John Peel's signed Lennon LP could be yours – if you've got a spare £7,000

Telegraph

5 days ago

'I just want to hear something I haven't heard before,' the late Radio 1 DJ John Peel once said. His love of music would famously manifest itself in a record collection so vast that estimates of its precise size vary. Some people have put the collection at 26,000 albums and 40,000 seven-inch singles, while others have put the entire collection at 120,000 vinyl records and CDs.
Whatever the number, the DJ, who died in 2004, is widely regarded as having one of the finest private caches of punk, indie, new wave, dance, folk and rock music in the world. Before his death, he even spoke to the British Library about how to preserve his collection (although ultimately it remained with his family).
Peel knew his own tastes. He had a 'star system' to denote the records he'd played on air or should play on air. And, despite having thousands of them, he hated CDs. 'Somebody was trying to tell me that CDs are better than vinyl because they don't have any surface noise,' he said. 'I said, 'Listen, mate, life has surface noise.''
However, Peel's family has discovered that his celebrated collection contains many duplicates of records that he already owned. Auction house Omega Auctions has spent the last year sifting through the shelves at the family's Suffolk home, Peel Acres, to remove them. An auction of these duplicates – the first of at least three – takes place on July 29. What sets this sale apart from normal record auctions is that Peel's discs often came with hand-written notes from artists or managers; Easter eggs, if you will, between artists and the music tastemaker. The auction also contains plenty of quirky memorabilia.
Paul Fairweather, director at Omega Auctions, says going through Peel's collection has been the pinnacle of his career as a vinyl sifter. 'For me, finding the little bits of memorabilia within the records, or hand-written on the records, makes it so much more exciting. It's the personal notes to John that make it so much better,' he says. Peel's family say they hope that record collectors will appreciate these items 'just as much as Dad did'.
There are plenty of curios in this auction. Peel revelled in championing the underdogs; he famously introduced himself to viewers on his first Top of the Pops as the bloke 'who comes on Radio 1 late at night and plays records made by sulky Belgian art students in basements dying of TB'. We've ignored some of the more obscure records. But here are our highlights from an auction so great that rarities from Bowie and the Clash fail to make our Top Ten.
10. The Jesus and Mary Chain – test press of Upside Down 7' (Lot 14)
It's not so much the disc that's of interest here, but the hand-written letter to Peel from Creation boss Alan McGee that comes with it. The year was 1984 and Creation Records – the future home of Oasis and Primal Scream – was in its infancy. McGee was on typically headstrong form in addressing the DJ. 'John,' the label boss starts, 'Just a quick line to tell you about The Jesus and Mary Chain … I honestly believe this band is classic in the mould of The Pistols, Stooges etc. This is beyond rock n roll as they say at [the] NME.' That's confidence.
As Fairweather says: 'This was well before Oasis took Creation to another level, so at the time they had to do these hand-written letters to people like John basically selling the bands. It is one of the very early Creation releases.' The disc also has Peel's mark on it. 'You can see actually on the record itself that there's a little 2:55 in red. That's John's hand-written timings of the track. He's listened to that record, as he has done all the records in the collection, and noted the lengths of the track.'
Estimate: £150-200
As well as being sent loads of records to Peel Acres, the DJ was sent a vast number of promotional T-shirts, many of which are for sale here. My favourites include a 1984 Frankie Goes to Hollywood T-shirt saying 'Frankie Say Arm the Unemployed' (it was always 'say' not 'says' on official Frankie merch as the band were a collective). There is also a great hand-painted Ramones T-shirt from 1977, a Sex Pistols one from 1980 and a Smiths shirt from 1987.
'John Peel's collection is predominantly about vinyl, but having memorabilia in the auction as well is very cool, especially all his T-shirts. There are tons of them, a really good selection,' says Fairweather.
Estimates: range from £60 to £200, although the Smiths T-shirt is already attracting bids of £240 while the Frankie one has a bid of £420
8. New Order – World in Motion promotional bundle (Lot 404)
The 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy was memorable for lots of reasons. Roberto Baggio. England vs Cameroon. Gazza's tears after his yellow card in the semis, meaning he'd miss the final (which we didn't get into). But right up there was New Order's official England song World in Motion, featuring that famous John Barnes rap. Originally called 'E is for England' (a title banned by the FA for its obvious drug connotation), the song is an absolute belter. As, it should be said, is this bundle of promotional memorabilia.
The printed plastic bag contains a T-shirt, New Order and England-themed football shorts, a cap, a remix CD, a 12' single and a sticker. Altogether now, 'You've got to hold and give, but do it at the right time…'
Estimate: £100-£150
7. Oasis – Columbia demo 12' disc (Lot 256)
A rare copy of the band of the moment's first promotional release. In December 1993, Oasis's record label Creation sent a demo of the band's track Columbia to radio stations ahead of the release of their official first single, Supersonic, in April 1994. Columbia was one of the first songs that Noel Gallagher wrote after he joined Oasis and it would go on to appear on debut album Definitely Maybe. This version is in excellent condition, says Omega, and is extremely rare.
'This is Oasis's first promo that was sent out. It typically [sells for] £1,000. They only sent out 500 or 1,000 of them. Whenever you have Columbia coming through [in auctions] it's like the holy grail almost,' says Fairweather.
The song is not featured, at the moment anyway, in the set list of Oasis's reunion tour. Still, I imagine this will get snapped up.
