The Fixx - BBC Rock Hour, City University, London, Britain, 6-26-1983

Thanks to my focus on things like the Ebbets Field radio broadcast and the "Playboy After Dark" TV show, I've been posting a lot of stuff from the early 1970s lately (as I write this in May 2026). In occurred to me I haven't been posting as much from the 1980s and the BBC in particular. So here's something that checks both of those boxes. It's a BBC concert by the Fixx from 1983.

Since I've never posted anything by this band before, here's the intro to their Wikipedia entry, although it doesn't say that much: 

"The Fixx are a rock band from London, England, founded in 1979. The band's hits include 'One Thing Leads to Another,' 'Saved by Zero,' 'Are We Ourselves?,' and 'Secret Separation,' each of which charted in the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100, as well as Mainstream Rock chart hits 'Red Skies,' 'Stand or Fall', "Driven Out,' and 'Deeper and Deeper,' which was featured on the soundtrack of the 1984 film Streets of Fire."

Here's the link to the full entry:

The Fixx - Wikipedia

I would add to that that their peak years of commercial success were 1983 and 1984, when they put out an album that reached Platinum status in the U.S. ("Reach the Beach") and another that reached Gold status ("Phantoms"). But they had occasional hits until the end of the 1980s. They are still together as I write this in 2026.

This was part of a radio show in the 1970s and 80s called the "BBC Rock Hour." There was a short introduction by a BBC DJ, but I removed it since it was clearly overdubbed at a later date. 

The music here is unreleased, and the sound quality is excellent. 

This album is 50 minutes long. 

01 One Thing Leads to Another (Fixx)
02 Cameras in Paris (Fixx)
03 Stand or Fall (Fixx)
04 Privilege (Fixx)
05 Outside (Fixx)
06 Saved by Zero (Fixx)
07 The Fool (Fixx)
08 Reach the Beach (Fixx)
09 talk (Fixx)
10 Running (Fixx)
11 talk (Fixx)
12 Red Skies (Fixx)
13 I Found You (Fixx) 

https://pixeldrain.com/u/nF3vFhWK

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/scEEbtxY4ZICLvO/file

The cover image shows Cy Curnin, lead singer of the Fixx, at Comiskey Park, Chicago, Illinois, on July 23, 1983.

Clint Black, Bill Anderson & Bob DiPiero - Songwriters' Circle, Bush Hall, London, Britain, 3-25-2012

I thought I was done with the "Songwriters' Circle" TV show. There were three episodes I couldn't find, but I'd looked everywhere and came up empty. But the other day, one more of them showed up via SoulseekQT. So here it is. This is a country-themed episode. It stars Clint Black, Bill Anderson, and Bob DiPiero.

I would guess that most people reading this have heard of Clint Black, but haven't heard of Bill Anderson and Bob DiPiero. That's because Black has been a big country star in recent decades, while Anderson and DiPiero have more worked behind the scenes as professional songwriters. 

Here's some information on each of them.

This is the Wikipedia intro for Clint Black: "[He] is an American country music singer, songwriter, musician, actor, and record producer. Signed to RCA Nashville in 1989, Black's debut album 'Killin' Time' produced four straight number one singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts. Although his momentum gradually slowed throughout the 1990s, Black consistently charted hit songs into the 2000s. He has had more than thirty singles on the U.S. Billboard country charts, thirteen of which have reached number one, in addition to having released twelve studio albums and several compilation albums."

Here's the link to the whole entry:

Clint Black - Wikipedia

Here's the entry for Bob DiPiero: "[He] is an American country music songwriter. He has written 15 U.S. number one hits and several Top 20 singles for Tim McGraw, The Oak Ridge Boys, Reba McEntire, Vince Gill, Faith Hill, Shenandoah, Neal McCoy, Highway 101, Restless Heart, Ricochet, John Anderson, Montgomery Gentry, Brooks & Dunn, George Strait, Pam Tillis, Martina McBride, Trace Adkins, Travis Tritt, Bryan White, Billy Currington, Etta James, Delbert McClinton, Van Zant, Tanya Tucker, Patty Loveless, and many others."

And here's the rest of the entry:

Bob DiPiero - Wikipedia

Finally, here's the entry for Bill Anderson. The intro for this one is much longer, so I selected some sentences from it: "[He] is an American country music singer, songwriter, and television host. His soft-spoken singing voice earned him the nickname 'Whispering Bill' from music critics and writers.[1] As a songwriter, his compositions have been covered by various music artists since the late 1950s. ... While in college, he wrote the song "City Lights", which became a major hit for Ray Price in 1958. His songwriting led to his first recording contract with Decca Records that year; shortly afterward, Anderson began to have major hits. In 1963, he released his most successful single, "Still". The song became a major country/pop crossover hit and was followed by a series of top-10 hits. ... His songs were being notably recorded by other artists. ... In the 1970s, Anderson continued having major hits as a recording artist, as well. ... He was dropped from his record label in the early 1980s and began a brief career in television, which included hosting the game shows 'The Better Sex' and 'Fandango.' Anderson began writing songs again in the early 1990s for the next generation of country performers. Collaborating with other writers, he wrote material that went on to become hits for Vince Gill, George Strait, Kenny Chesney, and Steve Wariner in the next two decades. ... In his career as both a writer and performer, he has received awards from the Academy of Country Music, Country Music Association, Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame."

He is considerably older than the other two stars of this episode. As I write this in 2026, he is 88 years old. Here's the rest of his Wikipedia entry:

Bill Anderson - Wikipedia 

Now, there are just two episodes that I'm still looking for. Both are from 1999. One stars Joan Baez, Matraca Berg and Gretchen Peters. The other one stars Paul Heaton and Dave Rotheray, Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham, and John Martyn.

This album is 58 minutes long.

01 Blue Clear Sky (Bob DiPiero)
02 talk (Bob DiPiero)
03 talk (Clint Black)
04 Killin' Time (Clint Black)
05 talk (Clint Black)
06 The Songwriters (Bill Anderson)
07 talk (Bob DiPiero)
08 The Church on Cumberland Road (Bob DiPiero)
09 talk (Clint Black)
10 Spend My Time (Clint Black)
11 talk (Bill Anderson)
12 Happiness (Bill Anderson)
13 talk (Bob DiPiero)
14 They're Playin' Our Song (Bob DiPiero)
15 talk (Clint Black)
16 Better and Worse (Clint Black)
17 talk (Bill Anderson)
18 Give It Away (Bill Anderson)
19 talk (Bill Anderson & Clint Black)
20 talk (Bob DiPiero)
21 Gone (Bob DiPiero)
22 talk (Clint Black)
23 Code of the West (Clint Black)
24 talk (Bill Anderson)
25 The Tips of My Fingers (Bill Anderson)
26 talk (Bob DiPiero)
27 Will the Circle Be Unbroken (Bill Anderson, Clint Black & Bob DiPiero)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/g6t9i6G9 

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/9dWf0CCmyFmKDXA/file

Here's an extra special bonus. Normally, I'm not interested in sharing videos. I like listening to music much more than watching it. I also don't want "mission creep" for this blog. But I think this is a great show that has been extremely hard to find. So here is a text file that contains links to the videos of all of the full episodes I could find. I found one from the 1999 season and all of the ones from the 2010 to 2012 seasons. So that leaves two 1999 episodes I don't have the videos for, and two more 1999 episodes I don't have anything for, at least not yet. These are just PixelDrain links. The files range in size from 500 MB to 1.2 GB.

https://pixeldrain.com/u/zqFGowKa

The cover photo is a screenshot I took from a video of this exact concert. From right to left: Bob DiPiero, Clint Black, and Bill Anderson. 

