Today it’s been 41 years since Joy Division’s second Peel Session was broadcasted for the first time by John Peel on BBC radio (December 10th, 1979).

All tracks, previously unreleased at that time, were recorded in the London BBC studios on November 26th, 1979.

The EP of this recording was released in 1986 by Strange Fruit records and spent seventeen weeks in the UK Indie Chart, peaking at number 3!

Joy Division - The Peel Sessions (II)
A1. Love Will Tear Us Apart 3:20
A2. 24 Hours 4:05
B1. Colony 4:08
B2. Sound of Music 4:20

DISCOGS

A real gem for the synth-lovers... Notstandskomitee is more than just raw and harsh noise sounds.

Here is what they say about it:

"After the 1995 CD 731 I sensed a need for an antithesis to the harsh sound and gritty topic of violence of that album. So I came up with the idea to create retro futuristic songs which are more on the uplifting side, done with modern, mainly digital sounds courtesy of the FZ-1 sampler and TG77 FM synthesizer which was the latest entry that time in the block 4 studio. The TG77 was already dominating the sound on 731 and later the Betriebssystem album by Das Kombinat. Hardiskrecording had not arrived nor been affordable for us so everything was mixed in one go and cut directly to DAT.

Post mastering was technical not possible in the block 4 studio and the label had no budget to give it to a mastering studio so the CD is a bit rough and uneven. Fast forward some decades, now its easy to treat everything in the computer with modern tools and so I could bring Strom closer to its original vision.

While Strom was 1997 the antithesis, the tracks on the 1999 album Y2K, which was released as a split CD with the Brazil act Cyberthreat, was the synthesis and blueprint of the Notstandskomitee style today."

notstandskomitee.bandcamp.com/album/strom-2020-remaster

This December, 41 ago, Throbing Gristle released the album 20 Jazz Funk Greats. It was released in December 1979 by the band's own label Industrial Records. It is regarded as the band's best work, with music magazines naming it the best album of the 1970s, and the best industrial album of all time.

Actually it is the band's first real full studio album, as prior albums contained both live and studio recordings. The album was recorded on a 16-track tape recorder borrowed from Paul McCartney after Peter Christopherson had worked on some artwork for McCartney.

The album was produced meanly using effects units and instruments from Roland and Boss.

The album's cover photograph was taken at Beachy Head, a chalk headland on the South coast of England known as one of the world's most notorious suicide spots.

In a 2012 interview, Cosey explained the album cover and tongue-in-cheek title:

“We did the cover so it was a pastiche of something you would find in a Woolworth’s bargain bin. We took the photograph at the most famous suicide spot in England, called Beachy Head. So, the picture is not what it seems, it is not so nicey nicey at all, and neither is the music once you take it home and buy it. We had this idea in mind that someone quite innocently would come along to a record store and see [the record] and think they would be getting 20 really good jazz/funk greats, and then they would put it on at home and they would just get decimated.”

The 1981 issue of the album released on Fetish Records featured an alternate version of the cover art in which an apparently dead and naked male body is seen lying in front of the band. In 2013, Radiohead graphic designer Stanley Donwood selected the artwork as his favorite album cover.

20 Jazz Funk Greats

All tracks were written by Throbbing Gristle:

• Genesis P-Orridge – vocals, bass guitar, violin, vibraphone, synthesizer
• Cosey Fanni Tutti – guitar, synthesizer, cornet, vocals
• Chris Carter – synthesizer, album sequencing, drum programming, vocals
• Peter Christopherson – tape, vibraphone, cornet, vocals

DISCOGS

The SCANNER-label celebrates its 20th anniversary with a great and extended review of their catalogue: A Human Scan(ner): a 26-track sampler full of goodies by e.g. Autodafeh, :S.I.T.D.:, Spetsnaz, Straftanz and many others.

Released December 4th, just in time for the holidays!

scanner-dd.bandcamp.com/album/a-human-scanner-the-20th-anniversary-compilation

Public Image: First Issue is the debut studio album of Public Image Ltd, formed and fronted by Jonny Rotten aka John Lydon after he left the Sex Pistols in January 1978. First Issue was released by record label Virgin on December 8th the same year and it is still considered as one of the pioneering records of post-punk.

It entered the UK Albums Chart, where it stayed for 11 weeks and reached #22 on 23 December 1978. The single “Public Image” entered the UK Top 75, where it stayed for 8 weeks and reached #9 on 21 October 1978

In 1979, a court in Malta had stopped selling the album because the lyrics of “Religion” offended public morals and decency.

After hearing the test pressings Warner Bros records also decided not to publish the album in the United States because the sound of the record was considered as too uncommercial for an American release. PiL were asked to re-record parts of the album and although the band recorded new versions of some tracks the album was never released in the US. Only in 1980 Warners released the song “Public Image” on the compilation album “Troublemakers”, the only album track released in the US until the 2013 release of the entire album.

On 18 June 2013, the album was finally officially released in the US via Light in the Attic Records.

Upon its release, Public Image: First Issue received only 2 out of 5 stars review in Sounds and NME was similarly negative, quipping that "unfortunately the 'image', public or otherwise, is a good deal less limited than many of the more practical factors involved in this venture."

However, it is now considered as a groundbreaking post-punk classic. Pitchfork Media stated "First Issue's industrial-strength stompers anticipate the scabrous art-punk of the Jesus Lizard and Slint, while Levene’s guitar curlicues on “Public Image” are the stuff Daydream Nations are made of." It is, along with Metal Box, included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Public Image: First Issue
1. Theme 9:05
2. Religion I 1:40
3. Religion II 5:40
4. Annalisa 6:00
5. Public Image 2:58
6. Low Life 3:35
7. Attack 2:55
8. Fodderstompf 7:40
Personel:
John Lydon – vocals, piano
Keith Levene – guitar
Jah Wobble – bass, vocals and fire extinguisher on "Fodderstompf"
Jim Walker – drums, vocals on "Fodderstompf"

DISCOGS