from Hacker News

John Peel Sessions

by termau on 5/11/20, 9:35 PM with 107 comments

  • by spatulon on 5/11/20, 11:02 PM

    For those who don't know of him, John Peel was a presenter/DJ on BBC Radio 1 from the 60s until his death in the mid 00s.

    For as long as I've been aware of it, Radio 1 has followed a format of playing mainstream pop music during the day, with more specialised and esoteric programming in the evening. When I was a teenager, Peel's show was on at 10pm on weeknights, and his main focus was on championing new and undiscovered bands, across many genres. The Peel sessions were part of this show, where a band would come in to record a live performance of a few songs.

    I imagine a lot of bands can credit their success to John Peel playing their records and inviting them to record a session.

  • by Phemist on 5/11/20, 10:43 PM

    Slightly off-topic: I had no idea opening a youtube link with /embed in the right part the URL would make the video go to full screen in the browser window, and thus get rid of the UI noise that is youtube in 2020. I should make this happen for all youtube.com links I open, it's quite a pleasant experience.

  • by throwaway_pdp09 on 5/12/20, 8:18 AM

    Curious thing about JP I noticed was how he spoke. Everything he said was spoken a little slowly with a kind of constant measuring of quality with the result that whatever he spoke was worth listening to.

    He didn't waste words, he didn't (that I recall) ever 'chatter on'. Every word seemed to count.

    Maybe my memory deceives me but I do remember this, and it's something I try to emulate.

    Anyway, I'll check all this out. I did love the variety of stuff he played. Thanks, article poster.

  • by reedwolf on 5/11/20, 10:02 PM

    My favorite of these was the Velocity Girl session.[0]

    Recommended for fans of shoegaze, dreampop, etc.

    Edit: Just noticed that list doesn't include the VG session. You can listen to it on YouTube:

    [0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3hE5alv55E

  • by aidos on 5/11/20, 10:58 PM

    That’s great. Most people probably haven’t spotted it (took me a few years to clock the connection) but Tom Ravenscroft (on radio 6) is his son. As you’d expect, he has a fairly encyclopaedic knowledge of music and you’ll always pick up good stuff on his shows.

  • by mellosouls on 5/12/20, 12:10 AM

    Apart from the wonderful world of music he curated, he was a warm, funny man, and I miss him.

    Quotes remembered by listeners:

    https://web.archive.org/web/20070712092327/http://www.ilxor....

  • by kosmischemusik on 5/12/20, 4:47 AM

    Suggesting some of the not-so-popular bands that were invited to John Peel's sessions.

    If you're into psychedelic, space, stoner rock, shoegaze, noise rock etc, check out Bardo Pond, Bailter Space, Band of Susans, Lush, Loop, Sonic Youth, Spiritualized, Stereolab, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Jesus Lizard, My Bloody Valentine (missing from the list)

    Some other interesting bands: Broadcast, Galaxie 500, The Chills.

    And of course there were a ton of popular bands worth checking out.

  • by Theodores on 5/11/20, 10:53 PM

    The BBC should 'reissue' these paying the rights holders accordingly. Right now musicians are not getting revenue from PRS as no pubs/shops are playing music right now.

    Some 'Peel Sessions' got released on 'Strange Fruit' including the seminal 'the orb' epic track "A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules From The Centre Of The Ultraworld (Loving You)" that was put together by Jimi Cauty, who subsequently left 'the orb' to be one half of The KLF. Hence the Peel session of The Orb and the original pressing of the aforementioned track were the only truly awesome stuff they released.

    Incidentally this excellent blogpost of Peel Sessions does not include this particular 1989 classic.

    Note that first time round you would wait until Thursday 11 p.m. to tune in to John Peel on FM radio and record the good stuff with a spare cassette. You might record over that cassette a week or two later. Everything could be ordered through an independent record shop if you wanted it for real, expect one of a thousand pressings though.

    You would need to remember names of artists and their tracks from the radio, no rewind unless you had that tape running. Discographies didn't exist like now so you never knew if an alias of an artist was the artist you knew already or a new one.

    I respect people that piece all of this together today, however, somewhere in the BBC they have this archived and they could sort out the licensing problems the way it works on streaming platforms.

    Licensing problems are mostly due to defunct labels and who gets the royalties. For instance, if in 1988 'A Guy Called Gerald' was part of '808 State' on the 'Creed' label, then, in the Peel session, if it get replayed, where does the money go? The other members of the group went to be signed by ZTT leaving A Guy Called Gerald to do his own stuff in a different direction. The Peel session fell in-between albums with tracks from the old and the new. Sorting out the monies is tricky for the BBC to do but YouTube manage monetisation easy enough.

  • by bufordtwain on 5/12/20, 1:15 AM

    Many of his complete shows can be downloaded as mp3's, see the following for instructions: https://peel.fandom.com/wiki/Mooo_Server.

