Seminal post-punk funk band Maximum Joy are set to release a 5-track EP of a selection of tracks recorded in 1982 from two
exclusive live sessions for BBC radio legends John Peel and Kid Jensen. Newly remastered, corrected and cleaned for the exact
tempo and optimum listening experience, the ‘BBC Radio 1 Sessions’ includes the popular tracks ‘Searching for a Feeling’ (previewing here on Soundcloud) and
‘Silent Street’ and is set for release on the 6 th May via London Field Recordings.
“We discovered the existing Radio 1 session ‘tapes’ had suffered and decayed in quality and specifically were all running too slow
and not true to the originals. These are restored to the original sound and recording quality,” says Janine Rainforth, Maximum Joy
founder and vocalist.
Mixing punk, reggae, funk, jazz and hip-hop grooves with wild improvisation and attitude, Maximum Joy rose up from the fertile
Bristol scene of the late 70’s/early 80’s. Fuelled by Thatcherism, inner city race riots and growing protest amongst young and old,
Maximum Joy’s songs and melodies were about getting conscious and waking up to life and immediately took their place on the
rosters of influential labels like Y and 99. Their one and only album, the Adrian Sherwood-produced ‘Station MXJY’ was released in
1982 with the band disbanding the following year.
“From the start John Peel took to Maximum Joy and championed us, like he did so many bands and musicians. I had so much
respect for him and we’d listened to his late evening Radio 1 show avidly – his wide influence on the music scene was seemingly all
pervasive. So being invited to do a John Peel Radio 1 session – and then to do a second within a few months was so exciting - an
honour and a joy,” says Rainforth. She adds, “The Kid Jensen session was for daytime play Radio 1. We had huge respect for Kid
Jensen – his daytime show was buzzing and influential - it was a shift in direction for Maximum Joy. Listening to that session now I
love the energy we bought to it. We were gigging and touring a lot – so we were primed to make this a good one.”

Kid Jensen BBC Radio 1 session recorded 15/04/1982 (C)
Transmission date - 27/04/1982
• BBC Producer - John Sparrow
• BBC Engineer - Mike Robinson
• BBC Studio - Maida Vale 5
• Re-mastered and cleaned 2021 – 
•	Sound Engineer – David McEwen @ LAB 215
  
LINE UP
• Janine Rainforth (Vocals, Violin)
• Tony Wrafter (Saxophone, Trumpet)
• John Waddington (Guitar)
• Charlie Llewellin (Drums)
• Kevin Evans (Bass)

Artwork by LFR/
Front photograph of Janine Rainforth by Geraldine Ewer
All tracks (p) 1982 BBC

© Maximum Joy London Field Recordings

Searching For A Feeling - Kid Jensen BBC Radio 1 Session 1982

Station M.X.J.Y.

Why Can't We Live Together [previously unreleased version featuring Janine Rainforth]

Maximum Joy/MXMJoY announce ‘BBC Radio 1 Sessions’ EP + new single ‘Joy Again’

 

"One of the Slits backed by the Gang of Four.” Pitchfork 

“The emotional range of Maximum Joy was surely one of their greatest strengths” Crack

Seminal post-punk funk band Maximum Joy are set to release a 5-track EP of a selection of tracks recorded in 1982 from two exclusive live sessions for BBC radio legends John Peel and Kid Jensen. Newly remastered, corrected and cleaned for the exact tempo and optimum listening experience, the ‘BBC Radio 1 Sessions’ includes the popular tracks ‘Searching for a Feeling’ and ‘Silent Street’ and is set for release on the 6th May via London Field Recordings.

“We discovered the existing Radio 1 session ‘tapes’ had suffered and decayed in quality and specifically were all running too slow and not true to the originals. These are restored to the original sound and recording quality,” says Janine Rainforth, Maximum Joy founder and vocalist.

Mixing punk, reggae, funk, jazz and hip-hop grooves with wild improvisation and attitude, Maximum Joy rose up from the fertile Bristol scene of the late 70’s/early 80’s. Fuelled by Thatcherism, inner city race riots and growing protest amongst young and old, Maximum Joy’s songs and melodies were about getting conscious and waking up to life and immediately took their place on the rosters of influential labels like Y and 99. Their one and only album, the Adrian Sherwood-produced ‘Station MXJY’ was released in 1982 with the band disbanding the following year.

“From the start John Peel took to Maximum Joy and championed us, like he did so many bands and musicians. I had so much respect for him and we’d listened to his late evening Radio 1 show avidly – his wide influence on the music scene was seemingly all pervasive. So being invited to do a John Peel Radio 1 session – and then to do a second within a few months was so exciting - an honour and a joy,” says Rainforth. She adds, “The Kid Jensen session was for daytime play Radio 1. We had huge respect for Kid Jensen – his daytime show was buzzing and influential - it was a shift in direction for Maximum Joy. Listening to that session now I love the energy we bought to it. We were gigging and touring a lot – so we were primed to make this a good one.”

Fast-forward to the present day; refreshed and newly inspired, Rainforth and Llewellin reformed in 2015 under the name, MXMJoY. Rainforth’s work on solo projects allowed her to bring new experiences to an old collaboration and they released the critically acclaimed album ‘p.e.a.c.e’ in 2019. This summer, MXMJoY are set to release a new single, titled ‘Joy Again’. May the joy be with you!

