Dean Wareham always had great music taste, as well as superior taste in shirts and women.

there's a new best-of coming on Rhino that Dean programmed. I wish I liked it a lot more than I do.

I am annoyed that a bunch of my favorite Luna songs are not available digitally, anywhere, apparently. I can't carry my record player on the bus, now can I

what's not available? The early stuff?

specifically:

Sucking Ice Cubes
7/11
Roll in the Sand
Dance With Me (Jonathan Richman cover)

I mean sure these are all b-sides but I rank them higher than a lot of album cuts

can't find an MP3 of the original flex-disc single version of Indian Summer either (which is def. better than the full-band version)

the full of wishes site has a bunch of these unavailable things converted to mp3 ... http://www.fullofwishes.co.uk/mp3/

hey HEY now that's what I'm talkin about!! thx man you r a real bro

that's what bros are 4

ooh and they have Dear Paulina too, that was another I wanted

I am just gonna have to digitize my Outdoor Miner 45 if I want an MP3 of Roll In the Sand I guess...

i don't think i've ever heard that one! digitize it!

God dammit, some of you folks must be mindreaders; ordered 'Penthouse' today and thanks to Amazon Prime its gonna land here in my lap tommorow for sure.

okay tracked down a buddy w/a USB turntable, will be digitizing my collection of 45s tomorrow... stay tuned

Oh wow Tyler that link is great.

Man, I have been listening to them a lot lately and so sad I'll never see them again. I think they're still the group I've seen most live - probably 7 or 8 times. <3 <3 <3

CROQUET & BAKED ALASKAS

http://i39.tinypic.com/21eqcud.jpg

Get Romantica, their second or third best.

hey remember when I said I was gonna digitize my 45s, here they are

Includes:

Outdoor Miner
Roll in the Sand
Dance With Me
Bob Le Flambeur

the other ones I have (Sucking Ice Cubes, Dear Paulina, and 7-11) are available online

sweet! i've heard their version of "dance with me" but it was mysteriously missing from the lunafied covers comp.

You know, I still don't care for Penthouse all that much but I'm listening to it right now and damn I have to admit that it's their best *sounding* record. Worthy of blasting at a loud volume.

Pup Tent is still my fave... Hell, that first 40 second blast that kicks off "IHOP" is my fave bit of Luna period.

was just listening to penthouse too (which is probably my fave Luna album) and yeah, it really has a great overall sound -- spacious & shimmering. doesn't sound like a "90s" record at all. random great thing about penthouse: tom verlaine's solos. especially on moon palace -- such a wonderful, uncharacteristic sound from Verlaine (think he's playing a 12-string?). a perfectly formed, totally economical, pretty much perfect solo.

Pup Tent's where things started to go wrong imho. Penthouse is the peak.

Penthouse is my fav too although I still love Pup Tent.

gonna listen to penthouse on the bus home, thanks thread.

an almost reunion a week or so ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igHukc4PlWY

!!

i know! would be excited if they played some real shows together again. not sure how likely it is, but obviously not out of the realm of possibility.

There is something about the production of Pup Tent that has not aged well for me. In general, the late 90s were Luna's weakest period imo. I prefer their justifiably rated first three & vastly underrated last two. Like a lot of other 90s-rooted indie/space/shoegaze stuff, tho, their secret weapon was the strength of their EPs.

yeah I think around the time of Pup Tent and Days of Our Lives a sort of glossy conservatism had set into the production style, like they became less distinctive and more anonymous, their palette had broadened just a little too much. and fwiw I got off the bus after the (imho unforgivable) GnR cover.

think i've defended days of our nights on another thread, but i really love most of it. some of wareham's best lyrics, which, around the time it came out, hit uncomfortably close to home. in a good, uncomfortable way.

I think there's a bunch of good songs on it

less distinctive and more anonymous is probably a good way to put it though -- the production can make them sorta sound like your basic rock band at times.

