LOW - Two and a half Peel Sessions +3 from ATP

 

There isn't a great deal of early unreleased music by Duluth band, Low in circulation currently. 

I recently came across a few old CDr's with some of my recordings from around 20 years ago. They included a complete session for the BBC Radio One John Peel Show and half of their final 6-track session. 

I did have the complete session at one time and thought it was lost for good. Until I read an article that said it was possible to recover recordings accidentally erased from minidisc. I might be able to recover some of those recordings - a task I will leave for the winter months. 

The second Peel session is available on a superb FM recording that was originally shared some years ago on the Dime torrent site and no longer available there.

I have included it with my one and a half Peel sessions and added the 3 tracks from the ATP appearance in 2002, that was also included on my CDr. I haven't seen lossless versions of the other three sessions in circulation, so this is the best available currently. If you are unfamiliar with the band I can recommend the three albums that appeared around the time of these sessions:

Things We Lost In The Fire (2001)

Trust (2002)

The Great Destroyer (2005)

 

LOW - Peel Session #2

1. Sunflower
2. Dinosaur Act
3. I Remember
4. Don't Carry It All
5. John Prine
6. In Metal
7. Closer
8. Venus
9. Over The Ocean

Recorded at Maida Vale Studios, London and broadcast by BBC Radio One FM on 9 Nov, 2000

CDR from a snail trade:
FM > CDR > EAC > wav > FlacFrontend > Dime
Uploaded on Dime by: robjab

------------------------------------------------------

LOW - Peel Session #3

10. Last Snowstorm Of The Year 2:11
11. Canada 3:23               
12. Lil' Argument With Myself 3:18       
13. In The Drugs 4:41           

Recorded for the BBC on 28 November 2001 and broadcast by BBC Radio One FM on 2 January 2001 (this recording) complete session

Low - Live at ATP (All Tomorrow's Parties)

14. Starfire (2:55)               
15. intro (0:05)               
16. Fearless (4:43)               
17. Candy Girl (5:29)               

Broadcast Thursday 25 April, 2002 on BBC Radio One FM (this recording) not a live broadcast

Low - Peel Session #4

18. That's How We Sing (Amazing Grace) (7:16) 
19. La La (4:01)               
20. Tonight (4:51)               

Recorded live from Peel Acres on 31 January 2003 and broadcast live on BBC Radio One FM (this recording) - incomplete session missing The Last Snowstorm Of The Year, Fearless & Lordy

Sessions #3 & 4 + ATP were sourced from my CDr. Lineage is as follows: Sony tuner > Sony MD > CDr > WAV > Flac 8

LINK

 

 

BUZZCOCKS - BBC Radio 1 Session 'One World' 2003

This Buzzcocks session was a promotional radio appearance to publicise their self-titled seventh studio album. It was a joint session for the John Peel & One World programmes. Seven tracks were recorded and split over the two programmes. Three included here were not broadcast on the Peel show: Breakdown, Orgasm Addict & Harmony In My Head.
The session was one of my final recordings before a fourteen-year break.

The Peel session songs broadcast, all appeared on the new album: Driving You Insane, Certain Move, Lester Sands* & Jerk. 

Lester Sands* first appeared way back in 1976 on the 'Time's Up' bootleg - now officially released.

BBC Radio 1 FM - One World
Experimental DJ's with esoteric forms of music not heard elsewhere on radio. The programme was broadcast every Thursday from 12 midnight to 2am.

Buzzcocks 'One World session'
Recorded:  2 April 2003
Broadcast: BBC Radio One FM - May 2003

01. Lester Sands (2:29)
02. Jerk (1:59)
03. Breakdown (1:58)
04. Orgasm Addict (1:58)
05. Harmony In My Head (2:59)

Band:
Pete Shelley – vocals
Steve Diggle – guitar, vocals
Tony Barber – bass
Phil Barker – drums

Lineage:
BBC Radio One FM broadcast > Sony Tuner > Sony MD player > CDr > Wav 

thebasement67 (May 2021)

LINK 

If you are unaware of who the Buzzcocks are, there is an interview from 2003 here:

Interview 2003

BHUNDU BOYS - BBC Sessions 1986 (Flac)

In the Ken Garner book 'In Session Tonight' - which details the BBC Radio 1 sessions over a 25-year period since their inception in 1967 - DJ Andy Kershaw comments that Zimbabwe's, Bhundu Boys "Were really the ambassadors for African music in Britain." 

Few who heard those early sessions and on-air eulogies by Andy Kershaw & John Peel will ever forget what an incredible impact they made on the UK music scene. This at a time when Paul Simon's Graceland album was bringing the music and artists of South Africa to a worldwide audience.

