John Peel's Top Gear - 6th. July 1969

Just like the previous week, Peel arrives for Top Gear the day after attending an outdoor show, this time the Stones' famous Hyde Park concert. In session tonight: Jon Hiseman's Colosseum, The Pretty Things, Ustad Imrat Khan (left) and the John Dummer Blues Band.

The John Dummer Blues Band session is a repeat of the one broadcast on the 18th. May show, but this time there's an extra track, A Few Short Lines. Again, there's very little info out there about most of these sessions, so I've done the best I can. In particular, Indian readers will probably burst out laughing at my woeful efforts to transcribe Imrat Khan's tracks. If anyone can help me with proper track titles though, please drop a line in the Comments section below. I know next to nothing about Indian classical music, but this session sounds like an absolute stormer to me. So I'd like to get it right.

What else do I have to tell you? Oh yes, it's clear that the Peel/Walters relationship is developing nicely here, as there's several quips from John P about his new mate. And Peel bemoans the fact that David Bowie's new single is obviously not bound for the charts. Something called Space Oddity, apparently; whatever happened to that?

There appear to be a few speed issues here again; it seems a little slow at times. Also, it sounds like Peelie has trouble cueing up some of the recordings, as they often start too slowly.

Download (279Mb, 320Kbps MP3)

Further Browsing

Imrat Khan
The Pretty Things
John Dummer Blues Band
Jon Hiseman

Tracklisting

• Fairport Convention - Si Tu Dois Partir
• Third Ear Band - Druid One
• Colosseum - Elegy (session)
• The Pretty Things - No More Spring (session)
• Crosby, Stills & Nash - Pre-Road Downs
• Imrat Khan (tabla: Mahapurush Misra) - Alap N'gat from Rag Kalabati (session)
• [News edit]
• Colosseum - Grass is Greener (session)
• John Dummer Blues Band - A Few Short Lines (session)
• The Pretty Things - Alexander (session)
• David Bowie - Space Oddity
• Steamhammer - Even The Clock
• Colosseum - Jon Hiseman's Condensed History of Mankind (session)
• Dave Kelly (John Dummer Blues Band) - Hard Times (session)
• McKenna Mendelsohn Mainline - Better Watch Out
• Imrat Khan - Rag Tori (session)
• Mothers of Invention - Mr. Green Genes
• The Pretty Things - Marilyn (session)
• Blossom Toes - Kiss of Confusion
• Colosseum - February's Valentine (session)
• Edgar Broughton Band - Love in The Rain
• John Dummer Blues Band - Jungle Blues (session)
• Johnny Winter - I'm Yours And I'm Hers
• The Pretty Things - Send You With Loving (session)
• Top Gear Theme (snippet)
  

John Peel's Top Gear - 29th. June 1969

Fresh from the previous day's Bath Festival (right), Peelie introduces us to more fab 'n groovy Top Gear sounds. This one features sessions from Led Zeppelin, Pentangle, early Jeff Lynne band The Idle Race and the Savoy Brown Blues Band. The Pentangle session seems to be a repeat of the one in the previous post, but this time "I Got a Feeling", an extra song you won't have heard last time, is included.

Also features West Bromwich blues, strange things happening in Lewisham, an early 'wrong speed moment' and the Appletree Theatre using the term WWW 22 years before Tim Berners-Lee. Oh, and some nascent Peel/Walters banter, where JP has a go at his new producer for mixing up the Idle Race running order.

This one starts out veeeery sloooow, hence it's a bit longer than normal. Judging by the length of Honky Tonk Women, I'd say it's about 5% too slow at the start, but it settles down after about 15 minutes.

