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 #19
Another thrown together post as it’s been such a busy week - more on that on Tuesday, I hope!
This week in history
Today is Galaxie 500’s birthday!! Perhaps. On this day in 1987 they played their first live show, in a NYC flat for some friends:
https://aheadfullofwishes.substack.com/p/from-the-archive-galaxie-500s-birthdays
Today should have been Sterling Morrison’s 83rd birthday
Audio: Dean Wareham and Sterling Morrison play Great Jones Street
In 1999 Damon & Naomi were in the UK for the London Terrastock
https://aheadfullofwishes.substack.com/p/damon-and-naomi-in-the-uk-this-week
My record collection: Dean Wareham - I Have Nothing to Say to The Mayor of LA
Dean announced I Have Nothing to Say… in August 2021 and admitted that it was an album that contained “the first fully realized songs I have written in seven years” although obviously we hadn’t really been neglected in that time!
The album was eventually released in November and as well as the eight “fully realized” new songs it also contained covers of Under Skys by a band called Lazy Smoke about who I knew nothing, and Scott Walker’s Duchess which I did know, and had long adored. It wasn’t however too much of a surprise since Dean & Britta had played it during their live streamed shows in September 2020.
The other preview we had had was of The Corridors of Power, which had been played by Luna as part of live streamed show in May 2021:
The album was recorded at a studio on Stinson Beach in northern California and as part of Dean & Britta’s Patreon some video of the recording session was shared… unlisted, via YouTube… and it’s still there and since it’s now three and a half years since it was shared to patrons I’m going to assume that it’s OK for me to share it with everyone else.
Around the time of the album’s release Dean and Britta hosted a Zoom listening party limited to 100 people, I promoted it on AHFoW but have no recollection of the actual event… did I make it? It seems I did since I posted on Instagram how much I enjoyed it! I can’t even blame time-difference exhaustion for not remembering since I posted about it at 10pm… long before my bedtime. I hope I was smart and insightful… if I joined in at all?
The album was announced at the same time as the Quarantine Tapes LP and I bought both for $55 plus shipping. It is in a lovely red vinyl and the back doesn’t have the ridiculous black type on a black background that the CD version has but the type used for the lyrics, while bigger than on the CD, is still too small for the comfort of my eyes!
- Catalogue Number: AHFOW 12/086
- Artist: Dean Wareham
- Title: I Have Nothing to Say to The Mayor of LA
- Format: LP
- Bought from Dean Wareham’s shop along with Quarantine Tapes LP for $55 _ shipping
- Buy ‘I Have Nothing to Say to The Mayor of LA’ on Bandcamp
Previously in my record collection:
- [155] Dean Wareham - I Have Nothing to Say to The Mayor of LA (CD)
- [160] Dean Wareham - I Have Nothing to Say to the Mayor of LA (test pressing)
Well… I guess that post has exposed my aging quite badly:
- I’m losing my memory.
- My eyesight is knackered.
My record collection - Radio Free Steve (DVD)
In 2008 I came across a post on “mixtape sharing” website Mixwit that offered a Luna “starting point” and as well as lots of the familiar and the expected was listed a song called Westbound and Down that meant nothing to me. My first thought was that it was not going to be our Luna, but no - that was clearly Dean’s voice there.
I posted to the mailing list to see what I could find out and a couple of folk recognised the song as a re-working of Eastbound and Down from Smokey and The Bandit. Sean then got in touch with me to fill in some details:
This was something I agreed to do for a friend in Austin Texas, who came to Luna shows. His brother had made a low-budget movie called "Radio Free Steve", and they wanted a cover of this song with lyrics slightly changed for the last scene of the film.
I play the bass and all guitars on the tune, Lee's on drums, and of course Dean is singing.
Email from Sean Eden, 18th August 2008
A year later Elaine got in touch and said that Kiek had bought a copy of the film on DVD for himself, and one for me. It was duly sent over but with the advice that I really shouldn’t watch it since it was particularly bad. Around the same time someone else got in touch to say that they had seen the film and also advised that I shouldn’t watch it!
My copy arrived and, because I trusted people it remained in its cellophane wrapper unwatched… for sixteen years! But now, because I said I’d listen to (and watch) everything while doing this series it’s about to come out of its wrapper… I’ll see you on the other side! In the meantime you can at least listen to Luna’s Westbound and Down…
… OK, I think watching twelve minutes of this juvenile nonsesne is as much as I’m willing to give to this series. It looks awful, it sounds awful, and even after twelve minutes I could see that it was a bloody mess and going nowhere. I skipped to the end, briefly heard Luna’s contribution and it is now back in its box just another artefact in my AHFoW collection.
I know I ignored some very trustworthy people and decided to try and watch this film but now I’ll add my voice to theirs. If you get the chance to see this… find something else to do… anything else.
- Catalogue Number: AHFOW 13/019
- Title: Radio Free Steve
- Notes: Feature film
- Packaging: DVD case
- Format: DVD
- Sent to me as a ‘gift’.
This week’s discoveries or rediscoveries
- Galaxie 500’s recently released live album CBGB - 13th December 1988 was Bandcamp’s album of the day
Galaxie 500 were like a firefly, briefly lighting up the wide open space created by punk before passing on. Theirs was a liminal existence, poetically apt for a band essential to establishing styles that did not yet have names while they were performing them. This lovely archival release sounds like a Rosetta Stone for indie rock, shoegaze, and dream pop.
ALBUM OF THE DAY - Galaxie 500, "CBGB 12.13.88"
- One of those social media polls has pitted Galaxie 500’s On Fire against an 808 State album and this post on the best thing (a blog) has a rousing endorsement of Galaxie 500’s masterpiece - and also reproduces what must be the worst review the band ever had?
On Fire is the album I’ve listened to the most since the tournament began. I’ve put it on at least once a week. AT LEAST. I listened to it every day for a while, then I bought it on vinyl (it’s transparent pink, which was a surprise!) and listened to it even more. I listened to it twice tonight. It’s an album that I’ve always liked, but I have crossed the line between like and love with On Fire. When Jon showed me the infamous J.D.C.’s review of Galaxie 500’s entire catalog, I was furious and declared that he was my sworn enemy or at least had extremely shitty taste in music. Because who listens to On Fire and gives it one star? That’s bananas.
Best Album of 1989: (16) Galaxie 500 – On Fire vs. (49) 808 State – 90
- The Guardian has a review of the wonderful Krankenhaus festival with one line comment on Dean Wareham’s set backed by Sea Power
Sea Power team up with Dean Wareham to deliver an immaculate performance of Galaxie 500 songs in a set that is both gentle and sprawling at the same time
Lake District castle has the antithesis to boring corporate music festivals
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On Tuesday I’ll wrangle my hastily scrawled posts about my week with Dean & Britta into a hopefully more readable diary but you can get to read the rough drafts on A Head Full of Wishes - there are lots of pics and a few videos.
If you’re happy to hold on until Tuesday you can fill an amazing six minutes of the wait watching Dean Wareham and Sea Power playing Galaxie 500’s Tugboat!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YChAe16xiq0