The Bhundu Boys launched their first major label album 'True Jit' at an HMV shop in 1987. The group's British success owed much to John Peel's championing of the band, recording their first session in July 1986. This post compiles the BBC sessions from 1986. 

The band recorded one further session on 3 March 1987 and it was broadcast nine days later on the Andy Kershaw show. (No! I don't have it)

"About a month ago or perhaps five weeks ago I went to a club in London to see the Bhundu Boys play and was really genuinely enormously pleased with them, thought they were wonderful. I said at the time rather pretentiously but I think accurately really, the music they play seems just to flow up out of the ground and through them and to us the listeners. As I say I was very taken with them and enormously pleased that we were able to get them in to record a session for this programme.

...the title of the first one from the Bhundu Boys translates as 'Wings' (Mahenga)....How wonderful it is, still to be able to play sessions like this for you." .........John Peel, 14 July, 1986

BHUNDU BOYS - 1986 BBC sessions (FM)

John Peel session #1

01. Kuroja Chete
02. Chemedza Vana
03. Writing On The Wall
04. Let's Work Together
05. Manhenga

The Hippodrome, Golders Green, London, UK.
Recorded on 6th July 1986 / First broadcast on BBC Radio 1 FM 14th July 1986

John Peel session #2

06. Ndoita Sei?
07. Rugare
08. My Foolish Heart
09. Jig-A-Jig

BBC radio studios, London, UK
Recorded on 21st December 1986 / First broadcast on BBC Radio 1 FM 7th January 1987

Andy Kershaw, Whistle Test

10. Let's Work Together
11. Interview with Biggie Tempo (by Andy Kershaw)
12. Chemedza Vana (fades out)
13. Hupenyu Hwangu  (b/cast much later)

BBC Wood Lane TV studios, London, UK  
Recorded live on 20th September 1986 (as part of 'Rock Around The Clock', BBC TV & FM extravaganza)

Lineage:
BBC Radio 1 FM > Roof Aerial > Marantz ST151L Tuner > Aiwa ADF770 3-Head Cassette Deck > TDK-SA (Type II) cassette tape

Conversion to FLAC: Master Type II source tape > Aiwa ADF770 Cassette Deck (play) > SB Extigy soundcard > CoolEdit Pro 2.1 > WAV > TLH > FLAC

(All master FM recordings, time: 50 minutes)

 LINK

ARCADE FIRE - Bootleg Mix (2004-2013) Flac

 

This compilation was inspired by an earlier bootleg mix tape that mixed lossy and inferior sounding audience tracks. I used the bones of it, wanting something with a better cohesion and more balanced flow for an enhanced audio experience.

It was compiled from the Arcade Fire radio sessions & the odd live track I have on my Hard Drives. It represents a different look at Arcade Fire's career from their EP beginnings through the first three albums. The radio sessions are particularly interesting because the demands of the radio studio, led to a more stripped down sound. 

It includes two cover tracks one from Talking Heads and the other the Magnetic Fields. 'Born on a Train' reminds me of two old songs, the first is easy 'Then He Kissed Me' but I can't place the other. Anyone?
This version of Neighborhood #3 is superior, if the power went out it certainly didn't on this performance, there really is some energy to it! The band's intent clear with the 1-2-3-4 intro. There was little point in splitting Rebellion as they merge seamlessly.

The Arcade Fire's early recordings surely position them as one of the greatest post-millenial bands. Hear this and get the official releases if you've missed them. The early albums come in card sleeves, like minature LP sleeves. Well worth collecting as you can currently pick them up in charity stores for little money. See the bottom of this post for further info, tracks that were performed on this mix are in capitals. (thebasement67, April, 2021)

01. Naive Melody           
Radio 3, Studio 211, Toronto - October 2, 2004 

02. Wake Up                          
03. In the Backseat                    
04. Neighborhood #2 (Laika)    
XFM Radio Studios, London - March 7, 2005       

05. My Heart is an Apple            
Berlin - May 20, 2005           

06. Vampire / Forest Fire                    
07. Intervention                        
08. Born on a Train            
KCRW-FM - January 17, 2005       

09. Sleeping in a Submarine            
Lollapalooza - July 24, 2005                  

10. Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) > Rebellion (Lies) BBC FM session - June 28, 2007   

