The Friday Rock show with Tommy Vance.

Sure do, introduced me to the delights of Steve Morse/ The Dixie Dregs amongst many other great bands. No other musical 'era' since will stand the test of time so well; britpop? Pah!

 

I used to listen in the late 80's/early 90's, I remember he had an interview with Gary Moore and Cozy Powell promoting After The War album and tour, then a few weeks later he interviewed Tony Iommi and Cozy promoting Headless Cross as things didn't work out with Gary. One thing i did like was that he was honest enough to say when he didn't think an album was that good.

 

In the late sixties or early seventies my band played live on several of the BBC Radio One lunchtime shows, each one of which featured a live band.

We did one in Portrush (I think) in Northern Ireland and Tommy Vance was that show's host.

He was a really nice guy and bought us all a drink after the show.

 

I still miss it. Introduced me to so much fabulous music. Still listen to the 'AsAbove So Below' broadcast session. Had a compilation tape recorded off air which I played to death. Fab times.

 

First time i heard unreleased Beatles was when he played a couple of 1964 radio sessions on his show. Stayed up really late (hey i was 11 and he played them at 11ish) wondering what an "archive" recording was. Thrilling to hear some new performances and chat, started listening frequently and buying tapes of the rebroadcasts at Camden a few years later.
Heard some great stuff courtesy of Vance. Wish I could have been around to tape his early Top Gear broadcasts.

 

I was the person who wrote to Tommy and requested the Tangerine Dream recording ! What's also a coincidence is that a friend of mine just found it on an old cassette this week, and heard my name !

 

Here's a glimpse of Tommy Vance (just after the track) during his couple of months of co-hosting 'Top Gear' in late 1967 with either Pete Drummond or John Peel, before the show became Peel's alone. the track is a session version of Fleetwood Mac's 'Got To Move':

Top Gear 12.11.67 Fleetwood Mac 'Got To Move'

 

We were music geeks listening to the same music on the same radio shows back then, and some 35 years later our paths cross again on this forum. I never would have imagined that back then. I'm sure you have the Tangerine Tree version of the RAH show? BTW, I have a snippet of tape of John Peel thanking me and mentioning my name after I sent him a postcard with my suggestions for the 1981 Festive 50 list (Ceremony and O Superman were two of them, not sure what the third suggestion was).

 

Yes I do ! in fact (whisper it) it was me who acquired it while I was working at the BBC ;-). The funny thing is, that I too had a bad bootleg of the show, and when I wrote in to Tommy, I asked him to play the second piece. He instead played 20 minutes from the first piece, and the encore ! That's why I just HAD to get a job at the BBC, ha ha, to get the second part !

 

Used to listen to it as a kid. All my tapes, even now, if I make a compilation, are called the Friday Rock Show #. Still have them sat there, put them on now and again. Made my weekend, what with Fluff on Saturdays too.

 

This show was invaluable to me in the mid 80s as a newcomer to all things Rock, Prog and Metal. I remember hearing so many songs and bands which I went on to love for the first time on this show. I'd record a lot of the live shows too - Saxon, Magnum, etc. It was such a great show and what a voice TV had! Every Friday night for a few years I'd be tuning in to the show and inevitably come away with at least a few new bands to explore.

[To the Tune of Saxon's Motorcycle Man....] ROCK! WITH TOMMY VANCE! ROCK! WITH TOMMY VAAAAAAAAAAAANCE! (and I did!)

 

Ah, yes, four hours of Fluff on a Saturday afternoon.

And then followed by an hour of In Concert.

What with those and Tommy Vance, we were spoilt...those were the days!

 

Alan Freeman's show which ended in August 1978 and then subsequently Tommy's from November 1978 were what we lived for ! I know I'm not the only one poised with a cassette machine to grab the juiciest bits. It was a wonderful source for rebroadcasts of BBC Sessions which were 95% unreleased at that time.

 

Not arf!

 

My first radio play was on TV's Friday Rock show. "That was two songs called "One of These Days" one you will know one you won't.

 

And add to that a couple of excellent Rock Shows our local radio stations had, and it was quite an education in music !

 

You have to tell us who !!!

 

Our kids don't know what they missed out on, do they!

 

For that I will be eternally grateful. Those semi improvised 1974-77 TD concerts with the Froese-Franke-Baumann lineup were such a unique moment in music history. There really isn't anything like it, except perhaps the pre-superstardom Floyd.

 

As a teenager growing up in England and just starting to get into hard rock/metal/progressive in the early '80s, The Friday Rock Show with Tommy Vance was THE highlight of the week! Great memories ....

 

...and look whats happened to BBC radio today, really makes me sad, just run of the mill celebrity presenters lacking in any knowledge or soul

 

TV on the radio! Really takes me back. Great show.
I seem to remember Thomas-the-Vance doing a Friday Rock Show on VH1 in the late 90's and am I right in thinking he was in Flame, as in Slade in Flame?
I did a quick Google and found this
Archive 004 - Tommy Vance’s Friday Rock Show, 27-03-81 | Classic Rock and Metal Podcast on classicrockpodcast.com.
It's one of TV's shows from March '81 and he opens with The Beatles, Helter Skelter.
Rock on!

 

A quick Friday Night Connection, for old times sake.

Curved Air.
Roxy Music.
Frank Zappa.

 

Eddie Jobson was in all 3 bands

 

Another one from 18th May 1979

Genesis: 'Dancing With The Moonlit Knight'
Pink Floyd: 'Brain Damage'
Deep Purple: 'Listen, Learn, Read On'

There is a great clip on Youtube where Tommy Vance thanks all the listeners that sent postcards in especially as it cost 9 pence to send !!