Living the lizard life with Shriekback
Shriekback: Peel Sessions + Singularities UK CD [2016]
PEEL SESSIONS [1-9] + Rarities [10-17]
- My Spine (Is The Bassline)
- All The Greek Boys (Do The Handwalk)
- Feelers
- Suck
- Newhome
- Under the Lights
- Fish Below the Ice
- Faded Flowers
- Everything that Rises (Must Converge)
- Sexthinkone (Exotic Mix)
- Accretions (Original Mix)
- Mothloop II
- Lined Up (InstruMENTAL Mix)
- Closework
- Nightwork
- Accretions (Monstrous Dance Mix)
- Despite Dense Weed
Last Wednesday, whilst in the middle of a completely different thread, I received a missive from the Shriekback mailing list indicating yet another self-released archival CD was heading our way. This time, the band have rounded up all of their Peel Sessions, which [correct me if I’m wrong] have never seen release before. Reason enough for the faithful to rejoice, yes? I had planned on eventually mentioning that this was coming out but a second email jolted me yesterday afternoon with the news that the recipients of the mailing list were sucking these beauties up like there was no tomorrow.
As you may be aware, Shriekback have been hitting the archives to exploit the many assets that have been tucked away in dark corners of the universe for many, many years now. The long years of Shriek-drought have been cast aside by a steady stream of reissue CDs the band have been cooking up in limited numbers. They are probably pressing 500/1000 of the several titles per year that they are curating. As of yesterday, the band reported that stocks were dwindling rapidly, so all and sundry interested in hearing the alternate versions of beloved material from “Tench,” “Jam Science” and “Oil + Gold” recorded under spartan conditions for Auntie Beeb would be advised to click here and purchase. It will cost £11.00 [$13.72] plus shipping and will be yet another “S” release on my overburdened Record Cell racks.
The first session [tracks 1-3] was recorded on July 26, 1982 by Tony Wilson and featured the “Tench” material. The second session [tracks 4-6] was made on March 15, 1984 by Mark Radcliffe. The final session [tracks 7-9] were laid down on June 2, 1985 with Dale Griffin presiding. They all feature the classic Shriek lineup of Barry Andrews, Dave Allen, Martyn Barker, and Carl Marsh with the exceptions of “Spine” and “Feelers” from session 1 [with Associate John Murphy on drums] and session 2, which features Pedro Ortiz on percussion instead of Martyn Barker.
The disc is fully fleshed out with a selection of single remixes and B-sides which were heretofore missing in action from the band’s recent spate of archival discs, so if you were wondering where the Monstrous Dance Mix of “Accretions” had gotten to, it’s hiding here. Me? I’m happy to see that “Closework” from the “Working on The Ground” UK 7″ B-side and “Nightwork” from the 12″ version B-side are present and accounted for.
The one thing that stymies me is the continued appearance of “Despite Dense Weed” in the track listing. This makes the eighth release that it appears on! Shriekbackians may have a copy on the following titles:
- Birth Of The Y LP
- The Best of Shriekback Volume 2: Evolution CD
- Natural History 2xCD
- The Y Records Years 2xCD
- Aberrations 81-84 CD
- Care DLX RM CD
- Tench DLX RM CD
- Peel Sessions + Singularities CD
I myself have three of those titles, with a fourth on the way as I ordered my copy of “Peel Sessions + Singularities” yesterday. Purchase in haste or regret at your leisure. Disc by disc, the band are making their own boxed set of god, one disc at a time.
– 30 –
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Post-Punk Monk 
Thank you for the continued Shriekback updates. I clicked your link and ordered the disc before I returned to finish your post–just as I did with Care,Tench and Jam Science. I never made it past Oil and Gold the first time around, but I picked up a cheap used copy of Go Bang last weekend and it wasn’t as bad as I’d anticipated–in fact, I rather liked it. I’m going to have to give their last two decades a listen.
