Friday, September 02, 2011

Ian McCulloch Peel Session 4-Dec-1989



Another DAT-sourced Peel Session in pristine quality – this time from Ian McCulloch circa his first solo album “Candleland”.

Given that the Bunnymen hadn’t done a Peel Session for a good 6 years prior to this, I was never sure if this was because Peel had just gone off them or if they were simply above it all once they made it big in the States? Nonetheless I have good memories of this session going out and Peel sounded as enthusiastic as ever. That said, there seems to have been a 3 month gap between recording and transmission, so it may not have been a priority for the show to broadcast it.

Anyway – we have three tracks from Candleland and a 4th track “Damnation” that would end up on the 2nd solo album “Mysterio”.

I really liked the Candleland album but bear in mind that this was around the time that the Bunnymen were still ploughing ahead without McCulloch (and yes I did see them play in Bootle at their “comeback” gig – it wasn’t pretty) so it didn’t take much to win that particular battle..

The Peel Session versions were much less polished and lacked the 80’s production sheen of the album so they actually sound better in retrospect.

EDIT - reupped with the squeal in the middle of Damnation sorted out! Sorry about that

Tracklist:

01 - Faith And Healing
02 - Flickering Wall
03 - Damnation
04 - Candleland

Line Up:

Ian McCulloch: Guitar & Vocals
Steve Humphreys: Drums
Edgar Summertime: Bass
John McEvoy: Guitar
Mike Mooney: Guitar & Keyboards




Ian McCulloch - 1989 Peel Session