Every so often I go back to the John Peel site to see the most recent posts. It's hard to beleive that it's been ten years since he died. And the interesting shit just keeps coming. One thing added since the last time I checked it out is the Record Box, a series of posts with different notable music types pullimg favorites from his massive collection and explaining the reasons why the records were chosen. One of the posts features the picks of Don Letts. (You should know him by now.)
Letts starts with regggae, King Stitt, Big Youth, Augustus Pablo, and the Congos, then inexplicably changes directions and goes to the Idle Race (Jeff Lynne's pre-Move, pre-ELO band), then Led Zep, Bowie, the Who, Sly and the Family Stone, James Brown and Funkadelic. Then onto punk rock related stuff. Back to reggae, then the Slits and PiL. You get the drift. Cool, no brainer stuff, right? But Letts was there way before you, and may actually be, in a butterfly effect, part of the reason you first heard some of the songs. He was a stealth tastemaker. Peel himself was a tastemaker supreme. So, to have Don Letts picking through John Peel's records is worth checking out. There's also an eighteen minute video of Letts talking about the records.When you get to the page, click on the first one and go about your business while they play in succession. Here's just two of them, these two because they're smack dab in the middle of the Letts/Peel Venn diagram.
Letts starts with regggae, King Stitt, Big Youth, Augustus Pablo, and the Congos, then inexplicably changes directions and goes to the Idle Race (Jeff Lynne's pre-Move, pre-ELO band), then Led Zep, Bowie, the Who, Sly and the Family Stone, James Brown and Funkadelic. Then onto punk rock related stuff. Back to reggae, then the Slits and PiL. You get the drift. Cool, no brainer stuff, right? But Letts was there way before you, and may actually be, in a butterfly effect, part of the reason you first heard some of the songs. He was a stealth tastemaker. Peel himself was a tastemaker supreme. So, to have Don Letts picking through John Peel's records is worth checking out. There's also an eighteen minute video of Letts talking about the records.When you get to the page, click on the first one and go about your business while they play in succession. Here's just two of them, these two because they're smack dab in the middle of the Letts/Peel Venn diagram.
~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~
Listen:Bob Marley and the Wailers - Punky Reggae Party mp3 at Pixie Radio
Sex Pistols - Anarchy In the UK mp3 at Ebaums World
Visit:
Don Letts at John Peel Archive Letts's picks from Peels stash
John Peel Archive Home page
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