John Peel's Top 20 Albums...

In  1997 John Peel  identified his personal top 20 Lps for The Guardian newspaper.
Whereas most of us would struggle to do this, for Peel it must have been virtually impossible.Striking omissions? Nothing from The Fall. No early rock n roll. Here's the list, along with links to blogs where you can sample the sounds.

1. Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band: Trout Mask Replica (1969)
2. Velvet Underground: The Velvet Underground and Nico (1967)
3. Ramones: The Ramones (1976)
4. Pulp: Different Class (1995)
5. Misty In Roots: Live At Counter Eurovision 79 (1979)
6. Nirvana: Nevermind (1991)
7. Smiths: The Smiths (1984)
8. Neil Young: Arc Weld (1991)
9. Jimi Hendrix Experience: Are You Experienced? (1967)
10. Wawali Bonané: Enzenzé  amazingly there don't appear to be any rips or torrents of this record out there- but apparently you can buy it for 11 Euros- other writers on this topic have similarly failed to locate it. Phone up Andy Kershaw...
11. Pink Floyd: Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (1967)
12. Dreadzone: Second Light (1995)
13. Four Brothers: Makorokoto (1988)
14. Dave Clarke: Dave Archive One (1996)
15. Big Black: Songs About Fucking (1987)
16. PJ Harvey: Dry (1992)
17. Richard and Linda Thompson: I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight (1974)
18. Elastica: Elastica (1995)
19. Hole: Live Through This (1994)
20. Rolling Stones: The Rolling Stones (1964)

Burning Aquarium isn't as generous as The Guardian, and we'll soon be kicking off an occasional feature in which 'guests' select their Top Ten LPs.

Datblygu- Ga I Fod Sion Corn?

David R Edwards

Ar yr un pryd, roedd DJ enwoca'r byd - John Peel - yn datgan mai cerddoriaeth Datblygu oedd yr ysgogiad gore i unrhywun i ddysgu'r iaith Gymraeg:

"You'd have to be a bit of a ninny to ignore Datblygu, this is the band that
makes me want to learn the Welsh language."

Here's the best xmas related record ever.
Despite the fact that my father's first language is Welsh, that I have lived in Wales all my life and that I was even (albeit accidentally) placed in the Welsh form in secondary school I can't translate the lyrics in their entirety. My relationship with the language has always been a bit thorny.
And how much money has been spent on implementing The Welsh Language Act 1993 (an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which put the Welsh language on an equal footing with the English language in Wales with regard to the public sector)?
Road signs, electric bills, driving licences, hospital appointments, application forms,everything bilingual?
According to the 2001 census 582,400 (20.8% of the population of Wales) were able to speak Welsh and 457,946 (16.3%) can speak, read and write it.

From the BBC:
When officials asked for the Welsh translation of a road sign, they thought the reply was what they needed.Unfortunately, the e-mail response to Swansea council said in Welsh: "I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated".
So that was what went up under the English version which barred lorries from a road near a supermarket.
"When they're proofing signs, they should really use someone who speaks Welsh," said journalist Dylan Iorwerth.

Anyway, back to Datblygu: Ga I Fod Sion Corn? (Can I be Father Xmas?) here are some of the gems therein, musings of a lyrical genius:

The system causes cancer, not smoking…
I’m sick of feeling like Jesus on the cross, so please, can I be Father Xmas.
3 signs of insanity- talking to yourself, listening to other people, not talking to yourself.
I want Wales to be free, I want every village to be free, I want every person to be free…

Listen here:

John Peel- Desert Island Discs (1990)

On last week's Morrissey Desert Island Discs post we acknowledged the difficulty of selecting just eight records after a lifetime of following pop music. If it is hard enough for us mere mortals imagine the difficulty faced by John Peel when he was castaway in January 1990 (20 years ago? ridiculous).
I was going to write a bit here about how the teenaged Lonnie Donnegan fan's fetish for records led to him becoming the most revered figure in British popular music, but it would be superfluous.

Handel: Zadok the Priest
Roy Orbison: It's Over
Jimmy Reed: Too Much
Misty in Roots: Mankind
The Undertones: Teenage Kicks (overall choice)
Rachmaninoff: 2nd piano concerto
The Fall: Eat Y'self Fitter
The Four Brothers: Pasi Pano Pane Zviedzo


Here's the programme, first broadcast on January 14th 1990.

John Peel’s Festive Fifty- The Number Ones- 1980 to 1990.

Just for fun-
Nothing new here, and no doubt if you're a serious music lover of a certain age then you'll have (or have had) these tracks already, or at least know them.
Introduced in 1976, John Peel’s Festive Fifty (aired in the build up to Xmas) became an institution.

Originally listeners chose their all-time favourite three tracks, but this was replaced by a year-only chart in 1982.

By 1986 Peel was already expressing disillusionment at the predictable and unadventurous choices of his listeners, and he was quoted as saying that he felt there were too many white boys with guitars making an appearance on the countdown.

This culminated in the ‘Phantom Fifty’ of 1991, which was not actually aired until 1993. Peel was hacked off for two reasons- the absence of music that he had been championing in 91 (rave, hardcore) and the inevitability that Smells Like Teen Spirit would be number one by a country mile.
Here then are the number ones from the golden years…a cracking little compilation for the car or the pod or for teaching the children about the old days.
pics: Sex Pistols, Joy Division, New Order, The Smiths, The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Sugarcubes, The House of Love, The Sundays, The Fall.

John Peel Show- Punk Rock Special December 10th 1976. Fixed Link.

…an injection of energy and crudity into a rock scene that’s been painfully smug and complacent … Peel on punk.
On December 10th 1976 John Peel devoted his show to the punk rock scene. Readers may well be familiar with the music featured, and the records that Peel plays here might be accessible, but this is a good listen for Peel’s observations on what punk was about and how it was revitalising music . The inclusion of tracks by American progenitors such as the New York Dolls supports the notion that creative movements are about evolution rather than revolution, despite what their champions would have you believe.

Peel intro.
The Damned - So Messed Up (Peel Session)
The Seeds - Pushing Too Hard
Iggy and the Stooges - Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell
Eddie and the Hotrods - Horseplay (Wearier of the Schmaltz)
The Damned - Neat Neat Neat (Peel Session)
Richard Hell and the Voidoids - Blank Generation (E.P. version)
Television - Little Johnny Jewel Pt. 1
Tuff Darts - Slash
Pere Ubu - Final Solution
The Damned - New Rose (Peel Session)
Sex Pistols - Anarchy in the U.K.
The Fast - Boys Will Be Boys
New York Dolls - Personality Crisis
The Saints - I'm Stranded
The Damned - Stab Your Back (Peel Session)
Shadows of Knight - Light Bulb Blues
Ramones - California Sun
Ramones - I Don't Want to Walk Around With You
Peel outro…

http://d01.megashares.com/dl/574PM2s/John Peel - Punk Rock Special -.rar

Richard Hell and the Voidoids- Blank Generation (EP version) John Peel Show 10th December 1976.

Richard Hell was a definite 100% inspiration... torn and ripped t-shirt...this look, this image of the guy, this spiky hair...By being inspired by it I was going to imitate it and transform it into something more English - Malcolm McLaren
On December 10th 1976 John Peel’s BBC radio show was given over to a punk rock special. It featured The Damned in session, and tracks from The Sex Pistols, The Saints and a host of American groups who had influenced the development of punk, such as The Ramones, Television and Pere Ubu, along with earlier garage acts such as The Seeds.
This version of Blank Generation comes from the EP released by Stiff records.
I have a good remastered copy of the whole show. I’ll post it if anyone’s interested.