One-Album Wonders: The Peels (2005)

"You were wrapped in golden chains; I was lonely just the same"

Genres: alternative rock, garage rock, punk
Recording decades: 2000s

Lineup:
Robyn Miller – vocals
Lane Rider – guitar
Joshua Keats – bass
Ken Small – drums

Album Release Year: 2005

Rating: 8/10

Track Listing: 1) Only Son; 2) Lay; 3) Gold Chains; 4) I Only Miss You When You’re Gone; 5) You Talk Too Much; 6) These Things, They Fall Apart; 7) I Don’t Know; 8) Push You Away.

If you were to ask me which band inspired my greatest laments for their dissolution after a single album, I would name not the Sex Pistols, or Blind Faith, or even Derek and the Dominoes.  So, does that imply that I would name The Peels?  Well, maybe.  Jackson C. Frank and Toy Matinee might be more substantial contenders in the end, but the fact that The Peels only managed a single album is still a crime.

I’m not going to pretend that the slick, greasy, swaggering rock sound of these eight songs was never heard before – hell, it’s probably been a standard of the underground/punk/whatever scene since the late Seventies.  But that doesn’t mean that there’s any less room for an ass-kicking record like this one.

First of all, the obvious: that desperate, wailing, hiccupping energy from vocalist Robyn Miller is really something incredible, and the band probably wouldn’t have even released this album without her.  Her voice is husky and streetwise while retaining that femme fatale element, and the rest of the band clearly knew to make her the central focus at all times.  The rhythm section is just tight enough to keep everyone in line, while still allowing for plenty of breathing room for Miller and guitarist Lane Rider to drag us everywhere they need to.  Yes, Rider provides all kinds of driving, serrated riffs and stinging solos and fills: again, probably a cliché to those accustomed to the scene; but where so many other underground alt-punk acts are harsh and abrasive enough to strip the paint, here the style is done so smoothly and melodically that one can still pick out harmonies and everything else, and that's what draws me in. 

So, the sound is tried-and-true, but the energy is really something else, like an old roller coaster careening around those hairpin turns, rattling and threatening to come off the rails, but always coming back to center, always returning to the dock, and always leaving the listener with an exhilarating desire for more.

Well, I guess even that description is cliché, isn’t it?  Point is, I’ve listened to a decent number of independent rock bands, and none of them have filled me with the same frenetic, bouncing-off-the-walls vibe, and made me believe in it, the way The Peels do.  

What else am I supposed to feel at that gritty bass intro in “You Talk Too Much”, when it sounds like some kind of slimy beast slapping me around?  How can I resist that raspy, defiant shout of “I’ll just laa-aaa-yyyeeeeee” that makes up the entirety of the chorus in track 2?  Or the stomping, driving “Gold Chains” with the riffs that sound like waves of hot, dirty water crashing overhead?  Then there’s the wicked, petulant, writhing solo at the end of “Push You Away” that serves as a climax for the whole album.

So, there you have it.  The feeling of thrashing around, breaking stuff, splattering paint everywhere, all with a huge smile on my face – that’s what this album is for me, and I don’t care how many other albums it could have been instead.  This is the one I fished out of a bargain bin that summer afternoon in college, and it was the best thing I could have done with that two bucks.