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Jon – I divested myself of “Go Bang” a decade or so ago, and I have come to mildly rue that decision. If only because I very much enjoy the other 90% of the Shriekback canon. At this point I might as well have it all. Though I would hasten to add that ideally it would be found in the $2.00 used bin. I still need “Glory Bumps,” “Life In The Loading Bay,” [which has achieved ludicrous prices on the aftermarket] and “Without Real String Or Fish” which I would buy were Shriekback not steadily drip feeding all of these limited editions to absorb my music budget so readily.
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I’ve been aware of two more BBC sessions for *decades* and have never managed to hear them. A pity that these couldn’t be appended to this disc (although the included studio bonus tracks are quite a nice consolation):
BBC Radio 1 – Jensen Session (22.3.83):
Brink Of Collapse
Considerable
(Grapes Into) Lettuce
Despite Dense Weed
BBC Radio1 – Long Session (10.12.84) :
White Out
Holy Water Boiling Oil
Health And Knowledge And Wealth And Power
Feelers
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JT – Aaah. Not strictly Peel, are they? I wonder what the sources are for these? Auntie Beeb often erased tape for budgetary reasons. There may be safety copies perhaps down a generation for the Peel sessions with the Jensen and Long lost to the great unknown. The Jensen session on the Simple Minds “New Gold Dream” SDLX box was noticeably down a peg in quality as it was sourced from FM airchecks of fan/collectors rather than the actual BBC archives. or so I’ve heard. I have not actually bought the thing yet.
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All praise to the Monk for letting us know about this! I snagged the Peel CD and the “Without string or fish” release I was previously unaware of. A snip at £20 plus £8.50 for shipping.
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Warning: Utter pedantry ahead.
The Shriek lads have been really busy releasing limited reissues of their early back catalog. Unfortunately, these have been a bit shoddy with obvious vinyl transfers and incorrect versions. The new release, “Peel Sessions And Singularities”, caused me to take a closer look at the recent releases. Here’s what I found:
Care remaster:
“Feelers” is the Can’t Speak Mix, quite crackly though.
Tench remaster:
“Sexthinkone” is the 7″ version (3:39), not the original EP version (4:23).
“Accretions” is the Infinite remix (4:28), not the original EP version (4:16).
“So Hard So Hard” clips the first few seconds from the CDr version I have.
“Accretions (remix)” is the same as the Infinite remix, thus a duplicate of the previous version.
Jam Science remaster:
6 of the 10 album tracks were available on comps: “Achtung” on “Priests & Kanibals”, “Mercy Dash”, “Midnight Maps”, “My Careful Hands”, “Newhome” and “Under The Lights” on “Evolution”. You’re better off with those versions as there’s some pops and clicks on this remaster (“Achtung” around 4:00 and at least one other track that I can’t recall) that aren’t on those.
The original LP has a minor crossfade from “Suck” to “Hubris” which is lost on this new remaster.
“Nerve” sounds like it’s been re-eq’d or something, much clearer.
“Cloud Of Nails” is very pop-and-click whereas the version on “Priests And Kanibals” is flawless.
Peel Sessions And Singularities:
6 Peel sessions tracks appeared on the “Vicissitudes” CDr; new are “Faded Flowers”, “Feelers” and “Fish Below The Ice”.
The Peel version of “Newhome” on Vicissitudes sounds like a radio recording with a crossfade at the beginning whereas this new version is clean. Everything else has similar sound quality.
The Peel version of “Feelers” (5:07) sounds identical to the single version (5:01). I have a 3:54 MP3 alleging to be the Peel version which sounds different from every other mix I’ve got.
“Sexthinkone (exotic mix)” is the same as the 12″ mix.
“Accretions (original)” is the missing Tench version, albeit crackly.
“Lined Up (instrumental)” is 4:17 whereas the 12″ version is 5:00, it’s a MUCH earlier fade.
Everything else is solid and crackle-free.
