Customer Reviews

Today

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4 star:		(4)
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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.

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.

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.

The story begins and goes that Dean Wareham, lead singer of Galaxie 500 and later the outstanding Luna, borrowed a drum set for his band from a then unknown Harvard jokester named Conan O'Brien. Strange, indeed. Conan went off with a bagful of yucks and left Wareham and his gang of misfits to create some of the most exciting and non-appreciated music of the '80s. Soft, three-chord guitar rings throughout the magnificent debut album "Today." Wareham sings without screaming, strums without distorting, and then leaves listeners mesmerized. Galaxie 500 falls under the "less-is-more" category, with Warehams high-pitched voice melting into jangly guitar and tapping percussion. A hypnotic album, and a sure-thing buy.

Galaxie 500 has been as faithful to me as the best woman in the world could be (as far as the women go, that's never happened). TODAY is a great album to listen to if you're tired, awake, drunk, sober, in love, out of love, lonely, social, and most importantly quite sick of things that most think of as "great." It is entirely moody, much like most individual's personas. It can be very dark, but has such beautiful melodic texture so the darkness is masked in a way. A brilliant, brilliant piece of work from a band whom broke up too early. Not only is it a classic, but it was on Rough Trade...I owned it on that label, lent it to a high school girlfriend and never saw it again.....like the album, bitter and romantic.

I bought "This Is Our Music," the band's third, after reading an article about its release in the indie magazine "Option." The clerk at the hip music store cautioned me, saying "Today" was much better. I told him about the review of "TIOM," and said I'd start with that and go backwards if I liked Galaxie 500 enough.

The Rykodisc boxed set convinced me that the clerk was correct. "On Fire" is stronger than "TIOM," and "Today" beats album number two. Unlike Dean Wareham's work with Luna, which with the Feelies' drummer and the Chills' bassist, edged towards more indie-pop, the earlier band tended to me more to the Velvet Underground, in mood more than sound. The song "Tugboat" may tip their hand: I read it as alluding to Stew Morrison's decision to work on that craft rather than continue with music after the VU.

You have to be in the right frame of mind for this record to work. Wareham's warbly voice can be as trebly as his guitar. Naomi Yang's bass (who needed more vocal appearances; look to her work with partner-drummer Damon Krukowski after Wareham ditched the pair for his solo career, as the liner notes in the Rykodisc box set sadly document by Damon & Naomi) backs up the guitar and percussion nimbly. Sort of like Kim Deal in the Pixies, she got upstaged instrumentally and vocally by the lead singer.

This album-- just before the CD took over-- fits into a now distant period, even if only two decades ago, when one could learn by a magazine, hear by word of mouth, or tune into a college station to find out about an intriguing band from across the country. There's a warmth to the production by Kramer to match the chilly emotions. The trio's love of simple structures that build up and then unravel in three minutes sinks in, after many playings. It fits a winter's morning or a summer's night.

The Schemer release (SCHEMER 8905/CD) actually has an 11th track, called "Crazy", so get that version if you can

A great introduction to a fantastic band. Galaxie 500 has got to be one of the most hauntingly beautiful band's I have ever heard. This is an album to listen to the whole way through, preferrably with headphones on, as the band takes the listener from one dreamlike song to the next.

I first heard On Fire at a place I used to work. Really sort of heard it in the background. Then I decided to buy the album later and was drawn in with Dean's awkward voice and that distinct sound of theirs- see other reviews for that explanation. Then after buying this album, its become one of my favorites.
I love that Galaxie 500 allowed themselves to not be "pretty." Yet, end up being pretty anyway. By that I mean, Dean's vocals aren't what you'd call "normal." But if you like "normal" music, you wouldn't be reading this review. Although I was pretty much listening to crap when Galaxie 500 were in their prime, I'm glad to discover them now and sad that they were virtually overlooked in their time. But now is the time to look into them! Favorites on this album are the first 2 tracks. "Flowers" being so sweet yet haunting at the same time. The lyrics in "Tugboat" are sensual and powerful: "I don't want to go to your party/ I don't want to talk with your friends/ I don't want to vote for your president/ I just want to be your tugboat captain/ It's a place I'd like to be..." I don't know what exactly he's talking about yet I understand it and am convinced he'd make a great tugboat captain.
This music is unusual, captivating, melodic, gorgeous and strange. If you love music like that, you'll love this.

A fantastic record. The minimal beauty of Galaxie 500, both lyrically and musically, leaves you addicted and craving more by the end. One of my all-time favorite albums.