In Session Tonight

The Radio 1 archives hold a wealth of largely unreleased recordings by many of the biggest names in rock and pop. This is the story of these sessions and how they have helped to set musical trends over the last 25 years, with selections from each period to represent the enormous range of styles recorded, and revelations of behind-the-scenes events. The book includes a detailed reference guide to the recordings - band line-ups, session transmission dates, recording dates, track listings and other relevant data - and there is also a complete reference list of all the live music recorded for "The John Peel Show". The CD which is included with the book has tracks by The Cure, Syd Barrett, Madness, Billy Bragg, Happy Mondays, The Inspiral Carpets, The Only Ones, The Damned, The Undertones, The Birthday Party, Buzzcocks, Babes in Toyland, P.J. Harvey and Chicken Shack. Ken Garner is a freelance music journalist whose articles appear in "The Guardian" and "Music Week".