Echo & The Bunnymen - The John Peel Sessions 1979-1983 (Remastered) (2019) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

Echo & The Bunnymen have collected their Peel Sessions recordings from 1979 through 1983 and will be releasing them in the U.K. on September 6th. The session tracks were recorded for The John Peel Show on BBC Radio 1 and have been released on a limited basis over the years. This is the first time to collect all of the Peel Sessions from the golden formative era of The Bunnymen.

The post-punk were not alone in attributing success to Peel, whose regular Radio 1 sessions often provided the first major national coverage to bands that would later achieve great notoriety.

Significantly, this collection of 21 tracks are from the very beginning of the bands existence. With little money, the band used them to demo new material. Many of the songs were written due to the fact a Peel session had been booked, not because the show loved the new songs - demonstrating the level of trust, confidence and love they had for the band.According to Echo & The Bunnymen guitarist Will Sergeant, these recordings could quite simply be some of the most significant in the bands career - “Without John Peel sessions, Echo And The Bunnymen in my opinion, would not exist! It’s that simple. The band got so much support from him and John Walters (Peel’s producer). Recording a Peel session was essential to the development of our songwriting skills while at the same time giving us amazing exposure and self-belief.”

Tracklist:
1. Read It In Books (John Peel Session) (02:29)
2. Stars Are Stars (John Peel Session) (03:06)
3. I Bagsy Yours (John Peel Session) (02:53)
4. Villiers Terrace (John Peel Session) (04:14)
5. The Pictures On My Wall (John Peel Session) (03:06)
6. All That Jazz (John Peel Session) (02:54)
7. Over the Wall (John Peel Session) (04:49)
8. All My Colours (John Peel Session) (04:27)
9. That Golden Smile (John Peel Session) (04:26)
10. Heaven Up Here (John Peel Session) (04:45)
11. Turquoise Days (John Peel Session) (03:57)
12. Taking Advantage (John Peel Session) (04:16)
13. An Equation (John Peel Session) (03:49)
14. No Hands (John Peel Session) (03:11)
15. Silver (John Peel Session) (03:49)
16. Seven Seas (John Peel Session) (03:59)
17. The Killing Moon (John Peel Session) (03:37)
18. Nocturnal Me (John Peel Session) (04:14)
19. Watch Out Below (John Peel Session) (02:48)
20. Ocean Rain (John Peel Session) (03:49)
21. My Kingdom (John Peel Session) (03:59)

Personnel:
Echo & The Bunnymen:
Ian McCulloch, vocals
Will Sergeant, guitar
Les Pattinson, bass
Pete De Freitas, drums

Digitally remastered