Seems to be taking a bloody long time to snuff it.
If the logo that seemed to accompany every A&M LP I ever bought was true, then this piece would never have been written. The sad fact is that the BBC is the least responsible guardian of its own enetertainment output. It’s enough to make one weep when we see lists on Wikipedia and elsewhere of entire series of Doctor Who, the odd Hancock show, the original A For Andromeda or even Peel’s appearaces on How It Is (check out my link to the Wiki page I wrote to see what I’m on about), all apparently wiped just to reuse (at the time) costly videotape.
And that’s just the TV shows. How many countless hours of radio would never be heard again were it not for the unseen heroes who sat woth their fingers hovering over the pause button to capture their heroes like Andy Kershaw, Peel, Alan Freeman and pirate radio with little idea of the value they would have for future generations? Before we get too misty-eyed and anally retentive about all this, I will tell you my purpose. It’s to give a voice to all those people who have decided to share their precious bits of oxide-covered paper in the form of digital recordings of Peel sessions for the Internet massses. I realise that I have allotted plenty of space to my own efforts, so this is the best of the sessions currently available at other locations on the Net in one handy place.
Special mention must be given to the noble Adam at Fades In Slowly, Stuart at The Peel Sessions (who puts up so many tracks and has so many blogs it makes my head spin) and Dave at Fruitier Than Thou, who have really put themselves out to trumpet the cause of these recordings. However, all these blogs are fine pieces of work, and some make me gasp with their inventiveness. So, hats off to all, and go to it. Keep It Peel! N.B. The numbering system follows that of Ken Garner’s The Peel Sessions: if you never buy another book about the man, make sure the one you do is this one.
Sessions 0-9
999: 1978-10-25 (Mondo De Muebles)
Sessions A
Autechre: #1, 1995-08-30 (mUsistenZ)
Sessions C
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: 1984-03-28 (dark circle Room)
Cherry Boys: #2, 1982-08-16 (music..isms)
Cud: #1, 1987-06-16 (Sir Charlie Palmer)
Sessions G
Godspeed You Black Emperor: 1999-01-19 (Big Fat Satanist)
Sessions I
Icon A.D.: 1982-09-25 (Disorder By Design)
Sessions J
Jass Babies, 1981-10-19 (Fruitier Than Thou)
Sessions L
Lung Leg: #1, 1995-01-21 (Fruitier Than Thou)
Sessions M
Madness: 1979-08-14 (Fades In Slowly)
Sessions N
Nico: #1, 1971-02-02 (dark circle Room)
Sessions P
Pastels: #1, 1984-01-17 (Shoegazeralive2)
Sessions R
Rodan: 1994-06-03 (Big Fat Satanist)
Sessions S
Sabres Of Paradise, 1995-03-13 (Ripped In Glasgow)
Shellac: #1, 1994-07-14 (Big Fat Satanist)
Michael Smith: 1982-04-24 (P.A. To Da Reggae)
Smog: #3, 2001-12-10 (Sir Charlie Palmer)
Son House: 1970-07-06 (Sir Charlie Palmer)
Sonic Youth: #2, 1988-10-11 (Sir Charlie Palmer) and here (dark circle Room)
Sessions T
Tanz Der Youth: 1978-08-02 (Always Searching For Music)
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282: 1994-02-13 (YoungMossTongue)
Sessions U
Unsane: #3, 1994-06-07 (shiny grey monotone)
Sessions W
Western Promise: 1985-05-19 (music…isms)
Now that’s what I call music.
fantastic blog sir!!!… i thank you… Mxxx
Wow…haven’t even started to work my way through this lot yet, but thank you very much.
Ed
Yeah boys! Thanks for the kudos. I hope to make this a regular feature, but you know Christmas is coming up….
oh my you haven’t done a post on Colorblind James Experience yet … hoping for some unheard Peel Session goodness.
Got a lot more coming up at my place, hope people will drop by and share the excitement (and leave a comment or two).
keep it coming!
Hear hear! Your efforts have inspired others to do similar things in different corners of the globe. BTW I have a bunch of JP tapes that date from his austrian shows in the early 90s.
Dan: Now there’s an idea…
Adam: Look forward to it, buddy. You can be sure you’ll be mentioned here.
Fanning: REALLY? Errr…I don’t suppose you’d consider sharing them, would you? What was the station’s name? Get back to me at so.it.goes.2512@gmail.com…please!!!
It was Ö3, it’s mentioned here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Peel. I can share them but I need to digitise them first 8-). Let me dig out the cassettes and see how many I have..
Take the skinheads bowling!
To go off topic a bit, I’ve added a social network to fadesinslowly and I’m no my tod at the moment. Please come and be friends with me…
http://fadesinslowly.com/fis-social/