The Comedy of Errors: John Peel Show - BBC Radio 1 (Friday 19 June 1992)

The selections from this show were taken from the first 90 minutes of the programme. To anyone looking at the scarce number of tracks that I’ve blogged about this show and thinking that it must have been a poor show, I can only attribute the paucity of tracks down to a mixture of Peel playing a number of records which have already shown up here over recent weeks (Sonic Youth, The Fall, Urban Hype etc) and the fact that after a pretty lengthy run of being able to share whatever I wanted, several tracks that I had slated for inclusion weren’t available.  Such as...

Fudge Tunnel - 10% [Peel Session]:  The Nottingham metallers had written to Peel in order to bring him up to date with what they had been up to and their imminent activities.  “For a band that hates touring..” they had been clocking up a lot of live work over 1992 including support slots with Sepultra (a band which I know more for their various T-shirt designs than for any of their songs).  They had been due to play some gigs in the United States later in the year, but this had fallen through due to incompetence on the part of their record label.  Still, they remained sanguine about this turn of events, “Who wants to tour America when you can play Stoke-on-Trent.”

Wreck  - You’re Gonna Change (Or I’m Gonna Leave): Hailing from Chicago, this cover of Hank Williams Sr’s 1949 song was the b-side to their 7-inch single, Mikey.  Surprisingly faithful to the spirit of the original despite being produced by Steve Albini.

Custom Floor - UPS Driver: a 55 second quickie that featured on the San Diego band’s first single released via the local label Goldenrod Records.  Peel liked the tune but had no idea what the title meant. It would be another year or two before the mellifluous tones of Jonathan Pryce would soundtrack their British adverts.  Even now, if you were to ask me to quote an advertising slogan from my youth, it’s probable that I would say “Consider it done” before any other.

Peel declared himself to be suffering from “9 consecutive colds” but he had been taken out of himself by the beauty of Holland’s third goal, scored by Denis Bergkamp a day earlier in their 3-1 win over Germany at Euro ‘92.  He had even gone to the trouble of contacting Erwin Blom of Eton Crop to congratulate him.

In the news, the people of Ireland had backed closer union with Europe in a referendum on the Maastricht Treaty by a margin of 69%/31% (that’s what a mandate looks like).  Meanwhile, John Major was warning Tory eurosceptics that there would be no going back on relations with Europe...


Full tracklisting

The Comedy of Errors: The Shamen - L.S.I (Love Sex Intelligence) (19 June 1992)

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Happy Easter everyone and here to blow away any Lockdown inertia is a real old skool, weekend floor filler.

If dance music hit its commercial peak in the early 1990s in terms of the ubiquity with which the genre dominated both the charts and radio play, then The Shamen may have claims to be the most successful act of the period.  Between 1991’s Move Any Mountain single, the platinum selling Boss Drum album and its attendant singles including 1992’s most “controversial” record, the band were a fixture in the Top 10 of both single and album charts for around 18 months.
L.S.I (Love Sex Intelligence) was the first single to be released from Boss Drum and peaked at Number 6 in the UK Top 10.  It’s a piece very much of its time with standard Shamen touches such as  compressed synth sounds and drum flourishes, as well as some of the cliches of the era such as prominent female vocals, by Jhelisa Anderson in this case, and an overture statement by rapper, Mr. C (“Ooh, I want your love, I need your love”).  For all that though, I think The Shamen’s music from the period still stands up very well, partially helped by the fact that they never seemed to release the same record twice and varied up who took prominence on any particular track.  So it was Jhelisa Anderson here but with contributions from Mr. C and Colin Angus.  But on Move Any Mountain it was Colin.  Ebenezer Goode was virtually a Mr. C solo track. Boss Drum was a Colin/Mr. C duet while the criminally under-rated Phorever People showcased Jhelisa and Mr. C.  They kept mixing it up like a house music Beatles - with Mr. C’s raps as Starr Time.

John Peel had been playing The Shamen since they had started out as a psychedelic guitar band in the mid 1980s.  He had continued to play their music as it shifted towards electronic dance and had been playing early, vocal-free mixes of L.S.I in the weeks before playing the 7-inch single on this programme. He confessed that he had been glad to hear the vocal version as it meant he could stop racking his brains as to what L.S.I stood for: “Love Sex Indigestion?”

