A Head Full of Wishes

My record collection: [382] Frances Ha (DVD / LP)

Andy — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 01:00:00 +0100

After a couple of misses we finally get to the Noah Baumbach film I do rather love. I suspect that so much of it is down to the charm of Frances, or maybe the charm of the way Greta Gerwig plays Frances since Frances isn’t always charming. But Greta is the film, she’s in pretty much every scene so you can’t like the film if you don’t like Frances and I can understand that some people might not like her. But I do.

Music from the motion picture Frances Ha

I first saw Frances Ha at the BFI in July 2013 and have now seen it twice since and my love of it hasn’t tailed off at all.

Dean and Britta have appearances in the film at a dinner party and also have an “additional music by” credit. That additional music is the Ann Buchanan Theme (from 13 Most Beautiful) which appears early on in the film, and Million Dollar Doll by Britta (although credited to Dean & Britta for the film and on the film’s soundtrack) which plays in the background of a bar scene.

Britta and Dean in Frances Ha

The soundtrack album was originally released only as a pink vinyl promo so wasn’t easy to get hold of so I emailed Britta to ask if she had a digital copy of Million Dollar Doll - she sent me a copy - “Here it is. Let me know if you have trouble playing this since I bought it on iTunes” - which embarrassed me since… I probably could have done that!

I was intending it for my solo album, but they wanted it credited to D&B for the film score. We did it as background music in a bar scene in the film - with no vocals, so you probably won't even notice it. But the film is great! It was quite a last minute request to have the song on the sound track so it's kind of a rough mix. I still might put it on my solo "thing." Maybe give it a fresh mix.

Email from Britta (20th June 2013)

Of course it did get released on Britta’s Luck or Magic - and had a video made for it:

Britta Phillips - Million Dollar Doll (play on YouTube)

The soundtrack finally got a proper release in 2024, also on pink vinyl, and that’s the copy I bought via Rough Trade’s Discogs for a shocking amount of money!

The film does have a great soundtrack, and so the soundtrack LP is also rather great - as well as (Dean &) Britta’s Million Dollar Doll there’s Chrome Sitar from the hugely underrated T.Rex album Futuristic Dragon; an outtake, Blue Sway, from Paul McCartney’s excellent McCartney II (an album I sang the praises of on AHFoW a couple of years back); Hot Chocoloate’s Every 1’s a Winner.

It also has Modern Love by David Bowie - now I’ve always had problems with 80s Bowie (Let’s Dance and Tonight are albums I find very hard to love) but I’ve come around on Modern Love, and part of that coming around is thanks to its use in Frances Ha, which is so gloriously joyous.

David Bowie - Modern Love - Frances Ha (play on YouTube)

My DVD is a very basic UK release with no extras apart from a trailer.

Catalogue Number: AHFOW 13/022
Title: Frances Ha (Noah Baumbach, 2013)
Format: DVD
Bought from Amazon Marketplace for £1.62

Catalogue Number: AHFOW 12/109
Artist: Various artists
Title: Music From The Motion Picture Frances Ha
Notes: Pink vinyl reissue
Format: LP
Bought from Rough Trade Discogs for… too much!

Previously in my record collection:

My record collection: [381] Various artists - The Wire Tapper 12 / MOJO Presents Dream Pop

Andy — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 01:00:00 +0100

As a buyer/subscriber to various magazines over the years I used to have boxes and boxes of cassettes and CDs that had been given away stuck to their front covers. For a while my collection included quite a few of these that contained album tracks. These magazines quite often had appearances by Galaxie 500 and Luna, and occasionally by Damon & Naomi. At some point I decided that they probably didn’t warrant inclusion. A couple however slipped through the net.

The Wire Tapper 12 / MOJO Presents Dream Pop

The Wire Tapper 12 is a double CD that was included with the December 2004 issue of The Wire, the UK magazine that focuses on the more avant garde and experimental wing of modern music. The CD is packed with just what you’d expect from a double CD given away by The Wire. Buried in the middle of disc two is Damon & Naomi’s Beautiful Close Double.

MOJO Presents Dream Pop was given away with the April 2010 issue of UK adult rock magazine MOJO, and is a mixed bag of tracks that supposedly fit into that difficult “Dream Pop” classification that sometimes leans heavily on the dream and sometimes on the pop. Included is Galaxie 500’s Tell Me.

