My PEEL SESSIONS book is coming soon...

[ken garner]

Dear Friends of the John Peel Show
 
Seeing as this group and so many individuals who belong to it helped 
me by contributing to my research for my book (and the group, if not 
all of you individually, gets a big up in my Acknowledgements), I 
thought you might like to know that we now have copies back from the 
printers and THE PEEL SESSIONS should be in the shops for 4 October. 
The designer EstuaryEnglish, editor Steve Tribe and editorial 
director Mathew Clayton have done a great job: it looks great. 
Although we ran out of time for some of our more ambitious design 
montage ideas (and, sadly, some of my last minute tiny corrections 
and session-release details, but that's the way these things go, hey-
ho), the designer has nevertheless come up with a classy look 
throughout both parts of the book, and one just perfect idea for the 
contents page and chapter headings which long time listeners I am 
sure will appreciate. About the content itself I leave that for 
others to judge. There's the possibility around Peel Day (Thurs 11th 
October) of some media coverage (digital radio stations, podcasts, 
papers) though I'd better not go into too much detail because some of 
it is bound not to come off if I do! It occurs to me though that not 
all of you will have a clear idea of what's in it - that is, on top 
of the nine chapters telling the story from the recollections of 
producers, engineers, bands, listeners, and Peel himself - so I've 
pasted the back cover blurb below which summarises the attractions 
inside, after the big puff (which I wrote myself, in hustle mode, I 
admit). The cover price is 19.99 sterling, but as a thanks to those 
involved or have a serious interest (ie. you lot), Random House have 
come up with a 50%-off promotion if you buy it via their web bookshop 
www.rbooks.co.uk between 24th September and 24th October, by simply 
quoting the promotional code PeelDeal when prompted. The 50% off 
actually applies to anything you put in your basket from their list, 
they tell me. This might make it an even more attractive offer than 
the 9.99 currently being quoted at amazon.co.uk - blimey! The 
publisher tells me this suggests they expect to shift quite a few 
copies. Anyway, that's enough hard sell for now - forgive the 
promotion, but I suspect several of you might be interested - and I 
shall stand by for your corrections winging my way by late October,
 
Ken
 
 
THE PEEL SESSIONS: A Story Of Teenage Dreams And One Man's Love Of 
New Music
by Ken Garner
BBC Books, an imprint of Random House
Published 4 October 2007
ISBN: 978-1-8460-7282-6
19.99 sterling
352pp (192pp illustrated in colour; 160pp mono matt paper)
 
THE DEFINITIVE HISTORY OF THE JOHN PEEL SHOW
Once upon a time there was a lonely public schoolboy whose dream was 
to play the music he liked to other people on the radio. And when he 
got his Radio 1 show, John Peel helped thousands of young bands to 
realise their dreams too, inviting them to BBC Maida Vale Studios to 
record 4 songs in an afternoon, for broadcast later. Every new band's 
dream was to do one of these "Peel Sessions". Some became stars 
(Pulp), others disappeared (The Would-Be's). Teenagers tuned-in, 
taped, listened again, and again. Some would drift away, only to 
rediscover the show years later, or find their children listening-in. 
Peel's love of new music kept his dreams young and that's why 
listeners loved him. The astonishing story of the Peel Sessions is a 
story of teenage dreams, for teenagers of all ages.

 

INCLUDES

* Complete A-Z Sessionography of all 4400 Peel Sessions, listing 
bands, tracks, dates, line-ups and recording details (108pp, 2 column 
layout)

* Day-by-Day diary of every Peel show, 1967-2004 (32pp, 3 column 
layout)

* The Festive Fifties (7pp, layout in 3 columns)

* The Peelenium (5pp, layout in 3 columns)

* Classic Sessions (there are 25 of them, I think)

* First Heard Here (12 of these, quite small boxes)

* One Session Wonders (24 of these)

* Listeners' Memories (12)

* Ten Who Didn't Do A Peel Session, Actually

* Ten Who Really Did, Honest

 
... and for the obsessives, I have also included a few stats: The Top 
20 bands or individuals who did the most sessions; The Top 10 longest 
intervals between sessions by an act (I wonder if listers can guess 
or spot these? Or indeed if I've missed someone!); the 25 or so 
sessions I "missed" or "left out" of IST from the years 67-92, all 
now in at last... There are also feature boxes in the sessionography 
on the 3 acts/people who did the most sessions, namely The Fall, 
David Gedge, Ivor Cutler.
 
~

PS. Has anyone else been reading Tony Blackburn's POPTASTIC! MY LIFE 
IN RADIO? It's an unintentional scream. Pick any paragraph at random 
and try and read it out loud in a serious voice without bursting out 
laughing. He's not a bad chap. Some of what he says (not the bits 
about Peel) is fair enough, and some of his old record of the week 
choices, with almost 40 years' hindsight, are impressive. But the way 
he says it all, trying to sound serious, is just hilarious. As for 
the picture captions...