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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Substack: Connections #1 - Stereolab / Laetitia Sadiier
Back in November of last year Damon & Naomi announced that they would be playing three nights at London’s Cafe Oto with “friends” and one of the first of those to be mentioned was Stereolab’s Laetitia Sadier.
I arrived in London on the day of the first show. The show opened with a short comedy routine by Stewart Lee and then Laetitia played a lovely solo set - just her, a guitar. a trombone, and a box of electronic tricks (“my band”). It was glorious and was a perfect start to the evening. Another short Stewart Lee routine was followed by Damon & Naomi playing a short set cherry picking from their post-Galaxie 500 career.
And then… the encore.
They were joined on-stage by Laetita and by Mark Webber of Pulp for an encore… and what an encore! Damon & Naomi don’t often dip into their Galaxie 500 catalogue, after a few years they started occasionally playing Blue Thunder, and more recently Another Day and Listen, The Snow is Falling - but apparenly both Mark and Laetitia independently suggested playing Galaxie 500 songs at the show… so they did, with Laetitia taking the vocals they played Flowers, When Will You Come Home (Quand rentres-tu à la maison), and Tugboat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGE2dwf6uQs
It was beautiful, I was in tears. I honestly can’t even begin to express the joy of seeing this collision of my two absolute favourite bands from the late 80s/early 90s. Add to that Mark Webber’s beautiful guitar augmentations. Perfect!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oZhvxWfaIM
Laetitia (and Mark) came back on day three to join more friends for a glorious Listen, The Snow is Falling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHKzpcki-30
A Bandcamp-only album of the three nights of Galaxie 500 encores from Cafe Oto is an essential purchase.
https://damonandnaomi.bandcamp.com/album/whats-past-is-prologue-live-at-caf-oto
Of course this wasn’t the first time Stereolab had touched the world of Galaxie 500 / AHFoW.
In the early 90s it was quite common for bands on indie labels in the UK to sign to majors in the US, and Stereolab who released records through their own Duophonic label in the UK signed to Elektra in the US. They were signed by the late Terry Tolkin who wrote (in his own unique style) about the signing of Stereolab on Facebook… and Discogs (where you can still read it).
After I called Timothy, Laeticia, Mother Mary and Sir M.Pikey ( their manager. still is btw) to tell all of them all all about the Great News, that the legal teams on both sides of the Pond had come to a mutually beneficial and binding agreement and that Stereolab (#hereintoreferredtoas: "The Groop") would become the Second band that I would sign at the Elektra Entertainment Groop (#hereintoreferredtoas: "EE"). The Terms were VERY generous for our little Groop. Mainly because I was intimately involved in granting them whatever they and I could think up in conference calls from my office. The Groops barristers would then phone our crazy proposals to Elektras lawyers on the floor below me who would then call me in my office to me to ask if I was willing to accept our own demands or not.
Terry Tolkin - 30th July 2019
I’ve left in all of Terry’s spelling and punctuation quirks.
Terry mentions that Stereolab were the second band he signed to Elektra, Luna were the first and, since Terry had both Luna and Stereolab under his wing, he suggested that a duet might be in order…
Terry Tolkin had recently signed Stereolab to Elektra. He suggested that Laetitia Sadier and I sing a duet together - something by Serge Gainsbourg. Laetitia picked "Bonnie and Clyde," and helped me with my French pronunciation. Jane Scarpantoni came in to add some frantic cello parts. We played the song fast, and we played it slow, and it worked both ways.
Not only that, it seemed to help our profile in England, where we released an EP containing "Chinatown," the two very different recordings of "Bonnie and Clyde," and Talking Heads' "Thank You for Sending Me an Angel." All of a sudden, we started getting good reviews in England. Melody Maker called the EP the single of the week.
Dean Wareham - Black Postcards (2008)
This was the only time Luna got a Single of the Week in one of the major uk music inkies. My clipping of the review doesn’t include the reviewer’s name and I haven’t managed to track it down but they make it quite clear that a major influence on the EP getting SOTW was because of the Stereolab connection. The review states that the writer had been “supremely disappointed with Luna” and that “every Stereolab single to date has been an MM SOTW”.
TALK about symmetry, eh? This collaboration between thoughtful Yank types Luna and Stereolab's Laetitia Sadier is the sound of angels on Phyceptone, and therefore I pronounce it the near-perfect and accompaniment to "Sour Times".
It starts with a guitar shimmering softly in a corner somewhere-maybe a bar in Texas. Then Dean Warnham's voice, a faded and dispassionate American drawl, murmurs, "Vouz-avez l'histoire de Jesse James..." and that's that! He sings in French!