Most of the rest of my covermounted MCs and CDs were offloaded on charity shops a long time ago in a decluttering exercise - including many which I probably ought to have hung on to. These two probably survived because…

The Wire Tapper 12 is in a lovely cardboard gatefold sleeve and has enough of interest to make it worth hanging on to.
I think I had actually got rid of the MOJO CD but a copy was given to me by a friend (Jim I think) a few years later who was possibly going through a similar decluttering.

I nearly left these out but since they had rows in my spreadsheet…

Catalogue Number: AHFOW 10/108
Artist: Various artists
Title: The Wire Tapper 12
Packaging: Gatefold card sleeve
Format: 2xCD
Catalogue Number: AHFOW 10/181
Artist: Various artists
Title: MOJO Presents Dream Pop
Packaging: Jewel case
Format: CD

Galaxie 500 radio interview from summer 1989

Andy — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 18:36:00 +0100

Jen has just sent me this lovely 10 minute radio interview of Galaxie 500 from before the release of On Fire. Recorded for “Boston Rocks” on WFNX and touches on signing for Rough Trade, making videos, and the UK music press,

Dean: The English press is bizarre. It's just like really strange.

Damon: That's our, that's our latest new experience. The album just got to England and they're explaining to us what it means. It's a treat to find out.

Dean: Like they ask you really tough questions and you just go, hell, I don't know. So they decide.

Damon: But that's our image. So it's all right.

Dean: So like Melody Maker, the, you know, we tried as hard as possible just to say nothing like philosophical or nothing important, you know, in answer to all these big questions. But then like in the front of the magazine in the content section, it's Galaxie 500, the band that celebrates the demise of youth culture.

I’d guess this was from about August since they mention signing for Rough Trade “in the summer” and that they’re heading to the UK for a show in September.

Galaxie 500 interview on WFNX (play on YouTube)

Jen has a fabulous radio show, Cycles Per Second that you should listen to.

My record collection: [380] Britta / Dean - Don't Think Twice... / Hey Paula

Andy — Thu, 20 Aug 2026 01:00:00 +0100

This is my second copy of the split Dean / Britta single released on Great Pop Supplement in 2015. I’m not too sure why I occasionally felt the need to own two copies of certain releases - it seems a bit off having two copies when there were only 400 in total. My ‘one for show and one for blow’ reasoning doesn’t really seem all that sound now. I apologise.

Britta / Dean - Don't Think Twice... / Hey Paula

In the previous post I mostly drifted off on tangents about what constitutes rock and roll and whether a Dean/Britta duet should really be credited as Dean solo (no, btw).

It’s a lovely single, with two gorgeous cover versions on it so, not much more to be said. But… that sleeve… not so grogeous. I’m so prudish that I’ve manged the two posts without showing the front cover of the sleeve.

Catalogue Number: AHFOW 11/060
Artist: Britta Phillips / Dean Wareham
Title: Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright / Hey Paula
Notes: #336/400
Format: 7”
Bought direct from Great Pop Supplement

Previously in my record collection:

[284] Dean / Britta - Don’t Think Twice… / Hey Paula

Another newly digitised Galaxie 500 show on the Internet Archive

Andy — Tue, 18 Aug 2026 01:00:00 +0100

Another Galaxie 500 show is being shared on the Internet Archive. This one is part of The Jeff Lazar Audio Collection, another taper whose extensive collection is currently being made available.

This is from a show that I didn’t have listed in my database, recorded at The Knitting Factory in NYC and apparently the last of four sets the band played over two nights at the venue.

Galaxie 500 at Knitting Factory on 1990-04-06

Total running time  [59:49]

01  Here She Comes Now
02  Decomposing Trees
03  Snowstorm
04  Don't Let Our Youth Go to Waste
05  Summertime
06  Melt Away
07  Temperature's Rising
08  When Will You Come Home
09  Victory Garden
10  Ceremony
-- encore --
11  Pictures


Band line-up:
Dean Wareham - guitar, vocals
Naomi Yang - bass, vocals
Damon Krukowski - drums

Notes:
The band played two sets (9PM and midnight) on each of two consecutive nights. This was the midnight set on the second night.

