BBC Sessions

Until 1988, UK radio was constrained by what was known as "Needle Time" — a restriction created by the Musicians' Union and Phonographic Performance Limited that capped the number of hours of album-sourced music that could be broadcast each week. To work around the cap, artists recorded in-studio versions of their songs specifically for the BBC. These sessions promoted the album, allowed bands to test unreleased songs, and gave broadcasters fresh material that didn't count against the needle-time quota.

Sessions were typically allotted around six hours to record and mix — long enough to capture solid takes, short enough that the results retain a live feel with little overdubbing. The BBC didn't consider these recordings to have lasting historical value, and until around 1977 master tapes were routinely wiped after six months to spare the cost of new tape. A great deal was lost.

What survived survived against the system: listeners taped sessions off-air; engineers occasionally forgot to wipe (or quietly chose not to); the BBC pressed transcription discs for overseas radio (with Brian Matthew as a frequent presenter — which is why his voice is heard on so much archival session material); and DJs like John Peel are known to have hidden tapes from the engineers. Family recorded a total of 25 BBC radio sessions between 1967 and 1973 — a remarkably full set, since most bands relied on BBC sessions only at the start of their career.

Beginning in 2004, Hux Records undertook a systematic reissue programme. BBC Radio Volume 1: 1968-1969 and Volume 2: 1971-1973 drew from surviving master tapes and transcription discs; Volume 3: 1970 added two sessions sourced from off-air recordings. The 1973 In Concert appearance was released in 1993 as BBC Radio 1 — In Concert; the 1971 In Concert appeared in 2003 as Family Live; the band's final session was issued in 1988 as The Peel Sessions EP. Of the 25 sessions, 14 have been officially released — three of them in incomplete form. The rest remain off-air recordings, transcription-disc fragments, or genuinely lost.

Special thanks to Jacopo Muneratti for the original BBC sessions research that underpins this catalogue.