Track listing:

1.	‘All Wrapped Up’ (A)
2.	‘In The Air’ (B)
3.	‘Searching for a Feeling’ (B)
4.	‘Dancing On My Boomerang’ (A)
5.	‘Silent Street’ (B)

John Peel BBC Radio 1 session recorded 22/02/1982 (A)
Kid Jensen BBC Radio 1 session recorded 15/04/1982 (B)





www.mxmjoy.com 
https://www.facebook.com/MXMJOY
https://www.instagram.com/mxmjoy/ 
https://twitter.com/maximumjoyreal1 

For more information, contact ian@9pr.co.uk

Kid Jensen BBC Radio 1 session recorded 15/04/1982 (C)
Transmission date - 27/04/1982
• BBC Producer - John Sparrow
• BBC Engineer - Mike Robinson
• BBC Studio - Maida Vale 5
• Re-mastered and cleaned 2021 – 
•	Sound Engineer – David McEwen @ LAB 215
  
LINE UP
• Janine Rainforth (Vocals, Violin)
• Tony Wrafter (Saxophone, Trumpet)
• John Waddington (Guitar)
• Charlie Llewellin (Drums)
• Kevin Evans (Bass)

TRACKLIST:
•	Searching for a Feeling
•	In the Air
•	Silent Street


Artwork by LFR/
Front photograph of Janine Rainforth by Geraldine Ewer
All tracks (p) 1982 BBC

© Maximum Joy London Field Recordings

Maximum Joy - The Radio 1 Sessions

Silent Street (BBC Radio 1 Session)

Searching for a Feeling

Searching for a Feeling (Kid Jensen Session)

The BBC R1 Sessions

In The Air (Kid Jensen Session)

Why Can't We Live Together

Why Can't We Live Together (previously unreleased version)

White and Green Place

White and Green Place (Extraterrestrial Mix)

New track Joy Again on a new EP by MXMJoY https://mxmjoy.bandcamp.com/album/joy-again

Joy Again

Joy Again - MXMJoY

Joy Again (Remix 2023)

My first encounter with Maximum Joy was around 2001 when Chris Farrell .. boss of the Idle Hands shop and label there (and still fresher-faced than most) - played me the song ‘Silent Street / Silent Dub’, the lesser-spotted B-side of their Stretch 12”. .. Quite honestly, I've never heard anything that comes close - before or since. Janine Rainforth’s singing, probably my all-time favourite vocal take, seems to combine an ageless English folk sensibility with both a teenager's innocence/insouciance and a smoked-out drowsy jazz maturity well beyond her years. Charlie Llewlin’s drumming is broken beat some 20 years ahead of schedule, Dan Catsis’s bassline is heavy-as, and Tony Wrafter’s free-soaring trumpet channels Don Cherry with aplomb. All bound together and ultra-intensified by Dick O’Dell’s vertiginous dub mix.
Kiran Sande- Blackest Ever Black 

Formed in 1979, Bristol band, Maximum Joy was originated by Janine Rainforth (singer /violin/clarinet) and Tony Wrafter (saxophonist/trumpeter, previously of another Bristol band, Glaxo Babies), Charlie Llewellin (drummer – previously in Glaxo Babies), Dan Catsis (bass – also previously in Glaxo Babies) and John Waddington (guitar – previously in the Pop Group) were also founder members. . In the wake of the infamous Pop Group and taking from the hot bed of musical influences driving the Bristol scene at the time – punk, reggae, funk, soul and Jazz- the band developed their own unique version of the post-punk Bristol sound. Sometimes soothing, occasionally challenging, their groove combined funk, punk, soulful jazz and wild impro with daring and, often, panache. 

Fuelled by Thatcherism, inner city race riots and growing protest amongst young and old, Maximum Joy’s songs and melodies were about getting conscious and waking up to life, « …stay positive, stay plus, pulsate, pulsate no terminate, no end, it’s only just beginning… » ('Stretch'). 

They were quickly signed by Y records, distributed by Rough Trade. Maximum Joy’s first single, 'Stretch' came out in 1981. It was a big underground seller in Europe, Japan and the States, spent weeks in the NME Indie charts and became an underground Post Punk/Funk classic in the fashionable night clubs of New York when the disco re-mix was released on New Yorks '99 Records'. The band’s next single was White and Green Place the slick production was orchestrated by maestro Y Record’s Dick O’dell, string quartet and all, nothing but the real thing! 

Kev (Ebo) Evans joined as bassist and the band went on to record the jazzy, ethereal All in the Air. In 1982, the band brought out their LP, 'Station MXJY', fit was overseen by producer extraordinaire, Adrian Sherwood. Later that year they recruited Nellee Hooper to add to the line up,  Trumpeter Jeremy Hirsh also joined the band at this time. 
Maximum Joy’s last single was a haunting version of Timmy Thomas classic 'Why Can’t We Live Together', on the flip side of which was 'Man Of Tribes'. Produced by producer and prolific musician in his own right Dennis Bovell, he dug the B side song so much that he joined Janine on the choruses and contributed to making it one of Maximum Joy’s best recorded tracks.  The finally released version featured singer Peta on the A'side as Janine had left the band then – (the original version featuring Janine’s vocal was re-mastered recently and released in Japan as a bonus track on Station MXJY on Beatink). 
John Peel was a fan, they recorded a couple of BBC Radio 1 sessions for him & Kid Jensen and they toured Europe extensively.
May the joy be with you!
Any further questions: mail@londonfieldrecordings.com

Searching For A Feeling - Kid Jensen BBC Radio 1 Session 1982

Maximum Joy

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