# John Peel's Record Box

John Peel's Record Box is a documentary film made by Elaine Shepherd, released on 14 November 2005 on Channel 4. It was nominated for Primetime Emmy Award.

## Contents

The box contains a small private collection of the British radio DJ John Peel who died in 2004 at the age of 65. Peel's main archive contained more than 100,000 vinyl records and CDs. This smaller collection is 143 singles, some of them doublettes, stored in a wooden box representing some of his favourites. According to the documentary, there are no singles by Peel's favourite group, The Fall, because he kept them in a separate box.
The film features interviews with John's wife Sheila Ravenscroft, radio DJs and artists including Mary Anne Hobbs, Sir Elton John, Ronnie Wood, Roger Daltrey, Feargal Sharkey, Jack White, Michael Palin and Miki Berenyi.

## Inside John Peel's Record Box

| No. | Artist | Title | Label | Year | Comments |
| 1 | Al Casey | "Surfin' Hootenanny" "Easy Pickin" | Pye International | 1963 | Dance-Craze Surf Instrumental with female group vocal excerpts |
| 2 | Al Ferrier | "I'm Not Drinking More" "Don't Play Blue Eyes'" | Master Trak | 1974 | Rockabilly |
| 3 | Alan Price Set | "I Put a Spell on You" "Iechyd-Da" | Decca Records | 1966 | A UK Chart hit - John Walters, Peel's long-time producer, was a member of The Alan Price Set, and played on this |
| 4 | Andy Capp Reco | "Popatop" "The Lion Speaks" | Treasure Island | 1969 | Reggae Skinhead single |
| 5 | The Anemic Boyfriends | "Guys Are Not Proud" "Bad Girls in Love" | Red Sweater Records | 1980 | |
| 6 | Ann Peebles | "I can't stand the rain" "I've been there before" | London Records | 1972 | 70s Soul track |
| 7 | Anti-Social | "Traffic lights" "Teacher, teacher" | Dynamite Records | 1977 | |
| 8 | Arthur K Adams | "Wildwood flower" "It's a wild, wild, wild, wild wildwood flower" | Jetstar | 1966 | R&B/Soul artist |
| 9 | Big Stick | "Drag racing" "Hell on earth" | Recess Records | 1985 | |
| 10 | Bill Oddie | "On Ilkla Moor Baht 'at" "Harry Krishna" | Dandelion Records | 1970 | The A side was a version of a traditional Yorkshire dialect folk song, rendered in the style of Joe Cocker's version of The Beatles' song "With a Little Help from My Friends" |
| 11 | Boards of Canada | "Aquarius" "Chinook" | Skam Records | 1998 | |
| 12 | Bobby Lee Trammell | "If you ever get it once" "Don't you know I love you" | Alley Records | 1964 | White R&B-Rock & Roll artist |
| 13 | Cat Power | "Headlights" "Darling Said Sir" | The Making of Americans | 1994 | |
| 14 | Charlie Feathers | "Nobody's darling'" "Deep elm blues" | Holiday Inn Records | 1962 | Rockabilly |
| 15 | Charlie Feathers | "Nobody's woman" "When you decide" | King Records | 1957 | |
| 16 | Charlie Feathers | "Wild wild party'" "Today and tomorrow" | Memphis Recordings | 1961 | Rockabilly |
| 17 | Charlie Feathers | "Tongue-tied Jill" "Get with it'" | Meteor Records | 1956 | repressing again |
| 18 | Charlie Feathers | "Too much alike'" "When you come around" | King Records | 1957 | repressing |
| 19 | Cheeze | "Dancin with the Dead - Dancin queen" "Direwolf" | Bob Records | 1989 | Produced by Steve Albini |
| 20 | Clague | "The stride" "I wonder where" | Dandelion Records | 1969 | |
| 21 | Clefs of Lavender Hill | "Stop! - Get a ticket" "First tell me why" | Date | 1966 | Minor garage-pop hit, also released on UK CBS |