Lulu - BBC Sessions, Volume 9: 1975-1976

Here is the ninth, and last, volume of Lulu performing for the BBC. 

All but the last four songs are from her 1975 BBC TV show, "Lulu." As I mentioned in previous volumes, I found all the episodes of that TV show for the 1975 season. I converted the episodes to audio and then chopped out the songs and turned them into mp3s. That was enough for all of the two previous episodes, plus most of this one and another previous one. 

Lulu had BBC TV shows under different names from 1968 to 1975. So one reason this series is coming to an end with this volume is there is a sudden drop in the amount of material I could find. Also though, music was changing. Disco, punk, new wave, and such came along and swept away a lot of earlier musical trends. Lulu was tied to those earlier trends, so it makes sense that her show came to an end right about this time.

With the end of the show, that just leaves the last four songs. The last episode of her show aired in April 1975. I found a few strays from the latter half of 1975, and well as 1976. Tracks 16 and 17 come from a BBC TV special called "Seaside Special." You might want to give it a look on YouTube, especially because it has ABBA performing two songs actually live on stage instead of lip syncing like they usually did on TV shows. Track 18 is from the BBC TV show "Top of the Pops." I included it here because Lulu actually performed that song live, when most performed on that show did lip syncing. The final song is from another BBC TV special, called a "Jubilee of Music." It's the only song here from 1976 instead of 1975. It's fitting that the song Lulu sang was "Shout," because that's the song that made her into a star back in 1964.

Everything here is unreleased. The sound quality varies some, but is generally excellent. Note that pretty much all the songs were performed in front of a cheering audience, but I used the UVR5 audio editing program to remove as much of the cheering as I could.

This album is 45 minutes long. 

01 Son of a Preacher Man (Lulu)
02 Your Kiss Is Sweet (Lulu)
03 Song Sung Blue (Lulu)
04 Wouldn't It Be Luverly (Lulu)
05 Snowbird (Lulu)
06 Flash Bang Wallop (Lulu)
07 It May Be Winter Outside (Lulu)
08 A New Fangled Tango (Lulu)
09 You've Made Me So Very Happy (Lulu & David Clayton-Thomas)
10 I Just Don't Want to Be Lonely (Lulu)
11 Listen to a Country Song (Lulu)
12 Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie (Lulu)
13 Take Your Mama for a Ride (Lulu)
14 New York, New York (Lulu & Dickie Henderson)
15 When Will I See You Again (Lulu)
16 Raised on Rock (Lulu)
17 A Boy like You (Lulu)
18 Heaven and Earth and the Stars [Edit] (Lulu)
19 Shout (Lulu)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/NFM1F2MZ

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/R0fWFGTY9gzqnFU/file

The cover image is from an unknown concert in November 1976. The original was in black and white, but I colorized it with the use of the Kolorize program. 

Lulu - BBC Sessions, Volume 8: 1975

Here's the eighth album of Lulu performing for the BBC. Like the previous volume, everything here is from 1975.

All the songs from the previous volume, and a good chunk from the volume before that one, come from the 1975 season of Lulu's BBC TV show. For most years, it was called "It's Lulu," but for its final season in 1975, it was just called "Lulu." This volume also contains nothing but songs from that show. As I mentioned previously, I found videos of all the episodes from that season on SoulseekQT, converted them to audio, and chopped out mp3s of the songs I wanted to post.

In the 1970s, Lulu became an all-around entertainer for her show, doing lots of comedy parts and singing music in many different pop styles. We see that again here. She sang just about any song that was popular, including "Rainy Days and Mondays" by the Carpenters, "Waterloo" by ABBA, and "If" by Bread. She also occasionally sang songs from decades earlier. 

 

All the music here is unreleased. The sound quality is excellent.  

This album is 47 minutes long.

01 I Can See Clearly Now - Montego Bay (Lulu)
02 Laughter in the Rain (Neil Sedaka & Lulu)
03 Rainy Days and Mondays (Lulu)
04 I've Never Seen Anything like It - Talk to the Animals (Lulu)
05 The Rhythm of Life (Lulu)
06 Sugar Candy Kisses (Lulu)
07 Sand and Sea (Lulu & Gilbert Becaud)
08 Waterloo (Lulu)
09 I'm a Brass Band (Lulu)
10 Please Mr. Postman (Lulu)
11 Just an Old Fashioned Girl (Lulu)
12 Getting to Know You (Lulu & Johnny Mathis)
13 Trouble - Blue Suede Shoes (Lulu)
14 Cabaret - An Englishman Needs Time - The White Rose of Athens - Big Spender [Edit] (Lulu)
15 And I Love Her So (Lulu)
16 If (Lulu)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/c2drG2Ns

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/yR9mrZgc9pp0Iys/file

The cover image is a screenshot I took from one of her 1975 TV show episodes. 

Lulu - BBC Sessions, Volume 7: 1975

Here's another album of Lulu performing for the BBC. This is the seventh volume out of nine that I plan to post.

With this album, I'm entirely into the 1975 material that mostly led to me adding a bunch of new Lulu BBC albums. As I mentioned in the last write-up in this series, I came across all the episodes to the 1975 season of Lulu's BBC TV show, "Lulu." There were 13 episodes of the show that season, which ran from January to April. Each episode had one or more guest stars, but most of it consisted of Lulu singing songs, or performing in comedy skits. Despite having a hit BBC TV show for many years (1968 to 1975), she put out surprisingly few albums during that time period (and the same goes for singles). For instance, she released an album in 1973, and another one in 1976. So the vast majority of the songs on this album (and the other 1970s BBC albums I've put together) consist of songs she never officially released.

Just to be clear, everything here is from her BBC TV show. And none of the songs were included on the previous Lulu BBC album I had made dealing with her early 1970s time period. 

I have to admit a lot of this stuff is pretty far from rock or soul. "On the Good Ship Lollipop," for instance, a song made famous by Shirley Temple in 1934. By this time, she had became a versatile middle of the road actress and singer, performing songs in pretty much any genre. That said, she was a good singer, and she generally picked good songs. So, while this isn't for everyone, I figured that it deserved to be remembered. So I went through the bother of going through all the episodes of converting the songs into mp3s. 

Lulu sang a duet with Labi Siffre, choosing the classic hit "This Guy's in Love with You." Since I've made some BBC albums for Siffre too, I put this song on one of those collections too, his "BBC Sessions, Volume 3."

The music here is unreleased. The sound quality is excellent. Note that I tried to remove the audience cheering as much as possible, using the UVR5 audio editing program. But sometimes, some remnants remained. 

This album is 48 minutes long.

