Category Archives: The Orb

Bizarre Music Show performances #1

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I was listening to Liz Kershaw’s show on BBC6Music earlier on today. She was asking for people’s memories of Top Of The Pops.

This came to mind. In the early 1990s, Top Of The Pops was somewhat bemused by dance music, and with a new rule that insisted bands had to sing live, dance acts struggled. The point was that people could dance, rather than their musical ability.

Acts like The Orb were one stage further, there were no vocals, so this was the performance of ‘Blue Room in 1992.

Oh, and although the single was forty minutes long unedited, the Beeb only gave us three minutes worth.

Keepingitpeel day

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John Peel and his wife, Sheila, affectionately known as ‘the Pig.’

OK folks, a veritable pot-pourri for you today, in honour of the great John Peel:

First up, Wire’s 2002 session for the programme

Wire -‘Spent (Peel session).’ mp3

Wire -‘I Don’t Understand (Peel session).’ mp3

Wire -‘First Fast (Peel session).’ mp3

Wire -‘99.9 (Peel session).’ mp3

…and one or two other bits and pieces that turned up in the programme.

Like Six By Seven covering Bowie’s ‘Heroes’ – in German, obviously.

Six By Seven -‘Heldon (Peel session).’ mp3

And the Shop Assistants covering Motorhead:

Shop Assistants -‘Ace Of Spades (Peel session).’ mp3

While Blur and Pulp recorded sessions for Peel, and he championed the Bluetones too, and even Suede got an entry (‘The Drowners,’ natch) the biggest stars of Britpop -Oasis, duh -only scored an entry in the hallowed Festive fifty courtesy of Cat Power:

Cat Power -‘Wonderwall (Peel session).’ mp3

Finally, two very long session tracks that I’ve posted before but I think are worth posting again:

Godspeed You Black Emperor -‘Hungover As The Queen in Maida Vale (Peel session).’ mp3

Orb -‘Loving You (Peel session).’ mp3

I would also recommend that you read my friend Steve’s blog, Teenage Kicks, which covers the Festive Fifty in awesome detail, and as well as Football and music who started this ball rolling (thank you!), my friend Jim over at The Vinyl Villain has also been flying the flag for today for some weeks past. Including posting another, earlier Wire session that they recorded for Mr. Peel.

Peel – more very hard to get hold of stuff!

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I have built up an ever more complete collection of Peel Festive Fifties, I have now completed 1990 thanks to two readers, david and Andy, who helped me track down Bastro. So tonight’s post from this very cold and snowy part of Scotland (not sufficiently hideous enough that we didn’t have to get the day off work though!) focuses firstly on 1990, a year when much of the stuff has proved difficult to get hold of. Thanks to everyone who has helped out with these over the years!

The Orb -‘Loving You.’ mp3 (1990 Festive Fifty no.10)

The Would-Be’s -‘I’m Hardly Ever Wrong.’ mp3 (1990 Festive Fifty no.12)

Lemonheads -‘Different Drum.’ mp3 (1990 Festive Fifty no.13)

Babes In Toyland -‘House.’ mp3 (1990 Festive Fifty no.38)

Bastro -‘Nothing Special.’ mp3 (1990 Festive Fifty no.45)

Now skipping forward a bit, to this deacde, for some reason many of the tracks featured by Mr. Peel have proved rather hard to get hold of. Thank God for the net and readers!

Burning Love Jumpsuit -‘Cheerleader.’ mp3 (2002 Festive Fifty no.41)

The Undertones -‘Thrill Me.’ mp3 (2003 Festive Fifty no.4)

The Undertones -‘Oh Please.’ mp3 (2003 Festive Fifty no.22)

these two tracks are takes, rather than remixes I would say, of tracks that in their original versions were massive pop hits. this was the john Peel show, and we got something a bit special (and impossible to get hold of!)

The Darkness Vs SFB -‘I Believe In A Thing Called Love.’ mp3 (2003 Festive Fifty no.20)

The KLF vs Extreme Noise Terror -‘3AM Eternal.’ mp3 (1992 Festive Fifty no.44)

As ever, if you want good Peel-related sites there are many out there, but Teenage Kicks, Sexy Loser and Fades in Slowly are three I check prettty regularly.

Now, if anyone can help with these I would be grateful, eternally:

Dreadzone -‘Maximum’
Zion Train -‘dance Of Life’
Dreadzone -‘Fight the Power’
Spare Snare -‘Bugs’
Stereolab -‘Pop Quiz’
Soolar Race-‘Not Here’
Dave Clarke -‘Red Three’
Orbital -‘Out Three Somewhere’
Soul Bossa -‘Sore Loser’
Forces & Stars -‘Fireworks’
Quickspace -‘Friend’
Sweeney -‘Why?’
Zion Train -‘Babylon’s Burning’

And yes, of course I have tried eMusic and iTunes, that’s why I’m asking!

x

Yet Another Festive Fifty-themed post

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Here are ten songs today from the legendary Festive Fifty compiled by John Peel. As yesterday’s entry focused on the eighties, it seemed only fair to do the nineties today. Some of the records were obscure, but other artists went on to do massively well. Much like the eighties, in fact.

The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy -‘Television: The Drug Of The Nation.’ mp3 (1992 Festive Fifty No.38)

Dawn Of the Replicants -‘Science Fiction Freak.’ mp3 (1999 Festive Fifty No.29)

The Orb -‘The Box.’ mp3 (1996 Festive Fifty No.7)

The Fall -‘Bill Is Dead.’ mp3 (1990 Festive Fifty No.1)

Nirvana -‘Where Did You Sleep Last Night?’ mp3 (1994 Festive Fifty no.27)

Hefner -‘The Hymn For the Cigarettes.’ mp3 (1999 Festive Fifty no.2)

Orbital -‘Blue Room.’ mp3 (1992 Festive Fifty No. 20)

AC Acoustics -‘I Messiah Am Jailer.’ mp3 (1997 Festive Fifty no.19)*

Slowdive -‘Catch the Breeze.’ mp3 (1991 Festive Fifty No.20)

Paris Angels -‘All On You(Perfume).’ mp3 (1990 Festive Fifty no.6)

* OK, I’m aware that there were only thirty-one records in the chart that year due to restrictions on John Peel’s time. But you get the point, yes?