| 22 | Cleveland Crochet | "Sugar bee" "Drunkards dream" | Goldband | 1960 | |
| 23 | Don Covay | "It's better to have" "Leave him" | Mercury | 1973 | Soul |
| 24 | Don French | "Lonely Saturday night" "Goldilocks" | Quality | 1959 | Canadian issue |
| 25 | Dreamland Express | "Groovy" "u.f.o" | EMI | 1980 | |
| 26 | Eazy Teeth | "Car noise" "Her blade" | Dental Records | 1980 | Artwork for 7-inch front cover by Don Van Vliet aka Captain Beefheart |
| 27 | Eddie & Ernie | "I believe she will" "We try harder" | Chess | 1964 | Soul artist |
| 28 | Eddie & Ernie | "Outcast" "I'm gonna always love you" | Eastern | 1965 | Northern Soul |
| 29 | Eddie & Ernie | "Time waits for no one" "That's the way it is" | Eastern | 1964 | Soul artist |
| 30 | Electro Hippies | "Sheep" / "Starve The City (To Feed The Poor)" / "Meltdown" / "Escape" / "Deadend" / "Thought" / "Chickens" / "Mother" / "Mega-Armageddon Death" | Strange Fruit | 1987 | |
| 31 | Elmore James | "The sky is crying" "Standing at the crossroads" | Flashback Records | 1959 | 1970s re-release of 1960 hit |
| 32 | Firemen | "Old Smokie" "Louie's Theme" | Le Cam | 1964 | |
| 33 | Freshmen | "You never heard anything like it" "Bombing run" | Release Records | 1979 | |
| 34 | G. L. Crockett | "It's a man down there" "Every hour, every day" | 4 Brothers | 1965 | R&B-Blues |
| 35 | G. L. Crockett | "Look out Mabel" "Did you ever love somebody" | Checker | 1965 | re-release of alternate version |
| 36 | Geater Davis | "For your precious love" "Wrapped up in you" | House of Orange | 1971 | |
| 37 | Gene Dozier & The United Front | "Give the women what they want" "The best girl I ever had" | Mercury | 1974 | B-side is popular in Northern-Modern Soul |
| 38 | Golinski Brothers | "Bloody" "Toy" | Badge Records | 1980 | |
| 39 | The Greenhornes | "Shadow of grief" "Stayed up last night" | Italy Records | 2000 | |
| 40 | Hooton 3 Car | "Danny" "Numena" | Rumblestrip Records | 1995 | |
| 41 | Idle Race | "Here we go round the lemon tree" "My father's son" | Liberty | 1967 | Issued in the US and Europe but not in UK. In the UK the song was issued by a Roy Wood related group The Move. |
| 42 | Izzy Royal | "Coronation St" "Coronation Dub" | WEA | 1983 | Reggaefied version of the TV theme |
| 43 | Jane Bond and The Undercover Men | "Hot rod Lincoln" "Come on up" | Ear Movies Records | 1982 | |
| 44 | Jerry Byrd | "Memories of Maria" "Invitation" | Monument | 1961 | |
| 45 | Jody Reynolds | "Endless sleep" "Western movies" | Liberty | 1958 | the B-side is an Olympics 1958 track, perhaps a 1970s reissue |
| 46 | Johnnie Taylor | "I've been born again" "At night time" | Stax | 1974 | Classic Soul artist |
| 47 | Johnny Adams | "You're a lady" "I wish it would rain" | Atlantic | 1972 | Classic Soul artist |
| 48 | Johnny Fortune | "Dragster" "Soul surfer" | Sonet | 1964 | |
| 49 | Ken Colyer's Jazzmen | "If I ever cease to love" / "Bucket's got a hole in it" "Wildcat blues" / "Wabash blues" | Tempo Records | 1953 | UK jazz group, on UK mid 50s EP |
| 50 | La peste | "Black" "Better off dead" | Black Records | 1978 | |
| 51 | Larry Bright | "Mojo workout" "I'll change my ways" | Tide | 1960 | |
| 52 | Laurie Anderson | "O Superman" "Walk the dog" | One Ten Records | 1981 | No. 2 UK hit, a very long hypnotic synth-pop track |