A few weeks back a couple of previously unavailable recordings were shared as part of the Aadam Jacobs Collection.

My record collection: [379] The Wondrous World of Damon & Naomi (Sub Pop CD)

Andy — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 01:00:00 +0100

In late 2006 Damon & Naomi announced a sale in their shop which included 24 copies of the out of print Sub Pop edition of Wondrous World. SHamefully until that point the only copy I had of their second album was the radio promo picked up in a London record shop so I took the opportunity to correct that.

The Wondrous World of Damon & Naomi (Sub Pop CD)

I also ordered a Galaxie 500 T-shirt, to make the shipping more acceptable. I emailed Naomi and admitted my Wondrous World shame, although since this is now the fifth copy of Wondrous World in this collection I guess I’ve somewhat redeemed myself?

The booklet is a beautiful piece of Naomi’s art and design although that art and design does sometimes make the lyrics hard to read. The insert that came with the LP was missing most of the booklet but did have readable lyrics.

I rather love the (tiny) pic of Damon & Naomi sitting under a tree and looking so folky on the back of the booklet. I happen to know however that Damon is not so keen on it.

The artwork that was used in the booklet was included in an exhibition of Naomi’s art called Victorian Girls in 2016. I didn’t make the exhibition (it being so far away) but did get a signed copy of the beautiful booklet.

Naomi Yang - Victorian Girls

The CD arrived with a hand-written note from Naomi.

Catalogue Number: AHFOW 10/115
Artist: Damon & Naomi
Title: The Wondrous World of Damon & Naomi
Notes: Sub Pop edition
Format: CD
Bought from Damon & Naomi in December 2006 for $10
STILL not available on Bandcamp

Previously in my record collection:

My record collection: [378] Margot at the Wedding (DVD)

Andy — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 01:00:00 +0100

Another Noah Baumbach film so, of course, another Dean Wareham contribution. This time credited with Britta as “music consultants” and also Dean & Britta’s Northern Blue appears in the film.

Margot at the Wedding

Also… another Noah Baumbach film so another film I just don’t get. In my post on The Squid and the Whale I say that “I don’t understand the characters and the way they behave […] all I see is horrible people behaving horribly to one another” and Margot at the Wedding dials that up to eleven. I must admit I do feel a bit bad not liking these films but they are so unlikeable and Margot at the Wedding is probably the most unlikeable of Noah’s films.

Sorry to be repeating what I said about The Squid and the Whale but I genuinely think there must be some regional disconnect at play here, or maybe a social one. There’s something about the way these people behave that makes absolutely no sense to me.

I do like the way the film has been made, the movement of the actors, and the camera. The way people interact makes it interesting as a visual spectacle… and the acting can’t be faulted - and that is quite a cast that has been assembled here. But it’s not a film I can like and not one I’d want to see again.

I haven’t as yet managed to track down a copy of the soundtrack album but do have a download of it and it certainly has the fingerprints of the film’s “music consultants” on it. As well as Dean & Britta’s “Northern Blue” it has Evie Sands “One Fine Summer Morning” and Donovan’s “Teen Angel” both of which have been covered by Dean and/or Britta.

The thing about the Dean & Britta song is that it’s listed first implying that it’s the first song heard… but it isn’t, that’s Steve Forbert’s “Romeo’s Tune” which is heard in the car as Margot and Claude are being driven to Pauline’s. So… where is Nothern Blue? Is it what Claude is listening to on his headphones on the train? I guess it has to be - but, I can’t hear it.

I’m rather surprised that I haven’t shared Northern Blue before since it is a rarity, having just shown up on the soundtrack album (and maybe not even in the film).

Dean & Britta - Northern Blue

Catalogue Number: AHFOW 13/020
Title: Margot at the Wedding
Format: DVD
Bought in a charity shop a while back for a quid (or less).

Previously in my record collection:

[294] The Squid and the Whale (DVD)

My record collection: [377] Galaxie 500 - Don't Let Our Youth Go to Waste (DVD)

Andy — Mon, 10 Aug 2026 01:00:00 +0100

The previous copy of Galaxie 500’s 2004 DVD release in this series was still in it’s wrap so this is the first look at the actual content.

