Customer Reviews

Penthouse

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

they'd be listening to Luna and, as the speakers boomed out across the sound, Jay Gatsby would be at the end of his dock, trying to figure his way into their world by figuring out this music. Here's what Penthouse sounds like -- it sounds like languid, six foot tall women reaching across a glass topped table for their one cigarette a month. It sounds like lipstick traces on your cheek alone in a warm taxicab and the first snowflakes just getting flicked away by the windshield wipers. It sounds like one single light still softly on at 3 AM in the windows of an otherwise all dark building across Fifth Avenue from Central Park; awful things happening there perhaps, but you're pretty sure not. It's music that defines all those times you can't quite figure out what's going on, or where it may be headed, but God do you love it as it's happening. And there's the tie back to Gatsby and the Buchanans, no matter how seductive this work, there's a whiff of darkness about it too, but isn't that always the way with temptation. Personally, I've always wanted to be like the singer's friend in Chinatown --"you're out all night/chasing girlies/You're late to work/And you go home earlies." Yep, "earlies," that's what he says.

"Shimmers," see Amazon reviewer above, is a good word for the music; seamless would be another. And Wareham's voice is another instrument in the mix, sometimes lulling, sometimes quietly desperate. Or think of water, this music flows you along from one cut to the next, and in the time it takes you to surface from the cut just ended, a new one has begun. I don't know of another CD where I've been less aware of the blank seconds between cuts than on this one.

Specifics? Comparisons? The closest sound I know is some of the quieter Yo La Tengo. Lloyd Cole in the Commotions days is a good one too. Forced to pick best cuts -- and it's worth stressing again that each cut builds into the others, making it less important to cite individual highlights -- I'd go with Chinatown, Lost in Space, and Kalamazoo. I don't much care for Bonnie and Clyde, though. Otherwise, this CD is damn near flawless. You've got to go to Bewitched for Wareham's single best lines though in Going Home which kicks off like this: "I've seen her face/in those scented magazines....The Chrsyler building is talking to the Empire State/The Twin Towers are talking to each other/Saying "all is forgiven/I love you still/And we're home, going home." What could more comforting, reconciliation of buildings and of people. But to get that, you'd have to buy another Luna CD. Oh, well, many worse ways to keep the economy going.

Penthouse has been in my heavy rotation ever since I first discovered it back in 95. Initially attracted to "Chinatown", a top-ten hit if ever there was one....How has this band avoided becoming huge? Listen to the building crescendo in "23 Minutes in Brussels". The final jam manages to simultaneously sound like a rolling freight train, ringing bells, a jackhammer and a chorus of angels singing the return of the Lord. Played at high volume, I can't keep myself from screaming with enjoyment. "Lost in Space" actually captures the feeling of being a million miles from Earth, Dean's guitar leads whispering beautifully from light-years away. But its the WHOLE RECORD, there's not a weak link. Wouldn't you think I'd be tired of a CD after 3 years of constant play? It's that good; buy it immediately, you'll thank me later.

The perfect soundtrack for lonely nights. Dean Wareham and his band pull out all the stops on their third full length albulm. Naughty songs fill this from "Chinatown" "You're out all night/ Chasing girlies/ You're late to work/ And you go home earlies." to the last song "Freakin' and Peakin'". Each track is a gem of lonliness and despair. Like other indie rock king Wayne Coyne (of the Flaming Lips) Wareham takes our hand shows us comfort through humor. His lyrics are often quirky, yet all-together very touching. For there is never a boring moment on this albulm. Luna fills the air with strong guitar work that doesn't call too much attenetion on itself, but fits the mood pefectly. Wareham has come a long way from Galaxie 500, and on this abulm he is showing off. Better production value, better song-writing, better guitar playing, and an amazing record to show for it. The song "Kalamazoo" is perhaps one of the best songs ever written. The perfect jam to sit back with one of the "green, green bottles" and know that someone out there hurts just as much as you do. Simply put, this is one of the greatest albulms to have ever been recorded. Not enough good things can be said for it.

