John Peel records explored by top music names

John Peel amassed more than 26,000 LPs and 80,000 singles during his lifetime

The first in a series of videos of top music names exploring the late John Peel's record collection has been released.

The Record Boxes project forms part of the John Peel Archive that is putting the former DJ's vast collection online.

In the first video, Pink Floyd producer Joe Boyd unearths treasures including the record that inspired the British band to explore a progressive sound.

Mr Boyd said: "John's record collection has always been a golden mountain."

"Once I started looking though the shelves I kept on stumbling upon things, 'Oh god he's got this', 'Oh, I remember that'," he said.

Peel, who died from a heart attack in October 2004, was known for his eclectic taste in music and has been marked as being the DJ that brought genres such as punk, reggae and hip hop to the masses.

During his career he amassed a personal collection of more than 26,000 LPs, 80,000 singles and many thousands of other CDs and demo tapes at his home in Suffolk.

'Astounding collection'

In 2012 an ambitious project to recreate the broadcaster's home studio and library online was started by The Space, which is run by the John Peel Centre in Stowmarket.

So far the details of hundreds of records have been uploaded to the archive with links to the music.

Five other videos of famous names exploring the collection are due to be released during the next year.

Alex Graham, chair of The Space, said: "As someone who as a teenager really did listen to John Peel's iconic radio show huddled under the bedclothes, I'm thrilled that - together with a select group of music experts - we can now provide an interactive tour of his astounding record collection."