Wednesday 18 November 2015

The Smell of the Greasepaint and the Sound of the Peel's Festive Fifty for 1991

Before starting on 1992, I couldn't let my endeavours over a mere 8 weeks worth of Peel show recordings go without putting together my own version of the Festive Fifty for 1991.

There are a few rules I had to follow:

a) They could only come from shows I heard.  Meaning almost nothing in Peel's actual 1991 Festive 50 list can be included until this blog gets to 1993 and starts to hear one track a show for the first 50 Peel shows of that year.

b) They could only be tracks that I could share.  So no link to Popeye by Pay the Man for instance.

c) All had to be from the period.  So no Elmore James alas or The Pogues (and I did get that track played at my wedding).

In terms of working it out, I looked down my list and leading candidates were tracks I played to death when waiting to write about them or which stayed in my mind after I'd written about them.  Ones further down the list got in on more visceral instincts: a riff that had stayed in my mind, a nice turn of phrase or an unforgettable sample.  There were some concessions to quality or received wisdom, but only where I found myself in step with it.
There were 54 selections which I liked enough to have in contention but my Festive 50 looked like this:

1 - The Blofelds - The Dog is Dead
2 - PJ Harvey - Dress
3 - The Farm - Mind (Peel Session)
4 - Loketo featuring Diblo Dibala - La Joie de Vivre
5 - Milk - Claws
6 - The Rockingbirds - A Good Day For You is a Good Day For Me
7 - Silverfish - Big Bad Baby Pig Squeal
8 - The Field Mice - Think of These Things
9 - Culture - Life
10 - Rum & Black - Wicked
11 - The Pixies - Motorway to Roswell (Peel Session)
12 - Nirvana - Dumb (Peel Session)
13 - Hole - Good Sister/Bad Sister
14 - The Farm - Love See No Colour (Peel Session)
15 - Bleach - Decadence (Peel Session)
16 - Gang Starr - Check the Technique
17 - Organised Konfusion - Who Stole My Last Piece of Chicken?
18 - The Fatima Mansions - Bertie's Brochures
19 - The Telescopes - The Presence of Your Grace (Peel Session)
20 - Loketo - Mondo Ry
21 - Dr. Phibes and the House of Wax Equations - Hazy Lazy Hologram
22 - PJ Harvey - Victory (Peel Session)
23 - Frankie Paul & Stinger Man - Beautifulla
24 - The Satyrs - Shooting Air
25 - Anhrefn - Rhedeg I Paris
26 - Curve - Clipped
27 - The Fall - A Lot of Wind
28 - Krispy 3 - Don't Be Misled
29 - New Fast Automatic Daffodils - All Over My Face
30 - Unsane - Cracked Up
31 - Smudge - Don't Want To Be Grant McClennan
32 - The Orb - Little Fluffy Clouds (Cumulo Nimbus mix)
33 - Billy Bragg - Accident Waiting to Happen (Peel Session)
34 - Bally Sagoo featuring Cheshire Cat and Rama - Mera Laung Gawacha
35 - Managa ad Zdorp - Ne Ted Ne!
36 - Neil Young and Crazy Horse - Mansion on the Hill (Live)
37 - Home T, Cocoa Tea & Cutty Ranks - Another One For The Road
38 - The Clouds - Dude Electric Cell (Peel Session)
39 - The Infinity Project - Virtual Reality is Here
40 - Ivor Cutler - Thick Coat (Peel Session)
41 - Wenge Musica Aile Paris - Nouveau Testament
42 - Eton Crop - Hey Hey
43 - The Pixies - Bird Dream of the Olympus Mons
44 - Tony Rebel & Macka B - DJ Unity
45 - Back From Detox - Dove People
46 - Katch 22 - Mind Field (Peel Session)
47 - Gear Jammer - Two Tons of Chrome
48 - LFO - Tan Ta Ra (Moby remix
49 - Catherine Wheel - Black Metallic
50 - Raw Noise - Under the Influence (Peel Session) (starts at 5:05)

And there it is.  Quite a few "White boys playing guitar" but not dominant by any means.  After a week off, we will gird our loins and dive deep into the waters of 1992.  I must do some ironing tomorrow so I can listen to more shows up to February half term of that year.  Incredible how school days come back to dominate your thinking in certain respects.

If you're new to the blog, have fun.


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