Monday, November 27, 2006
Peel Sessions 31
A little change in style for today's post, three bands with two things in common, first the is obvious in that they have all recorded for Peelie, the second is that they all have the same geographical provenance ; Manchester. That one time powerful industrial town situated in the North West of England, that suffered a painful decline when it's manufacturing industries hit the wall, only to go through an amazing renaissance due in part to the cities strong musical heritage post '77. Strange Fruit, an independent label that was the first to capitalise on the richness of the Peel sessions by giving an official release to certain of them, paid tribute to the old cloth capital with it's 1990 compilation 'Manchester - So Much To Answer For' from which today's three tracks are taken.
A Witness
Showing my total ignorance here, a band that I know nothing about at all, though what I can say is that the great man must have liked them as this quartet delivered no less than four sessions between December 1985 and November 1988. 'I Love You Mr. Disposable Razor' is taken from their last session and is a thoroughly enjoyable slice of quirky raucous indie pop, that is slightly reminiscent of the Fall, maybe it's the accent?
A Guy Called Gerald
The balding one had very varied tastes in music, a typical program could include along with the day's indie gems some death metal, some dub, some country, some techno it was only natural then that certain of these artists recorded for him one such person was the man that got the nations legs and butts moving to his 'Voodoo Ray' hit, known to his parents as Gerald Simpson and having collaborated with many different artists, 'Rockin Ricki' comes from his first visit to the BBC studios in October 1988, there were to be two other sessions.
A Certain Ratio
Purveyors of that fragile sound that could be called white indie boy funk, the band were a direct issue from the late seventies punk scene before embracing electronics and taking their music to the dance floor of student discos the width and breadth of the land. Their first recording were released by that most Mancunian of all labels, Factory. 'Do The Du' was put down on tape for the first of their three sessions in October 1979 and illustrates very well the cold industrial funk that they were playing at the time.
A Witness
Showing my total ignorance here, a band that I know nothing about at all, though what I can say is that the great man must have liked them as this quartet delivered no less than four sessions between December 1985 and November 1988. 'I Love You Mr. Disposable Razor' is taken from their last session and is a thoroughly enjoyable slice of quirky raucous indie pop, that is slightly reminiscent of the Fall, maybe it's the accent?
A Guy Called Gerald
The balding one had very varied tastes in music, a typical program could include along with the day's indie gems some death metal, some dub, some country, some techno it was only natural then that certain of these artists recorded for him one such person was the man that got the nations legs and butts moving to his 'Voodoo Ray' hit, known to his parents as Gerald Simpson and having collaborated with many different artists, 'Rockin Ricki' comes from his first visit to the BBC studios in October 1988, there were to be two other sessions.
A Certain Ratio
Purveyors of that fragile sound that could be called white indie boy funk, the band were a direct issue from the late seventies punk scene before embracing electronics and taking their music to the dance floor of student discos the width and breadth of the land. Their first recording were released by that most Mancunian of all labels, Factory. 'Do The Du' was put down on tape for the first of their three sessions in October 1979 and illustrates very well the cold industrial funk that they were playing at the time.
# posted by abramson @ 2:40 PM 
