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Back Numbers | 
 enlarge | Artist: Dean & Britta
Label: Rounder / Umgd
Category: Music
List Price: $17.98
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Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 19043
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.4
MPN: 431105
UPC: 601143110528
EAN: 0601143110528
ASIN: B000LXHGBC
Release Date: February 27, 2007
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| Tracks:
| • | Singer Sing | | • | Words You Used To Say | | • | Wait For Me | | • | You Turn My Head Around | | • | Teen Angel | | • | White Horses | | • | Me & My Babies | | • | Say Goodnight | | • | Crystal Blue | | • | The Sun Is Still Sunny | | • | Our Love Will Still Be There |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
The thoroughly excellent sophomore release by the two best-looking members of Luna should make any fans who bemoaned that group's demise happy as hell with its lovingly crafted cocktail hour visions. Back Numbers offers up perfect rainy day music on every graceful, laconic song. The album recalls the sophisticated, decadent sounds of Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra throughout. Unsurprisingly, Hazlewood is covered on one song here but this is no cheesy retro exercise; in fact, no one has mined this type of material with such originality since Nick Cave approached it in the 1980s. Each song is imbued with a subtly different style, with nods to the hazy psychedelic folk-rock of Opal and Clay Allison on numbers like "Say Goodnight" and the steampunk synth washes of Sonic Boom (who performs on the album) and Suicide on "Singer Sing." Other numbers like "The Sun Is Still Sunny"--awash in sophisticated strings, hushed dual harmonies, a dash of piano and Mr. Wareham's warm and melodic guitar lines--don't sound like anyone else, at all. Huzzah! --Mike McGonigal
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
Excellent second album from Dean & Britta June 26, 2008
I have to confess that I lost track of Dean & Britta when Luna broke up, but my interest in them was renewed recently after reading Dean's outstanding memoir "Black Postcards" and after that I sought out this album.
"Back Numbers" (11 tracks, 44 min.) brings quite a departure from the Luna sound, and that should not come as a surprise. The album brings a more laid-back sound (with again famed producer Tony Visconti at the helm, he produced Luna on at least one album that I can remember, and also Dean & Britta's first album), but with mostly excellent results. There is a mix of originals and about 3-4 excellent covers, including Lee Hazlewood's "You Turned My Head Around", my favorite track on the album, but also Donovan's "Teen Angel", another great track. Other highlights on the album for me include "Words You Used To Say" and "The Sun Is Still Sunny", just outstanding. The album flows great from track to track, and at 44 min. you'll find yourself playing this again and again.
In all, I am loving this album. I'd love to see Dean & Britta in concert bringing these songs in a live setting. Not sure that they do a lot of touring these days (particulary with Dean's newly-found attention with his critically well-received memoir), but one can only hope.
 Beautiful May 19, 2008
I've been a Luna fan for a long time -- they basically ushered me through college in the 1990s, and I was there for their last show. The first few times I listened to this album it just made me wistful for the old band. After a few go rounds my aural neurons realigned themselves and I heard the beauty in this album. Like Wareham's other work, it sinks in and creates an inimitable buzz, calm, and perspective -- and you don't even need a beer to feel it. Perfect summer album. I'm looking forward to more.
Very good album, recommended to anyone. July 27, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I bought this album immediately, mostly out of obligation, because I love the band Luna so much (their old band), and wasn't sure what to expect from the post-Luna couple. Dean Wareham is not a young pup anymore and I didn't know how much he had left after 2 decades of greatness, but this album totally renewed my faith, and in fact is better than some of Luna's album, and more impressive is the way this album doesn't feel like a Luna album while still having the same feeling, with Dean's notes floating in the air and never hitting the ground. Pretty much every song is beautiful and well crafted with a hint of fun in much of the material without ever sounding like the two are forcing it, both sounding very natural together. Overall, I would say that the parts are maybe stronger than their sum; the album is good and the songs do fit well but somehow I don't consider the album great, just very good. Another thing that I love about Dean is that he always makes albums where every song is a least solid, and the music is great to play in all situations and far many audiences. Like much of Dean's work, this is one of those albums that is great to put in the background if you have a couple of friends over or are having a conversation and just need some sophisticated music to liven and enlighten the mood.
Hooks into You June 21, 2007
Play this on the laptop through iTunes and the genre comes up as "easy listening". In fact, Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips were half of alt-rock favourites Luna who folded in 2005.
Here they position themselves either as terminally retro or somewhere ahead of the curve. They splice their originals with back numbers from Lee Hazlewood, Donovan Leitch and The Troggs. The pick of these is Britta's soaring take on Hazlewood's You Turn my Head Around.
Crystal Blue R.I.P. calls to mind contemporary singer-songwriter Stephin Merritt (of The Magnetic Fields). As does Dean's deadpan intonation on Words You Used to Say: "Glasses dirty, the drinks are dead. Happy birthday, have this you said/We're color coded, we're coded red. Those are words you used to say".
Best original is the velvety pop of The Sun is Still Sunny, with its laconic "inside my suitcase an orchestra plays". Boldest whimsy is Britta skipping through the cult 1960s TV-show theme White Horses. This attractive album hooks into you like a TV fishing show.
(Canberra Times June 2007)
 Getting warmer... warmer... warmer... May 2, 2007
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This CD is a solid set of songs that maintains continuity throughout, a rarity these days. A caveat however is that one person's "understated" is another's "boring". I would definitely rate this CD as understated but this is not a bad thing at all. The production is tastefully done, virtually all the songs feature a lovely stereo tremolo keyboard part to establish the mood lighting. Ultimately, this is a CD that demands to be listened to through headphones to demonstrate the amount of work that went into the elaborately constructed sonic space (see "Teen Angel"). Some songs however have a slightly unfinished feel to them, like demos that were only worked over once or twice. As one reviewer noted, the songs are somewhat sugary and while I agree it should be noted that they are not saccharine (an important distinction).
Songs that stick in my head are:
"You Turned My Head Around" features a deliciously 60s style, French girl chorus. I think this could have been a radio hit had Dean and Britta tweaked the bridge and finished writing the lyrics. I like it anyway though.
In "White Horses", Britta turns what would be a rather standard song into something else with her phrasing and delivery. The mini-chorus "on white horses, snowy white horses..." is the best simple vocal hook I've heard in recent memory. The song dissolves into a sonic farewell of keyboards, unfortunately not going anywhere too far but at least gives the impression that you've _been_ somewhere.
"Me and My Babies" has Dean singing on the verses before Britta comes in with some dreamy backing vocals on the chorus. A nicely floaty and meditative piece but again it feels unfinished.
The trend is obvious here. Back Numbers is a good CD but it would have benefitted from tighter songwriting and more fleshed out ideas. Oh yeah, and my girlfriend would like to point out that the "nah-nah-nah" section of "Say Goodnight" was lifted directly from Luna's "Romantica". These shortcomings aside, I think it will make a perfect lazy summer day soundtrack.
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