Luna's sudden breakup last year was cold and heartless, dammit. Now these ex-indie-rockers wanna get all sentimental with their new covers compilation, Lunafied (Rhino), a best-of disc and a cutesy, reveal-all documentary called Tell Me Do You Miss Me? Aw shucks, who are we kidding? Let's kiss and make up. Luna's fleshed-out version of the Velvet Underground's "Ride Into the Sun" (first heard on Luna's 1993 Slide EP) holds a candle to any VU song. Hell, as an outtake circa Loaded, the original was bare, passionless and forgettable. Given the standard Luna treatment (similar, not coincidentally, to the standard Velvet treatment) of fuzzy guitar solos and warm, twangy vocals, "Ride" builds up slow and confident into a pounding road-trip anthem. Sure, Dean Wareham replaces a couple of Lou Reed's lyrics with some questionable ones of his own ("Waitin' for the ships to sail/ Looking for an end/ Ridin' for another time/ To ride into the sun"), but all is forgiven when he starts crooning the delightful title line over and over again. That's your cue to pull down the top and let the lonely highway take you away.
Luna's never going to play "Ride Into the Sun" again, but you can download it at
www.rhino.com.