Download (284Mb, 320 Kbps MP3)

Further Browsing

Why No Success For The Idle Race?
Wikipedia - The Misunderstood
Amazon (UK) - Led Zeppelin - The BBC Sessions
Amazon (US) - Led Zeppelin - The BBC Sessions
Led Zep Session Details

Tracklisting

• The Rolling Stones - Honky Tonk Women
• Led Zeppelin - What Is And What Should Never Be (session)
• The Appletree Theatre - Sorry State of Staying Awake
• Pentangle - Bruton Town (session)
• Free - I'll Be Creeping
• The Idle Race - Someone Knocking (session)
• Savoy Brown Blues Band - Train To Nowhere (session)
• [News edit]
• Led Zeppelin - Whole Lotta Love (session)
• Billy Preston - That's The Way God Planned It
• Pentangle - I Got a Feeling (session)
• The Misunderstood - Never Had a Girl
• The Idle Race - Please, No More Sad Songs (session)
• Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band - Neon Meate Dream of A Octofish
• Savoy Brown Blues Band - She's Got a Ring In Her Nose And A Ring On Her Hand (session)
• Chicago Transit Authority - South California Purples
• Pentangle - Hunting Song (session)
• Led Zeppelin - Travelling Riverside Blues '69 (session)
  
• Andromeda - Go Your Way
• The Idle Race - Sea of Dreams (session)
• Savoy Brown Blues Band - Life's One Act Play (session)
• Fairport Convention - Genesis Hall
• BB King - Sweet Thing
• The Idle Race - Reminds Me Of You (session)
• Martha Velez - I'm Gonna Leave You
• Led Zeppelin - Communication Breakdown (session)
• The Plastic Ono Band - Give Peace a Chance

John Peel's Top Gear, 18th. May 1969

Pentangle, Hunting Song, BBC Special, 1970

OK folks, here we go with show three of the eight recently-discovered Top Gears. Tonight there's sessions from Pentangle, Blodwyn Pig, Mandrake Paddle Steamer and the John Dummer Blues Band.

Session Details

There's not much I can really say about this one. Unfortunately, the BBC pages don't have details for a single one of these sessions!

Download (265Mb, 320Kbps MP3)

Tracklisting

• The Mooch - Hot Smoke and Sassafras
• The Idle Race - Days of the Broken Arrows
• Pentangle - Once I Had A Sweetheart (session)
• John Dummer Blues Band - The Big Feeling Blues (session)
• Bob Dylan - One More Night
• Blodwyn Pig - Ain'tcha Comin' Home, Babe? (session)
• Mandrake Paddle Steamer - The Ivory Castle Of Solitaire Huske (session)
• Credence Clearwater Revival - Penthouse Pauper
• [News edit]
• Sons of Champlin - 1982A
• Pentangle - Hunting Song (session)
• Van Morrison - Sweet Thing
• Blodwyn Pig - Change Song (session)
• John Dummer Blues Band - Skin Game (session)
• Mandrake Paddle Steamer - Coogar and Dark (session)
• The Famous Jug Band - The Only Friend I Own
• Pentangle - Bruton Town (session)
• Leonard Cohen - The Butcher
• Blodwyn Pig - It's Only Love (session)
• John Dummer Blues Band - Jungle Blues (session)
• Dave Kelly (John Dummer Blues Band) - Hard Times (session)
• John Fahey - Sail Away Ladies
• Mandrake Paddle Steamer - Senlak Lament (session)
• Spooky Tooth - Waitin' For The Wind
• Blodwyn Pig - The Modern Alchemist (session)
• Pentangle - Sally Go Round The Roses (session)
• The Who - We're Not Gonna Take It
• Vilayat Khan & Shanta Prasad - Concert in the Haunted Palace
• Top Gear Theme

John Peel's Top Gear, 11th. May 1969

King Crimson, 1969

I know I said I'd post one of these a week, but as I'm home tonight I thought I'd put up the second one now. I may be a bit quicker with the rest as well. So here's another full 2-hour Top Gear show from 1969. And in a packed programme tonight, Ronnie, there's sessions from Fleetwood Mac, King Crimson, Tyrannosaurus Rex and The Bonzo Dog Band.

Session Details

Fleetwood Mac
King Crimson
The Bonzo Dog Band

(The Beeb has no details of this Tyrannosaurus Rex session on its Peel pages. Also, eagle-eyed readers may notice that the Bonzos' "Brain Opera" is not included here, possibly because it's a repeat session.)

