It’s always interesting when acts that formed part of my musical diet in the mid-1990s start turning up on John Peel programmes in the early 1990s. This edition of Kat’s Karavan saw Peel give a play of Moonshine by Cornershop, taken from their debut EP, In the Days of the Ford Cortina. Peel played the track on the limited edition curry coloured 7-inch, though he didn’t remember ever having a curry which looked anything like the same colour as the vinyl. Moonshine missed out on a place on the metaphorical mixtape due to the crime of Excessive Feedback Wankery.
Although Peel got through what I heard of the show without making any mistakes such as playing records at the wrong speed, he did balls up some of his wider responsibilities towards Radio 1. A fax from A.C. Temple promoting a gig supporting The Edsel Auctioneer (more on them shortly) which was set for January 12 in Newcastle reminded Peel that he had left a load of promotional material for upcoming Radio 1 activities in the North East at home.
Selections from this show were taken from the first 2 hours of the programme. There were two tracks I would have liked to share but couldn’t - and as they didn’t have a note on them a la The Giant Mums, I haven’t gone back to check on them.
Calvin Party - Mass: Peel promised to stop mentioning that this was the new name for the band formerly known as Levellers 5. The track ended up as the finale to their debut album, Life and Other Sex Tragedies
Hula Hoop - Blues From a Vaseline Gun [Peel Session] : Purveyors of highly competent indie rock which on several occasions during this session fell into the same hole as The Hair and Skin Trading Company, where I find myself thinking, “It’s good. It’s good....I don’t like it.” This would have got in though it doesn’t appear to have any connection to the peerless Blues From a Gun by The Jesus and Mary Chain. The track was ultimately recorded alongside other exotically titled tracks for their debut album, My Sweet Amputee.
There were a couple of tracks which were slated for inclusion but which failed to stand the longevity test when they were returned to.
The Edsel Auctioneer - Stomachful : Maybe it sounded more impressive on the radio recording but with those whiny vocals and a guitar solo that sounds like it’s being played through a straw, I think I’d have spent January 12 going to the Bigg Market after A.C. Temple had finished their set.
The Eternals - Rockin’ in the Jungle : From 1959, this slice of novelty doo-wop presents Tarzan, Jane, Cheeta and Boy having a party in the jungle. It’s immaculately performed as you’d expect and Peel found himself wishing he could make the sounds in it which he thought sounded like Lenny Henry’s Katanga character. When I revisited the song though, I found that it made me uncomfortable for precisely those reasons. Political correctness hadn’t registered with me in early 1993, but in 2022 I am much more choosy. I love doo-wop, but I can live without this one. Had Peel wished to play a Tarzan themed record, I wish he’d gone with Paul Jones.
And a couple of older women.
Video courtesy of Franklin Pierce.
No comments:
Post a Comment