Archive for the ‘BBC radio’ Category
- My choice for Christmas number one
Good old Steve has made a compelling case against the Cowell-crap that has polluted the Christmas chart over the past few years (at least that’s how I’ve interpreted his post). Hence, I recommend popping over to the suitably Festive Teenage Kicks and read what he has to say on the issue, but only after listening to my choice for this year’s #1.
- The Rolling Stones at the BBC: 1963 and 1964 (Part 1)
Like The Beatles, the Stones’ early ’60 s gigs were ruined by howling, screaming teenage girls who’d drown out any attempt to record the shows. What exists are – still never officially released – studio sessions the band recorded for broadcast on BBC radio. While the Stones were never as prolific as the Beatles at the BBC, there are some gems.
The Rolling Stones at the BBC: 1963/64
The tracks ‘Memphis Tennessee’, ‘Roll over Beethoven’ and ‘Come on’ were recorded for Saturday Club on September 23rd, 1963 and broadcast on October 26th of that year.
These four songs, ‘Mona’, ‘Route 66’, ‘Cops and robbers’ and ‘You better move on’ were recorded for Blues in Rhythm on March 19th, 1964 and broadcast on May 9th.
‘2120 South Michigan Avenue’ was recorded for Blues in Rhythm on October 8th, 1964 and broadcast on October 31st, while ‘Not fade away’ was recorded for Saturday Club on April 13th, 1964 and broadcast on April 18th.
The final four songs for today, ‘High heeled sneakers’, ‘Little by little’, ‘I just want to make love to you’ and ‘I’m moving on’ were recorded live on the Joe Loss show on April 10th, 1964.
This is only part one, when a few people have left a comment to tell me how lovely the music is, I’ll post part two.
While we’re at it, here’s one of my favourite versions of ‘Not fade away’ by the Scotch Video Tape Skeleton:
- Classic session tracks: ‘Then I kissed her’ by The Lurkers
For me, the biggest indignity suffered by The Lurkers was being the centerpiece of Mick Wall’s abominable John Peel biography which appeared in time for Christmas, 2004, despite JP’s death only two months previously. That he met Peel and had a discussion about this band is considered Wall’s main qualification for having been handed the responsibility for churning out the dreadful, dreadful book in question.
The band themselves are worth far more of your time, however, having recorded four sessions at the legendary Maida Vale studio for John Peel between October, 1977 and January, 1979. Indeed, their debut single ‘Shadow’ was voted by John Peel as his twelfth best track of the year in the 1977 Festive Fifty (with “Love Story”, the B-side, at number 31).
Basically, this is one and a half minutes of good, pumping pub rock at its best. Here is a classic cover version from their first Peel session:
‘Then I kissed her’ by The Lurkers
Listen now…
As ever, if you want more, let me know.
- Andy Kershaw: 10th March, 1988
Here’s an old Andy Kershaw show courtesy of the one and only Ken Garner. According to Ken, ‘It’s a stormer featuring the Frank Chickens, plus Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan in session.’
Work is manic, hence the lack of posts. Bear with me, I’ll be back.
- The Who at the Beeb
Listen now option…
You heard a sample, now go and buy the album…
The Who – The BBC Sessions
- A brief history of lard
Some lard, yesterday
Anyhows, in 2004 some lard (often referred to by its nickname Moyles) tried to make fun of our JP. Here is that lard talking about a typical Peel blunder:
- An A to D of Independent Music: 26th May, 1980
Track Listing
Athletico Spit 80 – No Room (rough trade)
The Bongos – Telephoto Lens (fetish records)
Classic example of Peel being caught by surprise by end of record
Charge – You get what you deserve (ycafo records)
Classic example of next track starting early
Cheeky – Don’t mess around (woodbine street records)
Collective horizontal – Edward’s lear (dolman records)
The Cramps – Garbage Man (illegal records)
Crash course in science – kitchen motors (gogo records)
The craw daddies – lolette (voxx records)
The cult figures – I remember (rava records)
The Ds – My toy (optimistic records)
The dambusters – Production line love (deep water records)
The deadbeats – Choose you (red rhino records)
Peel monologue on the importance of independent labels
The decorators – Twilight view (new horizons records)
The denizens – Frontier (citizen records)
Mild rant about hippies
The details – Keep on running (energy records)
Digital dance – I sleep on the waves (digital records)
Discharge – After the gig (clay records)
Despite the fact that you’ve undoubtedly never heard any of these tracks (the cramps being a possible exception) I highly recommend this show. I actually thought that I’d cracked some Peel masterplan when I was making the track listing for this one, until Peel admitted that it was a purposeful A to Z list, not that A to Zing the songs you play would be much of a masterplan. Any luck with the jelly bellies yet?
While we’re at it, although where the direct connection is I’m not sure, here’s Mrs. Ravenscroft accepting JP’s lifetime achievement award in May:
- Nick Drake on John Peel’s NIGHTRIDE show, 6th August, 1969
Highlights of Nick Drake’s performance on John Peel’s NIGHTRIDE show, Wednesday, 6th August, 1969.
As far as anyone knows, no moving image of Nick Drake exists, hence the lack of video accompaniment. The music alone is enough, however. John Horne used to have this available for download over at Right Place, Right Time, Wrong Speed, pester him via email and it might return!
- The penultimate Top Gear Show, September, 1975
It’s a really hot day here today, and I think the heat’s gone to my brain, as I’ve done, quite frankly, a pretty poor job of transcribing the track listing for this one. Lots of help needed filling in the gaps.
Track listing
-The Faces – Stay with me (from a 1971 session)
-Steeleye Span – A Buddy Holly song whose name escapes me (from an unidentified session)
-Lindisfarne – your guess is undoubtedly going to be much better than mine (track introduced but fades out after a few seconds)
-Family – The Cat and the Rat (track fades in during the last few seconds)
-Roxy Music – Peel mentions the lineup in great detail but neglects to tell us what the track is called (from a 1972 session)
-Syd Barrett – Gigolo Aunt
-Steeleye Span – First minute of the track only
Peel sounds great on this one, really strait-laced. I guess he was still in full ‘this is a public service broadcast’ mode at this time. I wonder if he did his programs like this to give the music he was playing more credibility. Shame he’s not around for me to ask him.
Download the washy mediumwave extravaganza here.
Like many of you other crazy Peel obsessives, I’ve got the final Top Gear show, too. For the sake of those who don’t yet have it, I’ll be posting it sometime next week.
Thanks to the anonymous contributor who has filled in the gaps in my fairly poor effort to supply a track listing.
