Midnight Special

Mikey · Post by **Mikey** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 7:45 pm

For all of you non-old-fucks, this was a show that was on weekly (I think Friday nights) in the 70s and early 80s for an hour and a half, and featured live performances by most of the top music and comedy acts of the time. All genres - rock, soul, R&B, disco, etc. I remember it as being hosted by Wolfman Jack most of the time. Anyhow, these were all live, in studio performances and not lip-synchs or other bullshit. Used to stay up every week to watch this show if not out carousing.

Now, I've never in my life bought anything from an infomercial, but I saw the pitch for these Midnight Special DVDs on Saturday. Looked like some pretty good music. It's one of those subscription things where you buy the first for $9.95 and then you get another one or two every month and you can buy it for $19.95 or send it back. I don't like the subscription dealio so I went to the website and found that you can order the whole 10 DVD set for $120.00 + S&H.

Found a thread on an IMDb board talking about this deal. The main drawback is that, though the songs are complete and uncut, they only show single (mostly hit) songs and not the entire performance by any band. No intros or between song banter either. But still, it seems like a pretty good archive of this "old" music, so I went ahead and ordered the whole set. It may be crap, but worth the gamble IMO.

Here's a partial list of performances, mostly from the first three DVDs, posted on the IMDb board:

Million Sellers:

1. Roy Orbison - Oh, Pretty Woman
2. Fleetwood Mac - Rhiannon
3. Peter Frampton - Baby, I love Your Way
4. John Denver & Cass Elliot - Leaving On A Jet Plane
5. Bee Gees - Jive Talkin'
6. Linda Ronstadt - You're No Good
7. Guess Who - American Woman (without the Bachmans, mainly Burton Cummings)
8. Al Green - Let's Stay Together
9. Aretha Franklin - Respect
10. David Bowie - Space Oddity
11. Blondie - Heart Of Glass
12. Labelle - Lady Marmalade
13. Steve Miller Band - The Joker
14. Billy Joel - Travelin' Prayer
15. Donna Summer - Last Dance
Bonus - 5 to 6 minute (each), stand-up comedy skits from Richard Pryor & Steve Martin.

1973:

1. Doobie Brothers - Listen To The Music
2. Billy Preston - Will It Go Round In Circles
3. Jim Croce - Bad, Bad Leroy Brown
4. Gladys Knight & The Pips - Neither One Of Us (Wants To Be The First To Say Goodbye)
5. T-Rex - Bang-A-Gong (Get It On)
6. Loggins & Messina - Your Mama Don't Dance
7. Linda Ronstadt - Long, Long Time
8. Argent - Hold Your Head Up
9. Helen Reddy - Delta Dawn
10. Steely Dan - Reelin' In The Years
11. Johnny Nash - I Can See Clearly Now
12. Seals & Crofts - Summer Breeze
13. Anne Murray - Danny's Song
14. War - The Cisco Kid
15. Edgar Winter - Frankenstein
Bonus - stand-up comedy from George Carlin & Robert Klein (also 5 to 6 minutes each).

1974:

1. Ike & Tina Turner - Proud Mary
2. Barry White - Can't Get Enough Of Your Love, Babe
3. Sly & The Family Stone - Thank You (Falletinme Be Mice Elf Agin)
4. David Essex - Rock On
5. The O'Jays - Love Train
6. Marvin Gaye - Let's Get It On
7. Golden Earring - Radar Love
8. Bill Withers - Ain't No Sunshine
9. James Brown - The Payback - Part 1
10. Gordon Lightfoot - Sundown
11. Gladys Knight & B.B. King - The Thrill Is Gone
12. Maria Muldaur - Midnight At The Oasis
13. Neil Sedaka - Laughter In The Rain
14. Redbone - Come And Get Your Love
15. Aerosmith - The Train Kept A Rollin'
Bonus - comedy from Freddie Prinze & David Brenner

Highlights from 1975 include Rod Stewart (You Wear It Well) and Kiss (Black Diamond). Frampton and Helen Reddy appear again. Also, Minnie Ripperton (Lovin' You) and Ohio Players (Love Rollercoaster) have good performances.

Highlights from 1976 are Elton John (Your Song), Fleetwood Mac (Over My Head) and Heart (Magic Man). 1977 has Manfred Mann (Blinded By The Light), Heart (Crazy On You) and Van Morrison (Domino). 1978 has The Cars (Just What I Needed), Tom Petty (American Girl), AC/DC (Sin City) and REO Speedwagon (Roll With The Changes). They all have more disco and top 40/AM tunes on them as well as 2 stand-up comedy skits each.

Mike the Lab Rat · Post by **Mike the Lab Rat** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 8:13 pm

Saw the ad on TV and was intrigued, since I remember and loved that show from my youth. Thought about it for a sec and realized that at this point in my life, it'd be yet another DVD collection that I didn't have time to watch until my kids got older (or if I decided to start staying up later...).

I'm waiting for the "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert" collection on DVD. THAT would kick ass.

War Wagon · Post by **War Wagon** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 8:41 pm

Mike the Lab Rat wrote: I'm waiting for the "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert" collection on DVD. THAT would kick ass.

Hell Yes.

Made The Midnight Special seem like teeny bopper music.

Mikey · Post by **Mikey** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 8:51 pm

Teeny bopper music?

Gawd you're an idiot. Both shows had fairly similar performer lists. Both were great shows, maybe a somewhat different format. The main difference is that now one is at least partly available on DVD and one isn't.

BTW, before starting up the Rock Concert series, Don Kirshner was mainly known as the manager of the Monkees, and producing the TV show The Archies.

teeny bopper music?

War Wagon · Post by **War Wagon** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 9:05 pm

You're the guy who upped $120 bucks for some shitty CD's.

Who's the idiot?

Mikey · Post by **Mikey** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 9:38 pm

Unlike you (obviously) I can afford it.

And who says they're shitty?

(I also know the difference between a CD and a DVD. 21st century yet, Elmer?)

War Wagon · Post by **War Wagon** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 12:45 am

Mikey wrote: And who says they're shitty?

Just a knee jerk smack re-action to being called an idiot there, Mikey. Didn't mean to get in a pissing match with you. Hell, I hope you enjoy the CD's.

I watched both shows back in the day, well before MTV was gleam in cable TV's eye. Just sayin' I liked Kirshners Rock concert better. Even you'll have to admit that Midnight Special had some pretty lame stuff, especially towards the end of their run which not coincidentally happened with the arrival of Disco madness.

Ah yes, back in the day when we had three, count 'em 3 whole VHF TV channels... LabRat jarred a good memory from me. If'n I amember correctly, MS was on the NBC station and RC was on CBS just an hour or so later. Used to stay up and couldn't wait for the latter.

Mikey · Post by **Mikey** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 2:33 am

Yeah, I liked Rock Concert better too to tell you the truth. But sometimes you gotta take what you can get...

Kirshner made for better parody on the old SNL too for that matter.

Was either of those shows simulcast on FM radio (remember that word...before there was stereo TV)? I seem to remember that at least one, probably RC was.

RadioFan · Post by **RadioFan** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 3:01 am

Mike the Lab Rat wrote:I'm waiting for the "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert" collection on DVD. THAT would kick ass.

PM KatMode, she might be able to direct you to a site that, shall we say, allows some "interacting."

As for the MS ... saw it as a kid and thought it freaking ruled. No way I'm paying $120 for it, though.