My record collection
#171: Luna - Pup Tent (LP)

My first/primary copy of Luna’s Pup Tent was on CD, this LP was bought later, although I can’t remember (or find any clues in my email) of how much later.

Luna - Pup Tent (LP)

Pup Tent was the second Luna LP made during the lifetime of the Mailing List and was the first to receive mixed reviews on the list…

Holy disappointment. I just received an advance of Pup Tent. I am praying to the music Gods that this is just a sick joke and that I will soon fall madly in love with this album. So far, it is not even a small case of puppy love.

Julie - The Galaxie 500 Mailing List (26th June 1997)

Okay, a lot of people have been voicing some negative first impressions about pup tent. And no, it isn't the Luna we've grown accustomed to over the last three albums, but at least they've stopped playing it safe. You can't knock the band for doing something different.

James - The Galaxie 500 Mailing List (1st July 1997)

I have listend to the new Luna album and sadly i did not enjoy it.

SW - The Galaxie 500 Mailing List (August 1997)

Well I got pup tent, as usual I first thought, "not as good as the last". Then I played it in the car; more like wearing headphones as opposed to background music for when I am cleaning, cooking or just beating my meat etc.. As has happened in the past I like it more with each listen, remembering some of the songs from live shows; where luna really shines

Paul - Galaxie 500 Mailing List (1st August 1997)

Pup Tent was a nice pop record and Dean did a nice tour behind it, but it does not thave the passion that I associate with G500 and even the very early Luna stuff.

Bob - The Galaxie 500 Mailing List (21st December 1997)

In retrospect, now that we’re so familiar with the songs, it’s odd to think of Pup Tent as being something “different” or it not being “the Luna we’ve grown accustomed to”…

I’m listening to it now, trying to imagine never hearing it before and it is starting to make sense. IHOP as an album opener feels almost like a challenge to the Luna faithful, it really isn’t what we had come to expect from Luna up until then. Beautiful View too, sounded more out there than I realised, and then the vocoder on Pup Tent might have been too much for some? Bobby Peru maybe gets us onto firmer Luna ground, and Tracy I Love You, opening side two, is the most Luna track on the album, although, now we know that Tracy… was first recorded in the Penthouse sessions maybe that’s the album’s outlier?

Funnily enough I’m pretty sure that I didn’t have any concerns at the time. I remember someone emailing me before I had heard it, warning me that I might be surprised, but I don’t think I ever didn’t love the album, and “Tracy I Love You” and “Fuzzy Wuzzy” are right near the top of my favorite Luna songs. I put Pup Tent at #3 when I ranked Luna’s albums (Dean put it at #4), and I’d stand by it now. Although, listening to it right now, I might even rank it higher. It is a great album and is most definitely a Luna album.

In Black Postcards Dean dedicates a whole chapter to the making of Pup Tent, the chapter is titled “Don’t You Like Making Records?” - the making of the album was hard work but, damn! It was worth it.

• Catalogue Number: AHFOW 12/050
• Artist: Luna
• Title: Pup Tent
• Format: LP