John Peel

I heard an article on the radio yesterday about John Peel’s record collection being put on line. His wife (who JP used to affectionately refer to as “the pig”) was very interesting as she recounted how some of John’s favourite listening would perhaps surprise his fans (Roy Orbison and Status Quo being two artists mentioned)

The site ishere and is a fun interactive way of accessing photos, clips and a treasure trove of radio sessions from Peel’s long career in broadcasting and journalism. To keep you interested only bands/artistes beginning with A from the record collection have been catalogued so far. If you pull one of the vinyl albums from the shelf and click on it, your browser will then proceed to that album on iTunes which is a neat trick and may explain at least in part how the project is being funded.

Another Rafferty Tribute

Last year I made this post about Gerry Rafferty, comparing him to John Martyn. It was with some amusement that I saw my posting duplicated almost word for word, by Martyn’s biographer in Sunday’s Sunday Herald.

Some people I think have been slightly bemused at the reaction to the singer songwriter’s passing. Some see him purely as the writer and performer of slick, sometimes cheesy pop songs but the tributes I think have at least made some revise that opinion.
The clip below is a Daily Record ‘podcast’ about Rafferty’s passing. Billy Sloan, like John Peel, was a Rafferty fan.

Dire Straits

Dire Straits – Sultans of Swing – Old Grey Whistle Test

Following on from the hilarious Alexei Sayle clip about Knopfler and Co. I thought I'd better redress the balance. I'll probably get howls of derision from Helpless Dancer and Tomahawk Kid here but here goes!

I had a job driving taxis in 1978 at the grand age of 18. The car in question was an 8 year old Morris Oxford, one of the last of its kind. The radio in this thing was I think a valve effort!

 

I got a hire from Helensburgh to the Royal Naval Armaments Depot at Coulport, Loch Long and was coming back via Ardpeaton when John Peel played a track from a new band he was raving about. The track in question was Sultans of Swing by Dire Straits. This was the first time I'd heard the record and despite the medium wave sound quality, it made an instant impact on me.

 

Coulport

 

Morris Oxford

 

 

 

 

 

 

Peel played the track another twice that week and I went in to John Menzies in Helensburgh to be looked at blankly when I asked for firstly the single and then the album with no success. A trip to Glasgow where the staff at Listen (10 Cambridge Street Cheap and Nasty) and Bloggs in St. Vincent St. had at least heard of the record but didn't in fact have it in stock. Knowing I wasn't going to be back in the city any time soon I returned to Helensburgh and oredered the single from John Menzies. I think I can safely say I was the first person in town with this record. I got the album a few weeks later and every track was as good as the single.

 

Mark Knopfler in Falkirk home kit and headband. Cool don’t you think?

Borrowing a little bit from Cale,Clapton and Dylan their eponymous first album remains one of the finest debuts in rock history IMHO.

For me they never matched that first album although their biggest commercial success was to come in 1986 with the multi gazzillion selling Brothers in Arms. By that time the critics, (and Alexei Sayle) had made up their minds about them. They were nice. They were played by housewives and trendy types in white Suzuki soft tops. Footballers would list them as favourites, a sure sign of critical nadir. Knopfler had also taken to looking like some guy out at Haloween dressed as a fashion victim.

And yet, despite some overblown production and trite lyrics, B.I.A. was an album which shone like a beacon amidst some very poor music which had come along in punk's slipstream.

  

 

 

 

I rarely skip a track when they appear on random play on my MP3. Dire Straits. Loved by musicians, hated by critics. I notice Alexei Sayle still placed a copy of Brothers in Arms under his jacket on the way out the shop mind you!

 

Brothers in Arms – Dire Straits

 

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