A Head Full of Wishes is a site for Galaxie 500, Luna, Damon & Naomi, Dean & Britta and Dean Wareham. With news, articles and lists of releases and past and future shows.
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A Head Full of Wishes newsletter #26
Luna / Wake Ooloo - Dance With Me / Astral Plane
This split single was released as being a tribute to Jonathan Richman and had Luna doing a cover of Dance With Me on one side and post-Feelies band Wake Ooloo covering Astral Plane on the flip.
Dance With Me was originally recorded by The Modern Lovers in the 1972 sessions with producer Kim Fowley but not released until the Original Modern Lovers LP was released in 1981. Luna’s version was recorded during the sessions for Penthouse and was first released on the Beggars Banquet 7” single of Bobby Peru in 1997 before being included on this split single.
Wake Ooloo were the band formed by Glenn Mercer and Dave Weckerman when The Feelies split after Time For a Witness in the mid 90s, they released three albums of Feelies-a-like angular rock before splitting. This single was released on ROCKER! Supernova Records in 1998 by which time Wake Ooloo had, or were just about to, come to the end of their life.
This two part interview with Glenn and Dave (part 2) from around the time of Wake Ooloo gives a bit of their story, and back story.
You can get most of Wake Ooloo’s recorded output on their Bandcamp.
- Catalogue Number: 11/001
- Artist: Luna / Wake Ooloo
- Title: Dance With Me / Astral Plane
- Notes: Jonathan Richman tribute
- Format: 7”
- Bought around the time of release, probably in a record shop in the West End, maybe Sister Ray or Selectadisc?
The Squid and the Whale (DVD)
I already posted about the CD release of the soundtrack of The Squid and the Whale a couple of years ago and might have considered the film covered by that except that while writing that post I commented on how little actual Dean and Britta was on it. Britta, on the mailing list in 2005, assured us that there was more of their music in the film:
We had 8 cues in the movie. The 2 main themes recur 3 times (each time with a slightly different arrangement), and we did a version of one of the Bert Jansch songs (without vocals) as well as that version of “Love On A Real Train.”
So… based on that I guess I’d better re-watch the film… and listen harder. I last watched the film way back in 2006 when we saw it at the BFI (I think). I rated it 7/10 then which I guess is why I haven’t gone back to it… so, I’ll hit play now.
So… the problem I have with The Squid and the Whale is that I really like a film to make some sense to me and The Squid and the Whale doesn’t - I don’t understand the characters and the way they behave. While I appreciate the film as a story, and it is brilliantly told and acted, I can’t imagine a world where people behave the way they do - so it’s not a film I can love. I suspect this may be a regional/national disconnect? Maybe Americans, or even more precisely New Yorkers, will understand it better, and maybe even see the humour that the critics always mention, all I see is horrible people behaving horribly to one another. And that’s not funny.
Maybe it helps a little that the actors are so perfect - Laura Linney in particular - but pretty much everyone is so well played, even if I don’t really like any of them!
The soundtrack is exceptional, all well chosen and perfectly placed, and it’s always nice to hear Dean & Britta’s contributions which are pretty recognisable now, but suspect on first viewing in 2006, would have been more difficult.
Second viewing I’ve dropped it to a 5/10 - being in the cinema is almost always worth a point, and my ratings across the board have become harsher in the last nineteen† years, so I imagine my opinion of the film is pretty much the same as it was on first viewing.
After my post about the soundtrack a discussion ensued that eventually led to about 19 minutes of The Squid and the Whale related music being posted on Dean and Britta’s Patreon over the course of a couple of months. You need to be a patron to hear them, and since their Patreon is on pause I’m not sure if you can.
This month's music is thanks to Andy Aldridge, who suggested we post our score from The Squid & the Whale soundtrack album, since our tracks have mysteriously disappeared from the streaming services.