Galaxie 500 - Don't Let Our Youth Go to Waste (DVD)

Disc 1

Disc one opens with the four videos made for the band by Sergio Huidor. These had previously been available as tiny Quicktime videos on the box set discs (and subsequent CD releases) but it was good to finally have them in decent quality.

Tugboat is packed with explosions and crashes and other violent imagery - intercut with occasional shots of the band. The film is dusty and scratches and the cutting is quick and repetitive and ends up being hypnotic, as well as disturbing. Naomi’s wearig her spiral earrings. - (Watch Tugboat on YouTube).
When Will You Come Home opens with actual shots of the band, in colour, which is probably why it’s my favourite of the four. Dean’s wearing a Shimmy Disc T-shirt, It is intercut with other random shots, some with the camera pointed at the TV - (Watch When Will You Come Home on YouTube).
Blue Thunder is completely colour inverted, someone a while back “fixed” the colour and popped it on YouTube but the band had the video taken down since it (literally?) contradicted the film-makers vision - it was nice to see the band like that though. It is the w/sax version. Lots of car crashes in this one - (Watch Blue Thunder on YouTube).
Fourth of July is the one with sparklers and a gorilla and Naomi as an angel, which makes it the most fun of the three - although… more explosions and I guess literal Fourth of July references. Quite a few costume changes in this one - I think Dean wears at least three different shirts, maybe more - (Watch Fourth of July on YouTube)

Next up five live performances billed as a live archive:

Middle East, Cambridge MA - May 1988

An afternoon show supporting Beat Happening

“pretty much the first time we played in front of an interested audience” (Damon)
“the truth is we were just learning to be a band” (Dean)

It has two songs that were never released - a cover of Jonathan Richman’s “Back in Your Life” and an original called “Buzz In My Head”.

It’s sweet to see the band at this early stage.

Commonwealth School, Boston MA - April 1989

When Damon was collecting material for this release he asked me if I could ask the Galaxie 500 Mailing List if we had (or knew of) any videos of the band. Dan Pearson got in touch with me that he’d seen a video of them playing at The Commonwealth School under a basketball hoop. I mentioned this to Damon and he confirmed that they already had a copy of it andthat it was “one of the surprises I promised you for the finished DVD!” (on a side note Dan put on Galaxie 500’s last show and I wrote about it on Substack a few months back - and about Dan who sadly passed away at the beginning of the year).

So this is the “basketball hoop” show. Also you get a first good look at the Damon’s very cool bass drum head:

The Galaxie 500 logo was hand painted on Damon's bass drum head in 1990 by Sam Stone, who had been a sign painter in Boston since 1932 — the sign on his door said, "Sam Stone: Man of Letters". We asked him to paint the name the way a jazz band would have done in the 1930's or '40s and he obliged. He retired and closed his shop in 1993.

You can buy a T-shirt with the design on it.

My drum head T

Kennel Club, San Francisco CA - March 1990

This opens with a classic VHS title overlay which is so quaint (if I remember the next set has more of this). The band have a rather lacklustre liquid light projection. I love liquid light shows but this one is rather unimpressive - although maybe the muted VHS colours aren’t helping. Dean’s wearing a Spacemen 3 T.

Club Lingerie, Hollywood CA - March 1990

Yep a very high quality title screen for this one (thanks to VIDEO BOB).

Two days later and Dean is still wearing his Spacemen 3 T-shirt. Kramer is on-stage with them for Pictures and Ceremony. Dean’s voice is really struggling by the time the band get to Pictures. Two songs from this show were released as a single with pre-orders of this DVD set which I’ve written about twice - [088] Galaxie 500 - Snowstorm / Pictures (7”) / [222] Galaxie 500 - Snowstorm / Pictures

Kennel Club, San Francisco CA - October 1990

Back to The Kennel Club and another projection… although this one is more colourful and so better. Dean’s wearing a proper shirt and Naomi has her black and white flower earrings on. The show finishes with Melt Away which follows a storming version of Don’t Let Our Youth Go to Waste which seems an interesting choice - … Youth… sounds like a set closer so it almost feels like the band are being purposely contrary by playing another song after it.

I’ve always been rather impressed that the live archive section of the DVD manages to not repeat any songs despite being from five different shows. Although I do wonder if that means there were some repeats left off that we aren’t getting to see.

