Customer Reviews

Peng!

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When I saw this on the new release shelves from across the room in December 1992, I was pulled towards it, as if in a trance. Knowing nothing about it, but enraptured by the artwork and the song titles, I paid an obscene import price and took it home, with a distinct hunch I had just landed on a new planet. When I heard it, I realized I was right. Peng! felt to me wholly new, mystical, and of mighty portent. Gorgeous! Deep and sophisticated, this music is about societal progress and personal transcendence. I have been an avid Stereolab listener ever since, and have nearly every track they've released. Facts: The cover art comes from a Swiss socialist pamphlet from the 1960s. "Peng" is the sound of the gunshot that the institutionalist-beaurocrat fires at the people. One Track, "Envirez-Vous," is a Baudelaire poem. Sample lyric (from "Surrealchemist"): "True life embodying pleasure principle's noblest triumph over the cowering mendacity of bourgeois / Christian civilisation." This album is a classic. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Please support your local independent record stores.

Ok, I'm definitely in the old school camp as far as "The Groop" goes...I can't make it through many of the newer songs without hitting the >> button...IMHO, the "Chicago Influence" bores me...(too bad, it's my hometown!; If it didn't I'd be waiving the flag high!)...but at least they're experimenting (unlike most groops) Too bad they didn't make a few more LPs in this vein. Not too slick production quality...this album flows continuously start to finish; it's perfect. After 5 years of listening, still, by far: my favorite Stereolab album.

When Stereolab hit the scene in the early 1990's, the music world had been taken over by three billion Nirvana wanna-bes... interesting music took a backseat as alternative became mainstream and in the crossover lost a lot of its urgency and power.

PENG!, Stereolab's debut album was like a breath of fresh air when released and it hinted at what was to come.. today it still rocks, rolls, and moves. There was and is nothing like it.

Guitars, Farfisa, Moog, drums, drum machines and vocals combine in an almost wall-of-sound aural soundscape. Clanging guitars, Nico-esque vocal deliveries, sonic distorted keyboards, repetitive licks which revolve layer upon layer of trancelike sound, beautiful soft songs, fast pop workouts, and interesting lyrics are all some of the reasons I love this LP!

Please get this record - or borrow a copy from a friend. Put on "Super Falling Star" first and tell me what you think... I have a feeling I know what you will think - It's great!

Grooving like '70s krautrock meets the Velvet Underground in a cafe in Paris, this debut album by Stereolab is one of their best. Droning and lo-fi, yet beautifully and joyfully dreamy. It's a must have for the casual and/or dedicated fan, and wouldn't be a bad CD to start with if you're new to Stereolab. The funny thing is that this was the last album by them I bought having gotten every other release in their catalog and it's become one of my favorites. It's got a charm and emotional resonance all it's own. What a strong debut album!

This is my favorite Stereolab album. This is exactly why i like Stereolab. Every song is great and the production has that slightly worn feel to it. Much the same as transient random does. Stereolab changed quite a bit in their later released. Not neccessarily for the worst, but did definately changed. Buy this for that raw Stereolab sound that started it all. Tim Gaine is a god as for as i'm concerned. And Sadier's voice is just perfect. The last 4 minutes of "Surrealchemist" are amazing. I'd almost buy it just for that. Stereolab remain one of my faves, even today

This is Stereolab's first LP, and easily their best. What would be ideal is if it were packaged with "...Space Age Bachelor Pad Music", their second (mini) album, which is greatness on wheels as well...sigh. It's a mixture of moving and dark melancholia ("Super Falling Star", "Surrealchemist"), jingly socio-political janglepop ("You Little Shits", "Peng! 33") and joyous VU-inspired R!O!C!K (the mighty "The Seeming and the Meaning" and the set-closer "Stomach worm"). It's innovative, celebratory, sexy and some of it's in french. It's the only album to approach Belle and Sebastian's stranglehold on the world's finest pop music, and it's a shame Stereolab have never quite managed to replicate its magnificence, except on the occasional single (check out vol. I of the singles collections). Buy this *immediately* or kick yourself until you do.

This is about the 7 year anniversary since I bought this album.

I know the term "Island Favorite's" has been been beaten to the ground, but if I were stuck in Grenada with nothing but some a solar powered Boombox and some Coppertone, this CD would be in the player.

This album undulates into one continuous pulsating moog, er, mood. I love "Perversion", with its trippy melody extending on forever. It reminds me of something by The Velvet Underground, like "What Goes On"; that repetitive driving instrumental sound.

Gosh, I wish they never turned toward the atonal beep, beep, beep; and just maintained this full sound (let's leave that to Eno). Oh, well. I've still got Transient Random.., those collections with the identical cover image as Peng (but different colors); Hooked on Stereolab, and other early stuff.

Thanks, guys, for making my island a little more groooovy. Think I'll dig some Spacemen 3 out of the sand.

I don't think this possesses the suave depth found on subsequent releases, and tinny indie production does not help either, but rest assured Peng! was a fine introduction into this singular group and all the loopy, light-hearted electro-pop eccentricity that would eventually spring forth fully.

I'm from the Chicago area, and I had read a review
in the Chicago Tribune of Transient Random....when
it was on the "year's best" list. I bought it immediately
afterwards, and completely fell in love with it (along
with Bee Thousand by Guided by Voices in the same review). Soon after, I went on a road trip to my alma mater (of two years)
University of Illinois and picked up (at the formerly great
Record Swap) Peng!33 and Switched On, Vol 1 on the feelings I had had towards Transient Random. It payed off, as Peng!33
is probably my favorite Stereolab album (with Transient Random
being the "introductory favorite").
I've seen 'em (literally) 17 times in concert, and I've
talked to the band backstage many times, owning probably
5 or 6 videotaped (by myself) bootlegs of their shows, with another 20+ bootlegs of their shows.
In any case, as much as I love Transient Random and
Mars Audiac (and to a slightly lesser extent Emperor Tomato), on a whole, Peng!33 is probably my fave album by the GROOP. All of my online names (Phantasy Star
Online and otherwise) come from their song titles, with this album including the most. [....]

This is one of my all time favorite albums. I only wish they didn't "progress" into the repetitive ambient territory of their last few albums. Peng! represents something else, part schmaltzy nod to Esquivel without too much kitsch, and a large dose of Velvet Underground power. I've listened to this album for three years and have never gotten tired of it. Actually, other than Al Green's "Call Me", I can't say that of any other album. This is one of those collections that's so incredible, it will take numerous listenings to like, but then you will be hooked.

I've found this to be the case with my favorite music. If you make the effort, it will pay back twentyfold. Like Beethoven.