60s 70s early 80s Peel

[netpeter]

Thanks John,

What an informative piece of writing !

It  amazes me to think that someone has been listening to him from 
the beginning, throuought the show's many variations – I
wonder how 
many of you are out there and wether the great man himself knows.

I would be very interested to hear examples of the early shows; 
perhaps you could get in touch with me at netpeter@... and 
arrange something ?

Cheers

Peter







--- In peel@egroups.com, "John Bravin" <john.bravin@p...> wrote:
> I've listened since 1967 and there is no doubt he has changed style.
> The early years were more earnest, with the 'music is the message'
> being the approach.  I have some tapes from the 60s, but rarely does
> he say anything other than the artist and title.  This style was
> epitomised
> by the late Alexis Korner who used to give record label, record 
number
> and list the musicians for each track played.  There were some 
flashes
> of excitement: the day Peel played Midnight Rambler by the Stones 
from
> Get Yer Ya Yas Out. I happened to have the recorder running, and he
> was clearly thrilled by the unlabelled vinyl which was clearly the
> Stones.
> In those the pedigree of musicians seemed endless (cf Pete Frames(?)
> rock family trees.  Peel was always the first to play the new line-
ups,
> and
> spin-off bands (Fairports/Steeleye/Fotheringay).  Live he was also
> pretty laid back (stoned), but with bands like Principal Edward's 
Magic
> Theatre it was hard to get excited.
> 
> Despite the apparent serious approach, much of what he was doing
> was revolutionary.  Playing whole LPs (no copyright in the early 
days),
> first play of the Beatle's Hey Jude as a single that blew away the 3
> minute
> formula.  Playing Eric Clapton & the Yardbirds and then the original
> blues artists that influenced Clapton.  Providing an outlet for Roy
> Harper
> who then used it to give a tirade against the BBC, and what it stood
> for.
> (incidentally Roy Harper played London last week, and he's still a 
moody
> bugger).
> 
> The first real on-radio excitement came with Rod Stewart and the 
Faces.
> From then on Peel as friend of the band was common, and this has
> continued today with the Fall and Wedding Present etc.
> 
> The 70s featured some pretty dire music until 1976/77 so Peel's
> enthusiasm
> was limited.  Of course the dry humour has always been there. His 
radio
> documentaries for the radio were always well crafted and amusing (if
> verging
> on the pretentious ("clean cut college students wearing button down
> madras shirts and snappy slacks were aware as a result of buying
> Peter, Paul and Mary LPs that somewhere there was an artist writing
> songs by the name of Bob Dylan").
> 
> The cult of the presenter at Radio 1 also led to some of the 
changes.
> I remember Peel wetting himself with excitement with Kid Jensen when
> Liverpool won the European Cup.  He followed this by the Kop Choir
> and the Mighty Wah.
> 
> It's ironic isn't it that in his youth he was deadly serious, and 
now in
> his
> 60's his shows are entertainment in their own right.
> 
> --
> John Bravin
> Hours of early tapes, but poor quality, with most of the Peel intros
> edited out.
> Still priceless though!
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: .Keith Hawley <keith@p...>
> To: peel@egroups.com <peel@egroups.com>
> Date: 22 September 2000 16:15
> Subject: Re: [peel] 60s 70s early 80s Peel
> 
> >my impression (from various snippets played during documentaries 
etc.)
> >was that his tone was much more serious and earnest in the 
seventies...
> >probably reflecting a view of, say, prog-rock that was much more
> >strokybeardy... took it much more seriously...
> >
> >so, i suspect he is far more laid back and jokey than he used to 
be.
> >
> >
> >i'm too young to know for sure thought...
> >
> >i'd also be keen to hear tapes if anyone has this sort of thing.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >- keith hawley
> >
> >e: keith@p...
> >fax: 0870-7058333
> >
> >
> >
> >