I think sonically - and Dean is well aware of this - Wareham benefits from setting boundaries for himself, from prescribing a limited palette and then seeing what can be done within those limits. He operates best from a fairly minimalist space, sorta like Jack White. He sets up some rules for himself and then re-arranges the elements or removes one and replaces it with something else; there's a kind of building block approach. Limit the chords used, the instrumentation, the structure of the song, and then see how those restrictions can be stretched or played with. Production-wise it was also kept fairly simple - minimal overdubs, reverb, with the guitar effects being the most complex sonic element for the most part. By the time of Pup Tent and Days of Our Lives I think some of this approach was abandoned (maybe because of other members?) in favor of a more standard mainstream rock production aesthetic but also with the addition of other instruments/overdubs. Synths and other random elements creep into the mix, to their detriment, I think.

yeah, i mean, w/ the galaxie 500 records or earlier luna records, when I first heard them, i thought they sounded *too* easy, too simple. (does wareham ever write bridges?) but the power of those records comes through -- i've been listening to them for a long time, and they haven't worn out for me.

haha yeah I don't think Wareham has written a middle eight EVER

Count me amongst those who rate "Pup Tent" as their high-point and who jumped off with "Days Of Our Nights". The debut is stellar as well as it rocks out far more than the rest of their albums BUT their singles often had amazing b-sides and covers. Worth rounding up...

yeah i used to have the sideshow by the seashore single thing (the one with the Kids parody cover art?), and there are a few non-covers that aren't anywhere else. can't seem to find another copy. haven't looked terribly hard, but ...

that's an EP. I have it, as well as a bunch of their singles & b-sides which have never been compiled... IN FACT I discussed digitizing those very singles on this very thread and iirc posted a download link to them as well

that stuff was on that download link? ha, i guess i should dig through my files, i know i downloaded it.

nah the EP wasn't on there, I figured that was more widely available. I could upload it though. It has a Lee Hazlewood cover (No Regrets), a Talking Heads cover (Send Me an Angel), a song called the Moviegoer that is an original iirc, plus one other instrumental original I think.

Ah “Marquee Moon” would have been nice but hell that means I caught the Lou songs at least. Yeah Green’s sets were a thing (I didn’t mind so much, but was mostly on my phone.) I arrived when the openers were finishing, I was about halfway back.

They were great too (Sugar Candy Mountain). As I very slowly re-emerge into the local music scene I'm glad to stumble on bands I like that I somehow missed.

Yeah they seemed good! Certainly suited the bill.

Okay, a set of ten photos up! Go nuts!

https://www.instagram.com/p/C1kf0amvesB/

Hey Nag!, happy to have been able to help! Seeing your post reminded me that I never actually watched the doc! I’ll need to set aside some time for it.

These days I find I most often listen to the Dean/Cheval Sombre album, the Quarantine Tapes, and 13 Most Beautiful.

Slightly delayed Patreon thoughts on that and NYE shows/experiences:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/some-weekly-98-95930433

sounds like a great time!

in the meantime, these new live LPs are fantastic (they had previously been digital only releases) ... https://bandboxrocks.com/collections/luna-bandbox-exclusive-colored-vinyl

Reviving to say that I'm delighted they're doing another NYE set again at the Fillmore in a few weeks -- honestly if they just keep coming back and doing this each time I am not going to complain. Kinda hope maybe they'll sneak in some songs from the forthcoming Dean and Britta/Sonic Boom holiday album!

yes, hoping to corral more people into coming this year. not clear if they're doing to do another VU set though, that would be cool.

Can't wait for tonight! No word about what exactly is happening but I gather Jess Cornelius opened the SoCal show the other day.

Vetiver are opening tonight. FB clip indicated we might get the Andy Warhol stage set again, if not a full VU set.

Cool!

akm and I can confirm, another brilliant NYE show -- honestly I hope they just keep doing this for as long as they want to. Real smart move not to simply replicate the setlist or the stage design from last time, though there were a few understandable repeats -- including their covers of "Marquee Moon" and "What Goes On" I missed last year, so that was handy! But the best cover easy was Mercury Rev's "Carwash Hair," I was just delighted that they did that, and even better, they had a former Champale bandmate of Lee Wall's, David Knowles, guesting earlier on trumpet, so he came out again for that and did the trumpet part for said song too! Great times!

Sounds so fun. Jealous though I did see them on NYE once at the Knitting Factory - must have been NYE 1998 into 1999.

Oh wow sounds great!

had a wonderful time at the LA show — maybe the loosest Luna set I've ever seen? the various trumpet accents were cool; "IHOP" got especially freaky at the end. I just love this band, so cool that they're still rolling along and sounding so good.