October 1999 Pick of the Month
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| Live
Artist: Pegtop URL: http://www.pegtop.com Label: Indie Length: 70:37 / 15 tracks |
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Pegtop are one of the unsung heroes of the indie Christian music scene. Although they aren't pretty poster-boys like that other more famous trio, dc Talk, they are quality songwriters and performers well worth checking out. Their unique brand of alterna-folk is fun, catchy, and highly inspirational. Live marks their fifth album in four years, and serves as a sturdy bookend to the preceding albums.
The three normal guys that comprise Pegtop have quite a devoted fan following in Minneapolis where they often play on street corners to minister to both homeless and your average person-on- the-street passerbys. Whereas the worldview undergirding their music is distinctively and thoroughly Christian--and the lyrics are completely forthright in terms of content--the songs themselves are both creative and interesting enough to be compelling without being offensive to ears alienated to the gospel. No banal CCM cheese pop here. Principal songwriter, Dave Peightal, has an uncanny way with words that gives God glory and entices listeners including those most in need of spiritual persuasion.
His highly personal songs resonate with humanity's universal need for spiritual awakening in the face of frustration with the hard knocks life painfully doles out on a frequent basis. Celebrated here, the great God of our ultimate and daily salvation is real indeed, and painted in a very attractive but honest light. And all this comes wrapped up in a very hip, affable form that recalls classic singer-songwriters playing quirky folk music with appropriately edgy Nineties qualities gratefully intact.
Live captures the band not on the street corner with their amps powered by an old car battery, but on a stage at the Coffee Shock in Falcon Heights, Minnesota. In the past, Terry Steinmeyer, the band's accomplished drummer, has experimented with a drum set of junk like a cardboard barrel and a tackle box. Although this creative construction works well when the band is playing on the lawn at the Cornerstone festival, gratefully Steinmeyer sounds like he is primarily pounding a full drum kit for this set, which gives the band a fuller sound. R. Matt Patrick's bass lines amble and throb underneath everything, while his vocal harmonies prove to be the perfect counterpoint to the melodies. Front-man, Peightal, sings boldly and compassionately and delivers both gentle and frantic acoustic guitar parts and the occasional manic harmonica lick. Together, the three of them sound like they've been playing tightly together for years (they have), and the overall sound of this live recording is crystal clear.
If you're already a fan, this fifteen song collection contains concert favorites, such as "Keep the Faith," "Walls of Fire," and "Great Reverse." Curiously, the largest chunk of the album's material is taken from their impressive 1995 debut, Just Us. Their 1996 Great Reverse album chocks up four tracks, and 1997's Christmas album, The Gift grants two songs that work as well outside a Christmas context as in it. These two songs also sound better than the original studio tracks. Regrettably, their best album to date, 1998's Run, Run is only represented by a measly three tracks, and not even the best ones. "S.O.S." does feature an added tag at the end called the "Anchor Reprise," and highlight "Everything I Own" inspires true humility and a spirit of worship. Only one previously unrecorded song, "Oklahoma," makes an appearance, and it's a keeper.
Some of the other songs selected here are curious choices, but not one of them is a clunker. Yet, if the album has a weakness, the track selection is it. Why the band chose to focus more on their older, and in some cases more obscure, material rather than some of their latest and best moments is a mystery, but also further proof that Pegtop is no showboat for corporate lackeys. Unfortunately, it also means that another entire live album would be needed to please all the fans with live versions of their personal favorites. Regardless, much fun can be had by all here, and listeners are graciously treated to a nice variety of songs in Pegtop's signature sound and style.
In between and sometimes within the songs, the band offers a few bits of banter that range from amusing to borderline preachy. The latter inspirational homilies are always sincere, appropriately in context, and never heavy-handed. In fact, they help shed light on the songs themselves, the warm-hearted band behind them, and the God they serve unswervingly.
There are a plethora of struggling indie bands out there, but few are as deserving of greater exposure than Pegtop. Their unique, solidly played sound has great appeal for folks of all ages, and many memorable messages meriting contemplation. With clever stories worth sharing, and lively music worth hearing, you can't ask for much more. Live is both an excellent way to get to know them, or continue your affection for a band that deserves better.
Steven S. Baldwin 8/25/99
For more about Pegtop, visit our review of Run, Run, which was voted a Tollbooth Pick of the Month in August, 1998.
I first stumbled across Pegtop at Cornerstone '96 around the concession stands where they were busking in the shade of a giant inflatable Cheese Steak sandwich courtesy of Subway. They joked about having just come from Promise Keepers where they had played before thousands with their tiny portable speaker and drums made out of a cookie tin and cardboard barrel. It would have been hard to have taken them seriously if it weren't because of what I had read about their exceptional songwriting and the energy of their live performance on that warm Sunday morning.
Recorded in April of this year Pegtop 5 Live captures this offbeat Minneapolis trio before a host of revved up fans in a setting so intimate you'd think you were overhearing someone's bootleg recording of the entire performance. Clocking in at 70:37 there's plenty of time for a bit of stage chatter in between songs, a duel between two "harmonicas" on "Wall of Fire," and a tasty solo by bassist R. Matt Patrick without selling short the album's fifteen tracks.
All four Pegtop studio releases are represented in one form or another, but a few classics such as "Listen Children" from their debut are missing. The previously unreleased piece "Oklahoma" is worth noting because it describes the tension of needing to forgive someone for committing a heinous crime while at the same time desiring vengeance. Only a few songs such as Bruce Cockburn's "If I Had a Rocket Launcher" have been so effective in communicating these mixed emotions before.
If you've never had a chance to see Pegtop among the concession stands of the Cornerstone festival playing their "dumpster" drums and singing passionate tunes about faith that holds up even when your world comes crashing down, Pegtop 5 Live will do the trick.
James F. Laverty 9/13/99
