Customer Reviews

Romantica

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I should preface my review by noting that I have been totally enamored with Luna since I saw the Slash Your Tires video very late at night on MTV in 1992 - they could cover a Barry Manilow album and I would give it 4 stars.

That being said, Romantica is simply beautiful. As good as their finest - 1997's Penthouse? I'm not sure that one is better than the other. Romantica's songs, with a few exceptions, are simpler, lighter, more infectious and perhaps more accessible than previous Luna offerings. They've stripped away a few layers without losing their celestial sound and the result is pop perfection on songs like Lovedust, Renee is Crying, Mermaid Eyes and Black Postcards. 1995 rocks out like no Luna song has done before. Britta Phillips is a welcome addition and complements Dean's voice well, and Dean finally sounds completely comfortable with his unique voice. The clever, wry and sometimes goofy lyrics (I could look at your face for oodles and oodles) and virtuoso guitars are still there, but there's a sentimentality and tenderness that was previously absent (although I never realized it was missing). It's good to know the best band around still has a few aces up their sleeve. Buy it and enjoy!

This is an awesome album. I have only recently begun listening to Luna, but I fell in love with this band right away. Romantica is consistently beautiful. From bittersweet pop ballads to classic guitar-based tunes, Luna delivers sumptuous, addictive melodies. Rarely does an album deliver 3 good songs, but this one has at least 6-7 solid tracks. My peronal favorites include the irresistible, tranquil "Mermaid Eyes," and mellow "Black Champagne," as well as the playfulness of "1995." With minimalist lyrics and simple, harmonious rock, Luna creates a perfect album.

No, Luna will never be The Velvet Underground. For one thing, they wear their influences too lightly to really sound like the Velvets (or anybody else). Which doesn't mean they aren't capable of greatness, as their 1995 release "Penthouse" effortlessly demonstrated. "Romantica" is similarly well-crafted, with whimsical lyric touches that still make me smile after repeated spins. New bass player/singer Britta Phillips adds a pragmatic counterpoint to her duets with Dean Wearham that perfectly balances his goofy romanticism. And the guitar work is, as always, without peer in alt rock.

If it sounds like I like this record, I DO! The problem is that I can't quite love it. For one thing, it sounds exhausted at times (try "Rememories," which is lovely but sooo sloooow). And just when you expect the guitars to soar--as on the luminous "Black Champagne" (my fave cut)--somebody hits the fader! In fact, all through the disc you can hear Luna chaffing against what must have been a pretty tight recording schedule.

If you're a Luna fan, you already own "Romantica." If you're just discovering them, start with "Penthouse," but buy this one, too. Hopefully, they'll sell enough copies of both to finance more recording time on the next album! Could be a great one.

I'd read reviews from other devotees saying that the band had wandered off course with the last couple of albums, and i figured it was sour grapes. well, not so. i think romantica is a good example of luna just not having the spontaneity and the group energy they used to. the songs here are less guitar driven, less jam-oriented, less floaty and ethereal -- and more "written." the quirky, wry humor is now winky and calculated. everything seems more pop oriented. and a lot of the songs sound the same. rememories and orange peel both seem kind of pointless. mermaid eyes is weak. renee is crying is too cute. and black champagne has strings that are just yucky. still, there are things to like here. black postcards, dizzy and 1995 are standouts.

nothing on romantica really [stinks]. and even an off album by luna is better than 95% of the [stuff] you hear on the radio. is romantica a waste of money? no. but if you're trying luna for the first time, buy bewitched, penthouse, or luna live. those are albums that show the magic of which luna is -- or was -- capable.

Luna is one of the great holdovers from a different era (early 90's), when the climate was nicer and the world more receptive to the psychedelic-Velvet-inspired-indie rock of which they have reigned supreme for over a decade. They haven't changed their style dramatically, if at all, since their first album, Lunapark. And that is very much a good thing. Where bands today are tripping overthemselves to deliver [junk] to the masses - Luna are the steady rudders in this tumultuous world of music - consistantly delivering beautiful hooks, droning guitars, hypnotic bass lines with a clever sense of humor. Romantica holds true to this grand tradition. Their best effort since '95's Penthouse. Romantica rocks. It sways. It swoons. Tuneful standouts are "Lovedust", "Black postcards" "Black Champagne" and "1995." But really, it's all good. Which is why you should listen. Get on the bus.

