Galaxie 500 - On Fire
I think I may actually have heard Galaxie 500 before I had heard The Velvets. I think it may have been partly the fact that people were whispering about The Velvets when writing about Galaxie 500 that made me determined to finally explore that past.
Whatever, I do know that the summer of the Velvets was also the summer of On Fire and that I lay on my back in my fading Strawberry Switchblade t-shirt gazing at the sun through black plastic RayBan copies, the sounds of Galaxie 500 hypnotizing me through my headphones.
I remember it felt glorious.
And sometimes simply feeling that great (and the memory of feeling that great) is enough. It’s all that matters. It’s that feeling of being on the brink of something; the sense that a vast ocean of possibility is opening up before you and your heart is filled simultaneously with euphoria and trepidation. And for me, that’s the sound of Galaxie 500. A sound so big and yet so intimate. An enveloping noise full of gentle seduction and mesmerizing space. It’s all there in On Fire – the record that captured those feelings for my world exactly as and when I felt them for the first time. A world that was never the same again.
Great post. I had lsitened to On Fire a few times and wasn't that impressed. And then, one day, all of a sudden it just happened that everything just clicked and I got it. I can still remember sitting on the school bus, a junior in high school, listening to Strange on a crappy Sony Walkman. It just sounded so right, with that descending lead guitar and this guy singing about standing in line and eating twinkies and drinking Coke and making it all seem so poignant.
Posted by: tjd9 | March 04, 2009 at 01:50