The Complete Peel Sessions 1978–2004
2005 box set by The Fall
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The Complete Peel Sessions 1978–2004 is a compilation box set by English post-punk band the Fall. It was released in 2005 by record label Castle Music.
| The Complete Peel Sessions 1978–2004 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Box set by | ||||
| Released | 25 April 2005 | |||
| Recorded | 30 May 1978 – 4 August 2004 | |||
| Studios | Maida Vale Studios, London | |||
| Genre | Post-punk | |||
| Length | 7:04:24 | |||
| Label | Castle Music | |||
| Producers | Various; see "personnel" | |||
| The Fall compilation album chronology | ||||
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| The Fall chronology | ||||
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Content
The Complete Peel Sessions comprises each of the twenty-four sessions the group recorded for John Peel's radio show. Peel was an avid supporter of the group from early in their career, and the Fall recorded more sessions for Peel's programmes than any other artist. The set was in the process of being compiled when Peel died in October 2004. The set charts almost all of the group's musical phases up until 2004.
Release
The box set's release was conceived by Sanctuary Records as part of a comprehensive reissue campaign to capitalise upon the recent success of The Real New Fall LP (Formerly Country on the Click), which had been roundly praised as a "return to form" for the band. In 2004, Sanctuary issued expanded, remastered editions of the band's first four albums—Live at the Witch Trials (1979), Dragnet (1979), the (mostly) live Totale's Turns (1980), and Grotesque (After the Gramme) (1980)—as well as the first career-spanning "greatest hits" compilation, 50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong. The release of The Complete Peel Sessions was slated for summer 2005 to arrive alongside another "deluxe" reissue of the band's acclaimed fourth studio album, Hex Enduction Hour (1982).[1]
Reception
The Complete Peel Sessions was met with a laudatory response from critics, who generally praised it as a worthy summation of the Fall's career to date. Critics named a broad selection of highlights, though some noted an impression of inconsistency or decline in the latter portions of its seven-hour runtime. "There are now more Fall compilations and collections out there than Mark E. Smith himself can keep track of," Nigel Kendall wrote for The Times, "but if you buy only one, make it this one."[8] Named the "Reissue of the Week" in NME, the compilation was reviewed by Rob Fitzpatrick, who said:
In a more authoritarian country than our own—say France—the very idea that one obsessive individual could, over 26 years, freely spend thousands of pounds of public money recording the absurdist ramblings of a man stumbling through a career that's clearly little more than an attempt to avoid getting up for work in the morning would, understandably, be met with angry, perhaps vicious, condemnation. In France, John Peel would have surely have been hung [sic?] in the town square long before he, or his favourite-ever band, the Fall, would have had the chance to thrill, inspire and amaze Radio 1's adventurous night-time audience with [so many] brilliantly pointed pop moments ...[10]
In the Daily Mirror, Gavin Martin called it a "lavish, head-spinning portrait of the most undervalued band in Britain" and "confirmation of Mark E. Smith as Britrock's great anti-hero".[3] Keith Bruce of The Herald recommended the box set for diehard fans of the Fall, who he surmised would likely focus on recordings dating to either the early 1980s period with Marc Riley or Brix Smith's time with the band the mid-1980s—although "[o]nly real anoraks," Bruce continued, "will be able to be more specific about a band that has had 30 different line ups over more than 25 years."[5] Simon Goddard for Uncut said that the "bulk" of the BBC recordings "easily rival" the studio versions of the tracks, while a few "actually surpass" them. Although Goddard felt the set's overall range in quality was "desperately eclectic, even by the Fall's abstruse standards", it was nonetheless "hard to imagine a more satisfying or comprehensive career overview than this."[9] At Mojo, Ian Harrison wrote it "may well be the definitive history of the Fall, from wired, punk-era beginnings on to year after year of constant mutation", noting the superiority of many of the Peel recordings to the studio versions of the same songs, and though he detected the band decline throughout the 1990s, he still found the release to be "indispensable for the fan, and a superb introduction for those wanting to be infected."[6]