Download (267Mb, 320Kbps MP3)

Tracklisting

• Top Gear Theme
• The Edwin Hawkins Singers - Oh Happy Day
• Tim Rose - Roanoke
• Fleetwood Mac - Tallahassee Lassie (session)
• Bonzo Dog Band - Mr. Apollo (session)
• Chicken Shack - I'd Rather Go Blind
• Tyrannosaurus Rex - Once Upon the Seas of Abyssinia (session)
• King Crimson - The Court of the Crimson King (session)
• [Edit to cut out news]
• Martha Velez - It Takes a Lot To Laugh, It Takes a Train To Cry
• Credence Clearwater Revival - Bad Moon Rising
• Bonzo Dog Band - Look At Me I'm Wonderful (session)
• Tyrannosaurus Rex - Nijinsky Hind (session)
• Fleetwood Mac - Heavenly (session)
• Jefferson Airplane - It's No Secret
• King Crimson - 21st Century Schizoid Man (session)
• Mike Cooper - Poor Little Annie
• Tyrannosaurus Rex - The Misty Coast of Albany (session)
• Neil Young - The Loner
• Pentangle - Once I Had A Sweetheart
• Fleetwood Mac - Early Morning Come (session)
• The Glass Menagerie - Have You Forgotten Who You Are?
• Canned Heat - Low Down
• Bonzo Dog Band - Quiet Talks And Summer Walks (session)
• Johnny Shines - Baby Don't You Think I Know
• Fleetwood Mac - You'll Never Know What You're Missing Till You Try (session)
• Tyrannosaurus Rex - Chariots of Silk (session)
• King Crimson - Talk To The Wind (session)
• Kak - Golgotha
• Leviathan - Time
• Fleetwood Mac - Blues With A Feeling (session)
• Bob Dylan - I Threw It All Away
• Colosseum - Walking In The Park
• Top Gear Theme

John Peel's Top Gear - 27th. April 1969

Principal Edwards Magic Theatre

Probably the post of the year on the peel group was from user hills1902, who announced a couple of months back:

I have some old 7 inch reel-to-reel tapes of eight Top Gear
programmes that I recorded in 1969 and 1970, with sessions from the following bands:

26 Apr 69 - Principal Edwards Magic Theatre, Eclection, Family
11 May 69? - Fleetwood Mac, King Crimson, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Bonzo Dog Band
Date unknown - Pentangle, Blodwyn Pig, Mandrake Paddle Steamer, John Dummer Blues Band
Date unknown - Ten Years After, Roy Harper, Third Ear Band
29 Jun 69 - Led Zeppelin, Pentangle, Idle Race,
6 Jul 69 - John Dummer Blues Band, Colosseum, Pretty Things, Imrat Khan
4 Jul 70 - Country Joe Macdonald, Fotheringay, Cochise
11 Jul 70? - Kevin Ayers, East of Eden, Son House

Well, the tapes have now been encoded and properly dated, and they're absolute gems, giving a real flavour of the Top Gear experience for those of us too young to have been there (well, I was technically 'there', but at 8½, hardly 'hip and happening' enough to set the dial for this). So over the next 8 weeks I'll be uploading these classic shows to the Karavan, starting with this one, which features sessions from, as stated above, Principal Edwards Magic Theatre, Eclection and (The) Family. There's only a slight glitch in Mr. Apollo, as indicated below, but otherwise this is a full two-hour show in very reasonable nick for its age. Manna for Peeliacs.

Many thanks to hills1902 for supplying these, to John for ripping and encoding them and to Phil for hosting them on his server.

Download (273Mb, 320Kbps MP3)

The file's too big for divshare, so I've switched to sendspace this week. Hope everyone's OK with that.

Session details

The Eclection
Family

(The BBC's Peel pages have no details for this particular PEMT session, but I expect Ken Garner's upcoming book will put that right. Oh, and while we're at it, the BBC lists the group as Principal Edward's Magic Theatre, but I'm reasonably sure that's wrong.)

Further Reading

Dandelion Records
Principal Edwards Magic Theatre
(This site includes an article by Peel about the band published in "Disc and Music Echo" earlier that month.)

