peel sessions Archives - Vinyl From The Vault

The Cure “The Peel Sessions”

sfilzen — Wed, 02 Dec 2020 23:17:39 +0000

The Cure “The Peel Sessions” 1988; recorded almost exactly 42 years ago on Dec. 4th, 1978, broadcast on BBC Radio 1 on Dec. 11th, 1978. EP on Strange Fruit Records. A great in-studio live recording of four of The Cure’s earliest tracks for John Peel including “Killing an Arab,” “10.15 Saturday Night,” “Fire in Cairo” and “Boys Don’t Cry.” Super-sparse, a bit jangly, a just-barely-there level of production which really is perfect for The Cure’s early post-punk sound (Tony Wilson of Factory Records infamy produced the EP). Though all songs were 10 years old at the time of the EP’s release, the record went to #7 on the UK indie chart. “10.15 Saturday Night” and “Fire in Cairo” appeared on The Cure’s debut album Three Imaginary Boys and all four songs appear on the 1980 comp Boys Don’t Cry.

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Joy Division “The Peel Sessions”

sfilzen — Wed, 07 Oct 2020 00:09:06 +0000

Joy Division “The Peel Sessions” 1979/1986 release on Strange Fruit Records. Joy Division’s 4-song EP recorded and broadcast for BBC’s Radio One with John Peel went to #4 in the UK. At the time of the show in February ‘79, none of the songs had been released. It includes “Transmission,” Joy Division’s groundbreaking debut single on Factory Records which they released in October ‘79, “She’s Lost Control,” which is on Joy Davison’s debut Unknown Pleasures (June ‘79) and also was released as a 12″ single in 1980, “Insight” (also on Unknown Pleasures) and “Exercise One” which they recorded during the Unknown Pleasures sessions but did not appear on any physical releases until the 1981 Still compilation (Factory Records). The EP is fantastic: dark, lush, innovative and their live in-studio recording is pretty much flawless.

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The Smiths “The Old Guard BBC Tapes Volume 2″

sfilzen — Thu, 27 Dec 2018 18:15:06 +0000

The Smiths “The Old Guard BBC Tapes Volume 2″ 2011. Bootleg comp on Alti Philosophi Records (a German label that specializes in reissued vinyl). The collection on The Old Guard are songs that range from ‘83-’86 recorded during sessions with BBC dj’s John Peel and David Jensen. Side A leads off with “Accept Yourself” from the Sept. 5th ‘83 session with Jensen and was also included on the ‘84 comp Hatful of Hollow. (Also at that September session The Smiths recorded “Reel Around the Fountain,” which appears on Side B of The Old Guard BBC Tapes but it was banned by the BBC so was not broadcast until ‘85 when the entire Jensen session was rebroadcast by Janice Long.) Next up are two songs from the John Peel session on Feb. 12 ‘86 – the propulsive “London” and the Morrissey-depressive “Half a Person.” Following those two is one of my favorite Smiths songs of all-time, the epic “How Soon Is Now?” which The Smiths recorded for the Peel session on Aug. 1st ‘84. Right after that is a little radio announcement tidbit (Peel saying “Bo Diddly Bo Diddley where’s ya been? Excellent. Those are the Smiths in session and “How Soon Is Now?”) before the bouncing and masochistic “Is It Really So Strange?” closes out the album’s first side. “Is It Really So Strange?” is from the Feb. ‘86 Peel session and is also on the ‘87 comp Louder Than Bombs.

Side B begins with classical guitar-tinged “Back to the Old House” from the Sept. 14th ‘83 Peel session and it too appears on Hatful of Hollow. Another Peel session track, from ‘84, follows, the classic “William, It Was Really Nothing.” The final three songs are all from that session in Sept. ‘83 with David Jensen: “Reel Around the Fountain,” “I Don’t Owe You Anything,” and “Pretty Girls Make Graves.” For some reason this variation of “Reel Around the Fountain” sounds really rough and super funeral-dirgy. Granted it’s not an upbeat song to begin with but this version makes it feel like you’re being dragged through the mud right along with Morrissey. The recording of “Reel Around the Fountain” from the May 31 ‘83 session with Peel was the version included on Hatful of Hollow (and definitely the better choice).

About these BBC sessions, particularly the ones with John Peel, Johnny Marr said, “[They] pretty much became the definitive versions of the songs we recorded for John…What happened to us was that whenever a session came up, we wrote songs, because we needed them, especially for the session. ’This Charming Man’, for example, was written because we had a John Peel session and we didn’t have enough songs. The session was on a Friday, and on the Tuesday I just got out of bed and wrote this tune because we needed another song for the session.“

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