FabricLive 07: John Peel

by

John Peel

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If you type in "John Peel" at Amazon, you get 23 CD results (in 2005). 22 of them are his legendary John Peel sessions - bands making live recordings for his BBC Radio show, from any point in his 35+ year career. This is the only CD I know that captures what it was he really did on his radio show.

This is *not* your average DJ mix. In fact, there's almost no mixing and the music ranges from soccer chants (featuring around 50,000 people) to doo-wop via hardcore, gabba, bluesy rock, funk, afro-soul, hillbilly banjos...

It's a perfect slice of what DJ Peel's radio show sounded like in it's prime, minus the usual charming banter and DJ'ing blunders. And so, despite being utterly wonderful and something of a genuine cultural artifact, it isn't easy listening. The glory of John was that his musical taste was broader than anybody else on this planet, bar none, including you. I guarantee there is at least one track on this that you'll hate - but a bunch you would never find anywhere else.

Just because without him there would have been no David Bowie, no T-Rex, no Sex Pistols, no Napalm Death, no Cure, no Orbital, no Smiths, no White Stripes (he played them all first), you might like to introduce yourself to the incomparable John Peel.

oh, it also comes in a lovely tin box.

Let's get started by saying I really like (I'm learning to love) this compilation. I can remember when John Peel had the Saturday afternoon show on BBC Radio 1 and have followed him ever since (not literally like some people).

The reason I give this three stars is because it's not enough. It touches on all styles of music you'd expect from Peel but just barely. There are good and quirky examples of everything you'd expect but that's it.

Another slight complaint is that for those people who have heard, or heard of, Peel's legendary live sets at Fabric (I've only had the pleasure of going once) the charm is missing here. There are none of the random stops, records at wrong speeds or backwards, or anything you could imagine.