"Happy Birthday, John!"

Hello friends,


John Peel would have been 75 the day before yesterday. Of course it's rather useless to contemplate whether he would still be doing what he so marvelously did over at the BBC for all those years, health provided. I have a feeling though that - despite the age he would by now have - our life would be somewhat better. As it was when he still was amongst us.


People who read Sexyloser frequently may already know that to me John Peel wasn't a cult figure or a hero, he was more than that, he was a friend. Therefore I am not in the best position to write silly nonsense about how great he was, instead I'll "let the music talk", as they say.


So here are 75 tracks (just 75 out of a lot lot more of Peel Sessions) that had his name on it for you to download. Get them before the DMCA takes them away! Mind you, he never really understood why those things were called "The Peel Sessions": neither did he write the tunes nor did he produce them, he often said. Plus it often was his (then) producer John Walters who discovered new acts at gigs, not Peel himself.


Either way, one or two of the below might not already be known to you (at least not in this version), so in one way or another I am at least halfway following his legacy in offering to some of you something which you might not have heard before.


Perhaps John would have approved of that, who knows?


01) A Guy Called Gerald - 'Rockin' Ricki' (November '88)
02) Adverts - 'Looking Through Gary Gilmore's Eyes' (April '77)
03) Aphrodisiacs - 'Do You Remember The First Time' (October '04)
04) Ash - 'Jack Names The Planets' (June '01)
05) Band Of Susans - 'Hope Against Hope' (October '88)
06) Basement 5 - 'Last White Christmas' (April '80)
07) Beat - 'Ranking Full Stop' (November '79)
08) Belle & Sebastian - 'O Little Town Of Bethlehem' (December '02)
09) Billy Bragg - 'A New England' (August '83)
10) Bis - 'We Love John Peel' (June '96)
11) Buzzcocks - 'E.S.P.' (May '79)
12) Camera Obscura - 'Love My Jean' (January '04)
13) Cat Power - 'Wonder Wall' (July '00)
14) Chameleons - 'Looking Inwardly' (June '81)
15) Cramps - 'What's Inside A Girl (February '86)
16) Culture - 'Lion Rock' (January '83)
17) Cure - 'Desperate Journalist In Ongoing Meaningful Review Situation' (May '79)
18) Darling Buds - 'Think Of Me' (September '87)
19) Delgados -'California Uber Alles' (October '02)
20) Detroit Cobras - 'Tonight' (September '04)
21) Dub Sex - 'Swerve' (March '89)
22) Elastica - 'Da Da Da' (November '99)
23) Fall - 'Container Drivers' (September '80)
24) Flys - 'Love And A Molotov Cocktail' (November '78)
25) Forty Fives - 'The American Ruse' (September '04)
26) Frantic Elevators - 'Hunchback Of Notre Dame' (March '81)
27) Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle - 'I Wish I Could Sprechen Sie Deutsch' (August '86)
28) Galaxie 500 - 'Submission' (October '90)
29) Half Man Half Biscuit - 'Goodnight Irene' (June  '92)
30) Housemartins - 'Flag Day' (July '85)
31) Ian Dury And The Blockheads - 'Sweet Gene Vincent' (December '77)
32) Inspiral Carpets - 'Directing Traffic' (April '89)
33) Jam - 'In The City' (May '77)
34) James - 'Hymn From A Village' (October '83)
35) Joy Division - 'Transmission' (February '79)
36) June Brides - 'Waiting For A Change' (November '85)
37) Laurel Aitken - 'Rudi Got Married' (May '80)
38) Madness - 'The Prince' (August '79)
39) Magazine - 'The Light Pours Out Of Me' (February '78)
40) Mansun - 'Shot By Both Sides' (December '00)
41) Marc Riley And The Creepers - 'Location Bangladesh' (November '83)
42) Mighty Wah - 'Basement Blues'; 'Story Of The Blues' (September '84)
43) Moondogs - 'Talking In The Canteen' (April '80)
44) Motorhead - 'Louie Louie' (September '78)
45) Motors - 'Bring In The Morning Light' (April '77)
46) Napalm Death - 'Obstinate Direction', 'Life', 'You Suffer Pt. 2' (September '87)
47) Only Ones - 'Another Girl Another Planet' (April '78)
48) Orchestral Manouevres In The Dark - 'Genetic Engineering' (February '83)
49) Pulp - 'Common People' (October '94)
50) Quickspace - 'If I Were A Carpenter' (October '98)
51) Redskins - 'Kick Over The Statues' (October '82)
52) Rezillos - 'Top Of The Pops' (December '77)
53) Screaming Blue Messiahs - 'Let's Go Down To The Woods And Pray' (August '84)
54) Selecter - 'Street Feeling' (October '79)
55) Sham 69 - 'Hey Little Rich Boy' (December '77)
56) Siouxsie And The Banshees - 'Mirage' (December '77)
57) Sisters Of Mercy - 'Alice' (September '82)
58) Slits - 'Love And Romance' (September '77)
59) Smiths - 'Reel Around The Fountain' (June '83)
60) Specials - 'Gangsters' (May '79)
61) Steel Pulse - 'Nyahbinghi'  (May '80)
62) Stiff Little Fingers - 'Suspect Device' (September '78)
63) Stranglers - 'Somethin' Better Change' (March '77)
64) Stump - 'Down On The Kitchen Table' (February '86)
65) Terry And Gerry - 'Wait Until You're Older' (July '84)
66) Tom Robinson Band - 'Don't Take No For An Answer' (November '77)
67) Triffids - 'Chicken Killer' (May '85)
68) Undertones - 'Rock 'n' Roll' (January '80)
69) Wedding Present - 'You Should Always Keep In Touch With Your Friends' (February '86)
70) White Stripes - 'Baby Blue' (July '01)
71) Wild Swans - 'No Bleeding' (May '82)
72) Wire - 'I Am The Fly' (January '78)
73) Wreckless Eric - 'Semaphore Signals' (October '77)
74) X-Ray Spex - 'Germ Free Adolescents' (November '78)
75) Yeah Yeah Noh - 'The Superimposed Man' (January '86)




Bless you, mate, wherever you are!


Dirk