SSOR: Brian's appeal!

Actually I'm shocked that the BBC doesn't have this themselves, and in excellent quality. Judging from the clips on 'Best of Bowie' and the other Queen clips, they keep things in excellent condition. I wonder why these SSOR performances got lost... and apparently several of them?

They throw out everything in 10-year intervals or so... so most of their footage from the 70's was thrown out in 1980. At least that's what Jim Jenkins says.

"They throw out everything in 10-year intervals or so... so most of their footage from the 70's was thrown out in 1980. At least that's what Jim Jenkins says"

I think I read once that the BBC threw everything from before 1974 out of their archive.

The Bowie clips are from The Old Grey Whistle Test in 1972.. maybe there's a difference between this and other BBC programs in terms of preservation. There are at least 4 (3 listed plus an easter egg alternate version or two) and they look stunningly good, film-like but totally free of anomalies.

I've reminded myself once again what a really good video collection can be. Bowie's set is 47 listed videos plus a ton of bonus clips on two discs and fantastic video quality, with PCM sound. If only Queen had............

Speaking about Bowie, I just read that he's in a hostipal with problems with his nervous system.

The problem with the BBC's early attitude is that it didn't really care for a lot of their archive materials. Like it has been mentioned above, they did simply throw things away. And that's where the scouring collector came in.

Folks would raid the bins and find all sorts. In fact, it has only been in recent years that the BBC has begun to regret these actions and try to find old shows etc. In a similar way to how the SSOR search is being conducted - Just ask the public for their help.

But I'll never forget the story I heard about Peter Cook's plea to the BBC. They (the BBC) had some shows in storage of Peter Cook's work and were going to throw them out. Peter Cook offered to pay for the tapes and storage but the BBC flat out refused. Heartless buggers...
Yes DF, I do wonder why Bowie's stuff still survives. Probably because they knew how much it was worth. :)

Peace,
Adam.

Whistle test was unusual at the time in as much as it was made by a Production Company for the BBC. Some old Comedy's were the same - Steptoe & Till Death for example. This meant that the BBC didn't actually own the tapes although they stored them. Therefore they were not thrown out. In later years (early 80's) when the BBC started to realise a lot of this stuff might be worth something they bought the tapes off the production company's who owned them!

yup Doctor who is the classic example. Many episodes (and in some cases the entire stories) were lost in the way mentioned. although occasionly some episodes from the 1960s do turn up in strange places such as australia and New Zealand.

"Speaking about Bowie, I just read that he's in a hostipal with problems with his nervous system."

Yes, he cancelled his Prague concert after about one hour. Luckily I decided not to attend it, otherwise I'd be heavily disappointed now.

Last friday Bowie did a concert in Germany - two days after Prague. He performed 90 minutes. After the concert he was brought to a hospital again because of a problem with a nerve (shoulder). I had tickets for this gig but unfortunately couldn´t go for private reasons. Such a pity!

Aha, so Operation Innocent-Looking Lollipop is working after all.

Ibex debacle

If memory serves, QP borrowed a private collector's original Ibex recording for the FM box, then allowed it to be bootlegged and refused to make any kind of payment for the use of the recording.

Or soimething

"then allowed it to be bootlegged"

It was stolen. They had nothing to do with it being bootlegged.

Peace,
Adam.

thanks for the info on Ibex guys!

I love Brian, he's great!