| Recorded in September 1979, the Funboy Five's John Peel
session comprised four songs:
'Life After Death', 'Compulsive
Eater', 'Haircut Bob Dylan '66', and 'Bleached Roots of Surf'.
The first two songs, in very
different form, subsequently became a single. Of the others, 'Haircut
Bob Dylan '66' was inspired by a character in Brighton encountered
during the group's first tour (and, obviously, by Bob Dylan's 1966
hairstyle) while 'Bleached Roots of Surf' was an instrumental derived
from ‘Wide Boy’, a song written by Mick Sinclair for the Anal
Surgeons.
The session was produced by Bob
Sergeant.
One quirk was the incredibly fast
pace of the songs. This was due to Robert the drummer’s apparent
nervousness, which led to an inability on his part to play the songs at
their usual speed. This made things even more difficult than normal for
the rest of the band, who struggled to keep up. This is very evident on
the recordings, not least in the breathless vocals.
Bob Brimson, the bass player who
had left to join The Bears, temporarily rejoined the Funboy Five to
play on the session.
The session was first broadcast on
October 1, 1979 and repeated a few months later.
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