We're inching closer towards 40% of our goal tonight. Your donations to help keep Newstalgia going and the archives safe are helping. And I am grateful to all of you for your support and kind words. But we're still a ways away and I need your support more than ever. What ever you can contribute to the site, to the cause, would be deeply appreciated. If you can donate a substantial amount, that would be fantastic. But if you can't you're still desperately needed, no matter how much you contribute. Any amount is a crucial step toward achieving the goal and taking care of the impending emergency. You're doing it and you're making a difference. Keep it going.

Since I've been going on a familiarity binge the past few days (with Bowie, Led Zeppelin and Elvis Costello) I thought I would dig a bit deeper and pull up this one. Black Sabbath from one of their earliest surviving sessions for the BBC. Recorded for the John Peel Program on April 26th 1970, this session features the band right at the tipping point in their careers. It's ironic that Black Sabbath achieved a larger following in England and Europe than America, at first. It was around 1970 the U.S. finally caught up with the rest of the world and Black Sabbath became a household name ever since.

Before Black Sabbath came along, there really weren't any bands characterized as Heavy Metal, as least to the extent they explored doom-laden lyrics with dramatic word pictures. Most bands considered Heavy Metal had a basis in blues or hard Rock. Black Sabbath came along and changed all that, and in doing so, carved out their own niche in the annals of music.

Here is a rundown of what they play tonight:

1. Black Sabbath
2. Walpurgis
3. Fairies Wear Boots
4. Behind The Wall Of Sleep
5. Evil Woman

This should give you a good introduction of what the band were capable of. You may have missed some of these the first time around. The sound is a little strange in places. But the band certainly weren't.

So ending up this Memorial day, it only seems fitting to have it close with Robert Wyatt and his unforgettable version of the Elvis Costello Classic, Shipbuilding, written in response to the Falkland Islands War in 1982.

Wyatt, founding member of The Soft Machine and the primary force behind a number of other groups from the 1960's onwards, was one of the key figures in the early Progressive Rock movement. Owing to an accident which left him unable to play drums, he has continued to write, produce, sing, play keyboards and has a string of great albums to his credit, in addition to numerous collaborations with everyone from Bjork to Roger Waters.

It's this version of Shipbuilding that is so poignant and the one that ranks as probably one of the best Anti-War songs of the last 30 years. The sentiment is timeless.

And so is Robert Wyatt.

Slowly inching upwards, so your donations are more than appreciated now. Please give what you can. It means a lot to us and hopefully, with any luck, we can keep this site going. It's up to you.

Another familiar name on the Roundtable tonight. It's actually the first session Elvis Costello (and The Attractions) recorded for the BBC in July, 1977.

Here's what you can look forward to:

1.Red Shoes
2. Mystery Dance
3. Blame It On Cain
4. Less than Zero.