01 I've Got the Music in Me (Lulu)
02 Goldfinger - Diamonds Are Forever - The Man with the Golden Gun [Edit] (Lulu)
03 I'm Stone in Love with You (Lulu)
04 Everything Is Coming Up Roses - On the Good Ship Lollipop - Don't Sit under the Apple Tree (Lulu)
05 You Make Me Feel Brand New (Lulu)
06 I'm a Woman (Lulu)
07 You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You (Lulu)
08 That's When the Music Takes Me (Lulu)
09 Baby I'm-a Want You (Lulu)
10 After Midnight (Lulu)
11 Hang On in There Baby (Lulu)
12 Puppet on a String (Lulu)
13 Knock, Knock Who's There - Boom Bang a Bang (Lulu)
14 Congratulations (Lulu)
15 The Ash Grove (Lulu & the King Singers)
16 Put a Little Love Away (Lulu)
17 Jubilation T. Cornpone (Lulu)
18 Spinnin' and Spinnin' (Lulu)
19 This Guy's in Love with You (Labi Siffre & Lulu)
20 I Won't Last a Day without You (Lulu)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/j2PqwJkQ

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/n9ootA9JZXQ2V8Q/file

The cover photo is taken from a screenshot from a 1975 episode of her TV show.

Lulu - BBC Sessions, Volume 6: 1973-1975

Here's the next volume of Lulu performing for the BBC. Only three songs here were on the previous Lulu BBC album I'd made dealing with this time period: tracks, 7, 9, and 10. Everything else is music I recently discovered.

The main reason I discovered a bunch of Lulu music is that I found the entire 1975 season of videos of Lulu's BBC TV show. (For that season, the show was renamed from "It's Lulu" to just "Lulu.") The sound quality was excellent, so I converted those to audio and cut out the mp3s of the songs featuring her. That 1975 material starts with track 11, and continues until the end of the album. It also makes up the bulk of the three additional BBC albums I'll be posting after this one.

That still leaves the rest of the album, tracks 1 through 10. As I mentioned, three of those songs are ones I posted on the old version of "BBC Sessions, Volume 4" (now completely replaced). After finding the 1975 season, I looked around and more still more videos I'd previously missed, mostly from YouTube. It helps that there's an active Lulu YouTube page, and it's posted a bunch of new stuff since I originally made some BBC albums for her. Tracks 1 through 9 come from the 1973 edition of her BBC TV show. (I couldn't find anything from 1974.) Only track 10 ("The Man Who Sold the World") is different, coming from a BBC radio show.

All the music here is unreleased. The sound quality is generally excellent, though it varies somewhat. I removed the applause as best I could from nearly all of these using the UVR5 audio editing program. But I couldn't get rid of all of it on all the songs. 

This album is 49 minutes long. 

01 Touch Me in the Morning (Lulu)
02 Killing Me Softly (Lulu with Sergio Mendes)
03 That's When the Music Takes Me (Lulu)
04 When You Smile (Lulu)
05 She (Lulu & David Clayton-Thomas)
06 For the Good Times (Lulu)
07 Blue Suede Shoes - Hound Dog - Heartbreak Hotel - Love Me Tender - Teddy Bear - Jailhouse Rock (Lulu)
08 Mr. Tambourine Man (Lulu)
09 Lean On Me (Bill Withers & Lulu)
10 The Man Who Sold the World (Lulu)
11 Never Can Say Goodbye (Lulu)
12 Goodness Gracious Me (Lulu & Michael Bates)
13 The Man with the Golden Gun (Lulu)
14 Smile, Darn You Smile (Lulu)
15 Baby Love (Lulu)
16 Let's Put It All Together (Lulu)
17 Stand by Your Man (Lulu)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/z563zgfb

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/NWxCoRSnguAHiTj/file

The cover photo is from an appearance on Lulu's TV show "It's Lulu" at some point in 1973.

Smokey Robinson - BBC Sessions, Volume 2: Live in Hyde Park Festival, Hyde Park, London, Britain, 9-8-2013

Here's the second BBC concert Smokey Robinson did for the BBC. If there are others, I'm not aware of them.

The first one I posted was from a few years earlier, 2009. This one is somewhat shorter. It seems he jettisoned the relatively recent songs from the set list, and focused more on classic hits. (Either that, or the BBC edited the concert down that way.) Virtually all the songs are big hits he had in the 1960s as part of Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. The exceptions are two big hits he had as a solo artist: "Just to See Her" and "Cruisin'." 

There's a lot of overlap in the set lists between these two concerts, but there are differences too. For instance, "Volume 1" contains "Being with You" but not "Cruisin'," and this one contains "Cruisin'" but not "Being with You." Those are his two biggest solo hits.

The music is unreleased. The sound quality is excellent. 

This album is 58 minutes long. 

01 Going to a Go-Go (Smokey Robinson)
02 I Second That Emotion (Smokey Robinson)
03 talk (Smokey Robinson)
04 You've Really Got a Hold on Me (Smokey Robinson)
05 Ooh Baby Baby (Smokey Robinson)
06 talk (Smokey Robinson)
07 The Tears of a Clown (Smokey Robinson)
08 talk (Smokey Robinson)
09 Motown Boogie - The Way You Do the Things You Do (Smokey Robinson)
10 Get Ready (Smokey Robinson)
11 My Girl (Smokey Robinson)
12 talk (Smokey Robinson)
13 Just to See Her (Smokey Robinson)
14 The Tracks of My Tears (Smokey Robinson)
15 Cruisin' (Smokey Robinson)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/deF5o7GQ

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/xWNsyFcPOtqnbE1/file

The cover image is from this exact concert.

Lulu - BBC Sessions, Volume 5: 1971-1972

I recently discovered a big amount of Lulu performances for the BBC, so much so that I'm expanding the four albums I'd previously posted into nine albums. This is almost entirely due to finding many more performances from the BBC TV shows she hosted. So here's a fifth volume.

Previously, I'd had one volume stretching from 1971 to 1975 (the old "Volume 4," now deleted). Nearly all of what had been on that volume is on this volume: tracks 1 through 8, and 10 through 14. So the only new tracks are 9 and 15. That means that virtually all the songs on the volumes after this will be new.

Although Lulu had a BBC TV show of her own during this time period, called "It's Lulu," I could find very few songs from this time period from that show. Actually, I only found two: "The More I See You," and the bonus track, "Scarborough Fair." (That's a bonus track due to poor sound quality.) So there's a possibility that many more songs from these years will eventually emerge, if some more recordings of those TV shows were saved somewhere. 

Instead, most of the songs on this album come from performances for the "Top of the Pops" BBC radio show (not to be confused with the BBC TV show of the same name). That makes up tracks 1 through 7 and 12 through 14. Note that you'll see "[Edit]" in the titles of a lot of those songs. That's due to the usual problem of BBC radio recordings from this era of DJs talking over the music. I did my usual editing, using the UVR5 program to remove the talking while keeping the music.

That leaves just tracks 8 through 11, and 15. All of those come from other BBC TV shows that had Lulu on as a guest. If you want specific details, please check the mp3 tags, as usual. These songs generally had audience applause. But I got rid of most of that using the UVR5 program. 

The music here is unreleased. The sound quality is generally excellent, though it varies some. 

This album is 46 minutes long, not including the bonus track.

