Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Galaxie 500 - Snowstorm

(Plexifilm, 2004)

Plexifilm mailed this quite attractive single, which includes the audio from two March 30, 1990, performances included on the video set, to customers who preordered the Galaxie 500 Don’t Let Our Youth Go to Waste DVD in 2004. On the plus side, it’s good to have officially released (albeit in limited promo form) live versions of “Snowstorm” and “Pictures,” neither of which are on the Copenhagen or Peel Sessions albums, and it’s semi-interesting to hear soundman Kramer join the band as a second guitarist on the latter for added muscle. These recordings do hint that there was a tougher-than-realized percussive foundation under the gauzy studio releases, but it’s difficult to ignore the fact that both recordings fall into that unfortunate concert-tape trap of adding little to the originals but rougher sound (Wareham is sounding pretty hoarse this night) and audience noise. With its colorful sleeve and yellow vinyl, the disc’s value exists more in its quality as an object than as a musical release. I’d recommend ignoring this 7” and watching the footage on the DVD instead; Wareham’s ugly Spacemen 3 t-shirt is a hoot.

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