The Complete Peel Sessions 1978–2004

The Complete Peel Sessions 1978–2004 is a compilation box set by English post-punk band the Fall. It was released in 2005 by record label Castle Music.

Content
The Complete Peel Sessions comprises each of the twenty-four sessions the group recorded for John Peel's radio show. Peel was an avid supporter of the group from early in their career, and the Fall recorded more sessions for Peel's programmes than any other artist. The set was in the process of being compiled when Peel died in October 2004. The set charts almost all of the group's musical phases up until 2004.

Release
The box set's release was conceived by Sanctuary Records as part of a comprehensive reissue campaign to capitalise upon the recent success of The Real New Fall LP (Formerly Country on the Click), which had been roundly praised as a "return to form" for the band. In 2004, Sanctuary issued expanded, remastered editions of the band's first four albums—Live at the Witch Trials (1979), Dragnet (1979), the (mostly) live Totale's Turns (1980), and Grotesque (After the Gramme) (1980)—as well as the first career-spanning "greatest hits" compilation, 50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong. The release of The Complete Peel Sessions was slated for summer 2005 to arrive alongside another "deluxe" reissue of the band's acclaimed fourth studio album, Hex Enduction Hour (1982).

Reception
The Complete Peel Sessions was met with a laudatory response from critics, who generally praised it as a worthy summation of the Fall's career to date. Critics named a broad selection of highlights, though some noted an impression of inconsistency or decline in the latter portions of its seven-hour runtime. "There are now more Fall compilations and collections out there than Mark E. Smith himself can keep track of," Nigel Kendall wrote for The Times, "but if you buy only one, make it this one." Named the "Reissue of the Week" in NME, the compilation was reviewed by Rob Fitzpatrick, who said:

"In a more authoritarian country than our own—say France—the very idea that one obsessive individual could, over 26 years, freely spend thousands of pounds of public money recording the absurdist ramblings of a man stumbling through a career that's clearly little more than an attempt to avoid getting up for work in the morning would, understandably, be met with angry, perhaps vicious, condemnation. In France, John Peel would have surely have been hung [sic] in the town square long before he, or his favourite-ever band, the Fall, would have had the chance to thrill, inspire and amaze Radio 1's adventurous night-time audience with [so many] brilliantly pointed pop moments ..."

In the Daily Mirror, Gavin Martin called it a "lavish, head-spinning portrait of the most undervalued band in Britain" and "confirmation of Mark E. Smith as Britrock's great anti-hero". Keith Bruce of The Herald recommended the box set for diehard fans of the Fall, who he surmised would likely focus on recordings dating to either the early 1980s period with Marc Riley or Brix Smith's time with the band the mid-1980s—although "[o]nly real anoraks," Bruce continued, "will be able to be more specific about a band that has had 30 different line ups over more than 25 years." Simon Goddard for Uncut said that the "bulk" of the BBC recordings "easily rival" the studio versions of the tracks, while a few "actually surpass" them. Although Goddard felt the set's overall range in quality was "desperately eclectic, even by the Fall's abstruse standards", it was nonetheless "hard to imagine a more satisfying or comprehensive career overview than this." At Mojo, Ian Harrison wrote it "may well be the definitive history of the Fall, from wired, punk-era beginnings on to year after year of constant mutation", noting the superiority of many of the Peel recordings to the studio versions of the same songs, and though he detected the band decline throughout the 1990s, he still found the release to be "indispensable for the fan, and a superb introduction for those wanting to be infected."

At Pitchfork, Joe Tangari wrote that the box set arguably represented "the definitive look at the Fall's career to date—even more than last year's very well-considered 50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong compilation"; however, noting its considerable length, he said "it's not the place to start, but anyone with more than four or five Fall albums would be doing themselves a huge service picking this up." Per David Jeffries at AllMusic, the immediacy of the Peel sessions format curtailed Smith's typically "flippant attitude toward practically everything" and his band's tendency to meander in a studio setting—but when recorded live and under conditions of imposed brevity, they demonstrated "an urgency and drive that's woefully absent from all but the band's best albums". The sheer quantity of highlights found on the box set, Jeffries continued, placed it "next to 50,000 Fall Fans and This Nation's Saving Grace in the Fall 'Hall of Fame.'" In a more reserved review, Entertainment Weekly's Tom Sinclair cautioned that the Fall were "a notoriously acquired taste" and "[t]he alternative to alternative", the recordings "lurch, rattle, crawl, clatter, stagger—and sometimes even rock."