| 53 | Lee Perry | "Bafflin' smoke signal" "Black smoke signal" | Black Arc | 1978 | Reggae |
| 54 | Lightnin' Hopkins | "Mojo hand" "Glory be" | Flashback Records | 1960 | 1970s reissue |
| 55 | Marc Bolan | Marc Bolan talking to Stevie Dixon "Jennifer Sharp, Steve" | Ube/Pye Records | 1973 | |
| 56 | Mary Monday and her Bitches | "I gave my punk jacket to Richie" "Popgun" | Malicious Productions | 1977 | |
| 57 | Max Romeo | "Sipple out deh' Lee Perry" "Revelation" | Upsetter | 1976 | Reggae artist |
| 58 | MC5 | "Looking at you" "Borderline" | A-Square Records | 1968 | 2 copies. "Kick Out The Jams" was their known hit with the spoken intro |
| 59 | Medicine Head | "Coast to coast" "All for tomorrow" | Dandelion Records | 1970 | |
| 60 | Medicine Head | "His guiding hand" "This love of old" | Dandelion Records | 1969 | |
| 61 | Mel and Tim | "Starting all over again" "It hurts to want it so bad" | Stax | 1972 | Big USA Soul hit, Best known in UK for "Backfield in Motion" song from 1969. |
| 62 | Maow featuring Neko Case | "Kat nip" / "One night stand" / "Anthem" / "Kill kill kill" / "Catastrophe" / "Boy groupies" | Twist Like This Records | 1992 | |
| 63 | Mickey Lee Lane | "Tutti Frutti" "With your love" | Mala | 1968 | White R&B-rock artist best known for his 1965 "Hey Sah-Lo-Ney" and "Shaggy Dog" 45s |
| 64 | Mike Spenser and The Cannibals | "Good guys" "Nothing takes the place of you" | Big Cock Records | 1978 | B-side (cover of Toussaint McCall) preferred. |
| 65 | The Nice | "The thoughts of Emerlist Davjack" "Azrial (Angel of Death)" | Immediate | 1967 | UK prog art rock pop |
| 66 | Nilsson | "Without You" "Gotta Get Up" | RCA | 1971 | The big ballad UK No 1 hit |
| 67 | Nilsson | "Everybody's Talkin'" "Don't Leave Me" | RCA | 1968 | Midnight Cowboy film song |
| 68 | Nilsson | "Kojak Columbo" "Turn Out The Light" | RCA | 1975 | |
| 69 | O. V. Wright | "That's how strong my love is" "There goes my used to be" | Goldwax | 1964 | USA R&B-Soul artist |
| 70 | Paul Blake & The Blood Fire Posse | "Every posse get flat" "Flat out" | Studio Work | 1984 | Early Reggae Dancehall hit |
| 71 | Paul Revere & The Raiders | "Him or Me – What's It Gonna Be?" "Legend of Paul Revere" | CBS | 1967 | USA Garage-pop group |
| 72 | Pavement | "Demolition Plot J-7: Forklift" / "Spizzle trunk" / "Recorder grot" / "Internal K-Dart" / "Perfect depth" / "Recorder grot" | Drag City | 1990 | |
| 73 | Pocket Fishrmen | "Yr story" "The leader is burning" | Noiseville | 1989 | |
| 74 | The Quads | "There must be thousands" "You've gotta jive" | Big Bear Records | 1979 | Sometimes mistakenly listed with A and B sides reversed |
| 75 | Ray Martin | "Blue tango" "Belle of the ball" | Columbia Records | 1952 | One of the first 45rpm records issued in UK in early 1953. Also the first record that Peel bought |
| 76 | Revelino | "Step on high" "Memoreason" | Musicdisc | 1996 | |
| 77 | Rod Bernard | "This should go on forever" "Pardon Mr. Gordon" | Jin Records or Argo Records | 1958 | USA Rock & Roll-Pop artist |
| 78 | Roshell Anderson | "The Grapevine Will Lie Sometimes" "Such A Beautiful Thing" | Contempo | 1974 | USA Soul artist |
| 79 | Roy Head | "Treat her right" "So long, my love" | Vocalion | 1965 | USA white R&B-rock artist |
| 80 | Sam & Dave | "I Can't Stand Up for Falling Down" "Soothe me (live)" | Stax | 1966 | Original version of Elvis Costello's 1980 hit record |
