I read recently that a Midnight Special DVD has been released. I know that Rare Earth performed three times on the show. Can anyone enlighten me about the DVD? Is it part of a planned series? Is Rare Earth featured, or likely to feature in the future? A difficult question I suppose, unless someone has inside knowledge
I found a website that gave details of all the episodes and who appeared plus the songs they performed. On Rare Earth's 3rd appearance (Episode 54 in Feb 74) they performed "Big John Is My Name", "Born To Wander" and "Don't Fight It". I don't recognise the latter. Can anyone shed any light?
Having seen the videos on the site mentioned in a recent thread, the band look even better than I imagined and I'd love to get hold of some old footage so I can watch it on TV. As I've said before, I got hooked on the band in 1971 but being based in England I never got the chance to see them in concert. A Midnight Special DVD might offer a chance of seeing the classic line-up at long last.
Dave: There was a brilliant book published in 1997 by VH1 Books called "The Midnight Special 1972-1981" by B R Hunter. It lists all the episodes and who played what song etc, plus a year by year account of the programme with quotes from producers etc, and there are loads of great full colour photographs( none of R.E. I am sorry to say). I can't recomend the book highly enough. I bought it mainly to see how many times Rare Earth appeared on the show, but I use it to check out loads of other bands that I am into and what they did on the show.
I have no idea if the book is still inprint, I got my copy when it first came out.
With regards to "Don't Fight it" perhaps Gil or Ray can answer that one.
Thanks Richard. The book sounds good...apart from the lack of RE photos!
My second favourite band was Argent and apparently they performed on the very first pilot episode of Midnight Special. Here in the UK the good old BBC has wiped or lost a lot of those early 70s Top of the Pops archive appearances which is a great shame. They have however, released three or four DVDs featuring bands that appeared on the Old Grey Whistle Test which, I assume, was closer to the style of Midnight Special than TOTP which was a chart show. I know all three shows featured lip syncing but am I correct in saying Rare Earth insisted on performing live?
I look forward to someone (Ray to the rescue...again?) commenting on "Don't Fight It". There's always the possibility that the info on the website is incorrect of course.
"DON'T FIGHT IT..FEEL IT",WAS WRITTEN BY STEVE CROPPER AND WILSON PICKETT.IT WAS A SONG WE LIKED AND HAD WORKED UP A VERSION.I'M NOT SURE IF WE HAD RECORDED IT OR NOT.AS YOU KNOW,WE BROKE UP IN 74.THAT SONG WOULD HAVE VERY WELL BEEN ON THE NEXT ALBUM.
HOPEFULLY,WE'LL BE ON ONE OF THE NEW MIDNIGHT SPECIAL RELEASES.VH1 SHOWED SOME OF THE FOOTAGE A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO,AT LEAST IN THE STATES.THEY SHOWED "CELEBRATE" SEVERAL TIMES.THAT WAS PROBABLY FROM THE VERY FIRST SHOW.
WHEN WE DID THE FIRST SHOW THEY WANTED ALL THE ACTS TO LIPSYNC.EVERYONE ELSE ON THE SHOW AGREED.WE DIDN'T.WE PRETTY MUCH FORCED THEM TO LET US DO IT LIVE.BUT...ONCE THEY ACCEPTED IT,THEY WERE GETTING OFF ON IT.THE FUNNIEST PART WAS TO SEE THE TECH CREW SCRAMBLING TO FIND GEAR AND EVEN ENOUGH MICS TO PULL IT OFF.
AFTER THAT,THEY WERE SET UP TO DO ANYONE LIVE THAT WANTED TOO.
Hopefully Celebrate will make it to DVD. Although not a hit in the UK, I'm aware its been used in films and adverts. Glenn Hughes (ex Deep Purple and Trapeze) covered it on one of his recent albums. He obviously loves the song and I wonder whether that arises from him touring recently with Peter Hoorelbeke on the classic voices of rock tour or if it goes right back to the California Jam in '74 when Rare Earth and Purple featured on the bill?
peter has a version of "Don't Fight it" on the 1st HUB album......i e-mailed pete on the same thing..he says that don't fight was supposed to be on the frank wilson sessions....he says they never recorded the song and he could not remember if they played the song on midnight special......fyi
There is a tape of Dont Fight It by Rare Earth in the vaults according to documented records. How complete it is is another matter! It probably would have been part of the Frank Wilson sessions.
