50 albums: 2004 - Rendezvous by Luna

In September 2004 Luna announced on their website that they were calling it a day

On October 26, we will release our seventh studio album, Rendezvous, on Jetset Records. This will be Luna’s final record. We will tour the United States and Europe over the next six months, playing our last shows in 2005.

I posted this to the Galaxie 500 mailing list (which was still a fairly lively community back then)...

Can I just say - ten years of my life has gone into the website and this mailing list - TEN YEARS - they don't think of the children when they get involved in a divorce.

Rendezvous came out as promised in October. I can never be too objective where Dean is concerned, and certainly couldn't be in the emotion of the break-up announcement. With nearly 10 years between then and now I can try and listen to the album with a little more... maturity.

It's not my favourite Luna album, I'd say it's probably not in my top five (that is to say it's not one of the band's first five!). It's good, it is maybe a little too... loungy... for Luna (listen to the brushed drums and clean guitar sound at the opening of Motel Bambi for instance).

I love Sean Eden, and I'm looking forward to the long-awaited and long-promised solo album, I also love both of his songs on Rendezvous, but there's a little bit of me that wonders whether they should have been on the album at all. Actually, I was just looking through the mailing list archives and I had these concerns when it was released... so maybe I'm better at objectivity than I thought...

27th October 2004: I must admit that I'm still not entirely comfortable with hearing Luna without hearing Dean. I love both of Sean's songs and they're close enough to Luna to not bother me too much but I'm sorry but I can't love then AS Luna songs.

... and I can't help thinking that Rainbow Babe is a bit of a whimper of a recorded/released end to Luna.

But the album is still lovely. Malibu Lovenest is a fab opener. Astronaut is wonderfully alien, and Speedbumps is a Luna classic and I won't truck with anyone who would suggest otherwise.

Here they are (without Lee) playing Speedbumps on the John McEnroe show, with bonus Sweet Jane with John McEnroe at the end!

(play on YouTube)