more clicking at random on Peel sessions on YouTube

So I got bored and decided to click at random on three Peel sessions on YouTube by bands I have never heard of. Today's trial and error exercise went better than the first one.

Carpettes-July 1978
A punk band with a traditionalist side that came out whenever their guitarist played a solo, the Carpettes were a trio that resembled a cross between the Jam and a less angry Sex Pistols. At least on a single listen, these four songs sound fairly strong but don't entirely transcend the tendency for "class of '77" Britpunk bands to sound the same. The extended rhythm guitar part at the beginning of the last song, "Indo-China," is the most interesting section, texturally.

Action Pact-August 1982
Another punk band, who seem to lie somewhere between hardcore and the anarchist scene, Action Pact are distinguished by a female singer with a thick English accent and loads of snotty attitude. This session gets meta with a song called "These Are A Few Groups On The John Peel Show" that seems to mock him for wimping out and playing bands like New Order and Altered Images. Action Pact themselves delivered 110-second songs with lyrics attacking white supremacy and emphasizing the need to protest. In fact, they managed to squeeze in 6 songs on their session instead of the usual 4 and still make it shorter than usual. They had personality and energy to spare.

Dr. Oloh and the Milo Jazz Band-October 1991
OK, you can guess from their name that this isn't more punk, but this group from Sierra Leone is not really jazz either. Instead, their music consists of call-and-response vocals with minimal instrumentation (just accordion and percussion.) It's funky, upbeat (even though the lyrics are not in English) and uptempo in a fun way. However, the 4 songs tend to sound very similar given that they all consist of the same very spare musical framework; if the group recorded a studio album, I hope they worked out more elaborate arrangements. BTW, Peel's memoir says that he got hate mail as soon as he began playing reggae, funk and African music in the early 1970s. I hope that was long over by the time this session aired 20 years later.



Post Edited (05-08-18 17:38)

"Action Pact themselves delivered 110-minute songs"

110 minute songs? That would be unendurable.

Oops! Obviously, I meant 110 seconds. I will go back and edit that post. BTW, I later found out via Wikipedia that the Carpettes released 2 albums on Beggars Banquet around the time Gary Numan was making the label a fortune.



Post Edited (05-08-18 17:39)

Action Pact were mates with the Newtown Neurotics from memory. Like so many of the No Future era Brit punks acts, I remember just the one song: London Bouncers.

I have a 45rpm by the carpettes; I agree with your description. Not necessarily a neo-mod act like the jam, Merton parkas or the jolt...but in that ballpark.

I have a book about death metal ("choosing death") and Peel wrote the introduction; he loved Napalm Death apparently. You had to love how that guy was the champion of whatever f$&ked-up music his brain chose to wrap around.