The Complete Peel Sessions comprises each of the twenty-four sessions the group recorded for John Peel's radio show. Peel was an avid supporter of the group from early in their career, and the Fall recorded more sessions for Peel's programmes than any other artist. The set was in the process of being compiled when Peel died in October 2004. The set charts almost all of the group's musical phases up until 2004.
The Complete Peel Sessions was met with a laudatory response from critics, who generally praised it as a worthy summation of the Fall's career to date. Critics named a broad selection of highlights, though some noted an impression of inconsistency or decline in the latter portions of its seven-hour runtime. "There are now more Fall compilations and collections out there than Mark E. Smith himself can keep track of," Nigel Kendall wrote for The Times, "but if you buy only one, make it this one."[8] Named the "Reissue of the Week" in NME, the compilation was reviewed by Rob Fitzpatrick, who said:
In a more authoritarian country than our own—say France—the very idea that one obsessive individual could, over 26 years, freely spend thousands of pounds of public money recording the absurdist ramblings of a man stumbling through a career that's clearly little more than an attempt to avoid getting up for work in the morning would, understandably, be met with angry, perhaps vicious, condemnation. In France, John Peel would have surely have been hung [sic?] in the town square long before he, or his favourite-ever band, the Fall, would have had the chance to thrill, inspire and amaze Radio 1's adventurous night-time audience with [so many] brilliantly pointed pop moments ...[10]
In the Daily Mirror, Gavin Martin called it a "lavish, head-spinning portrait of the most undervalued band in Britain" and "confirmation of Mark E. Smith as Britrock's great anti-hero".[3] Keith Bruce of The Herald recommended the box set for diehard fans of the Fall, who he surmised would likely focus on recordings dating to either the early 1980s period with Marc Riley or Brix Smith's time with the band the mid-1980s—although "[o]nly real anoraks," Bruce continued, "will be able to be more specific about a band that has had 30 different line ups over more than 25 years."[5]Simon Goddard for Uncut said that the "bulk" of the BBC recordings "easily rival" the studio versions of the tracks, while a few "actually surpass" them. Although Goddard felt the set's overall range in quality was "desperately eclectic, even by the Fall's abstruse standards", it was nonetheless "hard to imagine a more satisfying or comprehensive career overview than this."[9] At Mojo, Ian Harrison wrote it "may well be the definitive history of the Fall, from wired, punk-era beginnings on to year after year of constant mutation", noting the superiority of many of the Peel recordings to the studio versions of the same songs, and though he detected the band decline throughout the 1990s, he still found the release to be "indispensable for the fan, and a superb introduction for those wanting to be infected."[6]
At Pitchfork, Joe Tangari wrote that the box set arguably represented "the definitive look at the Fall's career to date—even more than last year's very well-considered 50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong compilation"; however, noting its considerable length, he said "it's not the place to start, but anyone with more than four or five Fall albums would be doing themselves a huge service picking this up."[7] Per David Jeffries at AllMusic, the immediacy of the Peel sessions format curtailed Smith's typically "flippant attitude toward practically everything" and his band's tendency to meander in a studio setting—but when recorded live and under conditions of imposed brevity, they demonstrated "an urgency and drive that's woefully absent from all but the band's best albums". The sheer quantity of highlights found on the box set, Jeffries continued, placed it "next to 50,000 Fall Fans and This Nation's Saving Grace in the Fall 'Hall of Fame.'"[2] In a more reserved review, Entertainment Weekly's Tom Sinclair cautioned that the Fall were "a notoriously acquired taste" and "[t]he alternative to alternative", the recordings "lurch, rattle, crawl, clatter, stagger—and sometimes even rock."[4]
Among the 97 total tracks on The Complete Peel Sessions, the following were cited as highlights of the set by at least one critic from the aforementioned reviews:
Tracks cited by one or more critics as highlights of The Complete Peel Sessions 1978–2004:
The Complete Peel Sessions won Catalogue Release of the Year at the 2005 Mojo Awards, in a ceremony held at London's Porchester Hall on 16 June 2005.[12] The award, sponsored by music retailer HMV, was intended to recognize the "reissue that is both definitive and beautifully packaged" from the preceding year.[13]The Complete Peel Sessions bested other nominated releases from the Clash, Jeff Buckley, the Mamas & the Papas, the Kinks and Jack Nitzsche.[14]
The Complete Peel Sessions appeared on several critics' year-end lists for 2005. In a feature by Stewart Lee, The Sunday Times named it the third-best record of 2005.[15]David Fricke of Rolling Stone ranked the compilation eighth on the magazine's list of the year's top 10 reissues.[16]The Sun critic Simon Cosyns named it among the year's 11 best box sets on a list that was unranked aside from the top spot, designated for Blue Guitars by Chris Rea.[17]
Meanwhile, in early 2006 the record industry periodical Music Week commended Will Nicol and Steve Hammonds of Sanctuary Records for conducting one of the year's most effective marketing campaigns based on promotion of an established musical act's back catalogue. Music Week named the campaign for The Complete Peel Sessions among four finalists for the year's best "catalogue campaign", with Sony BMG's promotion of the Elvis Presley compilation #1 Singles claiming the top spot.[18]
Some tracks appear under titles different from those attached to their studio incarnations. Although most differences are slight, the tracks are listed by the titles they were given at the relevant session.
