This week, The Kipper continues his adventures into the dusty BBC vaults with Volume 2 of The Old Grey Whistle Test. Volume 1 featured the original hosts' favorite performances, and it was a very good collection, but this collection seems to follow a different route. It's a nice mix of budding artists--some of which became mighty oaks, and more than a few that never made it past the sprout stage. It's a collection that's a bit much on the mellow side for my tastes, but there's still some notable appearances on this disc.

Heads Hands and Feet--"Warming Up the Band" (1971): I know, I've never heard of them either. They were a pre-Eagles country rock band, and the only memorable thing here is that guitarist Albert Lee was a member.
Roxy Music--"Ladytron" (1972): Once again, one of my favorite bands performs to pre-recorded music. This is a song from their first album and is their first appearance on the show. Notes from the DVD indicate that host Bob Harris hated this band because "they were arrogant", and their appearance on the show caused a rift in the Whistle Test office.
Loggins & Messina--"House on Pooh Corner" (1972): I'd heard about this song, but never actually heard it until now. It was supposedly a psychedelic, metaphorical song...but all I see here is a couple of young hippies singing a silly children's song. While it is certainly possible to take juvenile subject matter and make it into psychedelic parable (Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit", or even Carole King's "Porpoise Song"), this is just a song about Winnie the Pooh and nothing more. Loggins went on to make more silly songs, which I avoided, but I'll admit I did buy a Messina album in '79.
The Who--"Relay" (1973): A very obscure song, dropped by the band after a change of course in the Lifehouse project. Sadly, they perform to pre-recorded music, which gives Keith Moon a bit too much time to mug for the cameras. I suppose the necessary inclusion of the synth rhythm track prevented the band from actually performing this one live, although they later worked out a way to use synth tapes onstage.
Judee Sill--"The Kiss" (1973): This strange, piano-playing waif seemed to be a favorite on the show for some reason, but this performance reminds me of a high school talent show. She supposedly disliked appearing on the show because she hated being around rock musicians, and her Christian-themed music (her "Jesus Was a Cross Maker" was later recorded by other artists) seemed to set her apart from her contemporaries. Ironically, she died of a drug overdose in '79, so she might be Up There with Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison right now.
Argent--"God Gave Rock n Roll to You" (1973): Despite the title, it's not a Christian-rock song that Judee Sill might approve of. It's a tedious, sing-songy work that features a good bit of stolen Bach in the musical interlude. It's hard to believe that Rod Argent was a member of The Zombies, crafting such hits as "Time of the Season" and "She's Not There"...what happened?
Average White Band--"Put It Where You Want It" (1973): Funky, soulful band made up of--you guessed it--a bunch of white boys. The Doobie Brothers later made a career of this joke. This kind of music doesn't interest me in the least.
Jim Croce--"Bad Bad Leroy Brown" (1973): I never cared too much for Croce, but this is a fine performance. Croce really had charisma and a confidence that reaches through this video, despite the years. The guitar player that jams here with Croce also died in the plane crash that killed Croce.
New York Dolls--"Jetboy" (1973): This band supposedly created the niche that inspired the coming punk movement that included the Sex Pistols and Clash. But here, the Dolls seem like a bunch of Rolling Stones imitators, so I wonder about that whole thing. This particular song is pretty much a ragged remake of "Born to be Wild".
Tim Buckley--"Dolphins" (1974): Another mellow artist who died before his time, and maybe I sense a running theme in this collection. This performance reminds me of B.J. Thomas. No disrespect intended, but I'm really going through the coffee to make it through this disc.
Montrose--"Bad Motor Scooter" (1974): Notable because a young Sammy Hagar is the lead singer, it's just formula rock made common by bands such as Bad Company. It's not even good when compared to the mellow songs that were putting me to sleep earlier.

