The Old Grey Whistle Test Live.

Jalapeno

Got it downloaded to watch (with FFWD )

Saw the Peter Frampton bit - that looked pretty good.

Fretwired

Bland .. given the bands they've had on there over the years that was piss poor. Kiki Dee - lovely woman but she's more TOTP to me. Given it was a rock show where was the rock ... Bob Marley was the best archive clip .. the little snippets of past acts was tantalising.  Some of those with some new music and Bob would have been great. The interviews were coma inducing.

Zoolooter

The irony being that not having people like Danny Baker on it made it a great show. I had to switch over because of his verbal diarrhoea. The guy is a tit of the highest order.

axisus

Missed the first half (forgot). Fell asleep for the second half. Saw Gary Numan live and liked that. Saw the very last guy and liked that. Probably find it on catch up at some point. I can't stand Marley so I don't think I'll find that the best thing!

Chuffola

Awful. Discussions were dull, archive stuff too short, live music disappointing.

scrumhalf

Turned off after 90 minutes. Kiki Dee - sorry, but the voice goes after a while. Gary Numan - it's not 1979 any more. Tom Robinson - wooden.

Grumpyrocker

Was looking forward to this but gave up after an hour. We shouldn't be voting for which of four great clips got shown - they should have shown all of them.

Needed much more of the great old rock footage, less decrepit folks hawking their recent wares. 

Philtre

Saved only by John Otway. :-)

ourmaninthenorth

They should have taken a leaf out of our book, and simply had back to back performance videos introduced by Mr Harris, with the new artists playing live at strategic points in the show - sans that awful pedal steel guitar thing the last band used; I can't bloody stand pedal steel fookin guitar... and let the music do most of the talking. 

I wanted to revel in the show, sadly I didn't. 

Funkfingers

Saw some of it during transmission. The rest had to be entrusted to my video recorder. 

The obvious problem with a television programme drawing on music up to forty five years old is that many of the people from whom we might wish to have heard are, ahem, unavailable for comment. That leaves rather too many luvvies, reminiscing on careers that peaked thirty years ago. 

Enjoyed Thommo. (Quelle surprise!)

AlexC said:

a one off OGWT supergroup.

I realise that you jest but, in a way, you are right. 

Proceedings might have been more interesting if the show had borrowed an idea from Spectacle by having unexpected combinations of musicians and singers performing together. An opportunity missed.

KKJale

^ I love pedal steel and do a bit myself but that guy must've had a monitor problem as he was playing horribly sharp.  

Frampton fairly dull with bolted-on Djangoisms and poor voice. Kiki so-so, new song had something and her collaborator had some neat subtle loopage. Numan actually quite entertaining...  Albert Lee, I know Highwayman is an old party turn of his but he ain't Jimmy Webb and Country Boy should be buried for good. 

As above, liked the OGWT history/film stuff and could have clobbered Danny Baker, the fecking plonker. IMO Whisperin' Bob is still a deceptively skilled interviewer. 

Funny how RT looked like a poor litte wizened puppet on the sofa and magically expanded to gigantic proportions behind the mic. Marvellous. 

RobDavies

Was like an old boy's school reunion - and thus actually pretty dull. 

Annie Nightingale got a four minute voiceover slot which is criminal when you consider how many episodes she actually presented.  Apparently she did ask to co host but Bob and the Beeb said no, which is is incredible when you think about the current climate. 

I thought Gary Numan'a daughter was the highlight of the 90 mins that I saw... what an incredible experience for someone so young. 

Then I turned off soon after Otway. 

Alvin

  The other post on this , the first two mentions are for Rory Gallagher and John Martyn , both very popular then and clearly still now. Obviously you couldn't have them on live but surely both deserved a proper performance showing ?
      I am not a particular fan of Gary Numan as i don't rate him as a singer but i thought he was great , he does that industrial "thick sound" thing very well  and his voice works within his sound . His daughter is 11 and she was fantastic . 
   The show that was on after just showed the usual clips they play on TOTP2 all the time ,why didn't they play some of the lesser known ones .   Wilko Johnson would have been good (not the Feelgood clips) i have never seen his performances in full from ogwt .
   It was well worth watching but i just feel they missed an opportunity to show the lesser known stuff ..

pmg

Recorded it but haven’t watched it yet.  Seems I’ve series linked it and recorded a old grey whistle test 70s gold programme of archive footage which was superb

proggy

The worst part for me was hearing Peter Frampton's transatlantic accent.

Philly_Q

I've just watched the whole thing on iPlayer.  It was all a bit polite - including the live music - and they wasted far too much time on largely irrelevant chat with awkwardly-matched duos and trios of interviewees, but I I enjoyed it more than I expected to.

Macca_25387

I thoroughly enjoyed it, Archive clips could have been a bit longer, but I imagine they just wanted to get as much in as possible. Thought the live acts were decent too especially Gary Numan and the female trio (clearly that good I’ve forgotten thier name) I do like Dannny Bakers passion for things he loves, even if he does go on a bit too much. 

Philly_Q

Macca_25387 said:

Thought the live acts were decent too especially Gary Numan and the female trio (clearly that good I’ve forgotten thier name)

Wildwood Kin. 

I liked them too.  I was all set to fast forward after the previous drippy performances by Kiki Dee and Peter Frampton, but I started watching (can't deny their looks played a part) and I was drawn in by the folky harmony vocals. 

I'll have a listen to their album later.  I suspect it may bland me out after a few tracks, but who knows.

Jalapeno

Sounds like Jools' Later is pretty safe then

bacchanalian

Was only able to dip in and out but will catch up later. Some of the clips like the trampled underfoot whisked me straight back to child hood. OGWT was at least partly responsible for forming my musical taste. A lot of the bands I still love were first seen on the Whistle Test. Given the avalanche of content available now and lack of any way to record back then it is easy to forget the thrill of seeing, Keef, Neil Young or Zeppelin on TV. 
Great viewing for gear spotters. Who was that in Lynyrd Skynyrd using a Derek Trucks signature SG.