Finally on disc one is a performance recorded in London for MTV Europe that has a couple of songs and an interview with Paul King (whose band King had had a couple of top 10 singles before he became an MTV VJ). The YouTube channel ScottishTeeVee has a version of this that intercuts with a later interview recorded in the summer of 1990.

Galaxie 500 - London 1990 Live - MTV 120mins (play on YouTube)

Disc 2 - BOOTLEGS

The second disc has bootlegged video of two complete shows, the first in Atlanta at the beginning of 1990 is fun. The band seem relaxed and comfortable and Dean is quite chatty. Dean’s in his Spacemen 3 T-shirt again and tries to blow some bubbles, and fails.

The second show is from London and this was the second and last time I saw the band live - I wrote about my memories of this show (or lack of them) for a Substack post a while back:

Our very last English show was at the University of London Union (ULU), the biggest venue we ever headlined. Kramer slathered us in reverb and delay, and we sounded huge. The next day we set off for Rennes.

Dean Wareham - Black Postcards (Penguin, 2008 - p95)

And so we come to the gig I was at, the second, and last time I saw Galaxie 500 - sadly I can remember very little of the show…

I was there with Ken and Graham… pretty sure Nino was there too (I haven’t seen Graham or Nino for years so can’t confirm) - I suspect there were others I’d talked into coming along.
I might have bought a T-shirt at the gig (although I might have bought that at the Subterania gig).
It was pretty crowded, we arrived too late to get too good a spot so I was more than half-way back.
Someone in front of us shouted for “Submission” between every song. The Galaxie 500 Peel session with “Submission” had been broadcast a just over a week before the gig. They didn’t play it.

The one other thing I know about this show is that Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt of Everything But The Girl were at the show. Tracey writes about it in her fab memoir Bedsit Disco Queen:

After 'I Don't Want To Talk About It' was a hit, Ben and I went to a gig at ULU (the University of London Union) one night, to see Galaxie 500. A couple of studenty Beavis and Butthead types recognised us and nudged each other.

'Look, I-don't-wanna-talk-about-it, chuckled one, and his mate quipped back, 'I-don't-wanna-hear-about-it, and they both snickered, right there in front of us.

Had we suddenly become people who were not supposed to be at a Galaxie 500 gig? Who didn't fit in there any more? Jesus, were we the enemy now? This hadn't been the point. How on earth had THIS happened? There were moments when I found myself wondering, 'Was this really what we meant when we said we opposed all rock 'n' roll?'

Bedsit Disco Queen - Tracey Thorn (Virago, 2013 - p208)

The booklet

The booklet has an interview with Dean, and Damon and Naomi by James McNew of Yo La Tengo - it actually reads like it was meant to be an audio commentary which would have been nice, but ends up as a written commentary. It is a nice read and you can hardly notice that it was obviously two interviews. It’s very casual and sometimes quite funny.

The booklet also has some photos of memorabilia that later turned up in the oral history book. The other significant bit of the booklet is on the back page…

Thank You

Sergio Huidor, Todd Ploharski abd Nick Wickham for their help locating master tapes used in this compilation; and Andy Aldridge and the Galaxie 500 mailing list, who helped search for live recordings of the band.

DVD booklet credits

OK, so just significant to me… but hey. It’s an official Galaxie 500 release that has my name on it. How is that not exciting?

I pre-ordered this from Plexifilm when it was announced - I actually bought two copies but gave one away as a prize a few years ago (although by then I’d already acquired the a third copy).

Catalogue Number: AHFOW 13/004
Artist: Galaxie 500
Title: Don’t Let Our Youth Go to Waste
Format: DVD
Bought from Plexifilm for $27.95 (+ postage)

Previously in my record collection:

[195] Don’t Let Our Youth Go to Waste (DVD)

Re-issues of Luna's Romantica and Rendezvous now on sale

Andy — Sat, 08 Aug 2026 08:14:00 +0100

The fancy Wax Mage re-issues of Luna’s last two albums went on sale yesterday. The bundles sold out pretty quickly but there are still copies of the various Wax Mage variants available from their online shop.