At Pitchfork, Joe Tangari wrote that the box set arguably represented "the definitive look at the Fall's career to date—even more than last year's very well-considered 50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong compilation"; however, noting its considerable length, he said "it's not the place to start, but anyone with more than four or five Fall albums would be doing themselves a huge service picking this up."[7] Per David Jeffries at AllMusic, the immediacy of the Peel sessions format curtailed Smith's typically "flippant attitude toward practically everything" and his band's tendency to meander in a studio setting—but when recorded live and under conditions of imposed brevity, they demonstrated "an urgency and drive that's woefully absent from all but the band's best albums". The sheer quantity of highlights found on the box set, Jeffries continued, placed it "next to 50,000 Fall Fans and This Nation's Saving Grace in the Fall 'Hall of Fame.'"[2] In a more reserved review, Entertainment Weekly's Tom Sinclair cautioned that the Fall were "a notoriously acquired taste" and "[t]he alternative to alternative", the recordings "lurch, rattle, crawl, clatter, stagger—and sometimes even rock."[4]
Praise for individual tracks
Among the 97 total tracks on The Complete Peel Sessions, the following were cited as highlights of the set by at least one critic from the aforementioned reviews:
| D#–T# | Track title | Peel Session | Critic tally | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Recording date | ||||
| 1–03 | "Rebellious Jukebox" | 1st | 30 May 1978 | 1 | [2] |
| 1–04 | "Industrial Estate" | 1 | [2] | ||
| 1–09 | "Container Drivers" | 3rd | 24 September 1980 | 1 | [10] |
| 1–10 | "Jawbone and the Air-Rifle" | 1 | [2] | ||
| 1–12 | "New Face in Hell" | 3 | [5][7][9] | ||
| 1–15 | "Hip Priest" | 4th | 24 March 1981 | 1 | [2] |
| 1–16 | "C'n'C – Hassle Schmuck" | 1 | [9] | ||
| 2–03 | "Winter" | 5th | 15 September 1981 | 1 | [2] |
| 2–05 | "Smile" | 6th | 21 March 1983 | 1 | [2] |
| 2–11 | "Words of Expectation" | 7th | 12 December 1983 | 1 | [9] |
| 2–12 | "C.R.E.E.P." | 1 | [2] | ||
| 3–01 | "Cruiser's Creek" | 8th | 14 May 1985 | 3 | [2][10][6] |
| 3–03 | "Spoilt Victorian Child" | 2 | [11][7] | ||
| 3–05 | "L.A." | 9th | 29 September 1985 | 3 | [2][7][9] |
| 3–06 | "The Man Whose Head Expanded" | 2 | [2][9] | ||
| 3–12 | "US 80's–90's" | 10th | 29 June 1986 | 1 | [2] |
| 4–02 | "Cab It Up" | 12th | 25 October 1988 | 1 | [2] |
| 4–04 | "Kurious Oranj" | 1 | [2] | ||
| 4–06 | "Black Monk Theme" (The Monks cover) | 13th | 17 December 1989 | 1 | [2] |
| 4–07 | "Hilary" | 1 | [2] | ||
| 4–14 | "Kimble" (Lee "Scratch" Perry cover) | 15th | 19 January 1992 | 1 | [2] |
| 4–15 | "Immortality" | 1 | [7] | ||
| 5–01 | "Ladybird (Green Grass)" | 16th | 28 February 1993 | 1 | [2] |
| 5–06 | "Behind the Counter" | 17th | 2 December 1993 | 1 | [2] |
| 5–09 | "Glam Racket – Star" | 18th | 20 November 1994 | 1 | [2] |
| 5–10 | "Jingle Bell Rock" (Bobby Helms cover) | 1 | [7] | ||
| 5–11 | "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" (Christmas carol cover) | 1 | [9] | ||
| 5–13 | "He Pep!" | 19th | 7 December 1995 | 1 | [2] |
| 5–13 | "The City Never Sleeps" (Nancy Sinatra cover) | 1 | [2] | ||
| 5–20 | "Beatle Bones 'n' Smokin' Stones" (Captain Beefheart cover) | 20th | 30 June 1996 | 2 | [4][7] |
| 6–02 | "Touch Sensitive" | 21st | 3 February 1998 | 1 | [2] |
| 6–06 | "Antidotes" | 22nd | 18 October 1998 | 1 | [2] |
| 6–09 | "Theme from Sparta F.C." | 23rd | 19 February 2003 | 1 | [2] |
| 6–14 | "Blindness" | 24th | 4 August 2004 | 1 | [2] |
| 6–16 | "Wrong Place, Right Time" / "I Can Hear the Grass Grow" (The Move cover) | 1 | [2] | ||
Accolades
The Complete Peel Sessions won Catalogue Release of the Year at the 2005 Mojo Awards, in a ceremony held at London's Porchester Hall on 16 June 2005.[12] The award, sponsored by music retailer HMV, was intended to recognize the "reissue that is both definitive and beautifully packaged" from the preceding year.[13] The Complete Peel Sessions bested other nominated releases from the Clash, Jeff Buckley, the Mamas & the Papas, the Kinks and Jack Nitzsche.[14]
The Complete Peel Sessions appeared on several critics' year-end lists for 2005. In a feature by Stewart Lee, The Sunday Times named it the third-best record of 2005.[15] David Fricke of Rolling Stone ranked the compilation eighth on the magazine's list of the year's top 10 reissues.[16] The Sun critic Simon Cosyns named it among the year's 11 best box sets on a list that was unranked aside from the top spot, designated for Blue Guitars by Chris Rea.[17]
Meanwhile, in early 2006 the record industry periodical Music Week commended Will Nicol and Steve Hammonds of Sanctuary Records for conducting one of the year's most effective marketing campaigns based on promotion of an established musical act's back catalogue. Music Week named the campaign for The Complete Peel Sessions among four finalists for the year's best "catalogue campaign", with Sony BMG's promotion of the Elvis Presley compilation #1 Singles claiming the top spot.[18]
Track listing
Some tracks appear under titles different from those attached to their studio incarnations. Although most differences are slight, the tracks are listed by the titles they were given at the relevant session.
