The Butts Band - The Old Grey Whistle Test (1974)

[@gerardrolink7585]

What a voice! One of the best!! Jess Roden

[@77Matthews]

This is utterly brilliant! Recommend Robby new autobiography which led me here. Thanks

[@EstebanMcC]

Me too! Great book too, very insightful.

[@JanSybilla]

Same here bro! 😀

[@jrkchannel37]

absolutely

[@gringochucha]

I'm here from John's biography!

[@clouddog2393]

Jess Roden , Frankie Miller and Terry Reid three of the greatest and underated vocalists in Rock .

[@krisscanlon4051]

Oh exactly...the three needed to form a group

[@aler8343]

Beatiful voice Jess Roden, beatiful lyrics, beatiful chill dorian mode in E, beatiful kriegger solo

[@backrowbrighton]

I fondly remember seeing this when it was originally broadcast. These great performances from a superb group of musicians has long remained in the memory.

[@abercrombie1416]

Great stuff Robbie,and John😊👌It's cool ✌

[@tomoday4450]

Jess Roden is a fantastic singer These guys we’re really good 👍🏻

[@camphor210]

This is why TOGWT was the best thing on TV in the 70`s.

[@backrowbrighton]

Yes, it certainly was. Weekly ritual for so many of us. It used to get about five million viewers, incredible for a late slot on BBC2 back then.

[@bloodpoetvids]

Cool, smooth 70s jazz rock

[@camerado]

They would have made a bigger mark with this if not for the name of the band i think

[@b.j.friedman2456]

Extremely underrated band. As were many of the albums Ray did on his own like The Golden Scarab and The Whole Thing Started with Rock and Roll Now it's Out of Control and Ray's band Nite City! Of you're a Ray fan and you haven't heard those yet YOU'VE JUST GOT TO!

[@marlonelliot8943]

Phil Chen played with Manzarek/Krieger in the 2000s. Also played with Rod Stewart and the Hollies in the 1980s.

[@charlesperkins6440]

Played with the Jeff beck group also

[@ChromeDestiny]

He did some session work for the soundtrack of The Who's Tommy movie too when Entwistle couldn't be there and played on some of Pete Townshend's solo stuff too.

[@jazzpunk]

@@charlesperkins6440 ...that's Chen on BLOW BY BLOW.

[@RobC-z9v]

They are just good 🤘 very overlooked,🤘

[@ruudvanmontfoort4485]

great video.....many thanks !!!!

[@scottstambaugh8473]

This is better than I expected. Kinda Gary Wright territory. Not extraordinary, but totally decent. Kinda get why they didn't get anyone's attention, but also better than much that did at the time. Nice playing, Robby. God, I loved the Doors. Pretty hard to follow that up.

[@powerconnection1234]

These guys are really good, wonder why they weren't that popular?🤔

[@nicmart]

The Jess Rosen Band albums need to be on streaming.

[@da1215]

The Rhodes and the phaser guitar sound amazing

[@edljnehan2811]

The remnants of the doors a great KSHE classic group😊

[@mattgibbs9576]

Awesome

[@vernonallen3370]

Could’ve/Should’ve been huge but for continental logistics. I bought their debut album for £1.49 in a bargain bin a few years after it came out. I didn’t know they had played on Whistle test , pleasant surprise.

[@RobC-z9v]

They just have this great Humble Pie feel... should have been bigger.....Jim's shadow looms large

[@sidewaysid]

Lorraine Podmore, remember Jess, I still love you.

[@joaquingelacio423]

Now I see where Dumbo Gets Mad's "Indian food" song came from.

[@krisscanlon4051]

I think if Jim would of lived he might I've been able to move into elements of this sound...really working that disco rocking vibe...little bit of Steely Dan sound...Jim getting all groovy lol anywho Jess can wail...

[@gringochucha]

I seriously doubt it. This is very pleasant, but it's ultimately elevator music. I can't imagine Jim getting anywhere near something like this. Every note that man ever sang was intense as hell.

[@krisscanlon4051]

Touch Me isn't this side of MOR schlock??? There are a lot of groovy sounds in the Doors oeuvre beyond belters like The End...obviously the lyrics would be different if JM was writing...they were an LA band and this is where LA sound evolved...check out his musical peers...disco/ rb dance rock was around the corner...its history. Parts of Peacefrog was very groove oriented. Now Jim was a crooner and if you changed the rhythms on some of those older crooning Doors songs it would be in this vein sorry to say. Jim would've not been stuck playing music from psychedelic 60s...no way. The industry went in certain directions historically. The intense belting would of been out of place. Jim was a singer not musician so he would of gone along with his band mates

[@jimmorrison5493]

I just don’t know

[@cidDraGonFly]

Bro, ain't you like 78 years old now? C'mon don't be a stranger, stay away from the light. We will wait, we will.

[@krisscanlon4051]

Well Jimmy it's a pleasure and honor but embrace this laid back lounge lizard sound...still a lizard king just little more lounging less anarchist

[@robertsesmamusic]

Shouldn’t have gone to paris dog

[@vincenzollamas]

was Robby using pick in the 2nd song???

[@gringochucha]

Smooth sound, but man what a terrible name for a band...

[@PapaEmeritus_4evr]

Think Robby and John should have went in a more bluesy direction. Not saying this band wasn't good because from a musicians/vocalist perspective, it's very tight. Personally, I'm not a fan of the jazz rock sound.

[@johnreisig3017]

The music is great The singer has a great voice But the lyrics are choppy at best The singer doesn't hit the hook right at all.because it isn't written correctly I've worked with some top producers and that's just my opinion

[@adamx6000]

Why did they give this band such a terrible name?

[@TheDoorsGuide]

Robby Krieger: "Jess [Roden] suggested the name The Butts Band, based on a road called Butts Lane in the town of Kidderminster, where he grew up. It wasn't until much later in life that I learned the history behind it: back in medieval times, archers trained with their longbows by shooting at mounds of earth known as butts, and their training grounds were traditionally located outside of town, in an area referred to as 'the butts.' Many English towns therefore have a Butts Lane today, as a nod to the spot where their archers used to practice. Jess intended the band name to be a reference to guys who hung out on the outskirts of town."

[@adamx6000]

@@TheDoorsGuide the fact that it required so much explanation reinforces my opinion of a bad name. It like some kind of unconscious sabotage. It does make me want to hear more.

[@TheDoorsGuide]

The quote I used came from Robby Krieger’s memoir and he agrees that it was a terrible name: "Yet-for some reason that I still cannot possibly explain-we went with the name anyway. I don't know why anyone gave me a vote. I was the guy who thought The Clouds, The Psychedelic Rangers, and The Back Bay Chamber Pot Terriers were all perfectly fine band names."

[@adamx6000]

@@TheDoorsGuide Im still theorizing yet without no certainty it was some kind of unconscious sabotage. That’s the only way I can explain it. It’s a shame because I really like what I hear and could have been a transition like Nirvana to The Foo Fighters. I feel that having a name that links their past without trying too hard to live in the past would have been better. I would have gone with “Survivors Of The Storm”. That name would always provide a good publicity link and help bring old fans to the group without being accused of trying to counterfeit one’s own legacy.

[@tedpankratz2549]

That was really good.. how long did they last?