Dean Wareham has always played it a little slow. With Galaxie 500, his revered late-80s outfit, Wareham influenced hundreds of bands, sparking a slocore revolution with his slack tempos and textured quiet. When Galaxie 500 dissolved after three blissful albums, Wareham kept the same songwriting approach with Luna, pairing his fragile vocals with restrained, minor-key verses. But this is what makes Romantica, the band's seventh album, such a departure from Wareham?s earlier work - the music seems almost buoyant. Sure, Romantica isn't as overtly bubbly as an Apples in Stereo record, but the band is wearing its lovestruck heart on its sleeve.
Wrapping well-chosen words in dream-pop guitar and occasional strings, Luna has crafted an album for new lovers, covering the emotional gamut from "lonely on a Friday" to "just how good it can be." On"Lovedust," the album's opening track, the band embraces its pop instincts as Wareham warbles about his own seduction. With "Black Champagne," Luna graces its understated guitar and indiscernible keyboards with orchestral strings, bringing the music to a majestic swell. Wareham sings about failed love in "Renée is Crying," framing his regretful lyrics with shimmering guitar and lounge-act "ba ba bas." He begins the song like a sated gourmand, describing "salt and pepper squid and singapore noodles," before accepting the relationship?s collapse - "Once we had dreams, now we have schemes." Romantica's most emphatic song, "1995" is a full-on rocker, a guitar-driven diatribe as Wareham "searches for the crime." In a song about jealousy, it seems only natural that "1995" would feature harmonies between Wareham and bassist Britta Phillips, underscoring the male/female dynamic.
Romantica is indeed romantic, couching devotion and heartache in gentle, swirling guitar. Wareham knows about love - knows about lying awake, knows about staring across a restaurant table. Luna traces this romance like a lovestruck poet, both tender and raging, and you can?t help but recognize the cycle.

Luna is a brilliant band -- terrific live and innovative in the studio. Romantica builds on Dean Wareham's well-honed Luna formula of catchy, languid lyrics and invigorating guitar melodies, but fails to capture the ephemeral greatness of Penthouse (one of the greatest albums in modern rock history) and Bewitched. The modern quartet of Wareham, Eden, Phillips, and Wall just can't seem to capture the essence that once was when Harwood and Demeski were powering Wareham and Eden's guitar work. (Though Phillips and Wareham sing together splendidly on "Mermaid Eyes.")

In a relative sense, anything Luna releases is brilliant. But by their lofty standards, Romantica is a good - not great - piece of work. I only hope they manage to keep the band going for several more years, I have a hunch they have one more masterpiece to unfurl before the run is over.

I love Luna. I'll admit I'm prejudiced. I have been a fan for a long time. But I thought Luna could never top The Days Of Our Nights. I was wrong. Songs like 1995 rock you into a state of shock and songs like Romantica sweep you into a state of tears. Dean's poetry has never been sharper, nor has the interplay of the band ever been more pure. Britta is an excellent addition to the band, not just for her chops but also for her beautiful voice, highlighted on Mermaid Eyes. The record I drift to sleep with every night and wake up with in the morning. Everything that is good about rock music is here.

i love luna. my expectations were low after the past couple albums. but I LOVE THIS CD. half the tracks are just ok, but half are absoltely awesome. it's a great "walk-around-with-it-on-headphones CD. for the first time in years, a luna album that i want to listen to over-and-over. i'm consistently blown away by the opening lyrics of the cd: "when candles light themselves and the air turns creamy, why not take a photograph? you look so dreamy. then stand in the blackness, smile at the tinkling." it's cheesy, dippy stuff -- but it works. it feels like an important evolution in post-irony. it's not cute, clever, or hip --- it just works somehow & produces a good feeling. bottom line: i'm loving it. give it a few listens, give it a chance.

Luna's sixth studio album (their first in three years) finds only singer/songwriter/guitarist Dean Wareham remaining from the band's original lineup. Drummer Stanley Demeski (ex-Feelies) left in the late-90s, replaced by Lee Wall, and bassist Justin Harwood (ex-Chills) left at the turn of the century, to be replaced by Britta Phillips (ex-Ultrababyfat). And though new players have affected the band's sound (Wall's drumming, for example, doesn't have the frenetic current of Demeski's), the biggest impact on this album is the addition of outside producers Dave Fridmann (ex-Flaming Lips) and Gene Holder (ex-dB's).

Wareham's low-key vocals and guitar-layered instrumentals still recall the dreamy-droning work of the Velvet Underground and Television, but the production team has added new layers, and Wareham's songs have taken on new directions and tempos. "Black Postcards" and "Romantica" recall Luna's trademark sound, but "Lovedust" ups the tempo to a pop-trot, and "1995" is more straight-ahead rock 'n' roll than Luna's previously committed to vinyl. The fuzzed guitar solo of "Renee is Crying" sounds like an off-kilter lift from the late-50s, as does the entire melodic vibe of Wareham and Britta's duet, "Mermaid Eyes," with repeated, slow-motion piano lines added to the usual hypnotic mix.

Though Dean Wareham's core musical preoccupations remain, the sophisticated production and lushly romantic melodies (which, in passing, evoke the breezy romanticism of Burt Bacharach) feel like fresh sunlight on Luna.

3-3/4 stars, if Amazon allowed fractional ratings.