#47 MOGWAI - Opposition Commissions: BBC Sessions 1996-2003 (Flac)

“Bear in mind that if you’ve not heard or seen Mogwai before, some of their stuff is very quiet and then goes suddenly terrifically loud.”                                                             John Peel, February 1998

“This is a John Peel band, Mogwai.” 
          Steve Lamacq, March 1999

 

Earlier this year in June, Mogwai celebrated their 20^th anniversary together as a band; they scheduled gigs in Glasgow and London to mark the important event. 

I made the long drive to Glasgow, to see the second show on Sunday night at the famous Barrowlands. I had always wanted to see Mogwai in front of their home crowd and this was an opportunity too good to miss. As well as dedicating this post to the memory of John Peel on whose show I first heard Mogwai back in 1996. I would also like to dedicate it to the young woman that was standing next to me with her boyfriend. She started dancing frantically while everyone else near the front stood stock-still. I’m not sure whether it was my look of disbelief or the fact that she banged into me at one point, that caused her to stop. I can’t say I ever thought I would see anyone dancing to Mogwai’s music live, so respect to her. As for the show; an epic two hour incredible performance that pummelled my eardrums into submission.

On August 27, 2007, ‘Einzack’ announced on the Mogwai discussion forum "ithica45.proboards" that he’d posted to the Dimeadozen tracker, a torrent entitled ‘Opposition Commissions’, collecting the Mogwai BBC sessions that were left off the official release CD: ‘Government Commissions.’ His compilation is comprised of tracks from nine different BBC sessions, recorded between 1996 and 2003. Five sessions were recorded for the John Peel show, the last two live from Maida Vale. The remainder were split between Mary Ann Hobbs ‘Breezeblock’ show and the ‘Evening Session’ hosted by Steve Lamacq. Excluding the ten tracks released on the official release and the Mary Ann Hobbs session track ‘R U Still In 2 It?’ that was released on the deluxe edition of the debut album, the remaining 28 session tracks broadcast between 1997 and 2003 are compiled here over three discs. The only minor downside is that this set could do with some editing and fades for a more professional finish.

Over the years, the BBC engineers and studio hands have recorded and produced many excellent sessions. This is a perfect example and amongst the absolute best. You won’t find a better Mogwai bootleg; it doesn’t get better than this. Fully deserving of an official release with the complete four-disc box set treatment. If you've never heard Mogwai, you can start here and then go see them live, an experience you will never forget. Trust me!

Disc One: 50:46 
Peel Session, The Hippodrome, Golders Green, London (broadcast 11 January 1997) Lineage: FM > DAT 
xx. Superheroes Of BMX (officially released on ‘Government Commissions’)

1-01. Summer (priority version) (4:10)
1-02. Waltz For Jo (2:54)
xx. R U Still In 2 It? (officially released on ‘Government Commissions’) recorded 22/12/96
listed as ‘Mogwai Salute The Brilliance of Steve Lamacq’ in the Peel Sessions book 

Mary-Anne Hobbs / Breezeblock Session, Maida Vale Studios, London (broadcast 28 October 1997) Lineage: FM > DAT
1-03. Like Herod (12:13)
xx. R U Still In 2 It? (officially released on 'Mogwai Young Team' deluxe edition, 2008)
1-04. Helicon 1 (8:33) 

Peel Session, Maida Vale Studios, London (broadcast 17 February 1998) Lineage: FM > DAT
1-05. Procedure Four (better known as Xmas Steps) (7:06)
1-06. Ex-Cowboy (10:03)
1-07. Don't Cry (Guns n' Roses cover) (5:43)
xx. Helicon 2 (officially released on ‘Government Commissions’) 

Disc Two: 71:38 
Mary-Anne Hobbs / Breezeblock Session, Maida Vale Studios, London (broadcast 18 June 1998) Lineage: FM > cassette
2-01. Xmas Steps (11:17)
2-02. Small Children In The Background (5:19)
2-03. Kappa (5:24) 

Peel Session, Maida Vale Studios, London (broadcast 1 September 1998) Lineage: FM > DAT
2-04. Rollerball (4:27)
xx. Kappa (officially released on ‘Government Commissions’)

2-05. Spoon Test (5:57)
04. Cody (officially released on ‘Government Commissions’)
listed as ‘Country’ in the Peel Sessions book 

Steve Lamacq / Evening Session, Maida Vale Studios, London (broadcast 29 March 1999) Lineage: FM > DAT
xx. Helicon 1 (officially released on ‘Government Commissions’) 
2-06. May Nothing But Happiness Come Through Your Door (8:55)
xx. Like Herod (officially released on ‘Government Commissions’)
2-07. Chocky (6:27) 

Steve Lamacq / Evening Session, Maida Vale Studios, London (broadcast 16 April 2001) Lineage: FM > MD
2-08. Stanley Kubrick (3:56)
2-09. 2 Rights Make 1 Wrong (6:58)
2-10. You Don't Know Jesus (12:55)
xx. Secret Pint (officially released on ‘Government Commissions’) 

Disc Three: 69:44 
Peel Session, Maida Vale Studio 3, London (broadcast live 17 October 2001) Lineage: FM > MD

3-01. John Peel Intro (0:12)
3-02. Yes! I Am A Long Way From Home > Nick Drake (7:29)
3-03. You Don't Know Jesus (6:36)
3-04. Radarmaker > My Father My King (21:18)
3-05. John Peel outro (0:33) 

Peel Session, Maida Vale Studio 4, London (broadcast live 21 May 2003) Lineage: FM > CD-r
xx. John Peel Intro (officially released on ‘Government Commissions’) 
xx. Hunted By A Freak (officially released on ‘Government Commissions’) 
3-06. Kids Will Be Skeletons (3:27)
3-07. Killing All The Flies (4:01)
xx. Stop Coming To My House (officially released on ‘Government Commissions’) 
3-08. Golden Porsche (2:54)
3-09. Ratts Of The Capital (8:07)
3-10. I Know You Are But What Am I? (4:29)
3-11. Helicon 1 > John Peel outro (10:33)

 

Session recording dates:
t1-01 & t1-02, recorded on 22 December 1996
t1-05, t1-06 & t1-07, recorded on 20 January 1998
t2-04 & t2-05, recorded on 23 August 1998
t2-08, t2-09 & t2-10,  recorded on 10 April 2001
t3-01 to t3-05, recorded on 17 October 2001
t3-06 to t3-11, recorded on 21 May 2003 
no information is available for the recording dates of the ‘Breezeblock’ sessions 

Original notes by einzack 
Note 1: This is a compilation of all the BBC session tracks not included on the official 'Government Commissions: BBC Sessions 1996-2003' cd. I have removed all of the tracks included on the official release. 

Note 2: All but one of the sessions is taken from seeds originally uploaded to dime and etree.org by rappard. I have audio cd copies of the same generation and lineage as martin but kept his flac filesets so we did not end up with duplicate filesets in circulation. The one show he did not have was 1998-06-18, so included is a rip from my cd's. 
Note 3: I have left all of the original seeds as originally uploaded, except with the official tracks removed and md5 files added to the two 2001 sessions as per dime regs. So therefore, the removed tracks are still included in the info and md5 files. 
Note 4: The lineages included in this info file are just short abbreviations, but complete lineages are included in the respective info files for each session