The best live album ever, of course, is Deep Purple's 'Made In Japan'. Everything a live album should be. Histrionic guitar solos! Keyboard solos! And a drum solo! Fantastic. We are unlikely to get anything quite so bombastic here with Luna though.
Never ones to overstate things on studio recordings anyway, Luna are here stripped down to the bare basics - no mellotron, no strings, no keyboards even. The purpose of this record (recorded live in Washington DC and New York in '99 and 2000) is, in band leader and singer (ex-Galaxie 500) Dean Wareham's words, "to capture more of the live energy of the band on CD".
So do they succeed? In places. 'Chinatown' sounds a little bare and the lyrics are in danger of sounding trite against such a backdrop. 'Pup Tent', however, only manages to sound more seductive in it's minimalism, and the lyrics "I see you walking, walking on tippy- toes" seem more dreamlike and surreal.
The full extent of Luna's debt to Velvet Underground (vocally) and Television (the guitar solos - far more Tom Verlaine than Ritchie Blackmore!) comes across on this album. But if you're going to owe a debt to anyone, who better?
One has to remark, though, on the absence of the best Luna song ever, 'Superfreaky Memories'. Surely this must be a live favourite?
So, general conclusion: for fans, a job well done, and surely appreciated. For the rest, digestion of any of Luna's five studio albums may be advisable first.