Praise for individual tracks
Among the 97 total tracks on The Complete Peel Sessions, the following were cited as highlights of the set by at least one critic from the aforementioned reviews:

Accolades
The Complete Peel Sessions won Catalogue Release of the Year at the 2005 Mojo Awards, in a ceremony held at London's Porchester Hall on 16 June 2005. The award, sponsored by music retailer HMV, was intended to recognize the "reissue that is both definitive and beautifully packaged" from the preceding year. The Complete Peel Sessions bested other nominated releases from the Clash, Jeff Buckley, the Mamas & the Papas, the Kinks and Jack Nitzsche.

The Complete Peel Sessions appeared on several critics' year-end lists for 2005. In a feature by Stewart Lee, The Sunday Times named it the third-best record of 2005. David Fricke of Rolling Stone ranked the compilation eighth on the magazine's list of the year's top 10 reissues. The Sun critic Simon Cosyns named it among the year's 11 best box sets on a list that was unranked aside from the top spot, designated for Blue Guitars by Chris Rea.

Meanwhile, in early 2006 the record industry periodical Music Week commended Will Nicol and Steve Hammonds of Sanctuary Records for conducting one of the year's most effective marketing campaigns based on promotion of an established musical act's back catalogue. Music Week named the campaign for The Complete Peel Sessions among four finalists for the year's best "catalogue campaign", with Sony BMG's promotion of the Elvis Presley compilation #1 Singles claiming the top spot.

Track listing
Some tracks appear under titles different from those attached to their studio incarnations. Although most differences are slight, the tracks are listed by the titles they were given at the relevant session.

Personnel

 * Session 1, 30 May 1978


 * Mark E. Smith – vocals
 * Martin Bramah – guitar, bass guitar, backing vocals
 * Yvonne Pawlett – keyboards
 * Karl Burns – drums
 * Steve Davies – congas
 * Tony Wilson – production
 * Mike Robinson – engineering


 * Session 2, 27 November 1978


 * Mark E. Smith – vocals
 * Martin Brahah – guitar, bass guitar, backing vocals
 * Marc Riley – bass guitar
 * Yvonne Pawlett – keyboards
 * Karl Burns – drums
 * Bob Sargeant – production
 * Brian Tuck – engineering
 * Dave Dade – engineering


 * Session 3, 24 September 1980


 * Mark E. Smith – vocals, keyboards, kazoo, guitar
 * Marc Riley – guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
 * Craig Scanlon – guitar, backing vocals
 * Steve Hanley – bass guitar
 * Paul Hanley – drums
 * John Sparrow – production


 * Session 4, 24 March 1981


 * Mark E. Smith – vocals
 * Marc Riley – keyboards, guitar, backing vocals
 * Craig Scanlon – guitar, backing vocals
 * Steve Hanley – bass
 * Paul Hanley – drums
 * Dave Tucker – clarinet
 * Dale Griffin – production
 * Martyn Parker – engineering


 * Session 5, 15 September 1981


 * Mark E. Smith – vocals, tapes
 * Marc Riley – guitar, keyboards
 * Craig Scanlon – guitar
 * Steve Hanley – bass, toy guitar, voice
 * Paul Hanley – drums
 * Dale Griffin – production
 * Nick Gomm – engineering


 * Session 6, 21 March 1983


 * Mark E. Smith – vocals, keyboards
 * Craig Scanlon – guitar, backing vocals
 * Steve Hanley – bass, backing vocals
 * Paul Hanley – drums, backing vocals
 * Karl Burns – drums, bass, backing vocals
 * John Porter – production
 * Dave Dade – engineering


 * Session 7, 12 December 1983


 * Mark E. Smith – vocals, tapes
 * Craig Scanlon – guitar
 * Brix Smith – guitar, vocals
 * Steve Hanley – bass
 * Paul Hanley – drums, keyboards
 * Karl Burns – drums, bass
 * Tony Wilson – production
 * Martin Colley – engineering


 * Session 8, 14 May 1985


 * Mark E. Smith – vocals
 * Craig Scanlon – guitar
 * Brix Smith – guitar, vocals
 * Steve Hanley – bass
 * Simon Rogers – guitar, keyboards
 * Karl Burns – drums
 * Mark Radcliffe – production
 * Mike Walter – engineering


 * Session 9, 29 September 1985


 * Mark E. Smith – vocals
 * Craig Scanlon – guitar
 * Brix Smith – guitar, keyboards, vocals
 * Steve Hanley – bass, xylophone
 * Simon Rogers – guitar, keyboards
 * Karl Burns – drums
 * Dale Griffin – production
 * Mike Engles – engineering


 * Session 10, 29 June 1986


 * Mark E. Smith – vocals
 * Craig Scanlon – guitar, backing vocals
 * Brix Smith – guitar, backing vocals
 * Steve Hanley – bass, backing vocals
 * Simon Rogers – guitar, keyboards
 * Simon Wolstencroft – drums
 * Dale Griffin – production
 * Mike Engles – engineering


