Luna - The Days of Our Nights

Yeah, I really really like Luna, so sue me.

They had been getting really great, their pinnacle being the last track, "Fuzzy Wuzzy", on their previous record. "Fuzzy Wuzzy" was a downright late-period Spacemen 3 rip-off, droning synths and two-chord fuzzed and tremoloed guitars. It was just a perfect song.

And then "The Days of Our Nights". It's not a bad record, per se. I mean, it's a really really good record, but it just wasn't the homerun I expected after "Pup Tent". Admittedly, the bright moments on "The Days of Our Nights" are among the brightest in Luna's catalog. "Superfreaky Memories" (one of their best songs to date) starts with "Well they're swapping pharmaceuticals in Mussolini Park/and they're wigglin' and wobbilin' and dozin' in the dark/and it's winter in New Jersey and it's Christmas in New York", over an ominous cello and trip-hop drums. That, along with "Four Thousand Days", "Math Wiz", "Dear Diary" and "USA Out Of My Pants!" (a song with an irresistable latin backbeat - Dean reconfiguring himself as the Ricky Martin of the backpack rock set?) easily rank with their best. The other ones flounder in the way only Luna can.

The weird showpiece of the whole record is the last track --- a cover of "Sweet Child O' Mine". It's slow and mournful, with overly-distorted guitars and a central riff that's played, well, wrong. Very cool, and succeeds in the heretofore-impossible notion of making a Guns 'N' Roses song tolerable.

On a related note, I picked up Luna's "Penthouse" to complete my Luna collection, and it is their best record. Buy it!! Freakin' and Peakin'.

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Michael Keegan
1.28.2000

Dairy Farmers For Quebec's Independence