What's a "Peel Session"? (1 Viewer)

[Ted Lee]

i often see artists who release something called "The Peel Sessions".

i've never figured out what those are. they look like live recordings of studio sessions, but is there anything else to them? better recording quality, rarities, etc?

thanks,

ted

 

[BrianB]

There's a long running radio show in the UK on Radio 1 by a DJ called John Peel. One of the hallmarks of his show are the live sessions done by upcoming/famous bands in the BBC studios. These are commonly known as a "Peel Session".

They're popular because songs are often done radically different to the released version, obscure songs are covered, or the band is just doing stuff on their road to fame that are just damn cool to hear.

Peel's been on the radio for around 30 years now - the guy is a national institution breaking new music in the UK.

 

[Ted Lee]

ahhh....thanks for that info brian. may well be worth checking out!

 

[BrianB]

If a favourite band of yours has done a Peel Session or two, they're usually well worth checking out.

The Pixies at the Beeb disk is excellent for example.

 

[Ted Lee]

definitely a favorite band of mine (new order/joy division) will be doing some sort of peel session compilation release thing-a-ma-jig.
if anyone else is curious, the story is here:
http://www.neworderonline.com/curren...sp#news_id=524

 

[Joseph Young]

Although the Joy Division recording session discography (including bootlegs) is vast and innumerable, "The Complete BBC Recordings" is already available, highly recommended.
If you haven't already, check out pre-JD Warsaw along with the BBC recordings.
In fact, you can get both at once right now.
-j

 

[Ted Lee]

thanks for the additional info joseph - now i have to go spend more money! arrgghh!!!
it looks like the bbc recording might be included in the latest peel sessions release, but i can't tell for sure.
do you have any ideas on that?

 

[Joseph Young]

Joy Divison had two sessions on the John Peel show, each one consisting of four songs.

January 1979:
Exercise One
Insight
Transmission
She's Lost Control

..and November 1979:
The Sound of Music
24 hours
Colony
Love Will Tear Us Apart

TV Show, "Something Else" (BBC2): September 1979.
Transmission
She's Lost Control

"The Complete BBC Recordings" includes all of this material and is highly recommended. These are the only Joy Division recordings via BBC, obviously there is a wealth of additional material out there.

Strangely enough I have not purchased the boxed set yet, as I was already familiar (or had in some form) most of the material therein.

-j

 

[Ted Lee]

ahh....great info. thanks again!

 

[andrew markworthy]

Joseph, get the boxed set! It's well worth it.

 

[TheoGB]

You might well want to check out the BBC sites:
BBC Radio 1
and John also does a Radio 4 program (nothing to do with music) about every day lives. However, if you like his dulcet tones you should check out:
Home Truths (BBC Radio 4)
John Peel worked for a stint in the U.S. many years ago - I think it was in Texas. Do a Google search and I'm sure you'll find many a bio!!

 

[Iain Lambert]

Home Truths is my regular 'Saturday morning bath soak' soundtrack, and highly recommended. If you still liked Joy Division when they became NewOrder, there is a disc of two sessions that they did (one during each of the first two albums) as well, which is worth getting.

 

[TheoGB]

Yep, Home Truths every Saturday for me. But have you seen that there is an MP3 streaming bank on the BBC site for every show in a given week that you can access? I may finally be able to get a lie in on a Saturday!!!

 

[Ted Lee]

thanks for the additional info on bbc theo - i'm definitely gonna check it out!