Various Artists
Album: Movement: BBC Radio 1 Peel Sessions 1977-1979
Label: EMI
Tracks: 41
Website: www.EMISessions.com

Gold dust for those of us of a certain age, this dayglo-packaged two-CD set skims the cream from the punky reggae party ambrosia of the late 1970s. It would be pointless for me to assert it was the golden age because Peel's heyday is different for us all - generally coinciding with our discovery of the old codger - but this period has as good a claim as any.

Some of this has previously seen the light of day on the Strange Fruit in the 1980s, but it's always a happy day to hear landmark tracks from The Only Ones, The Jam, The Ruts, Buzzcocks, The Undertones (no, it doesn't feature that one), Ian Dury, The Stranglers, John Cooper Clark and The Adverts. Less well remembered offerings like The Flys' Love and a Molotov Cocktail, Dr Feelgood's She's a Wind Up, The Rezillos' Top of the Pops and 999's Homicide only serve to make the smile wider. And they're all on Disc One.

The beauty of the Peel Session was it gave bands the chance to try out new things or take a slightly different slant on new or forthcoming singles. The results tended to be rawer than official releases, marked out by their energy and sense of freedom.

That spirit surfaces even more prominently of Disc Two and the rush of punk gives way to post-punk, reggae and ska. Thus, PiL's seminal Poptones reminds us what might have been, Steel Pulse raise a clenched fist against fascism in Jah Pinkey, Joy Division unleash the still stunningly stark Transmission and even OMD sound fleetingly good in Messages. By the time you digested Marc Riley's excellent sleeve notes and strained your ageing eyes to decipher the age inappropriate silver roman text on yellow track info there's a surging reminder of how quick Peel was onto the Two Tone movement with to-be-expected selections from Specials, Madness and The Beat, as well as The Selector's lost nugget, Street Feeling.

Peel's producer, the late, great John Walters always said he regretted not getting the Pistols in and The Clash never recorded more than backing tracks before moaning about the quality of the studio and storming off in a very un-punk huff. A shame on both counts, but there's more than enough compensation here.

Can't wait to see what's next out of the vaults.

Nick Churchill
www.thegranvillechambers.co.uk