Peel On Record

Background

 * John Peel, by his own admission, was no musician. He could not sing in any other than a vibratoless low baritone and knew no instruments,, and so limited himself to spoken word appearances, whistling, and once only as part of a backing chorus to one of his favourite bands.
 * He ran a record label called Dandelion in the late 60s/early 70s, but by his own admission (again) had no head for business and therefore, by only recording material he liked personally, made no money at all (despite gaining a UK chart entry for the band Medicine Head.)
 * Nevertheless, he was namechecked in a variety of songs by grateful bands either during sessions or in early releases. This page is an attempt to catalogue any occasions when he was either a performer on an official release (having refused to participate in any of the session recordings) or mentioned in the course of a song by name.

Appearances

 * Tyrannosaurus Rex: 'Frowning Atahualpa (My Inca Love) (LP-My People Were Fair And Had Sky In Their Hair...But Now They're Content To Wear Stars On Their Brows' (Fly, originally released on Regal Zonophone)
 * Peel reads a children's story at the conclusion of this track. He appeared to find this increasingly embarrassing, and on one show from the 90s did not play his contribution.


 * Tyrannosaurus Rex: 'The Misty Coast Of Albany (LP-Unicorn)' (Regal Zonophone)
 * Another children's story reading.


 * Third Ear Band: 'Area Three (LP-Alchemy
 * John plays the Jew's Harp.


 * Altered Images: 'Song Sung Blue (LP-Pinky Blue)' (Epic)
 * The only time John allowed himself to be caught singing, in a kind of rugby chorus background and some whistling, which he claimed was his own idea. Peel related the story of this recording session a few years later to John Walters: "I think I did a gig with them at Leicester Polytechnic. They were very very good. I can say this now: I was very smitten by Clare Grogan, the only time I’ve ever felt infatuated by a pop star…She was almost the only person, apart of course from my wife, who could have persuaded me to go into a recording studio and sing! Her and the drummer [Michael 'Tich' Anderson] came and collected me after a programme. They hadn’t warned me about it beforehand, which is probably a very good idea, because I would have found excuses not to go. They took me out to a recording studio. On the way out there, I was horrified to find that the drummer and Clare, put together, weighed the same as me, which is a very depressing statistic. We got out there, and they wanted me to sing on 'Song Sung Blue', the Neil Diamond song." Transcribed from Peeling Back The Years, Part 5.


 * Intestines: 'The Man Speaks (LP-Borborygmus Vol. 2)' (Inept)
 * As might be expected, a spoken word contribution.


 * Yeah Yeah Noh: 'The First Corner/Edges/The Missing Place (EP-Temple Of Convenience)' (In Tape)
 * Sampled talkovers.


 * Andreas Ammer/FM Einheit: 'Voice-The Radio (CD-Radio Inferno)' (Rough Trade, UK release)
 * An ambitious album based on Dante's 'Divine Comedy'.


 * Spit: 'John Peel (CD-You Would If You Loved Me)' (Vinyl Communications)
 * Vinnie samples Peel's voice introducing his only Festive Fifty entry, 'Road Pizza', and subjects it to tape loops.


 * Dentist From Boscaland: 'Untitled (12 inch-The Dentist From Boscaland)' (Boscaland Recordings)
 * This is a hardcore acid band, and the release was on purple vinyl.


 * Satanicpornocultshop: 'Dandelion (mp3-Session 5)' (Tribute To John Peel)
 * Sadly, a posthumous contribution (released 2005).

Name Checks

 * Damned: 'New Rose' (Peel Session)
 * Dave Vanian cheekily interjects the cry, 'Eat your heart out, John Peel!'


 * Cockney Rejects: 'Flares 'N Slippers (7 inch)' (Small Wonder)
 * This may be the session recording, which would explain the 'Awright, John?' and 'Thanks, John!' exclamations which top and tail it.


 * Skids: 'TV Stars (7 inch-Into The Valley)' (Virgin)
 * Recorded live at the Marquee and famed for the 'chorus' of 'Albert Tatlock'.


 * Altered Images: 'Song Sung Blue' (Peel Session)
 * It would appear that Clare Grogan is attempting to get John to sing along with the chorus, on the grounds that 'anybody can sing this...this is your big moment.' Apparently, he voiced over 'Not on your nelly' on the first broadcast. However, as can be seen above, she managed it eventually.


 * Mad Professor: 'John Peel Dub' (Peel Session) One and only, recorded 1982-09-23.
 * John's rather sour comment on this was I’m not certain that having something that sounds like a bunch of old washing machine parts being dragged around in a sack named after you is entirely complimentary.


 * Doctor And The Crippens: 'Peely Backwards' (Peel Session)
 * Overlord X: 'The Dedication' (Peel Session)
 * Peel and Walters are named amongst many others.