| Recorded
in September 1979, the Funboy Five's John Peel
session comprised four songs: 'Life After Death',
'Compulsive Eater', 'Haircut Bob
Dylan '66', and 'Bleached Roots of
Surf'.
The first two songs, in
very different form, subsequently became a
single. Of the others, 'Haircut Bob Dylan
'66' was inspired by a character in Brighton
encountered during the group's first tour (and,
obviously, by Bob Dylan's 1966 hairstyle) while
'Bleached Roots of Surf' was an instrumental
derived from ‘Wide Boy’, a song written
by Mick Sinclair for the Anal Surgeons.
The session was produced
by Bob Sergeant.
One quirk was the
incredibly fast pace of the songs. This was due
to Robert the drummer’s apparent
nervousness, which led to an inability on his
part to play the songs at their usual speed. This
made things even more difficult than normal for
the rest of the band, who struggled to keep up.
This is very evident on the recordings, not least
in the breathless vocals.
Bob Brimson, the bass
player who had left to join The Bears,
temporarily rejoined the Funboy Five to play on
the session.
The session was first
broadcast on October 1, 1979 and repeated a few
months later.
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