^Not released officially until 1993's Kimble EP, where it was credited to Mark E. Smith, Craig Scanlon and Steve Hanley.
^Alternatively credited on original single release to Mark E. Smith, Craig Scanlon, Steve Hanley and Sol Seaburg.
^Credited on the 1991 and 2002 editions of the Shift-Work album to Mark E. Smith and Craig Scanlon, and on the 2007 edition to Mark E. Smith, Craig Scanlon and Robert Gordon
^Credited on Middle Class Revolt to Mark E. Smith, Craig Scanlon and Steve Hanley.
^Credited on Middle Class Revolt to Mark E. Smith, Craig Scanlon and Steve Hanley.
^Credited on Middle Class Revolt to Mark E. Smith, Craig Scanlon and Steve Hanley.
^Credited on the 2011 reissue of The Marshall Suite to Mark E. Smith and Julia Nagle.
^Credited on the "Masquerade" single to Mark E. Smith, Julia Nagle, Steve Hanley and Karl Burns.
^Credited on the original 1999 edition of The Marshall Suite to Mark E. Smith, Steve Hitchcock, Karen Leatham and Tom Head.
^Credited on The Complete Peel Sessions 1978–2004 to Mark E. Smith and Dave Milner.
^"Groovin' With Mr. Bloe" was originally recorded by the USstudio group Wind in 1969, and later by Mr. Bloe. The Fall's session version only lasts for one minute before seguing into "Green-Eyed Loco Man". "Groovin' With Mr. Bloe". Reformation!. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
^"Groovin' With Mr. Bloe" is credited on The Complete Peel Sessions 1978–2004 to Bo Gentry, Paul Naumann, Kenny Laguna and Bernard Cochrane.
^Credited on The Complete Peel Sessions 1978–2004 to Mark E. Smith and Marc Riley.
^Recorded during Session 24 but not broadcast. It was pressed onto an acetate (coupled with a similarly exclusive track by Half Man Half Biscuit) and given to John Peel for his 65th Birthday on 31 August 2004. Peel played the track on air that night, making it the final track by the group to debut on his show. "Job Search". Reformation!. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
^Cumming, Tim (28 May 2004). "Rock & Pop: Fighting talk; The Fall's famously chippy leader, Mark E Smith, is still ready to take on the world, Tim Cumming discovers". The Independent. London. GaleA117309032.
^ abMartin, Gavin (5 May 2005). "CD Reviews and Music: New Album – The Fall – The Complete Peel Sessions 1978–2004". Daily Mirror. London. p. 8. GaleA132143144.
^ abcFitzpatrick, Rob (23 April 2005). "Reissue of the Week". NME. p. 50. Archived from the original on 27 February 2006. Retrieved 4 May 2022 – via TheFall.org.
^"100 Punk Scorchers!". Mojo (95): 22. October 2001.
^Sanderson, David (17 June 2005). "Siouxsie shows she's goth what it takes to become a rock icon; As Ms. Sioux picks up Mojo Award, Sinéad goes on the warpath". Evening Standard. London. GaleA133332761.
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