
John Peel Sessions - termau
https://davestrickson.blogspot.com/2020/05/john-peel-sessions.html
======
spatulon
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.

~~~
dylan604
Don't know if they would actually qualify as bootlegs, but some of the most
coveted tapes being traded in my highschool days were Peel session recordings.
This was in the heart of BFE Texas in the 90s. I still don't know where these
tapes came from, but these were my saving as everything else was country
<shuddersDownSpine>

~~~
rjsw
He had worked in Texas so it seems appropriate that he should have had fans
there.

~~~
drcongo
He was also present when the authorities paraded Lee Harvey Oswald in front of
the press (and Jack Ruby):
[https://peel.fandom.com/wiki/John_F._Kennedy](https://peel.fandom.com/wiki/John_F._Kennedy)

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Phemist
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.

~~~
djaychela
I've also found it useful when I want to create a re-sizeable video window to
suit whatever else I'm doing, as it conforms to the browser size (I was doing
this when I was watching FastAI lectures). As you say, much more pleasant!

~~~
Phemist
Yes! It also solves one of my pet peeves, really a first world problem.
Watching 16:9, 1080p videos full-screen on my 32:9 screen lags my PC hard, on
basically every video streaming site. The big black bars on either side of the
video are apparently very expensive to render (firefox, ubuntu 20.04, ymmv).
Theater mode exists on a few of these websites, but I would really like a more
general solution. For now, with the help of @boriselec's plug-in, I am
satisfied with the /embed trick for youtube.

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throwaway_pdp09
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.

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reedwolf
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](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3hE5alv55E)

~~~
glitcher
Also My Bloody Valentine from 1988:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtsOqxnZPto](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtsOqxnZPto)

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aidos
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.

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mellosouls
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....](https://web.archive.org/web/20070712092327/http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=41&threadid=34945)

~~~
amiga_500
I listened to him my whole time as a teenager.

When he died, I remember hearing on the day and I was not that effected by it.
When I got home, I think maybe seeing the radio or something, it made it very
real. I sat on the bed and wept in a way most unlike me (relatives and close
friends excepted). I've certainly never even come close to this kind of
emotion for any "famous" person before or since. He was a wonderful DJ who
introduced so many kinds of music. A real loss for the UK.

And yet clearly here his work lives on, which is great to see.

~~~
C1sc0cat
Along With Elvis and Amy I can remember where I was when I heard that Peely
had died

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kosmischemusik
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.

~~~
ascorbic
A good proportion of the famous bands performed sessions before they were
famous. Some of them became famous in large part because of John Peel.

~~~
kosmischemusik
You're right. For example Nirvana became mainstream in 1991 with Smells like
Teen Spirit. The happened to do a session in 1990. Pretty sure it contributed
to their eventual success.

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Theodores
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.

~~~
bagpuss
regarding your last paragraph, I believe it’s not up to the BBC to get
performing rights to each artist, they would pay a fixed fee to PRS and
others. Registered or recorded airplay and performance gets attributed to
artists and they (or the holders of their publishing) get their performance
royalties. Whatever is left over is then divided out amongst the lower ranking
artists in the form of a flat fee. If you’re an artist you can use an agent
like PPL [1] to collect on your behalf. The above mess is why if your friends
are recording a song , you should get performance credits for playing the
triangle; could be worth £50 a year...

[https://www.ppluk.com/](https://www.ppluk.com/)

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

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

~~~
herjazz
You could argue BBC Radio 6 music was inspired by him too.

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onion2k
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](https://www.youtube.com/embed/KtyoQC7zyvU)

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nray
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

~~~
vncecartersknee
Literally just signed up to comment this but The Birthday Party's various peel
sets are absolutely incredible

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amiga_500
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](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.

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Daub
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.

~~~
simonh
That song is like having youth poured into your ears.

~~~
Daub
Only for people ‘of a certain genderation’ :)

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pwdisswordfish2
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](https://fiehe.info). It only goes back to 2012,
unfortunately… Nothing of the scale TFA boasts.

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FillardMillmore
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](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yE-6xoh1khg)

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glitcher
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 :)

~~~
telaandrews2
Strange Fruit put out so much quality music

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cptnapalm
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.

~~~
singingfish
I saw them live in '89 headlining an insanely cheap 5 band lineup. Awesome,
jaw dropping stuff. I heard that more recently they had a gig booked at
London's Victoria and Albert Museum where someone had designed them a sound
system that was supposed to disintegrate over the course of the gig.
Unfortunately the gig got cancelled due to fears over the structural integrity
of the building.

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telaandrews2
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.

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

~~~
amiga_500
the last one on that was really great. interesting that even then, the band
had that great style.

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troughway
Autechre isn't on here - strange.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peel_Session_(Autechre_EP)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peel_Session_\(Autechre_EP\))

~~~
radley
it's just a list of session recordings he's found. The full Peel Sessions list
is here:
[http://www.thepeelsessions.co.uk/bands.html](http://www.thepeelsessions.co.uk/bands.html)

(link from another comment)

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pan69
It seems to be missing Dead Can Dance recorded June 1984

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5DxkeGJaFY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5DxkeGJaFY)

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singingfish
I see the listing has a unicode problem EinstÃrzende Neubauten

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

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

~~~
twic
It's not a complete list. For example, The Rock of Travolta aren't on it,
despite having done a Peel session:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QsfPJKbAtc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QsfPJKbAtc)

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tmountain
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.

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

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

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

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

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

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nevster
"John Peel is not enough"

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EXO1
@ sander jordens

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kt103099
And... they're gone. Starting to be DCMA'd one by one.

~~~
mindslight
Seriously. Imagine if these had been curated and hosted on a public network,
instead of a proprietary platform where exposure means death. lynx -dump |
youtube-dl it is.

~~~
anaphor
the embed links don't seem to work with youtube-dl very well, I wrote a python
script to convert them (in the sibling comment to this)

~~~
mindslight
What seems broken? The latest version of youtube-dl doesn't seem to be having
trouble with the embed links. Is this something I'm going to regret later?

~~~
anaphor
When I ran it, it wasn't actually downloading anything. I'm honestly not quite
sure why. Maybe there's a difference in versions.

Edit: ah I think it was because of some whitespace getting inserted, so
actually not a problem.

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macca321
wow

