Start of the show: “Well, the only way I can make your lives miserable is by turning up to do the programme. So here I am with Tubeway Army – it’s their debut session for us – and a repeat of the recent ones from the Cimarons, which was fairly good, I think. Among the records, we’ve got the first record release from the Ruts, which is excellent. I should be playing that at about 22 minutes past if you can stay with me that long. We’ve also got a new one from the Upsetters. We’ve got the Members, Joy Division, the Ramones, Lurkers, Bob Marley & The Wailers, lot of other things of course. But no secrets.”
Some mystery surrounds the first track of the night. Peel clearly credits the ‘Night People’ and says the single will be the first release on the label of Jimmy Pursey (of Sham 69), but no record of this 45 can be found online. In April 1979, a single released on Polydor (Sham’s label) had a track called ‘No Secrets’ on the b-side, but this was credited to ‘The Invaders’.[2] Pursey did produce the single, however, and the track may have eventually been released under a different artist name. Please get in touch if you know more.
Peel enthuses about the new Ruts single at the beginning of the show. Although it had been out for a while, this was the first time he'd play it.
Elvis Costello is introduced as 'Edward Costello & the Attractions'. Peel explains that it's something "we DJs have to do every once in a while to give the appearance that we're lively and amusing pranksters, and the only thing I can think of to do is to say people's names wrong. If I was any cleverer than that I'd be a captain of industry and wouldn't be here at all, so be thankful."
He reveals that his father-in-law (Dennis) works in Nelson, Lancashire.
Sessions[]
Tubeway Army #1 First broadcast. Recorded 1979-01-10.
↑Artist listed only as “Ladysmith” with no further details other than “black music” and the Virgin label. Presumably the artist was the well-known South African vocal group whose track ‘Yinhleleni’ Peel had played from the ‘Rhythm Of Resistance’ compilation a week earlier, on 09 January 1979. The band’s only other track on the LP is ‘Umthombowase Golgota’.