11. Keep the Car Running                
12. Neon Bible                
BBC FM Hub session - June 29, 2007       

13. Headlights Look Like Diamonds       
14. No Cars Go               
KCMP 89.3 FM Minnesota - September 29, 2005   

15. Suburban War                
Bologna - September 2, 2010
       
16. The Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond...)   
KCRW FM, Capitol Studios - October 28, 2013       

Sources:
FM & Soundboard

LINK

The Early Official Releases

Arcade Fire EP (2003)
1. Old Flame
2. I'M SLEEPING IN A SUBMARINE
3. NO CARS GO
4. The Woodlands National Anthem
5. MY HEART IS AN APPLE
6. HEADLIGHTS LOOK LIKE DIAMONDS
7. VAMPIRE/FOREST FIRE

 

 Funeral (2004)
1. Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)   
2. NEIGHBORHOOD #2 (LAIKA)
3. Une année sans lumière
4. NEIGHBORHOOD #3 (POWER OUT)
5. Neighborhood #4 (7 Kettles)
6. Crown of Love
7. WAKE UP
8. Haiti
9. REBELLION (LIES)   
10. IN THE BACKSEAT

Neon Bible (2007)
1. Black Mirror
2. KEEP THE CAR RUNNING
3. NEON BIBLE
4. INTERVENTION
5. Black Wave/Bad Vibrations
6. Ocean of Noise
7. The Well and the Lighthouse
8. (Antichrist Television Blues)
9. Windowsill
10. NO CARS AGO
11. My Body is a Cage

 

The Suburbs (2010)
1. The Suburbs
2. Ready to Start
3. Modern Man
4. Rococo
5. Empty Room
6. City with No Children
7. Half Light I
8. Half Light II (No Celebration)
9. SUBURBAN WAR
10. Month of May
11. Wasted Hours
12. Deep Blue
13. We Used to Wait
14. Sprawl I (Flatland)
15. SPRAWL II (MOUNTAINS BEYOND MOUNTAINS)
16. The Suburbs (Continued)

TINARIWEN - BBC Radio 3 Session 2014 (Flac)

The previous post by Malian band Songhoy Blues has been very popular, its great to know that this music is appreciated by blog visitors so here's another superb session for you all. 

While searching for some audio files, for what was to be the next post, (a bootleg mix compiling radio sessions and live tracks) from my hard drives by one of the post-millenium's most critically acclaimed and successful bands. I came across these files by another Malian band, Tinariwen. 

It's a BBC Radio 3 session, ostensibly to promote their sixth album release 'Emmaar' (The heat on the breeze). It was their first full album recorded outside northern Africa. The band had fled to the USA after a Tuareg rebellion in their home region of northern Mali. Three of the five songs performed on this session (*) appear on the 'new' album. 

BBC Radio 3
Tinariwen In Session
World on 3 Studio 80A, Broadcasting House, London
Friday 2 May 2014 / 11pm-1am

A live session in our studio, plus interview, with this celebrated nomadic Tuareg band from the Sahara desert, offering more of their unique brand of Malian blues. Tinariwen plays material from their new album Emmaar, recorded in another desert, Joshua Tree National Park in California, miles away from their homeland because of its political instability.

01. Nazagh Ejbal
02. Toumast Tincha *
03. chat
04. Timadrit In Sahara *
05. Sastan Nakham
06. chat
07. Chaghaybou *

Eyadou Ag Leche - bass, guitar, calabash, vocals
Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni - guitar, vocals
Alhassane Ag Touhami - guitar, vocals
Ibrahim Ag Alhabib - guitar, vocals
Abdallah Ag Lamida - guitar, vocals
Yad Abderrahmane - guitar, vocals
Said Ag Ayad - percussion, vocals
Elaga Ag Hamid - guitar, vocals
Mohammed Ag Tahada - percussion
Wonou Walet Sidati - vocals

Mary Ann Kennedy introduces a live session from Tuareg band Tinariwen

LINK

 

“Malian musicians in California playing riffs that Robert Johnson would sell his soul for, again.”
- NME 8/10 (UK)

“It's a pleasure to hear how Tinariwen keeps finding new ways to translate the soul of the Sahara.”
- NPR (USA)

“This album will rock your brain, psychedelic!”
- Les Inrockuptibles (France)

1. Toumast Tincha

2. Chaghaybou

3. Arhegh Danagh

4. Timadrit In Sahara

5. Imidiwan Ahi Sigdim

6. Tahalamot

7. Sendad Eghlalan

8. Imdiwanin ahi Tifhamam

9. Koud Edhaz Emin

10. Emajer

11. Aghregh Medin (Hassan’s song)

TOUMAST TINCHA (The People Have Been Sold Out)
The ideals of the people have been sold off cheap, my friends.
Any peace imposed by force is bound to fail
And give way to hatred.
My people, where is that self-confidence
Made of dignity and beauty of spirit
That our ancestors bequeathed to us?

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.