Estimate: £600-£1,000
6. Pink Floyd – Animals promotional mobile (Lot 408)
This is fun. To help promote their 1977 album Animals, Pink Floyd's record label gave out animal-themed mobiles to journalists and DJs (that's hanging mobiles, rather than mobile phones, not a thing back then). This one includes a sheep, a dog, a pig and a disc with the album's name on it. The packaging remains unopened and it comes in its original mailing envelope with printed instructions on the front.
'John would have been sent this when the album was coming out or given it at a launch party. He's actually had two of these, so we've got one in this auction and one for a future auction. It's a cool piece,' says Fairweather.
The dangling pig will bring to mind a famous Pink Floyd story. The Animals album cover depicted an inflatable pig flying over Battersea Power Station. During the photo shoot, the pig broke free of its moorings, flew over Heathrow, delaying flights, before landing in a farmer's field in Kent.
Estimate: £200-£400
5. Joy Division – first music and notes from Rob Gretton and Tony Wilson (Lots 401 and 403)
There's a lot of Joy Division in this auction. The Manchester band, who went on to become New Order after the death of singer Ian Curtis, were a favourite of Peel. And his love of the band was no doubt spurred by Lot 403 – Joy Division's debut EP from 1978, An Ideal For Living, with a note from manager Rob Gretton.
'We are still awaiting the call from Broadcasting House to come down and record a session for your show,' Gretton wrote. These sessions came to pass; Joy Division's Peel Sessions from 1979 still sound phenomenal. Lot 401, meanwhile, comes with a note from Factory founder Tony Wilson inviting Peel to stay at his house.
'For me, being a Joy Division fan, I really like these. Similar to Alan McGee, you've got a letter there from Rob Gretton, who was Joy Division's manager. [This symbolises] Joy Division's launch into legendary status and then going on to become New Order,' says Fairweather. He describes the letter from Wilson to Peel as correspondence between 'two legends of music'.
Estimates: £300-£500 (Lot 401) and £3,000-£5,000 (Lot 403)
4. U2 – debut 12' with note from Bono (Lot 260)
U2's first ever release was a 12' EP called Three in September 1979. The record, as the name suggests, featured a trio of tracks: Out of Control, Stories for Boys and Boy/Girl. Re-recorded versions of the first two tracks went on to feature on U2's debut album Boy in 1980. This copy is an original Irish pressing, numbered 507/1,000. It's slightly unclear how it came into Peel's possession as a hand-written note from Bono says: 'For Kid Jensen, who had the good taste to make [The Radiators' 1979 song] 'Kitty Ricketts' single of the week. From Bono.'
Says auctioneer Fairweather: 'This is so early in their careers that US decided to send it in to the DJs at Radio 1 at the time. I don't know how John has ended up with this. Maybe Jensen wasn't bothered by it but liked those particular releases by U2 so he's ended up with this.'
Despite filching Jensen's record, Peel wasn't a U2 fan. He once listed them as one of the bands that he 'stoutly resisted playing' or letting perform a Peel Session, along with The Police and Dire Straits.
Estimate: £3,000-£5,000 (bids at £6,000 at time of writing. Fairweather expects five figures on Tuesday)
3. Marc Bolan/ T. Rex – acetates, legal papers and unreleased music (Lots 215 and 264)
Among the wealth of Marc Bolan and T. Rex memorabilia is an unreleased test pressing of Hard on Love, a 1972 album that was never released (Lot 215). 'Hard on Love was going to be released but Marc Bolan didn't like how it sounded. It was going to be a fan club release but it never made it. John Peel at the time was good friends with Marc Bolan so he obviously got a copy,' says Fairweather.
The album, which features tracks produced by future Wham! manager Simon Napier-Bell, would later be released in 1974 as The Beginning of Doves (it was later withdrawn as Bolan still wasn't happy with its release by Track Records).
Lot 264 is a Pye acetate of Hard on Love, and comes with legal papers from the High Court detailing Bolan's efforts to stop it being released. This is next-level memorabilia for Bolan fans.
Estimates: £1,000-£1,500 (Lot 215) and £1,500-£2,000 (Lot 264)
2. Bob Dylan – The Basement Tapes Sessions acetates (Lot 266)
A gem for Bobcats. The auction includes two single-sided Emidisc acetates of Dylan's Basement Tapes Sessions. Recorded in 1967 and 1968 but not released until 1975, these sessions were famously recorded at Dylan's house in Woodstock and then in the basement of Big Pink, the house with the pink wall that was rented by Band member Rick Danko.
'Any acetates for these classic albums are always scarce and very much desirable by collectors. The nature of an acetate is that they are pressed up before going to vinyl for the artist of producer to listen to and check that it sounds as it should,' says Fairweather. 'Probably only a handful, less than five normally, acetates would be pressed up. So for a Dylan collector it's gold, really.'
Estimate: £2,000-£3,000
1. John Lennon – signed copy of 1969 studio album (Lot 428)
Lennon and Yoko Ono's avant-garde 1969 album Unfinished Music No. 2: Life with the Lions failed to chart in the UK, selling just 5,000 copies (it did far better in America, shifting 60,000 copies). Just four months later, The Beatles – still a going concern – would release Abbey Road.
But Peel's copy of Unfinished Music is special: it comes with a note and doodle from Lennon on its inner sleeve. 'To John the Peel, love John and Yoko,' Lennon wrote. The lot also contains a 1970 dollar bill from the so-called Spring Offensive to End the Vietnam War, which Lennon and Ono were involved with.
'It's so personal to John Peel. 'Love John and Yoko' with the little sketches on there as well. It may not be considered a classic album, but it's just the fact that it was gifted to John by them,' says Fairweather. 'It's a great piece linking John's career into that of John and Yoko.'
Estimate: £5,000-£7,000
The John Peel Collection auction begins on July 29 at 10am; omegaauctions.co.uk