This is an excellent version of the Australian Television Broadcast from Valentine's Day 1977. The generation of video is a very low one and is the best I've seen. Superb stereo broadcast audio as well.
Rod Stewart was riding a wave of solo commercial success at this juncture and this version of the Rod Stewart Group had finally jelled after a December/January UK Tour to warm things up (Jim Cregan, Gary Grainger & Billy Peek -Guitars, Phil Chen-Bass, Carmine Appice-Drums & John Jarvis-Piano). Combine this with the stellar broadcast quality of the video and accompanying stereo audio and it makes for a recommended purchase.
The setlist is comprised of material from A Night On The Town and Atlantic Crossing with some old Faces-era material intermixed. A nice cross-section of material really.
There are 2 problems with the broadcast itself and this video in circulation...and Cat's Meow, or the source in which they obtained the video...could have corrected one of them. First off, the producers of this broadcast decided to drop a selection from opening act, Air Supply, right in the middle of the broadcast! Talk about cheese factor! Anyone who thinks Rod is cheesy here, check this out! My god they are awful. The second flaw if you will, is that the original source video was obviously a broadcast master that included TV spot countdowns to allow for local stations to insert their spots. ALL of these are included and it is annoying.
Other than that, this is a great concert from a slick band...backing up one of Rocks' greatest singers. He still shows off the pipes here but his flirtation with the hollywood image is ever-present...supported by break-away camera shots of his then girlfriend, Britt Ecklund. Where's Ronnie Wood when you need him? The show is quite good though and Stewart fans should really seek out this version from Cat's Meow. It is the best out there until someone a little lower in the chain does some proper editing to smooth this great video document out.
