Big Dipper's Star is Finally Risen

Sometimes you hear a band at just the right age. I first bought a vinyl copy of Big Dipper, Heavens, during my freshman year of college (1987: yikes!). In the tumultuous years to follow, when I traded in and sold many CD's and records I cherished, I clung to my copy of Heavens long after I donated my broken turntable to Goodwill. Now it sits on an IKEA bookshelf, shredded by our cat (who passed away not too long ago).

Why did I keep this record? First, check out this cover painting: Bill Goffrier, formerly of The Embarrassment, had very clearly paged through the same old library books about UFO's that I had, and turned his obsessions into quite beautiful art. And this record is full of whimsical, clever, but melancholy moments, and some of the BEST pop songs ever. I used to listen to my dubbed cassette copy of Heavens as I drifted off to sleep in my creaking dorm bunk bed, imagining stories and music videos set to the songs on this album, whose sounds are almost the Platonic ideal of "college rock."

In particular, Lunar Module haunted my half-awake state. From it's opening lines, "The Moon looked up from the trees/Generally likes what she sees," it summoned a storybook world for me, one that was animated in the same style as that cover painting.

You can't imagine my joy when I saw that Big Dipper's entire recorded output has been compiled by Merge and released as a 3 CD set. It was like a surprise party thrown by old friends I hadn't seen for years. So anyway, here it is.