Luna: S&D

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"Tiger Lily" and much of Bewitched.

"Ihop" but little else from Pup Tent.

The Mad Puffin (The Mad Puffin), Tuesday, 11 January 2005 13:49 (nineteen years ago) link

Yeah, Penthouse. What Matos said in his article.

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?)

Ken L (Ken L), Tuesday, 11 January 2005 14:01 (nineteen years ago) link

three weeks pass...
We're going to see them this Saturday on their last SF appearance ever. I'm quite verklempt actually 'cause my my gf seduced me to their music, we've been to almost every show they've done here, and they kind of re-introduced me to pop music at a time when all I would listen to was jazz and classical. I haven't really liked the albums all that much since 'Pup Tent' though there are lovely bits on Rendezvous and Romantica but I feel like an era in my life is passing. I like what Dean and Britta are doing but I think I'm going to miss Sean's guitar. Anybody else similarly sentimental or going to see the last tour?

Michael White (Hereward), Thursday, 3 February 2005 03:29 (nineteen years ago) link

Classic for the underwear picture.

adam.r.l. (nordicskilla), Thursday, 3 February 2005 04:16 (nineteen years ago) link

loved them about 14 years ago, saw them open for the screaming trees in tijuana, mexico (they were known as luna2)... didn't know they were still around, i think galaxie 500 was better.

gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 3 February 2005 04:22 (nineteen years ago) link

didn't know they were still around, i think galaxie 500 was better.

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.

Michael White (Hereward), Thursday, 3 February 2005 04:52 (nineteen years ago) link

Oh it is that Luna. I AM GOING TO GRIME NITE, MICHAEL!

Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Thursday, 3 February 2005 04:55 (nineteen years ago) link

HELLO SF!! i was thinking this thread was revived solely for the underwear pic. funny

El Janko (JasonD), Thursday, 3 February 2005 05:19 (nineteen years ago) link

well, dean wrote all the songs for both bands, it's not a big stretch you know? or are you saying dean completely transformed into a different songwriter...

gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 3 February 2005 08:24 (nineteen years ago) link

one year passes...
bought a copy of Bewitched the other day - knew the album well, friends n housemates always had it around. its strange to me how there really isn't anything that unique or unconventional about their sound or approach, and yet they are perfectly evocative of a very specific mood and aesthetic - definitely urban, a sheen of slickness and artificiality, inhabiting a world of designer shirts, neuroses, and lazy afternoons, with occasional smirky in-joke/New Yorker magazine-style reference. I can clearly remember the unique circumstances under which I heard every album up through "The Days of Our Nights" (at which point I lost interest - altho there was at least one great 7" that followed, the "Sucking Ice Cubes/7-11" single). Everything is catchy and simple, sometimes to the point of banality... but where this should make them generic, I can't really think of too many other bands with a similar style, even though they have clear, fixed, very common reference points (the Velvets, Television, first Modern Lovers album). There are a couple great songs on every record, but I'll rank 'em anyway:

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".

Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 26 May 2006 20:27 (eighteen years ago) link

Shakey Mo, you really should go buy Romantica sometime soon.

Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Friday, 26 May 2006 21:40 (eighteen years ago) link

Also I can urge folks to seek out the "Slide" EP, which came out after the debut record. It includes a nice covers:

"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.

kwhitehead (stephen schmidt), Saturday, 27 May 2006 02:10 (eighteen years ago) link

the documentary about them that's coming out on DVD is pretty nice if you're a big big fan, which obv. I am. if not, don't even bother. this is true of 99% of music docs but especially in this case--we don't get any info on the band's history-by-numbers, mentions of Justin and Stanley w/o much (or any) other info, boo.

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

Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Saturday, 27 May 2006 07:00 (eighteen years ago) link

three years pass...

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

Whats with all the littering? (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 26 March 2010 19:11 (fourteen years ago) link

what's not available? The early stuff?

tylerw, Friday, 26 March 2010 19:12 (fourteen years ago) link

specifically:

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

Whats with all the littering? (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 26 March 2010 19:13 (fourteen years ago) link

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

Whats with all the littering? (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 26 March 2010 19:14 (fourteen years ago) link

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)

Whats with all the littering? (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 26 March 2010 19:14 (fourteen years ago) link

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

tylerw, Friday, 26 March 2010 19:15 (fourteen years ago) link

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

Whats with all the littering? (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 26 March 2010 19:17 (fourteen years ago) link

that's what bros are 4

tylerw, Friday, 26 March 2010 19:18 (fourteen years ago) link

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

Whats with all the littering? (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 26 March 2010 19:29 (fourteen years ago) link

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

Whats with all the littering? (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 26 March 2010 19:32 (fourteen years ago) link

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

tylerw, Friday, 26 March 2010 19:33 (fourteen years ago) link

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.