Tracklisting

• Top Gear Theme
• The Byrds - Old Blue
• Canned Heat - Time Was
• The Eclection - Both Sides Now (session)
• Chicken Shack - I'd Rather Go Blind
• The Family - A Song For Me (session)
• Bonzo Dog Band - Mr. Apollo [skips back to end of the Family track, then continues and jumps a bit further into Mr. Apollo]
  
• News at 7:30
• The Eclection - Restitution (session)
• Bob Dylan - Country Pie
• Principal Edwards Magic Theatre - Lament For The Earth (session)
• The Family - Bring It On Home (session)
• Pentangle - Once I Had A Sweetheart
• Credence Clearwater Revival - Proud Mary
• Principal Edwards Magic Theatre - Ballad of a Big Girl Now (session)
• The Eclection - Charity (session)
• Leonard Cohen - Seems So Long Ago Nancy
• BB King - Sweet Little Angel
• The Family - Love Is A Sleeper (session)
• Coliseum (Colosseum) - Those About To Die
• Principal Edwards Magic Theatre - Third Sonnet To Sundry Notes Of Music (session)
• The Eclection - Earth (session)
• The Moody Blues - Send Me No Wine
• Gordon Smith - Instrumental No. 2 [Interrupted by a motoring flash]
• The Family - I Sung 'Um The Way I Feel (session)
• Principal Edwards Magic Theatre - Pinky: A Mystery Cycle (session)
• Doctor John - The Lonesome Guitar Strangler
• The Eclection - Put On Your Face (session)
• Top Gear Theme

John Peel's Perfumed Garden - 12th. July 1967

Peel on the Galaxy

I'm indebted once again to Colin Ellis for this one.

This is the first two thirds (80min) of a Perfumed Garden show that I'd not heard before. Here, we find John refreshed from a week's shore leave and armed with "all kinds of beautiful records for you". Also features Peel reading the weather and discussing entries to the "Zodiac Cosmic Sounds" contest. A very beautiful thing, you see.

If you like this sort of thing, you might like to know that my upload of Guy Brown's reconstruction of the final Perfumed Garden is still being seeded here after more than 18 months. (You'll need to be bittorrent-literate to get it.)

Play/Download (72.8MB, 79:31, MP3)

Tracklisting

• All You Need Is Love - The Beatles (fades in)
• Epistle to Dippy - Donovan
• Meet Me In The Bottom - Howlin' Wolf
• Granny Takes A Trip - The Purple Gang
• You Don't Have To Go - The Misunderstood
• European Son to Delmore Schwartz - Velvet Underground
• Sparrow - Simon and Garfunkel
• Big Boss Man - Jimmy Reed
• Sagittarius - Zodiac Cosmic Sounds
• Fly Away - Blues Project
• Rock My Plimsoul - Jeff Beck
• White Rabbit - Jefferson Airplane
• Mother, There's A Strange Man Waiting At the Door - Roger McGough
• Foxy Lady - Jimi Hendrix Experience
• 1.00 Weather
• February Sunshine - Giant Sunflower
• America Drinks, Status Back Baby, Uncle Bernie's Farm, Son of Suzy Creamcheese - The Mothers of Invention
• Dust My Blues - John Mayall's Bluesbreakers
• Fixing a Hole - The Beatles

John Walters - Room 101 - 4th. September 1992

Peel, Walters and some wee lass

No Peel site worth its bytes could fail to mention the massive contribution made to JP's legacy by his great friend and long-time producer John Walters. If you're unaware of the importance of Walters in Peel's life, you could do a lot worse than peruse this article, which also concentrates on Beefheart.

Here, Walters can be heard opposite Nick Hancock on the original radio version of Room 101, a show where guests would argue why their least favourite things in life deserved to be banished forever. Peel would appear on the show over a decade later, by which time it had moved to television and was being hosted by Paul Merton. If I can seek it out in time, I'll upload that one next week.

Play/Download (50.5 Mb, 256Kbps, 27:36)

John Peel and Pete Drummond - Top Gear - 1st. October 1967

That original Radio 1 lineup in full.
Drummond front row, third from left, Peel front row, extreme right.

To bookend the recent posting of the final Top Gear, we rewind eight years to the very first of Peel's Top Gears. This is not quite the first ever Top Gear, but it is the first on which Peel appeared. In fact this show, which Peel co-DJed with Pete Drummond, was Peel's first ever show on Radio 1, having played his last show on Radio London a couple of months earlier.

The Beeb really put the boat out for this one, as the session guests were (The) Pink Floyd, Traffic and Tomorrow.

