Country Joe McDonald - BBC Sessions, Volume 1: 1970-1976

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, but three albums of unreleased material he performed for the BBC, all of it from the early 1970s. Here's the first one. It consists of BBC studio sessions. The other two I'll be posting feature BBC concerts.

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. Tracks 15 through 17 are from a 1974 episode. The rest, tracks 16 through 21, are from a 1976 episode. Most of the songs were performed in solo acoustic mode.

By the way, there was one more song, "TV Blues," played on the 1974 episode which I couldn't find. If anyone has it (or other BBC sessions from him), I'll add it in. 

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

This album is 59 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)
15 Holy Roller (Country Joe McDonald)
16 talk (Country Joe McDonald)
17 Living in the Country (Country Joe McDonald)
18 Save the Whales (Country Joe McDonald)
19 talk (Country Joe McDonald)
20 Our Wedding Day (Country Joe McDonald)
21 Breakfast for Two (Country Joe McDonald)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/xC5obnjH 

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/yl6GN8q77LPNeUz/file

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