Pitchfork
Rating: 8.4
by Mark Richardson, November 15, 2005
In his contribution to Thurston Moore's book The Art of the Mixtape Dean Wareham discusses a tape he'd made for Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang in 1987, around the time they were starting their band. "When I look at the cassette today," he writes, "I see that it is almost a recipe of ingredients for Galaxie 500." Jonathan Richman is on it, and Joy Division and Moe Tucker and Shockabilly, all of whom would impact the band in various ways. "If you cut random bits of this tape together," adds Krukowski, "you'd probably come up with an alternate version of the first Galaxie 500 album."

Throughout their history Galaxie 500 always had a fondness for covers; from the beginning they positioned themselves firmly in the tradition of independent/underground rock. All members had good record collections and remained committed to a specific musical narrative that began with garage rock and the Velvet Underground. By plucking elements from the leftfield records that mattered to them and adding a highly personal spin, Galaxie 500 became part of the history they loved.

Galaxie 500 made two visits to the BBC studios to record material for John Peel's show and the eight tracks cut are collected here. Half are covers and, as with the many the band had recorded and played live, they manage to make them sound like Galaxie 500 songs. The way they had their sound honed at this point, with Wareham's unsteady wail and spare guitar, Yang's clean, elegant basslines and Krukowski's texture-over-beat drumming, they couldn't have sounded like anyone else if they'd tried.

This being the case, even the opening cover of Sex Pistols' "Submission" from the October 1990 has a viscous and dreamy lyricism. It's uptempo-- Galaxie 500 didn't always play slow-- but cool and controlled, and fits easily with the On Fire song "When Will You Come Home" from the same session. The Young Marble Giants' "Final Day" is, on the other hand, slowed by half, and though Yang's voice bears a similarity to YMG's Alison Statton, she finds a hint of British folk inside the song's simple melody. Buffy St. Marie's "Moonshot", which Wareham would later cover in his low, half-spoken voice on his album with Britta Phillips, is handled a third higher than Buffy herself sang it, with Wareham selling that upper register quaver like only he can.

The September 1989 session, recorded a month before the release of On Fire, had a higher proportion of G500 songs, the only cover being the G500 concert staple and Jonathan Richman original "Don't Let Our Youth Go to Waste". The opening one-two of "Flowers" and "Blue Thunder" is simply breathtaking, with every element of the Galaxie 500 sound perfectly in place. To hear these two songs one after another is to hear the best evidence on record of why this band meant so much to people at the dawn of the '90s, and "Decomposing Trees" is almost as good. Peel Sessions is allegedly the final piece of the Galaxie 500 story, the last recorded evidence of any significance that will be released. It's a fittingly strong ending for a band that did almost everything right.

Stylus Magazine
by Ross McGowan, December 3, 2005
As soon as the cover of the Sex Pistols' "Submission" begins, it's apparent that Galaxie 500's Peel Sessions manages to capture what makes this seemingly ordinary sounding band so memorable. That a band this languid could take a punk anthem of rage and transform it into their own (and their genre's) sonic ideal is the mark of sheer excellence. They bury the riffs under delicate interplay between bass and electric guitars to the point where the Pistols' version (almost) sounds like it could pass as a Galaxie 500 cover.

"Submission" makes it clear why Peel Sessions is being released in November of 2005-additional reminders of what a great rock band sounds like are always worthwhile. These eight songs, culled from two sessions for the John Peel Show in 1989 and 1990, find the band right around their artistic apex, and they managed to do both the covers and their own material justice.

Their version of Buffy Sainte Marie's "Moonshot" is handled skillfully. Instead of attempting to match Sainte Marie's unmistakable quiver, singer Dean Wareham delivers the song in a straight-forward manner, as he and his bandmates infuse a palpable hollowness into the music itself to best acclimate their aesthetic to the lyrics' eerie nature. Other covers include a slowed-down take on the Young Marble Giants' "Final Day," and an inspired version of Jonathan Richman's "Don't Let Our Youth Go to Waste."

Both sessions are delivered with clear quality, enhancing the covers and making the subtle differences with the original versions of the band's songs easily identifiable. The guitar solo at the end of "Blue Thunder" is spacier than On Fire's version, for example. In every case, the original songs are performed as carefully as they would be for an official recording; Galaxie 500 sounded as tight as ever.

The only substantial complaint that could be lobbied against Peel Sessions is that it's simply too scant, leading to legitimate questions of whether or not it's truly suitable for release and/or purchase. But seeing as how the biggest problem with the eight songs that are included is that they cause one to wish that Galaxie 500 had recorded more songs for Peel, it only serves as testament to the strength of everything found within. For longtime fans, there's little reason not to buy this. For newcomers, Peel Sessions might not be a logical starting point, but you'll still walk away understanding why Galaxie 500 are still revered.

