ABC Of Beauty

John Peel's ABC of British Underground Bands (1968)

For the 2 Nov 1968 edition of Disc & Music Echo, columnist John Peel offered readers his "ABC of Beauty', featuring British "underground" artists both famous and obscure who caught his attention at the time ("There will be complaints that this is a purely personal and arbitrary list. This is quite true....").

The full list of artists picked by Peel is reproduced below in his original order, under each letter of the alphabet. His brief comments on each selection can be read in the complete article, available here.

Many of the artists featured would have been familiar to listeners of Peel's Top Gear and Night Ride radio shows, while others subsequently recorded sessions or had their records played by the DJ; he admitted that he hadn't yet heard Caravan or the Third Ear Band, both mentioned in the article. Van Der Graaf Generator were one band who gained valuable early publicity from being featured in Peel's list, as later recalled by Peter Hammill.[2]

Others soon lost favour with the DJ, including Deep Purple, Ten Years After and Yes, or are names only known to experts on late 1960s music (Kate, Vamp, Harsh Reality). A few don't seem to have been played on Peel shows at all - like the satirical singer-songwriter Jeremy Taylor, who, after being exiled from South Africa because of his opposition to apartheid, became a BBC regular on radio folk programmes before having his own TV series, and later collaborated on live shows with Spike Milligan.

At the end of the article there is a short list of artists who didn't quite make the final listing; these include Peter Sarstedt, the British band Kaleidoscope and two who read suspiciously like the kind of group names Peel enjoyed making up (Pregnant Insomnia, Bamboo Shoot).

A

• Action, Alan Bown, Al Stewart, Andromeda, Arthur Brown, Aynsley Dunbar

B

• Bakerloo Line, Barclay James Harvest, Beatles, Bee Gees, Blonde On Blonde, Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, Brian Auger Trinity (and Julie Driscoll), Bridget St John

C

• Caravan, Cat Stevens, Chicken Shack, Cream

D

• Deep Purple, Deviants, Dr K's Blues Band, Donovan, Duncan Browne, Duster Bennett

E

• East Of Eden, Eclection, Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera, Eric Burdon (& the Animals), Eyes Of Blue

F

• Fairport Convention, Family, Fleetwood Mac

G

• Gilbert, Giles, Giles & Fripp, Gods, Gordon Smith, Gun

H

• Harsh Reality, Hollies, Honeybus

I

• Ian Anderson, Idle Race, Incredible String Band

J

• Jackie Lomax, Jeff Beck, Jethro Tull, Jeremy Taylor, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Jo-Ann Kelly, Joe Cocker (& The Grease Band), John Mayall (& The Bluesbreakers), John Dummer Blues Band, John Martyn, Johnstons, Jon Hiseman's Colosseum, July, Junior's Eyes

K

• Kate, Kinks

L

• Led Zeppelin, Lesley Duncan, Liverpool Scene, Love Sculpture

M

• Manfred Mann, Moody Blues

N

• Nice, Nirvana(2)

O

• Occasional Word Ensemble

P

• Pentangle, Pink Floyd, Pretty Things, Principal Edwards Magic Theatre, Procol Harum, Pete Brown's Battered Ornaments

R

• Ralph McTell, Rolling Stones, Ron Geesin, Roy Harper

S

• Sallyangie, Savoy Brown, Scaffold, Serendipidy, Shirley Collins, Skip Bifferty, Small Faces, Soft Machine, Spooky Tooth, Strawbs

T

• Taste, Ten Years After, Third Ear Band, Tim Hollier, Tyrannosaurus Rex

V

• Vamp, Van Der Graaf Generator

W

• Who, Writing On The Wall

Y

• Yes, Young Tradition

Z

• Zombies

See Also

• Disc & Music Echo: Peel Columns