We like to imagine John Peel, sitting in his office at Peel Acres or snowed under at Room 318 in Broadcasting House listening to music and making considered choices about what would feature on his playlists. In the 1999 documentary about him, Turn That Racket Down, we witnessed him putting together running orders while listening to an album and noting down both timings and any tracks on the record which he may have wanted to play in a programme. The reality is that, given the amount of music both new and reissued that was sent for him to listen to, some records only received snatched, momentary listens; either to be returned to at another time or getting lost under the piles of vinyl and CDs fighting for space around him.
Such was the case with a compilation album issued by ROIR Europe called Dub or Die featuring artists like Niney the Observer and Lee “Scratch” Perry. The album opened with The Right Way by Prince Far I and The Arabs, from their 1978 album Crytuff Dub Encounter Chapter 1. Peel admitted that of the 13 tracks on the album, it was the only one he had heard so far. I suspect his thinking being that the reissued material wasn’t as pressing as the need to listen to newly released content.
Originally, I was going to say that references to Prince Far I will always be poignant for admirers of John Peel given that one of his last recorded statements on his final Radio 1 show, broadcast 11 days before his death included a mention of him in the belief that Far I had been sampled on Time 4 Change by Klute. But then I noticed that today - 15 September 2024 - marks the 41st anniversary of Far I’s death, at the age of only 38, after he was attacked and shot in his home. With that in mind, I give thanks for the happy coincidence of this blog arriving at Peel playing a Prince Far I track, so that I can pay tribute to him by including his work here. No poignancy, just pure dub brilliance.
Video courtesy of Mystic Revelation.
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