John Peel Sessions on Strange Fruit (13-18)

Continuing the series of John Peel Sessions covering the first 54 12" Vinyl releases on Strange Fruit Records. (SFPS001 - SFPS-54).

SFPS013 - Joy Division
Heres a bit about the early years of the band, courtesy of myspace.com/joydivision
1976
Inspired by a Sex Pistols gig at the Manchester Lesser Free Trade Hall on July 20, 1976, Bernard Sumner (also credited as "Bernard Dicken", "Bernard Albrecht" and "Bernard Albrecht-Dicken") and Peter Hook formed a band with friend Terry Mason. Sumner bought a guitar, Hook purchased a bass, and Mason a drum kit. The band placed an advertisement in a Manchester record store and recruited Curtis as their singer. Curtis knew Sumner, Hook and Mason from previous gigs and was also in attendance at the Sex Pistols concert with his wife, Deborah. Richard Boon and Pete Shelley of Buzzcocks suggested the name "Stiff Kittens" for the band. Although "Stiff Kittens" appeared on some gig flyers, the band didn't like the name and never officially accepted it.
1977
Lacking confidence in his abilities as a drummer, Mason quit the group the day before their first gig to become their manager. He was replaced by Tony Tabac. Just before their first gig on May 29, 1977, supporting Buzzcocks and Penetration at the Electric Circus, the band renamed themselves Warsaw; though they had already appeared on the bill as the Stiff Kittens. Five weeks and half a dozen gigs later, Tabac was replaced by punk drummer Steve Brotherdale from another band called Panik. They recorded The Warsaw Demo on July 18, 1977, consisting of five crude punk songs.

After the demo, Brotherdale was fired; the remaining band members drove off without him. Brotherdale tried to get Curtis to join Panik but was rebuffed. Stephen Morris, who responded to an ad in a music store window, was hired as Brotherdale's replacement. He was hired primarily because Curtis remembered him from his academic days as Morris attended the same school two years below Curtis. Unlike the previous drummers, Morris clicked well with the three. His metronome-like drumming owed more to krautrock than the aggressive bombast typical of many punk drummers.

In late 1977, in order to avoid confusion with the London punk band Warsaw Pakt, Warsaw renamed themselves Joy Division. The name was in reference to groups of Jewish women used as sex slaves in Nazi concentration camps depicted in Ka-Tzetnik 135633's 1955 novel The House of Dolls. Although the choice of name was more reflective of a desire to challenge taboos, this choice along with Sumner's adoption of the surname Albrecht garnered the band a lot of criticism for perceived insensitivity. They were even dogged by accusations of neo-Nazism, a charge they strenuously denied. The accusations resurfaced to a certain degree after Joy Division broke up and reformed as New Order, a name that referenced Hitler's speeches promising "the new order of the Third Reich."

The band's music and style stabilized around this time. Sessions recorded in December 1977 sound considerably different from The Warsaw Demo.

From this session check out Transmission

SFPS014 - The Primevals.
Legendary Glasgow rock group formed in 1983. Influenced by the MC5, Stooges, Captain Beefheart, Pharoah Sanders, the Gun Club, Cramps and sixties US garage, this five-piece honed their sound from thrash to a creepy blues rush. Signature feature: howling slide guitar. The group, a quartet in 2006, consists of at least two founder members. An anthology of their work "On The Red Eye" for the New Rose record label was released in November 2005 on LastCall Records.
Current line-up (June 2006): Michael Rooney - vocals, harmonica, alto sax, guitar Malcolm McDonald - guitar, vocals John Honeyman - bass, vocals Paul Bridges - drums

The Primevals Website


SFPS015 - June Tabor.
June Tabor was born in Warwick. She worked as a librarian and with her then husband David Taylor, ran a restaurant called "Passepartout" in Penrith, Cumbria, England before finally becoming a full-time singer in the 1990s. Like many others she was inspired to sing by hearing Anne Briggs. In 1965 June heard the EP Hazards of Love. "I went and locked myself in the bathroom for a fortnight and drove my mother mad. I learnt the songs on that EP note for note, twiddle for twiddle. That's how I started singing. If I hadn't heard her I'd have probably done something entirely different." She went to Oxford University and appeared on University Challenge in 1968, as captain of one of the college teams. She joined the Heritage Society and sang with a group called Mistral. One of her earliest recording was in 1972 on an anthology called "Stagfolk Live". Her breakthrough occurred in 1976 when she recorded the album Silly Sisters with Maddy Prior and had her own first album. She later joined again with Prior, this time using the name Silly Sisters for their duo.

Starting in 1977 Martin Simpson joined her in the recording studio for three albums before he moved to America in 1987 to be with his American wife Jessica. In 1992 Elvis Costello wrote "All this Useless Beauty" specifically for June, and she recorded it on "Angel Tiger". Elvis didn't record it until 1996, on his album of the same title. At about this time June moved from Cumbria to Wales, and turned professional. Over the years she has wandered into areas that some might call jazz or art-song, but always with a sparse and sombre tone to it. Her 2003 album An Echo of Hooves marked a return to the traditional ballad after an absence of several years, and was highly acclaimed. "Always" (2005) is a boxed set of 4 CDs, spanning her whole career and containing rare recordings. Martin Simpson has returned from America to be a guest guitarist on recent albums.

