peel everyday on blogger and facebook

Hey You!

Join us back at our old home on blogger and now also on facebook!

There will be no further updates on wordpress.com.

closing down everything must go

My rapidshare account comes to an end in a few days time and I shan’t be renewing it because, along with most people it seems, I’ve found it increasingly frustrating and unworkable in numerous ways. What this means for you is the contents of the Downloads page, and links in other posts, are likely to disappear gradually. If they were an easy way to mirror the lot of them in one go I’d do it, but frankly I haven’t the time or patience. Mind you I’m sure you’ll be able to find most over at the John Peel Wiki perhaps or on one of the various sites listed in the margin.

Oh, john peel everyday is still up and running of course.

In all I don’t think it’s that big a deal. The lack of updates is due to poor health, as usual – yawn, but things on a less ambitious scale will appear at T.B.C. What with letting the domain slip, it’s probably best to wrap things up now.

We had a few laughs though didn’t we?

Caio. (“;)

File Name: rs-john-peel-link-list.txt
Size: 4.65KB | Description: John Peel
http://www.sendspace.com/file/nph6t1

Grab ’em While They’re Hot

Peter Everett – You’ll Never Be Sixteen Again

A message from Peter Everett, producer of the BBC documentary series narrated by ‘our John’, – You’ll Never Be Sixteen Again.

As the producer of ‘You’ll Never Be Sixteen Again’ I’d like to say thanks for making it available to a whole new generation of listeners. The book of the series is available free to be read in full on my website http://www.kinace.com.
Keep the faith,
Peter Everett

source: jump to original comment

Audio link

You’ll Never Be Sixteen Again (Complete Series)

http://www.kinace.com
We sell classic and hard-to-find, rare records – vinyl and CD – at rock-bottom prices. The music you will love forever… Thousands of great records – classic pop, easy-listening, rock’n’roll, blues, soul, jazz, country, rhythm’n’blues – vinyl and CDs, some very rare, all at best prices. Fast service. Accurate gradings – most of our records are in excellent to near-mint condition.

kinace records @WordPress

Our John

Tom Ravenscroft on BBC 6 Music

Tom Ravenscroft

Tom Ravenscroft

Marc Riley/Tom Ravenscroft programme page

Tom Ravenscroft will be in the chair for the week while Marc Riley is on holiday.

Programmes run from 24th August, Monday to Thursday on BBC 6 Music at 19:00 to 21:00.

• MONDAY 2009/08/24

Programme link
Tom Ravenscroft sits in for Marc Riley and is joined by American musician Bill Callahan.

Tonight he’s got Bill Callahan, formerly known as Smog, in the studio for a live session and we are very, very excited about this.

Bill Callahan is a prolific American musician who currently lives in Austin, Texas. In 2007, Callahan released Woke On A Whaleheart, his first solo album released under his own name. His current album Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle was released in March.

Cat Power recorded Callahan’s song Bathysphere on her 1996 album What Would the Community Think and also covered another Callahan song, Red Apples, on her Covers Record, released in 2000.

Smog’s Cold Blooded Old Times appears on the High Fidelity soundtrack and the song Vessel In Vain was also used on the soundtrack of the independent British film Dead Man’s Shoes in 2004. In 2009, Callahan contributed cover songs to three separate tribute albums to Judee Sill, Kath Bloom, and Merge Records.

• TUESDAY 2009/08/25

Programme link
Tom Ravenscroft sits in for Marc Riley with a session from AJ Holmes.

Tonight it’s Tom Ravenscroft’s second night in the steam cleaned chair of Marc Riley. His session band is A.J. Holmes & The Hackney, Empire who describe their unique blend of African and European pop music as “The New Electric Hi-Life”.

A.J. Holmes & The Hackney Empire is currently the resident band at the monthly London tropical party Secousse and have recently played with David Byrne at the Royal Festival Hall.

The band are A.J. Holmes on guitar and vocals, Ian Simon Andrew Darroue on bongos, tambourine, djembe and vocals, Simon Keer on drums, electric drums and sampler, Polly Soloman on maracas and vocals, Emile George Ogoo on bass and vocals and finally Martyn Pott on bass.

African musician and teacher Folo Graff emigrated from Sierra Leone, West Africa to the birth place of A.J. Holmes (the East End of London) in 1976. In 1999 they became neighbours and a year later Graff started to teach Holmes guitar music. Mixing this with his background in electric pop Holmes has developed irresistible dance tracks, instrumentals with a fragile swing, pop tunes with earworm qualities, or heart-warming love songs and they are crowned by his own emotional and self-ironic lyrics. The term hi-life is from ‘Highlife’ a musical genre that originated in Sierra Leone, Ghana and Nigeria starting in the 1920s.

