Class. I just found a torrent compiling every last song featured John Peel's festive 50 Christmas shows from 1980 until 2004. That's 50 cherry-picked songs songs per year for 24 years. Its downloading onto my laptop now, but it will probably take a few days to get them all. I'm dead excited about this. Imagine, a year-on-year compilation of 50 songs as selected by perhaps the greatest radio tastemaker of them all. And unlike Ireland's version, Fanning's flabby 50, it never repeated itself, thank fuck (Creep as song of the year 1993/1994/1995/1996?* THAT SHIT MADE PEOPLE EMIGRATE). Its pretty much as good a history of left-field music as you could ever hope to get. And it'll be my long overdue introduction into the weird world of the Fall. For some reason, my exposure to this band has been minimal over the years. I saw the drooling obsession the mention of Mark E Smith brings out in some men, and frankly it scared me off the band. I figured that if I'm already half brain damaged by my Guided by Voices fixation, getting into the Fall could finish me off for good. I know jack shit about them really. Just a few big tunes (like totally wired) which I've loved. But now I am ready and willing to learn. This John Peel shit will serve as my apprenticeship. Once I get stuck into the Peel stuff, I'll post some of it up here. Can't wait for it to download. Its gonna be Christmas on the compost heap, and John Peel is a ghostly digital santa!!
*I know these figures are probably inaccurate, but please don't feel the need to correct me and remind me whatever other ponderous alterno-turd of a tune topped the chart in these years. I heard the tail end of the fab 50 for the fist time in 5 years at Christmas and it actually managed to instantly put me in a bad mood. One minute I was eating sweets and grinning; seconds later The Smiths were singing the 9th most popular alternative song of 2007 and I was juddering with dread. The light dimmed, a curtain fluttered and Dave Fanning's spindly finger reached out of the radio from the depths of the 90s to tickle my scalp with its chill touch. Fab my hole.
MP3: Evangelicals-
skeleton man
8 comments:
Hi, would you be so kind as to point me in the direction of that torrent?
Yup, tmrc, I use Xtorrent on the Mac. I was looking for Boo Radley's tunes and it turned out two torrents called John Peel's Festive fifty. One from the 80s and one from the 90s. They are both very healthy with loads of seeds. I can't use Xtorrent here in College so can't tell you the url for the download of it, but I'll find out for ya later! Happy to oblige.
I've never thought of dave fanning like that before. I think even he'd laugh if he read this. Looking forward to hearing about these obscuro peel tunes.
I heard him doing the morning show on one of the stations this morning. He was good, even if he does talk too much when interviewing. In fairness the fab 50 is more the nightmare creation of the fans who listen to the show, than fanning's own.
Thanks, I found them on youTorrent.
Pitchfork ran a story similiar to this last week (with the exception of the dave fanning bit), some writer had downloaded this otrrent too.
As far Dave Fanning's fab fifty, its a different list to john peels. John Peels is the favourite tracks of the year selected by john peel and voted by the public. Its unlikely that people that vote for in the Fab fifty are gonna have a different favourite 50 songs of all time each year
Yikes never read that. Just to be clear that I don't copy shit I read on pitchfork I'd like to point out their story was published a couple of days after this blog. I know the difference between Fanning and Peel's two charts. That doesn't stop Fanning's one from depressing the fuck out of me though. I'm getting into the songs now. Coming soon. A few from 1980 (i think in the early years it was like Fannings fab 50 anyway, with some songs cropping up one or two years in a row. There's lots of sex pistols from '77 and '78 in the 1980 chart.)
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