The John Peel Project

John Peel's record collection is probably the most notable in Britain. On his death it contained in excess of 26,000 albums, 40,000 singles and countless CDs.  While singles and CDs were filed alphabetically by Peel, his albums were filed numerically and cross-referenced on hand typed filing cards.  These cards form the basis of the Arts Council-funded website called The John Peel Project on The Space. In addition to the collection itself, there are links to Peel sessions (including the excellent 1974 session by David Bowie), photographs and videos of some of the artists featured in the collection  of  as well as home movie footage.

 

Users can browse Peel’s collection by clicking on the record case, after which a glide along the shelves with the mouse will allow you a glimpse of some of what’s there. Clicking on a record with available documentation allows you to see an image of Peel’s card for the item, complete with notes, an image of the sleeve and, in some cases  the notes he has made on the sleeve itself, as well as occasional links to tracks from the album on Spotify. The first album selected for inclusion, Mike Absalom's Save Last Gherkin for Me,  was chosen because it’s record card was the first filled in by Peel. In addition to the staples of  his radio show, there are artists whose presence among the collection might elicit surprise, under A for example, are  A-ha’s 1986 album Scoundrel Days and Abba's 1979 homage to disco Voulez-Vous.   The collection shows the breadth and chronological development of Peel’s taste, and includes music by bands that he later disparaged. In reflecting the eclectic and continually evolving product of  Peel’s apparently boundless enthusiasm for such a diversity of music, the John Peel Project all seems very much in the spirit of his radio show and is a joy for any music lover to explore.