• WEDNESDAY 26/08/2009

Programme link
Tom Ravenscroft sits in for Marc Riley and is joined by UK post-rock band Sian Alice Group

It’s day three of Tom Ravenscroft’s stint on the Marc Riley show and tonight he’s booked Sian Alice Group, a band whose music has been described as “analog-synthtronica”

The band are a collective of UK Musicians: Sian Ahern, Rupert Clervaux and Ben Crook. In the past couple of years they’ve been very productive with the epic album 59.59, The Dusk Line EP and the experimental Remix 12″. They’re back now with a new second album Troubled, Shaken Etc which was released at the beginning of August.

• THURSDAY 2009/08/26

Programme link TBA
Tom Ravenscroft sits in for Marc Riley. Details TBA.

Ravenscroft at the Weekend & Archive Peel

• Archive Peel Recordings Online At The Beeb

Glastonbury isn’t the same without John, but then nothing is anymore is it? Anyway, some bright spark at the BBC – Thank You – has riffled the archives to replay several Peel shows from happier days.

Many thanks to Chris for initially drawing my attention to this and to Steve ‘saipanda’ for saving me having to track down the links. Is that the best link to use for you Steve, you are the wikimaster are you not?

No doubt everyone has already checked out the old JP Glastonbury stuff that is still being streamed by the BBC. If not, here’s the links (I think):

• 24 June 1994 (60 mins), part 1, Madder Rose (60 mins)
• 24 June 1994 (60 mins) part 2, Dreadzone part 2 (60 mins)
• 27 June 1995 (120 mins) Ash, Sleeper (120 mins)
• 29 June 2004 (Belle and Sebastian, PJ Harvey) (120 mins)

Think the 2004 show is available via torrent (in of the 17 set), but as far as I know the others are not generally circulated. If anyone could mp3 these, I for one would really appreciate it – some technical issues at this end.”

• John at Glastonbury Festival Picture Gallery
• Don’t forget Paul Battley’s excellent Open Source cross-platform iPlayer Downloader!

If Steve or anyone else is still in need of mp3 links for the above, leave a comment and I shall see to it.

• Ravenscroft On BBC6 Music This Weekend

Tom Ravenscroft is back on BBC6 Music this coming Friday and Saturday.

• Friday 3 July 2009 19:00-21:00
“Tom Ravenscroft sits in for Tom Robinson with a session from Tinariwen.”

• Saturday 4 July 2009 00:00-02:00
“Tom Ravenscroft sits in for Tom Robinson with more great internet discoveries.”

• The BBC Introducing with Tom Robinson will doubtless have full playlists in due course.

No! Did He Really?

'He takes another home again/To find me waiting for him.' James Bond and Sugar Walls were a long way off at this time.

In my (very) occasional alter ego as guest writer for this epochal site, I was drawn this week to an idea that has been fermenting in my mind during the arid mosquito-filled Korean summer. JP was famed for his discoveries, his playing of challenging and obscure music, and his superb taste in general.

However…there are little dark corners of everyone’s life, and thanks to the considerable efforts of tapers the world over and their unselfishness in sharing Peel’s legacy with the rest of us, we can now uncover some of those pockets of resistance, the blind spots, the fond and foolish items in the playlists that only make us realise the man’s humanity that much more. I present to you some of the records that you never would have imagined him playing. But he did. Note that the Jakki Brambles shows are ruled out of court here, because…well, it wouldn’t be sporting, would it?

1. Sheena Easton, 9 To 5

Maybe not so much of a surprise this one, as John was clearly smitten with the Scottish lass who won probably the earliest of reality shows, Esther Rantzen’s Big Time, made two appallingly vacuous and grating 45s as part of the deal, and wound up as Prince’s girlfriend. It’s pure toss, of course: it regressed the cause of feminism by many years, as the singer gleefully relates how her feller toddles off to work on the morning train, and she waits for his return each day, when ‘night time is the right time/We make love.’ Jesus wept, and no wonder by Christ. Seeing this performed by a heavily made-up 8 year-old girl on Minipops was surely the low point of Channel 4’s early years. John regularly programmed the song into his roadshows, added it to the 1980 Peelenium and a copy was found in his Record Box after his death. But did he ever play it in the course of his normal shows? Oh yes, and had the temerity to describe it as a ‘great pop record’ afterwards. So is the jury still out on this one, or have they recommended the death penalty? You are the judge.

Evidence:  17 December 2002

2. Chicory Tip, Son Of My Father

The crowds at the 1992 Reading Festival danced their socks off for this one. No, really. Peel remarked that he never thought he’d play this, and we all still wish he hadn’t. More intractable bollocks from a bunch of grinning popsters, clearly with their eyes on the sangria and lager Majorcan market of the early 1970s. Never has a stylophone been used to such soporific effect.

Evidence:  04 September 1992

3.  Adam And The Ants, Prince Charming

Contentious point? Aye, they did indeed record sessions for them in their punky days, which are among the jewels in the Maida Vale catalogue. However, by this time he’d obviously grown tired of the narcissism and theatricality of the  lead singer’s ego. To be fair, though, he fades it out early and follows it with a much better song, Rolf Harris’ War Canoe, in order to show where Adam nicked his ideas from. Smart move, John.

