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 #73
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Dean & Britta will be taking 13 Most Beautiful to Bogata in Columbian in a couple of weeks
- Dean & Britta: 13 Most Beautiful - 10th October 2026 - Teatro Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, Bogotá, Colombia
This week I posted the last two entries in my record collection, a project that has taken over three and a half years. Heaven knows how I’ll fill my time without it!
My record collection [391] Luna - Dear Paulina (framed)
I’ve probably said pretty much all there is to be said about how the single of Luna’s “Dear Paulina” came about, so I’m not too sure what this post is going to be. I suspect It’ll cover a lot of ground that’s been in the three earlier posts (see below), the long lost tracks post I made a few years ago, and the Substack rehash from last year.
Having completed the single, and sold as many as I could I decided that I really ought to have a signed copy of it on my wall so I asked Dean if he could sort that out for me. I had paid the band in copies of the single, so Dean took one around the band, got them to sign it, and sent it back to me. I bought a couple of cheap frames and it has lived on the wall of the three homes we’ve had since the single was released… and will be on the wall of the fourth soon (I hope).
In May 2017 Luna launched a Pledgemusic campaign to fund the covers album, A Sentimental Education and for one of the extras you could buy, Dean would write out by hand the lyrics of a song of your choice. I initially resisted, it was tricky to justify the cost, but by July the idea of having Dear Paulina written out by Dean hanging next to the signed single seemed perfect, so I just went for it.
Now, I know people put out singles all the time, I know it must be a thrill, but also it’s what they do. I ran a mailing list and a web page, that’s what I did. Putting out a single was a significant event. It wasn’t a record label putting out another single, it was a fan putting out a single by a band he loves. Of course labels love their bands… but it’s surely a different kind of love? When there’s another single by another band you love coming along I guess it’s something you just get on with. For me this was a one-off. It was important for me to do it right, and do it as well as I could. And I wanted it to be something that I could look back on and say “wow, I made that happen”.
Having said that I didn’t really have any idea how to make it happen so am grateful to a lot of people who helped with that, whether it was friends or acquaintances, or the companiues I used to get it over the line. There were a number of significant milestones on the road to getting the single out… here are a few that pop into my head:
- Asking Dean if I could and him saying “yes” - I really had no idea what I was doing, and it really was just a half-baked idea that I didn’t really expect to come to anything. When Dean said “yes” I suddenly had to start figuring things out.
- The DAT arriving. Dean had suggested he might dig out a couple of demos for the single, which of course would have been amazing, but, more amazing was getting something as unique as Dear Paulina. A genuine Luna rarity that (as of now) only exists:
- in an unpleasant scene in a film
- on a 7” single released by me (546 copies)
- on the rarities bonus disc on the Long Players 92-99 box set (2000 copies)
- Getting the single cut at Abbey Road Studios
Now, thousands of records have been cut at Abbey Road, so the fact that “Dear Paulina” was cut at Abbey Road doesn’t really mean anything. Except, it was cut at Abbey Road with Hazel and myself sitting on a sofa watching. It’s the only record that that has happened to† (so far). - Getting a finished article into my hands, and into the hands of the friends I had made on the mailing list. I just read through the archives with a glow at how it was received. I think because, while it reached a lot further than the mailing list members it was actually made just for them/us!
The big surprise to me was that I never actually managed to sell all the copies I had. It was trickier in the pre-Paypal days, and I guess ‘99 was close to vinyl’s nadir, but I really was expecting them all to go instantly. In 1999 there were about 350 subscribers to the mailing list.
You can probably tell that, 27 years on, I still look back on “Dear Paulina” with a ridiculous amount of pride.
- Catalogue Number: AHFOW 11/048
- Artist: Luna
- Title: Dear Paulina / Seven-Eleven
- Notes: Signed and framed and in ‘the museum’
- Format: 7”
Previously in my record collection:
- [065] Luna - Dear Paulina
- [141] Luna - Dear Paulina test pressings
- [256] Luna - Dear Paulina (plain white sleeve)
† I had been to Abbey Road for a single cut once before, when I sat on the sofa with Ken watching the Brian single being cut, that was also a thrill. You can read about that on Substack too.