 * Session 11, 28 April 1987


 * Mark E. Smith – vocals
 * Craig Scanlon – guitar
 * Brix Smith – guitar, vocals
 * Steve Hanley – bass, backing vocals
 * Simon Rogers – keyboards, guitar
 * Simon Wolstencroft – drums
 * Production details unknown


 * Session 12, 25 October 1988


 * Mark E. Smith – vocals, tapes
 * Craig Scanlon – guitar
 * Brix Smith – guitar, backing vocals
 * Steve Hanley – bass
 * Marcia Schofield – keyboards, backing vocals
 * Simon Wolstencroft – drums
 * Mike Robinson – production, engineering


 * Session 13, 17 December 1989


 * Mark E. Smith – vocals
 * Craig Scanlon – guitar
 * Martin Bramah – guitar
 * Steve Hanley – bass
 * Marcia Schofield – keyboards, backing vocals
 * Simon Wolstencroft – drums
 * Kenny Brady – fiddle
 * Dale Griffin – production
 * Mike Engles – engineering


 * Session 14, 5 March 1991


 * Mark E. Smith – vocals
 * Craig Scanlon – guitar
 * Steve Hanley – bass
 * Simon Wolstencroft – drums
 * Kenny Brady – fiddle
 * Mike Robinson – production, engineering


 * Session 15, 19 January 1992


 * Mark E. Smith – vocals, tapes
 * Craig Scanlon – guitar
 * Steve Hanley – bass
 * Dave Bush – keyboards
 * Simon Wolstencroft – drums
 * Dale Griffin – production
 * James Birtwistle – engineering
 * Mike Engles – engineering


 * Session 16, 28 February 1993


 * Mark E. Smith – vocals
 * Craig Scanlon – guitar
 * Steve Hanley – bass
 * Dave Bush – keyboards
 * Simon Wolstencroft – drums
 * Mike Robinson – production
 * James Birtwistle – engineering


 * Session 17, 2 December 1993


 * Mark E. Smith – vocals
 * Craig Scanlon – guitar
 * Steve Hanley – bass
 * Dave Bush – keyboards
 * Simon Wolstencroft – drums
 * Karl Burns – drums, guitar
 * Nick Gomm – production
 * Paul Long – engineering


 * Session 18, 20 November 1994


 * Mark E. Smith – vocals
 * Craig Scanlon – guitar
 * Brix Smith – guitar, bass, vocals
 * Steve Hanley – bass
 * Dave Bush – keyboards
 * Simon Wolstencroft – drums
 * Karl Burns – guitar
 * James Birtwistle – production
 * Paul Allen – engineering


 * Session 19, 7 December 1995


 * Mark E. Smith – vocals, guitar
 * Brix Smith – guitar, vocals
 * Julia Nagle – keyboards, guitar
 * Steve Hanley – bass
 * Simon Wolstencroft – drums
 * Karl Burns – guitar, keyboards
 * Lucy Rimmer – vocals
 * Nick Gomm – production
 * Adam Askew – engineering


 * Session 20, 30 June 1996


 * Mark E. Smith – vocals
 * Brix Smith – guitar, vocals
 * Julia Nagle – keyboards, guitar
 * Steve Hanley – bass
 * Simon Wolstencroft – drums
 * Ted de Bono – production
 * Lisa Softley – engineering


 * Session 21, 3 February 1998


 * Mark E. Smith – vocals, guitar
 * Julia Nagle – guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
 * Steve Hanley – bass
 * Karl Burns – drums, backing vocals
 * John Rolleson - backing vocals
 * Mike Robinson – production
 * Nick Scripps – engineering


 * Session 22, 18 October 1998


 * Mark E. Smith – vocals
 * Neville Wilding – guitar
 * Tom Head – drums
 * Elspeth Hughes – special effects
 * Mike Engels – production
 * Kevin Rumble – engineering


 * Session 23, 19 February 2003


 * Mark E. Smith – vocals
 * Ben Pritchard – guitar, backing vocals
 * Jim Watts – bass guitar, backing vocals
 * Elena Poulou – keyboards, backing vocals
 * Dave Milner – drums, backing vocals
 * Mick Middles – backing vocals
 * Louise Kattenhorn – production
 * Mike Walter – engineering


 * Session 24, 4 August 2004


 * Mark E. Smith – vocals, percussion
 * Ben Pritchard – guitar, backing vocals
 * Jim Watts – guitar, bass guitar
 * Elena Poulou – keyboards, backing vocals
 * Steve Trafford – bass guitar, guitar
 * Spencer Birtwistle – drums
 * Ed Blaney – guitar
 * Jerry Smith – production
 * Nick Fountain – engineering