Date : 1973-05-01
Venue : Top Gear Radio Broadcast, BBC Studios 4 Maida Vale
Source : Tape / Radio
Tracks : 3
Lossless : Yes

Information about the setlist :

01-introduction - concrete jungle 4:02
02-rastaman chant 3:49
03-slave driver 3:24

Additional Informations And Comments :

The Top Gear Broadcast was a radio show aired on the english BBC radio and done at the BBC Studios.
From 1967 to 2004, "John Peel Sessions" were recorded in Maida Vale , studio 4

Top Gear was originally a short-lived pop music show on the BBC Light Programme in the mid-1960s.
It was one of the Corporation'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.

The programme comprised a mixture of records and live sessions, was introduced by Brian Matthew, and featured many popular guests such as
Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, The Who, Dusty Springfield, The Kinks and Manfred Mann.

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 Walter,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, but the 'Top Gear' title which by 1975 sounded very dated - was dropped.