VARIOUS ARTISTS - British Hard & Heavy Rock At The BBC 1968-1973 (2LP) - UK Maida Vale / Verne LIMITED Press - LISTEN - VERY RARE

Each of the four thematic parts of 'At The BBC' contains 120 minutes of what I consider superb material recorded live by the individual artists (with only very few overdubs) during several-hour sessions at the Maida Vale studios in London. The BBC employed the best British sound engineers, and as a result almost every band recording there sounded sensational - often better and more dynamic than on their records! Besides, many of them played tracks never released on vinyl or sometimes very surprising covers of other artists' recordings. The sound quality is fantastic - simply perfect! Only in a dozen or so cases (out of nearly 130 recordings) were fragments of slightly poorer, but definitely acceptable, quality used. Note! Almost all the recordings have never before appeared on vinyl, and only a few appeared on CDs, and generally with much poorer sound quality! The vast majority of the tracks came from very rare promotional records intended for foreign radio stations. The tracks on them were enriched with short, emotional introductions by the brilliant DJ Brian Matthew, who genuinely added a special flavour to these recordings! I am a great fan of his! In my opinion the stunning gatefold sleeves, with wonderful late 70s designs by Rodney Matthews, contain every detail about the individual recordings: exact recording dates, apt photographs and the line-ups of all the bands, and even short, one-sentence and really spot-on comments assigned to each track. Believe me - you cannot tear yourself away from these records! Please do not suggest to yourself that they are 'some compilations' or products of inferior quality! Hardly anyone will believe me, but as a great fan (and collector) of recordings from the BBC archives, hand on heart I consider these four titles (and especially "Psychedelic Rock" and "British Rock") the best vinyl reissues of the last 10 or 15 years! AN ABSOLUTE MUST!!! NEW, SEALED ........................................ The English text below I received from the publisher. It may be hard to read, but with some concentration it is genuinely very helpful! I especially recommend the short comments! ........................ Limited to 500 copies, double black vinyl edition released in beautiful cover with cool pictures and line ups of ALL bands inside the gatefold. This splendid, 120 minute/26 tracks collection (a real labour of love) not only offers an exeptional and often superior renditions of a tracks familiar through the band's original vinyl output, but also a plenty of cracking performances that they never recorded outside the BBC Maida Vale studios. During the 60s and early 70s the BBC was committed to air a substantial amount of live music within its radio broadcasting and as a result, hundreds of popular or less-known British artists were employed to fill that standards. BBC Transcription Service used some of these sessions for promotional-only albums pressed on a weekly basis (supposedly in a quantity of 100 copies) and destined for radio stations all over the world. It was a vinyl LP with yellow-green record labels, housed in a rather plain, yellow sleeve and filled with paper sheets with song titles, time durations and a running order for the show. Most of the tracks included on this release came from long-running 'Top Of The Pops' compilation series (unconnected to the popular TV show) and short-lived 'Pick Up The Pops For Your D.J.’ LP releases, which took radio performances mostly from the prime pop shows of the time like 'Top Gear', 'Saturday Club', 'Sounds Of The Seveties', that aired live and specifically recorded music. All tracks were also adorned with a fresh commentary from (now legendary) DJ Brian Matthew. Aside from BBC promotional discs, in a very few, fully justified cases an unique, home taped, off-air recordings (expertly remastered and restored and marked below as *) were used. The inner gatefold features a band photos and specific line ups. ALMOST ALL TRACKS PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED ON VINYL!.... SIDE 1: (29:27) 1. Gun - Race With The Devil 3.27 (Gurvitz) Recorded on 8th November 1968. Crushing 'live in studio' version - in perfect sound quality at last. No brass section! 2. Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich - Mr. Soul 3.07 (Young) Recorded on 10th September 1968. Surprisingly heavy cover version of the Buffalo Springfield classic. Truly killer track! 3. Jeff Beck - Sweet Black Angel 4.40 (King) Recorded on 17th September 1968. B.B. King cover. Unreleased radio version of slow heavy blues in Led Zeppelin vein. 4. Edgar Broughton Band - Why Can't Somebody Love Me 4.06 (R. E. Broughton) Recorded on 27th January 1969. Hendrix meets Captain Beefheart and Arthur Brown. It was 6 months before debut LP. 5. Gun - Sunshine 2.54 (Gurvitz) Recorded on 8th November 1968. Another Gun's radio performance without brass section. Much better than LP version. 6. Edgar Broughton Band - For What We Are About To Receive 4.32 (R. E. Broughton/S. Broughton) Recorded on 27th January 1969. An excellent, Hendrix-inspired instrumental track exclusive to that radio broadcast. 7. Episode Six - I Am A Cloud 1.55 (Gillan/Tacon) Recorded in April 1969. Ian Gillan and Roger Glover 3 months before joining Deep Purple. A weird stuff! 8. Griffin - What A Day It's Been 4.45 (Bell/Gibson/Craddock/Kirtley/White) Recorded on 21st October 1969. A totally forgotten great band in Spooky Tooth vein with one 7" and BBC broadcast. SIDE 2: (29:06) 1. The Glass Menagerie - Do You Ever Think 3.31 (Stonebridge/Kendall/Medley/Atkinson) Recorded on 21st April 1969. A superb early hard rock with future Toe Fat, Paladin and Mogul Thrash members. 2. Juicy Lucy - Nadine 3.54 (Berry) Recorded on 29th December 1969. Chuck Berry cover. This performance is much heavier and better than LP version. 3. Humble Pie - Big Black Dog 4.30 (Marriott/Frampton/Ridley/Shirley) Recorded on 27th July 1970. Quite heavy and very good track (in Free vein) originally released as a single A's. 4. Trapeze - Medusa 4.16 (Hughes) Recorded on 1st July 1970. A superb trio with Glenn Hughes and Dave Holland. Slightly shorter radio version 5. Humble Pie - Rollin' Stone 4.49 (Morganfield) Recorded on 1st March 1971. Muddy Waters cover. Another great radio broadcast of the track from their 4th album. 6. Sunburst - Cheese Wire 4.12 (Cross) Recorded on 7th January 1971. Unreleased heavy instrumental by unknown band led by ex-T2 guitarist Keith Cross. 7. Savoy Brown - Street Corner Talking 3.58 (Simmonds) Recorded on 25th January 1971. Truly unique BBC radio performance with temporary vocalist Peter 'Scott' Ainsworth. SIDE 3: (29:57) 1. Mick Abrahams Band - Seasons 12.50 (Abrahams) Recorded on 25th November 1970. Ex-Jethro Tull/Blodwyn Pig guitarist. A raw, early version without Hammond organ! 2. Bronco - Well Anyhow 6.04 (Roden/Pasternak/Gammond/Robinson/Blunt) Recorded on 28th January 1971. A splendid version of the best track this very fine band ever recorded! Sheer beauty! 3. Groundhogs - Eccentric Man 6.11 (McPhee) Recorded on 29th March 1971. Extended, more powerful and better produced version of the track from their 3rd LP. 4. Mott The Hoople - Moon Upstairs 4.52 (Hunter/Ralphs) Recorded on 25th October 1971. Slightly rawer and little faster performance of the best song from 'Brain Capers' LP. SIDE 4: (29:28) 1. Sweet - Done Me Wrong All Right 2.43 (Connolly/Tucker/Priest/Scott) Recorded on 15th May 1971. An excellent and very heavy track originally released as a B-side of 'Co-Co' single. 2. Stray - Sister Mary 3.05 (Bromham) Recorded on 15th September 1971. Truly upgraded, much more dynamic radio version of a track from the band's 3rd LP. 3. Paladin - Give Me Your Hand 5.59 (Solley) Recorded on 14th July 1971. A hard prog band partly similar to Uriah Heep. Radio version of their best track ever! 4. Natural Gas - How Long Were You There 3.56 (Sinclair/Dale) Recorded on 18th October 1971. An unknown, but very good band similar to Leaf Hound, without any record output. 5. Peace - Heartbreaker 5.58 (Rodgers) Recorded on 30th November 1971. An unique version of this future Free classic done by Paul Rodgers with his new trio. 6. Thin Lizzy - Suicide 4.02 (Lynott) Recorded on 14th November 1972. Radio performance with early lyrics - some 3 years before their 'Fighting' LP release. 7. Patto - Loud Green Song 3.41 (Halsall/Patto) Recorded on 12th February 1973. The heaviest track in history of that cool, progressive band. A little weird, but great!