Galaxie 500

Galaxie 500 - Classic or dud?
Taking Sides: Luna vs Galaxie 500

It is the only one I have heard.

I did not spot any fisting.

(I still don't understand how to italicize on ILM.) "King of Spain"'s loping opening riff gets me every time, and the lyrics are like "Tugboat" pt. II. First he just wants to be your tugboat captain, which angle fails, and so now he's the king of Spain, talking to himself, etc.

I'm thinking I might just need to pick up Copenhagen, the live thing. Has anyone heard it? Opinions?

I like it too! It's better than the draggy, uninspired Luna cover of "Fly Into the Mystery" (I heart Luna and I heart Luna doing covers, but not that cover).

To do italics bracket the text with [i] and [/i] but use angle brackets rather than square brackets.

I figure Dean Wareham is responsible for the genius of "Oblivious" (from the little I know of the music they made after they parted). But then Damon and Naomi have Exact Change.

Well, there is that version of "Blue Thunder" that is horribly marred by the presence of a tunelessly parping saxophone.

I saw Galaxie a bunch and put on a show or two by them as well (which isn't something I've done very much because it isn't very fun) -- one with B.A.L.L. and Sonic Youth to benefit See Hear after the basement flooded at CB's and another with the Go Team and Mecca Normal at Jiva Mukti.

I love the first seven-inch, but then there's tremendous foggy-eyed sentimental value applied to it for me so I can't say's I'm very "critical" regarding it. [It's one of those singles that I got sent a review copy of, and couldn't stop playing, so contacted the band immediately, and etc. -- same with the first Pavement single, the Alpaca Bros EP, that first Cannanes 7" K released, the double Polvo 7", and a lot of other ye olde indie shit no one cares about anymore!!!]

at the risk of sounding like bimble i have decided that the saxophone part in the single version of blue thunder is the greatest sax ever committed to tape and in my drunken state there's little that sounds better right now

Awww, bless, Jim. You read Dean's memoir, Black Postcards, yet?

no no i can't wait to.. haven't found it locally yet

i have an email from the man himself somewhere <3

You should be able to - I got a copy from the local library. A++, I'd actually first encountered him years ago when a flatmate showed me his liner notes to the G500 box, then later for the Luna best-of ... so sublimely deadpan.
Matos' review of it

I like Ralph Carney but I have always thought that is the worst and most pointless and arbitrary sax solo ever. Perhaps therein lies its genius?

I don't know, but thank heaven the other version exists.

15 minutes in Borders was all I needed with that book.

Great oral history in pfork today by Mike McGonigal. Think people can stop writing about them after this one -- seems pretty much definitive.

Thanks for flagging that up. Great piece indeed. Incredible to think that Damon K and Dean W haven't spoken or met in almost 20 years.

yeah, no kidding! time to have a bbq and chill, guys.

liked the little bit with sax guy ralph carney asking what key "Blue Thunder" is in, but Kramer not telling him. "You'll know." jesus, why doesn't Kramer make more records?

he is active again, isn't he.

http://www.secondshimmy.com/

oh, nice. hadn't seen that.

Depressing.

the article or second shimmy's website?

heaps of aussie bands have been working with the krameister lately for some reason

fantastic article

never heard of this terry tolkin fella before but he comes across as a bit of a cockmunch

The article is depressing.

yes thanks for flagging. good article.

ON FI-YAH!

Terry Tolkin def. comes off very badly.

haven't read this article yet...hadn't heard of Tolkin till I read the Dean book a few weeks ago. Pretty crazy life.

Curious as to how anyone would find this thing depressing? I got really good feeedback on it from all participants.

Is it 'cause of how things ended? They were a really solid band who made some great music together, and then they had a weird breakup. But haven't we all had weird breakups?

This story is very obviously depressing to me, for the exact reasons you just stated. The breakup just seems so petty now in the face of what they accomplished and what they might have continued to accomplish. Also, to know that This is Our Music is actually inferior because they weren't getting along is a pity. The descent into jealousy and selfishness just seems so inevitable. This clearly isn't just some breakup for them - it's a breakup between creative soulmates and I don't know how anyone could not be depressed by it.

I mean, not speaking to your best friend for 20 years??? How is that not depressing to some degree?

Also, not a criticism of the piece by any means...

Thanks a lot for your prompt reply, Spencer.

I personally was really glad that everyone was just really honest.

