Fades in Slowly

The middle of August, 1979 and I’d just turned 6. That’s me in the picture above, apparently. JP was on good form, although I was still a bit young to fully appreciate his genius. This was a shame really, as I was about to miss the one and only session by The Police. Not only did Sting and chums have a single in the top ten at the time, they also finally realised their dream of getting a Peel session, not that JP himself was terribly impressed by their effort. Other highlights of the mid August show included Dolly Mixtures first and only session. Full as possible details of the show have been lovingly cobbled together by my friends over at the Peel wiki, and you can download the little gem here.

Elsewhere, another band who, like the Police, had ‘pestered’ JP greatly to get on the show – U2 – were making their first big radio interview. Michael Jackson released his first breakthrough album Off the Wall, and on the telly we were treated to the very scary – I was 6 – Sapphire and Steel, among other things. Am I the only one who’d completely forgotten about Outer Spacers?

Here’s what magazines looked like back then.

If you want to look through the entire mid-August 1979 edition of Smash Hits, you can do so by clicking here (courtesy of the remarkable Like Punk Never Happened).

Never one to shirk away from a request to stick something on the blog, especially from a Peely compatriot, here is a Christmas card from Mr. Obscure.

Even more importantly, here are his new goodies, which you can get by clicking here.

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.

Getting fed up of waiting? Well, I’ve been having a load of problems with my audio editing software of recent and it’s taken me longer than normal to cobble this one together. I am getting dreadfully close to the magic 70 now, one more collection of songs should do it.

Here’s a track list for all the faithful who’ve stuck with me while I’ve been putting these together, indeed for all those who’ve visited the blog over the past two and a half years.

Part One

01 Lonnie Donegan – Lost John
02 Toots and the Maytals – Louie Louie
03 The Cure – A forest
04 Camper van Beethoven – Take the skinheads bowling
05 Stiff Little Fingers – Suspect device
06 The Fall – Lay Of The Land
07 Public enemy – Rebel without a pause
08 My bloody valentine – Soon
09 Disposable heroes of hiphoprisy – Language of violence
10 Pocket Fishrmen – The leader is burning

Part Two

11 The smiths – There is a light that never goes out
12 The Fall – Mr. pharmacist
13 Symarrip – Skinhead Moonstomp
14 Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band – Big eyed beans from venus
15 The Damned – New rose
16 Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five – The message
17 The Sugarcubes – Birthday
18 The Sundays – Can’t Be Sure
19 Happy Mondays – Step on
20 Lo-Cut A Sleifar – Sefyll Fel Un

Part Three

21 Andy Capp – Popatop
22 Free – All right now
23 Inspiral Carpets – she comes in the fall
24 Inspiral Carpets – Directing traffic
25 Buzzcocks – What do i get?
26 David Bowie – Heroes
27 New Order – Temptation
28 PJ Harvey – 50ft queenie
29 Mazzy star – Fade into you
30 Daft Punk – Rollin’ & Scratchin’

Part Four

31 Von Südenfed – Fledermaus can’t get it
32 The Dead Kennedys – California Über Alles
33 Joy Division – Transmission
34 The stooges – I wanna be your dog
35 The Beatles – strawberry fields forever
36 The Smiths – How Soon Is Now?
37 Eric B. and Rakim – I know you got soul
38 M/a/r/r/s – Pump up the volume
39 Pixies – Debaser
40 The Orb – Little Fluffy Clouds

Part Five

41 Scotty Moore Trio – Have guitar will travel
42 Future Sound of London – Papua New Guinea
43 The Sex Pistols – Holidays in the Sun
44 James – Hymn from a village
45 Hüsker Dü – Makes no sense at all
46 The Fall – Hit the north (part 1)
47 sugar – A good idea

(The all-new) Part Six

48 David Bowie – Queen bitch
49 The House of Love – Christine
50 PJ Harvey – Angelene
51 James Taylor & Joni Mitchell – That song about the midway
52 Nirvana – About a girl
53 Pavement – The classical
54 The Cure – One hundred years
55 The smiths – What difference does it make?

Part Seven to come any year soon.

Will this ever end? Well, yes, actually, a couple more and I should be done. As ever, it is available to download or you can listen now…

Part four ready and waiting for your ear-based consumption. Download or listen now…