Today [Enhanced]

Galaxie 500 | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 29, 1997)
• Original Release Date: 1991
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced
• Label: Rykodisc
• ASIN: B0000009QM
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #122,388 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

From the Label

Includes "Instrumental" by Galaxie 500 the featured song in the upcoming Honda Acura television campaign!

Hailed in Boston as a masterpiece, "Tugboat" set the stage for Galaxie 500’s first album, Today, which they recorded with Kramer (for $750) in the summer of 1988. Melody Maker called the LP "an astonishing debut by anybody’s standards," and indeed it is. The incredible, supple beauty that Galaxie spun like straw was so sweetly melancholic that it all but smothered you. Damon’s drums drift with the simmering presence of jazz classicism, Naomi’s bass is rich with dreamy emotional content, Dean’s guitar completes the aural landscapes begun by ‘69-era Sterling Morrison, and the vocals emerge from the Ouija board of eternity. A highlight of Today is the incredible primal-drone-hunch treatment the band gives to Jonathan Richman’s "Don’t Let Our Youth Go to Waste." The three extra tracks from this session, included on the box set, would have made Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore fiercer in his declaration of Today as "my favorite guitar record of 1988."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars bliss, September 11, 2002

By 

Hallie Engel (Doha, Qatar) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Today (Audio CD)

While this album has many merits, I think it's greatest is that it was recorded in 1988. Admist the hair bands, Reaganomics, and Members Only jackets, Galaxie 500 managed to create a near-perfect album of warm, fuzzy psych-pop.

When I first read about Galaxie 500, I could tell they were a musical missing link for me- creating a bridge between standard indie-pop fair and beautifully woven pyschedelia, all the while remaining simply and truly romantic. This is a make-out album, from the utterance of "I could be there when you're sleeping, I could be there in your dreams" on the opening number to the song "Tugboat", which relies on a scant few lyrics to cultminate in what may be the best love song
never to make it to radio.

While Naomi's solid bass work provides a backbone for the album, the lead guitar evokes memories of the acid rock of the 60's and 70's with seering, sparkling riffs. Not that the pop of those decades has been forgotten either; Galaxie 500 can go from brooding to bubble gum so subtly you never notice until the music has built to a roar as warm and dense as it is undeniable.

Think of this as proof that just a little soul survived the ravages of the Me Decade.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Raw fiery psychedelia, July 4, 2005

By 

shockwave rider (spain) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Today (Audio CD)

The best sounding lead guitar i`ve ever listened to,plus a very special voice, makes me fall in love with this american band.To see these guys live should have been a mystical experience,that screamin`guitar whining under red lights and focuses...The direction that is going to take the song is never predictable due to Dean Wareham`s guitar style,chaotic and fuzzy.His voice seems to be coming from another dimension ,filled with angst and alienation.This was authentic and innovative in the 80`s.And nowadays it can amaze many with those catchy guitar harmonies still fresh.As others have said,the music here can hardly be catalogued or classified, strange, abstract...but leaves a great impact on the listener.Either you love it or you hate it.I belong to the first group of course.Being original is no easy thing.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is their best.. 10 stars?, October 29, 2006

By 

Douglas Schmitt (Cornelius, NC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Today (Audio CD)

Euprhoric aural melancholia. Beautiful stuff.
I saw G500 for the first time at the Rat in Boston opening for the Pixies. Not many G500 fans in that crowd.

I was there to see the Pixies whom I'd never heard, but who were said to be good. I'd not yet heard of G500. This album had only been just released according to Dean. I think I cried listening to them play. We left during the Pixies set as I started to get asthmatic from the smoke and the crowd started to bash around like crazy.