Luna - Best of Luna [2CD Set] (2006)

New Zealand-born Michael Dean Wareham formed beloved underground dream pop outfit Luna in 1992 after the dissolution of his previous beloved underground dream pop outfit, Galaxie 500, and while Luna never attained the legendary cult status of his critically lauded minimalist trio with Damon & Naomi, the group certainly bought itself a prime plot in the indie rock hall of fame. Backed in their earliest incarnation by ex-Feelies drummer Stanley Demeski and Chills bassist and fellow Kiwi Justin Harwood, Luna relied on a mix of Wareham's deadpan delivery of alternately romantic and sarcastic lyrics and the band's lucid, "Candy Says"-era Velvet Underground-inspired foundation to rope in a formidable fan base that followed them through the peaks and valleys of seven full albums. Rhino's Best of Luna is bereft of the B-sides, alternate takes, and previously unreleased tracks that normally populate this kind of collection, but Wareham's insightful anecdotal notes will please longtime fans, while the songs themselves will lure in even the most suspicious of passersby.

Best of opens with "Moon Palace", the first of five tracks from Penthouse and Wareham's personal favorite Luna song. "You were stuck in a dream/ And you wanted to scream/ But it's nothing at all/ No, it's nothing at all," he sings as guitars move between stoned country and a 14-hour Technicolor dream. Penthouse's top billing in the tracklist is fortuitous-- it's their best album, and anyone who likes this comp should seek it out-- but what's remarkable is how well the rest of Luna's material stands up to it. Solid to their final days, "Astronaut"-- from the band's 2004 swan song Rendezvous-- is one of Luna's best songs, with a drumbeat about four times brisker than anything else here and one of Wareham's strongest vocal performances.