Original post from Oct. 26th:
John Peel 1939-2004
Damn.. ANOTHER person who influenced my early music geekdom gone. The first Peel Session I remember hearing was a Billy Bragg 12" Peel Sessions EP around 1987. So many great Peel Sessions sit on my shelves: Birthday Party, Thin Lizzy, PJ Harvey, Nirvana, Joy Division, Nick Cave, Jesus & Mary Chain, White Stripes, etc. etc. etc.
Peel Sessions helped educate me in my Anglophile Rock ways during my formative years.
One of my favorite ones from recent years is a PJ Harvey session from his 'Peel Acres' show (which was done from his farm in Suffolk). At one point, he and PJ got all geek about Captain Beefheart and Peel offered to dub PJ a copy of a Beefheart bootleg she'd never heard.
Peace.
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ADDENDUM #1:
Miatomic adds: "I have a copy of the Close Lobsters Peel Sessions. It's got a brilliant version of 'I'm Going To Heaven To See If It Rains'."
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ADDENDUM #2:
John Peel was laid to rest today. Tijanna submitted her excellent Peel memories:
The first time I went to London I got to sit in on TWO John Peel Sessions. I saw him interview Brian May of Queen and I also got to see him interview John Entwhistle, who was one of my idols. I got John E.'s autograph and even asked him a question, which he answered!
The two 2-hour sessions were intimate and real and groovy maaaannnnn..... Yeah, there were these little advertisements in Time Out that were like, "Come on down and be part of the audience" type things. Like, "Run down to the grocery store for our special and bring this coupon with you."
I asked Entwhistle something about, since I'm small and have little hands, what type of bass would he recommend for me to play. He suggested a Steinberger. I tried one out shortly after that but they're too unbalanced for me (and really heavy). Too much on the body end and not enough on the neck."
