A Head Full of Wishes is a site for Galaxie 500, Luna, Damon & Naomi, Dean & Britta and Dean Wareham. With news, articles and lists of releases and past and future shows.
My record collection
[235] Various artists - For The Dead in Space (CD)
Released around the same time as Tom Rapp’s first release in 26 years this was a tribute album to Tom and Pearls Before Swine which included the usual terrascopic suspects such as Bevis Frond, Alchemysts, Flying Saucer Attack, and, of course Damon & Naomi.
The CD also includes Tom himself performing Hopelessly Romantic that was on that aforementioned first release, and Tom’s son David’s band Shy Camp.
Phil McMullen of Ptolemaic Terrascope and Terrascopaedia fame wrote the sleeve notes:
Forgotten, overlooked or just plain criminally ignored, the recorded legacy of Pearls Before Swine remains, and it's from that motherlode of folk-rock nuggets with filigree salients that the majority of the material on the album you're now holding has been gleaned, prised from the seam by a handful of today's more influential and revered underground musicians the cult bands of tomorrow who have in turn been given their own chance to interpret the music of an artist whose importance, and contribution to popular music culture, should never be underestimated.
Phil McMullen (For The Dead in Space sleeve notes)
Damon & Naomi offer up their cover of Translucent Carriages that was released on Playback Singers the following year.
The album had a launch party in New York City in September of 1997, Chris from The Galaxie 500 Mailing List wrote up half the show, which later got published on the excellent Luna Cafe web zine… with a promise of more later - which sadly never transpired… well, not in full - a couple of years later Chris posted on the list…
I reviewed this event on this list but I'm afraid I never did finish and get to the set where Batoh did join them however. Incredible set - - easily the best I have ever heard them play. They did a few songs off of Masaki's solo lps (on the now sound, one includes a bizarre cover of can's "you do right", which they also played together at terrastock II last year), one song of which reached a level of swirling guitar beauty so rarely acheived. Their version of "this car" was also so incredible with Batoh also on guitar.
Chris Severson - The Galaxie 500 Mailing List (1st October 1999)
Damon also mentioned the show on his (paywalled) Substack post about Tom:
So it was a very happy coincidence that the fourth Tom Rapp show of 1996, this time at the Thread Waxing Space in New York in celebration of the release of a tribute album called, For the Dead in Space, coincided with a Ghost tour of the U.S. As a result, Batoh and Tom met at a Ghost show in Philadelphia, and Batoh was able to play at the Pearls Before Swine tribute, both solo and with me and Naomi. At the end of that evening, the three of us, along with David Rapp and some other friends of Tom’s, all joined Tom in some unrehearsed, chaotic but fun renditions of a few of his songs.
Damon Krukowski - Interview with Tom Rapp of Pearls Before Swine (paywalled article)
Sadly I don’t have recordings of those “unrehearsed, chaotic but fun” songs but do have a Damon & Naomi’s set - with Batoh guesting.
Shortly after Tom died in 2018 Damon & Naomi were tour ing the UK, here they are playing Translucent Carriages in Manchester.
For The Dead in Space expanded to three volumes and the whole set are available to buy on Bandcamp, on CD, or digitally for pay what you can.
- Catalogue Number: AHFOW 10/103
- Artist: Various artists
- Title: For The Dead in Space
- Format: CD
- Buy ‘For The Dead in Space (volumes 1 to 3)’ on Bandcamp
Previously in my record collection: