1001 Albums
en
Create account

49 albums · 1989–2026

The albums of John Peel's sessions, 1989–2026

· 1 min read · by 1001 Albums

John Peel presented programmes on BBC Radio 1 from its start in 1967 until his death in 2004. Bands came in to record sessions for him, usually four songs in a day, many of them at the BBC's Maida Vale studios, and some came back again and again. From 1986 the label Strange Fruit put the sessions out on record.

The Wedding Present recorded Ukrainian folk songs for Peel and put them out in 1989. From the late seventies there are Misty in Roots, This Heat, Magazine and Killing Joke; Earache gathered the sessions of Napalm Death, Carcass and Bolt Thrower, and Island those PJ Harvey recorded from 1991 to 2004.

The list has 49 records from 1989 to 2026. Left out are the single sessions on EPs of four or five tracks, the Warp sessions of Aphex Twin and Boards of Canada among them, the records that mix sessions with other recordings, and the albums Deezer does not have, among them the Peel Sessions of Joy Division and the Undertones. About 38 hours of music, 5 days of a few records each.

By genre

Punk & New Wave 38%Rock 30%Pop 11%Other 21%
  • Punk & New Wave 38%
  • Rock 30%
  • Pop 11%
  • Other 21%

The genres named most: post-punk, indie rock, indie pop, alternative rock, new wave, electronic.

The colours of the covers

A stripe for each cover, in the colour Tidal picks from it, sorted by hue; the greys at the end.

Where the music comes from

Music from 5 countries: United Kingdom 37, United States 7, Germany 3, Australia 1, Netherlands 1. The deeper the colour, the more albums: one, two to four, five to nine, ten and more.

The 1980s

The 1990s

The 2000s

The 2010s

The 2020s

More lists

Lists of Sessions and festivals first, then others; all of them on the blog. The blog.

304 albums · 2014

What the Tomorrowland 2014 lineup released that year

· 6 min read

The headliners and stage hosts of Tomorrowland 2014, in Boom in July, released a lot that year: Avicii's True, Tiësto's A Town Called Paradise, Skrillex's Recess, Martin Garrix's Gold Skies and hundreds of singles, EPs and mixes.

Electronic 96%Folk & Country 1%Pop 1%Other 2%
  • Electronic 96%
  • Folk & Country 1%
  • Pop 1%
  • Other 2%

Read and see the list

47 albums · 1991–2020

The albums of MTV Unplugged, 1991–2020

· 1 min read

From 1989 MTV sat musicians down with acoustic instruments in front of a small audience, and the best of the sessions came out on record: Eric Clapton's Layla slowed down, Nirvana in New York a few months before the end, Lauryn Hill alone with a guitar, and the Latin American series with Soda Stereo, Maná, Shakira and Café Tacvba.

Rock 57%Pop 12%Latin 8%Other 23%
  • Rock 57%
  • Pop 12%
  • Latin 8%
  • Other 23%

Read and see the list