Galaxie 500: On Fire [20/20/20]

Why you'll love it

This 20|20|20 reissue was remastered by Kramer with Alan Douches, cut by Kevin Gray and housed in a tip-on jacket. Pitchfork ranked On Fire No. 16 on its Top 100 Albums of the 1980s and fourth on its 30 Best Dream Pop Albums.

This edition

• Remastered by Kramer and Alan Douches
• Cut by Kevin Gray
• Tip-on jacket

About the album

Some bands play fast and loud to get noticed. Dean Wareham, Naomi Yang and Damon Krukowski went the other way, with slow, spacious songs where the guitar drifts and the drums barely raise their voice. Their second album, made with producer Kramer at Noise New York and first issued on Rough Trade, is where that hush turned into something glowing.

"Blue Thunder" opens with a woozy, open-road rush, "Strange" and "Tell Me" wander along on Wareham's thin, aching voice, and Yang takes the lead on "Another Day." Ralph Carney adds tenor sax to "Decomposing Trees," and the record closes on a long, gorgeous cover of George Harrison's "Isn't It A Pity," with Kramer on what the credits cheerfully call cheap organ.

The Rolling Stone Album Guide called it the band's best by far, and a whole generation of dream pop and slowcore bands took careful notes. It's the kind of record people put on to wind down and then sit up for, proof that slow music keeps very well indeed.

Also at Kops: more Galaxie 500 on vinyl · browse Alternative

Tracklist

Listen

On 20|20|20 (originally Rough Trade) (cat# 20|20 | 202020.08LP), a reissue of the 1989 album.