[peel] Re: The One That Was Played Backwards... and a bonus

[Jimmy Stepek]

Sorry Bill I'm with DeadEarnest on this one, Peel was still the leader of the pack way back then in the early seventies. 69 to 73 (age 14 to 18) I was still at home but had rigged up a feed from our TV arial to my gramaphone(circa 1962) in the basement and had it hooked up to my "Elizabethian" reel to reel till I got a Phillips cassette deck in 71 (with the perspex lid which you could set at different angles to give a different sound effect( soft, medium or loud), can you even imagine such a thing!!) At that time I got decent AM recordings of my old favourites, Free, Jethro Tull, Incredible String Band, Hendrix re-broadcasts and who knows what else. But Peel was the man who had his finger on the pulse, but it was the pulse of the people who moved in a different dimension from the other DJ's on the radio then. It was the vast spread of music that he played from old timey stuff to cutting edge electronica, which in those days might have been John Martyn
 feeding his acoustic guitar through a tape recorder with an echo effect peddle or Pink Floyd with the latest "Modulator". Peel was someone who liked music. IMO he didn't go out looking for the latest thing, it came to him, from the legions of listeners who took up playing music, and the number of gigs he went to on spec.

Weekends for me was getting out of the house asap, meeting my mates & dropping some acid and heading for the nearest bing to commune with post industrial lanarkshire nature (read about it in the history books) and maybe some El Dorado!

My old reels went to some dustbin, along with my scrapbooks of press cuttings of Free, JT & ISB. My early cassettes were recycled by my wee sister to copy some Donny Osmond & David Cassidy LP's, I was not chuffed when I found out and I'm 99% sure there was a couple of tracks that haven't resurfaced anywhere yet, including the ISB long, rocky, version of Painted Chariot which is onlt rumoued about (but I know I had it!!).

Anyroads, I have to concur that Peel has been a major influence on the UK music scene since his arrival. I also agree that the 76/77 period was a much needed reminder that music is for the people, by the people, and we need a further revolution now. Twilight Sad being my vote for best live band for 2008.

Have a great Christmas everyone......Jimmy 

--- On Wed, 24/12/08, Dead Earnest <deadearnest@...> wrote:







 
 

HI,
Toa degree, I disagree. Peel at that time was more 
than just another DJ. More than integral to the whole late night or early 
evening slots, he was the only guy to get two shows a week at one point, but 
more than that, even with the likes of Bob Harris, Mike Harding, Alan Black and 
Pete Drummond doing the "Sounds Of The Seventies" shows, Peel was still regarded 
as the main man.
I was lucky when it came to recording - I had this 
huge unwieldy open reel tape recorder and everything got recorded onto that. I 
used to record sessions, fave tracks. even a load of instrumental mid-song 
breaks and solos, but wherever possible I always recorded the DJ before and 
after the track. The bootlegegrs at the time in the USA used to frown on this 
and that's why so many bootleg tapes and LP's only have the music and not the 
DJ's, but I always felt the DJ presence added something to the whole 
thing.
I've still got loads of bits of things 
scattered all over a load of cassettes, most of which are probably not quite as 
good as you might think, although I still have all the above DJ's introducing 
solos and sessions and tracks in some form or other.
My taste in music was - still is - far and wide - I 
could listen to and love Bridget St John, Fripp and Eno and The Cheviot Ranters 
Country Dance Band, all Peel faves.
Oddly, I recorded very little of the Alan Freeman 
Saturday show, prob coz Sat afternoons were out and about, although I do have 
excerpts from one show - no sessions - on one cassette. I did record some 
complete Tommy Vance Rock Shows in the '80's but I can't find the blessed 
things!! Booo!!!
Everything has always remained just for private 
listening as I never had time to trade tapes and stuff, which is why so much of 
it never appeared anywhere.
Recently I contributed recordings to the Egg CD of 
sessions and live tracks and the Hatfield and the North CD of a similar nature. 
My Isotope tapes proved interesting but it was deemed not to be up to release 
standard - fair point!!
On a separate and slightly humorous note I 
submitted a rare tape to a seventies Krautrock band only to have it rejected on 
the grounds that the drums weren't up enough in the mix - the drummer then 
released a CD featuring the guitarist way back in the mix!!! Since then, he has 
redeemed himself tho with two excellent CD's of archive live stuff.
Fun fun fun..............
Andy G.
www.deadearnest.btinternet.co.uk                   

Dead Earnest website
 
www.myspace.com/knightmusic75                  

Paula Knight
 
www.myspace.com/deadearnestdundee         

Dead Earnest myspace
 
www.myspace.com/mermaidrockpromotions    

Mermaid Rock Promotions