Various Artists: Fabriclive.07 - John Peel

By RUSSELL BAILLIE

(Herald rating: * * * * )

London club Fabriclive has spawned six previous DJ Mix CDs but with BBC veteran music guru John Peel rummaging through his exceedingly deep record box, this was never going to be another generic sonic postcard from a foreign dancefloor.

It's more like a brilliantly entertaining mix tape from a mate of a few pronounced obsessions, a grand jumble of musical tastes and enough humour to stop this becoming Music from High Fidelity, Volume 2 & 3.

It's also got our own Datsuns. Their In Love swaggers forth about the middle of the 24 tracks, which segues nicely and automotively into the Kingswood's punkabilly Purty Vacant, which, yes, was the Sex Pistols' anthem in a previous existence, though there are even better cover versions in Maloko's African-jive take on In the Midnight Hour and the Bad Livers' banjo-madness rethink of Lust for Life.

There are, however, many unadulterated unsung classics. Peel's choices take in reggae (Don Carlos' Late Night Blues, Derrick Morgan's Moon Hop, and Culture's Lion Rock from one of Peel's radio sessions), the blues (Jimmy Reed's Too Much), 50s doo-wop (the Capri's There's a Moon out Tonight), 60s girlgroup Motown (the Velvette's Needle in a Haystack), 80s go-go (Trouble Funk's Let's Get Small).

Of course, Peel gets in some of his much-stated, all-time faves, including the Fall's Mr Pharmacist, Joy Division's Love Will Tear Us Apart and the Undertone's Teenage Kicks, not to mention a salute to Liverpool FC via commentary of the 1978 and 1981 European Cup Finals and a rousing chorus or two of You'll Never Walk Alone.

Coming in a very nice tin case, this collection comes with one regret - when Peel visited here last year for a natter session, how much more fun it might have been if he'd just played his records.

Label: Rhythm Method/ Fabric