Keeping It Peel Day 2011

Last year for Keeping It Peel Day you may recall that I did a run down of my Top Ten Peel session tracks ever. This year what with one thing and another I have not had the time to do anything as extensive.

But what to do? Pick my favourite number 1 from all of the Festive Fifties, or a track that I had first heard on the Peel Show or go for another session. The problem with Peel is that there is so much choice, the man shaped the music I listen to in more ways than one. Also it didn't matter the genre of music, if it came Peel approved then it was at least worth a listen, if only the once, for me in the case of  Bolt Thrower and Napalm Death and many others which just didn't do it for me.

As I've said before, no matter what your taste in music is, Peel will have championed somebody you love, unless the extent of your interest in music goes no further than that Irish Band. He will also have played stuff that you absolutely detested.

When looking through The Peel Sessions by Ken Garner for inspiration for this post I decided to steer clear of the stuff that he will always be remembered for by people of my age group the post punk and indie. This decision did not reduce the amount to choose from that much. So I decided to further limit my choice to sessions that I actually had either on record, those wonderful Strange Fruit 12" singles, cd, just about every re-release comes with Peel sessions, if available or download which I had already acquired. I gave myself one further restriction for which I know at least two people will be glad of and decided no Fall.

This was still proving to be difficult until I looked at p312 in Ken Garner's excellent reference book and it hit me, of course a session by the first band I ever saw live,  at the Glasgow Apollo aged thirteen.

So I have posted the one and only John Peel session by my favourite band from the age of ten to about fourteen, Motorhead. I cannot claim to have heard this session at the time as in 1978 I probably only had the vaguest of ideas of who Peel was. But the truth is that Motorhead were the first band I saw live and I remember going to school the next day and not being able to hear a thing the whole day due to the ringing in my years.

This session was recorded at Maida Vale on 18th September 1978 and broadcast seven days later on the 25th.

Motorhead - Louie-Louie
Motorhead - Tear Ya Down
Motorhead - I'll Be Your Sister
Motorhead - Keep Us On The Road

Keeping It Peel, Number 1

Well here it is, my favourite session track ever from the John Peel show.  Another one of those "what the fuck" moments and not just from me I think,  as it was also the most requested session for repeat.

I did hear it first on the Peel show and I can honestly say it was like nothing else I had ever heard before, totally unique. For one thing there didn't seem to be any structure to the track, just snippets of dialogue, samples of everything from jets to cockerels, beats floating in and out and it seemed to go on forever. Before this session I had never heard of the Orb and I don't think it was until the second or third repeat that I actually caught the name.

This session didn't just baffle the listeners but also the staff at Maida Vale didn't have a clue what was happening during the recording of the track. Here are Alex Paterson's recollections of the session lifted from Ken Garner's excellent book the Peel Sessions, which if you don't have a copy you really should click here and rectify the situation.

"We turned up early and, finding nobody about, started setting up the turntables and desk in the control room. Suddenly the producer appeared and bawled out: "Get this equipment out of here!" He told us to set up in the studio and come back at 2pm. We said that we were going to generate a load of samples then mix it off the multi-track, which he didn't seem to get. We were so put off that we went round to a friend's house for an hour. But we were determined to defeat this producer so we went back, and pulled all the sofas and lamp stands into the middle of Studio 3 and set up a little living-room set in this huge studio, like something out of Alice In Wonderland and got the main lights switched off, to get a good atmosphere. I just started throwing all these samples at Jimmy: Waves, birdsong, jets, old Sci-Fi play excerpts, those "Aaaahs" of Grace Jones' Slave To The Rhythm, and Minnie Ripperton's Loving You, of course (we'd already started this thing of crediting all our samples, and virtually mixing the drums out of house music). And Jimmy did this great live mix really quick. I think that we were out of the building by 7pm! I think that it was the best mix we ever did of that. The head of Geffen records was over here, and listening to it on Peel while driving and had to pull over, he was so knocked out. He tried too sign us for America, but we already had a deal. The whole thing couldn't have been planned: it was just a very vivid day, because we were finding it so entertaining to defeat this producer bloke."

This session for me is one of the best illustrations of why John Peel is revered by so many people and was so essential to popular music during the thirty seven years that he was broadcasting on the BBC.  Long before the Radio One bosses decided that they needed specialist dance dj's Peel had been championing house and hip-hop. No other DJ anywhere in 1989 would have had the courage or sheer bloodymindedness to play a 20 minute noodling like A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules From The Centre Of The Ultraworld (Loving You) and for that reason alone he should be saluted.

