WIRE - The Unreleased Peel Sessions (Flac)

From 1977's 'Pink Flag' to the band's most recent albums, Wire, Silver/Lead, and 2020's Mind Hive, legendary art-combo Wire have created a unique body of work. Subverting genres, Colin Newman, Graham Lewis, Robert Grey and Matthew Simms continue to work on new material, regularly confounding expectations. 

The first three Peel sessions were released on a 'Strange Fruit' CD in 1989 and a re-issue in 1996. 

Wire recorded a fourth session in 1988 and then following their long lay off in the 90's they returned in 2002 with a series of EP's and their fifth and final session for John Peel. These two unreleased sessions sound so different from each other you would think they were two different bands, the 2002 session is more reminiscent of their punk roots.

Wire - John Peel session #4 - FM master

BBC Maida Vale Studios, London, UK
Recording: 24 April 1988
Broadcast: 10 May 1988

01 - Boiling Boy (see the 5th studio album A Bell Is A Cup - May 1988)
02 - German Shepherds (see the Silk Skin Paws EP 1988)
03 - Drill (see the Kidney Bongos EP 1988)

Length = 19:44

Lineage: BBC Radio 1 FM > Roof Aerial > Marantz ST151L Tuner etc.

 
Wire - John Peel session #5 - FM master

BBC Maida Vale Studio 4, London, UK
Recording: 21 July, 2002
Broadcast: 17 September, 2002

01 - Spent (see 'Send' - May 2003)
02 - I Don't Understand (see 'Read & Burn 01' EP - June 2002
03 - 1st Fast (see 'Read & Burn 01 EP' - June 2002)
04 - 99.9 (see 'Send' - May 2003, 1st album since 1991)

Length = 16:54


Lineage: BBC Radio 1 FM > roof aerial > Marantz ST151L FM tuner -> Creative SB Extigy soundcard etc.

 

LINK 1988 

LINK 2002

 

If you've been inspired by these two cracking sessions, for further information and news of the special editions of the groups first three albums, go to the official Wire site here: http://pinkflag.com/

Wire's three Harvest released albums in the 70's are often referred to as a kind of "accelerated development triptych". The differences between the reductive minimalism of 1977's Pink Flag and the layered baroque (albeit still minimalistic) of 1979's 154 show a staggering turn over of ideas, yet each album remains iconic.

Wire's debut Pink Flag, was originally released in December 1977 on EMI's progressive label 'Harvest' with it's 21 stripped down tracks and iconic stark sleeve. Dave Fudger reviewed it in the UK weekly music paper, 'Sounds' in December 1977. He wrote:

"The album has a scale and feel of it's own - totally unique. I can't recommend it enough. It's not like anything you've heard and it'll leave it's mark for a long time" 

Chairs Missing (1978) represented perhaps the biggest conceptual leap made during this period of Wire and was widely misunderstood at the time yet it remains to the band and production crew, Wire's favourite 70's album. The clarity of vision of the band at the time has been rewarded with a large appreciation in it's standing in hindsight the album also having been awarded (alonside Pink Flag) the distinction of a 10 rating by Pitchfork Media amongst many other plaudits.

154 (1979) was the first Wire album to be released to a universal set of five star reviews from the British rock weeklies. It represented the point when the British 'pop culture establishment' publicly recognised Wire's primacy. 

Nick Kent in the NME, Chris Westwood in the Record Mirror and Jon Savage in Melody Maker respectively wrote:

"154 makes 95 percent of the competition look feeble"    

"Wire are achieving a lot of things other - and more recognised - names have been striving for" 

"The album is a musical Tour de Force"

 

THE HOME SESSIONS from Nashville, Tennessee - July 2020 (Flac)

A couple of lockdown sessions from last year featuring two of the fastest rising stars in the US. Both were recorded at home in Nashville and broadcast on the Bob Harris radio show. Bob has long been an advocate of American music from way back in the early 1970's on UK radio and television.  

Thu 23 Jul 2020 21:00
BBC Radio 2 FM Stereo

Courtney Marie Andrews is in session,
The Country Show with Bob Harris

Bob's joined this week by the amazing Courtney Marie Andrews in session!, playing songs from her new album "Old Flowers".

“Old Flowers is about heartbreak,” she says. “There are a million records and songs about that, but I did not lie when writing these songs. This album is about loving and caring for the person you know you can’t be with. It’s about being afraid to be vulnerable after you’ve been hurt. It’s about a woman who is alone, but okay with that, if it means truth. This was my truth this year — my nine-year relationship ended and I’m a woman alone in the world, but happy to know herself.”

During the Covid-19 pandemic, when so many musicians are unable to tour, Radio 2's Country Show is asking artists to perform from their own front room, doing a little to keep the bond between artist and audience alive.

Country Show Home Session

01. Courtney Marie Andrews - It Must Be Someone Else's Fault 

02. Courtney Marie Andrews - Burlap String 

03. Courtney Marie Andrews - Speed Of The Sound Of Loneliness

 

 

Thu 30 Jul 2020 21:00
BBC Radio 2 FM Stereo

Margo Price in session,
The Country Show with Bob Harris

The amazing Margo Price joins Bob with some live music from her home in Nashville, songs from her new album "That's How Rumors Get Started" , an album of ten new, original songs that commit her sky-high and scorching rock-and-roll show to record for the very first time. Co-produced by Margo and longtime friend Sturgill Simpson, she’s singing about motherhood, the mythologies of stardom, Nashville gentrification, the national healthcare crisis, relationships or growing pains, and more.

