Rendezvous

Rendezvous marks the end of an era of beautiful, dreamy music from the highly underrated band Luna. After their early 2005 farewell tour, Luna will no longer exist. This album is amazing and nearly perfect in every way. The songs range from beat driven, energetic tracks like Speedbumps and Astronaut, to sweet and languid tunes like Cindy Tastes of Barbecue and Star Spangled Man.

One of the highlights of this album are the two songs written by guitarist Sean Eden, who provides lead vocals for the first and last time on a Luna album. Broken Chair and Still at Home sound somewhat different than typical Luna, but are beautiful and feature the amazing guitar work that has become synonymous with the band.

If you have never listened to Luna before, I highly recommend this album, as well as their third release Penthouse. These two albums are Luna at their finest.

A 100% must have for any fan. It sounds a bit different than previous CD's. There's a pleasant bassy-guitar sound in most of the tracks that makes them sound warmer and more "live" than usual. The vocal tracks are also pushed up to the front -- again a good thing because the lyrics are great.

Why isnt this CD their best? There's a few tracks that are too quiet and drowsy-sounding for my tastes, but they aren't so bad. I'm thinking of The Owl and Pussycat, Broken Chair, and Motel Bambi. The falsetto voice in Broken Chair I could do without.

All of the other tracks are top-rate. Still at Home is a great track that builds nicely. Buffalo Boots drives forward with great guitar-work and drums. Cindy Tastes of BBQ is classic Luna -- ironic, witty and intelligent. The re-do of Astronaut has the warmer guitar-sound that all of the other tracks have, and it is a fine revision of one of Luna's best "pop" songs.

Luna is a great band and I am speechess that this will be their last CD. They'll never find this chemistry again if they disperse to other bands.

The conventional wisdom on Luna is that their artistic peak was around "Penthouse" or "Bewitched", and that their other releases are a mixed bag not as worth pursuing. As a true, unabashed Luna fanatic, I feel this is hogwash. As much as I love those two releases, much of Dean Wareham's best and underappreciated work is contained on such less heralded releases as the experimental "Pup Tent", the vastly underrated "Days of Our Nights" (a personal fave) and the lush, unashamedly romantic (by Luna standards mind you) "Romantica". See, my contention is that, from "Lunapark" onward, they have only gotten better with each successive release. A rarity in bands nowadays to be sure.

Having said that, this their final swansong (so they say) is as sublime as prime Luna gets, and is quite possibly their most consistently brilliant disc to date. As criminally under appreciated as they have been all their career, even mainstream critics have had to cop to the sheer blissful beauty that is "Rendezvous". Favoring a stripped-down back to basics approach, it's everything Luna should be: mysterious, witty, sexy, poignant, deep, celestial and delicious. Like Luna's best work, it's as comfortable as a chat with an old friend, yet so fresh and nuanced that it gets better with repeated listenings. Wareham's poetically absurd yet touching lyrics are the key as usual. His secret is never coming off as too snide or pleased with himself, or just plain sarcastic as many in this genre can. He's an artsy fartsy New York hipster who's never too cool bear his sensitive, tender heart. Just when you think he's over reached with a cheesy line (the one about the piggy wiggy with a ring in its nose in "The Owl and the Pussycat") he draws you back with a simple, down to earth observation or detail (like the line in "Rainbow Babe" about drinking Akvavit in plastic cups f'rinstance). Luna may be calling it a day, but I will always have their recorded output to carry me into that witty, urban, romantic dreamscape that is the stuff of their greatest tunes. For now, I will relax, a glass of Maker's Mark in hand, the one I love in my arms, while "Cindy Tastes of Barbecue" plays on the stereo. Luna is made for moments like this. They will be sorely missed.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 19 reviews  4.6 out of 5 stars