The Perfumed Garden

Posted about 3 years ago

Artist:
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Fairport Convention
Album:

Fairport Convention (1st LP)
Track:
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- QUEUE
Time Will Show the Wiser

I posted a while back about listening to John Peel's radio programme, The Perfumed Garden, back in 1967 under the bedcovers on my transistor radio with earphone. I've just spotted that BBC 6music are playing a restored version of the last ever show, before he moved to Radio 1. It airs tomorrow, and hopefully they'll put a version up on the website that I can link to. This was a period in the UK when British broadcasting restrictions meant that pop music could only be played by pirate radio stations, operating from ships anchored just outside British territorial waters. Wonderful Radio London and Radio Caroline were amongst them. On the Big L (as we used to call it), John Peel's show was the programme where you could here something different, that might be outside the top 40. You might hear Frank Zappa or vintage blues. An ideal example of what he played is this. Fairport Convention, when they started, with Judy Dyble and Ian Mathews doing the singing, trying to sound much more American than North London. Their sound was very '67, somewhere between Jefferson Airplane and The Byrds - they hadn't yet turned the corner in to folk music. This is a great live performance from some unnamed TV show. Excellent.

Hopefully, more Perfumed Garden tomorrow.

Comments (11)

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Neill says http://www.theperfumedgarden.blogspot.com/

Permalink posted 12/24/2006
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mktackabery says Interesting stuff David, I never knew about those kind of broadcasting restrictions in the UK. Was it a response to drugs in rock, out-of-control audiences and things like that, or something else? Any links or other references you could point me to?

Permalink posted 12/24/2006
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david terrar says Neill, Ace - cheers for that. mktackberry, Nothing so sinister. The General Post Office strictly controlled the airways, and wouldn't allow commercial stations with advertising - only the BBC stations. Pirate radio stations broadcast from Europe or offshore, and you were breaking the law to listen to them. Commercial radio stations eventually started here in the early 70s. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_radio

Permalink posted 12/24/2006
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DUSTdevils says if you miss the mighty Peel, you will like this: http://www.dandelionradio.com/ LOVE...

Permalink posted 12/24/2006
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ivylander says And is that Martin Lamble on drums?

Permalink posted 12/24/2006
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david terrar says DUST devils, Excellent! I do miss the festive fifty, and I hadn't seen this. Thanks. ivylander, Yes that's Martin Lamble, a year or two before he was killed in the van accident.

Permalink posted 12/24/2006
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ivylander says Gee, I now have a much better sense of how much they lost when he died. Joe Boyd, in "White Bicycles," expresses the opinion that losing him changed not only the group's gestalt, but also its entire sound, and even destiny.

Permalink posted 12/24/2006
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david terrar says ivylander, From the little I know, I'm sure that's true. After the accident it was a conscious decision to head in a different direction.

Permalink posted 12/24/2006
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david terrar says mktackabery, By coincidence there was a TV programme on the development of radio in the UK last night. The BBC had a monopoly on the airwaves until the 70s. In the late 50s, early 60s there was very limited pop music (about half an hour a week!) on the BBC Light Programme (one of the available stations) and actually more rock and roll and pop music on TV programmes like 6 5 Special and Juke Box Jury. Radio Luxembourg, or FAB 208 as it was later called, began broadcasting 24 x7 pop music in 1964 with transmitters powerful enough to reach the UK, and then the off shore pirates started a couple of years later. The Post Master General (Tony Benn) of the time (a cabinet government position) closed down the pirates in late '67. There was a quite comical clip of Tony describing the pirates as a danger to shipping, and that their transmissions would cause marine disasters in the channel! However, by then there was enough popular demand that the BBC had to respond, and changed the Light Programme to Radio 1 late '67, and most of the popular pirate DJs (including John Peel, Tony Blackburn and Jimmy Saville) turned up on the new pop music station. Real competition didn't start until the early 70s when the monopoly was broken, and commercial radio finally began in the UK.

Permalink posted 12/24/2006
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Neill says ....and 30 years down the line commercial radio is still shit! LOL!

Permalink posted 12/26/2006
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fairportfan says "Some unnamed TV show" - what's that logo on the wall in the opening shot? Also, i still question whether it's truly "live", as everything i've read about such teevee programs indicated that the acts would lay down a "live in the studio" version of the track, which would then be played as they lip-synched to it. (And "Live" performances on Peel and other radio programming would be handled pretty much the same.) This actually makes sense, when you're going out live - there are so many things that can happen in a true live performance, from broken strings to out of tune/tempo vocals or solos to someone forgetting where he is and going "Oh bugger!" if something goes wrong... Of course, some bands objected to faking "live" performances for their fans, leading to incidents like the infamous "MIMING" t-shirt on *The Old Grey Whistle Test*.

Permalink posted 06/20/2007