“… ‘I used to go along with my friend and just be really upset by the local skinheads that hung out there,’ said Siouxsie after witnessing racist taunts against the staff. She turned her anger into song. The Banshees’ guitarist, John McKay, provided an intro, which his bandmates first heard on a tour bus during 1977.At rehearsals, McKay played the opening bars on an electronic xylophone and Siouxsie added her serrated vocals. The punk-lite ‘Hong Kong Garden’ was first aired on a John Peel session, prompting Polydor to sign the band in 1978. … It wasn’t written as a single, but after waiting over a year to be signed, and with the song established as a live favourite, their manager Nils Stevenson pitched it as their best shot. They were reluctantly booked into Olympic Studios with an American soul producer, Bruce Albertine, using downtime between Eric Clapton sessions. They failed to capture the right sound. Within days they had regrouped with a young producer from the right side of the punk tracks, Steve Lillywhite. It took them two days to re-record ‘Hong Kong Garden’, replicating the earlier version cut for the Peel session, but this time climaxing with the crash of an orchestral gong. Much anticipated in the summer of 1978, following months of music media speculation, it made it to number seven on the charts and was arguably the most important of the early post-punk hits.”
Independent – Story of the song: Hong Kong Garden, Siouxsie and the Banshees (1978)
W – Hong Kong Garden (song)
YouTube: Hongkong Garden 1979 (Live)
YouTube: Hong Kong Garden, Voices (On The Air)
Tag: Peel Session
Subway Sect – Peel Session 1977
“Subway Sect to end the week – Their first session for John Peel, recorded on October 17, 1977 and first broadcast on October 24th of that year. Subway Sect were one of the first British punk bands. Although their commercial success was limited by the small amount of recorded material they released, they have been credited as highly influential on the Postcard Records scene and the indie pop genre which followed. The core of the band was singer-songwriter, Vic Godard, plus assorted soul fans, who congregated around early gigs by the Sex Pistols until Malcolm McLaren suggested they form their own band. Subway Sect were among the performers at the 100 Club Punk Festival on Monday, 21 September 1976 – sharing the bill with Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Clash and the Sex Pistols. The first line-up of Godard on vocals, Paul Packham on drums, Paul Myers on bass and Rob Symmons on guitar lasted for 4 gigs before Mark Laff replaced Packham. …”
Past Daily (Audio)
YouTube: Subway Sect – Peel Session 1977
Joy Division – The Peel Sessions (Full Album)
“Full sessions, I believed sourced from ‘The Complete BBC Recordings’ CD. Sourced from FLAC but converted to WAV to publish. 1st Peel Session – January 31, 1979 1. Exercise One 0:00 2. Insight 2:33 3. Transmission 6:29 4. She’s Lost Control 10:26 2nd Peel Session – November 26, 1979 5. Love Will Tear Us Apart 14:40 6. Colony 18:05 7. Twenty-Four Hours 22:12 8. The Sound of Music 26:23 Joy Division were really picking up steam by the beginning of 1979; all the key relationships between Tony Wilson, Martin Hannett, and The Factory had been made and ‘A Factory Sample’ was on its way to release. At the same time, John Peel was frequently playing the new 12″ version of ‘An Ideal for Living’ over the airwaves. He invited Joy Division into the studio for their first session. The songs are mostly live, with just a few overdubs (you can pick apart some, like the extra guitar riff at the end of ‘Transmission’ and the end of ‘The Sound of Music’). These sessions were extremely requested, popular, and bootlegged before their official release as two EP’s in 1986 and 1987. Even then, they’re still all over the place. For good reason. You’re not a true collector, let alone a true fan, until you’ve bought these sessions….”
YouTube: The Peel Sessions (Full Album)
W – The Peel Sessions (Joy Division)
Punk Scrawled Artist 