The John Peel Sessions

Made me look up all the John Peel sessions and contemplate purchasing more artists who performed for the Peel show. I always loved The Smith's recordings for Peel. This didn't disappoint.

If you ever wondered what the fuss was about listern to this. This is the Slits in the raw without the unneeded over production on their full studio albumn Cut.

Really it should be 4 stars cuz the later material just starts to meander down their dub path without the tightness of the earlier musical stage. By the time they recorded their first lp, Cut, they'd already been together over a year, longer. These first 2 sessions are a crucial record of their sound in that period, more snappy, crisp, bit harsh, than the Cut lp which is definitely produced up while these Peel sessions are, as with all Peel sessions, live in the studio. I plunged back into the Slits in 2014 after reading Viv Albertien's Clothes, Music and Boys book which was an excellent journey into the formation, existence and breakup and even reunion to some degree, of the band. It's from her book that I learned the musical time capsuleness of these first 2 Peel sessions. ps, I bought the Cut deluxe 2xcd and am crazy about it as it's got the remastered lp + goes from the original 10 songs to 40 with real outtakes that are worth listening to cuz they offer alternate versions that are still well recorded.

If you want to show someone what punk was all about, what it was REALLY like, don't play them a Vibrators or U.K. Subs record; play them this.Famously recognised as John Peel's favourite sessions, the first two mini sets on this collection encapsulate everything that was great about the initial punk period : the DIY enthusiasm, the attitude, and the pure joie de vivre of it all.'Love And Romance', 'New Town','FM', all those great songs and more that graced the debut Slits album 'Cut' are here in their rawest form and a long way from the slick dubby treatment they would later receive.Recorded shortly before the Slits called it a day, the third session from1981 shows just how far the band had progressed since their raucous, shambling beginnings. With Palmolive no longer on drums and a youthful Neneh Cherry boosting Ari Up's vocals, these excursions into world music paired with their fondness for all things dub would inevitably divide opinions.But the Slits were never a band to remain staid and Tessa Polity's bass playing had come on in leaps and bounds, particularly probing on 'Difficult Fun' and funkily channeling New York band ESG on 'In The Beginning'. Similarly and uncompromising as the lady herself, Viv Albertine's guitar work had by then mutated into a splintered disco scratch, gleefully bouncing off the tribal rhythms.An unexpected treat comes in the shape of a 2006 bonus 'live' reprise of Vindictive',whereby { in the absence of Viv Albertine } the late ,great Ari Up's recapturing of the spirit of '76 will have you pogoing around the room. { it did me! }If you've read the unsinkable Albertine's celebrated memoir 'Clothes, Music, Boys' then I would imagine that like me you automatically sought out this album. If not then no matter, this is still and always will be an essential listen. Whether drawn to the American 'Riot Grrl' movement, the predominantly female bands of Britpop ,or the contemporary Girl Rays and Big Moons of this world ; here's where it all began.