Video courtesy of themosttogain. Music starts at 0:13.

The Comedy of Errors: Blunderbuss - Line Drive to the Forehead (19 June 1992)

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Blunderbuss were a Pittsburgh trio who after their initial burst of activity over 1992-95 have periodically come together to continue releasing music into this century, including an eponymous 2006 album.  Recommended for anyone who is currently chafing during the Coronavirus lockdown and has a desire to get back at any annoying neighbours.  Sonically, Line Drive to the Forehead (a baseball term) reminded me of bands like Tar, Loudspeaker and occasional flourishes of Unsane; while the lyrical themes of loss amidst the racket recall the wonderful Circus Lupus. What great company to be in.

Although their Discogs page is attributing a 2019 EP called  Swash, Buckle & Roll to them, I don’t think it is this iteration of Blunderbuss.  And if it is the Pittsburgh Blunderbuss, they’ve mellowed out considerably.  More in keeping with their Line Drive to the Forehead style is the work which members of the band have been doing as part of Broughton’s Rules since 2009.

Video courtesy of atheoryofmusic.

The Comedy of Errors: Confetti - Whatever Became of Alice and Jane (19 June 1992)

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Confetti were a short-lived but prolific side project of Fat Tulips guitarist Mark Randall (operating under his middle name, David) and Virginia Aeroplane.  The duo released a series of EPs over 1991/92 of which the present track, Whatever Became of Alice and Jane was taken from their penultimate release, Sea Anemon EP.  Gently sung female vocals, acoustic backing and punning EP titles.  We’re a long way from Seattle 1992, but for all that, I refuse to use the label “Twee pop” to summarise this up in anything other than the most begrudging manner.

My reticence stems, not least in the fact, that as in keeping with several other favourite examples of the genre that cropped up on Peel playlists such as Think of These Things by The Field Mice, Look For the Holes by Po! or Fillings by Grenadine, most of what I’ve heard of Confetti’s output works that trick which distinguishes the best of the genre by setting steely, quietly determined sentiments in deceptively light backgrounds.  A track like Who’s Big and Clever Now? deals with a deceitful former lover in the manner of a switchblade wrapped in a silk handkerchief.

By contrast, Whatever Became of Alice and Jane finds a rare note of contentment in the musical world of Confetti as two people find love and mutual protection in a coastal town amid brutally bad weather.  But again, the notion of this track as “happy music” wilts under further consideration.  I think that the narrator is either Alice or Jane and that they have found love with one another.  The same-sex relationship may cause waves similar to those crashing on the shore of this seaside town though.  “This means more than a change in the weather” suggests that they know their relationship is going to cause a stir.  Virginia’s lyrics present negative and positive contradictions throughout.  Regardless of the terrible weather conditions or stormy seas, her protagonists feel terrific internally and safe with each other.  The final verse sees them resolved to spend their time together under the pier and staying there forever.  It presents an intriguing question though as to whether she means that Alice and Jane will stay in this town or instead abandon themselves together to the sea.

The three tracks on The Sea Anemon EP were all linked by seaside and water themes and when heard  in sequence they present an almost concept-EP-like structure centred around escape and the cleansing properties of the sea, especially in Here Again.  Perhaps Confetti were taking a break from the stoic angst of earlier recordings and advocating a life by the sea as a means of curing all emotional ills.  As someone who lived 32 years of my life by the sea, I can report that it was never a panacea and emotional distress could find you in Falmouth just as easily as it could in London, Manchester, Cardiff, Birmingham or Glasgow.  But when you were content, it was a hell of a setting to place your happiness within.  Confetti used the EP as a testing ground for the idea and by the end we come to the conclusion that one way or another, Alice and Jane are not going back to whence they came.

 When Peel played Whatever Became of Alice and Jane, he mentioned that he was a sucker for
records with seagull and seaside effects, so he would have found plenty to enjoy here.  My notes at the time of hearing it said that it “walked the line between drippy and delicious”.  Gradually it charmed me, but this 2013 cover by Rose Melberg offers evidence of how to get Confetti wrong.

This video contains the other tracks on The Sea Anemon EP:  Here Again and River Island.