Junkmedia
by Tyler Wilcox, November 15, 2005
Scraping the bottom of the barrel rarely sounds this good. Galaxie 500's long-awaited Peel Sessions disc represents what is most likely the last archival release from this brief-running band, whose members went on to form Luna and Damon & Naomi following an acrimonious breakup in the early '90s.

Far from being audio table scraps, these two radio sessions, recorded in 1989 and 1990, are an essential addendum to the Galaxie 500 story. The recordings show the band in a loose, playful mood, mixing originals with covers by the likes of Jonathan Richman, Buffy Sainte Marie, Young Marble Giants and, most surprisingly, the Sex Pistols. The latter band's "Submission" is given a fun, irreverent reading, as singer-guitarist Dean Wareham warbles his way through the lyrics. The only sad thing about Peel Sessions is that it is the last unreleased music we'll hear from Galaxie 500. Until the reunion, of course. Hey, if Dinosaur Jr can get back together, all bets are off.

Time Out New York
by Mike Wolf
After the 1996 release of a four-disc box set, and a subsequent live CD recorded in Copenhagen, it seemed every note that Galaxie 500 recorded had been made available to the Boston band's cultlike fans. This is one of those times when it's great to be wrong. The two Peel Sessions the spectral guitar-pop trio recorded before disbanding in 1991—singer-guitarist Dean Wareham formed Luna, while rhythm section Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang moved on as a duo—are a valuable addition to its catalog. The group's expansive overhaul of the Modern Lovers' "Don't Let Our Youth Go to Waste" is here, as are covers of the Sex Pistols' "Submission" and Young Marble Giants' "Final Day." Best of all is that patented Peel Sessions production: Falling somewhere between live and studio recording, it should give goose bumps to anyone with a pulse.

Boston Phoenix
by Ryan Foley
Byron Coley once suggested that this Boston trio's career aspirations began so modestly that getting a single into the local bargain bins was Galaxie 500's main long-term goal. Of course, the daydream-pop band's legacy ultimately stretched far beyond cheap vinyl, since their sonic landscapes and lush melodies helped lay the groundwork for an entire generation of indie rockers on both sides of the Atlantic. And Peel Sessions serves as a perfect eight-song snapshot of the band's relatively short but influential career. The sessions (long traded as bootlegs among diehard fans) were recorded on two visits to the late John Peel's famous BBC Radio 1 show. Featured here are four originals and four cover songs. Putting a fresh coat of paint on other artists' work was a Galaxie 500 staple, and singer/guitarist Dean Wareham, along with drummer Damon Krukowski and bassist/vocalist Naomi Yang, sound equally at home with Buffy St. Marie's "Moonshot" and the Sex Pistols' "Submission." As for the originals, "Blue Thunder" is escapism at its most simple. "I'll drive so far away," Wareham repeats, but instead of following that up with salve for his wound, he picks it red with one of his rawest guitar solos. "When Will You Come Home" is a cheeky tale of love and absence delivered in the trademark whine that Wareham would take to NYC when he formed Luna. Peel Sessions is one of those rare gems from the vaults that's perfect for both longtime fans and the uninitiated.

All Music Guide ****
by Rob Theakston
The amazing thing about Galaxie 500, as evidence on the many covers featured on their excellent Uncollected disc and the box set, is their ability to take a song, cover it and make it into something uniquely their own; sounding as if the song emanated from the minds of the group themselves. Capturing their October 1989 and November 1990 Peel Sessions for BBC Radio, this disc includes songs from Jonathan Richman, Sex Pistols, Young Marble Giants and Buffy Sainte Marie all falling under Galaxie 500s spell, with the remainder of the disc being rounded out by various EP and album cuts. The band is in top form, sounding every bit as fresh and relevant in 2005 as they did fifteen years prior. There's a good chance die hard fans will already own bootlegged copies of this with substantially lesser sonic quality, and the high pedigree of sonic quality here is enough to warrant purchasing this disc, even for the most stalwart of fan.

Harp
by Christopher Porter
The trio of guitarist-vocalist Dean Wareham, bassist-vocalist Naomi Yang and drummer Damon Krukowski named their band after Ford's Galaxie 500 muscle car, but there was nothing muscular about the trio's mixture of Velvet Underground guitar, New Order bass lines and Joy Division drumming. The group recorded three official albums and one CD of rarities, so Peel Sessions is a welcome addition for longtime fans; if you've never heard the band, skip this and buy On Fire or This Is Our Music.

Superfans get new though not-so-different versions of "Blue Thunder," "Decomposing Trees," "Flowers" and "When Will You Come Home" as well as four cover songs of varying quality. Hearing Wareham squeak out the lyrics to the Sex Pistols' "Submission" is almost funny, and the Young Marble Giants' "Final Day," sung by Yang, is indie bedroom pop that hasn't aged well. But the trio's cover of Buffy Sainte Marie's "Moonshot" is a hoot, and its take on Jonathan Richman's "Don't Let Our Youth Go to Waste" is more rocked up than the version on Galaxie's debut, Today.