Ukrainian John Peel Sessions
| Українські Виступи в Івана Піла | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||
| Compilation album by The Wedding Present | ||||
| Released | February 1989 | |||
| Recorded | 1986–1988, England | |||
| Genre | folk music | |||
| Length | 36:22 (re-release) | |||
| Label | RCA | |||
| Producer | Dale Griffin | |||
| The Wedding Present chronology | ||||
|
||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| NME | 8/10 (November 12, 1988) link |
| NME | 9/10 (February 1989) link |
| Allmusic |
  (1989 release) link
|
| Allmusic |
 (2000 re-release) link
|
Ukrainian John Peel Sessions (Ukrainian: Українські Виступи в Івана Піла, Ukrainski vistupi v Ivana Pila) is a compilation album by The Wedding Present, originally gathering their first three Ukrainian language John Peel radio sessions. It was scheduled to be released in late 1988 by their own record company, Reception Records, but was ultimately released in February 1989 by their new record label RCA.
The Wedding Present guitarist Peter Solowka, whose father is Ukrainian, used to play a Ukrainian folk tune called "Hopak" to entertain his friends. When he did so during a radio session the band was recording for the BBC Radio 1 John Peel show, they decided to record the song for the session. The song was received well and, fired by Solowka's enthusiasm, the band decided to dedicate another Peel session to Ukrainian folk songs. Because none of them could sing Ukrainian to any acceptable degree, they decided to invite fellow Leeds musician "The Legendary" Len Liggins of The Sinister Cleaners, who had read Russian at University, to sing and play various instruments.
The resulting Peel session's broadcast provoked a reaction of Hang the Dance! member Roman Remeynes, himself fluent in Ukrainian, who jokingly accused the band of bastardising the music. This led to him being invited to join as well for a second Ukrainian-themed Peel session. By this time, original Wedding Present drummer Shaun Charman had been replaced with Simon Smith, coincidentally an ex-Sinister Cleaner himself.
The band intended to release a compilation of the first and second Peel sessions as Українські Виступи в Івана Піла on their independent record label Reception Records, whose distribution was handled by Red Rhino, a York-based division of the independent UK distribution network, The Cartel. Red Rhino issued a radio promo of "Davni Chasy" and pressed a batch of the LP for release in late 1988, but went into receivership before it could actually release the album. Prompted by the demise of their backers, The Wedding Present decided to fold their own record label and sign with a regular record company. Of the original pressing (catalogue number REC010), a small number of copies managed to leave the warehouse; these are nowadays sought after.
...
Wikipedia