John Peel & Tommy Vance - Top Gear - New Year's Eve 1967 (14:00-17:00)

A young TV on the radio
(Photo: The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame)

Yes it's a new post on the Karavan! There's a lot going in my life right now, so it'll still be a little while before I'm back posting here regularly again. If indeed I ever was. But for now, here's a slice of Top Gear from way-back-when to tide you over.

So here we have music-loving Johnny Plee and Thomas ("The") Vance introducing a Radio 1 Top Gear show from New Year's Eve 1967. There's sessions from The Alan Bown (Set), The Herd (featuring Peter Frampton, "The Face of 1968"), The Moody Blues, The Pink Floyd and Eric Burdon and The Animals.

Apart from tape flips and a couple of minor glitches, this is a full 3-hour show in four parts (192K MP3). Admittedly, it's pretty lo-fi stuff, but perfectly listenable when your ears become attuned to it.

Note: Although The Moody Blues are in session on this show, the version of Nights In White Satin sounds note-for-note the same as the single release, so I've not marked it as a session track.

PART 1 (Listen/Download)

• Billy Joe Royal - Hush
• The Herd - Mixed Up Minds (session)
• Don Partridge - Rosie
• The Alan Bown Set - Toyland (session)
• The Moody Blues - Twilight Time (session)
• The Rolling Stones - 2000 Man
• Manfred Mann - Mighty Quinn ("Top Gear exclusive")
• Pink Floyd - Vegetable Man (session)
• Eric Burdon & The Animals - All Night Long (session)
• Erma Franklin - Piece Of My Heart
• News at 14:30 (Lead story: Christiaan Barnard heart transplant)
  
• The Beach Boys - Darlin'
• The Herd - Paradise Lost (session)
• Buffalo Springfield - A Child's Claim To Fame
• The Who - Armenia City In The Sky

PART 2 (Listen/Download)

• Alan Bown - Technicolor Dream (session)
• Moby Grape - Fall On You
• The Moody Blues - Another Morning (session)
• Traffic - Coloured Rain
• Eric Burdon & The Animals - Monterey (session)
• Pink Floyd - Scream Thy Last Scream (session)
• Sandpebbles - Love Power
• Country Joe & The Fish - Happiness is a Porpoise Mouth
• The Herd - Come On, Believe Me (session)
• Alan Bown Set - Pandora's Golden Heebie Jeebies (session)
• Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band - Jollity Farm
• Jimi Hendrix Experience - Castles Made Of Sand
• The Moody Blues - Tuesday Afternoon (Forever Afternoon) (session)

PART 3 (Listen/Download)

• Amen Corner - Bend Me, Shape Me
• Eric Burdon & The Animals - Orange And Red Beams (session)
• The Beatles - Blue Jay Way
• Spencer Davis Group - Mr. Second Class
• Pink Floyd - Jug Band Blues (session)
• The Herd - She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not (session)
• Plastic Penny - Everything I Am
• Canned Heat - Bullfrog Blues
• Alan Bown Set - Story Book (session)
• Moody Blues - Nights In White Satin
• Denny Laine & The Electric String Band - Too Much In Love
• Eric Burdon & The Animals - Anything (session)
• Peter & The Wolves - Lantern Light

PART 4 (Listen/Download)

• (Last part of Peter & The Wolves track)
• The Misunderstood - I Can Take You To The Sun
  
• Pink Floyd - Pow R Toc H (session)
• Scott McKenzie - It's Not Time Now
• One In a Million - Fredereek Hernando
• Alan Bown Set - Love Is A Beautiful Thing (session)
• News at 16:30 (Lead story: as 14:30)
  
• Art - Supernatural Fairy Tale
• The Herd - I Want You (session)
• Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band - Dropout Boogie
• Moody Blues - Evening (Time To Get Away) (session)
• John Fahey - Sail Away Ladies
• John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers - Oh Pretty Woman
• Adrian Henri & Andy Roberts - Talking After Christmas Blues