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
[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.
