Luna: S&D

"Ihop" but little else from Pup Tent.

I got the live album but I didn't listen to it that much because I was put off by the liner notes of all things.

And search: their cover of "Season of the Witch." (Is that on Bewitched?)

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...

Pretty uninspired performance of Penthouse last night (imo) until they redeemed it all w/ a gorgeous version of "Indian Summer" during the encore.

The Bewitched shoe was perfectly okay, nothing more, nothing less. Encores included Hey Sister, their Donovan cover, their Deam Syndicate cover, and a couple of later era Luna songs. Oh, and Blue Thunder.

still have never been to one of those "play a whole album in sequence" shows — seems like it'd take a little bit of the pleasure out of a gig (for band and audience!). but what do i know ...
here's a good recent digital EP of recent Luna odds n sods: https://luna.bandcamp.com/album/postscripts

If you think about it, it's a lot stranger that acts spend so much time figuring out a track order on an album, but then when they play live they just shuffle everything up.

> here's a good recent digital EP of recent Luna odds n sods

Now that I re-think it, they closed the set with "Indian Summer" at which point I turned to my friend and said "I think I should leave now." Then they came back out and played "Lonesome Cowboy Bill", which made me wish I had trusted my instinct.

'the days of our nights' is a much stronger album than i had recalled! all the songs are kind of the same, but it's a good song

some bad titles tho

So, will be seeing them tonight (at the Fillmore) for the first time since 1993. Also apparently they're doing a Lou Reed set after midnight. Will be interesting to see how this shakes down!

Oof I think that is something that would get me out of the house for NYE — have fun! Saw they were covering “new sensations” lately, which is an inspired choice.

Many thanks to early rejecter for the assistance hinted at upthread. I've actually watched Tell Me Do You Miss Me quite a few times over the ensusing years! That sweetly tragic vibe is not really undermined by subsequent reformation lol.

Oh man. More on this tomorrow but that was a special show. The straigjht up Luna set was excellent and the Lou Reed set was a real treat. Had to leave befoe the end — otherwise I’d have been real fucked in terms of delayed NYE buses home — but here’s what I did catch:

“Waiting For The Man” (w/ guest violinist)
“New Sensations”
“Ocean”
“Femme Fatale” (Britta on vocals)
“Lonesome Cowboy Bill”
“Ride Into the Sun”
“Satellite of Love”
“Walk On The Wild Side” (w/guest violinist)
“I’m Sticking With You”

Felt like the last number after that was about to happen when I left, I’m sure it killed. Anyway none of this describes the actual staging, but photos will explain it better! More on that when I’m awake and coherent!

whoa I didn't see you there (or see this thread before today); we were at the right of the stage right in front all night.

Excellent show, have a good video of Chinatown I'll post later. I too first saw Luna in 93 opening for someone I can't even remember, then again in 99, then again a few years back; throw in some Dean and Britta shows (and the last Galaxie 500 tour opening for Cocteau Twins) I feel pretty well versed in seeing Dean Wareham live. I actually don't love everything Luna has put out; I skip probably more songs than I listen to, in fact; but they are reliably amazing live.

If you didn't stay to the end you missed a final encore of Marquee Moon.

Violinist was Sivan Lioncub from Everyone is Dirty.

it was a somewhat chaotic night in some respects as Nato Green, local political SF comic who mc'ed the night, really pissed some people off by speaking out against Israel. An enraged guy behind me was screaming "fuck you!"

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