    Also there is an online radio station inspired by Peel: http://dandelionradio.com/

  • by onion2k on 5/12/20, 7:55 AM

    This is awesome! My fiancee was in the band Comatose that did a Peel Session recording in 1998. I've never heard because we didn't start dating until years later. This is the session. https://www.youtube.com/embed/KtyoQC7zyvU

  • by nray on 5/12/20, 4:16 AM

    In New Zealand as a young teen you had to wait until midnight before pop radio was turned over to one of Peel-inspired DJs until five in the morning, playing all this plus Aussie and Kiwi music. Sometimes it was easier to leave a C-90 taping and see what you got the next day. The Fall, The Birthday Party, Hunters & Collectors, Cabaret Voltaire

  • by amiga_500 on 5/12/20, 12:55 AM

    I had no idea Peel had started these back in 1968. For example I didn't think he'd have had Jethro Tull on, I assumed he came after that. Clearly I need to read up.

    I listened to these as a teenager in the 1990s. Very nostalgic to hear this now. Also sad to think of the defenestration of radio 1, however at least radio 6 got some of their remit.

    Obviously there are loads to listen to, but just to highlight one I'm enjoying right now that wasn't what I expected

    Kenickie https://www.youtube.com/embed/Qv987NMRCoY?autoplay=1

    Much more melancholy than Hey Punka, which is really cool. I hope that these remain on youtube as all these are links to youtube, which seems a bit brittle.

  • by Daub on 5/12/20, 10:47 AM

    My appealing memory of Peel is hearing him play the same song twice in one show, he liked it so much.

    Edit... just found out that the song in question (Teenage Kicks by the Undertones) was played at his funeral.

  • by pwdisswordfish2 on 5/12/20, 6:40 AM

    There is a German guy named Klaus Fiehe who has apparently been called “the German John Peel”. He played sax for Geier Sturzflug back in the day, is now with the Bollock Brothers and has been hosting somewhat off-mainstream radio shows for decades now. I love him very much and there is a very humble archive at https://fiehe.info. It only goes back to 2012, unfortunately… Nothing of the scale TFA boasts.

  • by FillardMillmore on 5/12/20, 1:19 PM

    Thanks for sharing this list! John Peel was an international treasure. I'm American and I'm still quite familiar with him.

    My biggest gratitude to him is for doing everything in his power to bring my favorite band (and also, his favorite band), The Fall, to a greater public recognition. Without him, who knows if they would have ever got a national TV spot - and for my money it still goes down as one of their best live outings. The video of their national performance on The Tube (1983) is below. As John Peel once said of the Fall: "They are always different; they are always the same". Rest in Peace to both John Peel and Mark E. Smith - both have added an non-quantifiable value to my life.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yE-6xoh1khg

  • by glitcher on 5/11/20, 10:07 PM

    Awesome list! I'm sure there are many more out there somewhere, hopefully this can grow as more recordings surface?

    Brings me back the glory days of labels like Too Pure and Strange Fruit :)

  • by cptnapalm on 5/11/20, 10:23 PM

    I had heard of Napalm Death, but couldn't find anything until I happened across the Peel Sessions at Tower Records. Loved it. Nobody else did.

  • by telaandrews2 on 5/11/20, 11:15 PM

    Peel Sessions were the best way for me to discover new music when I was younger. Still have Inspiral Carpets and Buzzcocks originals on vinyl.

  • by Myrmornis on 5/11/20, 10:49 PM

    Wow what a crazy goldmine. E.g. `Pulp - Peel Session 1981` that is some pretty old Pulp.

  • by troughway on 5/12/20, 12:25 AM

  • by pan69 on 5/12/20, 1:40 AM

    It seems to be missing Dead Can Dance recorded June 1984

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5DxkeGJaFY

  • by singingfish on 5/12/20, 3:58 AM

    I see the listing has a unicode problem EinstÃrzende Neubauten

  • by lihaciudaniel on 5/11/20, 10:49 PM

    Thank you this is why I love hacker news I can find good music

  • by ArtWomb on 5/11/20, 9:56 PM

    Epic. Have been searching for this master list for awhile ;)

  • by tmountain on 5/12/20, 1:17 AM

    The Hot Snakes session is visceral and amazing. Peel had a way of bringing out the raw essence of whatever band paid him a visit. Great stuff.

  • by jjgreen on 5/11/20, 9:52 PM

    Holy crap, what a goldmine, thanks for posting that!

  • by readingnews on 5/12/20, 1:52 AM

    It seems to be missing items, like others have noted. The best for me was the New Fast Automatic Daffodils Peel sessions. Great session.

  • by goofballlogic on 5/12/20, 11:03 AM

    He had his scandals but this guy was a legend. A real defining influence on my teenage years.

  • by santoshalper on 5/12/20, 11:13 AM

    It's remarkable how much New Order in 1981 still sounds like Joy Division.

  • by navels on 5/12/20, 2:27 AM

    Well that's cool, I didn't know New Order did a 3rd session in 1998!

  • by nevster on 5/12/20, 3:34 AM

    "John Peel is not enough"

  • by EXO1 on 5/12/20, 12:36 PM

    @ sander jordens

  • by kt103099 on 5/11/20, 10:30 PM

    And... they're gone. Starting to be DCMA'd one by one.

  • by macca321 on 5/11/20, 10:02 PM

    wow