Review
- Luna “Pup Tent”
album
on Beggars Banquet/Cortex through Shock!
Luna were formed in 1992 out of the left-overs from bands as diverse as New Zealand’s The Chills, Galaxie 500 from Boston and The Feelies out of Jersey. With all this experience and such wide influences, their fourth album “Pup Tent” on Beggars Banquet/Cortex through Shock! is rightly titled - it’s not quite a dog, but near enough to it!
What starts out quite up-beat and happy with IHOP, the hi-rotation single on Triplej, leans pretty-much over and falls down from there. The sounds echo those which were established as the current direction on the EP, with mixtures as varied and off-beat as Paul Kelly’s “low-down guitar” with Chris (Pet Shop Boys) Lowe vocals, Lou Reed Walk On The Wild Side/jazz crossover and too-close-to-the-radio-mic effects, 60s garage/surf and The Doors, Pet Shop Boys and Stone Roses, and the combination of Chris Isaak/Dick Dale/Canned Heat/late 80s-early 90s Flying Nun records on Fuzzywuzzy, the closer.
Memorable lyrics like “Is there a doctor in the house/The house of pancakes/You’ve got a banana split/Personality” and “There ain’t no use/Learning Klingon/Escape while you can” are the redeeming aspects of the record, along with the tracks IHOP and Tell Tracy I Love Her. Bordering on pop/goth like early-Cure and Stone Roses, this is not a standout record, and a concert would not be an uplifting experience. For a band with such breadth of experience and influence, they don’t offer much ««