Luna - Romantica (Wax Mage InkSplosion)

Luna - Rendezvous (Wax Mage InkSplosion)

Wax Mage do ship internationally although £65 shipping to the UK for a £46 LP is a little much!

A sixth (or seventh?) variant called “InkSplosion” is available from Bandcamp

(although at $30 a pop would a download be so hard to include?)

… or Amazon

… or, I believe possibly from your proper record shop.

I have no idea whether this will be distributed internationally - it wasn’t in the UK online shops when I checked this morning.

My record collection: [376] Galaxie 500 - 40 Watt Club, Athens, GA - 23rd January 1990

Andy — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 10:00:00 +0100

My pal Chris gave me this CD ahead of a Damon & Naomi concert in London a few years ago (he also gave a copy to D&N) it’s a soundboard recording of Galaxie 500 at The 40 Watt Club in Athens recorded by the soundman Pat Biddle (aka Pat the Wiz).

Galaxie 500 - 40 Watt Club, January 1990

I’m not sure this recording has been shared before which sort of surprised me, and it seems a shame to sit on this any longer so I’ve popped it on Dimeadozen to download (login required) and YouTube to stream.

Galaxie 500 at The 40 Watt Club, Athens, GA - 23rd January 1990 (audio only) (play on YouTube)

Being a soundboard recording you can’t really hear the audience except what the on-stage mics pick up which is always a strange experience. The plus side of course is just how well you can actually hear the band (although I might like to hear the bass a wee bit more).

I’m a little surprised that I can’t find any contemporary review or comment on the show. Flagpole, an Athens indie magazine, makes a couple of mentions before the show but sadly nothing after.

500 points of light (Flagpole 17th January 1990)

Catalogue Number: AHFOW 10/061
Artist: Galaxie 500
Title: 40 Watt Club, Athens, GA - 23rd January 1990
Notes: Soundboard recording
Format: CDR

New vinyl issues of Luna's Romantica and Rendezvous

Andy — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 08:00:00 +0100

UPDATE 6th August Wax Mage will be also be doing a fancy reissue of Luna’s Rendezvous, also for pre-order on Friday.

Boutique vinyl label Wax Mage are re-issuing Luna’s Romantica in “five exclusive Wax Mage variants” (plus it seems two others?) - pre-ordering of the release open on Friday 7th AUgust at 7pm ET.

Luna - Romantica (Wax Mage)

This from Wax Mage’s post on Instagram:

Announcing Romantica — Luna’s sixth album. This was a tumultuous period for the band, who found themselves without a label following the declared bankruptcy of their previous label, Jericho Records, who had signed the band after Elektra let them go. Justin Harwood had departed midway through the touring for The Days of Our Nights and was replaced by Britta Phillips, who had previously toured with Ben Lee, and was formerly the singing voice of Jem (Jem & the Holograms). In this period Wareham and Phillips became romantically involved and you can likely hear that in the songs.

Romantica was released by Jetset Records (in the USA) and Beggar’s Banquet (in Europe) in April, 2002. Now on Wax Mage Records with new vinyl master by Scott Hull of Masterdisk.

5 Exclusive Wax Mage Variants will be available. 25 random orders will receive a Golden Ticket copy instead.

On sale this Friday 7pm ET Waxmage.com /300 copies

Luna’s Romantica - Inksplosion variant will also be sold in store nationwide.

There wasn’t a link included but suspect it will be available to order from the Wax Mage shop.

Dean & Britta to play a free live show in Olympia WA

Andy — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 15:47:00 +0100

Dean & Britta will be playing a show in Olympia WA on the 16th August as part of the “Scherler Sundays” free outdoor concert series behind the “historic Carnegie Library” - the show starts at 3pm (local time) and it looks like it’ll be streamed live on their YouTube channel.

Scherler Sundays - Olympia WA

Britta and I going to be playing a free afternoon show in Olympia, WA – Sunday August 16 at 5pm, outdoors at the Historic Carnegie Library. It's my first time ever in Olympia and we'll be playing a set heavy on Galaxie 500 songs, in trio format (with Roger on drums).

Dean Wareham - newsletter July 2026

Details here.

My record collection: [375] Luna - Tiger Lily (CD)

Andy — Mon, 03 Aug 2026 01:00:00 +0100

This is a radio promo CD of Luna’s Tiger Lily that I picked up on Discogs a few months back as a collection filler. Although technically it does contain something I never had before, or maybe more accurately one of the tracks doesn’t contains something I did have before.

