VARIOUS : The Old Grey Whistle Test 40th Anniversary

Jun 5 2011 by Paul Cole, Sunday Mercury

IT was once the coolest show on the box. The Old Grey Whistle Test was the moment of the week you waited for, a chance to see real music rather than the rubbish on Top Of The Pops.

The BBC2 show ran between 1971 and 1987, hosted most famously by whispering Bob Harris.

Like everything, it had a sell-by date. The show was first parodied, then ridiculed and finally dismissed as irrelevant. Only now has its reputation been restored.

Cue a 40th anniversary triple-CD set compiled by Harris, with two albums worth of studio originals and a third featuring rarely heard live sessions from the OGWT glory years.

From the Midlands comes Led Zeppelin, represented by the Physical Graffiti stomp of Trampled Underfoot. Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant is back Burning Down One Side. Then there’s Thin Lizzy’s breakthrough Whiskey In The Jar, with West Bromwich-born Phil Lynott in fine voice.

The Moody Blues, born in Birmingham, offer fan favourite I’m Just A Singer (In A Rock & Roll Band).

Add to that Bad Company’s Feel Like Makin’ Love – powered by Midland guitar hero Mick Ralphs – and adopted Brummie Joan Armatrading’s Love & Affection, captured live on the Whistle Test stage.

Elsewhere, the setlist reads like a who’s who of classic rock. From this side of the pond are lined up David Bowie, The Who, Rod Stewart, Free, Eric Clapton, Elton John, Fleetwood Mac, Yes and more.

The States weigh in with Bob Dylan, Foreigner, Lynyrd Skynyrd, ZZ Top, Talking Heads, the Allman Brothers, Little Feat, The Ramones, Steppenwolf, Chicago, New York Dolls, Blondie and others.

And the rest of Europe? Well, Focus and Golden Earring just squeeze in under the fence. But it’s the rare live recordings that excite most interest.

It opens with John Lennon’s jangly cover of Ben E King’s Stand By Me, during which the former Beatle whoops with delight, shares an aside with young son Julian, and sends greetings from New York.

Alice Cooper’s Under My Wheels is a reminder that he was a class act before he descended into parody; Little Feat’s Rock & Roll Doctor a showcase for the late Lowell George’s guitar subtlety.

With 54 tracks in total, this is a rock and roll time machine. PC