John Peel Wiki

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John Peel Wiki
in: 1970, Peel shows, Top Gear,
and 3 more

09 May 1970

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Show[]

Name
Station
YYYY-MM-DD
  • 1970-05-09
Comments
  • Tracklisting below is from Volume 1 of the Decktician Logs. Many thanks to Decktician, Ken Garner for copying and additional information, and Rocker for acting as central HQ.
  • Peel sounds happy and is in a jocular mood, making a number of witty comments - although occasionally the humour sounds a bit forced, as if he's trying to compete with producer John Walters.
  • No room for guest poets on Top Gear, but Peel plays a track from an album of Brian Patten reading from his work, "accompanied by someone called Graham Layden on guitar". Layden was on the bill of the "Liverpool Love Festival" Peel attended at the UFO Club in summer 1967 and went on to have a career in the music business in the 1970s as singer, songwriter, record plugger and producer. Peel may have known Layden, who at the time was a record promotion man who tried to get new releases played on BBC Radio One, hence his remark when introducing the Patten track. Layden also had a songwriting partnership with Nicky James, who did a single Peel session in 1973. More details on Graham Layden here.
  • After reading that Top Gear was "a programme which set trends" JP decides to start a new one, by being the first to play a Christmas record this year - a blues from a reissue album on the Sussex-based Flyright label, founded by a group of blues enthusiasts associated with the magazine Blues Unlimited.
  • Tracks from new but subsequently famous albums by the Rolling Stones, the Who and Van Morrison.
  • Peel mentions that a highlight of the Pop Proms was a performance by "a group called Curved Air" in his intro to their first session track.
  • A rare appearance in a Peel playlist for Tom Paxton, one of Elektra Records' most popular artists in the UK but not a special favourite of the DJ. Nevertheless he praises the single "Forest Lawn" and the LP Tom Paxton 6
  • JP strongly recommends the Last Poets album, but says the track he includes is the only one he can play, because the other tracks contain “certain words” and he can’t even say most of the track titles on the air.
  • No mention of Liverpool FC this week, but Peel observes that a football record is near or at the top of the singles charts. but doesn't say who it was by ("Back Home" by the England World Cup Squad). He also says he read a Zigzag article on Ian Matthews and finds it hard to believe that the singer used to play for Bradford City

Sessions[]

  • Curved Air #1 First broadcast. Recorded 1970-04-28.
    • No commercial release
    • A session with a different tracklist was released on "On Air" (Strange Fruit SFRSCD022, 1995) / "Live At The BBC" (Band Of Joy BOJCD 014, 1997) / "Air Waves" (Purple Pyramid CLP 9581, 2012) listed with this date but it was actually a later one recorded on 10 November 1970 and broadcast on Mike Harding's "Sounds of the Seventies" seven days later.
  • Roy Harper #4 Repeat. First broadcast 03 January 1970. Recorded 1969-12-15.
  • Medicine Head #1 Repeat. First broadcast 10 January 1970. Recorded 1969-12-15.
    • Ooee Baby not played.
    • No known commercial release.

Tracklisting[]

  • File 3 begins
  • start of show and intro #
  • Southwind: Boogie Woogie Country Girl (single) Harvest HAR 5019 @2 (few seconds on #1)
  • Curved Air: Screw (session)
  • JP enjoyed last night’s gig at Wollaston, Northants – dedicates next record to Big Bob and everyone who was there
  • Rolling Stones: Stray Cat Blues (LP – Get Yer Ya-Yahs Out) Decca SKL 5065 (JP: "release date is quite uncertain on that")
  • John B Sebastian: How Have You Been? (LP – John B Sebastian) Reprise RSLP 6379 (Peel recalls spending an evening with Sebastian and the other members of the Lovin’ Spoonful at a cinema in Oklahoma City, watching The Greatest Story Ever Told)

File[]

Name
  • 1) J P Tracks only reel 2.mp3
  • 2) J P Top Gear 09 May 1970.mp3
  • 3) J P Top Gear 09 May 1970 (complete).mp3
Length
  • 1) 0:54:59 (44:54-53:01)
  • 2) 0:14:59 (to 00:30, 00:43 on unique)
  • 3) 1:58:38
Other
Available
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