No contest, SOTW 2.
Having always been a Galaxie 500 fan, but supremely disappointed with Luna, it's heartening to know ol' Dean's still got it in him to do the job, and he and Laetitia gently croon their way through this downbeat, effortlessly evocative Serge Gainsbourg tune. Seedy, dust-blown, lazy, drunk and utterly exquisite. There's violins and mandolins, too, if further incentives are needed. One final point worth mentioning: every Stereolab single to date has been an MM SOTW, and this carries on that noble traditional.
The best Franco/American teaming this side of Paris, Texas.
Melody Maker singles review - April 1995 (or thereabouts)
To my knowledge Luna only ever played the song once live with Laetitia and that was at The Borderline in 1995, I was at the show and for a while I started to worry that I’d dreamed that duet - to the point that I even asked Dean once if it had actually happened! A few years ago I was chatting to Joe about the show and he mentioned that he had recorded it:
You can hear the whole show over on YouTube (audio only).
Sadly 1995 was before we all carried cameras in our pockets and I rarely took a proper camera to gigs, and it seems not many others did. The only picture I’ve ever seen of this show can be found in David Rose’s Gig Diaries, and sadly it was not taken during Bonnie and Clyde.
Stereolab had grown out of wonderful, jangly, London band McCarthy, sadly I never got to see them until the very end of their existence. I had albums, and singles, but saw them live just once and that was supporting The Chills at ULU in March 1990. I have memories of that night although I’m not sure if they are all real memories:
- I’m pretty certain Laetitia Sadier was on-stage with McCarthy for at least some of the set.
- I think McCarthy had sound problems during their set?
- Did Martin Phillips of The Chills have to leave the stage to vomit?
- Justin Harwood would have been playing bass with The Chills but I wasn’t aware that I needed to take note of that.
McCarthy split shortly after and from the ashes rose Stereolab.
I loved Stereolab, at that point possibly as much as any band I loved. We saw then quite a few times over the years - here are a few I can remember (but there were many more):
- Finsbury Park 1992 - I hadn’t intended going to this one but Ken managed to wangle me a freebie via his Setanta connection since The Frank and Walters (and I think A House) were playing. As well as Stereolab I saw sets by Mercury Rev, PJ Harvey when they were a band, Miracle Legion and Spiritualized. Apparently Pulp played too but I don’t think I saw them! The Cult were headlining, I left after a couple of songs by them.
- The Powerhaus 1993 - I remember being at this show more than I remember the show! I know that it was great… and I think hot!
- The Conway Hall 1993 - this was a benefit and we assumed the ‘lab would be headlining. We arrived mid-way through their set, this seemed to be a pattern. They finished with Stomach Worm, I can’t remember who else was on the bill… or how long we stayed.
- Shepherds Bush Empire 1995 - this was a co-headline with Yo La Tengo… who played one of their angry/inaccessible sets! Hazel was not impressed and I was never able to convince her to come and see YLT again!
- Bristol Bierkeller 1996 - in 1996 Hazel worked in Bristol for a few months - she’d spend the weeks there and the weekends at home - except this weekend when I went to Bristol and we went to see this show. Tortoise were supporting (although it was possibly another co-headline show). My enduring memory is a long and wonderful Super Electric.
- Kilburn National 1996 - Hazel was pregnant with Adam for this one, I must admit I thought she was more pregnant but it seems this was six months before he was born.
Since seeing Stereolab was something that Hazel and I did together, after Adam was born we didn’t seem to go out together so much. It was seven years before we saw them again, and in the intervening years they had released the albums I was less taken with, and of course Mary had been tragically killed. I wasn’t sure I’d enjoy the show… and to start with I did struggle but…
And then it just turned - I'll admit that it was something special from the past that turned the show - a good but not great Lo Boob Oscillator reminded me how good they can be (are!) - and rather than make me angry it made me want to dance. Suddenly they hit a groove - the brass wasn't as imposing, the songs (only a few of which I recognised) started rolling along without the awkwardness and unfamiliarity of earlier. Suddenly I loved this band as much as I had at the Powerhouse back in 93.
The only band that can still make me dance (Everything's Swirling - 25th August 2004)
… and that was the last time I saw Stereolab. I have seen Laetitia a few times since, notably in the pouring rain at Indietracks in 2015 and more recently at The Cluny after we had moved to the NE in 2021.
I will be seeing Stereolab again in August when they play Krankenhaus 2026.