01 Bridge Over Troubled Water [Edit] (Lulu)
02 You've Gotta Believe in Love [Edit] (Lulu)
03 Save the Country (Lulu)
04 Get Ready [Edit] (Lulu)
05 I Got Love [Edit] (Lulu)
06 Resurrection Shuffle [Edit] (Lulu)
07 Everybody's Got to Clap (Lulu)
08 It Don't Come Easy (Lulu)
09 The More I See You (Lulu with Dudley Moore)
10 Just a Little Lovin' (Lulu)
11 Nights in White Satin (Lulu)
12 Amazing Grace (Lulu)
13 It Takes a Real Man [To Bring Out the Woman in Me] (Lulu)
14 Even If I Could Change [Edit] (Lulu)
15 My Father's House (Lulu with the Young Generation)

Scarborough Fair (Dusty Springfield & Lulu)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/SFJw5zRP

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/chnsyalqmBk42N6/file

I don't know anything about the cover photo except it's "circa 1972."

Smokey Robinson - BBC Sessions, Volume 1: Electric Proms, The Roundhouse, London, Britain, 10-24-2009

Smokey Robinson is a true soul music legend. He was the leader of the Motown band Smokey Robinson and the Miracles in the 1960s, and had a successful solo career after that. I found two concerts he did for the BBC. Both of them are well past his commercial prime, but he could still his songs very well. Here's the first of the two, from 2009.

In 2009, Robinson put out a new studio album, "Time Flies When You're Having Fun." In this concert, he performed three songs from the album: "Don't Know Why," "Girlfriend," and "Time Flies." The first one is a cover, and was a major hit for Norah Jones in 2002. The other two were written by Robinson. Other than that, the concert mostly leans on hits he did with the Miracles in the 1960s, with a couple of solo hits near the end, plus another cover, "Fly Me to the Moon."

A couple of songs have "[Edit]" in their titles. I fixed this album a while back, so I don't remember the problem with those. But given they are the first and last songs, I'll bet there were BBC DJs talking over the music. 

The music is unreleased. The sound quality is excellent. 

This album is 58 minutes long.

01 Going to a Go-Go [Edit] (Smokey Robinson)
02 I Second that Emotion (Smokey Robinson)
03 talk (Smokey Robinson)
04 You've Really Got a Hold on Me (Smokey Robinson)
05 Ooh Baby Baby (Smokey Robinson)
06 talk (Smokey Robinson)
07 The Way You Do the Things You Do (Smokey Robinson)
08 Get Ready (Smokey Robinson)
09 My Girl (Smokey Robinson)
10 talk (Smokey Robinson)
11 My Girl [Reprise] (Smokey Robinson)
12 talk (Smokey Robinson)
13 Don't Know Why (Smokey Robinson)
14 talk (Smokey Robinson)
15 Fly Me to the Moon (Smokey Robinson)
16 talk (Smokey Robinson)
17 The Tears of a Clown (Smokey Robinson)
18 Girlfriend (Smokey Robinson)
19 Being with You (Smokey Robinson)
20 Time Flies (Smokey Robinson)
21 Just to See Her (Smokey Robinson)
22 The Tracks of My Tears [Edit] (Smokey Robinson)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/CZnhNBsp

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/e5oitpiTHD5Y4rK/file

The cover image is from this exact concert.

Lulu - BBC Sessions, Volume 4: 1969-1971

If you think I've posted a "BBC Sessions, Volume 4" for Lulu, you're not wrong. I recently discovered a ton of Lulu's BBC material that I'd missed before. In fact, I found so much that previously I'd posted four volumes, but now I'll be posting a total of nine! The vast majority of the new stuff is from the 1970s, especially 1975, but there is some music from the late 1960s. There are so many changes that I got rid of the old "Volume 4" and I'm replacing it with this one. I'd guess about half of the songs on this revamped volume are new.

Note also that I radically overhauled "Volume 3." I added a bunch of songs to that, and moved some other songs from that one to this one. So if you're interested in this at all, I strongly suggest you download the revised version of that album. Here's the link:

https://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2020/10/lulu-bbc-sessions-volume-3-1968-1972.html

The first song is the only one not actually from the BBC. It's a duet with Johnny Cash, from Cash's own TV show. Most of the next bunch of songs are from the BBC radio show "Top of the Pops." Specifically, tracks 2 through 11 (with the exception of "Boom Bang a Bang," which was from a BBC TV special), plus track 19. These come from a musical associate named Marley, who sent me a bunch of performances from the BBC radio show "Top of the Pops." So a big thanks to him.

I mentioned in the previous volume that Lulu had her own BBC TV show from 1968 to 1975. I haven't been able to find many songs from her TV show from this time period, but I did find a handful from 1970. Those make up tracks 12 through 17. Track 18 ("Saved") is from another BBC TV show.

All of the performances here are officially unreleased. One snag with the new "Top of the Pops" tracks is that most of them had BBC DJs talking over the music. But I was able to remove the talking and keep the underlying music thanks to the X-Minus audio editing program. Those are the ones with " [Edit]" in their titles. I also got rid of the crowd noise as best I could for the songs that had that, mostly the TV show-sourced ones.

This album is 48 minutes long. 

01 Games People Play (Lulu & Johnny Cash)
02 Oh Me, Oh My [I'm a Fool for You Baby] [Edit] (Lulu)
03 Sweep Around Your Own Back Door [Edit] (Lulu)
04 The Letter [Edit] (Lulu)
05 Boom Bang a Bang (Lulu)
06 Feelin' Alright [Edit] (Lulu)
07 Marley Purt Drive [Edit] (Lulu)
08 Mr. Bojangles [Edit] (Lulu)
09 Dirty Old Man [Edit] (Lulu)
10 Hum a Song [From Your Heart] [Edit] (Lulu)
11 Show Me [Edit] (Lulu)
12 Girl Talk (Lulu & Cass Elliot)
13 Sugar, Sugar (Lulu, Dudley Moore & Cass Elliot)
14 Keep the Customer Satisfied (Lulu)
15 Sweet Little Sixteen - Long Tall Sally - Blue Suede Shoes (Lulu)
16 Free the People (Dusty Springfield & Lulu)
17 Joy to the World (Dusty Springfield & Lulu)
18 Saved (Lulu)
19 Help [Edit] (Lulu)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/iCGFCJJK 

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/uYCahxSGauK9xJd/file

The cover art photo comes from a BBC TV show in 1971, but I don't know the details.

The Gregg Allman Band - BBC Rock Hour, Uncle Sam's, Hull, MA, 11-12-1982

Here's an interesting BBC concert starring Gregg Allman, one of the main singer-songwriters for the Allman Brothers Band. I just stumbled upon this the other day, and I'm posting it straight away because it's very hard to find.

This concert came at a difficult time in Allman's musical career. The Allman Brothers Band reunited in the late 1970s after a couple of years apart, and put out three studio albums. But their music was out of sync with the musical trends of the time, and they broke up again in early 1982. This break up would last until 1988. Allman was forced to focus on his solo career. But he was even less of a draw as a solo act than as part of his old band. For several years, he was reduced to mostly performing in small clubs, if he could get paid to perform at all.

Given that context, it's rather surprising that 1982 seems to be the one and only time the BBC recorded and broadcast a Gregg Allman concert. Kudos to them. Also, kudos to Allman to sticking to his musical style instead of trying to chase the latest musical trends, a strategy that rarely works. This was his first tour after the Allman Brothers Band broke up for the second time earlier in 1982. He would keep touring through the 1980s. He finally would get a break when his next album, "I'm No Angel," was a surprise hit in 1987. It helped that, by that time, the mass public was getting around to appreciating his style of music again.