My record collection [392] Galaxie 500 - Tugboat / King of Spain
When I started this series back in January 2023 I never really thought about the end. I just put together a spreadsheet, randomised it, and started picking releases off the top of the list. At some point I started to think that it probably ought to finish with some significance so the last post is about where it all began,
Galaxie 500 recorded Tugboat and King of Spain at Noise New York in February 1988 and it was released on Marc Alghini’s Aurora Records which came into existence specifically to release Galaxie 500’s first single (and LP). The single was released in May 1988, I’m not sure of the actual date but here are a few dates I am fairly sure of (garnered from the excellent Temperature’s Rising book):
- There’s an invoice for production of the single from Nashville Record Productions dated 11th May. Total cost for 1000 copies: $980.22 (that would buy you about eight or nine copies now!)
- There’s a series of pictures of the band, and Marc, numbering the singles dated “May 1988”.
- There’s an interview by Francis DiMenno where he mentions being with the band, and the single, on 25th May.
So, given that record release day in the US was on a Tuesday I’d guess that the single was released either on the 24th or 31st May (at a push maybe 17th but that seems unlikely, although it’d be nice if it shared my birthday!)
I of course only discovered the band much later so I never owned a copy of the single.
A quick aside:
The other challenger for last post in the series was the cassette on which I first heard Galaxie 500. The cassette had been lent to me by Ken, and returned to him, so I don’t actually have it. But it does still exist since he sent me a photo of it a few months ago. Unfortunately the casette had been filed away (misplaced) by the time he sent me the pic so he wasn’t able to get it to me. So, sadly it’s not in my collection. All I have is a photo!
It was hearing On Fire on that cassette in summer 1989 that made me a fan.
Anyway… so I didn’t own a copy of Galaxie 500’s first single and by the time I was a collector they were priced beyond my reach. At some point in the early 2000s I obviously let slip to Damon and/or Naomi that I didn’t have this single, or in fact any Galaxie 500 7” vinyl. Shortly after that a package arrived that fixed that in a spectacular way.
A beautiful pile of 7” singles arrived, including this. My copy is from the first run in blue vinyl and hasn’t been numbered. I keep saying it but I’m so lucky that I fell in love with such a lovely band!
- Catalogue Number: 11/048
- Artist: Galaxie 500
- Title: Tugboat / King of Spain
- Format: 7”
And that’s the end of my collection. Although, of course it’s not, it will continue to grow because thankfully Dean, Damon and Naomi seem to have no intention of calling it quits, and there are still some gaps in my collection that need filling.
Two posts a week for three and a half years for something I thought I’d rattle off in a couple of months. Thanks for reading. I’ll do a proper series post mortem at some point although the next few weeks of my life will be a bit busy. The collection is now all boxed up and ready to move with us a few miles up the coast.
In the next few days I’ll try and get a post mortem post together.
Upcoming anniversaries
- 2nd October 1996 - Luna in London
I must admit that I don’t really remember this show too well but it was 30 years ago so I’ll forgive myself. I do have my ticket though!
Luna ticket - 6th October 2016 - Luna in Oxford
Luna played in Oxford, and Britta played a short supporting set (backed by the rest of Luna) “The room was pretty empty, and didn’t fill too much over the course of the evening - sadly it seems students these days don’t take advantage of the treats served up on their doorsteps. Fortunately while the students hadn’t made much effort we had, and AHFoW folk were a sizeable chunk of the audience!”
Luna in Oxford - 7th October 2016 - Luna in London
… and the next night in London
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRoEJrEEzX0 - 7th October 1997 - Damon & Naomi at the 12 Bar in London
Damon and Naomi arrived onstage shortly after, Damon playing an acoustic guitar and Naomi alternating between bass and sruti (that wonderful drone box that we should all now be acquainted with). They played “one long set with a break in the middle”, opening with “The Navigator” and proceeding through a number of tracks from the two albums (not in set order!) “Information Age”, an exquisite “Tour Of The World”, “Forgot To Get High”, “New York City”, “How Long” etc., they also treated us to the debut live performance of their next single “Kinetoscope” (Blue Rose)
Damon & Naomi at The 12 Bar - 7th October - Damon & Naomi at The Water Rats in London
Damon & Naomi came on and opened with “Judah and The Maccabees”, about midway through the set they did “Song To The Siren” and the rest of the set was all new material. Damon made jokes, told funny stories and tuned his guitar Naomi giggled and was occasionally borderline hysterical a couple of numbers had to be held up so that she could compose herself.
Next week will be quite busy for me, I’ll try and get a newsletter together but… don’t hold your breath!