Monday 4 August 2014

The Mekons - John Peel Session #1 11/07/1978

The first John Peel session for "The Mekons" included six perfect examples of the early Mekons sounds. Although I am a big Mekons fan and have most of their material, this was my favourite period. The session includes another version of their brilliant and timeless single "Where Were You?" which for me is also the standout track of the session, even though all of the other tracks are excellent.

The Mekons catalogue is an amazing variation of genres from classic punk, to dance to alt country and a few that it would be difficult to classify. So what's your favourite Mekons period? I'm still with their material released on Fast Records but I have to say I also love Oooh! (Out of their Heads) with the classic tracks "Dancing In My Head" and "Thee Olde Trip To Jerusalem" . Leave a comment and let ASFM know what you think?

Band: The Mekons
Year: 1978
Label: John Peel Sessions
Tracks:
1. Garden Fence of Sound
2. Where Were You?
3. Letters In The Post
4. Lonely and Wet
5. Dance and Drink The Mekons
6. Dan Dare - Out Of Space (It's A Really Nice Place)

Ripped from glorious FM, onto glorious hissing tape and then to less gorious mp3 (see comments for link)

If you like this then try out some more Mekons stuff, you cab still buy most of their albums, but be warned of the different sounds. For a good sample the you can't go wrong with this one:
Heaven and Hell: The Very Best of the Mekons

and as mentioned above one of my personal favourites:
Oooh! (Out of Our Heads)

and their acclaimed alt country album:
Fear and Whiskey

9 comments:

Longy said...

Nice post Gary. Cheers mate.

Anonymous said...

Oh lordy, brilliant post, thanks!

I have their 1979 session with I Saw You Dance / Beetroot etc on very hissy tape and it's glorious, IMO the best thing they've ever done.

cheers, Craig

Anonymous said...

"Work All Week" off their 1979 Virgin album is good, but "Where Were You?" is one of my favourite singles of all time!

Gremlin

ROOKSBY said...

Blimey, thanks for this, I've a massive fan of early Mekons but their Peel sessions are impossible to come by. Can't wait to finally hear this! x

Rupert Cook said...

"Never Been In A Riot", "Where Were You", two of the most beautifully basic moments in recording history.

Punkzer0 said...

Hi Longy, thanks again.

Hi Craig, thanks for the comment, I also have that session, I'll have to check the quality of mine.

Hi Gremlin, my fave track as well. I still play it regularly.

Thanks Novemberer, hope you liked it.

Rupert, I couldn't agree more with you. Perfect and ageless songs.

nipped_in_the_bud said...

I like "this" period of the mekons the drum roll and build-up in "where were you" just makes it for me

DavidSmith said...

Does anyone have the other Peel session from this period, the one with the original version of Rosanne. I had it on tape but I can't find it anywhere.

Punkzer0 said...

Hi Nipped In the Bud, I couldn't put it better, thanks for the comment.

Hi David I have three tracks from that session, but I still can't find:
* What Are We Going To Do Tonight
* I'll Have To Dance Then (On My Own)