This will probably be the most "DJ-ish" Peel you've ever heard, as he attempts at times embarrassing Smashie and Nicey-style "matey DJ chat" with co-host Drummond: very un-Peel. But its worth bearing in mind that John was only on a 6-week contract at this stage (only employed by the Beeb at all thanks to the championing of Bernie Andrews), so probably felt he had to toe the party line. At least to start with...

Interesting to hear JP refer to his current abode as 'Peel Acres' about 15 minutes in, as he was yet to move to Suffolk at this stage, and was currently living in a London flat.

Download (60.5Mb, 44 mins, 192K)
Recorded from 6music's rebroadcast about 18 months ago (from DAB). From memory, I believe I owe thanks to Pinball at Cook'd and Bomb'd for this MP3. Far better than my own crappy stream capture.

Tracklisting

• The Crazy World of Arthur Brown - Devil's Grip
• Tomorrow - Real Life Permanent Dream (session)
  
• Nirvana - Pentecost Hotel
• The Pink Floyd - Set The Controls (session)
• Tim Rose - Morning Dew
• Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbit
• The Velvet Underground & Nico - Sunday Morning
• The Pink Floyd - Reaction in G (session) [fades after 30 seconds]
• [**Edit**]
• Tomorrow - Colonel Brown (session)
  
• Amen Corner - World of Broken Hearts
• Traffic - Paper Sun (session)
• Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band - Yellow Brick Road
• Big Maybelle - Every Day I Have The Blues
• The Move - Kilroy Was Here
• Skip Bifferty - On Love
• The Pink Floyd - Flaming (session)
• Tim Rose - Fare Thee Well [fades after 1 minute]

Note: Looks like the date is wrong in the filename, as apparently the show was broadcast on the 1st., not the 11th. of October '67. And you can't seem to rename your uploaded files with divshare, so I'm trusting you, gentle reader, to rename it after download. I care about these things, you know.

John Peel, 18th. January 1982

Another request, this time by Entrailicus at the excellent new Fades in Slowly blog: here's 30 minutes of a Peel show from early '82.

An interesting one historically, this, as Peel recounts the impact Elvis, Little Richard and Captain Beefheart had on him when he first heard them. In fact John plays three tracks in a row to celebrate Beefheart's recent birthday and deadpans, "I'm sure that all of my [Radio 1] colleagues paid him fulsome tribute".

Play/Download (27.5 Mb)

Tracklisting

• Trailer for Adrian Love's Talkabout
• Cornerstone - Progressive News
• Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band - Diddy Wah Diddy
• Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band - Grow Fins
• Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band - Dirty Blue Gene
• The Lone Ranger - Collie Dub
• The Milkshakes - Bull's Nose
• Pink Industry - Tomorrow (session)

Festive 50, 1983

JP shares a joke with his great mates from Radio 1

In response to a couple of requests, here's a repost of the Festive 50 from 1983. One of my own personal favourites, this one.

Nearly all Peel links are intact.

Download Part 1 (50-28) (95.0 Mb)
Download Part 2 (27-1) (115Mb)

Tracklisting

Note: DivShare seems to have truncated the filenames. They should be called "John Peel's Festive 50 1983 - Part 1 - 50 to 28.mp3" and "John Peel's Festive 50 1983 - Part 2 - 27 to 1.mp3" respectively. Not that it really matters, I suppose.

John Peel's Top Gear, September 1975 (final show)

Peelie presents the final "Top Gear" show, before moving to the night time show the following week. There's session tracks from the various acts to have graced the show over the eight years it's been on the air, and plenty of Peel memories, reminiscences and regrets. (Fortunately, Peel turned out to be wrong about the Bonzos and Pink Floyd sessions being lost, as they're now very much out there.)

Weighing in at about 54½ minutes, this is a longer version than the MP3 that's been doing the rounds, and I think, slightly better quality. It's a new encode, from a tape supplied by Colin Ellis, that I put together last week. Colin's C90 had about 45 minutes of the show, and I've spliced in the 9 minutes or so from the previous MP3 that were not on the tape. You'll notice the join a couple of times, where the sound quality goes from tinny (tape) to muddy (the old MP3) and back again.

