A series for 2025 in which this blog will dedicate a day to each of the twenty-four of the sessions The Fall recorded for the John Peel Show between 1978 and 2004.
Session #3 was broadcast on this day, 24 September 1980, having been recorded on 16 September 1980.
Arguably the greatest Fall session, this is the occasion, according to Riley, where producer John Sparrow’s pipe had gone out, and he’d fallen asleep. Returning with newcomers Scanlon and the Hanley brothers, this is the first truly great Fall Peel Session. The definitive recording of ‘New Puritan’ (with the Ur-Smith lines “I curse the self-copulation of your record collection – New Puritan says ‘coffee table LPs never breathe'”), the fresh and quick ‘Container Drivers’ and the extended ‘New Face In Hell’ offer glimpses of past and present, while ‘Jawbone And The Air Rifle’ offers the first tart taste of ‘Hex Enduction Hour’, still some 18 months away.
DARYL EASLEA, 2005
mp3: The Fall – Container Drivers (Peel Session)
mp3: The Fall – Jawbone And The Air Rifle (Peel Session)
mp3: The Fall – New Puritan (Peel Session)
mp3: The Fall – New Face In Hell (Peel Session)
Produced by John Sparrow
Mark E Smith – vocals; Marc Riley – guitar; Craig Scanlon – guitar; Steve Hanley – bass; Paul Hanley – drums;
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 
Teenage me, listening late to Peel on a school night, was intimidated, intrigued and impressed by Smith ranting New Puritan through my tinny FM radio speaker. He seemed angry and contemptuous of everything , substantial or trivial. Which was pretty reasonable to me.
Nailed it there Chaval