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The Loft notched up an impressive list of firsts for Creation Records artists back in the mid-1980s. First Creation band on TV, first to hit the top of the indie chart, first to be invited on to a major UK tour and, not least, first Creation band to record a coveted BBC radio session – for Janice Long’s Radio One show in 1984. Then they split up.

In October 2023, the band was invited by BBC Radio 6 Music’s Riley & Coe show to record its fourth BBC session at Maida Vale’s famous Studio 4, following their heralded appearance at the Glas-Goes Pop festival.

Featuring four classic Loft tracks and played by the original members – Pete Astor, Dave Morgan, Bill Prince and Andy Strickland – the session confirmed the band’s standing as pioneering indie originals. On hearing the very first track broadcast, Nick Godfrey of Precious Recordings of London was messaging the band to bag the session for a full vinyl release.

The 10-inch vinyl EP features three band originals, ‘Beware’, ‘Worm In My Brain’ and ‘Ride’, plus their celebrated version of Richard Hell’s ‘Time’.

The band have all contributed to the sleeve notes, describing what the session, and still playing together, means to them, with exclusive photos from inside Maida Vale taken by Ken Copsey.

“…straight to ‘tape’, no overdubs, four songs in four hours, finelined by a mix that enshrines the ‘play it as it lays’ ethos” – Bill Prince

“Time has been kind to us I think; where once the world felt impossible and threatening, we seem to have learned to be more careful of each other and focus on playing together” – Pete Astor

TRACK LISTING

1. Beware (BBC Session Version)
2. Ride (BBC Session Version)
3. Worm In My Brain (BBC Session Version)
4. Time (BBC Session Version)