Old Grey Whistle Test (1 Viewer)

[Eric Peterson]

Did anybody else pick this up?

I'd never heard of the show until the recent Police DVD came out including footage from 1978.

I picked the DVD out of curiosity based on it including performances by "Talking Heads", "Tom Waits", "The Ramones", & "XTC" among others and boy am I glad I did. I've watched the whole thing nearly three times through since I got it last week.

Video - The video is perfectly adequate in my opinion, but I'm sure others will despise it with the horizontal lines, running from top to bottom and various other fading problems, but considering these were recorded on video and have probably been in somebody's closet for the last 30 years, I have no issues.

Audio - The audio is presented in 2.0 stereo as it should be and not remastered into something that it never was. Thank God! It sounds amazing to these ears and the performances are aboslutely amazing.

I found several new artists that I knew very little about previously including "Captain Beefheart", "Roxy Music", & "Bill Withers". I love hidden treasures like this that help to expand my interpretations of good music.

All I can say is "Bring on Volume 2" - In region 2, this release was a 2 disc set containg 40 performances, so there is definitely more out there if the music buffs pick this up.

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

It's great, eh?

It has been available in Britain for over a year now, and I got it the week it came out and was delighted with it. Great performances abound: Talking Heads tear through 'Psycho Killer', spot-on version of 'Political Science' by Randy Newman, and the gorgeous Emmy-Lou Harris does 'Amarillo'. And then there's Lynyrd Skynyrd's incendiary reading of 'Free Bird' for Duane and Berry Oakley, who had recently died tragically.

Volume 2 should be really cool.


Gordy

 

[LarryDavenport]

Eric, can you post a track list?

 

[Jodee]

I thought I heard the US version wasn't as good as the UK version. A lot of stuff is apparently missing?

I hate it when they do that. My husband had borrowed the Region 2 disc from a co-worker but I decided against buying the R1 one because I heard they stripped it down a lot.

 

[Eric Peterson]

As you wish.

1. Alice Cooper - "Under My Wheels"
2. Elton John - "Tiny Dancer"
3. Curtis Mayfield - "We Gotta Have Peace"
4. Randy Newman - "Political Science"
5. Bill Withers - "Ain't No Sunshine"
6. Rory Gallagher - "Hands Off"
7. The Wailers - "Stir It Up"
8. Roxy Music - "Do The Strand"
9. The Edgar Winter Group - "Frankenstein"
10. Captain Beefheart - "Upon the My O My"
11. Little Feat - "Rock 'n Roll Doctor"
12. John Lennon - "Stand By Me"
13. Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Freebird"
14. Emmylou Harris - "Amarillo"
15. Bonnie Raitt - "Too Long At The Fair"
16. Tom Waits - "Tom Traubert's Blues"
17. Talking Heads - "Psycho Killer"
18. XTC - "Statue of Liberty"
19. Blondie - "(I'm Always Touched By Your) Presence Dear"
20. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - "American Girl"
21. The Police - "Can't Stand Losing You"
22. Bruce Springsteen - "Rosalita"
23. Iggy Pop - "I'm Bored"
24. The Specials - "Message to You Rudi"
25. The Damned - "Smash It Up/I Just Can't Be Happy Today"
26. The Ramones - "Rock 'n' Roll High School"
27. U2 - "I Will Follow"
28. REM - "Moon River/Pretty Persuasion"[/list=1]
    
    Out of everything the only performacnes that I don't care for are Little Feat, Bruce Springsteen, & The Specials - but that's probably more personal preference than anything else.

 

[Randy A Salas]

Bruce Springsteen

Agreed, especially since it wasn't really an appearance on the show but just a taped performance from a concert.

 

[Bob Turnbull]

I assume that's the one I've previously seen on Muchmusic. Still a great performance and I'd be glad to have it with the set. Of course, a live performance on the show would've been better...

Great track list. I expect I would like just about everything there. I like The Specials tune and like most of the Little Feat I've heard (Waiting For Columbus is a damn fine live recording). I think I'll add this to my next order...

 

[Patrick Larkin]

So, any word on a Volume 2?

I'd love to see anything else from the XTC and Talking Heads performances. Incredible. Stumbled upon this and I'm glad I did.

