Tapes of Top Gear from 1969 and 1970

[hills1902]

Thanks for the information on dates - how do you know all this??

In response to your questions:

- in the show on 27/4/69, I haven't played it all through again, but 
I think the only reference John Peel makes to the new producer is to 
call him John "Petals" Walters, you get the impression he took a 
while to warm to him! One of the tapes has the last bit of the 
previous show (unfortunately I recorded over most of it with a John 
Peel concert programme) in which JP pays tribute to Bernie Andrews 
the outgoing producer and says he can't understand the reason for the 
change - so perhaps he was initially a bit hostile to John Walters.

- unfortunately I recorded over the last 10 mins or so of the show on 
27/7/69 (also with a JP concert programme) so don't have the last 
item (Elton John's Skyline Pigeon)- was it significant?


The tapes also have some mostly incomplete recordings of the John 
Peel concert programme (Van der Graaf Generator, Mungo Jerry, Brett 
Marvin and the Thunderbolts are some I've written down) but I don't 
find these very interesting now, compared to the Top Gear shows which 
you listen to and think what great music (mostly)!

One question from me - does anyone know about the legality of 
distributing these recordings? I imagine the BBC are the only ones 
that might take an interest. I've looked for archive recordings on 
their website and they have the odd disappointingly brief snatch of 
Top Gear. Does anyone know if they have preserved the recordings of 
the shows, or is it only the sessions that they have kept?

John

--- In peel@yahoogroups.com, "ken garner" <ken_garner@...> wrote:
>
> I too would like to hear them, of course. I think I can be of some 
> assistance with confirming your dates, here you go:
> 
> Sn 27/4/69 Eclection, new session first broadcast (plus repeated 
> sessions from: Family, Principal Edwards Magic Theatre)
> - yes, defintiely 27th, not 26th, and coincidentally that was the 
> first Peel show Produced by John Walters, I wonder if Peel says 
> anything about this in his links?
> 
> Sn 11/5/69 T.Rex, King Crimson (Fleetwood Mac, Bonzos)
> - correct, King Crimson's first, by the way
> 
> Sn 18/5/69 Pentangle, John Dummer's Blues Band (Blodwyn Pigg, 
> Mandrake Paddle Steamer)
> 
> Sn 29/6/69 Idle race, Led Zeppelin (Pentangle, Savoy Brown Blues 
Band)
> 
> Sn 6/7/69 John Hiseman's Coliseum, Imrat Khan (Pretty Things, John 
> Dummer Blues Band)
> 
> Sn 27/7/69 Third Ear Band (Roy Harper, Ten Years After)
> - my notes also say last record in show was Skyline Pigeon by Elton 
> John! Got that?
> 
> ...Top Gear moved to Saturday afternoons late Sept 69...
> 
> St 4/7/70 Country Joe McDonald (Fotheringay, Cochise)
> 
> St 11/7/70 Kevin Ayers + the Whole World, Son House (East of Eden)
> 
> Most of the major sessions there survived on tape, but I am not 
sure 
> quite all of these are in the Radio 1 Archive, by the way, 
especially 
> the Country Joe one, but I can check that easily enough...
> 
> ken
> 
> 
> --- In peel@yahoogroups.com, "hills1902" <jandchill@> wrote:
> >
> > I have some old 7 inch reel-to-reel tapes of eight Top Gear 
> > programmes 
> > that I recorded in 1969 and 1970, with sessions from the 
following 
> > bands:
> > 
> > 26 Apr 69 - Principal Edwards Magic Theatre, Eclection, Family
> > 11 May 69? - Fleetwood Mac, King Crimson, Tyrannosaurus Rex, 
Bonzo 
> > Dog 
> > Band
> > Date unknown - Pentangle, Blodwyn Pig, Mandrake Paddle Steamer, 
> John 
> > Dummer Blues Band
> > Date unknown - Ten Years After, Roy Harper, Third Ear Band
> > 29 Jun 69 - Led Zeppelin, Pentangle, Idle Race, 
> > 6 Jul 69 - John Dummer Blues Band, Colosseum, Pretty Things, 
Imrat 
> > Khan
> > 4 Jul 70 - Country Joe Macdonald, Fotheringay, Cochise
> > 11 Jul 70? - Kevin Ayres, East of Eden, Son House
> > 
> > Some of the tapes are recorded at 3 3/4 inches per second and 
some 
> at 
> > 1 
> > 7/8 inches per second, and are of complete programmes, though 
> > unfortunately I edited out the half-hourly news on most of them. 
I 
> > seem 
> > to remember Radio 1 was only on medium wave at the time so 
quality 
> is 
> > not brilliant, but they were recorded by connecting to the 
speaker 
> > terminals of a radio (not using a microphone). Also the tape 
> recorder 
> > was a bit dodgy and took about 10 mins to warm up to full speed 
so 
> > some 
> > of them now play back too fast for the first 10 mins or so! The 
> tapes 
> > also have various LPs of that era on them. 
> > 
> > Despite all their faults, is anyone interested in them ? I'm 
> willing 
> > to 
> > send them by post in return for the postage (plus donation to 
> charity 
> > if there's a lot of interest), and would be interested in 
> > copies on CD if that's what someone would like to do with them.
> >
>