Luna - Tiger Lily (radio promo CD)

There are two versions of Tiger Lily on the disc the LP version and a single edit which chops off the intro, chops out a bit of the solo, and fades early - basically lopping 39 seconds out of the song to supposedly make it more attractive for radio play, although I’m a little puzzled at how much more attractive that would make it? The single edit is still over four minutes long so I do wonder how attractive that made it for the radio.

Luna - Tiger Lily (single edit)

Source: Tiger Lily (Elektra, 1994)

Since this was from Bewitched it was only a “single” in the US and I wonder how much radio play it got and whether the 39 seconds helped with that.

Dean wrote about the tiger lily girl in the sleeve notes to Best of Luna:

In 1993 Howard Thompson, Elektra's head of A&R, came to Paris to see us on the V.U. tour. We hooked him up with one of our "All Access" passes for the show, but Howard was tossed out of the club by the bouncers (they caught him taking 3-D photographs of the show), and we were lectured by the Velvet's tour manager about loaning out our passes. My wife was visiting too, and Howard had some powdered ecstasy that we dropped into our wine at dinner, and he took us to a beautiful/sleazy club called Lily La Tigresse, in Pigalle (which can be seen in the opening sequence of Jean-Pierre Melville's film Bob Le Flambeur). I was struck by the presence of a skinhead girl dancing topless on the bar. She became the "tiger lily girl" as I set these lyrics to a riff that Justin had written.

Best of Luna sleeve notes

There’s a lovely (if a little fuzzy and low-res) clip of Luna playing Tiger Lily on MTV back in 1994:

Luna - Tiger Lily (120 Minutes, 1994) (play on YouTube)

There’s also a nice clip of Luna rehearsing for their lockdown show back in 2021.

Luna - Tiger Lily (Istagram Live 2021) (play on YouTube)

You can also watch Stanley playing Tiger Lily in his practice room back in 2010.

Catalogue Number: AHFOW 10/179
Artist: Luna
Title: Tiger Lily
Notes: Radio promo
Packaging: Jewel case
Format: CD
Bought from a Discogs seller for £3

Full Magic Hour show from 1994 on the Internet Archive

Andy — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 13:11:00 +0100

A recording of Magic Hour playing The Knitting Factory in NYC has just been made available to download.

Magic Hour (promo)

Magic Hour was the band that Damon and Naomi formed with Wayne Rogers and Kate Biggar that recorded three albums and played some live shows in the mid/late 90s. Naomi only sang one song for the band, a cover of Cyril Tawney/Trees Sally Free and Easy and you can hear a live version in this set.

The recording is part of the collection of taper Jeff Lazar that is being shared on the Internet Archive:

Magic Hour at the Knitting Factory on 1994-01-12

Magic Hour
January 12, 1994
Knitting Factory
New York, NY

01. intro
02. Isn't a Way
03. Always Leaving Never
04. Lower
05. After Tomorrow
06. Sally Free and Easy
07. World of One
08. The Last Mistake
09. Heads Down

Recording: Beyer M260 Dynamic Cardioid Ribbon mics > Sony D6 Walkman Pro
Transfer: Cassette (M) > Yamaha K-220 > Sony PCM-A10 > WAV 24/48
Mastering: Audacity (compress, normalize) > FLAC

Recorded by: Jeff Lazar
Transfer by: neil d
Mastered by: Brandon

Recording 0015 from the LazArchives

In related news at Terrastock IV in Seattle the members of Magic Hour performed as a Mu/Merrell Fankhauser tribute act and video of that performance is available on YouTube.

Children of the Rainbow - Terrastock IV (play on YouTube)

My record collection: [374] Luna - The Days of Our Nights (Beggars Banquet CD)

Andy — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 01:00:00 +0100

This is the CD version of Luna’s The Days of Our Nights that was released in the UK when it was supposed to be by Beggars Banquet and bought by me on the day of release from, very possibly Beggars Banquet in Kingston.

Luna - The Days of Our Nights (Beggars Banquet CD)

The album’s release and reception has been well covered in the previous posts in this series - particularly in the one for the vinyl reissue from three years ago, so I’m not sure I have much to add.

