Luna - Rendezvous

Genre alternative Publisher Jetset Records External Links Luna Jetset Records

"Rock and Roll is killing my life," claims Dean Wareham, and no, it's not in a lyric -- it's the first in a list of ten reasons he's giving to journalists for finally breaking up the band after seven records. Really though, he hasn't quite been the same since Elektra dumped him and his cohorts in the late '90s, after thanklessly crafting two records superb enough to push them into critical adoration but quirky enough to keep them in the college rock ghetto. Wareham has certainly penned some great songs since, not to mention commandeered Velvet Underground-styled re-toolings of non-originals from the likes of the Stones and Guns 'N Roses. But there's definitely been some downsizing on his end: while the 1995 peak Penthouse was grand, gorgeous, as monolithic as the Empire State yet as languorous as a three A.M. poker game, this one is fleet, wiry, as breezy as a convertible drive down the California coast, but as homely as angora.

Still, though their current production techniques could veer a little less from the thin and trebly, "Speedbumps" is a jaunty delight, and the rerecording of the New Order takeoff "Astronaut" is even more euphoric than the version on last year's EP. But if the first half of this record is a fond enough farewell, the slower second half isn't so much a tearful goodbye as a tired one, and could have easily been salvaged by one of their patented spiffed-up covers. So here's hoping Wareham recharges his batteries on an extended vacation -- his band justly outlasted Smashing Pumpkins and Alice in Chains, and even at half-speed they have twice as much to give than either.