On Air : 1970s

“Music Room”  ABC TV

Broadcast date unknown

Steeleye Span

1. The Lark in the Morning
2. The King
3. Prince Charlie Stewart
4. Tunes

Steeleye Span debuted their new lineup live on afternoon TV after two months of intensive rehearsals.

“Top Gear”  BBC Radio 1

27/06/1970

Steeleye Span

1. Blacksmith
2. Female Drummer
3. Rave On
4. I Was a Young Man
5. The Lark in the Morning

All tracks appear on the 2006 2-CD re-issue of “Please to See the King”

“Disco 2”  BBC2 TV

11/07/1970

Steeleye Span

BFI synopsis: “Pop music, past, present, and future. Introduced by Tommy Vance”

BFI credits Steeleye Span as “Music Performance”. No other details are available.

http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/720781?view=transmission

“Stuart Henry Show”  BBC Radio 1

23/07/1970

Steeleye Span

1. Cold, Haily Windy Night
   
2. The King
   
3. Prince Charlie Stuart
   
4. The Bold Poachers

2-4 appear on the 2006 2-CD re-issue of “Please to See the King”. CC lists “Cold, Haily Windy Night” but it doesn’t appear on the “Please to See the King” re-issue.

“Folk on 1”  BBC Radio

17/10/1970

Steeleye Span

1. College Grove / Silver Spear
   
2. Lay Down Your Weary Tune
   
3. False Knight on the Road
   
4. Hitler’s Downfall / The Hag with the Money
   
5. Female Drummer (Mk II)
   
6. Reels
   
7. Wee Weaver

1-6 appear on the 2006 2-CD re-issue of “Please to See the King”. CC also lists “Lovely on the Water” from this session but it doesn’t appear on the “Please to See the King” re-issue.

“Stuart Henry Show”  BBC Radio 1

04/02/1971

Steeleye Span

1. Female Drummer (Mk II)
   
2. General Taylor
   
3. Farther Along
   
4. Two Reels

All tracks appear on the 2006 2-CD re-issue of “Please to See the King”. CC also lists “Lark in the Morning “ as part of this session but lists “Two Reels” as part of the 27/03/1971 session.

“Top Gear”  BBC Radio 1

27/03/1971

Steeleye Span

1. Let’s Dance
   
2. Bring ‘em Down / A Hundred Years Ago
   
3. The Lark in the Morning
   
4. Prince Charlie Stuart

1-3 appear on the 2006 2-CD re-issue of “Please to See the King”. CC lists “Prince Charlie Stuart” but it doesn’t appear on the “Please to See the King” re-issue. CC also lists “Two Reels” as part of this session but not “Lark in the Morning” (see entry for 04/02/1971 above). PS has no entry for this session.

“Out Front”  ITV / Granada TV

13/07/1971

Steeleye Span

1. The Lark In The Morning
   
2. Two Reels
   
3. The Female Drummer

BFI synopsis: “Steeleye Span and Fairport Convention perform live on stage, from the Ainsdale Beach, Southport.” (The Fairport Convention tracks are: Angel Delight, Bridge Over The River Ash, Country Pie and Journeyman’s Grace)

“John Peel’s Sunday Concert”  BBC Radio 1

15/09/1971

Steeleye Span

1. False Knight on the Road
   
2. The Lark in the Morning
   
3. Rave On
   
4. £10 Float / The Musical Priest
   
5. Captain Coulston
   
6. Handsome Polly-O (Martin Carthy)
   
7. Bring ‘Em Down (Martin Carthy) / Haul on the Bowline (Tim Hart)
   
8. Four Nights Drunk
   
9. When I Was on Horseback
   
10. I Live Not Where I Love (Tim Hart & Maddy Prior)
    
11. The Wind That Shakes the Barley / Pigeon on the Gate / Jenny’s Chickens (Peter Knight)
    
12. Female Drummer
    
13. General Taylor
    
14. College Grove / Silver Spear / Ballymurphy Rake / Maid Behind the Bar

This entire concert was issued as the bonus CD in the 2006 2-CD re-issue of Steeleye Span’s “Ten Man Mop or Mr. Reservoir Butler Rides Again”.

“Pete Drummond show”  BBC Radio 1

30/09/1971

Steeleye Span

1. Cold, Haily Windy Night
   
2. Long Lankin
   
3. Lark in the Morning
   
4. We Poor Labouring Men
   
5. Adieu Sweet Lovely Nancy
   
6. Widdecombe Fair

Unknown  BBC TV

Broadcast date unknown

Steeleye Span

1. The King
   
2. Jigs: Bryan O’Lynn / The Hag with the Money
   
3. The Blacksmith

All tracks appear on the 2006 2-CD re-issue of “Please to See the King”.

“John Peel Show”  BBC Radio 1

30/05/1972

1. The False Lover Won Back
   
2. King Henry
   
3. Died For Love
   
4. Trimdon Grange
   
5. John Blunt

Tracks 1, 2 & 4 appear on the 2005 Castle Music CD re-issue of Shearwater (CMQCD1096).

“Play For Today: Land Of Green Ginger”  BBC1 TV

15/01/1973

The Watersons

1. I Am A Rover And Seldom Sober
2. The Lark In The Morning (excerpt)

BFI synopsis: “Play by Alan Plater about a young girl who returns to her home in Hull and the decisions her and Mike have to make about their future. He refuses to give up the hazardous life of a trawlerman, and she is drawn back to the career she has in London.”

