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 #53
[349] Luna - In The Flesh (radio promo)
This is a radio promo copy of Luna’s In The Flesh single that I guess I picked up on Discogs or eBay at some point although I can’t see the evidence of that in my email.
The single has no label, just the bare vinyl and a small square sticker with the letter A to tell the radio stations which side to play… I can’t imagine that (m)any played it though. The single is in a card sleeve with Luna “In The Flesh” written on it in felt tip pen and a sticker that reads…
ERIC, PAM, POLLY
RADIO PROMOTIONS
0181 910 3333
RELEASE DATE
21.4.97
The release date is written in (a different coloured) felt tip pen, and below is the Island logo (Trade 2 who released the single was part of Island Records). A Google of “Eric, Pam, Polly” brings up only one result which is a casette promo of second album by Salad from RELEASE DATE 19 MAY 1997, although a Google of their phone number reveals that it seems to be the London office of Island.
I must admit that I haven’t thought about Salad for years but did have their first couple of albums (although I can’t find them) and a few CD singles/EPs (the one of which I can find that I apparently paid 30p for). A surprisingly annoying amount of my records and CDs seemed to go AWOL on our move from London to Whitley Bay… I don’t think it was anything sinister, I suspect some of the wrong boxes went to a charity shop, and I’m still convinced that there must be a box (or more) that my sister stored for us still in a garage somewhere!
Anyway… since most of what I know of this single was covered when I wrote about my proper copy, and what I know of the original in my ‘originals’ post about In The Flesh, here’s Salad’s Motorbike to Heaven:
- Catalogue Number: AHFOW 11/002
- Artist: Luna
- Title: In The Flesh / Early Morning
- Notes: Radio promo
- Packaging: Card sleeve
- Format: 7”
Previously in my record collection:
[350] Damon & Naomi - Song to the Siren (CD/DVD)
This is the first release of Damon & Naomi’s fraudulent live album and I think I have moaned about that enough over the last few months so it’s time to talk some more about the other disc in this double disc set.
I must admit that when I talked about 1001 Nights back in February while I dipped into the videos included I never sat through them all… I had other things on my mind.
To be honest I’m not sure when the last time I sat down and watched Song to the Siren all the way through and I decided to do it this time with Damon & Naomi’s commentary which I guess I probably did when the release first arrived in 2002 but certainly haven’t done since.
A few random notes based on this viewing:
- This was Naomi’s first time making a film, she points out a couple of times her inexperience. Since then film/video making has become quite an important part of her cv.
- This tour was the first time that Damon and Naomi had encountered The Clientele, a band that would loom large in the coming years.
- They turn the camera on to journalist Carsten. Carsten as well as being a journalist was a keen and active member of the Galaxie 500 Mailing List - after the shows he was at Carsten sent me his review in English to publish on AHFoW (I think it had only been published in German before).
Another special treat - very much in the same way that “Blue Moon” had almost moved me to tears at the show in 1998 - was “Song To The Siren” by Tim Buckley. A great tune that sounded quite perfect in this sparse arrangement. Even better though was the discussion that followed. Damon pointed out that he used the early lyrics of the song (“I was puzzled like the oyster I’m as troubled as the tide”, and not “troubled as the newborn child”) and then was trying to make the connection to the Odyssey, which got him in big trouble, as Naomi couldn’t see the connection and told him that he didn’t get it right. Not knowing that my major is sociology and not literature she even asked me to back up her theory (I couldn’t) but I suppose it would be fun to find out who’s right.
Carsten Wohlfeld - Review: Something for your musical education (AHFoW, 29th May 2001)
Here’s Carsten being interviewed and Damon & Naomi playing Song to the Siren:
The camera had been handed to photographer Stefan Claudius, whose gorgeous photos taken in Utrecht were used in the CD/DVD packaging and had also been sent to me to post on AHFoW by Carsten:
The tour then reaches spain and the DVD includes a clip from the Spansih TV show that likely caused all the problems that led to the (not-) live album. Damon & Naomi with Kurihara play four songs and the presenter’s intro is hilariously sweet. You can see the whole show on YouTube:
The film ends in Barcelona with frolicking on the beach and sunset in Parc Guell.