| 81 | Sasha Caro | "Grade 3 section 2" "Little maid's song" | Decca Records | 1967 | Obscure UK artist who also released '"Molotov Molotov"/"Never Play a B Side"' |
| 82 | Scrugg | "Will the real Geraldine please stand up and be countered" "Only George'" | Pye | 1969 | John T Kongos psychedelic-pop act, last of 3 singles |
| 83 | Sheena Easton | "9 to 5" "Moody" | EMI | 1980 | UK Scottish female artist who got her break on a BBC TV show |
| 84 | Sipho Bhengu & His Alto Sax | "Tickey dopies" "I saluti" | Inkonkoni | 1971 | South African Music |
| 85 | Soledad Brothers | "Sugar & spice" "Johnny's death letter" | Italy Records | 1998 | with Jack White |
| 86 | Some Chicken | "New Religion" "Blood on the Wall" | Raw Records | 1977 | |
| 87 | Spit Out | "O from I" "Tan" "Rot'n'roll'" | Ma Frog Records | 1996 | |
| 88 | Stanley Winston | "No more ghettos in America" "It's alright" | Jewel | 1970 | |
| 89 | Status Quo | "Down Down" "Night Ride" | Vertigo | 1974 | UK No 1 hit |
| 90 | Supersister | "No tree will grow" "She was naked" | Dandelion Records | 1971 | |
| 91 | The Beatles | "Come Together" "Octopus's Garden" "Something" | Melodiya | 1969 | Likely an East European issue of semi-legal status |
| 92 | The Big Three | "You've Gotta Keep Her Under Hand" "If You Ever Change Your Mind" | Decca Records | 1964 | Early Merseybeat group |
| 93 | Buzzcocks | "Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)" "Just Lust" | United Artists | 1978 | UK chart hit |
| 94 | The Factory | "Path through the forest" "Gone" | MGM | 1968 | UK Psychedelic |
| 95 | The Galactic Symposium | "Y.M.C.A" "Money " | Vague Records | 1978 | |
| 96 | The Legion of Super-Heroes | "The great name dropper part 1" "The great name dropper part 2" | Amy Records | 2000 | |
| 97 | The Mark Four | "Hurt Me If You Will" "I'm Leaving" | Decca Records | 1965 | Mod Beat UK group, later named The Creation, who had hits with "Making Time" and "Painter Man" |
| 98 | The Mighty Avengers | "So Much in Love" "Sometime They Say" | Decca Records | 1964 | UK beat group, A side is a Rolling Stones song |
| 99 | The Misunderstood | "I Can Take You To The Sun" "Who do you love?" | Fontana | 1966 | USA Garage-Psych group |
| 100 | The Move | "I Can Hear the Grass Grow" "Wave the flag and stop the train" | Deram | 1967 | UK 1967 big chart hit, related to 'Idle Race' record above |
| 101 | The Negatives | "Love is not real" "Stakeout" | Look | 1979 | |
| 102 | The Nightcaps | "Wine wine wine" "Nightcap rock" | Musicor | 1959 | USA Rock & Roll group |
| 103 | The Ramrods | "Riders in the sky" "Zig zag" | London American | 1960 | Big hit in USA & UK. Song also known as "Ghost Riders in the Sky" |
| 104 | The Smoke | "My Friend Jack" "We can take it" | Columbia Records | 1966 | Banned UK mod psych track 'My friend Jack eats sugarlumps...' |
| 105 | The Squirrels | "Oz on 45" "Alone again" | PopLlama | 1988 | |
| 106 | The Undertones | "Teenage Kicks" / "True Confessions" "Smarter Than U" / "Emergency Cases" | Good Vibrations | 1978 | The first issue of this classic track in a custom fold-around sleeve, before the 'Sire' hit issue |
| 107 | The Upholsterers | "Makers of high grade suites" "I ain't superstitious" / "Pain" | Sympathy for the Record Industry | 2000 | |
