Music Arcades: Luna: Penthouse

At the end of every year Andy Aldridge runs his poll of fans concerning their favourite albums by Galaxie 500 and all Galaxie alumni, including Luna. I invariably put Penthouse as my favourite Luna album, though after enjoying Bewitched so much recently, I began to wonder if it might be knocked from its perch.

For years after Galaxie 500 split, I wondered what had happened to the members of the band. Had they just given up on the music business? I could find no trace of them. (I think Andy's site was running from 1994 onwards, but the habit of just searching the web every time you wanted to know anything was yet to establish itself back then.) Finally in '95 or '96 I came across a review of Penthouse that mentioned Dean Wareham and his Galaxie history, so I rushed out to buy this CD.

It lived in the office in the Workstation for years. The case still carries spots of orange paint where Gill, Jonathan and James took it upon themselves to redecorate the walls while I was on holiday (and give me the bill when I got back). It was one of those CDs I'd put on in the evening when everyone else had gone home and then play on repeat because I was locked into my work and couldn't spare the time and loss of concentration required to cross the room and put a new CD in.

To put you out of the suspense that I know will have been gripping you, this remains my favourite Luna album. Every track is a winner, with 23 Minutes in Brussels just a head in front of the others (even Tom Verlaine, for whom I normally have very little time, sounds good on this track). There's nothing remarkable or innovative that you can point to in this music. It's just a bunch of modern rock songs in 4/4, with no particular axe to grind. But the way they're performed, the way they're recorded: they just all sound wonderful; a triumph of refined taste.

Andy announced this year's survey results yesterday. As far as Luna goes, I'm just following the herd in terms of favourite album and song — Penthouse and 23 Minutes always come out on top. If you don't know Luna, start here.