Dean and Sean were in the UK around the time of release for the Bowlie Weekender that they played at as a duo. I didn’t go to this - I did ponder going and even rang up about it - specifically about bringing a two-year-old along - but decided the cost, and the two-year-old made it inconvenient. The NME reviewed it…

Dean Wareham, looking a bit like he'd been recently exhumed, could be said the be the American Stuart Murdoch; unashamed preppie types, his songs combine beautiful melodies with arch not-quite-funny observations.

Beset by feedback problems, they're playing to a hardcore of devotees who will forgive anything, even the terrible drum machine that sounds as though it was rescued from a Bontempi organ.

They are metaphorically naked and endearing; Dean's strange falsetto vocals which make up for the lack of a keyboard or stringed instrument are simultaneously endearing and scary, which can also be said of the songs. Sadly, they didn't do their wonderful version of 'Sweet Child O' Mine'.

Postcard from Bowlie - NME (26th April 1999) (via Wayback Machine)

They also recorded a couple of songs for London station XFM that I remember listening to, but don’t have a recording of sadly:

I listened to Luna on (London station) XFM a couple of nights back and they sounded pretty good for stripped down versions Math Wiz is potentially the best track on the album and the "live" version was pretty cool it came complete with a "Hi I'm Dean..." "...and I'm Sean" intro made me smile. Moon Palace was a surprise firstly I expected them to be relentlesly pushing the new album, and secondly it was blessed with an organ (that's as technical as I get!) and a drum machine very nice too.

Galaxie 500 Mailing List - Andy Aldridge · Fri 30 Apr 1999 23:25

If anyone has a recording of that I’d love to hear it.

I also remember seeing fly-posters for the album around London, I think there was one on the derelict building at the top of our road. I regret not taking a picture but in those pre-digital days you didn’t waste a frame on a picture of a poster.

My long-standing Days coolness gets less cool with each passing year. Maybe because as well as the music I also have a growing Mailing List nostalgia. I know I say it every time but damn I miss those days, that community, and those friends - some I still have but many I have lost touch with - who were so important to me back then.

Catalogue Number: AHFOW 10/054
Artist: Luna
Title: The Days of Our Nights
Notes: Beggars Banquet
Packaging: Jewel case
Format: CD
Bought from a record shop the week of release
Buy ‘The Days of Our Nights’ on Bandcamp

Previously in my record collection:

My record collection: [373] Dean & Britta - White Horses

Andy — Mon, 27 Jul 2026 01:00:00 +0100

Dean & Britta’s gorgeous cover of White Horses first appeared on their second album Back Numbers in early 2007, and then was released later on this seven inch single on Sonic Cathedral later that year.

Dean & Britta - White Horses

The single has a Sonic Boom mix of the song on the a-side and a version Française on the flip. The lyrics for the French version were provided by long time friend of AHFoW Franck Dewannieux and is a lovely translation but my schoolboy French can’t hear any mention of horses so it’s clearly not a literal translation. It is beautiful of course. It’s ridiculous how much I love songs sung in French (and so many films made in French) when, despite many years of trying, my grasp of the language is still hopeless.

The single came in a Sonic Cathedral sleeve and was accompanied by a badge which matched the label on the single… as you can see in the above pic my badge is degrading… as badges often do.

White Horses was written by Michael Carr and Ben Nisbett for the UK import of Yugoslavian/German TV show Ferien in Lipizza, it was originally sung by “Jacky”, who is actually Jackie Lee. The theme song was so successful that it was apparently dubbed back onto non-English versions of the show.

The show was shown regularly on British TV during the summer holidays, dubbed into English and I loved it, partly for the theme tune and partly because of a pre-teenage crush on the show’s lead, Helga Anders:

'mit Helga Anders'

If memory serves it was Sonic Boom who suggested that Dean & Britta cover the song… given that he is British, and approximately the same age as me I wonder if his love of the song was driven by similar experiences of summer holiday TV (and pre-teenage infatuations).

Catalogue Number: AHFOW 11/040
Artist: Dean & Britta
Title: White Horses (Sonic Boom mix) / White Horses (version Française)
Format: 7” single
Bought direct from Sonic Cathedral