AnotherDeadHero, Friday, 26 March 2010 23:15 (fourteen years ago) link

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

Whats with all the littering? (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 26 March 2010 23:16 (fourteen years ago) link

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

t(o_o)t (ENBB), Saturday, 27 March 2010 03:10 (fourteen years ago) link

CROQUET & BAKED ALASKAS

✌.✰|ʘ‿ʘ|✰.✌ (Steve Shasta), Saturday, 27 March 2010 05:01 (fourteen years ago) link

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

turkeylurkeyknull, Saturday, 27 March 2010 09:17 (fourteen years ago) link

Get Romantica, their second or third best.

filling the medicare donut hole with the semen of liberal (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 27 March 2010 12:17 (fourteen years ago) link

six months pass...

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

i was like a person at a table at a place (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 15 October 2010 16:35 (fourteen years ago) link

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

tylerw, Friday, 15 October 2010 17:45 (fourteen years ago) link

one month passes...

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.

Stockhausen's Ekranoplan Quartet (Elvis Telecom), Tuesday, 14 December 2010 07:01 (thirteen years ago) link

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.

tylerw, Tuesday, 14 December 2010 15:23 (thirteen years ago) link

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

from the lowly milligeir to the mighty gigahongro (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 14 December 2010 16:27 (thirteen years ago) link

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

˙❤‿❤˙˙❤‿❤˙ (ENBB), Tuesday, 14 December 2010 16:29 (thirteen years ago) link

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

just sayin, Tuesday, 14 December 2010 16:31 (thirteen years ago) link

an almost reunion a week or so ago:

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

tylerw, Tuesday, 14 December 2010 17:11 (thirteen years ago) link

!!

˙❤‿❤˙˙❤‿❤˙ (ENBB), Tuesday, 14 December 2010 17:13 (thirteen years ago) link

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.

tylerw, Tuesday, 14 December 2010 17:25 (thirteen years ago) link

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.

jerkstore cowboy (Pillbox), Tuesday, 14 December 2010 19:36 (thirteen years ago) link

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.

from the lowly milligeir to the mighty gigahongro (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 14 December 2010 19:47 (thirteen years ago) link

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.

tylerw, Tuesday, 14 December 2010 19:56 (thirteen years ago) link

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

from the lowly milligeir to the mighty gigahongro (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 14 December 2010 19:57 (thirteen years ago) link

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.

tylerw, Tuesday, 14 December 2010 19:58 (thirteen years ago) link

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.

from the lowly milligeir to the mighty gigahongro (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 14 December 2010 20:04 (thirteen years ago) link

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.

tylerw, Tuesday, 14 December 2010 20:25 (thirteen years ago) link

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

from the lowly milligeir to the mighty gigahongro (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 14 December 2010 21:40 (thirteen years ago) link

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...

Gerald McBoing-Boing, Tuesday, 14 December 2010 22:00 (thirteen years ago) link

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 ...

tylerw, Tuesday, 14 December 2010 22:05 (thirteen years ago) link

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.

Josh in Chicago, Monday, 14 October 2019 18:57 (five years ago) link

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

tylerw, Monday, 14 October 2019 19:00 (five years ago) link

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.

Josh in Chicago, Monday, 14 October 2019 19:04 (five years ago) link

> 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.

j.o.h.n. in evanston (john. a resident of chicago.), Monday, 14 October 2019 20:42 (five years ago) link

one year passes...

'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

mookieproof, Sunday, 5 September 2021 22:06 (three years ago) link

two years pass...

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!

Ned Raggett, Monday, 1 January 2024 00:32 (nine months ago) link

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.

tylerw, Monday, 1 January 2024 00:45 (nine months ago) link

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.

Nag! Nag! Nag!, Monday, 1 January 2024 01:34 (nine months ago) link

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!

Ned Raggett, Monday, 1 January 2024 09:09 (nine months ago) link

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.

I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Monday, 1 January 2024 16:35 (nine months ago) link

Violinist was Sivan Lioncub from Everyone is Dirty.

I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Monday, 1 January 2024 16:36 (nine months ago) link

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!"

I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Monday, 1 January 2024 16:39 (nine months ago) link

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.

Ned Raggett, Monday, 1 January 2024 16:56 (nine months ago) link

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.

I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Monday, 1 January 2024 17:03 (nine months ago) link

Yeah they seemed good! Certainly suited the bill.

Ned Raggett, Monday, 1 January 2024 17:06 (nine months ago) link

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

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

Ned Raggett, Monday, 1 January 2024 20:01 (nine months ago) link

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.

early rejecter, Tuesday, 2 January 2024 14:57 (nine months ago) link

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

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

Ned Raggett, Friday, 5 January 2024 20:40 (nine months ago) link

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

tylerw, Friday, 5 January 2024 20:56 (nine months ago) link


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