I note the last surviving member of US rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd has died. Guitarist Gary Rossington’s finest moment probably came with his slide guitar playing on Free Bird voted by viewers of the Old Grey Whistle Test as their favourite track to have been played on the show.

So here it is. (There’s what sounds like some mellotron on this. Even better.)

Lynyrd Skynyrd: Free Bird

Gary Robert Rossington: 4/12/1951 –5/3/2023. So it goes.

I saw in the Guardian yesterday that guitarist Wilko Johnson has died.

I do remember reading during the 1970s about the most famous band he was in, Dr Feelgood. This was in music papers that had a London bias.

In many ways the band’s sound was against the times – of the early to mid-70s at any rate, being guitar and drum based and eschewing any Prog Rock or Glam Rock tendencies. They did, however, point to the revolution that was punk.

They did manage to have a top ten hit in 1978 with Milk and Alcohol but the first time I saw them (on television) was, I think, many years later (though it is possible I witnessed the original Old Grey Whistle Test appearance) in one of those retrospective shows the BBC is so fond of performing this song.

Wilko certainly had a stage presence.

Dr Feelgood: Roxette

John Peter Wilkinson (Wilko Johnson:) 12/7/1947-21/11/22. So it goes.

I’ve not had any prog rock for a while so here is Italy’s finest, Premiata Forneria Marconi (or PFM,) with a beezer. (Just wait for the hook about one and a half minutes in.)

Thank God if sometimes your oyster holds a pearl.

PFM: The World Became the World

And for added value here’s a video of the band performing Celebration on The Old Grey Whistle Test.