The LUNA Album Poll

Fuck me, this is hard. These guys were sort of the Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers of the 90s, only sub V.U. for The Byrds as the primary inspirational factor. I really love both g500 & Luna & think of Luna mostly in terms of their gigs rather than their albums (I saw them probably close to 10 times). I think Bewitched had the highest peaks, but Penthouse was the most consistent. I've gotta give props, tho, to the largely overlooked 00's albums, at which point they'd been completely marginalized critically, but Rendezvous & Close Cover Before Striking had some of their best toons.

TBH, I'll be boring & vote for Penthouse, tho I'd vote for the Slide ep if I could.

I am a Luna SuperStan!

Listening to Romantica constantly the last week has convinced me: their second-best, thanks to "Lovedust," "1995," "Black Champagne," and the title track.

Yes, "Black Champagne" is one of their best, I think -- that solo at the end! So gorgeous.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Damn. I mean, I'm not entirely surprised and voted Penthouse myself but still, damn.

That seems ok to me...I'd bet that most people who picked Penthouse (I'm one of them) have at least one or two of the others close behind.

What's funny is I loved this band live, but like everyone else would never have picked their live album as a favorite. Though I did go to the trouble of buying the vinyl version to get the extra tracks.

"Cindy Tastes of Barbecue" was a major late-career hilight.

kinda sad that no one voted for Luna Live. The version of "23 Minutes in Brussels" on that is slammin.

Romantica (2002) 1

Alright then. I'll just take this cd back home and never let any of you listen to it again!

x-post - Though I did go to the trouble of buying the vinyl version to get the extra tracks.

Ha. Me too.

what are the extra tracks?
the "23 Minutes In Brussels" on there is great, I agree. When I interviewed Sean Eden a few years ago, he talked about how pissed he was when he learned Tom Verlaine was going to do the solo on the studio version. But then he heard what Verlaine did -- in one take, apparently -- and was floored. Eden gets his chance to shine on the live version though. Such a great guitar player. The solo on "Bewitched" on the live album is something else as well -- not even sure how he's doing what he's doing.
This brings up an interesting point -- TS: Sterling Morrison guesting on Bewitched vs. Tom Verlaine guesting on Penthouse

Bonus vinyl tracks:

California
Double Feature
Bobby Peru
Indian Summer

hmm, the only one I have is "Double Feature" which was actually in place of "Friendly Advice" on the CD I bought...

Oh, I vaguely remember something weird like that. I took the tracklisting off of their old website, as my albums are all in storage...

anyone get that RSD Penthouse deluxe reissue? Bonus tracks worth it?

Finally managed to get hold of a copy of Rendezvous last week. I genuinely thought I had a copy, it came out around the time I was buying an album per week listening to it a couple of times and moving on to the next one. Anyway,what a fantastic album, should have been higher up the poll. I must check out their new album of covers.

the covers album is quite nice. i like that vu song "friends" from the squeeze album which was featured here, the video is fitting:
https://aquariumdrunkard.com/2017/10/18/luna-a-sentimental-education-friends-doug-yule-vu/

i love the YES cover

instrumental EP is A+ too

Had no idea they did an instrumental EP. Perfect band to do so.

some more covers coming on a couple singles on Feral Child (Great Pop Supplement/Polytechnic Youth Side-label): California Blue (Orbison/Petty/Lynne), George McCrae’s Rock Yr Baby, and two versions of Lonesome Cowboy Bill (Luna and Cheval Sombre).

excited to see them in a couple weeks