And while I did find it a bit weird that the rifts do not seem to have healed, that's just the way it is sometimes, you know?

i find the idea of 'this is our music' being inferior quite crazy

that it could be better is a bit difficult for me to imagine

i don't find the story all that depressing -- the broken relationships are a bit of a bummer, but I like the fact that despite the sour way things ended, all three members of the band remain (rightfully!) proud of the music they made together. They're Galaxie 500 fans! I think that's kind of cool.

And I don't know if this was Mike's experience, but when I interviewed them a few years back (when the DVD thing came out) they didn't seem super pissed off still or anything -- far from it. Most of the reminiscing was funny and fond, for the most part. Don't know if that comes across necessarily on the printed page (or computer screen).

Anyhoo, like I said, great article, Mike.

hey, did you ask D&N if they'd read Dean's book?

Damon and Naomi are the nicest 'rock stars' i've ever met. For a few years (from Luna Park to Pup Tent) I loved Luna. Reading this shit about Dean (also check D&N's website for further tales of Dean being a dick), i'm not sure i'll hear Luna's music in the same way. I am interested in getting the lyrics for More Sad Hits and seeing what relates to their relationship with Dean. I really can't imagine D&N ganging up on Dean and forcing him to do things he didn't want to do. The whole couple vs. one person scenario sounds like an excuse after the fact to me.

oh i dunno -- even if D&N weren't ganging up on him maliciously, Dean could still feel like he didn't have an equal say in the band. they're going to agree on everything, most likely. (but yeah, they are super nice people it seems)

The long-ago Ptolemaic Terrascope interview with D&N is the first I ever read about the behind-the-scenes hoohah -- I seem to remember a key example being both of them being surprised one night when Dean got a literal spotlight moment out of nowhere when they were opening for the Cocteau Twins.

^^^yep oft cited as the "beginning of the end"

was in Los Angeles iirc

I kind of hesitate to say this, and don't really have the full story obviously, but I keep thinking there are parallels between the way he broke up the band and the way he broke up his marraige... Yuck.

He had Terry Tolkin do it for him?

he had an affair w/ the chills' bassist? damn.

Dean talks about that spotlight moment in his book, a lot. He claims it wasn't something he planned. Having not read the PT interview and having just read Black Postcards, it's easier for me to see Dean's side of things. For what it's worth, even in his own book, even when he's defending his actions, he still comes across as a non-confrontational and immature individual and acknowledges that, implying "well I suppose the best way to handle that situation may have been to this, but I didn't and so be it."

the PT is on D&N's website: http://www.damonandnaomi.com/interviews/ptinterview.html

I find myself agreeing with this:

oh i dunno -- even if D&N weren't ganging up on him maliciously, Dean could still feel like he didn't have an equal say in the band. they're going to agree on everything, most likely. (but yeah, they are super nice people it seems)
― tylerw, Wednesday, 5 May 2010 17:41 (2 hours ago)

I suppose if you read that interview and haven't read Black Postcards, it's worth looking at both sides of the story.

Did we ever have a Luna vs. Damon & Naomi poll?

"Melt Away" is the perfect soundtrack to coming home from a truly terrible day and needing a nap.

His explanation for breaking up Galaxie 500 is totally convincing. If I had to make a living, be creative and spend weeks on end in a van with some couples we know, I'd lose my mind.

I'm with Spencer on this. Great piece, Mike! I think Chemical Imbalance is what turned me on to G500 in the first place. Didn't you interview them around "On Fire"?

So glad people like this thing; I really enjoy using the 'Working'/ 'Please Kill Me' format. It was a bit of work but was really fun to assemble, once the interviews were done/ transcribed.

I never interviewed Galaxie, myself. I rarely did interview people I was friends with for C.I., more just people I was a fanboy about (not that one can't be both of course.)

I printed an article some friend of label owner Marc Alghini's wrote -- that issue's not handy, sorry I forget who it was. The piece did compare them to the Swell Maps which I found oddly astute at the time. And it just seems a bit odd now. The piece came out fairly early in their timeline, around the time of the first album, I think anyway.

It's hard to remember that far back -- the '80s, I keep trying to forget it!

just echoing others--excellent job mike!

I don't recall seeing this link on any of the other G500 threads so here it is via my Tumblr:

http://mysterydriver.tumblr.com/post/876209786/deandoesgalaxie

Sounds great but I miss Damon's crashing cymbals.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51WfCADj-SL._SS500_.jpg
coming out this fall. guess it's an expanded version of the p-fork thing mike did a few years ago.

this guy totally reminds me of Galaxie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBqdKR0QBZ0