And lets not forget all of the bands he gave the chance for more than their mates to hear by airing their demos or first singles. Or the obscure reggae, soul and other genres that got no other national airplay. He certainly contributed greatly to me opening my mind to music that probably if I hadn't heard it on his show I would have remained oblivious to.

Another reason I respect the man so much is that he refused the Irish Band a session, bit petty I know but that's me.

John Peel meant many things to many people,  from the sympathetic voice that listened to peoples woes and idiosyncrasies on Radio 4's Home Truths,  the devoted Liverpool supporter who cried on air after the Hillsborogh tragedy, the champion of so many different genres of music not least punk,  to the hippy who was friends with Mark Bolan and presented The Perfumed Garden.

It may be an overused phrase but it makes it no less true that his like will never be seen or heard over the airwaves again.

Teenage dreams so hard to beat



 Orb Session recorded 03rd December 1989 aired 19th December 1989

Tracklisting: A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules From The Centre Of The Ultraworld (Loving You)

The Orb - A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules From The Centre Of The Ultraworld  (Loving  You)
Alternative zipped file

Keeping It Peel, Number 2

If there is one band that is synonomous with the Peel sessions then it has to be The "mighty" Fall. As I have mentioned previously this is where MES and the gruppe shine brightest.  Whether showcasing new material or much rarer revisiting old stuff for the "look back bores",  the Peel session versions of tracks such as Blindness, Winter, Hip Priest, the list goes on and on became the definitive versions for a lot of fans.

Many, many Fall fans had waited for years for the release of all of these tracks in one package. Many still listened to the stretched and over played but loved cassette copies they had made over the years. However when it happened,  although we were still elated with the release it was also tinged with sadness as we all knew that what we had in our hands was the finished product as due to John's untimely death the previous October there was no possibility of ever hearing again those words which made the heart beat that little bit faster and filled grown men with the expectations of children on Christmas morning,  "Tonight a new session from the Fall".

So when I first sat down to compile this short series the only certainty I had was that the Fall would be #1, the problem would be choosing a single track from the 96 broadcast over the course of  an unassailable 24 sessions.


How very wrong I was, as I trailed through all of my Peel sessions I remembered a session that had more of an effect on me than even any of the Fall ones but more of that tomorrow.

Much has been written about Peel's love of the Fall over the years and he  is responsible for many memorable quotes regarding the band.  My favourite and the one that hits the nail on the head about why the Fall are what they are to fans is "With the Fall you can never be absolutely certain about what you're gonna get. Sometimes it may not be what you want, but it's still,     they're the Fall that's all you need."

There is a common misconception that Peel and Smith were the best of friends. There was mutual respect between the two men but if Smith is to be believed they only met on a few occasions and Smith unlike quite a few people who had recorded sessions for the great man didn't attend the funeral. When asked about it by a journalist he said "the reason I didn't go to John's funeral is because I never even knew him. Of course,  I'd see him when we went down to record the sessions, say hello, but I never went round to his house for tea, unlike fucking PJ Harvey and all them." The fact that he didn't go to the funeral didn't mean that Smith wasn't affected by Peel's death, even though the strange appearance on Newsnight on the night after Peel's death may point to the contrary.  In an interview later he wondered about the arbitrariness of life when he said " . . . he's gone (JP) and when you see some of the bastards still walking around. . . . "

Sometime before his death John has been quoted as saying " If I drop dead tomorrow, I'll have nothing to complain about  - except that there'll be another Fall album out next year."

It seems fitting to post the last track(s) from the final Peel Session by the Fall, before which we have the dulcet tones of the man himself introducing the gruppe.

Session 24 recorded 04th August 2004, aired 12th August 2004

Tracklisting: Clasp Hands, Blindness, What About Us?, Wrong Place, Right Time - I Can Hear The Grass Grow

John Peel - The Fall

The Fall - Wrong Place, Right Time - I Can Hear The Grass Grow

Keeping It Peel, Number 3

As I've said before the first time I heard the cacophony that was the early Jesus And Mary Chain sound it was one of those "what the fuck is that " moments. I would love to be able to say that that first time was on the Peel show, however for some reason it wasn't I don't know why because as far as I can remember I was listening to the show at the back end of 1984 but my abiding memory of hearing Upside Down for the first time was on a tape that a friend gave me.

