Look Out! It's Alive

## Show

Name
* Look Out, It's Alive!

Station
* BBC Radio One

YYYY-MM-DD
* 1991-06-22 (repeated 1991-06-25, 1992-09-12 & 12-15)

Comments
* A documentary about the Radio 1 sessions, produced and presented by John Walters and (not exclusively) featuring the Peel Sessions. John himself contributed via interview, as did many others. Interspersed are rehearsal takes from the Hoovers' first (and only) recording.

## Tracklisting

* *The Farm's Peter Hooton evaluating the sessions*
* Jimi Hendrix: 'Radio 1 Jingle' (#2, 1967-12-15)
* *Phil from the Hoovers interview*
* Leonard Hawke: 'Drake Goes West' (1922-11-16) [1]
* Alan Price Set: 'Barefootin' (*Saturday Club*, date unknown)
* *Bernie Andrews interview*
* *Jeff Griffin remembers a Chuck Berry session*
* Dave Clark Five: 'Bits And Pieces' (*Saturday Club*, 1964)
* *Phil Collins interview*
* Jimi Hendrix: 'Getting My Heart Back Together Again' (#2, 1967-12-15)
* *Bill Aitken interview*
* *Bernie Andrews interview*
* *Pete Ritzema interview*
* *Marc Bolan interview*
* Tyrannosaurus Rex: 'Ride A White Swan' (#8, 1970-10-26)
* *Robert Wyatt interview*
* Soft Machine: 'Moon In June' (#2, 1969-06-10)
* *Phil Collins interview*
* Brand X: 'Malaga Virgin' (#2, 1976-07-15)
* *Dave Tate interview*
* Gene Vincent: 'Be Bop A Lula' (Johnnie Walker, 1971-10-01)
* *two chimpanzees playing piano, recorded by Walters in 1971*
* *Robert Wyatt interview*
* Carol Concert: 'Away In A Manger' (one and only, 1970-12-08)
* *Jordan interview*
* *Jeff Griffin interview*
* Damned: 'Stab Your Back' (#1, 1976-11-30)
* Adam & The Ants: 'Lou' (#1, 1978-01-23)
* *Jordan interview*
* Slits: 'Love And Romance' (#1, 1977-09-19)
* *Nick Gomm interview, where he wonders if Radio 1 did the right thing in recording the above session*
* *JP interview: "There's no question at all that it was the right thing. I mean, I'm not a great admirer of technique for technique's sake. I think this is where everything went wrong in the 1970s: people became obsessed with the ability to play terrifically well, which has never been central to the core of rock'n'roll, and of course that's the kind of remark where people say, Well come on, we've always believed these people can't play and so on. They always hold the Beatles as being you know the greatest band of all time, and of course you listen to their early records and the playing's a bit duff, where they actually do the playing themselves. So with a band like the Slits, quite clearly they were utterly and entirely the right thing to do, and when they came in and recorded their sessions, they were amongst the two sessions that they did, I would say, as a man who makes lists in a fairly compulsive fashion, I would say that they were both in the top 10, 12 sessions of all time: they were quite superb. Much better than anything they subsequently did on record."*
* *Siouxsie and Steve Severin interview*
* Siouxsie & The Banshees: 'Hong Kong Garden' (#2, 1978-02-06)
* *Roger Pusey interview*
* Smiths: 'Reel Around The Fountain' (#1, 1983-05-18)
* *Andy Kershaw interview*
* Four Brothers: 'Zuro Chisara' (Andy Kershaw session #2, 1989-05-18)
* A Guy Called Gerald: 'Rockin' Ricki' (#1, 1988-10-30)
* *Peter Hooton interview*
* Farm: 'No Man's Land' (#1, 1983-04-17)
* *Phil Collins interview*
* Wedding Present: 'Yikhav Kozak Za Dunai' (#4, 1987-10-06)
* Hoovers: 'Big Time' (one and only, 1991-01-29) *Peel announcement from first TX, 02 March 1991*
* *contributors are asked how they would feel if the BBC ceased recording sessions*
* *JP interview: "Well, it certainly wouldn't be the same programme: I'm trying to think of a good analogy off the top of my head and of course can't immediately come up with one. But it wouldn't be the same programme without the sessions, there's no question about it. I could certainly find enough records to fill the space, but a lot of the excitement of it would be gone for me, if only because, when the session goes out for the first time, I have a policy of not listening to the sessions before they go out so that there is an element of surprise and excitement in it for me as well, because obviously the records I know. So yeah, it would be a great shame, I think. It's one of the things which does reflect credit on the BBC really worldwide. I mean, these things have been issued on record and it's quite extraordinary the effect that it's had in the past six months in the United States. I mean, all of the big American papers in New York, Washington, Los Angeles, all of the music papers, Rolling Stone and so on, you know, they've all done pieces about the Peel sessions, and this is not to my aggrandisement or to my financial advantage, alas. But certainly the BBC, its reputation has been enhanced all over the world as a result of these sessions: in a small and select area, but an important area."*

## File

Name
* Look Out, It's Alive! - A Celebration of the session with John Walters

Length
* 00:59:39

Other
* Originally shared via Peel Mailing List.

Available
* Mooo

Footnotes
1. ↑ Featuring Walters on trumpet.
2. ↑ The session track was later officially changed to Miserable Virgin when released.
3. ↑ Rod Stewart solo.