The Midnight Special

• Complete Song List
  • 1960s (88 songs)
  • 1970s (637 songs)
  • 1980s (284 songs)
  • 1990s (171 songs)
  • 2000s (242 songs)
  • 2010s (1 songs)
• Song Analyses
  • Overview
  •  * Can't Get It Out Of My Head
  •  * Do Ya
  •  * Don't Bring Me Down
  •  * Evil Woman
  •  * Roll Over Beethoven
  •  * Showdown
  •  * Sweet Talkin' Woman
  •  * Xanadu
  •  * You Got It
• Tour Analyses
  • Overview
  •  * On The Third Day
  •  * Eldorado
  •  * Face The Music
  •  * A New World Record
  •  * Out Of The Blue / The Big Night
  •  * Discovery
  •  * Xanadu
  •  * Time
• Single Analyses
  • ELO UK Singles
  • ELO USA Singles
• Video/TV Analyses
  • Overview
  • The Midnight Special (USA)
  • Supersonic (UK)
  • Top Of The Pops (UK)
  • Promotional Videos and Films
• Miscellaneous
  • Concert For George
  • Advertisements
  • Unofficial Remixes
  • This is not Jeff Lynne
  • Limericks!
• Site Pages
  • Main Page
  • Site History
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Comments and Observations

Running from August 19, 1972 to March 27, 1981 and producing 352 episodes, The Midnight Special was a USA produced weekly musical television series that broadcast on late Friday nights on the NBC network. The show was created and produced by Hollywood producer, Burt Sugarman. Each episode featured a celebrity host to introduce the various musical and comedy acts. The Electric Light Orchestra made many appearances on the show, hosting it twice (1975 and 1977), and were the subject of several special tributes.

Although ELO made several appearances on the program, a very limited number of shows are currently available, bootleg or otherwise. There was a series of compilations released on DVD in 2006, under the slight re-title of Burt Sugarman's The Midnight Special (as it was sometimes referred to on the show itself), but none of these compilations include the ELO performances. As often happens with music in film and television shows, there are likely licensing approvals and costs that prevent the show's full episodes from being rebroadcast or released on DVD at this time.

The Midnight Special was noted for using actual live, stage performances at each broadcast. However, things weren't always as "live" as they were reported to be. It is known that ELO's performance of Roll Over Beethoven actually used a tape backing, with live lead vocals. A performance of Showdown was completely lip-synched. But many other performances were actual live shows, including a mini-version of ELO's live concert set, promoting their latest album. In the last few years of The Midnight Special, when promo videos were becoming more common and production costs for the show were reduced, the show often aired promo videos for ELO, rather than actual live performances. This is particularly true for the songs from the Discovery album, for which ELO did not tour and no live promotion was done. Many of the shows simply reused footage from earlier episodes, with ELO's Telephone Line from a 1977 performance getting the most reuse.

Due to copyright issues, I cannot provide full versions of any of the videos on this site. However, I have provided YouTube and other links to online content for these performances (under the "Broadcasts" section). As this site and anyone associated with it do not maintain these videos, no guarantee of working, complete or accurate videos or links is made.

Original performances used in the show are as follows:

Roll Over Beethoven Kuiama	Performance Recording Date: May 29, 1973 Original Broadcast Date: June 29, 1973	These songs are assumed to have first aired on June 29, 1973 because the August 17, 1973 performance (a month and a half later) of Roll Over Beethoven survives on the bootleg market, which is believed to be a re-packaged broadcast of the earlier performance. The performance of Roll Over Beethoven uses a tape backing, with live vocals by Jeff Lynne and the rest of the band miming. It is assumed that the performance of Kuiama uses the same tape backing/live vocals technique.
Showdown Ma-Ma-Ma Belle Bluebird Is Dead	Performance Recording Date: November 20, 1973 Original Broadcast Date: November 23, 1973 and February 8, 1974	There is a great deal of uncertainty about these performances as only the song Showdown has been available for review. This performance of Showdown, which is introduced by The Spinners, is taken from a September 17, 1976 broadcast hosted by Wolfman Jack. It was broadcast in 1976 because the song was re-released in 1976 to promote the Olé ELO album. Clearly the performance is from a pre-1975 recording as it features Mike deAlbuquerque on bass and Mike Edwards on cello, both of which had left the band by 1976. It appears that the November 23, 1974 broadcast only Showdown and Ma-Ma-Ma Belle, excluding a performance of Bluebird Is Dead. Just two and a half months later, on February 8, 1974, the same performance of Showdown and the previously unaired Bluebird Is Dead were broadcast. From examining ELO's tour schedule, it appears that the date of the actual performance was Wednesday, November 20th as that is the only California date that ELO were not scheduled to perform. In fact, the night of November 23rd in which this performance aired on The Midnight Special, ELO were performing at Winterland in San Francisco. During the February 8, 1974 broadcast, ELO were on tour in the UK, so clearly there was no way they played live in California for this broadcast.
In The Hall Of The Mountain King Great Balls Of Fire Eldorado Overture Can't Get It Out Of My Head Mik's Violin Solo/Orange Blossom Special Laredo Tornado Hugh's Cello Solo/Flight Of The Bumblebee Roll Over Beethoven	Performance Recording Date: November 25 or 26, 1974 Original Broadcast Date: January 17, 1975	This is nearly a full concert performance from a time when ELO hosted the show. It is completely live. Unfortunately, only bootleg recordings of Eldorado Overture, Can't Get It Out Of My Head and Laredo Tornado taken from rebroadcasts and/or foreign markets, are available for review. If the setlist of the broadcast is to be believed, then it is the only known officially recorded performance of Mik Kaminski's violin solo and Hugh McDowell's cello solo.
Evil Woman Nightrider Strange Magic	Performance Recording Date: Some time between February 8 and February 11, 1976 Original Broadcast Date: March 5, 1976	These are live concert performances. Select songs from this performance were reused in April and June, later in 1976. The repeat performances from June 25, 1976 (with Natalie Cole introducing the band) survive on the bootleg market, which is a repeat performance of Strange Magic and Evil Woman only. A performance of Nightrider from the original airing on March 5 or the repeat from April 23, 1976 also survives in poor picture quality.
Livin' Thing Do Ya Telephone Line Rockaria! Livin' Thing Reprise	Performance Recording Date: January 29, February 1 or February 2, 1977 Original Broadcast Date: February 18, 1977	This was another episode hosted by the Electric Light Orchestra. All performances by the band are 100% live. Livin' Thing opens the show, then Bev comes on stage to say hello and introduce Jeff, following with Jeff introducing the show, mentioning that Santana will be coming on the show later, and getting the audience excited for the "laser beam show" that will be shown during their set. This is then followed by live performances of Do Ya, Telephone Line and Rockaria!. At the end of the show, Bev comes back on stage to thank the audience and other live acts, followed by another performance of Livin' Thing over the show's closing credits. Because this is over the closing credits, it is incomplete, cutting off after beginning of the second verse ("Makin' believe this is what you conceive..."). This was ELO's final original performance on the show. Footage from this show would be repeated many times on later The Midnight Special episodes, with the performance of Telephone Line being used in at least five later episodes, including a much later episode in May of 1980.