09 March 1969

== Show ==
; Name
*Top Gear
; Station
*BBC Radio One
; YYYY-MM-DD
*1969-03-09
; Comments
*A portion of the show (File 1) was discovered by Peel Mailing List user andysmith10. It is heavily edited to highlight the session tracks, and lacks almost all of the Peel links.
*File 5 has around 80 minutes of the show, with plenty of Peel comments about records and life in general, including a response to some critical letters from listeners and his explanation of why riding on trains is like going to the cinema.
*Complete show track listing supplied by Ken Garner of Peel Mailing List, to whom many thanks. Ken adds: 'This one your mystery taper taped from quite near the beginning of the show but edited more out. He clearly did not like the Idle Race. I've done the full show track listing because this show is very much of its time and remarkably consistent in its bluesy feel, and for that reason, not one of the classics, I fear...'.
*The Daughters of Albion and the Collectors, both relatively obscure bands, aren't particularly bluesy either, which may explain why the tracks weren't preserved by the taper. The former group had Leon Russell among their backing musicians on the album. Dragonfly were far more obscure, and copies of their albums now fetch big prices among collectors.
*The Bread And Beer Band track, a version of the theme tune from a famous BBC radio serial of the 1940s and '50s, features the then little-known Elton John on piano. Peel revisited the single towards the end of his career; see June 2004 (FSK) for details.
*Love Sculpture's session consists of four cover versions; of Jerry Lee Lewis's "Great Balls Of Fire", George Harrison's "The Inner Light", "Evenin'", made famous in the 1930s by the Count Basie orchestra with singer Jimmy Rushing - and Georges Bizet's "Farandole" from his "L'Arlesienne Suite No. 2". The latter track was an attempt to repeat the success they had with their hit single of Khachaturian's "Sabre Dance", also done first on a Top Gear session.
== Sessions ==
*Love Sculpture, #3. Recorded 1969-01-28. No known commercial release.
*Glass Menagerie, #2. Recorded 1969-01-21. No known commercial release.
*Taste, #3. Recorded 1969-02-17. No known commercial release.
*Idle Race, #5 (repeat). Recorded 1969-01-20. No known commercial release.
== Tracklisting ==
*Idle Race: Days Of The Broken Arrow (Peel Session)
*Cream: Doing That Scrapyard Thing (LP - Goodbye) Polydor 583 053
*Glass Menagerie: Putting It Off Til Another Day (Peel Session)
*Daughters Of Albion: Sweet Susan Constantine (LP - Daughters Of Albion) Fontana SRF 67586 (US release)
*Taste: I'm Moving On (Peel Session)
*Family: Dim (LP - Family Entertainment) Reprise RLP 6340
*Love Sculpture: Farandole (Peel Session) @
*East Of Eden: Northern Hemisphere (single) Deram DM 242 @
*File 5 cuts in below
*Idle Race: Frantic Desolation (Peel Session)
*Peel thinks that the musical M1 should be recorded before it loses its definition. This needs listening to to explain it.....
*Iron Butterfly: Soul Experience (LP - Ball) Atlantic 228 011 @
*John begins to talk about a phone call he's just had from East of Eden's record producer, but is seriously distracted by some strange noises in his headphones
*Glass Menagerie: Do You Ever Think (Peel Session) @
* Info for Leonard Cohen fans – Peel may have his new LP by next week
*Dragonfly: She Don't Care (LP - Dragonfly) Megaphone MS-1202 (US release) JP says he "knows absolutely nothing about this band" and the LP "is on a very peculiar and particularly obscure American label" @
*Taste: Sugar Mama (Peel Session) @ £ §  (JP: Sugar Mama by John Lee Hooker and Howlin' Wolf and other people)
*Blood Sweat And Tears: More And More (LP - Blood Sweat And Tears) CBS 63504 (JP mentions that" famed pop columnist, wastrel and varlet" Chris Welch (of Melody Maker) thinks it’s the best LP of the past 12 months; he says it’s “certainly very good")
*JP: "Riding on trains is very much like going to the cinema..." – he recommends the Exeter to London line with bridges, trees and "some very contented sheep and cows"…
*Love Sculpture: Great Balls Of Fire (Peel Session) (JP: 'You ought to hear me sing that.') @
*Bobby Parker: It's Hard But It's Fair (single) Blue Horizon 57-3151 @
*Idle Race: Mr Crow And Sir Norman (Peel Session)  (JP: “Tell me audience, what do you think of Roger Hunt?”)
*JP: “The Pink Floyd played like Gods in Bristol the other day…” .and Nick Mason said he liked the LP he plays next
*HP Lovecraft: High Flying Bird (LP - HP Lovecraft II) Philips PHS 600 279 @
*Peel reads out postcard from Florida from John Mayall, on tour in the US
*Glass Menagerie: Life Is Getting It Together (Peel Session) @
*Marc Brierley: The Answer Is (LP - Welcome To The Citadel) CBS 63478 $
*Taste: Leaving Blues (Peel Session) @ £  (JP: “This is a Leadbelly thing – I’m not going to get into arguments about how to pronounce his first name on this programme as well as on Night Ride”)
*Collectors: My Love Delights Me (LP - Grass And Wild Strawberries) Reprise (US release Warner Bros.WS 1774) (“this is a Bernie track…he likes it very much…”)
*Love Sculpture: Evening (Peel Session)
*Says he missed train for roadshow gig at “Whitburn, near Sunderland”, but will go there next week instead
*Who: Pinball Wizard (single) Track 604 027
*Bread And Beer Band: Dick Barton Theme (The Devil's Gallop) (single) Decca F 12891 @
*Idle Race: Sea Of Dreams (Peel Session)
*Complains about minority of listeners’ letters which say some of the tracks he plays aren’t “progressive” or “suitable for Top Gear”
*BB King: I Done Got Wise (LP - His Best) ABC BLS 6022 (US release) (cuts out during first verse)
*Glass Menagerie: She Came From Hell (Peel Session) @
*JP: “Consider yourselves all members of the Top Gear Smiling Section…”.
*Jefferson Airplane: Somebody To Love (LP - Bless Its Pointed Little Head, recorded live at the Fillmore. RCA  LSP-4133 (US release –JP hopes it’ll be released in the UK soon, as imported copies are selling well) @ #
*Taste: Hail (Peel Session) £ last minute and outro
*Love Sculpture: 'Inner Light' (Peel Session)
*File 5 ends just before Peel finishes his show -  “production was, as usual by the treasured Bernie Andrews"
*Tracks marked @ available on File 1
*Track marked # available on File 2
*Track marked $ available on File 3
*Track marked £ available on File 4
== File ==
;Name
*1) Tracks Too.wma
*2) 1969-03-09 Jefferson Airplane (LP tracks)
*3) 1969-03-09 Marc Brierley NR early 69 LP track
*4) TasteRoryGallagher1968-08-05BBCTopGearStudioSessionLondonUK.mp3
*5) J P top gear 09 March 1969.mp3
;Length
*1) 00:51:17 (to 8:02 unique)
*2) 3:46
*3) 2:23
*4) 32:47 (11:17-23:03)
*5) 1:20:06
;Other
*1) Many thanks to Andy.
*2,3) Many thanks to Colin Harper
*4) Full details at Sugarmegs. 
*5) Many thanks to Tim for acquisition and digitisation
;Available
*1) Mediafire
*2) Mooo
*3) Mooo
*4) Archive.org
*5) Mooo
Category:1969
Category:Peel shows
Category:Shared
Category:Top Gear
Category:Harper Reels
Category:Tim's Tapes
Category:Available online