Already, Allman's band largely consisted of the same people he'd find success with in 1987. Most importantly, he stuck with two brothers, Dan Toler on lead guitar and David Toler on drums. Both of them were members of the Allman Brothers Band from 1979 to 1982.

The music here is unreleased. The sound quality is excellent. Most of the songs were originally done by the Allman Brothers Band, or were on 1970s Gregg Allman solo albums.

This album is 51 minutes long. 

01 talk (Gregg Allman)
02 Dreams (Gregg Allman)
03 talk (Gregg Allman)
04 Sweet Feelin' (Gregg Allman)
05 talk (Gregg Allman)
06 Matthew's Arrival [Instrumental] (Gregg Allman)
07 talk (Gregg Allman)
08 Trouble No More (Gregg Allman)
09 Queen of Hearts (Gregg Allman)
10 talk (Gregg Allman)
11 Midnight Rider (Gregg Allman)
12 talk (Gregg Allman)
13 Stand Back (Gregg Allman)
14 One Way Out (Gregg Allman)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/LaoQUfXc

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/hcLgiq4ky6Yxcsu/file

The cover photo was taken at the Keystone Palo Alto, in Palo Alto, California, on September 26, 1985.

Neil Finn, Roddy Frame, & Graham Gouldman - Songwriters' Circle, Subterania Club, London, Britain, 7-2-1999

Here's another episode of the BBC TV show "Songwriters' Circle." This show ran for only five episodes in 1999. Then it had a longer life about ten years later, with over a dozen episodes from 2010 to 2012. This is one of those 1999 episodes. It stars Neil Finn from Crowded House, Roddy Frame from Aztec Camera, and Graham Gouldman from 10cc. (Both Neil Finn returned for second appearances in 2011.)

As usual, the show had the format of each singer-songwriter taking turns performing their own songs. This episode, however, had more collaboration between them, especially in the second half of the show. That's one of the reasons I think this is one of the best shows in this series.

Unfortunately, this is the last episode I've been able to find. There are three others that were broadcast that remain elusive for me. There are two more 1999 episodes. One of them starred Joan Baez, Matraca Berg, and Gretchen Peters. The other one starred two duos, Paul Heaton and Dave Rotheray, and then Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham, plus John Martyn. I'm also missing a 2012 episode starring Bill Anderson, Clint Black, and Bob DiPiero. If anyone has them and wants to share, I'd love to post them here as well. 

On a different note, I'm back from my week-long trip to Seattle. Now that I'm back, I fixed the cover of County JoeMcDonald's "BBC Sessions, Volume 3," so you might want to redownload that one. I also hope to finally respond to some comments I still haven't gotten to during my Peru trip, plus the ones from the last week. 

The music here is unreleased. The sound quality is excellent. 

This album is an hour and four minutes long. 

01 talk (Neil Finn)
02 Distant Sun (Neil Finn)
03 talk (Roddy Frame)
04 Bigger Brighter Better (Roddy Frame)
05 talk (Graham Gouldman)
06 Bus Stop (Graham Gouldman)
07 talk (Neil Finn)
08 Don't Dream It's Over (Neil Finn)
09 talk (Roddy Frame)
10 Hymn to Grace (Roddy Frame)
11 talk (Graham Gouldman)
12 Heart Full of Soul (Graham Gouldman)
13 talk (Neil Finn)
14 Throw Your Arms Around Me (Neil Finn)
15 talk (Roddy Frame)
16 Killermont Street (Roddy Frame)
17 talk (Graham Gouldman)
18 For Your Love (Graham Gouldman)
19 talk (Neil Finn, Roddy Frame & Graham Gouldman)
20 Fall at Your Feet (Neil Finn with Roddy Frame & Graham Gouldman)
21 talk (Roddy Frame)
22 Oblivious (Roddy Frame with Neil Finn & Graham Gouldman)
23 talk (Graham Gouldman)
24 I'm Not in Love (Graham Gouldman)
25 talk (Neil Finn)
26 Weather with You (Neil Finn with Roddy Frame & Graham Gouldman)
27 talk (Neil Finn)
28 Ten Guitars (Neil Finn with Roddy Frame & Graham Gouldman)
29 talk (Neil Finn, Roddy Frame & Graham Gouldman)
30 Somewhere in My Heart (Roddy Frame with Neil Finn & Graham Gouldman)
31 talk (Graham Gouldman)
32 Dreadlock Holiday (Graham Gouldman with Neil Finn & Roddy Frame)
33 talk (Neil Finn)
34 Better Be Home Soon (Neil Finn with Roddy Frame & Graham Gouldman)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/FbfQAr71

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/1iGektzPTgUvLaX/file

The cover image is a screenshot I took from a video of this exact concert. From right to left: Neil Finn, Roddy Frame, and Graham Gouldman.

Country Joe McDonald with Barry Melton - BBC Sessions, Volume 4, In Concert, Paris Theatre, London, Britain, 1-28-1975

Here is the fourth, and last, album of Country Joe MacDonald performing for the BBC. This is a concert from 1975.

This album is a bit different from the others in the series and that it prominently features Barry Melton as well as McDonald. McDonald and Melton were the co-leaders of Country Joe and the Fish, with both of them, writing songs. Melton was generally known as "the Fish." Their band broke up in 1970, after band members lost enthusiasm for touring and recording. But both McDonald and Melton continued with their own solo careers. They remain friendly with each other, and sometimes performed together, such as in this concert. In this case, each of them perform songs solo near the beginning, but mostly did songs together.

The music here is unreleased. The sound quality is excellent.

This album is 55 minutes long.

01 Karma (Barry Melton)
02 talk (Barry Melton)
03 Marshmallow Road (Barry Melton)
04 talk (Country Joe McDonald & Barry Melton)
05 The Man from Athabaska (Country Joe McDonald & Barry Melton)
06 talk (Country Joe McDonald)
07 Holy Roller (Country Joe McDonald)
08 talk (Country Joe McDonald)
09 Living in the Future in a Plastic Dome (Country Joe McDonald)
10 Fly So High (Country Joe McDonald)
11 On the Road Again (Country Joe McDonald)
12 talk (Country Joe McDonald & Barry Melton)
13 Entertainment Is My Business (Country Joe McDonald & Barry Melton)
14 I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag (Country Joe McDonald & Barry Melton)
15 talk (Country Joe McDonald & Barry Melton)
16 The Hot Dog and Hamburger (Country Joe McDonald & Barry Melton)
17 talk (Country Joe McDonald & Barry Melton)
18 Happiness Is a Porpoise Mouth (Country Joe McDonald & Barry Melton)
19 Here I Go Again (Country Joe McDonald & Barry Melton)
20 Sing Sing Sing (Country Joe McDonald & Barry Melton)
21 It's Finally Over (Country Joe McDonald & Barry Melton)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/ywihexA5

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/fIOFXZZEO0RaRDz/file

The cover photo is from an appearance on the Old Grey Whistle Test BBC TV show in 1976. 

Country Joe McDonald - BBC Sessions, Volume 3: 1974-1977

Here is another album of Country Joe McDonald performing for the BBC. This album consists of a series of BBC studio sessions.