The third session, however does stick in my mind as it totally threw me. Was this the same band that I had been listening to continually?  Gone was the feedback replaced with jangly acoustic guitars, surely not.  But it was and it was glorious. It showed that the band were no one trick pony and that beneath all of that feedback and pseudo violence there were actually some rather pretty pop songs.

The Mary Chain would go on to record another 3 sessions for the Peel Show, however for me session three stands head and shoulders above the others.

Session recorded 29th October 1985 and aired 11th November 1985.

Tracklisting: Some Candy Talking, Psycho Candy, You Trip Me Up, Cut Dead

The Jesus And Mary Chain - You Trip Me Up

It's Friday . . . Let's Keep On Keeping It Peel, Number 4

By the end of the 1980's more and more Peel sessions were from solo artist or duos who had thrown away their guitars and amps and replaced them with sequencers, decks and drum machines. With acts such as A Guy Called Gerald, Coldcut and the like recording sessions. This was one of my favourite periods of listening to John Peel as I was hearing most of these weird and wonderful artists for the first time. I seem to remember at the time that there were quite a lot of grumbling at the time from long term listeners as to why Peel was moving away from the indie fodder that had reigned supreme during the 80's.

This move towards more electronic music increased as the show entered the 90's, to such an extent that Dave Clarke even filled in for Peel on a couple of occasions. During the early 90s there were seminal sets by Orbital, Sabres of Paradise and the Orb (more of which later).

Today's session track comes from Future Sound Of London's first of four sessions for the show.

Session recorded 25th August 1992 and aired on 18th September 1992

Tracklisting: Lifeforms, Expander, Papua New Guinea, Space Hippy

Future Sound Of London - Papua New Guinea

Keeping It Peel, Number 5

When a lot of people think of the Peel sessions what initially springs to mind are punk, post punk and indie bands. I know that this is a sweeping generalisation but whenever I mention the Peel sessions to people of my age they mention groups like the Fall, Wedding Present, Napalm Death etc or if younger The White Stripes.

Today, although recorded in 1978 when the Peel Show was full of The Fall, Stiff Little Fingers and The UK Subs we have a very different beast.

Those of you who have read this nonsense over the last month or so will know that I have posted material by John Martyn on a few occasions recently. Martyn recorded 7 sessions over 10 years for Peel and today's track comes from the last session and is probably my favourite track by the artist.

This track/session is an illustration of what made the Peel show so unique. I think that a couple of other DJs on fabulous Radio 1 would probably have played tracks by John Martyn, none I'm guessing would play the 8mins 25secs of Small Hours and follow it up with the likes of 999 or Steel Pulse or something just as diverse.

In the dictionary under eclectic, surely the Peel show should be mentioned.

Session recorded 9th January 1978 and aired 16th January.

Tracks: Small Hours, Big Muff

John Martyn - Small Hours

Keeping It Peel, Number 6

Stiff Little Fingers have always been my favourite punk band, I will still play Inflammable Material and Nobody's Heroes on a regular basis. I still find the rawness of the first album quite exhilarating and tracks such as Barbed Wire Love and Wasted Life still sound alive and relevant these days to me in a way that other albums of that era sound dated now with the exception of The Clash.

It is not an exaggeration to state that if it wasn't for Peel, Stiff Little Fingers would probably never have been heard of outside of Belfast. When he received a copy of their first single Suspect Device, he played it continually on his show, leading to Geoff Travis of Rough Trade taking notice and offering the band a distribution deal. The band could not believe the support they were getting from Peel and on their next single Alternative Ulster acknowledged the debt they owed to the man by having printed on the back cover "For John Peel Who Made It Possible".

The band recorded 5 sessions for the show. The track posted is taken from the second and I think the best of those sessions.

Session recorded 12th September 1978 and aired on 18th September 1978.

Tracklisting: Johnny Was, Law and Order, Barbed Wire Love and Suspect Device.

SLF - Suspect Device

Keeping It Peel, Number 7

Today's choice in my Peel session is by "the boy Gedge", another favourite of Peel's who recorded 22 sessions, combining The Wedding Present and Cinerama appearances.

The amount of sessions meant that I was spoilt for choice when it came to picking a track, first of all should it be the Weddoes or Cinerama?  Should I pick one of Gedge's original compositions, one of his wonderful interpretations of other people's work, bizarrely including a track by faux Russian lesbians tATu, or one of the Ukranian folk songs.