Evidence: Rolf Harris 81 (mixtape)

4. Duran Duran, Planet Earth

Now we’re relying on a listener’s memory here, since no recording of JP playing this has yet come to light, but it’s surely only  matter of time. It’s actually not that bad a tune, but he hated the gaudy New Romantics with a vengeance, and remarked after playing Hole’s definitive live version of Hungry Like The Wolf that it was the ‘first time I’ve ever said the word Duran Duran on this programme, I think’…before relating what a listener had reminded him of, and admitting that it was quite probably true. There was a band called Duran Duran Duran whose tender and touching LP Drunk On Cock he played a fair bit in 2003, but I defy you to make a connection.

Evidence: 17 March 1995

5. Wham!,  Young Guns (Go For It)

“And the first person to write in and say ‘you shouldn’t have played that, you should have played the UK Subs instead’ will be turned into a toad. You’ve been warned!” Given JP’s caustic remark concerning George Michael’s later effort with Aretha Franklin on Top Of The Pops, this seems like a curious choice for the man. But was it really any diferrent from a lot of the pop/twiddly bass stuff he was playing at the same time? It’s still a fresh and enthusiastic reminder of the era that brings back the club scene of those faraway days in a moment, at least for this old codger.

Evidence: 22 September 1982

6. U2, 11 O’Clock Tick Tock

New Year’s Day made the Festive Fifty in 1983, as we all know, but how many of you remember him playing this? Bono and pals were never offered a session, as John was indifferent to the sound they made. That I must admit is one I would like to have heard.

Evidence:  22 May 1980

There you have it..for now. If there are any more embarrassing moments you can recall, and ones which quite clearly weren’t intended to be bad (so that rules out his Reginald Bosanquet, Oliver Reed and Tony Blackburn howlers), let’s hear them.

• Steve runs the excellent site, Teenage Kicks.

“Kershaw welcome” Says Radio 3 Boss

Radio 3 boss hints at DJ’s return

The troubled DJ Andy Kershaw’s two-year stint in the wilderness may be about to end after his former boss at the BBC gave a clear signal that he wants him back. In an interview with The Independent on Sunday, Roger Wright, controller of Radio 3, who resuscitated Kershaw’s career in 2001, said he would welcome his old friend back on air. “I’m still in touch with Andy and the door is not closed… he’s ready. I’m in contact with him.”

Source: The Independent – Radio 3 boss hints at DJ’s return

With thanks to Rob at the Peel Newsgroup for this.

See also…
The land of the Three: Inside Roger Wright’s radio culture club
A bullet through the heart of Radio 3

New Music Free Downloads

Dinosaur Jr.

Part free and legal mp3 best of roundup, part indie record label featurette. Minimal maybe but what you lose in words you reap in aural stimulation. Go!

jagjaguwar Records

Dinosaur Jr. – I Want You To Know (From the album, ‘Farm’)
Bon Iver – Blood Bank (From the e.p. ‘Blood Bank’)
Julie Doiron – Consolation Prize (From the album, ‘I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day’)

Atomic Beat Records

Pete Green – The Ballad of Phil Jevons

This post is a quickie because something intervened. Something good for a change. (";) Top tunes though all the same.

Is Mark Damazer In Control?

Is the bbc running scared?

Humphrys’ final question was, “How do you see yourself now?” To which I answered: “The old Andy is back. I’m ready to rock and roll.”

As we left the studio, Humphrys slapped me across the shoulder and said: “I think you got the tone of that absolutely right.” The producer, Karen Gregor, was gushing that I’d been “absolutely brilliant” and that it was “the best On The Ropes we have ever recorded.”

I later learned that the programme was cleared by BBC lawyers that same Thursday for broadcast the following Tuesday. It was then trailed so heavily over the weekend that I found it embarrassing to listen to Radio 4.

• Kershaw: How the BBC left me on the ropes The Independent, yesterday.

Does Mark Damazer, the controller of Radio 4 and BBC7, come from the school of reactionary management or are his thoughts that of only protecting a family from further media glare? Does he see it, perhaps, as an easy way of making a name for himself along the lines of the, ‘Good managers must make controversial decisions’, philosophy? Whose interests does Damazer represent?

How’s that for a loaded question?

I’m not going to voice my opinion at great length on this, not today. But without doubt, the manner in which the BBC handle these type of incidents, is often seen as clumsy at best and has much wider and more serious implications than that of a single interview. Such decisions can only exacerbate the current atmosphere of intense sensitivity felt inside the BBC, and thus provide easy ammunition for critics outside it. In short, this is not a competent way in which to manage the country’s leading radio station.

Is Mark Damazer in control?

• Kershaw: How the BBC left me on the ropes

• Radio 4 Blog: ‘On The Ropes’

Mark Damazer is no stranger to unpopular decisions,
• New controller announces UK Theme on Radio 4 to be scraped.

Photo credit: Vic Bates