Gay & Terry Woods
1970-11-03 _ London, England _ BBC Maida Vale Studio 4 _ (M2?-FM *Remastered UPGRADE*)
John Peel's "Top Gear" programme

~*~ Mk2 version carefully remastered fixing various issues, without further EQ ~*~

01. January Snows
02. I Feel Concerned
03. A Nobleman's Fair Daughter

Total Time ::: 12:45

::: Somewhat transistor-radio-like miked radio speaker sound but INCREDIBLE musical content. Check samples for paranoia alleviation or ear endorphin rushes.
::: Warts: Repaired dullspots & dropouts but surely missed a few. Sound issues ain't too bad. #2 starts up a second late.
::: Date above is the recording date, more info below.
::: COMPARISON CLAUSE: The original version I uploaded now refered to as Mk1 (& is obsolete). This Mk2 version fixes some volume issues & glitches & has a bit of speed correction.
::: CONTRAST CLAUSE: This is the Mk2 version remastered without further EQ. For the Mk3 version increasing bass & lowering some of the artificial brightness, look elsewhere.
::: McDonald & Giles (Ian & Mike) are almost certainly on #2 & are neither playing with King Crimson nor playing King Crimson songs here. However, as per the Mods suggestion, it is duly noted.
::: Gay & Terry fresh outta the 1st Steeleye Span line-up & just after recording The Woods Band album, two of my fave folkrockers of the era.

Lineage (unconfirmed but believed to be) ::: BBC broadcast -> off-air mono master reel-to-reel, microphone in front of radio speaker -> 1st generation reel-to-reel (or possibly cassette) -> 2nd generation Maxell XLIIS-90 cassette, Dolby B on.

Playback 2011-06-12 ::: 2nd generation Maxell XLIIS-90 cassette on Nakamichi BX-300 cassette deck, Dolby B on, azimuth adjusted for individual tape, heads cleaned & demagnatized -> Tascam CD-RW900SL pro CD recorder -> CD-RW -> computer -> EAC secure -> wav file(s) -> Audacity (for fades and/or glitch repair, volume adjustments, a tiny bit of HUM removal was notched out with EQ as it was quite annoying - apologies to purists) -> CD Wave for track splits -> Trader's Little Helper -> various ears around the world.

Remastering 2016-02-xx ::: wavs -> Audacity [normalisation to remove DC offset, channel/phase alignment, fades, manual one-at-a-time glitch, bump, pop, click, dropout & dullspot repairs, volume adjustments, -1.2% further pitch (speed) fix on #2 only (other 2 trax OK) with single pass per segment after frequency analysis & with pitchpipe verification, NO further equalisation] -> CD Wave (track splits) -> flacs (Trader's Little Helper) -> yr ears. First uploaded week of 2016-02-22.

Line-up (#2 unconfirmed) ::: Terry Woods - acoustic guitar, concertina, and?, vocals // Gay Woods - mandolin?, autoharp?, vocals // PLUS on #3 unconfirmed but presumably: Ian McDonald(?) - electric guitar(?), flute, saxo�hone // Michael Giles(?) � drums, percussion ((and possibly other musicians on electric bass and ?). /// #1 & #3 are the Gay & Terry duo as noted in Ken Garner's "In Session Tonight". But contrary to Garner's notes, other great musicians are certainly playing on track 2 (aside from Terry, whom Peel mentions plays other instruments than the concertina). After some comments last time around confirming my assumption, I think they are Ian & Mike & possibly Ed, as noted above.

Nothing here ever commercially released to my knowledge. If I'm wrong, please advise & I'll take the offending trax offline.

DimeTravel 276 ::: Thanks to the original taper & thanks to "The Reel Master" for digging this out of someone's attic and keeping it alive. ::: Corrections welcome ::: This session was in a phase following the original lineup of Steeleye Span having broken up, right after recording their first album "Hark! The Village Wait" in early 1970. Gay & Terry formed The Woods Band (& at the same time Steeleye Span reformed without them). The Woods Band began as a group, but then Terry & Gay used session musicians for albums & tours, & from '70 into '71 gigged as both "Gay & Terry Woods", "The Woods Band", & as they were hanging out & touring with their friends Dr. Strangely Strange, they sometimes played as "Strangewoods" (Dimer Lagga thankfully preserved a bit of this history). Apparently the Woods were also hanging out & rehearsing with Ian McDonald & Mike Giles of King Crimson. Trax #1 & #3 here are in a trad vein, but "I Feel Concerned" finds the Woods clearly in the midst of serious mind & musical expansion. The recording is revolutionary in its musical approach. It enters unique & VERY heavy progressive freakfolkrock territory with more than a nod to free jazz & is not for the faint of heart - tradfolkers beware! Incredible guitar, a weird as hell instrument mix & interesting changes in the music with some Britfolk, Irishfolk, Middle Eastern & psych sounds all thrown into the mix. For me it was a missing link kinda like the Giles, Giles & Fripp "Brondesbury Tapes". Hopefully somday we can hear it in hi-fi!

FURTHER DATE/SONG INFO ::: 1970-11-03 is the session recording date & it was first broadcast on 1970-11-21. Unfortunately a 4th (& probably amazing) session track "Van Dieman's Land" is missing. This copy may be from a later rebroadcast (the tape was labeled 1971-01-30) & possibly Peel didn't use all the session trax the 2nd time around. However, it's a little confusing as there's a Fotheringay session from the same 1st broadcast date (1970-11-21) & Fotheringay did apparently proceed Gay & Terry Woods on my source tape, so maybe the entire show was rebroadcast & the taper just missed "Van Dieman's Land".

P.S. PLEASE. Years on since my last request for these but still searching for Gay & Terry Woods BBC John Peel Show 1975-06-03 and broadcast on 1975-06-16 with Blackbird, Winter Poem, When The Time Is Right, Song For The Gypsies, Country Girlie, The Hymn. I would love to hear them & I am sure many other people would as well & I am not getting any younger. It is certainly out there, by 1975 there were many Peel taper fanatics hard at work.

Listen, enjoy, show appreciation, share, give, spread peace. Yrs truly, Knees

Support the artists! http://www.gaywoods.homestead.com -- http://www.pogues.com

Do whatever you want with it except sell it, 'cause that ain't cool!