Disc one
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Futures and Pasts" | Mark E. Smith, Martin Bramah | 2:35 |
| 2. | "Mother-Sister!" | M. Smith, Una Baines | 3:07 |
| 3. | "Rebellious Jukebox" | M. Smith, Bramah | 2:59 |
| 4. | "Industrial Estate" | M. Smith, Bramah, Tony Friel | 1:44 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5. | "Put Away" | M. Smith | 3:33 |
| 6. | "Mess of My" | M. Smith, Bramah, Rick Goldstraw | 3:13 |
| 7. | "No Xmas for John Quays" | M. Smith | 4:12 |
| 8. | "Like to Blow" | M. Smith, Bramah | 1:46 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9. | "Container Drivers" | M. Smith, Craig Scanlon, Marc Riley, Steve Hanley, Paul Hanley | 3:38 |
| 10. | "Jawbone and the Air-Rifle" | The Fall | 3:22 |
| 11. | "New Puritan" | M. Smith, Scanlon, Riley, S. Hanley | 7:13 |
| 12. | "New Face in Hell" | M. Smith, Scanlon, Riley | 5:02 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13. | "Middlemass" | M. Smith, Scanlon, Riley, S. Hanley | 3:53 |
| 14. | "Lie Dream of a Casino Soul" | M. Smith, Scanlon, Riley, P. Hanley | 2:41 |
| 15. | "Hip Priest" | M. Smith, Scanlon, Riley, S. Hanley | 9:23 |
| 16. | "C'n'C – Hassle Schmuck" | M. Smith, Scanlon, Riley, S. Hanley [n 1] | 4:13 |
Disc two
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Deer Park" | M. Smith, Scanlon, Riley, Karl Burns | 4:26 |
| 2. | "Look, Know" | M. Smith, Riley, S. Hanley, Burns | 5:05 |
| 3. | "Winter" | M. Smith, Scanlon | 8:03 |
| 4. | "Who Makes the Nazis?" | M. Smith | 2:54 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5. | "Smile" | M. Smith, Scanlon | 5:10 |
| 6. | "Garden" | M. Smith, Scanlon | 10:00 |
| 7. | "Hexen Definitive – Strife Knot" | M. Smith, Scanlon, Burns, Adrian Niman | 9:07 |
| 8. | "Eat Y'Self Fitter" | M. Smith, S. Hanley | 7:01 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9. | "Pat Trip Dispenser" | M. Smith, Brix Smith | 4:08 |
| 10. | "2 × 4" | M. Smith, B. Smith | 4:15 |
| 11. | "Words of Expectation" (not broadcast) | M. Smith, B. Smith, Burns, S. Hanley, P. Hanley [n 2] | 9:14 |
| 12. | "C.R.E.E.P." | M. Smith, B. Smith, Scanlon, S. Hanley, P. Hanley | 2:36 |
Disc three
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Cruiser's Creek" | M. Smith, B. Smith | 5:49 |
| 2. | "Couldn't Get Ahead" | M. Smith, B. Smith | 2:33 |
| 3. | "Spoilt Victorian Child" | M. Smith, Simon Rogers | 4:55 |
| 4. | "Gut of the Quantifier" | M. Smith, B. Smith, Burns, Rogers | 4:42 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5. | "L.A." | M. Smith, B. Smith | 4:34 |
| 6. | "The Man Whose Head Expanded" | M. Smith, Scanlon, S. Hanley [n 3] | 5:13 |
| 7. | "What You Need" | M. Smith, Scanlon | 5:52 |
| 8. | "Faust Banana" (aka "Dktr. Faustus") | M. Smith, Scanlon | 5:06 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9. | "Hot Aftershave Bop" | M. Smith, S. Hanley | 3:10 |
| 10. | "R.O.D." | M. Smith, B. Smith, Scanlon, Rogers, Simon Wolstencroft | 4:26 |
| 11. | "Gross Chapel – GB Grenadiers" | M. Smith, Scanlon, S. Hanley | 6:21 |
| 12. | "US 80's–90's" | M. Smith, B. Smith | 4:53 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13. | "Athlete Cured" | M. Smith | 4:45 |
| 14. | "Australians in Europe" | M. Smith | 5:42 |
| 15. | "Twister" | M. Smith, B. Smith | 4:16 |
