The third part of the 1992 Festive Fifty, backed by records chosen by himself and his children, two sessions from the year and two 'classic sessions from yesteryear', as JP's Christmas present to his listeners.
Sessions[]
PJ Harvey, #2 (rpt). Recorded 1992-09-22. No known commercial release.
Cobra, one and only session (rpt). Recorded 1991-12-29. No known commercial release.
Nirvana, #1 (rpt). Recorded 1989-10-26. Unofficial limited release on John Peel Sessions (not on label).
Sonic Youth, #2 (rpt). Recorded 1988-10-11. Official bootleg by the band themselves on 4 Tunna Brix (Goofin'), which belies Peel's doubts as transcribed below. [1]
(JP: 'Well that's a poke in the eye for those of you who thought the Cocteau Twins had no sense of humour....probably fed up with hearing that by now, I would have thought, and it's the only Christmas record in this week's programme.')
(JP: 'In a couple of minutes' time, it'll be Flossie's choice, which may not play terrifically well, as it appears to be covered in yoghurt, but we'll see.')
(JP: 'While that was going on and while the programme's been unfolding before you so delightfully, I've been continuing to open my Christmas mail: my thanks to all of those people who've sent me Christmas cards. They're always most gratefully received, and get stuck up on the walls at home, and so on....Along with them, just as I was getting all sentimental and thinking, isn't it sweet the listeners really love me, is a little injunction to "please keep Hillingdon tidy". Well, I shall certainly do my bit there, no question about it.')
(JP: 'I think if I'd voted in the Festive Fifty this year, I might well have put that down somewhere. I did try to, actually, but I got it down to about 45 or something like that, and couldn't go any lower.')
(JP: 'There's always one or two tracks in the Festive Fifty each year which I've never played on the radio at all. No reason why this shouldn't happen, but it's always vaguely kind of irritating. This is one of 'em.')
(JP: 'I know I should probably have played you the entire 40 minute version, or 38 minutes and 58 seconds, whatever it was supposed to be, but frankly it just simply wouldn't fit into the programme.')
(JP: 'This next was our Thomas' choice for tonight's programme. It's a record that he plays a great deal in his bedroom, so I'm entirely familiar with it.')
(JP: 'And now my other Christmas present to you, which is the Sonic Youth session....of course, a much bootlegged session, in fact, persistent rumours had it that the band themsleves had bootlegged it, but that sounds rather shocking and most improbable, but I've got three or four different bootlegged versions myself.')
↑Consists entirely of Fall covers (although 'Victoria' was originally by the Kinks).
↑As the reference shows, this artist actually appears, judging by several factors including the timing, to be VR and the track to be the 'Cyber Mix' by Dr. Devious. Mark Whitby claims that it is 'aka some guy called Marcus. Did I make that up?' (The Festive Fifty, Nevin Publishing, 2005, p. 86). On the other hand, discogs.com contends that Dr. Devious is really Paul Walden, a.k.a. Guru Josh. Whoever he is, he shares his nom de disque with that year'sEpsom Derbywinner.
↑This play is heavily edited to remove the frequently repeated line 'you fucking bitch'. The Sub Pop single version had also been voted for in the Phantom Fifty of 1991.
↑The complete version makes this the longest track ever to have entered the chart, but John plays only 17 minutes of it, per his following comment.