This album consists of three different sessions. The first two songs are from an appearance on the “Old Gray Whistle Test” BBC TV show in 1974. Tracks four through seven are from the same show, but an episode in 1976. The remaining songs are from an appearance on John Peel’s BBC radio show in 1977. I couldn’t find any BBC performances after that year. However, I did find a 1975 concert. So that will be the subject of the fourth and final volume, unless some other material emerges.

The music here is unreleased. The sound quality is excellent.

This album is 46 minutes long. 

01 Holy Roller (Country Joe McDonald)
02 talk (Country Joe McDonald)
03 Living in the Country (Country Joe McDonald)
04 Save the Whales (Country Joe McDonald)
05 talk (Country Joe McDonald)
06 Our Wedding Day (Country Joe McDonald)
07 Breakfast for Two (Country Joe McDonald)
08 The Man from Athabaska (Country Joe McDonald)
09 Get It Together (Country Joe McDonald)
10 La Di Da (Country Joe McDonald)
11 Tricky Dicky (Country Joe McDonald)
12 Save the Whales (Country Joe McDonald)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/1gKCFuu6

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/fMMtxoNDznV1Swm/file

The cover photo is from the Bread and Roses Festival at the Greek Theatre, in Berkeley, California, on October 9, 1977.

Neil Sedaka - BBC In Concert, Neil Sedaka, London, Britain, 4-26-1975

A couple of weeks ago (writing this in March 2026), a posted a couple of albums made up of performance of Neil Sedaka on the "Midnight Special" TV show. In the course of putting those together, I stumbled across this BBC concert Sedaka did at the same time. I'm not that big of a Sedaka fan, but I'm kind of fanatic about posting these old BBC concerts, so I figured what the heck and I'm posting it. 

By the way, I also found evidence that Sedaka did other BBC concerts, usually decades later. For instance, he did one in 2010. But I haven't been able to find any of those. If you have them and want to share them, I'll post those as well.

This concert was broadcast on BBC TV. It was relatively early in his mid-1970s comeback. But it includes the song "Laughter in the Rain," which was the key song that made him popular again. It also starts with "Love Will Keep Us Together," which he wrote. That was a huge Number One hit for Captain and Tennille. I looked it up, and that single was released in April 1975, the same month as this concert. But this is probably the broadcast date, not the recording date. So I think it's highly likely he recorded this before he knew that song would be such a big hit.

The "BBC In Concert" concert is only half an hour long. Since that's pretty short, I did a search to see if he did anything else for the BBC around that time. I did find a couple of things. Tracks 12 through 15 are from an appearance on the BBC TV show "Old Grey Whistle Test" in 1974. That was even earlier in his comeback. But he did have one minor hit in Britain in 1972, "That's When the Music Takes Me." The last song is from a 1975 episode of the BBC TV show "Lulu," starring the British singer Lulu. The song, "Laughter in the Rain," is the only repeat here, luckily enough. But this is a duet version sung by Lulu, so I figured that's different enough to justify including both.

Everything here is unreleased. The sound quality is excellent. 

This album is 42 minutes long. Just the "In Concert" portion is 30 minutes long.

01 Love Will Keep Us Together (Neil Sedaka)
02 talk (Neil Sedaka)
03 Laughter in the Rain (Neil Sedaka)
04 When You Were Lovin' Me (Neil Sedaka)
05 talk (Neil Sedaka)
06 Stephen (Neil Sedaka)
07 talk (Neil Sedaka)
08 The Queen of 1964 (Neil Sedaka)
09 New York City Blues (Neil Sedaka)
10 talk (Neil Sedaka)
11 Breaking Up Is Hard to Do (Neil Sedaka)
12 Betty Grable (Neil Sedaka)
13 A Little Lovin' (Neil Sedaka)
14 talk (Neil Sedaka)
15 Solitaire (Neil Sedaka)
16 Laughter in the Rain (Neil Sedaka & Lulu)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/S63g5A1b 

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/YxjeaydmC3VxZCN/file

The cover photo is a screenshot taken from this exact concert.

Country Joe McDonald - BBC Sessions, Volume 2: In Concert, London, Britain, 5-4-1972

Just yesterday, I posted "BBC Sessions, Volume 1" by Country Joe McDonald. But I already made a drastic change to it. After posting it, a commenter named SamApplePie sent me a bunch of BBC material by McDonald. I had most of it, but there was some studio session material from 1977 that I didn't have yet. So I split that album in two. I've just reposted "Volume 1," and it's a lot shorter than before. Don't worry, the rest of that material, and then some, will appear in a later volume. So if you downloaded that one already, I highly recommend you re-download it.

By the way, thanks to SamApplePie for that material. 

Now, let's get to this album. This is a short acoustic concert recorded for the BBC radio show "In Concert." It was an hour-long show, and McDonald shared the show with the band Brinsley Schwarz. I edited the first track, because the BBC DJ Alan Black mixed comments about McDonald with comments about Brinsley Schwarz. I just kept the McDonald bits. I also removed some audience noise in the background. So that's what that one track has "[Edit]" in its title.

The music here is unreleased. The sound quality is close to excellent. 

This album is 35 minutes long. 

01 talk by Alan Black [Edit] (Country Joe McDonald)
02 The Limit (Country Joe McDonald)
03 talk (Country Joe McDonald)
04 Memories (Country Joe McDonald)
05 talk (Country Joe McDonald)
06 Colorado Town (Country Joe McDonald)
07 talk (Country Joe McDonald)
08 The Man from Athabasca (Country Joe McDonald)
09 I'll Survive (Country Joe McDonald)
10 I'm on the Road Again (Country Joe McDonald)
11 Only Love Is Worth This Pain (Country Joe McDonald)
12 Here I Go Again (Country Joe McDonald)
13 talk by Alan Black (Country Joe McDonald)
14 I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag (Country Joe McDonald)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/hqUMHqKQ

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/IwNbicSVRt8DcID/file

The cover photo is from an appearance on the "Old Grey Whistle Test" BBC TV show in 1972.

Country Joe McDonald - BBC Sessions, Volume 1: 1970-1972

I left for a two-week vacation about two weeks ago. (I'm writing this in late March 2026.) Around the time I left, I heard that singer-songwriter Country Joe McDonald had died. Specifically, he died on March 7, 2026, at the age of 84, of complications from Parkinson's Disease. 

To be honest, I can't say I'm that familiar with his discography. But since he died, I wanted to see if there were any worthy albums I could post of his music. To my surprise, I found not one, not two, not three, but four albums of unreleased material he performed for the BBC, all of it from the 1970s. Here's the first one. It consists of BBC studio sessions. 

The first seven tracks come from an appearance on John Peel's radio show, "Top Gear," in 1970. Tracks 8 and 9 are from the "One in Ten" radio show "One in Ten" in 1971. The rest of the songs are from the "Old Grey Whistle Test" TV show. Tracks 10 through 14 are from a 1972 episode. Most of the songs were performed in solo acoustic mode.

All the music here is unreleased. The sound quality is generally excellent, especially since there was no audience noise. 

This album is 40 minutes long. 

