The Bee Gees & Friends - The Midnight Special, NBC Studios, Burbank, CA, 8-10-1973

Here's a full episode of the "Midnight Special" TV show. It was a rare episode with a theme, with the theme being a focus on British Invasion bands that were big around 1964. The Bee Gees were the hosts, but their role was less than usual, since there also were performances from Herman's Hermits, Gerry & the Pacemakers, Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders, the Hollies, the Searchers, Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas.

For some reason, the Midnight Special TV show really liked the Bee Gees in 1973, even though their popularity was near a relative low point around that time. They hosted the show four times that year, and made additional appearances on top of that! I plan on turning that into four albums, with this one being the first to get posted. 

Generally speaking with these Midnight Special albums, I cut them down to just the host act and maybe one more, because I want them to stay musically consistent. But if the show has a musical theme, like this one does, I have no problem posting the whole thing. That's what I did here. However, there still are some cuts. For instance, I removed a section where the musical acts on the next episode are all named. I also did a lot of editing to get rid of the commercial breaks, usually smoothing them over with extra applause. 

This must have been one of the first mass media instances of a British Invasion revival, since it had been less than ten years since the "Invasion" actually happened. Unfortunately, show business is an unforgiving business, and most of the acts on this show were far from the singles charts in 1973. The only exceptions were the Bee Gees, though as mentioned above 1973 was a slow year for them, and the Hollies, who'd had a big hit with "Long Cool Woman (In a Black Dress)" in 1972, and Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits, who had some success with a solo career in the early 1970s. 

By the way, note that "Long Cool Woman" was co-written by Allan Clarke of the Hollies, who also was the lead singer on it. He left the Hollies in 1971, and rejoined in July 1973. But the lead singer seen and heard in this episode is band member Terry Sylvester. So this episode must have been filmed shortly before Clarke rejoined the Hollies. (Unfortunately, for virtually all the Midnight Special episodes, I only know the broadcast date, not the actual recording date, which I always prefer.)

Performing for this show must have been a bit strange for most of the musical acts here. It hadn't been that many years since they had been big stars, and they basically looked and sounded the same as before. But other than rare short appearances like this show, most of them must have been touring supper clubs, on an oldies circuit. But kudos to this show for giving them a national TV platform like this, when their probably wasn't a big call for it.

Musically, I think the highlight has to be a long medley of Beatles songs performed by the Bee Gees in the middle of the show: "If I Fell," "I Need You," "I'll Be Back," "This Boy," and "She Loves You." If you're a Bee Gees fan, it's worth getting this just for that medley. They never put any such medley on an album. 

This album is an hour and two minutes long. 

01 talk by Wolfman Jack (Bee Gees)
02 New York Mining Disaster 1941 (Bee Gees)
03 talk (Bee Gees)
04 I'm Henry the VIII I Am (Herman's Hermits)
05 talk (Bee Gees)
06 How Do You Do It (Gerry & the Pacemakers)
07 I Like It (Gerry & the Pacemakers)
08 talk (Bee Gees)
09 The Game of Love (Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders)
10 talk (Bee Gees)
11 Long Cool Woman [In a Black Dress] (Hollies)
12 talk (Bee Gees)
13 Needles and Pins (Searchers)
14 talk (Bee Gees)
15 If I Fell - I Need You (Bee Gees)
16 I'll Be Back (Bee Gees)
17 This Boy - She Loves You (Bee Gees)
18 talk (Bee Gees)
19 Little Children (Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas)
20 Ferry Cross the Mersey (Gerry & the Pacemakers)
21 talk (Bee Gees & Peter Noone)
22 Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter (Herman's Hermits)
23 A Groovy Kind of Love (Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders)
24 He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother (Hollies)
25 Turn of the Century (Bee Gees)
26 Sweets for My Sweet (Searchers)
27 There's a Kind of Hush (Herman's Hermits)
28 Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying (Gerry & the Pacemakers)
29 I Can't See Nobody (Bee Gees)
30 Love Potion No. 9 (Searchers)
31 talk (Bee Gees)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/rCWB1ARe

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/a5Qh8RSzKdG23Zd/file 

The cover of the Bee Gees is a screenshot taken from this exact concert, during their Beatles medley.

Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders - BBC Sessions (1964-1968)

In November of 2021, I posted an album of BBC sessions by the Mindbenders, from 1966 to 1968. I did things out of order, because the Mindbenders first came to fame as the backing band to British singer Wayne Fontana. So this album essentially has two parts. The first 15 songs feature Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders, and the remaining nine songs feature just Fontana from his short solo career.

Fontana had a bunch of hits in Britain, both with the Mindbenders and as a solo artist, but today he's mainly known for the really big hit "The Game of Love." That reached number two in Britain, and number one in the US (his only hit there). Here's the Wikipedia link if you want to know more:

Wayne Fontana - Wikipedia

The Mindbenders came together as Fontana's backing band, but they were more than just a typical backing band. I could be wrong, but I think a few of the songs here are sung by one of the Mindbenders instead of Fontana, probably Eric Stewart, who would later be a key member of the 1970s band 10cc. If anyone knows, please let me know. The Mindbenders wanted more of a rock and roll direction, and Fontana was leaning more towards being a crooner. Fontana abruptly quit in the middle of a concert towards the end of 1965. The Mindbenders went on to considerable success without him, especially with the hit song "A Groovy Kind of Love."

Normally for these BBC albums, I try to include all the unique songs I can find in worthy sound quality. But in this case, there were a handful of his solo songs in his crooning style that I didn't like, so I didn't include them. I figure that Fontana's isn't that popular these days, so there aren't going to be scores of fans screaming bloody murder at the omission. Sorry if anyone is disappointed, but I think it makes for a much stronger album.

Everything here is officially unreleased as far as I can tell (not counting some unauthorized "grey market" releases), and it's all from BBC studio sessions. As usual, some of the songs had BBC DJs talking over the music. And, as usual, I used the audio editing program X-Minus to wipe that talking. In this case, about half of the songs were affected, the ones with "[Edit]" in their titles.

As is often the case with these albums, I think this serves as an excellent "best of" collection. It includes all the key songs, and there's much more here of worth than just "The Game of Love." I particularly like "Like I Did," and two Graham Gouldman songs first done by Fontana, "Pamela, Pamela" and "The Impossible Years." 

Also, the album version of "Please Stop the Wedding" was marred by some talking sessions done by someone with a totally incongruous Indian accent. I suspect that was influenced by Peter Sellers doing that accent in some movies at the time, but it ruined the song by adding "funny" bits to a very serious song. The BBC version is thankfully free of that Indian voice, revealing a pretty good song.

Fontana's career faded out around 1968, due to changing musical trends and a lack of hits, so that's where this album ends too.

This album is 57 minutes long.

01 She's Got the Power (Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders)
02 Um Um Um Um Um Um (Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders)
03 I’m Gonna Be a Wheel Someday (Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders)
04 The Girl Can't Help It [Edit] (Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders)
05 Since You've Been Gone [Edit] (Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders)
06 Too Much Monkey Business [Edit] (Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders)
07 It's Just a Little Bit Too Late (Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders)
08 The Game of Love (Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders)
09 She's a Rebel [He's a Rebel] [Edit] (Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders)
10 My Babe [Edit] (Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders)
11 Like I Did (Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders)
12 Sticks and Stones (Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders)
13 Young Blood (Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders)
14 She Needs Love (Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders)
15 I'm Talking about You [Edit] (Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders)
16 Can I Get a Witness [Edit] (Wayne Fontana)
17 It Was Easier to Hurt Her [Edit] (Wayne Fontana)
18 Come On Home (Wayne Fontana)
19 The Sun's So Hot Today [Edit] (Wayne Fontana)
20 [There's] Always Something There to Remind Me [Edit] (Wayne Fontana)
21 Pamela, Pamela (Wayne Fontana)
22 The Impossible Years (Wayne Fontana)
23 Please Stop the Wedding [Edit] (Wayne Fontana)
24 Waiting for a Break in the Clouds [Edit] (Wayne Fontana)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15184406/WayneFon_1964-1968_BBSessions_atse.zip.html

I was torn between using a photo of just Fontana or one with him and the Mindbenders. I was swayed by the fact that I found a particularly good one (in terms of picture quality) of just him. This photo dates to 1966.