Tape Tennis + Bonus

Finally dragged myself away from the sunshine. What a beautiful day!

I read this week that, for the second year running, vinyl record sales increased. Inexplicably sales of VHS video tapes also increased. But what about the humble cassette tape I wonder?

 Lovely Ally over at dustysevens posted a side of an old John Peel Show mixtape the other day.

I noticed that it included a couple of tracks from an Echo & The Bunnymen session from 1979, including Villiers Terrace.

I’ve got that track and others from that session on a JP mix tape too!

To think that Ally and I were doing the old two finger shuffle at the same time one evening in 1979. And how many other people too, I wonder?

So transcribed from 1 7/8ips to 128kbps for your listening pleasure is side 2 of my mix tape from the winter of ’79. (Be patient and you will hear the man himself right at the end).

John Peel mix tape – Winter ’79 – Side 2 (mp3)

If some of you are wondering where all the Soul has gone hereabouts, fear not it’ll be back next week.

Oh go on then, have this random pick to be going on with..

Major Lance – That’s The Story Of My Life 1972    

(In my case): pleased with my junk and covered in loft dust

It seems I’ve spent almost the entire weekend surrounded by junk – other peoples and mine. First of all I took in two car boot sales in search of the holy vinyl. Not much to report unfortunately, but for the record here is what I invested in this time around:

Stevie Wonder – Fulfillingness’ First Finale LP (1st issue)
Gruppo Sportivo – 10 Mistakes LP (remembered this group from John Peel shows – good fun)
Elton John – Honky Chateau LP (I have all Elton’s earlier albums on vinyl except this one which I bought on the then new fangled musicassette. Have been on the look out for vinyl copy recently to fill my collection. Bought this copy for the cover - the original gatefold one still complete with it’s extra flap thingy- which was in perfect shape. Alas, more than can be said for the record itself. Still, half way there)
Hot Hits 11 – LP & Capitol’s Country Festival LP (bought these for the covers – they both have, ahem, pretty girls on them. I have to say I’m getting a bit worried about this trend in my record buying!)


Today turned into a rainy day in (last year at about this time I posted Gwen McCrae’s “It Keeps On Raining” and said ‘rain rain go away come again another day – preferably next year’. So the washout July - in the west of the UK at least - is all my fault!). So what else to do on a rainy day in but have a tidy up? In my case, as I am a hoarder, a “tidy up” essentially means rearranging the various junk lying around the house as opposed to actually throwing any of it away. This can lead to some tense moments with Mrs Darce who is at the other end of the spectrum and whose motto is “get rid”. The tidy up process typically takes most of the day as I frequently pause to read an old magazine, build a lego model – or look at my old music cassettes (of course).

And so it was today that I came across one of my John Peel show compilations AND an old Sony Walkman cassette player! It had to be done – I put some new batteries in the Walkman, hooked it up to our DAB radio and was transported back to the Spring of 1979 and a blinding selection of reggae, punk, and a dash of r&b and funk. Most of the tracks are very professionally faded in and out (even if I say so myself – I’ve no idea now how I did that) so not much is heard of John Peel - but enough, as you can hear below. I’ve played this tape through twice today now and I was moved enough to wipe the dust off hi-fi cassette deck and hook it up so I could transport you back to 1979 too for some long overdue reggae here on Feel It.



Jimmy Riley – Complain1979 (you can just hear John Peel in the fadeout, and he’s right!)

Culture – Down In Jamaica 1979

Judah Eskender – Danger In Your Eyes 1979 (with John Peel at the end)

John Peel (the man himself!) Spring 1979 (mp3)

My quest now starts to find the Jimmy Riley and Judah Eskender tracks on 12". It could take a long time.