Search - The Old Grey Whistle Test on DVD

Another OGWT winner!

David W. Rogerson | ct, usa | 03/25/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is the PAL version of the second OGWT dvd. It includes a few more artists not on the Region 1 version, such as Be Bop Deluxe, Gary Moore and the Stanley Clarke/George Duke Project (doing "School Days"!)

The video and audio are both excellent, and the introductions and interviews by the various hosts are somewhat interesting.

This disk has a good mix of rock and new wave artists, plus a little prog rock, fusion and Irish folk music (courtesy of The Pogues.) I believe all of the preformances are live - not lip-synched - with one obvious exception (The Who's "Relay".)

If you have a Region free player, I'd recommend buying this version (and the PAL versions of Volumes 1 & 3.)



"

Music History 102

C. Rocklein | 09/27/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The thing I like about this version is you can click random play and get a medley of all the hits on the disc. If you don't have time to watch 30 performances in a row you can watch a few today, and some later on. Click random play and you get the added bonus of skipping the commentaries (although if you're in the right mood, even those can be, well, "informative".) Tonight, random play started me out with Patty Smith Group's "Because the Night". Next one chanced to be Montrose's "Bad Motor Scooter" with a pre-solo Sammi Hagar on vocals and this is a rockin' tune. After that 1986 gives us the punkish Pogues. A sudden jump back to 1971 has Heads, Hands and Feet doing "Warming Up the Band" - one of the best tunes on this compilation I think. I'd never even heard of these guys, but would like to hear more - that's one of the things I like about the Whistle Tests - discovering all those great acts you missed while you were running around in diapers!

Another punkish performance from Souxsie and the Banshees. Brash best describes. "Jimmy, Jimmy" by the undertones continues in that vein. Who? Or how about Aztec Camera? What?!

Or how about Average White Band? Hey, I've heard of those guys! This performance is another one of the winners on this set - "Put It Where You Want It!" Another notable might be a 1972 performance of Roxy Music "Ladytron".

Granted the new wave/punk trends of the 80s are here, but it's got more than a fair share of vintage early and later 70s cuts as well - there's no Beefheart here, but that's why you get Vol. 1 first! Kevin Ayers 1972 "May I?" is good. Nils Lofgren's bluesy/jazz piano set (1975) is a clever and likable tune. Tom Verlaine "Days on the Mountain" is one of the better early 80s numbers. Roy Harper (hats off to him) makes a 1977 appearance which, while not bad at all, probably won't be what you're expecting if you're familiar with his earlier trippy folk guitar stuff. There's a very odd little sit-down blues number with John Peel, and friends - "Skiffle Jam" 1985. Even Hall & Oats in a 1976 performance managed to catch my interest some - must've been the year. Other notables, if not recognizable, would be Joan Armatrading's "Love & Affection", The Who's "Relay", Stanley Clarke/George Duke Project, Gary Moore and Friends (aka Thin Lizzy), Be Bop Deluxe (?) and a million other people you'd probably not recognize. Whether you recognize them or not, you can feel and recognize what were at the time "new trends" in music, see how rock started going punkish and punk started going new wave. In a nutshell, this is a good music history window and worth having if you liked Vol 1 and 3 and care to peruse some fairly obscure stuff from the 70s and 80s, equally represented in this set.

Song list for region 2 OGWT, Vol 2:
1)Heads, Hands and Feet, "Warming Up The Band", 2)Kevin Ayers and the The Whole World, "May I?", 3)Roxy Music, "Ladytron", 4)Loggins and Messina, "House at Pooh Corner", 5)The Who, "Relay", 6)Judee Sill, "The Kiss", 7)Argent, "God Gave Rock n Roll to You", 8)The Average White Band, "Put It Where You Want It", 9)Montrose, "Bad Motor Scooter", 10)Bruce Johnston - "Disney Girls", 11)Be Bop Deluxe "Maid In Heaven", 12)Nils Lofgren "Goin' Back", 13)Daryl Hall and John Oates "She's Gone", 14)Joan Armatrading "Love and Affection", 15)Roy Harper "Ono of those Days in England", 16)The Adverts "Bored Teenagers", 17)The Patti Smith Group "Because of the Night", 18)Siouxsie and the Banshees "Metal Postcard", 19)Gary Moore and Friends "Don't Beleive a Word", 20)The Undertones "Jimmy Jimmy", 21)Squeeze "Slap and Tickle", 22)Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark "Dancing" 23)Stanley Clarke/George Duke Project "Schooldays", 24)Tom Verlaine "Days on the Mountain pt 1", 25)Aztec Camera "Walk out to Winter", 26)Thomas Dolby "Hyperactive, 27)The Style Council "Walls Come Tumbling Down", 28)Suzanne Vega "Marlene on the Wall" 29)Andy Kershaw, John Peel, Ro Newton, John Walters "Skiffle Jam", 29)Prefab Sprout "When Love Breaks Down", 30)The Pet Shop Boys "Opportunities", 31)The Pogues, "Dirty Old Town"."