| 16. | "Guest Informant" | M. Smith, Scanlon, S. Hanley | 4:09 |
Disc four
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Deadbeat Descendant" | M. Smith, B. Smith | 2:17 |
| 2. | "Cab It Up" | M. Smith | 4:40 |
| 3. | "Squid Lord" (aka "Squid Law") | M. Smith, Scanlon, S. Hanley | 3:48 |
| 4. | "Kurious Oranj" | M. Smith, S. Hanley, Wolstencroft | 5:57 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5. | "Chicago Now" | M. Smith | 5:33 |
| 6. | "Black Monk Theme" (The Monks cover; originally titled "I Hate You") | The Monks | 4:05 |
| 7. | "Hilary" | M. Smith | 2:22 |
| 8. | "Whizz Bang" (not broadcast; later reworked as "Butterflies 4 Brains") | M. Smith, Scanlon, S. Hanley, Wolstencroft | 2:59 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9. | "The War Against Intelligence" | M. Smith, Scanlon | 3:02 |
| 10. | "Idiot Joy Showland" | M. Smith, S. Hanley | 3:46 |
| 11. | "A Lot of Wind" | M. Smith | 5:25 |
| 12. | "The Mixer" | M. Smith, Scanlon, Wolstencroft [n 4] | 4:32 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13. | "Free Range" | M. Smith, Wolstencroft | 4:05 |
| 14. | "Kimble" (Lee "Scratch" Perry cover) | Lee Perry | 3:53 |
| 15. | "Immortality" | Smith, Scanlon | 4:27 |
| 16. | "Return" | M. Smith, S. Hanley | 4:11 |
Disc five
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Ladybird (Green Grass)" | M. Smith, Scanlon, S. Hanley, Wolstencroft, Dave Bush | 4:04 |
| 2. | "Strychnine" (The Sonics cover) | Gerry Roslie | 2:54 |
| 3. | "Service" | M. Smith, Scanlon, S. Hanley | 3:35 |
| 4. | "Paranoia Man in Cheap Sh*t Room" | M. Smith, Scanlon | 4:17 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9. | "Glam Racket – Star" | M. Smith, Scanlon, S. Hanley | 3:20 |
| 10. | "Jingle Bell Rock" (Bobby Helms cover; with substantially different lyrics to the original 1957 song) | Joe Beal, Jim Boothe | 1:08 |
| 11. | "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" (Christmas carol cover) |
| 3:09 |
| 12. | "Numb at the Lodge" (aka "Feeling Numb") | M. Smith, B. Smith | 3:00 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13. | "He Pep!" | M. Smith, Wolstencroft | 4:15 |
| 14. | "Oleano" | M. Smith | 3:08 |
| 15. | "Chilinist" | M. Smith, S. Hanley, Burns, Wolstencroft, Julia Nagle, Mike Bennett | 5:20 |
| 16. | "The City Never Sleeps" (Nancy Sinatra cover; originally titled "The City Never Sleeps at Night") | Lee Hazlewood | 2:55 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17. | "D.I.Y. Meat" | M. Smith, B. Smith | 2:32 |
| 18. | "Spinetrak" | M. Smith, B. Smith | 2:39 |
| 19. | "Spencer" (aka "Spencer Must Die") | M. Smith, Simon Spencer | 3:34 |
| 20. | "Beatle Bones 'n' Smokin' Stones" (Captain Beefheart cover) | Don Van Vliet | 3:40 |
Disc six
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Calendar" | M. Smith, Damon Gough | 3:00 |
| 2. | "Touch Sensitive" | M. Smith, Nagle, Steve Hitchcock [n 8] | 3:35 |
| 3. | "Masquerade" | M. Smith, Nagle [n 9] | 6:33 |
| 4. | "Jungle Rock" (Hank Mizell cover) | Hank Mizell, Jim Bobo, Bill Collins, Ralph Simonton | 6:21 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5. | "Bound Soul One" (aka "Bound"; The Audio Arts Strings cover; originally titled "Love Bound") | Smith, Frank Wilson, Henry Wilson, Vance Wilson, David Lee Cason [n 10] | 3:50 |
| 6. | "Antidotes" | M. Smith, Nagle | 4:57 |
