The Portable Galaxie 500

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Galaxie 500

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This "best-of" of the wonderful Galaxie 500 does them more than justice by wisely pulling off all of the high points from their three albums. the alternate version of "Blue Thunder" is especially affecting, what with the addition of devastating saxophone-- the broken-apart climax that Galaxie 500 always hinted around without ever tipping over that edge. Blue Thunder is worth your hard-earned money as it is. The somber "Flowers" follows, giving you that feeling of watching someone you're totally enamored with live their life apart from you-- all in the snow, of course. Other high points include the cover of Yoko Ono's "Listen..." and "Another Day," their best song, in my opinion, shich again nearly breaks down with it's trying-to-keep-it-together vocal harmonies. I get misty-eyed just thinking about it. "Tugboat" ends this set, centering around the line "there's a place I'd like to be." Thanks to Dean and crew, we're there with him.

The music of Galaxie 500, like the music of Nick Drake, lends itself well to compilations, because it all sounds so similar. It would be difficult to put together a collection of songs by either artist that did not hold together well. For that very same reason, however, compilations are unnecessary. You can get the same high quality listening experience by buying one of the original albums, and then if you like it you can buy the others. With Galaxie 500, the best place to start is "On Fire," and you won't go wrong with "Today" either. (Stay away from "This Is Our Music," however. That one only contains a few good songs.)

"The Portable Galaxie 500" is a nice selection, but like all other fans of the band, I do have my quibbles about some of the omissions, especially "Temperature's Rising," "It's Getting Late," and "Isn't It A Pity." The compilers also missed a golden opportunity by failing to include "The Other Side," a magnificent track with Naomi singing lead, which as far as I know is only available in the boxed set (a virtually impossible-to-find item right now--at a reasonable price, that is). Furthermore--and I may be completely alone in this opinion--I can't stand the saxophone version of "Blue Thunder" included here, while the "straight" version of that song (from "On Fire") is my favorite Galaxie 500 song.

So if you're looking to test the waters with this great band, go straight to the original releases. Other reviewers on this site have already provided some wonderful descriptions of the Galaxie 500 sound, so no need for a recap here.