As is often the case with BBC-approved recordings, this John Peel-culled album is not only an excellent sister piece to The Passage's four studio sets, but a vital outing in its' own right.
The final of the five lovingly-assembled LTM reissues, the album features three terrific Peel sessions from 1980, '81 and '82 respectively, including two otherwise unreleased tunes in "Rod Of Iron" and "Form And Void."
The high standard rarely slips, although the first four tracks (featuring short-lived vocalist Lizzy Johnson) is probably your reviewer's favourite. Actually, the urgent "Dark Times" and this cut of "Shave Your Head" are arguably the definitive takes. Joe McKechnie's drums are superbly recorded, Andrew Wilson's guitar is a little more prominent than usual and Johnson's sweet'n'sour vocals add a new, seductive dimension.
The Peels-sponsored versh of "Devils And Angels" is marginally slower and more disquieting, while the murky, oblique "The Shadows" remains one of The Passage's creepier outpourings - and that's saying something. This take features a spikily direct middle eight though.
Dick Witts had wrested back control of the microphone by the time of the '81 session, though the unreleased "Rod Of Iron" is not one of the Passage's greater efforts, if truth be told. Much better are the playful'n'grand "Form And Void" and the aggressive "Man Of War" where Wilson's whipsmart guitar scores and Witts pumps the piano like an amphetamined Jerry Lee Lewis.
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The collection continues to inspire as time goes on. "A Day" is superb: frantic, sarcastic and weirdly accessible, it sounds like all three of them were tripping off their box when they recorded it. The complex "Empty Words" also impresses, while "Horseplay" and the hilarious, bible-belt-scorning "Clear As Crystal" show The Passage still had innovation aplenty within them.
It's a delight to hear The Passage's strange, but endearing and propulsive sound benefitting from the BBC's Maida Vale studios and "BBC Sessions" is as good an unofficial fifth studio album as you could have wished for. It's only a shame the Beeb failed to retain the tapes of the band's two Janice Long sessions. Oh well - guess y'can't have everything, eh?
Stil, four largely fantastic studio albums and a killer radio sessions collection. Do I really need to spell out the word "Invest"?
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