| 7. | "Shake-Off" | M. Smith, Nagle, Hitchcock, Tom Head, Karen Leatham, Neville Wilding [n 11] | 1:43 |
| 8. | "This Perfect Day" (The Saints cover) | Chris Bailey, Ed Kuepper | 2:15 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9. | "Theme from Sparta F.C." | M. Smith, Jim Watts, Ben Pritchard | 3:53 |
| 10. | "Contraflow" | M. Smith, Watts [n 12] | 4:05 |
| 11. | "Groovin' With Mr. Bloe" / "Green-Eyed Loco Man" ([n 13]) | Bo Gentry, Paul Naumann, Kenny Laguna / M. Smith, Watts [n 14] | 6:06 |
| 12. | "Mere Pseud Mag. Ed." | M. Smith [n 15] | 3:17 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13. | "Clasp Hands" | M. Smith, Steve Trafford | 4:41 |
| 14. | "Blindness" | M. Smith, Spencer Birtwistle | 6:28 |
| 15. | "What About Us?" | M. Smith, Elena Poulou | 5:52 |
| 16. | "Wrong Place, Right Time" / "I Can Hear the Grass Grow" (The Move cover) | M. Smith / Roy Wood | 7:00 |
| 17. | "Job Search" (bonus track) ([n 16]) | M. Smith | 4:20 |
Personnel
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Notes
- "Hassle Schmuck", the latter half of the track, is a parody of Coast to Coast's 1981 Top 5 hit (Do) The Hucklebuck, written by Andy Gibson and Roy Alfred. "C' n' C-S.Mithering". Reformation!. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
- Not released officially until 1993's Kimble EP, where it was credited to Mark E. Smith, Craig Scanlon and Steve Hanley.
- Alternatively credited on original single release to Mark E. Smith, Craig Scanlon, Steve Hanley and Sol Seaburg.
- Credited on the 1991 and 2002 editions of the Shift-Work album to Mark E. Smith and Craig Scanlon, and on the 2007 edition to Mark E. Smith, Craig Scanlon and Robert Gordon
- Credited on Middle Class Revolt to Mark E. Smith, Craig Scanlon and Steve Hanley.
- Credited on Middle Class Revolt to Mark E. Smith, Craig Scanlon and Steve Hanley.
- Credited on Middle Class Revolt to Mark E. Smith, Craig Scanlon and Steve Hanley.
- Credited on the 2011 reissue of The Marshall Suite to Mark E. Smith and Julia Nagle.
- Credited on the "Masquerade" single to Mark E. Smith, Julia Nagle, Steve Hanley and Karl Burns.
- Instrumental to which Smith added lyrics.
- Credited on the original 1999 edition of The Marshall Suite to Mark E. Smith, Steve Hitchcock, Karen Leatham and Tom Head.
- Credited on The Complete Peel Sessions 1978–2004 to Mark E. Smith and Dave Milner.
- "Groovin' With Mr. Bloe" was originally recorded by the US studio group Wind in 1969, and later by Mr. Bloe. The Fall's session version only lasts for one minute before segueing into "Green-Eyed Loco Man". "Groovin' With Mr. Bloe". Reformation!. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
- "Groovin' With Mr. Bloe" is credited on The Complete Peel Sessions 1978–2004 to Bo Gentry, Paul Naumann, Kenny Laguna and Bernard Cochrane.
- Credited on The Complete Peel Sessions 1978–2004 to Mark E. Smith and Marc Riley.
- Recorded during Session 24 but not broadcast. It was pressed onto an acetate (coupled with a similarly exclusive track by Half Man Half Biscuit) and given to John Peel for his 65th Birthday on 31 August 2004. Peel played the track on air that night, making it the final track by the group to debut on his show. "Job Search". Reformation!. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
