The Old Grey Whistle Test -- Two Disc Set [DVD] [1971]

I suppose this remains one of the highlights of the BBC's long association with quality live music programmes. This 2-disc first volume is by far the best of the OGWT DVD series. Disc 1 covers a lot of 70s acts, the second is ideal for those who loved punk rock and new wave. Highlights of disc 1 include Alice Cooper's "Under my Wheels", the Wailers (with Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer) doing "Stir it Up", Roxy Music largely miming "Do the Strand" and the marvellous Capt Beefheart ("Upon the My O My"). True, Focus ARE terrible - guitarist Jan Akermann sounds like he's having a particularly off day - but Edgar Winter Group dish out some tight American prog-jazz-funk that's quite palatable, with Winter playing everything but the kitchen sink. Equally tight is the late, great Alex Harvey and his band, with "Give my Compliments to the Chef". He obviously knew how to work a room. The New York Dolls deliver some great pre-punk rock pantomime ("mock-rock" sniffs toothy presenter Bob Harris), Dr Feelgood reveal why they were one of the best pre-punk live attractions on the pub circuit ("Roxette") and you get the original Lynyrd Skynyrd line-up doing "Freebird". Disc 2 is the business as far as this reviewer's concerned. OK, so OGWT missed the Sex Pistols but they made up for it eventually. Before Radiohead's "Kid A" there was of course John Lydon's Public Image Limited, seen here doing a stonking "Careering" from the "Metal Box" LP. Buy it if only to see them in their prime. A young David Byrne fronts Talking Heads through "Psycho Killer", Blondie perform "Presence Dear", Iggy Pop rips his shirt off in the first 10 seconds of "Im Bored" to show off his scars and the Ramones show that the best songs dont have to go over 2 minutes. Elswhere there's Meatloaf in the studio ("paradise by the dashboard light"), Michael Stipe looking more like Michael Bolton leading REM through "Pretty Persuasion", and a young, shade-less Bono taking U2 through "I will Follow" from their first album. Look out for Ryuchi Sakamoto lending a helping hand to Japan as they deliver a stunning (but not very animated) "Ghosts" too.

What OGWT couldn't do, it seems, was to attract many of the big UK groups of the day to join them in the studio. So no Deep Purple, Stones, Led Zep, Pink Floyd from the 70s. And hence the famous animated sequences made to those artists' tunes (sadly, none included here). However, they could get them to agree to talk, so there's interviews here with Plant, Jagger, Springsteen and a glassy-eyed and very nervous Keith Richards. As other reviewers have commented, the menu is annoyingly difficult to navigate. That irritating theme tune pops up between each selection. Some of the presenters are clearly still fixated on the 70s and American roots-style music (one is particularly sniffy about early Roxy Music, who most would still judge today to have delivered two of the most original albums ever with their first two releases). Still, a highly watchable and enjoyable experience all round.

The Old Grey Whistle Test is a fond memory for me and for nearly everybody over the age of 30 or so I would imagine. For many years it was the only music programme on TV - apart from Top of the Pops - and certainly the only place where you could see bands who weren't in the charts. This double DVD has 45 performances from the programme, all the way from Alice Cooper to Simply Red, and it brings those memories just flooding back, even those groups that you didn't like at the time! And if you didn't watch any of it back then, then it's got to be a great history lesson as well, seeing a young Bob Marley before he grew his dreadlocks, Elton John when he was a boy, the divine Tim Buckley or the flouncy New York Dolls making Whispering Bob Harris come over a bit queasy!

It's packed with extras as well - there's interviews with Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen, Robert Plant, Elton & a very stoned Keith Richards and all the presenters of the series share their memories as well. And once you get bored with that, you can just put the music on shuffle. Or you could listen to the commentary from producer Mike Appleton who reveals that the Whistle Test used to be made for £500 a show. There's tons of photos & trivia as well, along with animated menus (which are a bit annoying actually...). It's got to be the best music DVD in the shops.

I bought a region-free player just for this DVD to see XTC live circa 1978. It was well worth it. As a bonus, there are other rare early performances by a bleach-blonde Police, REM with long hair, a very eighties-looking U2, super-rare Julian Cope (w/ Teardrop Explodes), and a surreal perfomance by Bob Marley & The Wailers (with Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer).

Highly recommended. I'd like to see the entire show of each of these artists. More, please.