In this version, you get to find out what the first record ever played on Top Gear was, as Peel reprises it at the end of the show. You'll have heard him announce that on the previous version, but you never got to find it out as the recording ran out too soon. Oh, and I've no idea whether that intro was just something left on the tape or what, but I've left it on as I quite like it!

There should be more to come on the Karavan this weekend, including a repost of the '83 Festive 50 (by request).

Play/Download (50Mb, 128K MP3, 54:35)

Tracklisting

• [WTF?]
• Peel Intro
• Led Zeppelin - Communication Breakdown
• Tyrannosaurus Rex - Ride a White Swan
• Joe Cocker - Delta Lady
• Peel recalls the history of Top Gear and looks forward to his new nighttime show
• Pink Floyd - Daybreak
• Randy Newman - Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear
• Peel bemoans the BBC's wiping policy and has a rant about Gardeners' Question Time (!)
  
• Bonzo Dog Band - Monster Mash
• Fairport Convention - Percy's Song
• Jethro Tull - Bouree
• Maggie Bell/Stone the Crows - Hollis Brown
• Led Zeppelin - Traveling Riverside Blues '69
• Technical problems
  
• Brief Snippet of Tyrannosaurus Rex
• Bonzo Dog Band - Tent
• Bob Marley & the Wailers - Concrete Jungle
• Fairport Convention - Si Tu Dois Partir (AKA "If You Gotta Go, Go Now")
• Peel thanks everyone and divulges the first record ever played on Top Gear.
• [That first record, which I won't spoil]
• Peel signoff
• Keith Emerson and the Nice - Top Gear Theme
• Pips

John Peel - "Night Ride" - 7th. May 1969

Ivor Cutler/Bob Cobbing

To all intents and purposes, this is one of Peelie's "Night Ride" shows, featuring the usual mix of BBC archive tracks from around the world, Peel favourites from the time and of course session guests. In this case the session is from Ivor Cutler, in the very first of his many well-loved sessions for Peel over the years. Peel's other studio guest is Bob Cobbing, whose "sound poem" (with François Dufrêne) is by far the most "challenging" piece on the show. Also featured are The Who, with tracks from their recently-released "Tommy" opus, and a couple of wonderful numbers from Leonard Cohen and Louis Armstrong.

However, this is not technically a Night Ride show at all: Night Rides normally went out at midnight and featured other presenters as well as Peel. It seems that Radio 1 had a reshuffle around this time and Peel's bit of Night Ride was taken out and moved to the earlier 8:15 slot, sandwiched between "My Kind of Folk" and "Jazz Workshop". Apparently Peel referred to this short-lived show as "Son of Night Ride" (thanks to Colin Ellis for that info), and the announcer refers to this as one of John Peel's "nameless extravaganzas".

But hey! Enough of my yakkin'. Whaddaya say, let's boogie!

Download (192Kbps MP3, total time 58 mins approx.)

Date
Wednesday, 7th. May, 1969
8:15 till 9:15

Studio Guests
Ivor Cutler, Bob Cobbing

Session
Ivor Cutler
Recorded - 5th. May, 1969
Producer - Pete Ritzema
Engineer - Mike Harding
Studio - Studio S2, Sub-Basement, Broadcasting House

Tracklisting

• Leonard Cohen - A Bunch of Lonesome Heroes (from "Songs from A Room")
• Finnish Kantele Music (BBC archives)
• Ivor Cutler - Trouble Trouble (session)
• The Who - Christmas (from "Tommy")
• Ivor Cutler - An Old Poltroon (live poem)
• Ivor Cutler - Bounce, Bounce, Bounce (session)
• Peter Cook and Dudley Moore - The Leaping Order of Nuns (from "Not Only ... But Also")
• The Who - Go To The Mirror (from "Tommy")
• The Shepherd Song from Sweden (BBC archives)
• Ivor Cutler - There And Back Via Sweden (live poem)
• Ivor Cutler - In My Room There Sits A Box (session)
• Peel, Ivor Cutler and Bob Cobbing - Discussion about the upcoming "poetry marathon"
• Bob Cobbing & François Dufrêne - Spontaneous Appealinair Contemprate Apollinaire
• Mikis Theodorakis & Maria Farandouri - O Andonis (from "The Ballad of Mauthausen")
• Modernised Folk Song from Ceylon (BBC archives)
• Ivor Cutler - Beatrice And Her Dirty Knees (live poem)
• Merrill E. Moore - Rock Rockola
• Ivor Cutler - An Indirect Love Poem (live poem)
• Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five - Struttin' with Some Barbecue
• Tho Who - The Overture [part of] (from "Tommy")

