Slightly belated stocking filler

Here's a snippet of Stuart Maconie's Freak Zone from BBC 6music last week: a version of Good King Wenceslas recorded by a choir of various Top Gear stalwarts in 1970, including Soft Machine, Sonja Kristina (Curved Air) and Marc Bolan.

Listen/Download
(112K MP3, 4.7Mb, 5:50)

Maconie's guest, "Professor Spear", goes on to explain that this rendition originally appeared in the Christmas Top Gear of 27-12-69. However that's clearly incorrect as I posted that particular show a couple of months back, and this song is not in it.

(BTW, does anyone think that Prof. Spear's words about the 27-12-69 show sound remarkably like he's reading from my earlier post?)

Thanks to Colin Ellis for letting me know about this show.

Top Gear Shows - Repost

Yay, I'm back! But before commencing with our scheduled programme, allow me to draw your attention to a new book from Ken Garner, author of legendary BBC Session tome In Session Tonight. You may be aware that In Session Tonight goes for silly money on eBay these days, so it's great to see Ken take time out from lecturing on journalism at Glasgow Caledonian University to produce a book that not only completes the Peel session picture but is affordable to us mere mortals. And on first glance it's a thoroughly good read, combining a fan's obsessive enthusiasm with an academic study of the subject. And if you can make Glasgow Waterstone's on Peel Day (this Thursday), Ken will be there signing copies.

Right! The rest of this post is a response to the many requests I've had to repost the eight Top Gear shows from 1969/70, as most of them have now expired on sendspace. For convenience it's a bittorrent download this time, so if you're unsure how that works, look it up. And please be sure to keep the torrent seeded once you've downloaded it.

Download (2.08Gb)

John Peel's Top Gear - 11th. July 1970

It's John Walters' birthday and Peel says that this Top Gear is "the nicest we've had for as long as I can remember". Sessions this week come from Son House (left), Kevin Ayers and East of Eden.

JP seems both astonished and delighted to have Son House on the programme. And I remember him saying a few years back that Jack White was pretty well incredulous when he told him Son had recorded a Peel session. But Jack's reaction is not that surprising; after all, how many contemporary British DJs in the 00s would have been able to say that they'd had one of the legendary delta bluesmen on their show? I reckon John P, who was developing a good friendship with Jack, was pretty proud to have been able to tell him that.

OK, that's it for the eight recently-unearthed Top Gears, so thanks again to hills1902, John and Phil for making them available. Hope you've enjoyed them.

Session Details

Son House
Kevin Ayers
(No details for the East of Eden session on the BBC pages)

Download (270Mb, 320Kbps MP3)

Tracklisting

• Top Gear Theme
• Doug Kershaw - Mama Rita in Hollywood
• Kevin Ayers - Derby Day (session)
• East of Eden - Nymphenburger (session)
• Steeleye Span - The Blackleg Miner
• Traffic - Stranger to Himself
• Fotheringay - Nothing More
• News
• Poco - Hurry Up
• Son House - My Good Gal (session)
• John Simon - Davey's On The Road Again
• Kevin Ayers - The Interview (session)
• Kevin Ayers - We Did It Again (session)
• Jellybread - Rockin' Pneumonia & The Boogie Woogie Flu
• East of Eden - Sphynx (session)
• Son House - Spoken Word 1 (session)
• Son House - Death Letter (session)
• Son House - Spoken Word 2 (session)
• Son House - Don't You Mind People Grinnin' In Your Face (session)
• [News Edit]
• East of Eden - Jig-a-Jig (session)
• Ronnie Lane - Evolution (Stone)
• Fairport Convention - Doctor of Physics
• Kevin Ayers - Lunatic's Lament (session)
• Matthew's Southern Comfort - Something In The Way She Moves
• Top Gear Theme

John Peel's Top Gear - 4th. July 1970

We fast-forward nearly a year from the previous post to mid-1970, and find music-loving Johnny Plee introducing sessions from Country Joe McDonald (right), Fotheringay and Cochise. It all gets a bit Pete Frame at this point, because Country Joe had recently stopped working with The Fish (as he told John Walters while recording the session), Fotheringay was Sandy Denny's project after leaving Fairport and Cochise are probably best known for being Mick Grabham's main band before joining Procol Harum. By coincidence, Peel even plays a Procol Harum track right before one of Cochise's session tracks. Hope you're all taking notes; there'll be a test after class.

The next upload on Kat's Karavan will be the 11th. July 1970 show (i.e. the very next show after this one), featuring sessions from Son House, Kevin Ayers and East of Eden.

Download (269Mb, 320Kbps MP3)

Further Browsing

Country Joe Session Details
Country Joe McDonald Live at Cropredy Festival on 2005-08-11
(includes a Peel mention)

Tracklisting

• Free - Mr. Big
• The American Dream - Credamphels
• Fotheringay - The Sea (session)
• Wilbert Harrison - Blue Monday
• Cochise - Woodland Light Irons (session)
• The Pretty Things - Scene One/The Good Mr.Square/She Was Tall, She Was High
• News
• Fotheringay - The Ballad of Ned Kelly (session)
• David Bowie - Memory of a Free Festival
• Country Joe McDonald - Hold On It's Coming (session)
• Country Joe McDonald - Balancing On The Edge Of Time (session)
• Country Joe McDonald - It's So Nice To Have Love (session)
• Country Joe McDonald - Maria (session)
• Country Joe McDonald - Tell Me Where You're Bound (session)
• Medicine Head - Coast To Coast (And Shore To Shore)
• Fotheringay - Banks of The Nile (session)
• Procol Harum - Your Own Choice
• Cochise - Past Loves (session)
• Wild Man Fisher - The Wild Man Fisher Story ("cadet edition")
• Mike Cooper - Watching You Fall
• News
• Grateful Dead- New Speedway Boogie
• American Tourist photo competition
• "Disinterred 33 1/3": Soft Machine - We Did It Again
• Fotheringay - The Way I Feel (session)
• Cochise - Velvet Mountain (session)
• Mississippi Fred McDowell - 61 Highway
• Malaysian Girls - Hydro Percussion (from "John Peel's Archive Things")
• Chickenshack - Never Ever