William Shatner - 'Taxi' (1973)

Big Bill 'sings', from a 1973 appearance on 'Dinah's Place',
Dinah Shore's mid-morning NBC talk show.

In case you're not familiar with Harry Chapin's original 1972 chart hit, Click here.

William Shatner - Rocket Man (1978)

William Shatner was co-host of the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films' 5th annual Saturn Awards, held in
Coconut Grove, Miami, Florida.

1978 marked the first year that the ceremony was televised.

Celebrity presenters and performers for the telecast included
Charlton Heston, Christopher Lee, Mark Hamill, Quincy Jones, Wayland Flowers and Madame, Ray Bradbury, Buster Crabbe,
Stan Freberg, Buzz Aldrin, Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss and Wolfman Jack.

In the video clip, co-host Karen Black welcomes Bernie Taupin, giving the song's composer the honor of introducing Mr. Shatner. Ouch.

The Osmonds - Crazy Horses (x7)

Because no one demanded it; several clips of the uncharacteristically hard rockin' title track to the Osbro's 1972 LP (second only in
heavy-osity to 1973's 'The Plan', their ambitious Mormon doctrine freakout concept album).

Check the fashions, the moves, the delivery, the 'message' lyrics - - and good luck forgetting Donny's whinnying keyboard riff...

Below: ▼ perhaps the best of the bunch, dating from either '72 or '74, depending on who you believe.



Below: ▼ from a '73 German appearance, Jay gets out from behind the drum kit to strut in earnest throughout his lead vocal performance...



Below: ▼ lip-synching but spirited,,,

Below: ▼ hot and sweaty at Ohio's State Fair in '72...



Below: ▼ screaming fans and full-tilt Osmania at a '73 UK concert...



Below: ▼ funky flair and a slower tempo as part of a 'Donny & Marie' tour, later in the '70s...



Below: ▼ further changes by 1980, in concert in Provo, Utah...

Renaldo and the Loaf - Songs For Swinging Larvae (1981)

Videographer Graeme Whifler directed several music videos for some of the Ralph Records stable of artists in the late 1970s and early '80s, including The Residents, Snakefinger, MX-80 Sound and Tuxedomoon, and then a few for some other musical acts beyond Ralph, before eventually working as a screenwriter and director in film and TV.

'Songs For Swinging Larvae' is perhaps the most striking of his Ralph works.
The video actually incorporates three tracks from the first Ralph album by the mysterious English duo, Renaldo and the Loaf;
'Spratts Medium', 'Lime Jelly Grass' and 'Melvyn's Repose' (which was only included on later CD editions of the 'Songs For Swinging Larvae' album - - though recorded in the period of the other tracks, it appeared originally on a Ralph Records rarity and B-side compilation LP, 'Frank Johnson's Favorites').

- For a trove of info regarding the production of the video, the cast and the basis of the story behind it, click over to an entry at
Pop Musicology.