Videos courtesy of Royeca Roel and Confetti Topic

The Comedy of Errors: Drunken Master - 24-7 (19 June 1992)

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Taking his name from an early Jackie Chan film, Drunken Master was a one-off alias for Andre M Williams, better known as MC Dashy D whose collaboration with DJ Cue Tips on the 1988 track, Control remains a fondly spoken highpoint of early UK hip-hop.

For the present, Drunken Master hooked up with Kaos to produce The Drunken EP.  24-7 allows Kold Sweat to top up James Brown’s pension fund; this being around the time that The Hardest Working Man in Showbusiness was well on his way to becoming The Most Sampled Artist in Dance Music.  24-7 features an unmistakable Brown holler, a guitar part and most prominent of all, what appears to be the horn break from Out of Sight. Over all of this, Drunken Master raps a familiar tale of his own brilliance and the good time he can offer to the object of his affections, before signing off with a shout to all the collaborators who came in to help him from “the North, South, East and West”.  Compass points were also cut into the run-out groove of the record.

After playing this track, Peel admitted that it wasn’t the one he had programmed to play.  The alternatives were the Tubular Bells sampling Devil in Disguise or Guillotine.







Videos courtesy of DJPilatus and OGDonNinja.

The Comedy of Errors: Dangerous Birds - Smile on Your Face (19 June 1992)

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Peel’s show on 19/6/92 featured a repeat of a session by Come, originally broadcast on 18 April 1992.  He played the session in one chunk.  The first track was called William and Peel dedicated it to his oldest son who, like me, was taking his GCSEs around the time this show was broadcast, “...so has been in a foul mood as you can imagine.”

As a little aperitif to the session, he played Smile on Your Face, one side of a 1982 single by Dangerous Birds, which were one of the earliest bands to feature Come’s vocalist and leader, Thalia Zedek.  Dangerous Birds were an all female four piece hailing from Boston, Massachusetts.  One enterprising soul has put their entire recorded output up on YouTube.  What’s striking when listening to them is how they encapsulate an orthodoxy that I’ve put forward in the past about how as music progressed over the period 1978-1982, it did so while often referencing no further back than the couple of years proceeding it any particular time.  Smile on Your Face features Zedek giving a full-throated punk roar at 1:02 in contrast to her studied Joe Strummer-sneer through the rest of the song. Despite its seemingly sweet, romantic title, the lyrics are paranoid and aggressive.  The smile in question provoking angst for Zedek about whatever perceived hold the smiler has over her.  The “invisible leash” mentioned in the track’s opening lines suggest that Zedek has been trying to get away from a dangerous, potentially criminal situation, which can pull her back in at any time:
“You’ve got something on me, obviously/Just the voices talking over my head again /I’ve got something for you/Despite those bright lights, take you back again.”  The feeling that the song is dealing with danger and illegality is further enhanced by the “Everything I do is wrong” refrain at the end.

There are Post-punk touches throughout as well with surprising key changes and drummer Karen Gickas doing her bit to ensure that the claves reclaim their place in the pantheon of great rock ‘n’ roll instruments.  Having tipped their hats to 1976-77 and also to 1978-80, the band tie the package up with melodic, folk rock guitars and compelling backing vocals that are pure 1981-82 New Pop under Martin Swope’s assured production.

They had the musical chops, confidence, plenty of ideas, the looks, plus an ability to switch between accessible pop (especially in the Blondie-like Alpha Romeo, the track which was paired with Smile on Your Face) and grittier material. With the right push, Dangerous Birds could very well have become mainstream stars, but it seems that disagreement over which artistic direction to take ultimately killed the band before they could be launched to wider attention.  Despite writing 3 of the 4 Dangerous Birds tracks which ultimately saw the light on records and compilations, Zedek decided that she needed new musical surroundings in order to pursue the harder edged sounds she wanted.  This saw her work through the mid and late 1980s with bands such as Uzi and the final iteration of Live Skull before forming Come in 1990.

While prepping this blogpost, I found an extraordinary essay by AJ Morocco from 2016 about an aborted attempt to track down and interview the members of Dangerous Birds and how it allowed them to debunk an urban myth cooked up by the PR department at Come’s record label, Matador as to why the other members of Dangerous Birds: Lori Green (guitar/keyboards/vocals), Margery Meadow (bass/vocals) and Karen Gickas (drums/vocals) had never released any music since the band’s demise.