In 1990, June Tabor recorded an album with the folk-rock band The Oyster Band titled "Freedom and Rain". She went on tour with the Oyster band, and they Rykodisc published a limited run promotional live album the following year. Many of her current fans first discovered her through this tour and album with the Oyster Band, which has a large international following.

In 2004 she was named Folk Singer of the Year at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards

Thanks to search.com for the above info

SFPS016 - The Undertones.
The Undertones emerged from Derry in Northern Ireland in the whole punk, ‘mew wave’ boom of 1977-1978. They had actually formed in 1975. The time-honoured five mates who played cover versions in youth clubs. The line up featured the O’Neill brothers – John and Damian on guitars, Michael Bradley on bass, Billy Doherty on drums, and on vocals Feargal Sharkey.

Like countless others, punk rock fired their imagination, and gave shape and direction to their material. A love of Garage bands as heard on the seminal Lenny Kaye compilation ‘Nuggets’ helped formulate their predilection for songs with strong chorus hooks, keeping songs short, economical and dynamic. It wasn’t until 1978 that their pop fizz bombs were finally preserved on vinyl, with the classic debut single ‘Teenage Kicks’, released originally on the Good Vibrations label. The song so enamoured influential Radio One deejay John Peel that he announced it to be his ‘favourite record of all time’, and played the single incessantly. "Teenage Kicks" has subsequently come to be considered one of the best rock songs of all time. The Undertones shared a musical commonality with The Ramones in the USA and The Buzzcocks in England, wherein their songs were distilled to an addictive core, but still finding time for lyrical invention and musical flair. Signing to The Ramones label, Sire, the bands eponymous debut album and its follow-up, ‘Hypnotised’, showed that ‘Teenage Kicks’ was no mere fluke. On ‘Hypnotised’, the band even spoofed label mates Talking Heads second album, ‘More Songs About Buildings and Food’ with the song ‘More Songs about Chocolate and Girls’, showing that there was a knowing wit at work amongst the addictive choruses and chunky riffing. The band earned a reputation as a ‘singles’ act par excellence, with cracking 45s such as ‘Here Comes The Summer’, ‘You’ve Got My Number (Why Don’t You Use It)’, and ‘My Perfect Cousin’.



SFPS017 - Xmal Deutschland.
Sounding like howling witches burning at the stake, the ghoulish shrieks of Xmal Deutschland's 1982 debut single "Incubus Succubus" immediately won the approval of goth rock connoisseurs. The German band wasn't able to maintain its black-clad sound, selling out to pop before the inevitable breakup, but Xmal Deutschland competed with Siouxsie & the Banshees for goth royalty. Xmal Deutschland was formed in Hamburg, Germany, in 1980 by Anja Huwe (vocals), Manuela Rickers (guitar), Rita Simon (bass), Fiona Sangster (keyboards), and Caro May (drums). Originally an all-girl lineup, Xmal Deutschland added a male when Simon was replaced by bassist Wolfgang Ellerbrock. In November 1982, Xmal Deutschland opened for Cocteau Twins in England, and the group caught the attention of the Twins' label, 4AD Records. The band was signed to the label and released their first LP, Fetisch, a year later. Fetisch hit number three on the U.K. independent charts. Xmal Deutschland headlined a U.K. tour in 1983 and recorded a live session for renowned British DJ John Peel. Percussionist Manuela Zwingman quit the group, and Peter Bellendir became the band's new drummer. The similarly gloomy Tocsin followed in 1984. On 1987's Viva, Xmal Deutschland hit their creative peak, puncturing their doom rock sound with the eerie hooks of "Matador" and "Sickle Moon." However, Xmal Deutschland's Halloween days were over by 1989's Devils. Despite its ominous title, the group cheered up, dropped the German lyrics for English, and lost all of their credibility. They disbanded soon thereafter.

Check out Jahr Um Jahr from the session.

SFPS018 - The Specials.
The Coventry Automatics first appeared in 1978, after the downfall of punk scene. They were a mix of Jamaican Ska and punk, which gave the music a more upbeat tone. The Coventry Automatics consisted of Jerry Dammers on keyboards, Lynval Golding on rhythm guitar/ backing vocals, Roddy 'Radiation' Byers on lead guitar, 'Sir' Horace 'Gentleman' Panter on bass, Silverton Hutchinson on drums, and Terry Hall on lead vocals. Soon after, Neville Staples, the groups' roadie, joined the band as a second vocalist. Drummer, John 'JB' Bradbury, also replaced Hutchinson. The bands first big break came when they toured with the Clash. The Clash introduced them as The Specials, and since another band called the automatics had just landed a record deal, they decide to change there name to The Specials AKA the Automatics. This soon was changed to a shorter version, The Specials, so it would be more tongue friendly. The band then created there own record label, 2-Tone Records, in collaboration with Chrysalis Records. The Specials put out many singles, which soared into the British top ten. The band then put out there first two Albums, 'The Specials', and 'More Specials' with the help of Rico on trombone, and Dick on trumpet. Due to disagreements within the band, Neville, Terry, and Lynval left to create 'The Fun Boy Three. Roddy Byers also left to pursue a more rock career with 'The Tearjerkers'. The Remaining Specials joined with other musicians, including the charismatic Rhonda Dakar, and reverted back to The Special AKA. 'Free Nelson Mandella' off of the 'In The Studio' album managed to be a hit. After that, the band quickly dissolved.