After long deliberation I've chosen something from the 12th and final Wedding Present session mainly due to the fact that the track comes from the album which I play more than any other Wedding Present album these days Take Fountain the album Gedge decided to resurrect The Wedding Present after a 7 year hiatus. Some of the tracks which would appear on this album were previewed during the final 2 Cinerama sessions in June 2003 and January 2004.

Peel himself when airing  final session said "Well, I think that this session has been as good as anything they've done over the years" and I for one am not going to argue with the man.

The Wedding Present session 12 recorded 22nd July 2004, aired 21st September 2004

Tracklisting: Blue Eyes, Ringway To Seatac, Shivers, Queen Anne and White Horses.

The Wedding Present - Ringway To Seatac

Keeping It Peel, Number 8

Today it is the fourth best band in Hull's turn to shine in their first session from Maida Vale.

I was always a big fan of the Housemartins. I loved the way that they incorporated left wing political views in what seemed like innocuous pop songs, however I'm not quite sure to what extent the messages registered with those not already converted. I was also rather partial to their a cappella efforts at gospel music (it isn't Christmas in this house until Caravan of Love has been dusted down and placed on the turntable) although others I know couldn't abide these tracks.

One of my big regrets of the mid eighties was not borrowing the money to go and see them at the Barras for what by all accounts was one of the best concerts that those who attended had ever been at.


The first session was recorded 21st July 1985 and was aired on 29th July 1985.

Track listing: Drop Down Dead, Flag Day, Stand At Ease and Joy, Joy, Joy.

The Housemartins - Flag Day

Keeping It Peel, Number 9

I am slightly embarrassed to say that number nine in the countdown sees the appearance of the only female in the top ten. This troubled me when I was compiling this list but unless I wanted to start putting quotas in, then I'm sorry but no other female or female fronted band came close, with the exception of PJ Harvey who would probably have made a top 15.

Today's track comes from a session by Cat Power recorded on 18th June 2000 and broadcast on 20th July 2000 and 31st August 2000.

Chan Marshall decided to record some of her favourite songs for this double session. Included is what I think is the definitive version of Oasis's Wonderwall,  even better than the version by Ryan Adams. Peel's listeners seemed to like it too as it reached number 33 in that year's Festive Fifty.

Session Tracks: Sophisticated Lady, Hard Times In New York City, Wonderwall, He Was A Friend Of Mine, Freebird, Deep Inside, Come On In My Kitchen, Werewolf, Up And Gone, Sister, Knocking On Heaven's Door.

Cat Power - Wonderwall

Keeping It Peel

I was reading the other week at The Vinyl Villain of Webbie's idea for the 25th October and decided that it was too important a date not to commemorate. So I started thinking of what Fall session track I would post on the day but realised that by just posting a Fall Peel Session track. I was being a bit slack with Mr Peel's memory and of the influence the man had on my musical taste,  as the Fall weren't the only band that I got to hear through him directly or when I was a lot younger more indirectly from JP via Bat and Tank,  my best mate's  older brothers.

So what to do? Should I try and list the bands that I first heard on the John Peel Show, examples of such would be The Fall of course but also Bang Bang Machine, Ella Guru, Okkervil River amongst many others.  Or should I post my favourite Festive Fifty tracks or the best Festive Fifty number one, which in my opinion is Geek Love by the afore mentioned Bang Bang Machine.

After much thought I have decided on the ten best  Peel session tracks by different individuals or bands that I have in my collection at the moment and don't have to go searching for and downloading from the internet.

The facts, date of session etc will either come from the back of the vinyl (I am lucky enough to own a few of those Peel Session 12" singles that were released on Strange Fruit) or the cd and for the couple that I own only in MP3 form, from Ken Garner's excellent book, The Peel Sessions, a read and reference material that no self respecting music fan should be without.

So, here is number ten on my list, The Pixies,  a band that over the last few years I have neglected. When I first heard them, I was sort of falling out of love with guitar based music in favour of the 4/4 beats of House. The Pixies were one of the few conventional bands at this time that I got into but it was in a bit of a half hearted fashion. I bought Doolittle and the follow-up Bossanova and listened to them on and off but not nearly as much as the house and acid 12" singles I was buying at the time. It wasn't until I revisited these albums in the early noughties that I really got into them.

The track I have picked is from their third session for Peel recorded on 16th April 1989 and aired on 2nd May 1989.

The Pixies - Wave Of Mutilation