Hot Snakes

Hot Snakes: Peel SessionsPeel Sessions (2005)
Swami Records

Reviewer Rating: 3.5

User Rating:

Contributed by: AubinAubin
(others by this writer | submit your own)
Published on April 26th 2005Of the many, many contributions that the late John Peel made to music, one of his most creative and memorable was the Peel Sessions, where literally hundreds of bands were invited to perform and produce recordings that straddled the space between spontaneous live performance and studio recordings. M.

Of the many, many contributions that the late John Peel made to music, one of his most creative and memorable was the Peel Sessions, where literally hundreds of bands were invited to perform and produce recordings that straddled the space between spontaneous live performance and studio recordings. Many bands shone particularly brightly in these sessions, and they've almost always provided defininitive snapshots of an artist at that point in their history. When the Hot Snakes visited the BBC studios to record what unfortunately turned out to be the last under Peel's legendary tutelage, they were able to construct a memorable entry in the series' catalog.

The four tracks on the recording are culled from the solid Automatic Midnight and the exemplary Audit In Progress and were recorded on legendary equipment that was shared by musicians like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, and as such, the songs all have a warm, timeless sound to them. It's certainly no less raw then the Hot Snakes' studio records, but they sound even more vibrant and energetic then the performances on their records.

A package like this is sometimes of questionable interest to non-fans; after all, live performances typically don't have the accessible polish applied to CDs, but this record is certainly an exception in that regard. It acts not just as a great set of recordings for fans, but also as a solid introduction to people unfamiliar with the band. It's disappointing that so few tracks were cut to tape and the omission of any material from Suicide Invoice or my favourite track from Audit In Progress ("Plenty For All") was unfortunate, but the quality of the performance and the recording is so good that you'd hardly notice.

Hot Snakes - Peel Sessions

Automatic Midnight (originally from Automatic Midnight)
No Hands (originally from Automatic Midnight)
Brain Trust (originally from Audit in Progress)
This Mystic Decade (originally from Audit in Progress)

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Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not respon sible for them in any way. Seriously.

Anonymous (August 13, 2005)

Devil Dogs. Ha ha ha. Well, you are no doubt a "simple" person so "simple" rock fits you perfectly. Hot Snakes are champions and their piping hot boners produce music reminiscent of the best skin flutes of rock.

Lev Six

Anonymous (July 3, 2005)

devil dogs and dwarves are for people who have no idea about what rock and roll is about...fuck you.

theundergroundscene (May 1, 2005)

the explosions in the sky peel session is so good

Anonymous (April 29, 2005)

hot snakes, why do you rock so hard?

one of the best rock n roll/punk/whatever bands in the business, surgically precise and pissy, almost as good as drive like jehu (god rest your sweet soul).

Anonymous (April 28, 2005)

for whatever reason, the sultans are the only speedo side band that i can get into, and i buy every single one only to end up hating it. back off cupids, hot snakes, drive like jehu... just can't get into any of them.

pierrebouvier (April 27, 2005)

all there recs are out of control...suicide invoice is special, and they are one of the best live bands i have seen in punk rock!

Anonymous (April 27, 2005)

please note:
this shit blows away 99.999% of everything else reviewed on here.

stevejonestherealbones (April 26, 2005)

i was checking out buddyhead's mp3 blog, they have a track for download off this...no hands

http://www.buddyhead.com/mp3blog/

- jones the bones

- stevejones8770@yahoo.com

Anonymous (April 26, 2005)

Suicide invoice is their strongest release

Anonymous (April 26, 2005)

Now they've replaced John Peel with some shitty show with 3 pretty bad DJ's, its called "One Music" or something. Audit In Progress was a pretty decent album, this might be worth picking up.

Joe

Anonymous (April 26, 2005)

Vaq- what the fuck? You have the Hellacopters Peel Sessions? I have been searching for that session for 6 months.

This Hot Snakes release is to me, the coolest thing in the entire fucking world. Using gear that the stones used, Speedo personally had his amp flown in for the session, great songs, amazing atmosphere. Wow

Vaq-have you seen the Hellacopters Dvd "Goodnight Cleveland"?

Barkley

ElVaquero (April 26, 2005)

Peel Sessions always four songs long? I have sessions with Boom Bip, White Stripes, Hellacopters, and Melt-Banana that are all at least 10 tracks long.

aubin (April 26, 2005)

_Sexy_Pants_: Sure thing; I added the track listing to the review.

Anonymous (April 26, 2005)

I haven't heard this yet but I'll probably get it. To the guy above, Hot Snakes are exactly what you say you like, simple, catchy rock. That's why I like them so much.

_Sexy_Pants_ (April 26, 2005)

Aubin, with only four tracks, would it hurt that much to tell us what they are?

I would get this, but I need to get their other albums first. Audit In Progress doesn't quite match the others

aubin (April 26, 2005)

Yeah, the Peel Sessions are always four tracks. I just wish there had been more.

MarkieStabone (April 26, 2005)

oh and by the way, i've said it before and i'll say it again: this ep is hot shit.

MarkieStabone (April 26, 2005)

correct me if i'm wrong, but aren't peel sessions always 4 songs? every other peel session i have is 4 songs long...

Anonymous (April 26, 2005)

Hot snakes!

Anonymous (April 26, 2005)

wow. a good band gets reviewed on this site, amazing.
-------!!>!!! i get got gooogggfdd

Anonymous (April 26, 2005)

if this band bores you than you must love emo.