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

Patrick, there are two further 1-disc volumes in the UK:

Volume 2:

Heads Hands & Feet - 'Warming up the Band'
Kevin Ayers - 'May I'
Roxy Music - 'Ladytron'
Loggins & Messina - 'House at Pooh Corner'
The Who - 'Relay'
Judee Sill - 'The Kiss'
Argent - 'God Gave Rock n Roll to You'
Humble Pie - 'Black Coffee'
Average White Band - 'Put it Where you Want it'
Montrose - 'Bad Motor Scooter'
Bruce Johnston - 'Disney Girls'
Be Bop Deluxe - 'Made in Heaven'
Nils Lofgren - 'Going Back'
Daryl Hall & John Oates - 'She's Gone'
Joan Armatrading - 'Love & Affection'
Roy Harper - 'One of Those Days in England'
The Adverts - 'Bored Teenagers'
Patti Smith - 'Because the Night'
Siouxsie & the Banshees - 'Metal Postcard'
Gary Moore & Phil Lynott - 'Don't Believe a Word'
Undertones - 'Jimmy Jimmy'
Squeeze - 'Slap and Tickle'
OMD - 'Dancing'
Stanley Clarke/George Duke Project - 'Schooldays'
Tom Verlaine - 'Days on the Mountain Part 1'
Aztec Camera - 'Walk Out to Winter'
Thomas Dolby - 'Hyperactive'
Style Council - 'Walls Come Tumbling Down'
Suzanne Vega - 'Marlene On the Wall'
John Walters, John Peel, Ro Newton, Andy Kershaw - Skiffle jam
Prefab Sprout - 'When Love Breaks Down'
Pet Shop Boys - 'Opportunities'
Pogues - 'Dirty Old Town'


Volume 3:

Meet Me On The Corner by Lindisfarne
Oh You Pretty Things by David Bowie
Jamaica Say You Will by Jackson Browne
Born To Be Wild by Steppenwolf
I Get By by Stealer's Wheel
Giving It All Away by Roger Daltrey
Black Coffee by Humble Pie
The Brillancy Medley by Fairport Convention
Boogie Funk by Freddie King
Surrender To The Rhythm by Brinsley Schwarz
A Little Bit Of Sympathy by Robin Trower
Dreamer by Supertramp
Jumping Jack Flash by Johnny Winter
A Heart Needs A Home by Richard & Linda Thompson
At Seventeen by Janis Ian
Year Of The Cat by Al Stewart
Couldn't Love You More by John Martyn & Danny Thompson
Fires Of Spring by Chris Rea
A' Bomb In Wardour Street by The Jam
When It All Comes Down / Hold On by B. B. King
I Don't Want To Be Nice by John Cooper Clarke
Sunday Papers by Joe Jackson
Chelsea Girl by Simple Minds
Frame By Frame by King Crimson
Rip It Up by Orange Juice
No-One Is To Blame by Howard Jones
Is It A Crime by Sade
In A Hole by Jesus & Mary Chain
Sweet Sweet Baby (I'm Falling) by Lone Justice
All I Want For Christmas Is A Dukla Prague Away Kit by Half Man Half Biscuit
Walk Like An Egyptian by The Bangles

 

[Daniel Windsor]

DVDSavant took a look here

Excellent stuff.

 

[Sean A]

I would figure that the US version was edited down mainly because a lot of the English artists featured never made it in America , and they thought US audiences would have no interest in these acts . I wish they would put out some more volumes, since I really enjoyed this disc (and Bruce fans, note : the performance included here of "Rosalita" is longer than the same clip included on the Bruce Springsteen Video Anthology DVD)


And will Warners (or whomever has the rights here) please put out some Later With Jools Holland discs !!

 

[Patrick Larkin]

But there are a lot on there that were successes in the US. Joe Jackson, David Bowie, Richard Thompson, King Crimson, Squeeze, Suzanne Vega. Oh man...some good stuff.

The US disc was probably testing the waters. Not many in the US ever heard of the show. The sales for Vol 1 were probably disappointing enough for there not to be a Vol 2.

 

[Geremia P.]

Doesn't the R1 set suffer from some sort of PAL-conversion speedup?

I think this was the word around the time of the disc's release.