Customer Reviews

The Midnight Special: Million Sellers

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Million Sellers:

Roy Orbison: Pretty Woman
Fleetwood Mac: Rhiannon
Peter Frampton: Baby I Love Your Ways
John Denver & Mama Cass Elliot: Leaving On A Jet Plane
Bee Gees: Jive Talking
Linda Ronstadt: You're No Good
The Guess Who: American Woman
Al Green: Let's Stay Together
Aretha Franklin: Respect
David Bowie: Space Oddity
Blondie: Heart Of Glass
Labelle: Lady Marmalade
Steve Miller Band: The Joker
Billy Joel: Traveling Preacher
Donna Summer: Last Dance

I have been wondering when these Midnight Special DVDs were going to start showing up used here on Amazon. I remember watching this show while growing up, along with Don Kirshner and, later, Nightflight and After Hours. The MS producers have quite a few DVDs out so far, 2 for each year 1973-1980! One with the year and one called "More" with the same year. Of course some are far better than others and I am not going to review every single one but will probably, eventually, post for the ones I think are the best.

There's some truly amazing stuff on some of them! The usual suspects are all here (Fleetwood Mac, The Doobie Brothers, Heart, The Ohio Players and The Brothers Johnson from the mid-70s are priceless!!) AND.... ....Imagine the original line-up of Edgar Winter's White Trash doing a 12 minute improv of the classic Frankenstein!! Edgar plays keyboards, sax and drums at various times and Ronnie Montrose is so young he looks like a teenager!!

Also, not only "Show me the way" but Frampton's classic "Do you feel like we do" - And not the usual castrated version we used to see on TV either!! The full-blown 12-15 minute version that's on his classic Comes Alive album. Probably recorded around the same time too considering it's on the "More 1975" volume.

Great stuff though I was initially wary of the price (originally $43 for 2 discs including shipping). But, in hindsight, that probably wasn't so bad considering what people are wanting for some of these used copies!!! And I do see the 1st 2 discs they sent me on here; "Million sellers" and an all Comedy disc. The individual years began after that, again, 2 at a time.

The bottom line is they are MUST HAVES for fans of ANY genre of 70s music, these discs are that good and all are remastered in 5.1 too boot!! As a bonus each disc also has 2 stand-up comedian clips - that's right - people like Pryor, Carlin and many, many others in their prime!

Enjoy!!

Watching the live 1970s TV performances that I missed in my early 20s, (didnt go to concerts either) only enhanced my enjoyment of this album. Most of the artists were my age then,yet I was aware that their talent represented breakthrough music for a new generation, space exploration, and the new transience of relationships . What stands out were the performances of David Bowie in his Alladin Sane phase, the steve miller band, Blondie, Donna Summer, Fleetwood Mac, Linda Ronstadt, Peter Frampton and Al Green. The performers were in the prime of their youth performing their million dollar sellers with their original musicians or duet partners as with David Bowie or Peter Frampton and their own original lyrics. They seemed fresh, and their voices were confident. They had fun being with so many other acts on the same night and the audience was small enough to be intimate. They were on a par with seeing Elton John live with a great band 1 1/2 years ago at MSG for a Katrina benefit.The great camera angles caught the light in their eyes and their smiles as though I had a front row seat.

If you buy no other Burt Sugarman's "The Midnight Special" show let it be THE MIDNIGHT SPECIAL: MILLION SELLERS DVD! This DVD is packed with performances by the original artists and as the title says these were the B-I-G hits of the 70s.

You get to see live performances of The Guess Who? doing "American Woman," Roy Orbison doing "Pretty Woman," Aretha Franklin doing "Respect," OK so some songs didn't originate in the 70s, but still, you get wonderful live performances that are priceless!

Other stand out performances include Labelle doing "Lady Marmalade," complete with their silver space outfits on, Blondie doing "Heart Of Glass," and Donna Summer performing "Last Dance," which includes the star talking about her upcoming film Thank God It's Friday.

Unlike some other collections that feature many of the performers lip synching (like "Soul Train") or have the performers doing their hits, but filmed in the present day, MIDNIGHT SPECIAL: MILLION SELLERS captures the artists as they were: talented, gifted, and dynamic! Also, these are the complete performance of the song, so it isn't just clips.

The one thing that's annoying is that you have to watch the credits after each number because these performances were taken from various shows, but there's a "play-all" feature or just "performance" selection.

For those of us who were too young to remember or watch this show, I recommend buying this DVD! Especially if you like retro music! And this was when a person became famous for having talent, not like today where anyone can be famous for nothing.

This is real nestalgic. A perfect conversation thing to throw in and talk with old friends and family about the days this music was popular...BUT STILL ROCKING!!!

This DVD along with the rest of Midnight Special series DVDs are the best for the quality and variety of the guest singers and musical groups it contains. I am very happy with that in my collection.

This is a lot of fun. The sound quality is really good and it contains the best version of Rhiannon that I've ever seen.

This product's cover was in terrible condition, and not really worth the money I paid for it.