I posted in praise of Eggs a couple of years back but I can’t say I ever remembered them doing a Peel Session. Apparently though, they did and I’m an idiot who missed it.
Looking back it’s no real surprise I don’t remember it (or UK gigs they did on the same visit) as that summer included a holiday in Greece, my Grandad dying, the seeds of a horribly complicated love quadrangle developing, the seeds of a horribly complicated post-grunge band developing and an awful lot of nights out drinking, clubbing and generally wrecking myself (mentally and physically).
As a result, listening to it now is a bit of a revelation. The opening track “March Of The Triumphant Elephants” is an electronic instrumental on the album but for the Peel Session it’s given the full band treatment. The exact same song but with guitars & drums instead of synths. Glorious.
“A Pit With Spikes” was always one of my favourite tracks on the record and here they sound like a band who’ve relaxed totally in to a song. The opening section is ridiculously laid-back and by the time they get to the disco falsetto section it sounds like it could all fall in a heap at any moment. Then at the very end, a brief 8 bars of Thin Lizzy-style dual lead breaks out. Well, of course it does.
“Words” appeared posthumously on the “How Do You Like Your Lobster?” single compilation and the version here is not a million miles from it, but with added bossanova rhythm. Annoyingly only the first 2 minutes of the Peel Session track survive due to a pesky tape flip.
The final track “Maureen’s Beans” is again radically different to the album version. Where the original was drumless and almost whispered, here the band go flat out and it sounds like the Maida Vale 4 Grand Piano gets a hammering. Peel ends the track by virtually announcing the bands demise.
30 July 1994 Maida Vale 4
Produced by Paul Allen and Engineered by Fred Kay
1. March Of The Triumphant Elephants
2. A Pit With Spikes
3. Words (recording cuts out early)
4. Maureen's Beans
Andrew Beaujon – Guitar, Vocals
Robert Christiansen - Guitar, Trombone, Keyboards, Vocals
John Rickman - Drums
Evan Shurak – Bass
Download
