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.
My record collection
[304] Luna - Smile (CD)
This is the CD version of Smile, and is because of that one of my earliest Luna acquisitions, after Lunapark. It was released in 1993, one of three exceptional EPs the band released between Lunapark and Bewitched (although one of them I don’t own and was an amalgam of the other two). I’ve already written about the 12” single.
The EP has the album versions of Smile and Slash Your Tires, Rollercoaster which I covered in the previous post, and in a lost tracks post a few years back. But it’s the fourth track that really made this EP essential…
Hey Sister was recorded by Dave Fridmann at Toxic Shock Studios in NYC. Grasshopper of Mercury Rev played guitar and pre-Stanley drummer Byron Guthrie played drums, and the middle eight wig out is sensational - the Lunapark Hey Sister is great, but the rawness of this version means I love it all the more… I love Dean’s counting “six {beat / beat / beat} seven {beat / beat / beat} eight {beat / beat} OK”.
I paid £4.50 for this at Rough Trade in Covent Garden - the price sticker has an “071” number and the 071 codes were discontinued in 1995… although I’d be very surprised if I didn’t buy this in the first few weeks of release in 1993!
Last time out I was just about to go and see the EP cover star Kim Novak in “Bell, Book, and Candle”… again, this time I’ve just watched “Vertigo”… again - I only have the two copies of the single so no “Pal Joey”!?
- Catalogue Number: AHFOW 10/069
- Artist: Luna
- Title: Smile
- Packaging: Slimline jewel case
- Format: CD
- Bought from Rough Trade Covent Garden in 1993 for £4.50 (which seems quite pricey!
Previously in my record collection: