Galaxie 500 – Blue Thunder

Note to self: if I ever want to ruin a perfectly good album opener for a single release then enlist Ralph Carney to play tenor sax. Damn is that grating.

Someone recommended I listen to their cover of ceremony. Don’t care for it. The guitar is too country for my liking.

So there you are, cursing down the highway, tank full of gas, distant headlights far off in the rear view mirror, the evening sky blessed by a big ol’ moon who’s yellow glow meshes with that of the dashboard lights, you and your Dodge Dart are one, and everything is perfect ... though despite the fact that the radio’s turned on, there’s no station worth listening to, though truth of the matter is, the radio’s not working. Which is pretty much were Dean Wareham found himself back in 1987, but the circumstances were so wonderful that even the silence didn’t matter, making for the perfect opportunity, by being in the right place at the right time, to turn the silence into a song about a recognized moment in time. “Blue Thunder” is a stunning lament, a song like road weary travels for the last thousand years have been writing and singing, often just to themselves, to pass the time. “Blue Thunder” is the first song from the album On Fire, and is one of the best the trio has ever done; balancing this understated, slow, droning, steadily building number that forever edges towards a quivering, loving climax ... and it’s all about a beat-up Dodge Dart.

“Victory Garden” by the Red Krayola’s, and “Ceremony” from New Order/Joy Division are brilliant covers, one of Galaxie 500’s strongest talents ... where they musically manage to slow down the pace while keeping the melodic melancholic inspiration in place, leaving Dean Wareham’s vocal delivery to bring the songs home in a fashion that leads one to believe that the original versions were actually the covers. Blue Thunder is a UK Import only, and like the record, even the disc is now long out of print, so finding a copy may prove difficult, but well worth your while. There of two versions of the song “Blue Thunder,” with and without sax, you get the sax here, making for a nice variation to be treasured for all time.