John Peel - Radio 1 - 25th. March 2003

knifehandchop

This one's for Ryan, who's namechecked in this very show, and sadly lost his copy of it (and many other Peel shows) in one of those hard disk crashes that are the stuff of nightmares. Ryan's mention comes about 19 minutes in, between Blur and Adrian Sherwood. Peelie also mentions that he read out your email about Magoo the previous week, Ryan, so I'll see if I can find that show too.

That's not Ryan above, BTW. No, that surprisingly innocent-looking young chap is Billy Pollard from Toronto, AKA knifehandchop, whose mix session features in this show.

Tracklisting

• Mos Eisley - 'We Are Solution (CD Single)' (Beautiful Pigeon)
• Qebo - 'Polyrtet (LP - Flopper)' (Basic Channel)
• Amalgamated Sons Of Rest - 'Major March (LP - Amalgamated Sons Of Rest)' (Galaxia)
• Blur - 'We've Got A File On You (7")' (White Label)
• Adrian Sherwood - 'X-Planation (LP - Never Trust A Hippy)' (Real World)
• The Leif Ericsson - 'Condition Minta (Split LP - The Leif Ericsson/Milloy)' (Hermit)
• Tarwater vs. Rechenzentrum - 'Treptpow Teenage Demon (untitled sampler)' (Kitty Yo)
• Ken Griffithin at The Organ - 'Sentimental Journey' (Broadcast)
• Gorky's Zygotic Mynci - 'Cwpwrdd Sadwrn (LP - 20)' (Castle Music)
• Fast Floor - 'Roll The Beats 2003 (12")' (Audio Rehab)
• Knifehandchop - 'Mix' (Peel Session)
• Capt Beefheart - 'Zig Zag Wanderer (LP - Zig Zag Wanderer)' (Wooden Hill)
• The Rogers Sisters - 'Zig Zag Wanderer (cd single)' (For Us)
• Charley Patton - 'Mississippi Bo Weavil Blues (LP - Before The Blues)' (Yazoo)
• Sefelt - 'She's A Freak (EP-Feel)' (Demo)
• Andy Vaz - 'White X Variation (EP -Potlatch)' (Bruchstruecke)
• Johnny Cash - 'Five Feet High ' (CBS)
• The Moondogs - 'Who's Gonna Tell Mary? (LP - The John Peel Sessions)' (Detour)
• Narcosis - 'Hit It's, It's Still Moving (LP - Terrorised V21)' (Terrorizer)
• A-Sides - 'Destroyer (12")' (Hard Leaders)
• Keine Melodien - 'Jeans Team Feat. Peaches (LP - Get That Nasti Shit) ' (Nasti)
• 3147487A. - 'Hexadecimal (LP - Is It...Dead?)' (Subpop)

Download (110Mb, 128K mp3, 02:00:30)

DJ Heaven - John Peel (BBC, 16th. October 1993)

The Rhythm Pals

Even more apologies for an even longer update delay than last time, but here's a little gem I recently grabbed from UKNova. It's a sort of companion programme to the recently deceased Top of The Pops that the BBC put out in 1993. Each episode focused on a particular DJ, with a potted history of the DJ followed by clips from their most memorable TOTP appearances.