01 Hold On, It's Coming (Country Joe McDonald)
02 Balancing on the Edge of Time (Country Joe McDonald)
03 talk (Country Joe McDonald)
04 It's So Nice to Have Love (Country Joe McDonald)
05 Maria (Country Joe McDonald)
06 talk (Country Joe McDonald)
07 Tell Me Where You're Bound (Country Joe McDonald)
08 talk (Country Joe McDonald)
09 Jean Desprez (Country Joe McDonald)
10 Tricky Dick (Country Joe McDonald)
11 talk (Country Joe McDonald)
12 Trapped Inside a Fantasy (Country Joe McDonald)
13 talk (Country Joe McDonald)
14 Coulene Anne (Country Joe McDonald)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/N124GwUt

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/LXstnTF0Kdc6Uyi/file

The cover image is from an appearance on an unnamed British TV show some time in 1972. 

Allen Toussaint, James Dean Bradfield & John Grant - Songwriters' Circle, Bush Hall, London, Britain, 9-30-2011

Here's another episode of the great "Songwriters' Circle" BBC TV show. This one stars Allen Toussaint, James Dean Bradfield, and John Grant.

I don't think Allen Toussaint needs much introduction at this music blog. That's because I've already posted three albums of cover versions of his songs in my "Covered" series. Here's a link to the first one, in case you want to go back to that:

https://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2019/10/various-artists-covered-allen-toussaint.html

But just in case you need a little reminding, here's a paragraph from his Wikipedia entry: "He was an influential figure in New Orleans rhythm and blues from the 1950s to the end of the century, described as 'one of popular music's great backroom figures.'" And here's the link to the whole entry:

Allen Toussaint - Wikipedia

James Dean Bradfield is best known as the lead singer and guitarist for the Manic Street Preachers. Nearly all of his music career has been with that band, from 1986 until the current day (writing this in 2026). At the time of this concert, he'd only released on solo album, in 2006. And he's released one more since, in 2020. So solo appearances like this have been rare for him. The Manic Street Preachers have been quite popular, selling 10 million albums worldwide. They've been especially popular in Britain, where they had 34 Top Forty singles in a row, from 1991 to 2010. 

Here the Wikipedia link to that band:

Manic Street Preachers - Wikipedia

And here's the one just from Bradfield:

James Dean Bradfield - Wikipedia

Finally, there's John Grant. He was the lead singer and main songwriter for the band the Czars. That band put out six albums from 1994 to 2006 before splitting up. Then Grant started a solo career, which has been very successful. His debut album "Queen of Denmark" was named the album of the year by Mojo Magazine. His third solo album, "Grey Tickles, Black Pressure," made it all the way to Number Five in the British album chart.

Here's the Wikipedia entry for him:

John Grant (musician) - Wikipedia 

As is the style for this show, each musical artist took turns performing their own songs. Then, at the end, they all did a song together. That song, "Yes We Can Can," is a Allen Toussaint classic from the early 1970s. I don't know if there's much musical connection between these three, but they're all talented songwriters, so the episode is a good one. 

So far, I believe I've posted twelve episodes of this show. After this one, I have one more to post. There are a few more, but I haven't been able to find them. 

This album is 59 minutes long.

01 A Certain Girl (Allen Toussaint)
02 talk (James Dean Bradfield)
03 If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next (James Dean Bradfield)
04 talk (John Grant)
05 Sigourney Weaver (John Grant)
06 talk (Allen Toussaint)
07 Get Out of My Life, Woman (Allen Toussaint)
08 talk (James Dean Bradfield)
09 Your Love Is Not Enough (James Dean Bradfield)
10 Where Dreams Go to Die (John Grant)
11 It's Raining (Allen Toussaint)
12 talk (James Dean Bradfield)
13 Small Black Flowers That Grow in the Sky (James Dean Bradfield)
14 Chicken Bones (John Grant)
15 Working in the Coal Mine (Allen Toussaint)
16 talk (Allen Toussaint)
17 This Is Yesterday (James Dean Bradfield)
18 Caramel (John Grant)
19 Southern Nights (Allen Toussaint)
20 A Design for Life (James Dean Bradfield)
21 Drug (John Grant)
22 Yes We Can Can (Allen Toussaint, James Dean Bradfield & John Grant)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/bpRoThJa 

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/z1ZgmnnOWV5XUT4/file

I didn't post this album for a while, because coming up with a good photo was a challenge. I wanted an image with all three of the stars in it, from this exact concert. However, they were spread far around the stage. So I took a screenshot with Toussaint and Bradfield in it, and another one of Grant. Then I put Grant into the picture with the other two.

From left to right: Allen Toussaint, James Dean Bradfield & John Grant.

Various Artists - BBC In Concert, Giants of Motown, NEC, Birmingham, Britain, 4-6-1992

Here's a pretty interesting BBC concert. It's from a Motown package tour in 1992. It features many of the big Motown names who were touring in 1992, though certainly not all. The first part stars Edwin Starr, the Marvelettes, the Supremes, and Martha Reeves and the Vandellas. Then the second half features the Temptations and the Four Tops, performing separately and also doing some songs together.

Note that some key members were missing. A key missing person was Diana Ross, who sang the lead vocals on nearly all Supremes songs. So some other former members of the Supremes had to bill themselves as the "Former Ladies of the Supremes" for legal reasons. They were Jean Terrell, Scherrie Payne, and Lynda Laurence. Terrell was the lead singer who replaced Ross in 1970. The other two also were only members of that group after Ross left. 

So the Supremes were more like the 1970s version, which was practically a different group with the same name. They did have some big hits though, including "Up the Ladder to the Roof" and "Stoned Love," both of which were performed here, and were originally sung by Terrell.

 

However, most of the other groups fared better. There was personnel turnover, but key lead singers remained. For instance, Gladys Horton was the lead singer on all the Marvelettes records, and Martha Reeves was the lead singer for all the Vandellas records. The Four Tops were amazingly consistent, keeping the same four members from 1953 until 1997. 

The situation with the Temptations was more complicated, since that band had a lot of personnel turnover even during their most popular eras, including quite a few different lead singers. At the time of this concert, the band consisted of Ali-Ollie Woodson (lead tenor), Otis Williams (baritone), Ron Tyson (tenor), Richard Street (second tenor) and Melvin Franklin (bass). Williams and Franklin were original members.

I'm not entirely sure, but I think this Giants of Motown "tour" may have just done these two concerts, in London and Birmingham. I can't find any references to any other concerts. So it's a lucky thing one of them was recorded by the BBC.

The music is unreleased. The sound quality is excellent. I do have "[Edit]" in the titles of a couple of songs, but it's been so long since I edited this that I forget why.  

This album is an hour and 56 minutes long.

