The Complete 'Top Gear' Sessions
by Ron Fleischer


Late being a popular group in Britain in the sixties, inevitably found the Pink Floyd appearing
several times on John Peel's "TopGear" program.

Peel, who was originally a DJ for Radio London,went on to become BBC's "token hippie",
regularly featuring the Floyd and other "progressive" bands.

Their first appearance wason September 30, 1967 and gave the band, then fronted by Barrett
the opportunity to perform some songs from their debut album,"The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn".

They also played "Apples AndOranges" (a single that had yet to be released) which is the only
known performance of the pieces.

All songs remained true totheir original recorded versions.

The December 19th session was the last to include Syd, whose once great contribution to
 the band had become a burden.

His songwriting and performing capabilities had become obscure to the point that rendered
him incapable of playing with the other members of the Floyd, as hiswithdrawal into drugs
and psychosis were taking its toll.

Hisstate of mind at the time was evident, with the unreleased tracks"Vegetable Man" and
"Scream Thy Last Scream".

These songs hadbeen recorded earlier that year along with "Jugband Blues", which later
appeared on "A Saucerful Of Secrets" and were played for the first time.

David Gilmour had replaced Syd and performed with the group on
"Top Gear's" June 25th show in 1968.

This was one of the few times that they played "Julia Dream" and premiered two tracks from
their soon to be released second album.

"Murderistic Women" was the earliest incarnation of "Careful With That Axe, Eugene" and
also it's shortest, omitting Roger's primal scream and most of the tensional build up.

"The Massed Gadgets Of Hercules" was an early abbreviated version of "A Saucerful Of Secrets",
which was also performed as the climax to "The Journey" later on that year.

The Floyd's next appearance wasn't until early next year on January 14th.

The set started off with "Point Me At The Sky", with a slightly altered lyric and extended
spaceybridge (this session could be the only time this song was played live).

"Baby Blue Shuffle In D Major" is an early version of "Narrow Way/Part One", which became
one of Gilmour's acoustic contributions to the "Ummagumma" LP.

This was one of the first pieces to be recorded for the new album along with "Embryo", which
was dropped when the decision was made to divide "Ummagumma's" second LP into four solo sections.

Since "Embryo" was performed by the entire group, it was not officially released until the
US "Works" compilation came out in 1983 (and accidently on "Picnic", a Harvest sampler from 1970).

The session ended with an unusually short version of "Interstellar Overdrive", which seemed
to start off from the middle of the piece.

Their final "Top Gear" performance was on May 12, 1969.

This session best represented the Floyd's live repertoire at the time featuring selections from
"The Man" and "The Journey", the band's first conceptual pieces.

"Daybreak" (aka "Grantchester Meadows"), a pleasant acoustic number complete with
sound effects, was the first part of "The Man" suite.

"Green Is The Colour" had been seemlessly joined with "Careful With That Axe, Eugene", and
were still in their early stages, along with "Cymbaline" which had yet to be released on
the "More"soundtrack.

The set concluded with "The Narrow Way/Part Three", the final contribution to Gilmour's portion
of "Ummagumma" which was also featured during "The Journey".

Although Pink Floyd had also made two classic appearances on John Peel's BBC One Show from
the Paris Theatre in 1970 (eventually airing in the US on the "BBC Rock Hour"), these are the
complete "Top Gear" performances.

From their rise and fall with Syd, to their new beginning with Gilmour, these recordings represent
the group throughout its embryonic evolution. The rest, as they say, is history.