Festive 50 1976

[ken garner]

Thanks for the story, and in short, no, there are no known show recordings of the first F50 
shows from 1976 in circulation, as documented in Steve's appeal on the wiki here:

http://peel.wikia.com/wiki/1976_Festive_Fifty

and it is now i think the ONLY one of which there are no extracts going round.

But I am sure somebody did tape it, and will turn up sometime: spread the word!

ken

--- In peel@yahoogroups.com, "John" <john_ukea@...> wrote:
>
> This is my first posting in this group, which I discovered only 
> recently, so bear with me if any of my subsequent 
> comments/requests/questions are `old hat' to any of you.
> 
> I'll start with a wee tale which I hope will raise a smile from some 
> of you, even though it is a little embarrassing for me 
 

> 
> I was listening - live - to the final program of the very first 
> Festive 50.  I'd been able to listen to numbers 50-45, missed 44-11 
> due to being away at relatives for part of that year's festivities, 
> and was now catching from 10 onwards.  
> 
> I didn't know which tracks I'd missed, so educated guesses as to what 
> the number 1 might be were almost pointless.  A Day In The Life had 
> appeared at 9, Crazy Diamond at 8, Alright Now at 6, Watchtower at 5 
> and Desolation Row at 3.  All had been possibilities for the top spot 
> in my mind.
> 
> He then introduced the runner-up, commenting that `two had whizzed 
> ahead and either one of them could have won it.'   I'd been sure that 
> as Layla hadn't appeared in the last 10 already it must surely be the 
> winner – but no.
> 
> After Layla, `without the other assorted Love Songs'  and  `by Eric 
> Clapton, of course, or actually Derek & The Dominoes to be absolutely 
> accurate' - to quote the man – he introduced Number 1 with :-  
> 
> `and, you probably won't be too astonished to discover that this is 
> number one in the Festive 50'
> 
> And out of my speakers poured the sound of Led Zeppelin's  Stairway 
> To Heaven.
> 
> Now, here is where I have to admit what, to this day, still 
> embarrasses me when I'm reminded of it – I did not recognize the 
> track, I didn't know it, I'd never heard it, nor heard of it.  There 
> was I, convinced that I was au fait with the 
> current/popular/progressive rock world, only to discover that I 
> didn't know the track that the whole of Britain – well, listeners to 
> John Peel's show – had voted as their favorite track.
> 
> I did, however, buy the LP within a few days of first 
> hearing `stairway'.  Not because it was so clearly something that was 
> missing from my record collection, but because after a couple of 
> replays of my tape of the programme I really did like the track - and 
> it remains a favorite to this day.
> 
> So there you are – my confession.  I feel much better now :)
> 
> 
> Which leads nicely on to my first question - are there any complete 
> recordings of this very first Festive 50 around ?   It's interesting 
> to hear what he said about some of the records in the list and I'd 
> like to hear what he had to say about some of the tracks played in 
> the programs that I missed.
>