01 25 Miles (Edwin Starr)
02 S.O.S. [Stop Her on Sight] (Edwin Starr)
03 War - I Heard It through the Grapevine (Edwin Starr)
04 H.A.P.P.Y. Radio (Edwin Starr)
05 Too Many Fish in the Sea (Gladys Horton & the Marvelettes)
06 talk (Gladys Horton & the Marvelettes)
07 When You're Young and in Love (Gladys Horton & the Marvelettes)
08 Please Mr. Postman [Edit] (Gladys Horton & the Marvelettes)
09 You Keep Me Hangin' On (Former Ladies of the Supremes)
10 Band Intros (Former Ladies of the Supremes)
11 Reflections (Former Ladies of the Supremes)
12 Where Did Our Love Go - Baby Love - My World Is Empty without You (Former Ladies of the Supremes)
13 Up the Ladder to the Roof (Former Ladies of the Supremes)
14 Stoned Love (Former Ladies of the Supremes)
15 talk (emcee)
16 [Love Is like A] Heat Wave - Nowhere to Run (Martha Reeves & the Vandellas)
17 Jimmy Mack (Martha Reeves & the Vandellas)
18 talk (Martha Reeves & the Vandellas)
19 Third Finger, Left Hand (Martha Reeves & the Vandellas)
20 talk (Martha Reeves & the Vandellas)
21 Dancing in the Street (Martha Reeves & the Vandellas)
22 Superstar [Remember How You Got Where You Are] (Temptations & the Four Tops)
23 Something about You (Temptations & the Four Tops)
24 Papa Was a Rolling Stone - Baby, I Need Your Loving (Temptations & the Four Tops)
25 talk (Temptations & the Four Tops)
26 7 Rooms of Gloom (Temptations & the Four Tops)
27 Girl [Why You Wanna Make Me Blue] (Temptations)
28 The Way You Do the Things You Do (Temptations)
29 Ain't Too Proud to Beg (Temptations)
30 Ball of Confusion [That's What the World Is Today] (Temptations)
31 Just My Imagination (Temptations)
32 Papa Was a Rolling Stone (Temptations)
33 Get Ready (Temptations)
34 Treat Her like a Lady (Temptations)
35 My Girl (Temptations)
36 I Can't Get Next to You (Temptations)
37 Baby, I Need Your Loving (Four Tops)
38 When She Was My Girl (Four Tops)
39 Bernadette (Four Tops)
40 It's the Same Old Song (Four Tops)
41 Walk Away Renee (Four Tops)
42 Reach Out, I'll Be There - Standing in the Shadows of Love (Four Tops)
43 I Can't Help Myself [Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch] [Edit] (Four Tops)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/NJBgHJ2c

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/amUebhRMAqADjoo/file

The cover photo is a promotional poster for this concert. It actually was meant to promote two concerts: this one, and one in Wembley Arena, in London, one day earlier. So I put a photo from this concert in the square that had the details about the London concert. The photo was very low-res, so it wouldn't have made a good cover on its own. This poster was pretty low res as well, but I was able to clean it up with the use of Photoshop and Krea AI.

Various Artists - BBC Proms: Northern Soul, Royal Albert Hall, London, Britain, 7-15-2023

Here's something I randomly discovered due to it appearing on my YouTube suggestions. At first, it didn't look too appealing, because I wasn't familiar with any of the singers or other musicians. It turns out that's because they're not well known. But this is a BBC celebration of the musical genre "Northern Soul," and I really like Northern Soul. I gave it a listen, and I enjoy it very much. So here it is. If you're into Northern Soul, or soul music in general, you should give this a try.

For those who don't know, what is Northern Soul? As far as musical genres one, it's very strange, because it was mostly defined by the geography and tastes of people who came to love a certain kind of music. 

Being an American that lives far away from where all this happened, I only have a limited understanding. But from what I gather, in the mid-1960s, the British public basically discovered Motown and other soul music after many years where that music hadn't been available. Some people really fell in love with it. And when musical tastes changed around 1967 with psychedelic music and other musical trends, they still couldn't get enough of the danceable Motown-ish sound of soul music circa 1966. So, mostly in the midlands and northern parts of England, people kept listening to that sort of music, and dancing to it in clubs. Thus the name "Northern Soul," for Northern England. 

However, they soon got tired of the really big, well-known classics, and there was very little new music of this type being created. The solution was they dug deeper into obscurities, finding many worthy gems. Well into the 1970s (until disco in the late 1970s), there was a thriving music scene where many clubs played obscure American soul songs every weekend, allowing people to dance and party to that music late into the night. The music scene continued into the 1980s and beyond, though at a lesser level, with periodic revivals.  

Here's Wikipedia's article, which explains it better, and in more length, than I can:

Northern soul - Wikipedia

Anyway, so while Northern Soul isn't that different from the big soul hits of 1966 or thereabouts, there are hundreds of songs that are big in the Northern Soul scene but totally obscure everywhere else. For this concert, six upcoming and relatively unknown British singers were chosen to perform a kind of "best of Northern Soul" song list. Each of them took turns singing lead vocals, while the remaining five would sing backing vocals. And they were backed by a large BBC orchestra. 

The popularity of this genre shows in how the Royal Albert Hall was sold out, despite all the decades passing since Northern Soul's heyday. And I'm writing this in February 2026. I understand there is going to be another BBC Northern Soul concert this summer, and then a short tour, with most or all of the same singers.

I looked up these six singers at Wikipedia and/or rateyourmusic.com. All of them are pretty obscure, with some of them not even having entries. But they were selected for their soulful vocals, and all of them did very well, in my opinion. So if you just want one album to show you the best of Northern Soul, this is a good one. Unless you're into the genre already, chances are you won't be familiar with the vast majority of the songs, with a few exceptions, like "Tainted Love." So if you're listening to this type of music for the first time, chances are you'll discover some excellent obscurities.

I took the video I found on YouTube, converted it to audio, and broke it into mp3s. According to the BBC website, about six more songs were performed in the actual concert. If anyone has any of those extra songs, please let me know. 

This album is an hour and 16 minutes long. 

01 talk (Stuart Maconie)
01 Turnin' My Heartbeat Up (Brendan Reilly)
03 talk (Brendan Reilly)
04 Out on the Floor (Brendan Reilly)
05 I Need You (Nick Shirm)
06 Gone with the Wind Is My Love (Frida Mariama Touray)
07 The Night (Darrell Smith)
08 Landslide (Brendan Reilly)
09 Hold Back the Night (Brendan Reilly)
10 The Drifter (Darrell Smith)
11 You Don't Know Where Your Interest Lies (Natalie Palmer)
12 No One Could Love You More (Vula Malinga)
13 You're Gonna Love My Baby (Frida Mariama Touray)
14 You're Gonna Make Me Love You (Frida Mariama Touray)
15 If That's What You Wanted (Darrell Smith)
16 Temptation Is Calling My Name (Darrell Smith)
17 What (Natalie Palmer)
18 I Got to Find Me Somebody (Natalie Palmer)
19 Better Use Your Head (Frida Mariama Touray)
20 You Didn't Say a Word (Vula Malinga)
21 There's a Ghost in My House (Darrell Smith)
22 talk (Stuart Maconie)
23 I'm on My Way (Nick Shirm)
24 Long After Tonight Is All Over (Nick Shirm)
25 Time Will Pass You By (Vula Malinga)
26 talk (Vula Malinga)
27 Tainted Love (Vula Malinga & Everyone)
28 talk (Vula Malinga)
29 Do I Love You [Indeed I Do] (Everyone)
30 talk (Everyone)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/D5r9rf1X

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/sWHXwQGFdHp2SpX/file

I wanted a cover image showing all six of the singers. But I couldn't find an instance in the video when they were all standing together. So instead I went with three of them, more or less randomly chosen. At least that's better than showing just one. From right to left: Frida Mariama Touray, Nick Shirm, and Vula Malinga. You can see part of the BBC orchestra in the background.