Radio 1’s old boy teams up with Fabric’s bright young things.

Fabriclive 07 is John Peel’s first ever compilation. Why? “Because nobody had asked me to do it before,” he says simply. “And it’ll be nice for my children to have when I’m dead and gone,” he adds. “Dad chose these.”

Peel’s involvement with Fabric began when he was invited to play at the Farringdon club after a hugely successful appearance at the Sonar 2000 electronica festival in Barcelona. “It was like something out of a film. I mean people just went mad,” he reflects. “One guy dived over a desk, landed on his head and was rushed off to hospital. I always say when you’ve got paramedics taking people at your gig off to hospital, it must have been a good gig.” Does he always get such a response? “Alas no, it was a one-off.”

Having gone down a storm, he was asked to compile a Fabriclive compilation. But how does a man with over 26,000 records pick 23? “The initial list only took me as long as it took to write it down,” he says. “There wasn’t a great deal of thought involved really.”

And yes, the album does contain Teenage Kicks: “Since the record came out I’ve never done a gig without it. And I can’t hear it without crying, so it had to be on there.”

The LP does a good job of reflecting the great man. It contains an eclectic mix of stuff including Sinthetix’s drum ‘n’ bass, 60s swingers The Capris and new rockers The Datsuns. There’s even The Kop Choir with You’ll Never Walk Alone. “Had to be on there,” he says. So was there anything that Fabric wouldn’t let him put on? “They wouldn’t let me put a Status Quo track on there, they thought that would be too uncool. I was a bit disappointed about that.” Matthew Walton 28 November 02

“It’s rather childish really. I just buy pretty covers, brightly coloured sleeves, interesting names.”

“Micro-techno. What is Micro-techno? Who knows what Micro-techno is? I like the fact it mystifies me and I don’t know what any of it is. And none of us do.”

“This is on Shit Catapult Records which is such a great name for a record label. I always like finding stuff on that label so that we can play it and I can say, ‘That’s a track from Shit Catapult.’”

“And here’s the only 45 I bought – Let’s Get Together And Praise The Lord by Betty Jean Plumber. If that’s not good I shall be very disappointed.”

Fabriclive 07, released 02 December 02 on Fabric Records.

collective preview: fabric live 100