Gerry Love that is. Eight tracks to be exact. As promised to all you good people on the Teenage Fanclub forums, here are the two Teenage Fanclub Peel Sessions. The first was recorded almost exactly 17 (!!!) years ago, on the 28th August and was first broadcast on the 30th September. The 4 tracks feature the classic TFC line-up of Norman, Raymond, Gerry and Brendan.
As with many Peel Sessions, the band used it to try out some new stuff. As well as a run through of their second single ‘God Knows It’s True’ and a couple of b-sides, they play an early version of ‘Alcoholiday’. This song eventually appeared on Bandwagonesque, with added swearing and turned up to 10 Dinosaur Jr guitars, but the Peel version has a work-in-progress quality that I quite like. And the drums sound great.
The second Peel session was recorded with Frank Black. It doesn’t sound so much like TFC, more like the Pixies. But that’s no bad thing. First track ‘Handyman’ is a cover of an Otis Blackwell track. Every time I hear it I want to sing ‘Karma Karma Karma Karma Chameleon!’ (spot the themed picture above.) Listen first and you will too. The last track, ‘Sister Isabel’ is a Del Shannon song. The other two tracks are Frank Black originals. This session was recorded on the 14th May 1994 and broadcast soon after. As Frank Black says, “In the spring of 1994 I was in England and once again John Peel was kind enough to offer me a session. I was alone with the acoustic guitar, and so I called my old friend Chas Banks, who manages Teenage Fanclub, to see if they would record a session with me. The Fanclubs and I had previously only socialized backstage at some lovely gin mill or sitting around in an exhaust-filled tour bus, so to actually “cram jam” (rehearse very quickly) for a Peel Session seemed a step up.” And what a step up….
2 Bonus tracks added……..copy and compare!
Del Shannon’s versions of ‘Handyman‘ and ‘Sister Isabel’. I can’t find Otis Blackwell’s ‘Handyman’ anywhere, but Del Shannon’s is pretty good for now.
If you only know Del Shannon for ‘Runaway’, you should really investigate more. An alcoholic with serious mental health problems, he worked on many well known tracks in the 60s – ‘Baby It’s You’ (The Shirelles) for example. He was being lined up as a replacement for Roy Orbison in the Travelling Wilburys when he committed suicide in 1990. There’s probably a great book on him somewhere. Let me know if you’ve read it.
Plain Or Pan 
Thank you. Very nice!