Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Label: Mute
Cat No.: MAPS4LP
Format: Red Vinyl (2025 Record Store Day) (Limited Edition of 1000)
Matrix/Stampers: Side One – MAPS4LP A-1, Side Two – MAPS4LP B-1
At long last, the Swell Maps’ fabled Peel Sessions are collected on vinyl—three BBC recordings across three years, each with its own quirks, textures, and misfires intact. Rather than smooth out the variances in fidelity across the different sessions, this RSD 2025 edition leans into the raw edges, letting each recording speak for itself—unpolished, unrepentant, and all the better for it.
The first session, from March 1978, finds the band still half-feral and wildly inventive. With Tony Wilson at the desk (no, not that Tony Wilson), there’s a noticeable absence of low end—International Rescue and Harmony In Your Bathroom in particular are rendered in brittle, top-heavy tones. Whether Wilson was distracted or having a bad day is open to speculation. The band, naturally, made the most of it.
Jowe Head recalls:
“My fondest memory was Epic and I dashing into the toilets to fill up a jug with water, then using a pair of straws to make a bubbling sound for ‘Harmony’. In our excitement, we splashed some of it on the floor and near one of the microphones, so we were only allowed one take, but it was very effective, with some reverb added in the mix, but we were reprimanded very firmly by the producer and engineer for causing so much chaos!”*
A classic Swell Maps moment: chaos as composition.
By Read About Seymour, the balance improves, and the session starts to click into something truly special. The pairing of Full Moon in My Pocket/Blam!! remains a high-water mark—equal parts scrap-metal pop and jagged futurism, still thrilling nearly half a century on.
The second session, from October 1979 and produced by Trevor Dann, takes a while to find its footing. Armadillo and Vertical Slum/Forest Fire feel somewhat bogged down in the murk. But the performances are tighter, and by the time Midget Submarines and Bandits One Five roll in, the mix loosens its grip. Lora Logic’s guest sax on Midgets slices through the haze, a burst of free-jazz joy.
It’s the third session, from March 1980, that truly delivers. With Bob Sargeant producing, the band sounds focused and fluid. Big Empty Field glides in with clipped guitar harmonics before yielding to Bleep and Booster Come Round For Tea / Secret Island, a surrealist daydream played with mathematical precision.
Let’s Buy A Bridge might be the standout—not just for its speed and tightness, but for how utterly complete it sounds. A studio-quality track captured in a single, breathless take.
The record closes with Helicopter Spies and A Raincoat’s Room, a pair of woozy, angular sketches that nod toward the band’s inner art-school instincts. Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore would cite the Swell Maps as a key influence, and it’s easy to hear why—this is post-punk at its most fearless and fragmented.
More than just an archival curio, The Peel Sessions captures the Swell Maps in all their inspired, short-circuiting glory. It’s messy, magical, and exactly as it should be.
The packaging is quite basic and somewhat of a disappointment given that there is so much to look back on. The red vinyl smells really nice though!
3.9 out of 5.0 stars
* Source: https://peel.fandom.com/wiki/Swell_Maps
