What was your favourite John Peel Session?

A couple off the top of me head:-

The Fall one that featured Container drivers and New face In Hell - that were miles better versions than those that came out on Grotesque.

The Teardrop Explodes one that had Thief Of Baghdad and When I Drem - that were miles better than the versions that came out on Kilimanjaro......there's a theme here!

Oh and any by Where's The Beach? - remember them?

Cheers

Rich

The one that sticks in my mind is the Led Zeppelin session from early 71 when Stairway to Heaven was introduced as a new song. Fabulous stuff.

Come to the Edge from the early 70's. They later released an LP with Stomu Yamashita which only featured one of the really excellent tracks they played on this session. I'd love to hear the whole thing again - so if there's anybody out there......

My favourite John Peel Sessions are all of the Ivor Cutler ones I heard in the 70s and all of the ones I have downloaded since.

quote:

Originally posted by Chumpy:
My favourite John Peel Sessions are all of the Ivor Cutler ones I heard in the 70s and all of the ones I have downloaded since.

Good call

Off the top of my head:

Joy Division's two 1979 sessions
Pink Floyd May 69
New Order June 1982
A Certain Ratio July 1981 (probably my all-time fave)
The Damned September(?) 1979 - absolutely hilarious!
Public Image 1979
John Cooper Clarke 1982 (again, hilarious)
Human League late '78
Various Led Zeps
The Fall October 1980

Kevin

Interesting that you're all choosing 20 year old recordings. I'll commit heresy now by saying that, with his ITV adverts, Radio 4's Home Truths and so on, Peel had rather lost his way in his choice of music in his later years. I regret to say that I found many of his later broadcasts quite unlistenable to.

That may say more about me than him, of course.

G

Never forget driving home from London and the "Orb" session came on.huge expanding etc etc.. was one of those life changing moments, finally someone had follwed up "Gongs' You" album

It's true that JP began to focus on the increasingly obscure - I guess if you give lots of new stuff a chance then they'll be lots of mediocre content as well as the few that are really worth the while.

Just listened to some of the Billy Bragg stuff from 1983 (The Peel Sessions Album) and A13 - Trunk Road To The Sea sounds as good as ever, but yet again it is more than 20 years old.

quote:

Originally posted by Stevedog:
Never forget driving home from London and the "Orb" session came on.huge expanding etc etc.. was one of those life changing moments, finally someone had follwed up "Gongs' You" album

I'll have to track down the Orb session - if it's as good as Gong's You then it's got to be worth a listen.

I don't think John became more obscure it's just that over the years the obscure became familiar [Billy Brag, Wild man Fischer, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Joy Division, Cardiacs etc etc]. Mind you some [read most, read all] of the death/speed metal was hard to take.

These posts just reinforce my feeling that JP was, to be rather more provocative still, well past it as a chooser of music for a mass audience long before his untimely death. He would have done well to get off Radio 1 at around the time that he moved to his presenter's slot on Radio 4.

Alex Ferguson, if you're reading this.......!

Graham

quote:

Originally posted by j8hn:
I don't think John became more obscure it's just that over the years the obscure became familiar [Billy Brag, Wild man Fischer, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Joy Division, Cardiacs etc etc]. Mind you some [read most, read all] of the death/speed metal was hard to take.

Agreed - when advising on hifi questions, I always something like "I've heard it and I really like it, but you need to listen yourself". I think John did the same with contemporary music and gave us the chance to hear something we wouldn't normal hear and to make our own decisions.

I, too, found death/speed metal and grindcore a little hard on ears though - does anybody really like napalm death

Ukranski Vistupi v Johna Peela

quote:

Originally posted by Shayman:
Ukranski Vistupi v Johna Peela

Excellent choice. Still got the 10" of that.

Mercury Rev's session from 1993 sticks in the mind, I think they "peaked" there. The Ragga Twins sessions were great too, amongst other reggae/dub that I would never have discovered otherwise.

quote:

Originally posted by graham55: well past it as a chooser of music for a mass audience

Despite being on national radio, I don't think that was ever Peel's aim. If he played something only one person found vital and interesting, he would see it as a worthwhile exercise.
kev.