Luna: S&D

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.

Still rate Romantica as their best post-Penthouse; he's mastered the art of the conversational strum.

If I fall in love again in the next three years, "Renee is Crying" is going on the CD-R ("Once we had dreams/Now we have schemes...").

okay fine I will d/l Romantica

yeah the no regrets cover is stellar -- more like the walker bros. version than anything else, I think. both of those covers are on Lunafied, but that instrumental and the moviegoer are missing from my collection. xxpost

& yeah romantica is worth the dl, as is the close cover before striking EP

Rendezvous is about 2/3 worthwhile as well - not as consistent as Romantica, but it hits a few similar high points.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHbJV7SjCm8

rendezvous is pretty good (esp. the song you posted). actually, two of my faves from that album are the ones sean eden sings.

Wareham's memoir is worth a read.

EP also has some country waltz song that may be a cover I don't recognize - "The Enabler"?

I don't have these on my drive at work otherwise I'd just post another yousendit link, sorry

er no the country waltz song is called "It's Bringing You Down". The Enabler is the instrumental.

oh wait I stand corrected I DO have it on my work drive. sending yr way tyler

thx dude!

am starting to think the exit of Stanley Demeski hurt this band considerably. not really digging much of this drumwork on Romantica

Wasn't he only in the band at the very beginning? I thought Lee Wall was the drummer on the couple of albums before Romantica.

Demeski is on the first three. He left prior to Puptent.

yeah, i think that demeski had a cooler sound. wall is fine, just not as distinctive.

the first album - which I am maybe a bit too sentimentally attached to - is just Wareham, Demeski, and the original bassist Justin Harwood. (well, Kramer plays a part here and there iirc)

hey shakey would you mind sending me what you sent tyler? I'd really appreciate it.

I saw them three nights in a row at Maxwell's in hoboken in 1998 and my friend and I recorded the shows with their permission. She might still have that - I should check and find out.

"the first album - which I am maybe a bit too sentimentally attached to"

Ha - that's how I am with Bewitched.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SqorQ_wpdE

^^^ love that
enbb, would be interested in hearing those maxwells recording, if you find them. i saw luna a bunch around the same time. don't have as many luna bootlegs as I'd like.

Okay I have a .zip file with the following for anyone who wants it (on its way to you shortly ENBB)

Roll in the Sand
Outdoor Miner
Bob Le Flambeur
Dance With Me
Thank You For Sending Me an Angel
The Moviegoer
It's Bringing You Down
The Enabler
No Regrets
Seven-Eleven
Dear Paulina
Sucking Ice Cubes

loving re-hearing these luna ep trax btw shakey.

is that out of print or something?

was similarly surprised to see that Days of Our Nights is out of print. I wonder how much my white vinyl copy would go for...

yeah it's out of print, tho i just checked amazon and third party sellers have it for a whopping .99 cents. might have to replace my copy.

Hey - thanks so much Shakey! :D

my wife has a massive crush on DW, she met him once somewhere and he asked her name and she was pretty ecstatic when an hour later he was leaving and came over and said "it was vv nice to meet you" and called her by her name. damn, what a player.

I love his accent.

I also have massive crush on him and his accent is, in fact, great.