Th' Faith Healers - "Peel Sessions"

With one entry featuring a classic shoegaze band, and another about a prime Krautrock band, I figured this would be a good place to show how in the 1990's the two genres started to meet in the middle. Th' Faith Healers (they dropped the 'e' in 'The', claiming they'd given it to Thee Hypnotics) were equally influenced by groups like MBV, with their ear-bleeding volume and noisy squall, and German experimental rock from the likes of Can, Neu!, and Faust, who capitalized on repetitive rhythms and gradually shifting dynamics. In fact, Th' Faith Healers would go on to release a 5-minute-long cover Can's 20-minute-long epic "Mother Sky" on their 1992 album Lido.

Th' Faith Healers were comprised of singer Roxanne Stephens, bass player Ben Hopkins, drummer Joe Dilworth, and guitarist Tom Cullinan. Almost immediately after the release of their first EP, the late, great Mr. John Peel booked them for a session on his show. He liked 'em so much that he asked them back a subsequent four more times, resulting in today's file, Th' Peel Sessions (actually, it's just called Peel Sessions, I added the "Th'" just now because I thought it'd be funny. But I just re-read it and it's not that funny after all).

In any case, these recordings are pretty cool. They showcase a band at different stages in their development, and it's interesting to observe how they go from sounding loud but maybe a little tentative to a full-on rock assault toward the middle, and end with the confidence to cover Nilsson's "Without You" and actually make it palatable. Yep, it's too bad these cats didn't stick around for more than a couple of albums; after listening to this, I do have to wonder what would've come next for them if they'd let their sound evolve more in either a pop or experimental direction (or both, preferrably).

In any case, I recommend picking this one up if you like it 'cause the liner notes are written by the singer, Roxanne (quite short, but cool) and some neat pictures of people at shows lookin' all 90's alternative. Uh, maybe those aren't selling points, exactly. Well, at least get the damn file.