John Peel Show

[Tubetec]

I just dug out a  youtube link to various Peel shows mainly 70's ,usually about 20 minutes of live 'BBC' legendary sound quality of loads of great bands

'john peel sessions' is the search tag on youtube ,  for me , the vast majority of it beats 'Album' versions by a long shot ,like proper rock n roll its allowed to sound like its about to fall apart from time to time  , and not the overproduced polished turds presented on the album .
you cant not find something you like  , if your of a certain vintage that is 

 

[ruffrecords]

+10^6

Cheers

Ian

 

[Tubetec]

There really is something magic about first generation ,'live mix  to tape' recordings of the peel show ,  I guess later on they would have had multitrack tape available .

For me theres a very noticable difference in the attack of these recordings compared to the album versions ,everything has more edge ,more urgency ,  makes it kind of obvious torturing musicians for months in a studio doesnt automatically end up with a better product 

 

[Brian Roth]

I was not familiar with that show until now.  I sampled a few sessions of bands I am familiar with...WOW!

From what I can find, those were cut at a BBC studio somewhere.  Anyone know more details?

I found this extensive list of the sessions:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Peel_sessions

Bri

 

[Tubetec]

BBC Maida vale studio 4 was home to the show .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maida_Vale_Studios

 

[Tubetec]

Oh wow thats cool Winston,  who was the band ? or does that have to remain a closely guarded secret  8)

Being able to dial in sounds fast is a great thing as it saves people getting bored waiting around , a vintage Neve always helps too.

 

[Tubetec]

Oh well ,fame and fortune is probably over rated anyway .Always more misses than hits in this game 

 

[fazer]

Very cool to be close to the music machine when your young Winston.

makes it kind of obvious torturing musicians for months in a studio doesnt automatically end up with a better product

They learn the song that way.

Read a story about Pink Floyd playing dark side of the moon at live gigs to figure out what worked and what needed fix by seeing reaction from fans at their concerts.  Once they figured out what worked live,  they then went into the studio to record the masterpiece already approved by their fans. 

 

[ruffrecords]

Yes,  BBC Maida Vale studios was where it was recorded. 
Played with a band in the early '80's that did a session there for the John Peel Show.  Not exactly all live to tape, we were allowed some overdubs for vocals, bells and whistles, guitar solo etc.  But it was a time-limited 4 hour slot to record and mix 3 tracks.    The room was very uninspiring to play in, very dead if I remember.  The BBC engineers were very fast at getting decent sounds up though, but then again, it *was* a vintage Neve desk. 

The BBC designed and built  a lot of their audio equipment right up to the end of the 60s. By the mid 70s they were using  mixers mostly by Calrec and Neve. I visited  BBC Television Centre for Neve in the mid 70s. They had some seriously big mixers in there by then - 40 channel IIRC. I got to walk round the set for I Caligula. Fascinating.

Cheers

Ian

 

[CJ]

i taped a 4 hour John peel special of KFJC, what a cool guy he was, really helped bring up a lot of music, good sense of humor too,  talked about what it is like to do radio in Texas with a British accent,  did pirate radio just like Wolfman Jack,    neat to hear the early incarnations of bands before they got big, like Emerson Lake and Palmer and Pink Floyd,  Winston in the House WTF!      dang i need some SK170's  ;D

 

[Tubetec]

Its a nice job description he had alright , just click your fingers and any band will come to record , I was kinda surprised there wasnt more interviews with bands , I wonder how much John himself actually got involved with the session ,
theres some great 'fringe' punk/new wave era stuff from the show ,  bands like 'the Fall' with a very unique style .

 

[mjrippe]

Its a nice job description he had alright , just click your fingers and any band will come to record , I was kinda surprised there wasnt more interviews with bands , I wonder how much John himself actually got involved with the session ,
theres some great 'fringe' punk/new wave era stuff from the show ,  bands like 'the Fall' with a very unique style .

I remember buying Peel Sessions 12" records of any band I liked and never being disappointed.  The Birthday Party (early Nick Cave band) sessions were absolutely some of their best recordings!