Happy Peel Day! It's just a shame that the BBC seems to have such a short collective memory...
More than a shame really, when you stop to think how much John gave to them over so many years, and just a couple of years on, they offer such paltry commemoration playlist that you'd be forgiven for thinking you'd got the wrong day....ah, well.
My sincere apologies that I haven't got anything more Peelish for you myself today, but John often joked that he was forever being mistaken for Bob Harris, so maybe he would enjoy the irony of this offering on Peel Day.

Anyway, I was listening to (watching) the first of the Beeb's OGWT compilation DVD's this weekend, and decided that there were one or two performances therein (notably Tim Buckley's 'Dolphins', Robert Wyatt's 'Shipbuilding' and Tom Waits' Tom Traubert's Blues) that I had to have on CD, so I could l blub along to them in the car on my way to work. And as ripping audio from DVD's and compiling them onto CD's is a fairly lengthy task, I thought I might as well share the results.
I had to make a few editorial decisions, in order to fit it all on 2 CD's, but I'm assuming that no-one here would really miss Simply Red (though fair play to the man, he does have a fine voice), and I've never really cared much for the Police, and have never been able to understand what people see in U2 either. And classic or no, 12 mins of Freebird, I can also live without. And Elton John, and...OK, there's probably enough material for a 3rd CD, but I'm just too busy right now.

There are some truly wonderful performances on these discs, including the inevitable epic version of Skynyrd's Freebird (is there any other kind?), and a cracking piece of theatre from Meatloaf, which I can still remember watching as a kid, probably because there is a bit where you get a flash of tit from Loaf's co-performer (sorry, but what was her name ?).
Apparently, there were a number of complaints received at the BBC after it was shown, not so much for the tit content, but for the fact that it showed some big, ugly fat bloke getting it on with a skinny lovely on stage - I would have thought that it should be applauded for bringing a ray of hope into the lives to fat bastards everywhere, but there you go.
Actually I think the real reason for the complaints may well have been because Meat shouts "FUCK YOU" at the top of his voice at the end of the song, and presumably the Beeb's technicians were just too stunned by the performance to notice, or too impressed to edit it out afterwards.
A note for the Nerds; if you want to rip audio from DVD, then you need the mighty MPEG Streamclip - a wonderful piece of cross-platform freeware, which you'll find at Squared5.com . The author truly deserves your support, even though he/she doesn't seem to be asking for it - no 'Donate' buttons on the site! So that's 'free' as in "as a bird, babe"...

Here's Disc 1 part 1 and part 2 (tracklist below) and disc 2 will follow shortly...

1. Alice Cooper - Under my wheels
2. Curtis Mayfield - We Gotta have Peace
3. Randy Newman - Political Science
4. Bill Withers - Aint no Sunshine
5. Focus -Sylvia
6. Rory Gallagher - Hands Off
7. John Martyn - May you never
8. The Wailers - Stir it Up
9. Roxy Music - Do The Strand
10. Edgar Winter - Frankenstien
11. New York Dolls - Jet Boy
12. Tim Buckley - Dolphins
13. Captain Beefheart - Upon the My Oh My
14. Little Feat - Rock n' Roll doctor
15. Dr.Feelgood - Roxette
16. John Lennon - Stand By Me
17. Alex Harvey - Give My Compliments to the Chef
18. Tom Waits - Tom Trauberts Blues
19. Otway & Barret - Really Free