The complete Dangerous Birds discography 1) Alpha Romeo (written and sung by Lori Green), 2) Smile on Your Face (still as excellent as above) 3) Emergency 4) Catholic Boy - This is all we have and we’re grateful, but if only there could have been more of it...



Videos courtesy of teejay69 and ajmorocco

All lyrics are copyright of Thalia Zedek.

The Comedy of Errors: John Peel Show - BBC Radio 1 (Saturday 13 June 1992)

When I reviewed Peel’s show from the previous evening, I raved about what a joyous broadcast it had been.  Curiously, Peel opened this evening’s programme with an apology for how he had come across on 12/6/92, “I had rather over-estimated my capacity for self-repair...and I wasn’t my usual fascinating self”. To me, he had sounded in fine form with the adrenalin from his week at the Isle of Man TT Races carrying him through the show and further invigorated by a new Fall single.  By contrast, the comedown seemed to hit him tonight with regular slips of the tongue and word mashing.  He also felt moved to comment that he felt that Datblygu’s session had dragged on rather un-necessarily in places.  One legacy from the TT Races was that Peel had managed to snaffle a leaf from the winner’s victory garland, claimed in 1992 by Steve Hislop.  As far as Peel was concerned, this was a prized possession on a par with the pen he had lent to Diblo Dibala when they had met up, a week earlier so that the great man could sign autographs.

The mailbag brought a letter from Reggie in Mainz, Germany, who wanted to thank whichever technician had omitted to switch off the medium wave transmitter a few weeks previously, meaning that Reggie had been able to hear a whole 3 hour Peel show for a change.  Peel quickly checked the status of the MW transmitter, but unfortunately it had been turned off, meaning that Reggie wouldn’t have heard his letter being read out and leaving Peel to ponder the sense of having done so.

He was concerned to hear about reports of English football hooliganism in Malmo, especially as he   was due to go out to Sweden to see the Euro ‘92 final, with a competition winner.  “It’s pathetic.The Scots grew out of it years ago.  People just look at you and go, ‘Oh dear, oh dear.’” Anyone not heading to Sweden with Radio 1 that summer could have been going to either Barbados or Corsica as a result of competitions being run by Simon Bates and Simon Mayo.  However, you needed to buy a copy of the Radio Times in order to have the keywords required to enter.  It was still another world, even in 1992. Radio 1 was also holding an American music festival on July 2 at the Hanover Grand at  which Mercury Rev would be headlining.

The news contained updates about Tyler Davidson, who had been born the previous day and was officially recognised as the world’s smallest ever baby, measuring a mere 6 inches.  Happily, he had made it through his first night and his condition was improving.

The selections from this programme came from a full 3 hour show. The only track I wanted to include, but couldn’t remained Don’t Slip Away by The Werefrogs, which in chronological terms, I’d been left wishing for a month earlier.

Anyone reading this blog in the last month or so will have seen that several selections were posted here almost begrudgingly by me because they lacked a Wow! factor, but scraped in on the grounds of them having a brief moment/sound which justified their inclusion.  So it’s with a slightly heavy heart that I present for your derision the only initial selection I made from this programme, which ultimately didn’t make the cut.  All I can say is, it could have been part of a much longer list:

M’bilia Bel, Tabu Ley Rocherau and L’Afrisa International - Ba Jeu De Coin - taken from the 1984 album Ba Gerants Ya Mabala this slice of horn-led Afro beat could have made it on to the mixtape in most circumstances.  What cost it a place though was that I really didn’t like M’Bilia Bel’s vocals compared to other female African singers that Peel had played in recent shows such as M’Pongo Love.  Neither did the arrangement and playing elevate the track as was the case with Vonga Aye the previous night.  Also, while listening to Peel’s shows over late 1992 and early 1993, I’ve been exposed to some sparkling examples of African music through the likes of Wawali Bonane, The Bhundu Boys and Pierre Moutouari that made this track seem rather pedestrian in comparison.

The full list of gems, gritty wheat and chaff