11 August 1968

== Show ==
; Name
*Top Gear
; Station
*BBC Radio One
; YYYY-MM-DD
*1968-08-11
; Comments
*Show intro: "We've really got to do something about this theme music. On Top Gear this afternoon, we've got the John Dummer Blues Band, Pink Floyd, Leonard Cohen and Tim Rose. Our first record is by Ray Stevens and it's called Mr Businessman."
*Excellent-quality lossless recordings of this show exist, reportedly sourced directly from the BBC master tapes that were made at the time. Unfortunately, most copies in circulation include all the session tracks and Peel comments but omit the needle-time tracks (i.e. the records). (File 1)  However, a reconstruction of the full-two hour show has now been made available by editing in the missing needletime tracks. (File 3)
*The show also circulates as a one-hour edited mix with most of the first half intact. This version includes the records, but is incomplete and of lesser quality. No reference appears to be given below to this file. edit - isn't this File 4?
*An additional file appears to include the intros and session tracks to File 1 (in identical quality) but with the addition of a couple of the early records. (File 2). This may have been a first attempt at a reconstruction but might also be a less censored version of the master tape of the show. (Bill can you answer this?)
*References are made to a couple of recent festivals and concerts throughout the show. The first Hyde Park free concert, featuring Pink Floyd, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Roy Harper and Jethro Tull, had taken place a couple of weeks earlier on 29th June, and has been described by Peel as "the nicest concert I've ever been to" . Peel dedicates the first Floyd track to everyone who had attended that gig, the memory of which was "still spinning around in my head somewhere".
*The other festival referred to was still taking place, and in fact JP had duties to attend there that evening: the Sunbury National Jazz and Blues Festival, at Kempton Park Racecourse (8-11 August) . This explains Peel's quip about John Mayall being "entered for the 7:45 at Kempton Park this evening".
*Two copies of the MC5 single played here were later found in John Peel's Record Box.
*The first hour of the show was rebroadcast, minus the Pink Floyd session tracks, on BBC Radio 6 Music on 13th October 2014. Audio quality is very good but occasional audio dropouts during needle time tracks indicate that this is not a reconstruction.
*Finally in 2020 the full unedited show was made available for the first time (File 5)
== Sessions ==
*Pink Floyd, #3. First broadcast. Recorded 1968-06-25. Officially released on: "The Early Years 1965-1972" (Pink Floyd Records ‎– PFREYB1, 2016).
*John Dummer Blues Band, #1. First broadcast. Recorded 1968-06-25. No known commercial release.
*Tim Rose, #4 (rpt). First broadcast 07 July 1968. Recorded 1968-07-01. No known commercial release.
*Leonard Cohen, one and only session (rpt). First broadcast 14 July 1968. Recorded 1968-07-09. Backed by the Tony Gilbert Group. No known commercial release.
== Tracklisting ==
*File 4 begins at start of show
*Ray Stevens: Mr Businessman (single) Monument MON 1022 # @
*John Dummer Blues Band: Forty Days & Forty Nights (session) # @
*Duncan Browne: On The Bombsite (single) Immediate IM 070
*Pink Floyd: Careful With That Axe Eugene (session) # @ not on file 4
*Tim Rose: Roanoke (session) # @
*Doors: Hello I Love You (single) Elektra EKSN 45037 #
*Leonard Cohen: You Know Who I Am (session) # @
*Traffic: You Can All Join In (single) Island (Sweden) WIP-6041 (Imported from Sweden. Covert advertising for a record shop from JP; the single is only available, he says, in "one place", in "one of London's import shops" and then, after the record, "in one shop in London". Those in the know would have understood he was referring to One Stop Records in South Molton Street.) # @
*John Dummer Blues Band: Travelling Man (session) # @
*John explains that he can't play as many records as he would like as he is restricted to 45 minutes of needle time per show
*Earth Opera: The Red Sox Are Winning (LP - Earth Opera) Elektra EKS 74016
*Pink Floyd: The Massed Gadgets Of Hercules (session) # @ not on file 4
*John Mayall's Bluesbreakers: Killing Time (LP - Bare Wires) Decca LK 4945
*Tim Rose: Foggy Mountain Breakdown On Rye With Mustard (session) # @
*Misunderstood: I Can Take You To The Sun (single) Fontana TF 777 (JP - "the best popular record that has ever been recorded.")
*Leonard Cohen: Like A Bird On A Wire (session) # @
*File 4 ends
*Tyrannosaurus Rex: Salamanda Palaganda (LP - Prophets, Seers and Sages, The Angels of the Ages) Regal Zonophone LRZ 1005
*John Dummer Blues Band: Standing Round Cryin' (session) # @
*Buffy Sainte-Marie: Sometimes When I Get To Thinkin' (LP - I'm Gonna Be A Country Girl Again) Vanguard VMD 79280/Fontana
*Pink Floyd: Let There Be More Light (session) # @
*Cream: Born Under A Bad Sign (LP: Wheels of Fire - In The Studio) Polydor 582 033
*Tim Rose: I Guess It's Over (session) # @
*Duster Bennett: It's A Man Down There (single) Blue Horizon 57-3141
*Eclection: In The Early Days (LP - Eclection) Elektra EKS 74023
*Leonard Cohen: That's No Way To Say Goodbye (session) # @
:(News)
*Fairport Convention: It's Alright Ma, It's Only Witchcraft (LP - Fairport Convention) Polydor 583 035
*John Dummer Blues Band: After Hours (session) # @
*John dedicates the next track to a house mouse, and Flossie a small dog that wasn't allowed into Broadcasting House. 
*Pink Floyd: Julia Dream (session) # @
*Jerry Lee Lewis: What Made Milwaukee Famous (single) Mercury MF 1045
*Tim Rose: Long Haired Boy (session) # @
:(JP: "And all of you know of course about the Detroit "Motor City Sound" things (Motown). But there are other sounds going on in Detroit, made by a group among others called MC5 - the Motor City 5, you see. And it's not very well recorded, one of your underground recordings, but it is quite interesting anyway, although a bit derivative. And this is the MC5 and it's called 'Borderline'.")
*MC5: Borderline (US single - b-side of Looking At You) A-Square A2, A2 333
*Leonard Cohen: Dress Rehearsal Rag (session) # @
Tracks marked @ available on File 1 and # available on File 2
== File ==
;Name
*1) individual filenames for 28 tracks and intros
*2) 1968-08-11 John Peel Top Gear Radio 1.mp3
*3) John Peel - Top Gear - 1968-08-11 (reconstruction)
*4) 1968-08-11 Peel Show
*5) 1968-08-11 Top Gear - Radio 1 Show from BBC archive trial.mp3
;Length
*1) 01:04:14
*2) 01:13:14
*3) 02:00:08
*4) 48:21
*5) 01:59:29
;Other
*1) Session tracks only
*2) Many thanks to Bill! Similar to (1) but with a couple of extra records. Link restored.
*3) Reconstruction job, mixing in the missing needletime tracks to complete the show.
*4) Rebroadcast by 6Music
*5) Many thanks to Leicester Jim
;Available
*1) Hal's Progressive Rock Blogspot direct links Sharebee Part 1 Sharebee Part 2
*2) Mooo
*3) Mooo
*4) no longer available
*5) Mooo
Category:1968
Category:Peel shows
Category:Available online
Category:Top Gear