Last Friday, I received the three "Best Of The Midnight Special" DVDs that I ordered and I have been loving them. I bought 1977, 1978, and 1979.

Any fans of this show?

I bought those DVDs several years ago.I have about a dozen or so of these DVDs

Who's on them? Wolfman Jack was the Shit . I would sneak to stay Up and watch even though Under-age.

I ordered them a few years ago off TV. They'd send 2 DVDs every month or so. I'm not certain whether or not they sent me the entire set, though. The DVDs are priceless time capsules. I love them! However, if you watch the DVDs in chronological order you will bear witness to the start of the decline of the art of live musicianship/showmanship. Starting around 1979, the once large concert stage is replaced by a smaller performance set. And then the disinterested lipsyncing/miming to the record became the show's norm. The band/singer, who was once the camera's focus, suddenly becomes incidental to the prancing about of the tweeked out crowd. The beginning of the end...documented in living color. Whatever troubles the music industry is in today [that they love so much to blame on the consumer instead of dealing with the real problem]...they did it to themselves.

I used to watch this show faithfully back in the day and loved it and Wolfman Jack. The infomercial is SO tempting, but so far the DVDs have just been too expensive (not that they're charging too much, just that I can't afford them right now ). I've looked at the infomercial several times and it brings back such memories!

The Midnight Special infomerical

Diana Ross performing "Love Hangover" on The Midnight Special in 1976


this performance is over-the-top,but you gotta love it

therevolutionwillnotbe said:

Yeah,I also ordered them several years ago.I was receiving two DVDs each month.I have about a dozen or so DVDs...not sure if this is the entire set,but they never sent me anymore after that.A few of these,I haven't even watched yet!

I remember staying up to watch Gene Chandler do "Get Down". I fell asleep before it started and then I woke up just in time to catch the last minute or so. I was kinda bummed that I missed most of his performance...at least I caught the ending.

The infomercial is what tempted me also. It says you can't buy them anywhere else but you can. Just do what I did. I went to Amazon and they are selling each one separately. I paid about $12 each for two of them. I bought a third one for about $6 at one of the vendors in Amazon.

On the three I bought, they have a wide variety of artists such as Chic, Rick James, Yvonne Elliman, Ambrosia, Nick Gilder, AC/DC, Andy Gibb, Eddie Money, The Cars, Leo Sayer, Hall and Oates, Blondie, Amii Stewart, The Pointer Sisters, Dolly Parton, The Charlie Daniels Band, etc.

I remember you did a thread on it when the infomercial first started airing. I wanted to buy them at that time also but I didn't want to buy the entire set.
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[Edited 3/25/09 14:42pm]

I just counted all my Midnight Special DVDs.I have a total of 16

vainandy said:

Thanks for the info, vainandy. I'll check at Amazon. They usually have everything!

SoulAlive said:

YES!!! Pre-lip-synching glorious talent!

noimageatall said:

I like when Diana lets the guy sing,and then she mimics his bland delivery

SoulAlive said:

Yeah...he was not excited at all. He's up there bumpin' with Di and that's all the enthusiasm he can muster?

SoulAlive said:

My favorite televised Diana Ross moment!

I also loved it when she mocked that tired ass dude. You don't sing like that while "The Diva" holds court, fool.

George Benson and Carlos Santana performing "Breezin" on the Midnight Special in 1976

Got em

Timmy84 said:

Shango said:

Kool Clips! check out Sheila E. trading places with Ndugu on the Drum Kit in the George Duke segment...

Y'know every time we do a list on basslines , I alwys forget Byron Miller's classic bass solo on "Reach For It" .....





...

paligap said:

... back in the day i used to think for awhile that Byron was Marcus' brother And there's more wild stuff around that era which he recorded with George.
Some complex lines on George's album "From Me To You". I partly dig Byron's solo-output around the 90's, including that track going something like "Got to make it right...lay it on the line".
[Edited 3/26/09 13:26pm]

vainandy said:

That's what I love about the Midnight Special....it features artists from all genres.One minute you will be watching AC/DC,then the next minute,Donna Summer is onstage performing The show truly reflected the diversity of pop music in the 70s.