HollowbodyKay/ Galaxie 500

Just twenty minutes ago I got in from a walk down to the water and the dark hills. I had sat there, on a cinder-block and split log I pilfered from an open waterfront shed, drinking from a Gatorade bottle filled with 2 shots Vodka, 2 shots pomengranate juice, and topped up with lychee soda. I stared across the river wondering what was going on around all the front porch lights and windows I could make out, listening to a Jim White mix, a resequenced Meat Is Murder, and then walked home to my Galaxie 500 mix.

I came in and checked out the board and read yesterday's Fleet Foxes thread.

Now, I love Galaxie 500. Since 1990, On Fire has remained among my favourite ten albums. I have only met a handful of people who listen to them, and have never met anyone else who likes them as much as me. But even I, Kay, have gotta ask:

Galaxie 500 are your favourite band?!

If you have more to say than "Yes," I'd love to hear it. That is a story I'd like to hear. I didn't realize that such a creature as you could still exist in 2009.

So, what are everyone's favourite Galaxie 500 related anecdotes?



Post Edited (03-31-09 23:03)

Many, many years ago I bought On Fire, probably due to all the stellar reviews it was getting. I listened to it a couple of times, didn't get it.

A few weeks later I wrote a song (this would be about the time I moved to Austin, when I still thought of myself as a songwriter) that I was fairly proud of. It was slow, repetitious, it had enigmatic lyrics...it wasn't great, but I thought I'd made a breakthrough. So much so that I kept thinking, "Damn, this almost sounds familiar."

Not long afterward, I put On Fire back on the stereo to give it another shot and realized that my new song was, in fact, "Decomposing Trees" with new lyrics.

Into the scrapheap the song went and off to Half-Price Books went On Fire. I haven't listened to Galaxie 500 since.

"Strange" remains one of my favorite songs. I was pretty disappointed in Luna--less so in Damon & Naomi, but neither had for me the wonderful, pretty strangeness of Galaxie 500. I wonder, are there any other musicians/bands from Harvard, besides Gram Parsons (who dropped out early)?

I never much liked Luna, but I love Damon & Naomi, especially their most recent, overtly psychedelic work.

I liked Luna, but could have stopped buying their albums after the first two and never really noticed anything missing.

And who would've thought Dean Wareham would end up married to Jem from Jem and the Holograms?

On Fire is a great record for sure.

Luna were cool - I have a fascination/obsession with the song "Slash Your Tires" which somehow manages to evoke the Velvets, summarize Shoegaze, predict the Strokes and feel bubblegummy all at the same time.



Post Edited (04-01-09 13:21)

harvard:

rivers cuomo
tom morello (rage aginbst something)
Bonnie raitt (radcliffe but kind of counts; ask helen keller. well. don't ask her. scream at her)
pete seeger
yo yo ma
dean w


that'd be a crazy band.

ernie brooks
jerry harrison
gram parsons
harry shearer

Conan O'Brien

Re-read the original post and you'll see that I did indeed qualify the word "favorite" with the word "probably."

Shame on me.

That said, if the house were on fire and I was only allowed to save one item of music, it would be my Galaxie 500 box set. It's small, compact (being composed of compact discs helps), and lovely.

There are a lot of Galaxie 500 items in my Rolodex:

I'm an official member (the only member?) of the "Play Shitty Guitar, The Dean Wareham Way!" School of Guitar Playing. The anecdote about realizing your best new original is actually "________" by Galaxie 500 rings very true to me. If you can learn about three chords, you can join as well.

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Jump in the Wayback Machine with me.

We'd been digging "On Fire" for ages and when I got the "Blue Thunder" EP with the Ralph Carney saxophone tantrum, we all just about crapped ourselves. Some friends were against it, until it was pointed out that Ralph Carney played with Tom Waits. That ended that.

One weekend spent tripping concluded with a friend announcing "I think my head is broke."

I don't remember ever going down to the drugstore to buy Twinkies, but I can attest that under the influence of the right chemicals, everybody standing in line looks strange.

In fact, my entire love of Galaxie 500 is almost certainly drug-fueled. My friends and I frolicked ("frog-licked?") quite liberally with the psychedelics "back in the day" and I think we generally agreed that nothing daubs over the cracks in a ruined psyche quite like Galaxie 500. It's sparkly and sad and there aren't too many knots to bother you when you're trying to relax a little.

So, 'lil trippers? What have we learned today? Galaxie 500 after every mind-bender. That ... candles and a cup of tea. Then you can sit and talk and watch the embers of your mind drop off at their leisure like the burnt ends of logs.

When you're that messed up, a candle is as good as a campfire. I'm here to help.

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I still sorta well up every time I hear "Tugboat." Possibly the most romantic song ever written. I spent eight long years humming "I don't wanna vote for your President."

Love 'em! Three ace LPs and history! THAT is the way to do it.

Criticism Dept:

If they aren't my favorite, they are easily TOP 5. Which brand of auto used their "Instrumental" in it's advertising? I forget. Also, the Sex Pistols cover was a bad idea.

Still love 'em! Three ace LPs, a dopey car advert, a stinky Sex Pistols cover, and history! Not too shabby!

Luna? The Beat Happening cover is all I truly care to remember. Damon & Naomi? Yes, indeedy! Also, "Night Nurse" by Dean & Britta gives me the willies ... BIGTIME!

Also - NO REUNIONS EVER PLEASE!

(((whew)))