A Head Full of Wishes

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.

<-- back to home


Categories: substack

Substack
A Head Full of Wishes newsletter #14

Damon & Naomi - The Earth is Blue (LP)

This is the LP of The Earth is Blue that last time out I declared it as “certainly their most beautiful album” and nothing in the two months since that post has changed my mind!

Damon & Naomi - The Earth is Blue (LP)
Damon & Naomi - The Earth is Blue (LP)

Of course, it is even more beautiful on LP, not because of any of that nonsense about “analog warmth” or “dynamic range” - no, it’s more beautiful on LP because it comes in a 12” square package and therefore has a lovely big version of Naomi’s lovely picture on the front… although I do have to say that this meant I noticed two things I hadn’t really noticed before:

  1. The picture is horizontally flipped and repeated across its two sides… this was the same as on the CD but I never really clicked that this wasn’t a lovely wide panorama - nope it’s the same picture twice (on the digipack CD it’s the same picture two and a bit times).
  2. The picture suffered somewhat being blown up to 12” square (twice) and is a little less sharp becuase of that - I guess because it maybe wasn’t shot in high enough resolution in the first place? Or maybe the printing let it down slightly.

That said, it’s still more beautiful than the CD. The record is in a printed inner sleeve, that is blue monotone but has a selection of photos that were in colour in the CD booklet, but… bigger and differently cropped and the blue tone suits them perfectly - so, despite there being fewer pictures and them having less colour, they are so much better on the LP… look at this lovely picture of Naomi from the LP inner sleeve:

The Earth is Blue inner sleeve detail
The Earth is Blue inner sleeve detail

I bought the LP direct from Damon & Naomi in 2013 at the same time as I pre-ordered the Wondrous World bootleg edition. I paid $12 which was a bargain then… and can still be bought from Damon & Naomi’s online store for just $15 which is even more of a bargain if you take inflation into account, expecially for something this beautiful.

Previously in my record collection:

Füxa - Covered in Stars (LP)

So Füxa put in their final appearance in this series with their most recent record from 2022… although I believe Randall is working on another Füxa album so I wouldn’t be surprised if he/they squeezed in again before this series wraps up.

Füxa - Covered in Stars (LP)
Füxa - Covered in Stars (LP)

Covered in Stars is an album of the electronic spacey goodness you would expect and has sleeve credits for Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips, although no clues as to where they turn up, although that’s Britta singing on the opening track and I suspect that’ll be Dean playing guitar on it?

The album is a picture disc, although still comes in a printed sleeve - the record itself gives no clear declaration of which is the A and which is the B side, and even resorting to tilting the LP at the right angle and reading the matrix numbers doesn’t help since the number on side A ends with a B, and the number on side B ends with an A!

Actually I’ve just noticed that the album has an A side and an AA side - so it’s a double a-side album! Of course it’s not it may think it is but it has an A side (called A) and a B side (called AA)!

My pressing is very crackly - I hadn’t noticed before… maybe I didn’t listen to it when I bought it and just went straight to the download?

Füxa release their records on fab London indie Rocket Girl who shortly before this release had celebrated the 20th anniversary of it’s “first release proper” with a lovely (if mostly impossible to read) book, with a compilation CD, a Mogwai flexidisc, and a Bardo Pond / Azusa Plane 7” - a lovely muddle of formats!

  • Catalogue Number: AHFOW 12/093
  • Artist: Füxa
  • Title: Covered in Stars
  • Packaging: Picture disc in printed sleeve
  • Format: LP
  • Bought direct from Rocket Girl for £20
  • Buy ‘Covered in Stars’ on Bandcamp

Previously in my record collection:

Galaxie 500 items in the John Peel auction next week

Now that John Peel’s copy of Today has gone beyond my budget I guess I should point out the Galaxie 500 items that are in the John Peel Collection sale that is happening (online) next week.

Lot 193: GALAXIE 500 - TODAY LP (AU 002 - US ORIGINAL PRESSING)
This is an original Aurora copy of Galaxie 500’s first album. It comes with some promo material and the sleeve has been defaced:

John Peel's copy of Galaxie 500's Today
John Peel's copy of Galaxie 500's Today
An original US copy of Galaxie 500 - Today (AU 002, US original pressing). The record is in Ex+ condition with clean labels. Ex sleeve with 'promo not for sale' written in black pen on the front of the cover. Includes handwritten letter to John Peel and promotional inserts.

Lot 193: GALAXIE 500 - TODAY LP (AU 002 - US ORIGINAL PRESSING)

Lot 153: ROUGH TRADE - TEST PRESSINGS
Galaxie 500’s This Is Our Music is bundled with a couple of other Rough Trade LPs (Butthole Surfers and Paul Leary) the auction describes them as “test pressings” but the picture shows the full sleeve with the barcode so I suspect that this is just the regular release, with added promo material.

John Peel's copy of Galaxie 500's This Is Our Music
John Peel's copy of Galaxie 500's This Is Our Music
A pack of 3 x LP test pressings from Rough Trade. Titles are Galaxie 500 - This Is Our Music (ROUGH 156, Ex/ Ex+, includes press release), Butthole Surfers - Piouhgd (R2081260, proof sleeve, Ex+/ Ex, includes press release) and Paul Leary - The History Of Dogs (R20812631, proof sleeve, inc press release, Ex+/VG+ with creasing).

Lot 153: ROUGH TRADE - TEST PRESSINGS

I’m not sure what’s happened to Peel’s copy of On Fire.

The auction is 29th July at 10:00 but you can register now and place bids on any items ahead of the auction. Note that you end up paying 28% more than you bid!

This week in history

22nd July 2010 - Dean & Britta perform two of the 13 Most Beautiful

Dean & Britta popped into WNYC while touring 13 Most Beautiful and performed two songs… watch the video and see Dean get a little annoyed at the wrong video being played for the second number.

Dean & Britta - two of 13 Most Beautiful (play on YouTube)

24th/25th July 2020 - Dean & Britta in lockdown

On the 25th July 2020 Dean & Britta played another of their lockdown live streams - this time a Galaxie 500 heavy set. The day before they trailed the show on Instagram with The King of Spain.

Dean & Britta - The King of Spain (24th July 2020) (play on YouTube)

I wrote about Dean & Britta’s live streamed shows during COVID a few months back… and will post the second part later in the year/

22nd to 23rd July 2022 - Dean Wareham in the UK

Dean’s first post-COVID tour arrived in the UK, first show I saw was in London, and the second, in Worthing, was my dad’s second Dean Wareham show!

This week’s discoveries and rediscoveries

this weeks other discoveries are only tangentially AHFoW related but… related they are…

  • On Sunday I was lucky enough to be catch the second show The Pastels have played in six years in a very hot upstairs room of a pub in Byker.
    The Pastels at The Cumberland Arms (July 2025)
    The Pastels at The Cumberland Arms (July 2025)
  • It’s just been announced that Tacoma Radar’s beautiful 2004 album No One Waved Goodbye is getting a deluxe 2xLP limited edition release in a couple of months:
    There’s a exclusive version available through Monorail or you can buy it in a couple of different colours direct from Numero Group - honestly if you like Galaxie 500 you need to have this in your collection.
    My Tacoma Radar collection
    My Tacoma Radar collection

    I picked up the postcards at a gig at The Spitz, where they supported Camera Obscura, I always feel a guilty that I grabbed more than my fair share of them - particularly as Richie from the band asked me for a photo of one since even they didn’t have one!