There’s no footage from the show in San Sebastian!
- Catalogue Number: 10/028
- Artist: Damon & Naomi
- Title: Song to the Siren
- Notes: Contains a CD and a DVD of tour diary.
- Format: 1xCD / 1xDVD
- Bought from wherever I bought records when it was released.
- Buy ‘Song to the Siren’ on Bandcamp
Progress report #7 (301 - 350)
This will most likely be the last progress report since the current estimates for the series are:
- Total posts: 387
- Current predicted end date: 14th September 2026
… although I still expect that to change!
- Total number of posts: 330
- Total word count: 134,515 this is up 21,467 since post 300 - I have changed the way I count words so this is more accurate which is why it’s only 11,857 higher than the count in progress report #6. This does however mean that it’s overtaken
- Tales from Earthsea - Ursula K. Le Guin
- Atonement - Ian McEwan
- The Silmarillion - J. R. R. Tolkien
- … and is still heading for
- The Return of the King - J. R. R. Tolkien
- A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
- 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea - Jules Verne
It seems that Damon & Naomi have been punching above their weight during the last 50 posts, being the primary artist in 15 of them - so 30% of the posts, whereas over the whole 350 they are closer to 17% of total posts.
| Primary act | % of 301 to 350 | % of 1 to 350 |
|---|---|---|
| Damon & Naomi | 30 | 17.7 |
| Dean & Britta | 10 | 12.6 |
| Dean Wareham | 20 | 23.1 |
| Galaxie 500 | 14 | 18.6 |
| Luna | 24 | 26.6 |
| n/a | 2 | 1.4 |
The “n/a” are the posts that technically shouldn’t be in the series if I followed my rules. But… my rules!
Those five are:
- Angel Corpus Christi - Bewitched: A Tribute to Luna
- Britta Phillips & Kramer - Nocturnes
- Various - On Fire 30
- Various - This Music Is Ours
- Various - Decomposing: The Songs of Galaxie 500 and Luna
Since I started the series there at the beginning of 2023 there have been 543 posts to AHFoW. 360 have been related to the My record collection series which means there have only been 183 regular posts which I guess brings up the question… what will I do with all the time I have after September!?
Luna in South America in 2001
Earlier in the week I posted an article about Luna’s trip to South America in September 2011.
https://aheadfullofwishes.substack.com/p/luna-in-south-america-in-2001
Shortly afterwards Rony shared a recording of the band’s show in Montevideo in audio and video form:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYaTatZ41SE
This week in history
10th May 1995 - Luna at The Borderline, London
Thirty one years ago tonight Luna headlined a show at The Borderline in London. My memories of the show are hazy - 26 years is a long time - I was at the show with my pals Jackie and Stuart (and maybe Ken?). The thing that stuck in my head was that this was the show that Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab joined the band to perform their cover of Bonnie and Clyde - I’m not sure but this might have been the only time this was performed live with Laetitia (feel free to correct me if I’m wrong).
I wrote about this show, and the AHFoW connection with Stereolab in a recent Substack post
https://aheadfullofwishes.substack.com/p/ahfow-connections-1-stereolab-laetitia
11th May 2011 - Damon & Naomi at Cafe Oto, London
Damon & Naomi played a fan show at Cafe Oto. Damon drummed for support act Richard Youngs, and Michio Kurihara played with Damon & Naomi
Damon & Naomi seem to visit London quite often during May (although sadly not during this May) - I wrote about some of their other visits last year
https://aheadfullofwishes.substack.com/p/damon-and-naomi-in-london-in-mays?utm_source=publication-search
14th May 2020 - Dean & Britta’s first full COVID live-stream
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iu6Z-qpQ9OY
https://aheadfullofwishes.substack.com/p/from-the-archive-dean-and-brittas
https://aheadfullofwishes.substack.com/p/dean-and-brittas-covid-shows-part