My record collection
#131: Galaxie 500 - Galaxie 500 (aka Box Set)

When I started the Galaxie 500 Mailing List in the spring of 1995 Galaxie 500’s records were not so easy to find and while there were rumours of a re-release for a long time this came to nothing. You could still, however, pick up the records if you hunted around. There were plenty around second hand, and the Rough Trade stock had been bought (I believe) by East India Trading who might have kept them in the shops for a while.

Galaxie 500 box set (unopened)

Then, in June 1996 a press release appeared:

After many out of print years, Galaxie 500's nearly impossible to find back catalog has found a home with Rykodisc. On September 24, 1996, a 4 CD box set will hit the stores, compiling all three of their albums (Today, On Fire, and This Is Our Music) and adding a 4th disc of rarities, unreleased tracks and demos.

Long considered pioneers of the post-Velvets atmospheric space-rock crowd, Galaxie 500's compositions made brilliant noise out of quiet. Their short career spawned some of the most influential music of its time, and garnered lavish raves from critics and press alike.

All the records have been remastered by Kramer, resulting in a whole new realm of sonic excellence, and beautiful artwork exclusive to the box has been created by Naomi Yang. As an extra bonus, their four videos (directed by Sergio Huidor) have been added to the discs as enhanced CD tracks that will playable in any CD-ROM drive, making this release a completist's dream come true.

Rykodsic press release June 1996

This is my unopened box set, how it came to be my unopened box set was covered in detail when it appeared in my artefacts series but in brief, I had ordered it from the US but delays, and rumours of Ryko underestimating demand had me worried so when I saw it in a UK shop I pounced. This is the copy that eventually arrived from the US.

Since it’s unopened I’ll save some of my gushing until the opened copy turns up later in the series!

• Catalogue Number: AHFOW 10/066
• Artist: Galaxie 500
• Title: Galaxie 500 (aka Box Set)
• Notes: Unopened
• Packaging: Gorgeous card box with four jewel-cased CDs… all shrink-wrapped!
• Format: 4xCD (enhanced with videos)
• Bought direct from somewhere in the US, maybe direct from Ryko?
• All of the box set is available (separately) on Bandcamp… except the videos but they’re on Damon & Naomi’s YouTube in considerably better quality than the tiny videos on the CDs