Track Listing

1. Intro
2. Break ‘em On Down - The Soledad Brothers
3. Late Night Blues - Don Carlos
4. Hipsteppin - MC DET
5. Needle In A Haystack - Velvelettes
6. Lust For Life - Bad Livers
7. Let’s Get Small - Troublefunk
8. There’s A Moon Out Tonight - The Capris
9. Mr. Pharmacist - The Fall
10. 15:5 Remake - Smith And Selway
11. Too Much - Jimmy Reed
12. In The Midnight Hour - Maloko
13. Moon Hop - Derrick Morgan
14. In Love - The Datsuns
15. Purty Vacant - The Kingswoods
16. Liar - Sinthetix
17. Lion Rock - Culture (Peel Session)
18. Tom The Peeper - Act 1
19. Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division
20. Clock - Elementz Of Noise
21. Corn Rigs Tunes - Cheviot Ranters
22. Identify The Beat - Marc Smith Vs. Safe ‘n’ Sound
23. You’ll Never Walk Alone - Kop Choir
24. Teenage Kicks - The Undertones

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12715 in Music
• Released on: 2002-12-02
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Live
• Dimensions: .26 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
Taking over from Grooverider, the man behind the decks for Fabriclive Vol.7 is everyone's favourite steam engine-loving sexagenarian, Mr John Peel. After his memorable set at the Fabric club in February, the veteran DJ obviously relished compiling his relentlessly eclectic first mix album.

Predictably, The Fall get a look in as do the Undertones with "Teenage Kicks" but as the cult vinyl manipulator flicks from techno to blues, then R&B to reggae via folk and funk, it proves to be a rocky ride well worth the fare. Quite how it all fits in to the dance compilation category is a mystery, but in contrast to the dirge of one-dimensional titles available, Fabric 07 shines bright with a free-form bristling energy that many DJs half Mr Peel's age can only dream of.

Where else would you find MC DET's feisty drum & bass fuelled "Hipsteppin" merging with the gorgeous soulful R&B harmonising of The Velvelettes "Needle in a Haystack" before the Bad Livers serve up a manic, banjo-driven, thigh-slappin' rendition of Iggy Pop's "Lust For Life"? With music culled from deep within the archives, Peel effortlessly transcends genres and decades with carefree abandon. Fabric 07 may well confound the feet but it's sure to rock the soul and warm the heart. --Christopher Barrett

Customer Reviews

Buy it and hug it
Thank god this CD got made. It makes you worry now that we have lost dear old John, who is going to pick up the baton and keep pushing the different and the unusual to an increasingly spoon fed public? Nothing beat flicking through the radio, quickly switching away from banal trance and bland R&B, to find John Peel on Radio 1 ... kicking out some furious drum and bass. Who do we have now? Peel was an institution, the Radio moguls will never let anyone take risks with music like he did have a free reign now. *sigh*

This CD encapsulates the essence of Peel. Classic moments from The Fall, The Undertones and New Order make appearences on the mix, this sits along side some bizarre country and western covers of classic punk tracks, crazy hardcore, proper ragga drum & bass and thunderous techno. Its a mix that puts all other 'eclectic' DJs to shame. Plus the veteran doesn't do a bad job of mixing it all together, certainly better than what the likes of Howie B mashed together on his Fabric mix!

The mix is full of personal touches, the little snippets of classic Liverpool european excursions, the Kop crowd and just the spirit of a man who loved music oozing throughout the track selections. It would expose any Ministry compilation as the soulless marketed guff that it truely is any day.

The packaging is nifty, the recordings timeless, this is one collection for you to own. Once owned, go pick up all those Peel Session CDs that you can find out there (I can thoroughly recommend the Autechre, Boards Of Canada, Plaid/Black Dog and Orb ones ... tasty, and a testament to a man who would push 'different' acts to a mainstream audience).

Strange but entertaining!
I don't think any reviewer will be able to avoid using the word 'eclectic' to describe this album, but I'd like to add 'surreal' as well - I wondered if my stereo was broken when I heard Joy Division's tragic 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' interrupted by some football commentary. It seems that Mr Peel wanted to relive some of Liverpool's past triumphs... whether it annoys you or not probably depends on whether you are a Liverpool fan!

As to the music, most of the album is very enjoyable, but a bit crazy - if you listen to John's radio shows you should have a fair idea of what to expect. I'll be honest and admit that I only knew a few of the songs before buying the album (I bought it because I like John Peel and I liked the metal CD case!) but it was great 'discovering' a few new things. A few of the tracks annoy me - the Smith and Selway one definitely drags on too long. But I particularly like 'Elementz of Noise' and 'Break 'Em On Down', and 'Teenage Kicks' is simply a classic.

This album has such a variety of types of music that it really doesn't fit into any category, and I can't really say 'if you like so-and-so you'll love this'. But if you have an open mind and want something a bit different, I definitely recommnend it!

Indispensible
Its funny how time can change perspective on an album. What was, less than a year ago, a joyously diverse and creative mix of tunes has now also aquired a sense of knockout emotion. Its difficult to listen to 'You'll Never Walk Alone' bleeding into the clattering opening chords of 'Teenage Kicks' without a small tear in the eye or lump in the throat. In other words, this electrifying album remains a fitting tribute to its curator, John Peel, who would famously burst into tears at anything he found remotely and often oddly emotional.

Listening to the album again (it fully repays repeat listens), its impossible not to smile at the obvious joy that Peel would have found in contriving such bizarre juxtapositions of musical styles on one album. Opening with a piece drenched in lush strings and intercut with commentary from a Liverpool Champion's League match, it then summersaults into a piece of grinding dirty blues, followed by a reggae blast, a pulsating drum and bass track and then a hopelessly infectious piece of 60's American girl group doo-wap, itself tumbling into a bluegrass cover of 'Lust For Life'. And this is just the first few tracks. The rest of the album continues in a similarly vivid and playful way.

It even has a 40-second snatch of a morris dance shanty, until that gives way under the weight of pounding trance beats. Indeed, so audacious is the sequencing that its difficult to know whether to be amused by Peel's mischievious enthusiasm, or gasp at the sheer range of sounds that he's assembled. Either way, its rather like the aural equivalent of finding yourself with a huge plate of cheeses in the biggest wine cellar you can imagine. There are some pretty sublime combinations to be had.

Few compilation albums can lay claim to being works of art in their own right, but this is exactly what Peel's Fabriclive mix album can boast. Not only for the characteristic ecleticism of it's curator, but for his childlike enthusiasm for cutting and pasting the contradictory styles together. There can't be many albums that would be as brave as to segue a piece of soul-infused American disco-funk with the majestic arrival of Joy Division's 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' (itself shot through with more snatches of Liverpool football commentary), yet somehow, amazingly it just works.

A truly magnificent album in it's own right. As it was before he died, it remains a wonderful tribute to the unique specialness of John Peel's massive contribution to his country's cultural life. Highly recommended, and definitely one of those albums you'd want to save first in the event of a fire. In fact the only thing thats missing is Peel's endearing voice informing you that he's accidentally put one of the tunes on at the wrong speed.