13 March 1973

Show

Name

• Top Gear

Station

• BBC Radio One

YYYY-MM-DD

• 1973-03-13

Comments

• Tracklisting below is from Volume 3 of the Decktician Logs. Many thanks to Decktician, Ken Garner for copying and additional information, and Rocker for acting as central HQ.
• There was some confusion about the name of the single session track played by Can. In The Peel Sessions (pg 264), Ken notes that this was untitled on the BBC documentation for this first broadcast but was listed as ‘Up The Bakerloo Line With Anne Nightingale’ on the repeat airing on 22 May 1973. This was due to Peel setting up a competition for listeners on this show to name the untitled session track. The winner (Fergus Cannes) was revealed on the 20 March 1973 show, who won the prize of the latest LP from Can, for naming the track 'Six Weeks On The Bakerloo Line With Anne Nightingale'. As is now evident from the audio, the kernel of the idea came from Peel himself.
• Nightingale herself explained what happened on her tribute show to Peel in 2004 (see John Peel Torrent Compilation 17 of 17 (Various):

  “Can, super German electronic band, doing a Peel session. They recorded a track that doesn’t have a title, so John has a competition for someone to suggest a title for this track. And I swear for years and years and years I never even knew about this, and now it is somewhat of a classic … I don’t know who the competition winner was, but … this person decided the best title for the track would be ‘Up The Bakerloo Line With Annie Nightingale’.”

• Adding to the confusion, the single track of the session is listed on the BBC Peel site as ‘Spare A Light’. The source of this title is not known. On the Strange Fruit release The Peel Sessions, it was listed as 'Up The Bakerloo Line With Anne'.
• The Medicine Head single played on the show would give the former Dandelion Records band their biggest UK hit, reaching #3 in June 1973.[1]

Sessions

• Boys Of The Lough #2 First broadcast. Recorded 1973-01-29.
  • No known official release.
• Can #1 First broadcast. Recorded 1973-02-20.
  • Released on The Peel Sessions (CD, Strange Fruit, 1995).
• Robert Wyatt #1 Repeat. First broadcast 19 December 1972. Recorded 1972-12-05.
  • Released on Solar Flares Burn For You (CD, Cuneiform, 2003).

Tracklisting

• Jerry Lee Lewis: Johnnie B. Goode (2xLP – The Session Recorded In London With Great Guest Artists) Mercury
• Boys Of The Lough: Shetland Wedding Marches (session)
• Procol Harum: Robert’s Box (LP – Grand Hotel) Chrysalis
• Robert Wyatt: Little Child (session)
• Soft Machine: 1983 (LP – Six) CBS
• Pete Atkin: Between Us There Is Nothing (LP – A King At Nightfall) RCA
• Roy Buchanan: Tribute To Elmore James (LP – Second Album) Polydor
• Boys Of The Lough: Flowers Of The Forest (session)
• Taggett: Time (single) EMI
• Electric Light Orchestra: From The Sun To The World (Boogie No. 1) (LP – ELO 2) Harvest
• Robert Wyatt: Godsong / Hatfield (session)
• Leo Kottke: Spanish Entomologist (LP – Greenhouse) Capitol
• Mahavishnu Orchestra: One Word (LP – Birds Of Fire) CBS
• Mike Maran: Tigers Looking Back (LP – Fair Warning) Bronze
• Boys Of The Lough: Erin I Won’t Say Her Name / The Whinney Hall Of Leitrin / Joe Ryan’s Jig (session)
• Medicine Head: One And One Is One (single) Polydor
• File begins here
• John announces the competition to name this untitled Can track.The prize might be a "copy of the new Can LP, or some cans of vegetables, possibly arrive to something like the northern reaches of the Bakerloo line with Anne Nightingale, and arrive back without her."
• Can: Untitled (session)
• John repeats the competition details, including some dodgy comments about schoolgirls
• File ends (continues with the results on 20 March 1973)
• Harrison Gospel Singers & Rev. Squeaky Morgan: You’ve Got To Move (single) King
• Boys Of The Lough: Wee Croppy Tailor / Boys In The Gap / McMahon’s Reel (session)
• Robert Wyatt: We Got An Arts Council Grant / Righteous Rhumba (session)

File

Name

• J P Top Gear 13 March 1973 etc.mp3

Length

• 25:56 (until 20:24)

Other

• Many thanks to Tim for purchasing from eBay and digitisation

Available

• Mooo