The Peel episode of DJ Heaven features at least a couple of quips that have passed into legend, as mentioned here. Also featured:

• DOLLY DOTS - Money Lover (video) (TOTP 23-6-83)
• GEIER STURZFLUG - Brutto Sozial Produkt (video) (TOTP 23-6-83)
• ROD STEWART - Maggie May (TOTP 27-12-71)
• WHAM - Young Guns (Go For It) (TOTP 18-11-82)
• ORANGE JUICE - Rip It Up (TOTP 23-3-83)
• IMAGINATION - Just An Illusion (TOTP 1-4-82)
• EURYTHMICS - Right By Your Side (TOTP 10-11-83)
• DEAD OR ALIVE - You Spin Me Round (Like A Record) (TOTP 7-3-85)
• THE CURE - The Walk (TOTP 7-7-83)
• THE SMITHS - Shoplifters Of The World Unite (TOTP 5-2-87)
• JOY DIVISION - Love Will Tear Us Apart

BTW, those of you who remember Peelie's return to TOTP will realise that the "these people are not Belgian" comment was directed at Theate of Hate, not Wham! as this programme tries to make us believe. The evidence

Many thanks to Shedware for capping and uploading this one.

Download (221Mb, 28:40)

John Peel's Night Ride, 1st. May 1968

Peelie on Night Ride, 1968

Apologies for not posting anything for a month or so, but here's a vintage show to get the ball rolling again.

Many thanks to Colin Ellis for this sending me this, and to Monni for recording the show!

Details

Featuring poet Alan Jackson and singer/guitarist Davey Graham in session.

Encoding: MP3, 192Kbps.
Duration: 55:40.

Tracklisting

• The Misunderstood - Who Do You Love?
• Peel chat
• Davey Graham - Bruton Town
• Peel chats with Davey Graham
• The Reverend A Johnson - God Don't Like It
• Alan Jackson - Out Here Now
• Davey Graham - Tristano
• Peel chat
• The United States of America - The Cloud Song
• Archive Music - The Priest Who Committed Suicide
• Peel chat
• Davey Graham - I'm Ready
• Peel chats with Davey Graham
• Little Son Jackson - Roberta Blues
• Peel chats with Alan Jackson
• Alan Jackson - Lord Save Us - The Devil - The Worstest Beast
• Alan Sondheim - 770
• Davey Graham - Rock Me
• Peel chats with Alan Jackson
• Donovan - Epistle To Derroll
• Davey Graham - Good Morning Blues
• Peel wraps up

Download (76.5Mb)

John Peel, Radio 1, 29th. January 2002

With Sheila @ Peel Acres

Featuring Mr. Bird in session.

The Perfumed Garden selection in this show is Jefferson Airplane's White Rabbit. (N.B. I'm missing the two shows broadcast on 23rd. & 24th. January 2002. Anyone have them?)

Download (110Mb, 128Kbps, 2:00:30)
(Bit of a stuttering start, and cuts out slightly before the end.)

Tracklisting

John Peel, Radio 1, 22nd. January 2002

Storming it at Fabric, 2002 (© BBC)

Featuring Buick 6 in session.

In this show, Peelie starts a 'Perfumed Garden' spot, which involves him playing a record a night from his famous final 5½-hour final Perfumed Garden show on Radio London, back in August of 1967. The idea had formed when a listener sent him a magazine article which detailed the tracklisting from the show. (This was probably the article from Mojo 7 in 1994, which we now know contained a couple of inaccuracies.)

So, Peel kicks off the spot with his old theme song, The Attack's Any More Than I Do (having skipped the first couple of Beatles tracks on the grounds of over-familiarity).

Interestingly (at least for anoraks such as your truly), anyone who's heard that Perfumed Garden show can solve what Peel describes in this show as one of the great mysteries of his life, namely why the name "Georgina Witney" was written on the sleeve of his copy of The Attack record. Way back on the pirate ship, Peel had dedicated the record to Georgina Witney and (presumably) her husband Tony, having met them on the train back to Ipswich the previous evening.

(N.B. At the time of writing, the final Perfumed Garden show was still being seeded at The Pirate Bay, here.)

Download (WMA, 110Mb, 128K, 2:00:09)

Tracklisting

Yes, it's yet another John Peel tape blog...

"John Peel's the most important DJ of all time"
-- Jack White

Following dubster's recent decision to take a sabbatical from posting up old Peel shows, I thought I'd give it a go myself. So, let's kick off with the 1983 Festive 50. You may have missed this one, as it was one of the last things dubster posted up.

Part 1: 50 to 28 (128K, 95Mb, 01:43:50)

Part 2: 27 to 1 (128K, 115Mb, 02:06:16)

Tracklisting

More to follow, and if you've any old Peel shows yourself, let me know and I'll post 'em up.