- Kat's Karavan Makes my July

Not only is the Perfumed Garden back in the full swing of things, we also have a stupefyingly great addition to the Peel archive over at the mighty Kat's Karavan. Here's what Mr. D. Paddy has to say about the New Years Eve 1967 show:

So here we have music-loving Johnny Peel and Thomas ("The") Vance introducing a Radio 1 Top Gear show from New Year's Eve 1967. There's sessions from The Alan Bown (Set), The Herd (featuring Peter Frampton, "The Face of 1968"), The Moody Blues, The Pink Floyd and Eric Burdon and The Animals.

Apart from tape flips and a couple of minor glitches, this is a full 3-hour show in four parts (192K MP3). Admittedly, it's pretty lo-fi stuff, but perfectly listenable when your ears become attuned to it.

I haven't listened to it yet but am foaming at the mouth with excitement. Once again I get to use the phrase 'gloriously washy medium wave', yay!

- Nick Drake on John Peel's NIGHTRIDE show, 6th August, 1969

The best thing about mp3s and the like are that you can have a listen to music before you buy a full album. I wonder how many crap albums I’ve bought down the years, and how few times, in contrast, I’ve put on a record and been truly dumbfounded by what I’ve heard. One of those few times was when I first heard Nick Drake.



Highlights of Nick Drake’s performance on John Peel's NIGHTRIDE show, Wednesday, 6th August, 1969.

As far as anyone knows, no moving image of Nick Drake exists, hence the lack of video accompaniment. The music alone is enough, however. John Horne used to have this available for download over at Right Place, Right Time, Wrong Speed, pester him via email and it might return!

- Kat's Karavan UPDATE #1

You wait ages for a new post and then loads of them arrive at the same time! I'm forever indebted to DuffPaddy over at Kat’s Karavan for the new stuff:

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-18th January 1982 (the one I've been waiting for!)

-Festive 50 1983 (complete broadcast, in two parts)

-Final Top Gear 1975 (this is a somewhat longer version than the one I offer, go to the website to see how much effort was gone to to bring you this!)

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While we're at it, learn more about the origin of the name Kat’s Karavan in this recent article from the Dallas Observer.

- The penultimate Top Gear Show, September, 1975

Surprisingly little is written about the Top Gear radio show, even wikipedia isn't very helpful. Consequently, the best I can say is that this show is from some time in September, 1975. Having just turned two at the time, I can't rely on my own memory to confirm this fact.

It's a really hot day here today, and I think the heat's gone to my brain, as I've done, quite frankly, a pretty poor job of transcribing the track listing for this one. Lots of help needed filling in the gaps.

Track listing

-The Faces - Stay with me (from a 1971 session)
-Steeleye Span - A Buddy Holly song whose name escapes me (from an unidentified session)
-Lindisfarne - your guess is undoubtedly going to be much better than mine (track introduced but fades out after a few seconds)
-Family - The Cat and the Rat (track fades in during the last few seconds)
-Roxy Music - Peel mentions the lineup in great detail but neglects to tell us what the track is called (from a 1972 session)
-Syd Barrett - Gigolo Aunt
-Steeleye Span - First minute of the track only

Peel sounds great on this one, really strait-laced. I guess he was still in full 'this is a public service broadcast' mode at this time. I wonder if he did his programs like this to give the music he was playing more credibility. Shame he's not around for me to ask him.

Download the washy mediumwave extravaganza here.

Like many of you other crazy Peel obsessives, I've got the final Top Gear show, too. For the sake of those who don't yet have it, I'll be posting it sometime next week.

Thanks to the anonymous contributor who has filled in the gaps in my fairly poor effort to supply a track listing.