Stiff Little Fingers: The Peel Sessions
Artist: Stiff Little Fingers
Title: The Peel Sessions
Acquired: Early 1990s, probably from The Exclusive Company or B-Side Records
Rating: 4/10
While I rate it slightly better, I would say this CD is actually less necessary than the Adam and the Ants Peel Sessions CD I reviewed a while back. What this CD consists of is mostly inferior versions of non-rarities, so the question becomes "why own it at all?"
There are 3 sessions of 4 songs each on this CD, sequenced in chronological order. We start with four Inflammable Material tracks recorded in 1978, which are then followed by eight Nobody's Heroes tracks recorded in 1979 and 1980. Of these sets, my favorite is the middle four songs. I think the performances and songs are pretty good from that session. It also features the only somewhat-rarity on the disc, an early version of Nobody's Hero with inferior rough-draft lyrics. It's a shame the final revision had not taken place prior to this recording, because this is actually one of two songs on here that I feel are (or would otherwise be) superior to the official album versions. I've never liked the way Jake Burns sang the album version of Nobody's Hero (my wife said she thought it sounded like he was belching - I agree with this assessment. Plus I have some problems with the mixing).
The other song that benefits from a different performance is Doesn't Make it All Right. Again, the vocal performance here is superior to the album version, as the vocals on the final verse are less obnoxiously melodramatic.
Other than that, there's not anything here that you would need to hear if you already owned the first two albums (plus the Straw Dogs single, which is one of the better performances here, but not quite as fiery as the single version). The rendition of Suspect Device may be of interest if you (perhaps justifiably) hate the sound quality of the other recordings, but while it is better in some ways, I think I still prefer the other versions - even the single version that sounds like it was recorded on a portable tape recorder.
So, while this is an ok (not great) CD, it doesn't have much of a purpose. I'm giving it a 4/10.
Title: The Peel Sessions
Acquired: Early 1990s, probably from The Exclusive Company or B-Side Records
Rating: 4/10
While I rate it slightly better, I would say this CD is actually less necessary than the Adam and the Ants Peel Sessions CD I reviewed a while back. What this CD consists of is mostly inferior versions of non-rarities, so the question becomes "why own it at all?"
There are 3 sessions of 4 songs each on this CD, sequenced in chronological order. We start with four Inflammable Material tracks recorded in 1978, which are then followed by eight Nobody's Heroes tracks recorded in 1979 and 1980. Of these sets, my favorite is the middle four songs. I think the performances and songs are pretty good from that session. It also features the only somewhat-rarity on the disc, an early version of Nobody's Hero with inferior rough-draft lyrics. It's a shame the final revision had not taken place prior to this recording, because this is actually one of two songs on here that I feel are (or would otherwise be) superior to the official album versions. I've never liked the way Jake Burns sang the album version of Nobody's Hero (my wife said she thought it sounded like he was belching - I agree with this assessment. Plus I have some problems with the mixing).
The other song that benefits from a different performance is Doesn't Make it All Right. Again, the vocal performance here is superior to the album version, as the vocals on the final verse are less obnoxiously melodramatic.
Other than that, there's not anything here that you would need to hear if you already owned the first two albums (plus the Straw Dogs single, which is one of the better performances here, but not quite as fiery as the single version). The rendition of Suspect Device may be of interest if you (perhaps justifiably) hate the sound quality of the other recordings, but while it is better in some ways, I think I still prefer the other versions - even the single version that sounds like it was recorded on a portable tape recorder.
So, while this is an ok (not great) CD, it doesn't have much of a purpose. I'm giving it a 4/10.
posted by RDConz at 10:06 PM
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