Bruce Johnston--"Disney Girls" (1975): Yep, this guy was in the Beach Boys, and he also won a Grammy for writing Barry Manilow's "I Write the Songs". But this creepy remake of "American Pie" is so long and tedious that host Bob Harris falls asleep behind him. No kidding, check out the photo. The host has fallen asleep!
Nils Lofgren--"Goin' Back" (1975): Lofgren is probably best known for being in Bruce Springsteen's band, and he was even in Neil Young's band for a while. But, he was always known as an acrobatic guitar player, not a piano-playing singer as he is here. I gotta tell you folks, he's an amazing piano player...check this video out online, if you can find it. It's worth it, as his style is very fresh and unique. He does a fine job singing this Carole King song as well, and the whole thing comes across as something that Paul Simon would be proud of. '70s mellow rock that I endorse...believe it or not!
Hall & Oates--"She's Gone" (1976): On the other hand, steer clear of this white-soul junk. I'll admit I owned a Hall and Oates album for a brief time, and I honestly don't know what happened to it.
Joan Armatrading--"Love & Affection" (1976): A great voice and an excellent guitar player. She intentionally avoided the spotlight and refused to let the critics (or audience) take her jazz-soul music too seriously. I respect her anti-diva attitude.
The Adverts--"Bored Teenagers" (1978.): One of the first punk bands to appear on the show. They pretty much sound like the early Jam.
Patti Smith Group--"Because The Night" (1978.): At the time, I wasn't sure what to think when the skanky Patti Smith had a hit with a Springsteen song. It didn't some right when this song appeared on her Easter album. Watching this clip, this punk queen seems so mainstream, like Natalie Merchant. I never bought another Patti Smith album after this song was released, although I enjoyed her later work with the Blue Oyster Cult and R.E.M. If you want to know the real Patti Smith, watch the last episode of Millennium's Season 2...they use the entire "Horses" song in the episode.

Meat Loaf--"Paradise by the Dashboard Light" (1979): This is a great live performance of the song, and notable because it almost caused the show to be permanently removed from the airwaves. Mr. Loaf behaved "in a lewd manner" and used "swear words" (yes, he dropped the f-bomb on live television!) I otherwise never cared for this over-dramatic stuff. But it's funny that it caused a big stir across the pond.

Siouxsie and the Banshees--"Metal Postcards" (1979): A real cult band that never really went anywhere. Siousxie's goth-look had a more lasting effect among the masses when Robert Smith of The Cure decided to adopt it for the rest of his career, and Smith has likewise been copied over the years by many others.
The Undertones--"Jimmy Jimmy" (1979): A lot of Brit punk bands seemed to get worked up by some dude named either Jimmy or Rudy. I don't get it.
Squeeze--"Slap and Tickle" (1979): I always considered them a joke band that sounded a little bit like Blondie...but they didn't have Debbie Harry, so what was the point?
Orchestral Manoeuvers in the Dark--"Dancing" (1980): This band had some sappy hits ("If You Leave" from Pretty In Pink, for example), but I bought their CDs for the experimental synth songs like this one.
Aztec Camera--"Walk Out to Winter" (1983): A band with more of a reputation than an actual catalogue of good songs. The Whistle Test crew seemed more intrigued by the band's computer controller than the band itself.
Thomas Dolby--"Hyperactive" (1984): Probably not as well-known as "She Blinded Me With Science", but I think a better song. A really good, live performance here of a difficult and complicated tune....trombone and all.
Style Council--"Walls Come Tumbling Down" (1985): I never bought any of Paul Weller's work after he left the Jam, but it's not bad or anything. Postmodern Motown, cool.
Suzanne Vega--"Marlene on the Wall" (1985): Vega never got the recognition she deserved as a performer and songwriter. Her 99.9 album remains in my CD player's rotation, but I read somewhere that the CD is no longer even in print. She had a unique way of blending her folk and jazz influences into something a lot of other female artists have copied and taken to the bank. Which is a shame, because Vega has been a consistant talent through her entire career, but remains pretty much unknown except for "Luka".
John Peel--"Skiffle Jam" (1985): This was kind of a joke thing on the show, with homemade instruments. To prove that anyone can play skiffle music. Thanks for the lesson.
Simply Red--"Holding Back the Years" (1985): How did you know I would say that's it's too mellow for me?
Prefab Sprout--"When Love Breaks Down" (1985): I would think that any band named after a line in a Nancy Sinatra song would be cool. Forget it. I still hear this song on mellow-rock stations to this day.
The Pogues--"Dirty Old Town" (1986): This Celtic folk rock stuff must be the Brit equivalent of Southern Rock, but they manage to cram even more family members into the band. I couldn't count how people were on stage to play this simple little ditty...let's see, there's the banjo player....there's the guy playing the thing that looks like a bagpipe...there a guy playing the thing that looks like a flute....there's the guy that....oh, never mind.

Well, that's it for Volume 2. Overall, a much weaker set than Volume 1, but the DVD itself is still good entertainment, with the usual extras of commentaries, notes, and even subtitled with the song lyrics. The excitement of Volume 3, the final volume, is just around the corner. I'll buy some more coffee.

Thanks for reading!