Bbc Maida Vale Sessions ** Vinyl

The BBC Maida Vale Sessions compiles four of Broadcast’s live performances at the famed West London studios between October 1996 and August 2003, charting the band from their first year together to near-international recognition as their sound continued mutating. Even in their embryonic state, Broadcast appear fully formed on their first session for John Peel in 1996, performing three early singles along with a near-complete sketch of ‘City In Progress’ four years before its proper release. Less than a year later, Broadcast were already toying with the public’s perception of them in their 1997 Evening Session. The latter sessions, recorded in 2000 and 2003, audibly track their psychedelic pop transitioning into exhilarating, noisy decay as the group pared down to the core duo of James Cargill and Trish Keenan. More than cementing their chameleonic sound though, this compilation stands as both a career-spanning look and introduction to Broadcast’s powers as a live act. Remastered from the original tapes at Calyx in Berlin, this is the first time some of the band’s radio sessions for John Peel and other BBC DJs are being made available. Includes different versions of album tracks, a song they never re-recorded “Forget Every Time” and a rare Nico cover "Sixty Forty”.