| 108 | The Upsetters | "Bucky skank" "Yucky skank" | Down Town | 1973 | Reggae Roots by Lee Perry |
| 109 | The Upsetters | "Key card" "Domino game" | DL International | 1975 | Reggae Roots by Lee Perry |
| 110 | The Users | "Sick of you" "I'm in love with today" | Raw Records | 1977 | UK Punk group |
| 111 | The Versalites | "Cutting rasor" "Black belt Jones" | DL International | 1974 | Reggae Roots |
| 112 | The White Stripes | "Lafayette Blues" "Sugar never tasted so good" | Italy Records | 1998 | |
| 113 | The White Stripes | "Party of Special Things to Do" "China Pig" "Ashtray Heart" | Sub Pop | 2000 | |
| 114 | The White Stripes | Merry Christmas From The White Stripes: "Candy Cane Children" / "The reading of the story of the Magi, the singing of Silent Night" | XL Recordings | 2002 | |
| 115 | The White Stripes | "It takes two, baby" "Fell in Love With a Girl" | Sympathy for the Record Industry | 2001 | |
| 116 | The White Stripes | "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground" "Stop Breaking Down" | XL Recordings | 2002 | |
| 117 | The White Stripes The Dirtbombs | "Hand Springs" "Cedar Point '76" | Extra-Ball Records | 1999 | For Multiball Magazine |
| 118 | The White Stripes | "Hotel Yorba (Live at the Hotel Yorba)" "Rated X" | XL Recordings | 2001 | |
| 119 | The White Stripes | "Lord, Send Me an Angel" "You're pretty good looking (Trendy American Remix)" | Sympathy for the Record Industry | 2002 | |
| 120 | The White Stripes | "Hello operator" "Jolene" | Sympathy for the Record Industry | 2000 | |
| 121 | The White Stripes | "The Big Three Killed My Baby" "Red Rolling Ball Ruth" | Sympathy for the Record Industry | 1999 | 2 copies. |
| 122 | The Henchmen featuring Jack White | "Some other guy" "Psycho Daisies" | Italy Records | 1997 | |
| 123 | 2 Star Tabernacle featuring Andre Williams | "Lily White Mama and Jet Black Daddy" "Ramblin man'" | Bloodshot Records | 1998 | Cover photo by Jack White. "Ramblin' man" is cover of Hank Williams. |
| 124 | The Wildbunch | "Danger (High Voltage)" "Neurocameraman" / "She's Guatemala" | Flying Bomb Records | 2001 | |
| 125 | The White Stripes Rocket 455 The Blowtops | "Candy Cane Children" "Santa Ain't Coming For Christmas" "Sidewalk Santa" | Flying Bomb Records | 1998 | |
| 126 | The Dirtbombs MHz The Real Pills | "My Last Xmas" "Secret Santa" "It's Almost December" | Flying Bomb Records | 2000 | |
| 127 | Travis Wammack | "Fire fly" "Scratchy" | ARA | 1964 | B-Side preferred. "Scratchy" a quirky R&B instrumental, was issued as an A-side on UK Atlantic records in 1964 |
| 128 | XL Capris | "My city of Sydney" "Dead budgies" | Axle | 1980 | On a broadcast for BFBS (the British Forces Broadcasting Service) John stated that the record had been sent to him by "someone actually from Sydney, Australia". On his Radio One show on 1 August 2000 a listener requested this song ahead of the upcoming Sydney Olympics. John noted that it had been consistently the most requested song on the shows he recorded for broadcast in Germany. |
| 129 | Yami Bolo | "Richer than Cory" "Richard Version" | Jamaica International | 1998 | Reggae Dancehall. John claimed to have "about 50 Yami Bolo 7" singles, and a lot of really good ones in there" |
| 130 | Yardbirds | "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago" "Psycho Daisies" | Columbia Records | 1966 | UK classic 60s psych/mod group |