Dream-pop trio Galaxie 500’s three studio albums have been remastered and reissued on vinyl for the first time in 20 years, the band’s members recently announced — plus they’re being made available as high-quality, DRM-free digital downloads.
Vinyl editions of the band’s debut, Today (1988); its classic sophomore release, On Fire (1989); and swan-song This is Our Music (1990) have been “remastered by Alan Douches and Kramer at West West Side Music, cut by Kevin Gray at AcousTech, pressed to virgin vinyl at RTI and packaged in old-fashioned tip-on style jackets at Stoughton,” according to the band’s MySpace page. The three albums also are available digitally in either 320 kbps MP3s or Apple Lossless files, along with the same bonus tracks included on Rykodisc’s 1997 CD reissues, plus one music video each (see tracklists and download a free sample MP3 below).
Perhaps tellingly, no plans were announced to re-release the records once more on the fading CD format. The band, however, is “reissuing” a vintage 1988 black-on-white Galaxie 500 T-shirt on Fruit of the Loom, because “in the ’80s, that’s all there was.”
The LPs can be purchased individually for $15 apiece through the Web site of Damon and Naomi, the post-Galaxie 500 band formed by rhythm section Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang. The downloads are available individually at $9.99 per album or bundled in packages along with the LPs and T-shirt through Galaxie 500’s Web store; it is a bit unusual, however, that they’re charging full price for the downloads when bundled with the records ($24.99 for vinyl + download), considering more and more labels are throwing in free MP3s with vinyl purchases.
In other Damon and Naomi news, that band just announced the Sept. 8 release of The Sub Pop Years, a 74-minute CD compilation of its work on Sub Pop Records from 1995 to 2002, as well as the Sept. 29 release of “1001 Nights,” a DVD featuring music videos, live cuts and two tour films made by Yang. And as for former frontman Dean Wareham, he continues to record with late-era Luna member and current wife Britta Phillips as Dean & Britta, and recently saw his 2008 music-industry memoir “Black Postcards” published in paperback.
Tracklists: Galaxie 500 reissues
Today
1. “Flowers”
2. “Pictures”
3. “Parking Lot”
4. “Don’t Let Our Youth Go To Waste”
5. “Temperature’s Rising”
6. “Oblivious”
7. “It’s Getting Late”
8. “Instrumental”
9. “Tugboat”
10. “King Of Spain” (digital bonus track)
Video: “Tugboat” (digital bonus)
On Fire
1. “Blue Thunder”
2. “Tell Me”
3. “Snowstorm”
4. “Strange”
5. “When Will You Come Home”
6. “Decomposing Trees”
7. “Another Day”
8. “Leave The Planet”
9. “Plastic Bird”
10. “Isn’t It A Pity”
11. “Victory Garden” (digital bonus track)
12. “Ceremony” (digital bonus track)
13. “Cold Night” (digital bonus track)
Video: “When Will You Come Home” (digital bonus)
This Is Our Music
1. “Fourth Of July”
2. “Hearing Voices”
3. “Spook”
4. “Summertime”
5. “Way Up High”
6. “Listen, The Snow Is Falling”
7. “Sorry”
8. “Melt Away”
9. “King Of Spain, Part Two”
10. “Here She Comes Now” (digital bonus track)
Video: “Fourth of July”(digital bonus)
