Track Listing

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 [#]

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #36890 in Music
• Released on: 1997-04-29
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

Album Description
When Galaxie 500's Today was released in 1988, it set off a chain reaction of quiet explosions still being felt. Never before had a record so emphasized the calming elements of rock music, transforming what at first seems like a collection of bridges into fully realized songs. And one can draw a straight line from here to the many groups they influenced, like Low, Belle & Sebastian, and Bon Iver. Today is full of idiosyncrasies. The trio of Damon Krukowski, Dean Wareham, and Naomi Yang were recent Harvard grads who intuitively eliminated any histrionic tradition to rock songs, leaving core emotion (not for nothing did they include a cover of ""Don't Let Our Youth Go to Waste,"" by the kings of feeling, The Modern Lovers). It was produced by Mark Kramer, who was best known for his work with cataclysmic slop rock pioneers such as Bongwater, Ween, and King Missle. The band's hometown of Boston was just coming out of its love affair with Mission of Burma and pouncing upon the spasmodic electricity of The Pixies. Despite, or perhaps because of, all these elements, Today thrived. More than 20 years after its initial release, its title is still no misnomer. The music, recorded with what many thought at the time was too much reverb, sounds present, alive, and indeed a product of today. Songs like ""Flowers,"" ""Temperature's Rising,"" and of course ""Tugboat"" (the band's debut single) stand the test of time and exist in an eternal now. For the first time since its original pressing, Today is available again on vinyl. Cut by vinyl ace Kevin Gray from a remaster by Kramer and Alan Douches, the album sounds more vibrant than ever, and Galaxie 500 exists again as one of the most enrapturing and glorious bands to emerge from the underground in the past 25 years."

From the Label
Includes "Instrumental" by Galaxie 500 the featured song in the upcoming Honda Acura television campaign!

Hailed in Boston as a masterpiece, "Tugboat" set the stage for Galaxie 500’s first album, Today, which they recorded with Kramer (for $750) in the summer of 1988. Melody Maker called the LP "an astonishing debut by anybody’s standards," and indeed it is. The incredible, supple beauty that Galaxie spun like straw was so sweetly melancholic that it all but smothered you. Damon’s drums drift with the simmering presence of jazz classicism, Naomi’s bass is rich with dreamy emotional content, Dean’s guitar completes the aural landscapes begun by ‘69-era Sterling Morrison, and the vocals emerge from the Ouija board of eternity. A highlight of Today is the incredible primal-drone-hunch treatment the band gives to Jonathan Richman’s "Don’t Let Our Youth Go to Waste." The three extra tracks from this session, included on the box set, would have made Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore fiercer in his declaration of Today as "my favorite guitar record of 1988."

Customer Reviews

bliss
While this album has many merits, I think it's greatest is that it was recorded in 1988. Admist the hair bands, Reaganomics, and Members Only jackets, Galaxie 500 managed to create a near-perfect album of warm, fuzzy psych-pop.

When I first read about Galaxie 500, I could tell they were a musical missing link for me- creating a bridge between standard indie-pop fair and beautifully woven pyschedelia, all the while remaining simply and truly romantic. This is a make-out album, from the utterance of "I could be there when you're sleeping, I could be there in your dreams" on the opening number to the song "Tugboat", which relies on a scant few lyrics to cultminate in what may be the best love song
never to make it to radio.

While Naomi's solid bass work provides a backbone for the album, the lead guitar evokes memories of the acid rock of the 60's and 70's with seering, sparkling riffs. Not that the pop of those decades has been forgotten either; Galaxie 500 can go from brooding to bubble gum so subtly you never notice until the music has built to a roar as warm and dense as it is undeniable.

Think of this as proof that just a little soul survived the ravages of the Me Decade.

Raw fiery psychedelia
The best sounding lead guitar i`ve ever listened to,plus a very special voice, makes me fall in love with this american band.To see these guys live should have been a mystical experience,that screamin`guitar whining under red lights and focuses...The direction that is going to take the song is never predictable due to Dean Wareham`s guitar style,chaotic and fuzzy.His voice seems to be coming from another dimension ,filled with angst and alienation.This was authentic and innovative in the 80`s.And nowadays it can amaze many with those catchy guitar harmonies still fresh.As others have said,the music here can hardly be catalogued or classified, strange, abstract...but leaves a great impact on the listener.Either you love it or you hate it.I belong to the first group of course.Being original is no easy thing.

This is their best.. 10 stars?
Euprhoric aural melancholia. Beautiful stuff.
I saw G500 for the first time at the Rat in Boston opening for the Pixies. Not many G500 fans in that crowd.

I was there to see the Pixies whom I'd never heard, but who were said to be good. I'd not yet heard of G500. This album had only been just released according to Dean. I think I cried listening to them play. We left during the Pixies set as I started to get asthmatic from the smoke and the crowd started to bash around like crazy.