Classic Rock Musings, Rants & Raves

Since the advent of the DVD, a lot of incredible music video has boiled to the surface. Classic rock artists who used to hide under the table, avoiding the cameras, are now trotting out their latest concerts on DVD. With a killer 5.1 surround system, my collection of live concert DVDs is out of control. Still, the one thing I’ve noticed is the shortage of vintage footage available.

In 2005, Robin Trower released a DVD in 5.1 with a 16:9 high definition picture. Sure, it’s a feast for the eyes and ears, but I’d rather see something from 1974. I know the video and audio won’t be nearly as nice, yet that’s a sacrifice you make when you’re after classic footage by artists in their prime.

Because of my desire to see film of my favorite groups at the peak, I find myself either torrenting homemade DVDs taken from old analog video sources or clicking over to YouTube, which is overflowing with the kind of footage my friends and I talk about.

Yeah, I have a couple of buddies who are as crazy for this kind of stuff as I am. We’re all avid music collectors, and while we’re viewing a clip of say, Heart doing “Crazy On You” from 1976, we’ll contrive a contest to see who can find the entire show. Many times, after a few months, a show will turn up. Even ragged clips from tours behind Pink Floyd’s Animals, Genesis’ The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, and Jethro Tull’s A Passion Play — stuff no one besides the audiences have seen — have been cut and pasted together by a gaggle of hearty souls with highly developed technical skills and loads of spare time. Hard to believe there’s still a few missing links we need to fill in.

So while it’s great ZZ Top has a new concert DVD with a beautiful picture, awesome sound, and lots of extras, some of us would prefer a show from the 70s or 80s when the group was at the top of their game. Check out the five performance clips below and tell me you wouldn’t want to have a DVD of the whole show. I know I would.

ZZ Top - La Grange (1980)

Robin Trower – Bridge of Sighs (1974)

Foghat - Slow Ride (1978)

Kansas – Icarus (1975)

Jethro Tull – Minstrel In The Gallery (1976)