Britta - October Music: The Squid & the Whale Score (Patreon, October 2023)
Here’s Dean’s version of Pink Floyd’s Hey You which is a key song in the film (but not Dean’s cover):
And Family Conference developed into The Sun is Still Sunny on Dean & Britta’s Back Numbers released a couple of years after the film. I love this clip of them performing it in a stairwell for La Blogotheque in 2006:
If I want to watch a Noah Baumbach film I’m likely to reach for Frances Ha, or Mistress America - I still don’t really understand those people, but they seem more likeable (sometimes) and I find them funnier.
I don’t yet have a DVD of Mistress America (which doesn’t seem to have had a UK release) but Frances Ha will be turning up later in the series.
- Catalogue Number: AHFOW 13/018
- Title: The Squid and the Whale
- Notes: Written and directed by Noah Baumbach
- Format: DVD
- There was a digital-only EP that had three tracks from The Squid and the Whale, but that has gone AWOL
Previously in my record collection:
† - and yes, I have been rating films for over 25 years now, I have a spreadsheet of almost 5000 rows - how sad is that!?
The coming week in history
19th October 1990 - Galaxie 500 at CBGB’s
I have long since forgotten how most of the bootlegs (cassettes or CDs) arrived in my collection but I’m very clear on this tape of Galaxie 500 at CBGB’s in 1990 for a few reasons.
In the very early days of the web site and mailing list I started a correspondence with Lauren Axelrod who was in the band Dart. As I’ve never been an initiator I’ll have to assume that she kicked this off. We exchanged mix tapes - the one she sent me was packed with fab obscurities, the one I sent her she pretty much knew everything on it! She also sent me this tape of Galaxie 500 at CBGBs in 1990.
I met Lauren once at a Luna show at The Garage in 1995, I don’t remember much except the following
- She knew friends of mine I didn’t know she knew.
- She tried to talk me into talking to Dean after the show, I didn’t (and wouldn’t for a few years).
The recording dates from around the release of This Is Our Music and isn’t too bad. The tape arrived (with a mix tape) and a letter from Lauren written on the back of a press release for The Cruel Sea’s The Honeymoon is Over - in the space at the end of the Galaxie 500 tape she included an early version of Dart’s cover of The Field Mice’s And Before The First Kiss that then turned up as the b-side of Dart’s first single - “it’s a bit self-indulgent to put it on the tape but oh well, I’m proud of [it]” - I do love Dart’s version, although it was a bit of a surprise on first listen.
21st October 1988 - Galaxie 500 celebrate the release of Today
To be honest I’m not 100% certain of the exact date that Galaxie 500’s first album was released. But I do know, thanks to a picture in the Box Set booklet, that the launch party took place at The Rat in Boston on 21 October 1988 and that was 20 years ago today.
At the start of the summer of '88 we went back to Noise New York and recorded the _Today_ album. We arrived at 2pm to find Kramer sleeping. We set up and did the basic tracks in about four hors on day1. Day 2 we did vocals and lead guitars, most everything in one take. I remember being completely lost during "Don't Let Our Youth Go to Waste" - there are strange harmonic overtones at the ned of that song that I was never able to replicate - sometimes it's good to have no idea what you're doing [...]. On the third day Kramer mixed the record, adding things as he went..."You know what would be hilarious here?"
Dean Wareham - Galaxie 500 1987 - 1991, p23-25
Melody Maker called the LP "an astonishing debut by anybody's standards," and indeed it is. The incredible, supple beauty that Galaxie spun like straw was so sweetly melancholic that it all but smothered you. Damon's drums drift with the simmering presence of jazz classicism, Naomi's bass is rich with dreamy emotional content, Dean's guitar completes the aural landscapes begun by '69-era Sterling Morrison, and the vocals emerge from the Ouija board of eternity. A highlight of Today is the incredible primal-drone-hunch treatment the band gives to Jonathan Richman's "Don't Let Our Youth Go to Waste.
