The Kinks - 1968 Top Of The Pops transcription discs

[alexbriggs]

I wonder if someone with access to the BBC transcription discs of Top Of The Pops episodes 193 and 196 would be able to clear up something that has puzzled me for a while, namely the difference between the Kinks session tracks on these two shows. Episode 193 features 'Days', 'Love Me Till The Sun Shines' and 'Waterloo Sunset' recorded on 1st July 1968 for Top Gear, while Episode 196 features 'Days', 'Monica' and 'Love Me Till The Sun Shines' recorded on 9th July 1968 for Saturday Club. My first question relates to the incredible version of 'Love Me Till The Sun Shines', first released on the 2001 compilation 'BBC Sessions: 1964-1977', and credited as being from the 1st July Top Gear session. But the exact same version, complete with Brian Matthew's link at the end, was included on the 2012 collection 'The Kinks At The BBC', but this time credited as being from the 9th July Saturday Club session. Is it the same version of 'Love Me Till The Sun Shines' on both transcription discs? It does seem odd that they did mostly the same songs at two sessions recorded so close to each other and included on transcription discs released a few weeks apart. The second mystery is that Disc 5 of the box set version of 'The Kinks At The BBC' features a selection of low quality 'off-air' recordings of session tracks that no longer exist in the archives. These include 'Suzannah's Still Alive' and 'Days' from the 9th July Saturday Club session. The first of these makes sense as it wasn't included on any transcription disc, but the 9th July version of 'Days' was released on Top Of The Pops Episode 196, so why did the compilers have to resort to an off-air recording rather than take it from the transcription disc? I assume these all still survive, and I expect a few people on this forum have access to copies, so if someone could check the contents it would be great to be able to clear up the facts.

[alexbriggs]

Just did a Google search for more info and found this theory on the Steve Hoffman forum:

'(The performance of "Love Me Till the Sun Shines" released on BBC Sessions and elsewhere is usually described as the 1 July 1968 recording, but sometimes as the 9 July 1968 recording. Hinman's book assigns the performance to both recording dates a few paragraphs apart. A bootleg purporting to contain the 9 July recording matches the version on BBC Sessions. It seems possible that the "9 July" version is actually a rebroadcast of the 1 July version. As further evidence for this theory, the 1 July version of "Days" can be found on bootleg without the Brian Matthew voiceover present on BBC Sessions, perhaps as a rebroadcast for the later Saturday Club session. If the "9 July" versions of "Love Me Till the Sun Shines" and "Days" are simply the 1 July recordings, then the 9 July "Monica" too might be a rebroadcast of the missing 1 July version.)'

Again, it would just need someone who has TOTP 193 and 196 to do a quick comparison to confirm this.

[alexbriggs]

I think I have some answers now, having been able to listen to the transcription discs. The versions of 'Love Me Till The Sun Shines' ARE identical on both TOTP 193 and 196, the only difference being the first one has Brian Matthew talking over the beginning. Since the CD releases would have used the uninterrupted version from TOTP 196, it probably seemed more accurate to credit it as being from the second of the two sessions, even though it originates from the first (as cited on the 2001 compilation). The fact that all the songs from the 9th July session had already been done in earlier sessions initially had me wondering if maybe on this occasion they made no new recordings and just submitted four previous BBC performances to be broadcast on Saturday Club as required. But comparing the 'bootleg' version of 'Susannah's Still Alive' with the sole previous BBC version recorded on the 25th July 1967 it is clearly a new recording as it features keyboards in the place of the original version's harmonica. Also, while both TOTP transcription discs feature the same version of 'Days', the 'bootleg' version recorded direct from the broadcast is a different performance, missing the tambourine featured on the transcription discs.

Therefore the most likely explanation is that at the 9th July session The Kinks really did record almost the same track selection as on 1st July, but when it came to choosing 3 songs for the next TOTP disc it was decided that the second versions of 'Days' and 'Love Me Till The Sun Shines' were inferior to the first, so the ones that had already appeared on the earlier disc were used again. This explains why it's a 'bootleg' version of the 9th July 'Days' on the 'Kinks At The BBC' box set - both transcription discs used the 1st July version.

There are still a couple of unknown details. As 'Monica' was recorded at both sessions but only featured on the second transcription disc, it's not clear whether this comes from the 9th July session or, as with 'Days' and 'Love Me Till The Sun Shines', the 1st July version was favoured. Also, the post in the Steve Hoffman forum mentions a bootleg recording of the 9th July session which is presumably the source for 'Susannah' and 'Days' on the box set, but it also supposedly features the same version of 'Love Me Till The Sun Shines' as the CDs, so perhaps they only recorded 3 new songs on this occasion and repeated the best track from the previous session to make up for it. The differences between the two versions of 'Days' are so minimal that it could be mistaken for the same performance, but with a more aggressive track like 'Love Me Till The Sun Shines' the differences would be more noticeable, and the 'bootleg' version would have certainly made it onto the CD if it was a new performance.

So based on the evidence, here is what we know:

1 July 1968 (broadcast Top Gear 7 July 1968)

Days - TOTP 193* ('clean') + TOTP 196 (talking over beginning and end)
Monica
Love Me Till The Sun Shines - TOTP 193 (talking over beginning) + TOTP 196* ('clean')
Waterloo Sunset - TOTP 193*

9 July 1968 (broadcast Saturday Club 13 July 1968)

Days - only available as 'bootleg' recording*
Monica - probably this version on TOTP 196*
Love Me Till The Sun Shines - possibly rpt. of 1 July version
Susannah's Still Alive - only available as 'bootleg' recording*

*source for CD release