That’s How Rumors Get Started follows Margo’s 2017 album All American Made, which was named the #1 Country/Americana album of the year by Rolling Stone, and one of the top albums of the decade by Esquire, Pitchfork and Billboard, among others. In its wake, Margo sold out three nights at The Ryman Auditorium, earned her first Grammy nomination for Best New Artist, and much more.

Country Show Home Session

04. Margo Price - Lettin' Me Down

05. Margo Price - Prisoner Of The Highway 

06. Margo Price - Stone Me

LINK 

Giggs sits in for Rodigan - 24 February, 2019 (complete show)

David Rodigan was absent from his BBC Radio 1Xtra show throughout February 2019 while he toured Japan, Australia & New Zealand. He invited guest-DJ's to sit in. The shows are usually take over by a fellow colleague on the radio station and these are often just an extension of that DJ's usual show. The best sit-ins take place when someone who is not a regular DJ comes in and takes over the microphone. 

Giggs (and Y.C. his dog) host David Rodigan's 1Xtra show, he selects the music he listened to growing up and that has influenced his own music and also selects his top three Jamaican albums of all time.

This is a superb radio show I've listened to numerous times. Giggs is an absolute natural in front of the microphone. He's warm, genial, witty and exudes a deep love for the music he plays. At one point he warns Rodigan that he's coming after his job - no idle threat when you hear this show.

If you were a Roots Reggae / Dancehall fan in the late 70's and 80's and your interest lapsed after digital rhythms took over. This programme is a perfect primer on what happened next. It includes selections from some of the greatest 90's singles and album artists. Excellent quality on this, play loud for best effect.

 

Sunday 24 February 2019 / 7-9pm
BBC Radio 1Xtra - David Rodigan show (Giggs sits in)

     part one:
01. Gentleman - Still Around (ft. Beenie Man) (rel: 19 Jan '19)
02. Kabaka Pyramid - Reggae Music | Kontraband (rel: 25 May '18)
03. Giggs - (Is It Gangsta?) Yes, Yes, Yes | When Will It Stop (rel: 2013)
04. Garnett Silk - Lord Watch Over Our Shoulders (Greensleeves) (rel: 1995)
05. Tenor Saw & Buju Banton - Ring The Alarm (rel: 1993)
06. Bounty Killer - Killer Sounds (ft. Future Troubles) (rel: 1995)
07. Major Mackerel - Dutty Bungle (Don Ban) (rel: 1988)
08. Major Mackerel - Disease (rel: 1992)
09. Tiger - Come Again (Power House) (VP) (rel: 198x)
10. Cutty Ranks - A Who Seh Me Dun (VP) (rel: 1992)
11. Baby Wayne - A The Truth (rel: 1993)
12. Bounty Killer & Ninjaman - Badman A No Cub Scout (rel: 1994)
13. Beenie Man - Blackboard (VP) (rel: 1996)
14. Ward 21 - Haters (Jammys) (rel: 1998)
15. Capleton - Raggy Road (Def Jam) (rel: 1997)

      part two:
16. Capleton - Cooyah Cooyah | Still Blazin'  (VP) (rel: 2002)
17. Mavado - Top Shotta Nuh Miss (VP) (rel: 2007)
18. Koffee - Toast (Sony) (rel: 16 Nov '18)
19. Spragga Benz - Differ (ft. Sean Paul, Agent Sasco & Chi Ching Ching)         
     1Xtra live in JA, 6 Feb 2019 (unrel: 2019)
20. Stylo G - Touch Down (Remix) (ft. The Fanatix, Nicki Minaj & Ding Dong) (rel: 6 Dec '18)
21. Buju Banton - Stamina Daddy | Stamina Daddy #3 (rel: 1992)
22. Buju Banton - Gold Spoon | Stamina Daddy #3 (rel: 1992)
23. Buju Banton – General | Stamina Daddy #3 (rel: 1992)
24. Buju Banton - Laid To Rest | 'Til Shiloh #2 (rel: 1995)
25. Buju Banton – Murderer | 'Til Shiloh #2 (rel: 1995)
26. Buju Banton - Untold Stories | 'Til Shiloh #2 (rel: 1995)
27. Luciano - It's Me Again Jah | Where There Is Life #1 (rel: 1995)
28. Luciano - Who Could It Be | Where There Is Life #1 (rel: 1995)

LINK 

Recorded from the UK BBC i-player (basement sounds #70)

There is no tracking on this, as it would have introduced unecessary gaps. The show was recorded in two sections, the first hour and second hour for easier listening. It's available in the highest mp3 constant bit rate possible, 320k. Other recordings from digital sources will only be 128k or 192k, if the programme was recorded outside the UK. 

 

Recommended after hearing the programme

What a track this is, the rhythm hits hard and you can't help move to it, topped up with the most infectious and glorious trumpet solo.