Wire(2)

The Wire (sometimes stylised as WIRE) is a British avant garde music magazine, founded in May 1982 by jazz promoter Anthony Wood and journalist Chrissie Murray. The magazine initially concentrated on contemporary jazz and New Music, but branched out in the early 1990s to various types of experimental music. Since then it has covered Electronica, modern classical, Free improvisation, Avant rock, hip hop, New jazz, Modern composition, Traditional musics and beyond.

Links to Peel
Peel was featured in The Wire's Invisible Jukebox section, which was a feature on the magazine between 1991 and 1997, where every month, a music journalist would play a celebrity a series of records which they've asked to identify and comment on - with no prior knowledge of what they're about to hear. Peel appeared on Invisible Jukebox in the January 1995 edition, where the interview took place at Peel Acres and lasted for about 3 hours until it was brought to a premature halt when his children returned home from school.

Below are the list of records that were played to Peel, including excerpts of comments from him:
 * Bo Diddley: Down Home Special (album - Signifying Blues) Charly R&B
 * (JP: 'I was very surprised when you did this to Steve Albini [Invisible Jukebox, The Wire, 122] and you started with Bo Diddley's "Mumblin Guitar" which he didn't recognise - which I was astonished by, because for me it's one of the great records of all time')


 * West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band: 1906 (album - Transparent Day) Edsel
 * (JP: 'Sounds a bit like Mark E. Smith with that vaguely dissatisfied muttering in the background. Nice guitar sound. Is it Syndicate Of Sound? You're going to have to tell me.') 
 * (JOURNALIST: It's the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band)
 * (JP: 'Is it? By God! I must admit I don't remember this track at all and I've actually got an LP by them. It's dead good - I shall dig it out and play it this weekend. I really like it. That guitar's really nice - it does remind me almost of Lonnie Mack at the end.')


 * Tractor: Hope In Favour (album - Tractor) Dandelion
 * (JP: 'The drumming sounds like The Way We Live, the rest of it doesn't [Long pause] it sound like The Way We Live. Once again it sounds familiar but I can't put a name to it.')
 * (JOURNALIST: 'It's Tractor, a band from your own 70's Dandelion labell')
 * (JP: 'Oh well, that's the same thing. The Way We Live is Tractor. It's the same people. They did their first LP as The Way We Live and then I said 'That's such a crap name', so they changed it to Tractor, which wasn't much better. In fact I'm not sure that I didn't suggest Tractor. I'm fairly impressed that I recognised the drum sound, because that's a muso's thing that I wouldn't normally do at all.')


 * Captain Beefheart: The Key To The Highway (Bootleg Tape)
 * (JP: 'This isn't Son House at the 100 Club, is it?')
 * (JOURNALIST: 'I think it'll be apparent who it is when he gets going')
 * (JP: 'Is this Beefheart? I really love Beefheart. I haven't heard him do this. Where was this recorded?
 * (JOURNALIST: 'I've no idea, except it's pretty informal, just guitar and voice. It was before 72. There were no details on the tape. I don't know who the guitarist is.')


 * DJ Crystl: Warpdrive (v/a album - Drum & Bass Selection 1) Breakdown
 * (JP: '...I don't know what this is. You just lose track. So this could be something I've played on the radio, it could be something I've never heard in my life before. I like it.)


 * Roxanne Shante: Runaway (v/a album - Street Jams: Hip-Hop From The Top Part 3) Rhino
 * (JP: 'I know this, is this the Cookie Crew? Early Salt 'N' Pepa? Hold on, don't tell me. This is something I should know, because I played it on the radio. I'm sure I have. The kids should know because I think it's one of our holiday tapes! Is it one of the numerous Roxannes? Roxanne Shante?')


 * Miles Davis