John Peel & Pete Drummond – BBC Radio1 Top Gear (October 1, 1967)

Top Gear was a radio show known for its specially recorded sessions in addition to playing records. It began life in the mid-1960s and was revived with a progressive rock focus in 1967, running with that format until its end in 1975.

It was one of the BBC’s few attempts to compete with the pirate radio stations and Radio Luxembourg, who had attracted large audiences of young British pop music listeners in the absence of an “official” alternative. This was made explicit in the show’s title, which evoked the 1960s fascination with fast cars, jet planes and high-speed travel, but also the use of “gear” to describe fashionable Carnaby Street clothes and the 1960s Liverpool term “fab gear”, popularised by the Beatles as an expression of approval. The programme comprised a mixture of records and live sessions, was introduced by Brian Matthew, and featured many popular guests such as Jimi Hendrix, Free, The Beatles, Cream, The Who, Pink Floyd, Dusty Springfield, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, The Kinks and Manfred Mann.

The programme was first broadcast on 16 July 1964, produced by Bernie Andrews. The name, Top Gear, had been chosen after a national competition. The winning entry had been submitted by a young woman called Susan Warne, who attended the first recording and was interviewed on the programme. The guests on that first show included The Beatles, Mark Wynter and Dusty Springfield.
Revival

It was revived, and evolved into a “progressive” music show, in the early years of BBC Radio 1 (from 1967 into the 1970s), with the same format of records and specially recorded sessions. It was hosted variously by Tommy Vance, Pete Drummond and, most notably, John Peel, who, with the help of sympathetic producers Bernie Andrews and John Walters, turned it into an award-winning show, while retaining the emphasis on new music. In 1971, the programme merged with the Sounds of the Seventies strand, broadcast on FM. It was still introduced by Peel, and moved from its weekend slot to two evenings a week.

It ended when the BBC, facing a serious financial crisis, was forced to make cutbacks in the Radio One schedules; most of the evening programmes of “progressive music” were scrapped. The final Top Gear show was broadcast on 25 September 1975; it was composed mostly of sessions by artists who had become famous after appearing on Top Gear, ranging from T.Rex, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin to Randy Newman and Bob Marley & The Wailers. On this show, Peel spoke of how influential and fashionable the programme had been in its heyday. He continued to be influential, hosting similar programmes of records and sessions for the BBC until his death in 2004.

And here´s the radio show from October 1, 1967 … with lot´s a great songs from this period !!!

Tracklist:

BBC Radio1 Top Gear (October 1, 1967) 44.34:

01. The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown: Devil’s Grip (Crane/Brown)
02. Keith West: Real Life Permanent Dream (Hopkins)
03. Nirvana: Pentecost Hotel (Spyropoulos/Campbell-Lyons)
04. Pink Floyd: Set The Controls (Waters)
05. Tim Rose: Morning Dew (Dobson/Rose)
06. Jefferson Airplane: White Rabbit (Slick)
07. Velvet Underground & Nico: Sunday Morning (Reed/Cale)
08. Pink Floyd: Reaction In G (Barrett/Mason)
09. Velvet Underground & Nico: Sunday Morning (Reed/Cale)
10. Keith West: Carol Brown (West)
11. Amen Corner: The World Of Broken Heart (Pomus/Shuman)
12. Traffic: Paper Sun /(live in the studio) (Capaldi/Winwood)
13. Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band: Yellow Brick Road (Van Vliet/Berman)
14. Big Maybelle And The Senate: Every Day I Got The Blues (A,Sparks/M.Sparks)
15. Move: Killroy Was Here (Wood)
16. Skip Bifferty: On Love (Bell/Turnbull)
17. Pink Floyd: Flaming (Barrett)
18. Tim Rose: Fairiwell

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Pink Floyd – Meddle (1971)

Meddle is the sixth studio album by English progressive rock group Pink Floyd, released on 31 October 1971 by Harvest Records. It was produced between the band’s touring commitments, from January to August 1971. The album was recorded at a series of locations around London, including Abbey Road Studios and Morgan Studios.

With no material to work with and no clear idea of the album’s direction, the group devised a series of novel experiments which eventually inspired the album’s signature track, “Echoes”. Although the band’s later albums would be unified by a central theme with lyrics written entirely by Roger Waters, Meddle was a group effort with lyrical contributions from each member, and is considered a transitional album between the Syd Barrett-influenced group of the late 1960s and the emerging Pink Floyd. The cover has been explained by its creator, Storm Thorgerson, to be an ear underwater. As with several previous albums designed by Hipgnosis, though, Thorgerson was unhappy with the final result.

The album was well-received by music critics upon its release, and was commercially successful in the United Kingdom, but lackluster publicity on the part of their United States-based label led to poor sales there upon initial release. (by wikipedia)

Meddle represents the birth of Pink Floyd as we now know them today. After flailing somewhat after Syd Barrett’s departure in 1968, they had a surprise hit in 1970 with Atom Heart Mother, an album comprised of a difficult side-long suite, backed with individual group pieces. In many respects, Meddle, released a little over a year later, is the same again, only with much, much, better tunes and less clutter.

Everything about Meddle is allowed to breathe and grow. Rocking opener “One Of These Days” rises out of nearly a minute of wind effects; “Fearless” delivers its slightly stoned punch over six minutes. Even the throwaway track, “Seamus”, with the howling of Steve Marriott’s dog over David Gilmour’s blues, has a lazy charm which undermines the intelligence and ambition of the remainder of the record.

Originally titled “Return Of The Son Of Nothing”, the side-long piece, “Echoes” dominates the entire work. It has a majestic grace, filling every one of its 23 minutes with the sophisticated mystery that came to define everything about Pink Floyd; slightly obscure; extremely special. Starting with a sonar pulse, the song – with one of Roger Waters’ finest lyrics – leisurely unfolds before climaxing with a funk workout; after another four minutes it dissolves to atmospherics before finally returning to the main theme. This is everything right about progressive rock; engaging, intelligent and compelling.

By the time the group began to hone this innovation and vision into bite-sized chunks on their next two albums, they were to become very big indeed. (Daryl Easlea)

Personnel:
David Gilmour – guitar, vocals, bass (in unison with Waters) on 01. , harmonica on 05.)
Roger Waters (bass, guitar and vocals on 04.)
Nick Mason (drums, percussion, vocal phrase on 01.)
Rick Wright (keyboards, vocals on  – organ (Hammond and Farfisa), piano, co-lead vocals on 06.)

Tracklist:
01. One Of These Days (Gilmour/Waters/Wright Mason) 5.43
02. A Pillow Of Winds (Gilmour/Waters) 5.30
03. Fearless (including “You’ll Never Walk Alone”) (Gilmour/Waters/ Rodgers/ Hammerstein II) 6.08
04. San Tropez (Waters) 3.43
05. Seamus Gilmour/Waters/Wright Mason) 2.14
06. Echoes Gilmour/Waters/Wright Mason) 23.31

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