Luna is an acquired taste. Featuring lazy, dreamlike guitar work and often bizzare lyrics (an example: "you can't give the finger to the blind" from their debut album). Nevertheless, "Penthouse" is a classic that proves that great guitar albums do not need to be fast and loud. The best tracks are the lengthy "23 Minutes in Brussels" and "Kalamazoo." Don't try to figure out what the lyrics mean. They're irrelevant. Just enjoy the sonic dreamscape.

One of the finest recordings I own. I like all the other Luna and Galaxie 500 recordings but Penthouse always rises back to the top of the stack. Again and again it pulls you back into its laid back and dreamlike sound. Truly an inspired recording. You should own it.

Wow. This one grows on you. It is quite an achievement for a band to be so smooth, subtle, and melancholy, and yet can effectively "rock" an audience. This is an extremely refined group with strong lyrics and a musical execution as precise as a Swiss watch. Somehow, this album reminded me of some works by Velvet Underground. However, there is no doubt that Luna stand as an original act. A fine introduction to a fine band.

The cover of the album pretty much captures the essence of the music. A low angle b/w shot of the building with two floors mysteriously illuminating intense light. Muted disjointedness and flushes of sedateness all packaged visually for our eyes and, thus, beautifully recorded within these 11 songs for our ears. Dean and his cohorts were/are trying to capture the after-hour, "that tiny, tiny hour" of urban ambience, a dream-like, hazy state of mind. Thus, the album's protagonist, walking about the iron grid and concrete pavement, envisions the city visually and rhythmically within these songs. The cover shot and 2 other photos on the CD all evoke this nocturne.

Lead by Wareham's observations of urban life, supplanted by rockin' smoothin' guitar work and seamless production, this album grows on you and somehow never gives its complete impact in any 1 listening. It's so good and subtle, the effects are not that clear-cut but yet the music pulls you into its pensive mood.

A pleasant stop for my nocturnal ears.

John Fogerty has been sued for sounding too much like himself - which is, of course, preposterous.

Luna is not my personal favorite band, but, as a music fan, it is thoroughly undeniable that this album is a masterpiece. I'm baffled at the truly staggering myopia some folks are stricken with when they accuse Luna of being Velvet Undergraound has-beens, wannabees, or charlatans. Art, all art, all art including the word, the painting, the film, etc., is a referential continuum. It is rather ok and, arguably, impossible for an artist to not have accute influences. Does Jack White dream of being Robert Plant? Nope. Robert Schneider of being Brian Wilson? Nope again. Jeff Tweedy of being Graham Parsons? Nope thrice. Dean Wareham of Lou Reed? You get the idea...

I cannot refute the bittersweet lustre of "art" being a wide open, nebulous bastion of opinion. Phonies, me-toos, and piggybackers do certainly exist. Get smart. Forget the American Express card, don't leave home without a shade of common sense.

As for the occasionally said disparate lyrics: Luna is clealry not the type of band to hand-hold a listener through a guessable story. You'll never get a ready made, audible TV dinner shoved into your ears. So don't hope for it or be dissappointed when this is discovered. It can and will make you think - which sometimes, though not by any means always, is a very good thing.

Yes, Luna is an aquired taste, but if you have listened to some Luna and like what you hear, this is their best album. There is not a bad track on this album and I think this is some of most lyrical guitar ever recorded. If you get it and you don't like it at first, it will be because of the vocals, but sleep on it, give it a chance, and it will become an old friend.

I never heard of Luna until I heard this album. I immediately fell in love with it. The sounds are mellow and smooth. It invokes the scene of a dimly light cafe, where people are relaxing with a good book, sipping coffee or engrossed in deep conversation. Many years have passed since I bought this album and it is still one of my favorite albums. I never tire of it. Now I have other Luna albums and they are great, but not as amazing as this one. This is Luna's masterpiece and one of the best albums around.