The late great John Peel always had a special connection with the town of Rochdale, situated just North of Manchester. In 1959/60, John Peel worked at a cotton mill in Rochdale before leaving to go to the USA. In 1970, after receiving tapes through the post from Rochdale band Tractor, he signed them to his Dandelion Records label, bought them studio equipment and a stereo PA system [fairly ground-breaking for a North-West band in the early 1970s]. Peelie continued to have a special relationship to the Tractor people right up until his untimely death, always plugging their live appearances and Tractor releases and any Rochdale-related releases on his programme. On this CD we present the tracks that John Peel signed Tractor on the strength of in 1970, plus all the tracks, A and B-sides they did as singles and a 2006 remix of a song specially commissioned by Peel in 1972. The in-depth CD booklet analyses the history of John Peel's links to Rochdale with rare historical photos of Peel's workplace and musical premises around the town which he helped launch and rare images of Tractor and the CD booklet also examines Peel's link to the legendary Deeply Vale Festivals and Cargo Recording Studios. An everyday story of Manchester musicians (Rochdale and Heywood) who post tapes of their songs off to John Peel – he signs them up to his record label, buys them studio gear and a P.A. They use the P.A. to launch the Deeply Vale Festivals...
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The tracks Peelie signed us up on the strength of:
1. King Dick II
2. Squares
3. Siderial
4. Angle
5. Storm
6. Willow
7. Madrigal
8. The Way Ahead
The Singles:
9. Stoney Glory
10. Marie
11. As You Say
12. Roll The Dice
13. Vicious Circle
14. No More Rock’n’Roll
15. Northern City
16. Average Man’s Hero
17. Big Big Boy
18. John Peel’s Boogie 2006
