How Do You Like Your Lobster?

A collection of various singles and compilation appearances, How Do You Like Your Lobster? makes for a mighty fine overview of the Eggs' first half of the '90s, and arguably might actually be its best album all around. It's certainly a great snapshot of the band's quietly evolving approaches over time. If opening songs like the wonderful Skyscraper are low-key {indie rock} with a bit of energy here and there, as the album goes things are much more varied, from the odd chants on Sexual Tension and the not-quite-scat-singing and funk turns on Roll Away the Stone to the shoegaze-meets-tempo change of Baked Alaska. It's not that one can't hear the ambition early on -- Marianne McGee's low-key turn on flngelhorn helps add just a touch of majesty, if one likes, to Ocelot, while Rob Christiansen does similar on Sugar Babe and both parts of The Oblivist with tuba (on the latter adding some woozy {New Orleans jazz} moans). Some really wonderful songs and performances mark the entire disc -- the earliest stone classic is The Government Administrator, which sounds like the type of epically heroic song the Flaming Lips would end up doing more of towards the end of the millennium. Then there's Mark Robinson's ruined remix of A Pit With Spikes, beautiful, simple verses complete with bizarro falsetto midsong break, and a snaky, just off-kilter enough cover of OMD's early-'80s winner Genetic Engineering (the replication of the computer voices is quite amusing!), as well as a slightly peppier version of Low's Words -- with tuba. Andrew Beaujon tackles the liner notes with a curious but fun theme, relating every particular single or recording session to a fish dinner or meal of some sort. Among other revelations -- that Mimi from Low sure can cook au papilotte. ~ Ned Raggett, All Music Guide