BFI credits “Music Arranged and Sung by The Watersons”. IMDb credits The Watersons as “Singers in Pub (uncredited)” and notes that the title song is “North Country Maid”. I don’t know if Martin was a full-time member of the Watersons by this stage so I don’t know if he had any involvement in this programme.

Edit: Portions of this programme were broadcast on a BBC 4 documentary in the UK in June 2010 following the death of Alan Plater. It now appears that Carthy did not appear in this programme and that it in fact features rare clips of his predecessor in The Watersons, Bernie Vickers. The only clip I’ve been able to locate (above) features “I Am A Rover And Seldom Sober” and a brief excerpt of “The Lark In The Morning” but no sign of “North Country Maid”. I don’t know if that song features elsewhere in the play or if the IMDb listing is incorrect.

Director: Alan Parker. Writer: Alan Plater.

“John Peel show”  BBC Radio 1

01/03/1973 (Recorded 19/02/1973)

Albion Country Band

1. I Was A Young Man
   
2. The Gallant Poacher
   
3. Medley: Mouresque, London Pride, Maid Of The Hill, So Selfish Runs The Hare, Sherriff’s Ride

“John Peel Show”  BBC Radio 1

26/04/1973

1. John Barleycorn
   
2. Seven Yellow Gypsies
   
3. John Blunt
   
4. Trimdon Grange
   
5. Brigg Fair

“Bob Harris show”  BBC Radio

21/05/1973 (Recorded 09/05/1973)

Albion Country Band

1. The New St. George
   
2. Harvest Home / The Gas Almost Works
   
3. I’ll Go and List for a Sailor
   
4. Hanged I Shall Be

All tracks appear on the Albion Band CD “The BBC Sessions”.

“John Peel Show”  BBC Radio 1

14/08/1973

1. Thorneymoor Woods
   
2. Three Jolly Sneaksmen
   
3. The Famous Flower Of Serving Men
   
4. The False Lover Won Back

“John Peel Show”  BBC Radio 1

07/03/1974

1. Lucy Wan
   
2. Prince Heathen
   
3. Skewball
   
4. Geordie

Prince Heathen and Geordie appear on CC but the booklet and CD sleeve date these incorrectly at 07/03/1973 in places, although the correct date is given elsewhere.

“John Peel Show”  BBC Radio 1

03/10/1974

1. Bonny Boy Billy Boy
   
2. All Of A Row
   
3. The Bedmaking
   
4. Green Wedding

The version of Trimdon Grange that appears on CC is credited to this session but elsewhere in the accompanying booklet the recording is dated at 19/02/1973 although no session is listed on this date on PS. Bernie Andrews – who produced the 26/04/73 session that included Trimdon Grange – is listed as producer of the version of Trimdon grange that appears on CC but no producer details are given for the 03/10/1974 session on PS.

“The Man They Couldn’t Hang”  BBC TV

01/02/1975  (Recorded 24/09/1974)

Fairport Convention

BBC TV documentary based on Fairport Convention’s “Babbacombe Lee” album. Fairport perform songs from the album, Melvin Bragg narrates and Martin Carthy appears as “the street singer” performing a broadside ballad based on the story.

“John Peel Show”  BBC Radio 1

28/04/1975

1. Sweet Joan
   
2. The Trees They Do Grow High
   
3. The Unfortunate Sailor
   
4. The Famous Flower Of Serving Men

“John Peel Show”  BBC Radio 1

21/09/1976

1. Searching For Lambs
2. Willie’s Lady
   
3. King Knapperty
4. The Unfortunate Tailor

Recorded: 7 September 1986

First broadcast: 21 September 1976

Producer: Tony Wilson

Engineer: Mike Robinson

Studio: BBC Maida Vale 4

“John Peel Show”  BBC Radio 1

16/12/1977

1. Willie’s Lady
   
2. Bonnets So Blue
   
3. William Taylor The Poacher
   
4. Three Jolly Sneaksmen
   
5. Brown Adam

“Folkweave” BBC Radio

Original broadcast date unknown

1. Intro / The Bed Making
2. The Worcestershire Wedding
3. Bruton Town
4. Lumps Of Plumb Pudding / Three Around Three
5. Johnny Sands
6. January Man

“Folkweave” was a BBC Radio 2 programme broadcast from Manchester in the late-1970s and presented by Tony Capstick. I’ve been unable to trace a broadcast date for the original programme, which was recorded at the Cambridge Folk Festival in either 1977 or 1978, but a BBC Transcription Disc exists dated 1978. Transcription discs were LPs featuring recordings of BBC programmes that were sent to various radio stations around the world for broadcast purposes. This disc, along with a number of others featuring different artists, surfaced in Australia in 2011. The surviving recording features an introduction by Toni Arthur rather than Capstick and I suspect these recordings were edited versions of the original UK radio programmes with new introductions for the international audience. The possibility therefore remains that a longer recording of this concert exists.

BBC Broadcast (cancelled)

Recorded 10/08/1979

1. The Bedmaking
   
2. Instrumental
   
3. Geordie
   
4. Bushes And Briars
   
5. King Henry

A bootleg soundboard recording exists from the Ballisodare Folk Festival, Ireland and was apparently originally intended for broadcast on the BBC but subsequently shelved.

http://jack.mauveweb.co.uk/artists/watersoncarthy/19790810.html