Byron Coley - Box Set web site 1997
23rd October 1989 - Galaxie 500 release On Fire
Today† is the 35th anniversary of the release of Galaxie 500’s masterpiece second album On Fire - there was a little uncertainty as to its release date but I’m pretty certain that it was released in the UK on 23rd October 1989. At the bottom of this page you can see the reasons why I’m confident that today is On Fire’s birthday.
But if I remember one of the happiest moments, it must have been the night after we finished On Fire. I remember so clearly being in my room at my parents' house in New York, listening to the dub of the final mixes while lying in bed in the dark room. All I had to listen to the tape on was a tinny cassette player, running out of batteries. The light from the streetlight came in the window that night, as it had all my life. Yet it all took on a magical quality for me as I listened and listened. I was so happy and proud of what we had done. Kramer's production had, as usual, taken the songs to a level I could have never imagined in our rehearsals - but even without that, all that worrying and rehearsing and plan- ning and editing of the material before we even entered Noise had really done it. We had made something so real. I think I listened all night. I was so astonished.
Naomi Yang - Galaxie 500 box set booklet (1996)
I remember everything being in sync for _On Fire_ [...] It was exciting, to be making that happen in the studio. It felt like anything we threw into the mix would work.
Damon Krukowski (Temperature's Rising, p103)
It was recorded in two separate sessions [...] we took our time with this one, spending at least seven days making it, maybe more like ten. Kramer really put on his producer's hat and gave this album a lot more attention.
Dean Wareham (Temperature's Rising, p103)
We made that record so easily! [...] It's one of the easiest records I ever made.
Kramer (Temperature's Rising, p103)
On Fire was recorded over two sessions at Noise New York, the first in February 1989 was to make some demos for Slash Records, and the second in August 1989 - these two sessions produced all the tracks for the album, the three extra tracks for the Blue Thunder EP, and a few extras some that turned up on the box set Uncollected disc, and others on the recent Uncollected Noise New York release.
And so, armed with a full album so that “we would be able to avoid a discussion with labels about who was going to produce the album” Dean Wareham, (Black Postcards, p66) they passed on Slash and towards the end of August 1989 they signed with Rough Trade.
Rough Trade is proud to announce the signing of Boston-based trio, Galaxie 500. The band's first release on Rough Trade will be a full LP On Fire recorded at Noise New York, and produced by Kramer (Bongwater, Butthole Surfers, B.A.L.L.)
Rough Trade press release, 28th August 1989
Shortly after the release the band headed out on an extensive tour of the UK and Europe.
For the 30th anniversary of the album Dean recorded a “commentary” for the album for streaming service Pandora:
For On Fire’s 30th birthday I produced an slbum/fanzine, it has long since sold out but you can download a copy of the booklet here and listen to / buy the album on Bandcamp.
For On Fire’s 25th birthday I posted a birthday tribute post ~ like this but with different words and pics.
† Why today?
This is the evidence that Galaxie 500’s On Fire was released on the 23rd of October:
- This UK press release claims that “Boston based trio Galaxie 500 […] are set to release their second album ‘On Fire’ on 23rd October”.
- Simon Reynolds review of the album was in the 28th October edition of Melody Maker.
- Melody Maker always came out the Wednesday before the date on the cover which would have been 25th October.
- Records in the UK were released on a Monday and you’d want the record to be in the shops when folk opened their Melody Maker on Wednesday - so On Fire must have been released on the 23 October.
Records in the US were apparently released on a Tuesday - so US release date was possibly the 24th October - a US press release dating from August 1989 when Galaxie 500 signed to Rough Trade, suggests the album would be released on 20 October, but as that’s a Friday I’ll dismiss it.
There is also a radio promo press release that suggests it will be released on the 16th October but suspect that either this was a mistake, or that at some point release was delayed a week.
Feel free to correct me if you think I’m wrong - but I’ll need some strong evidence to change my mind :)
This weeks discoveries and rediscoveries
- I wrote about Galaxie 500 and cars for this week’s Substack post https://aheadfullofwishes.substack.com/p/galaxie-500-the-band-and-the-car