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Gerald Mc Boing-Boing – Oh, please feel free to engage in pedantry! I try to stay my hand, but I encourage it fully by commenters. This is exactly the sort of information that’s gold to me. Since I have a large, but by no means complete Shriekback collection, I have no way of verifying this sort of info. For example, I don’t have any 7″ Shriek singles! I missed the series of CD-Rs they issued in the early noughties, like “Vicissitudes.” Sometimes, I think that unless I buy everything, there’s no way to quantify this sort of information. And that can’t happen. Not enough money for that sort of thing. I enjoy buying direct from Shriekback since the band mean a lot to me. I think they are one of the better Post-Punk Bands. I recognize that what we are getting are close to bootleg but I do appreciate the efforts in any case. As I also appreciate your efforts at quantifying just what we have to listen to!
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Hi there Gerald McBoing-Boing
I compiled the disc and so appreciate your comments. The Peel Sessions tracks did indeed appear on Vicissitudes, although were not noted as such on the original CDr release, and so were included alongside the Oil and Gold sessions for completeness (many would not be aware of nor own the very rare Vicissitudes disc). Would be very keen to hear your 3.54 version of Feelers if you are willing to share with myself and the band.
Sexthinkone (Exotic Mix) is indeed the 12″ version from Y USA – not available on CD as far as I am aware and is listed as ‘Exotic Mix’ on the US 12″, so was not meant to be construed as anything else:
https://www.discogs.com/Shriekback-Sexthinkone/release/619154
Accretions is indeed the missing Tench release though mastered from a New Zealand 7″ of My Spine: https://www.discogs.com/Shriekback-My-Spine-Is-The-Bassline/release/2934821
Lined Up (InstruMENTAL Mix) was mastered from the following disc and is named as described on the label:
https://www.discogs.com/Shriekback-Lined-Up-/release/2846981
Can you tell me which 5.00 version you are comparing it to? Would be good to know.
Thanks again for your thoughts (and pedantry!) and hope you enjoyed the release overall.
Cheers
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Graham – thanks so much for your response! My pedantry was merely observation, not criticism. I’m thankful for every scrap of Shrieky material that comes my way!
Regarding your questions, here’s the alleged Peel session of “Feelers”. I don’t remember the source of it, I acquired it years ago:
[audio src="https://www.mediafire.com/file/uj13vq0ue7ju2nc/Feelers%20%28Peel%20session%29.mp3" /]
The 5:00 version of “Lined Up (Instrumental)” can be found on “The Y Record Years” compilation: https://www.discogs.com/Shriekback-The-Y-Records-Years/master/48602
I hope this helps. Thanks again for your efforts!
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Hi Gerald – thanks for your reply – it certainly wasn’t taken as criticism, I am glad we are all here to take an interest!
Appreciate the Feelers download, I will give that a proper listen when I get some time at home.
Re the Lined Up mix and the missing 43 seconds – this was mastered from my own disc (though admittedly I was not there at the time) – this one:
https://www.discogs.com/Shriekback-Lined-Up/release/158462
So it should be the 5.00 track here. However, I know that we were running out of space to include everything I wanted to – to ensure that we could include some of the rarer stuff in full (like Mothloop II and the DDW live track). In fact looking back at my compilation notes/track timings, the Lined Up track submitted was 4.59, so it sounds like it was just a judicious edit on one of the more common tracks for this reason.
Putting together this thing was tougher than I expected! We were also going to include the 12″ of Working on the Ground, but for quality/running times reasons we had to lose a couple of minutes and after much deliberation we decided it was kind of similar to the 7″ and therefore the one that would be least missed. A shame but there you go.
Anyway, thanks for taking an interest – really proud of the finished product and glad you enjoyed it.
Cheers
Graham
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Graham Brown – Thanks for sharing the compilation insights on this title. We appreciate the peek behind the curtain.
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Just a note to clarify your point about Despite Dense Weed appearing *again*.
This is in fact a live recording of DDW, previously unavailable on CD.
Cheers
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Graham Brown – Welcome to the comments! Well, that certainly makes a difference. I’ll have to grab the headphones and give it a go.
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Please do! You might want to watch the accompanying video on YouTube, which adds a lot to the experience:
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