The Old Grey Whistle Test - Vol. 3 [DVD]

If you were irrevocably electric, such as Steppenwolf or Robin Trower, your chances of getting on the OGWT seemed less good, but here both bands put in great performances.

But perhaps the highlight of the whole DVD is the exception: Humble Pie's soul-laden 'Black Coffee'. As other reviewers have commented, Steve Marriott had a good claim to be Britain's greatest white soul singer.

The best interviews are given by Rick Wakeman and Roger Daltrey. As Neil Young has also pointed out, Daltrey suggests that the CD took away some of our enjoyment of albums: the sound wasn't as good as vinyl, and cover art seemed to be destroyed at a stroke.

I was less taken by some of the post-CD performances, such as that of the Bangles. If this is the best girl band the OGWT ever filmed, I'll eat my hat. (Didn't the 70s OGWT once show Joan Jett and the Runaways?) The King Crimson song is interesting -- I'd never seen the 80s line-up before -- but it's a shame that drummer Bill Bruford was so poorly illuminated.

Will there be a DVD 4 of the OGWT? I notice that only DVD 1 has been released in the USA. We'll just have to hope that the BBC respond to the fans' demand for some of the animated videos that the OGWT production team used -- such as for Steve Miller's 'Swingtown', Led Zep's 'Trampled Underfoot' and Mike Oldfield's 'Tubular Bells'.

Lindisfarne - ‘Meet Me On The Corner' 12.10.71
David Bowie - ‘Oh You Pretty Things' 8.2.72
Jackson Browne - ‘ Jamaica Say You Will' May 1972
Steppenwolf - ‘Born To Be Wild' 26.9.72
Stealers Wheel - ‘I Get By' 7.11.72
Roger Daltrey - ‘Giving It All Away' 13.3.73
Humble Pie - ‘Black Coffee' 20.3.73
Fairport Convention - ‘Brilliancy Medley' 17.4.73
Freddie King - ‘Boogie Funk' 31.7.73
Brinsley Schwarz - ‘Surrender To The Rhythm' 6.11.73
Robin Trower - ‘A Little Bit Of Sympathy' 17.4.74
Supertramp - ‘Dreamer' 22.10.74
Johnny Winter - ‘Jumping Jack Flash' 29.10.74
Richard and Linda Thompson - ‘A Heart Needs A Home' 7.3.75
Janis Ian - ‘At Seventeen' 12.10.76
Al Stewart - ‘Year Of The Cat' 30.11.76
John Martyn & Danny Thompson - ‘Couldn't Love You More' 1.3.77
Chris Rea - ‘Fires Of Spring' 16.5.78
The Jam - ‘‘A' Bomb In Wardour Street ' 23.5.78
BB King - ‘When It All Comes Down'/‘Hold On' 17.10.78
John Cooper Clarke - ‘I Don't Want to be Nice' 7.11.78
Joe Jackson - ‘Sunday Papers' 20.2.79
Simple Minds - ‘Chelsea Girl' 27.3.79
King Crimson - ‘Frame By Frame' 18.3.82
Orange Juice - ‘Rip It Up' 8.10.82
Howard Jones - ‘No-one Is To Blame' 29.1.85
Sade - ‘Is It A Crime' 5.2.85
Jesus & Mary Chain - ‘In A Hole' 12.3.85
Lone Justice - ‘Sweet, Sweet Baby (I'm Falling)' 4.6.85
Half Man Half Biscuit - ‘All I want for Xmas Is A Dukla Prague Away Kit' 6.5.86
Bangles - ‘Walk Like An Egyptian' - 1.7.86

Also included – newly filmed interviews with presenter Bob Harris , founding producer Mike Appleton and musicians Roger Daltrey, Hamish Stuart, Roddy Frame, Rick Wakeman, Nick Lowe, Robin Trower, Edwyn Collins, Jools Holland and Bob Geldof talking about how the Whistle Test team put Live Aid together.