DVD review: BARRY WOM – Plenty-Mental Journey

BARRY WOM – Plenty-Mental Journey

Guilty Dog Productions

The main feature of this DVD is “John Halsey – A Life In Pitchers”, which is an entertaining interview with the man best known for his role as Barry Wom in The Rutles. With a running time of over two hours, ‘The Admiral’ has no end of stories to tell about his career, and the relaxed studio set up (which finds him in conversation with Michael Livesley) makes for an enjoyable viewing experience.

Halsey starts off by running through his family history, including a link with the Krays. His first success came with Timebox and their hit single ‘Beggin’’, and they evolved into Patto. Both groups included guitarist Ollie Halsall, who would continue to work regularly with Halsey over the years.

Session work saw Halsey play on several tracks on Lou Reed’s “Transformer”, notably ‘Perfect Day’, ‘Vicious’ and ‘Satellite of Love’. He also worked with Roy Harper, Viv Stanshall, and played on the theme tune to the TV show “Tiswas”.

Having been with Neil Innes in the band GRIMMS, Halsey was later recruited to work with Innes on the TV series Rutland Weekend Television. This, in turn, subsequently led to the Rutles film and album. This period is discussed in some detail and is sure to be an interesting watch for any Rutles fan.

When the session work started to dry up in the 1980s, Halsey ran a fish business for a while and later became a publican. The Rutles reformed on the back of The Beatles “Anthology” project and, until the sudden death of Neil Innes in late 2019, they had been playing live shows on a regular basis.

In addition to the interview, the DVD also includes four new Barry Wom songs – each of which has its own video. ‘Enough’ is a particular highlight, and all four tracks capture Barry’s inimitable and unique style! A bonus feature comes in the form of ‘Christmas In Bavaria’, performed by John Halsey, Michael Livesley and Rodney Slater (from The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band).

The DVD cover art is, of course, a spoof of Ringo Starr’s “Sentimental Journey” album cover. Originally for sale at Rutles concerts, Halsey himself is now selling copies via eBay UK. ****

Review by Jim Henderson


Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.

In 2023 he signed a recording deal with Sony in Canada and released a new single on 15 September.

Josh Taerk Sunday Sessions 2024

Latest session: Sunday 25 February
Next session: Sunday 14 April

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio



David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 25 February 2024.


UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). This show was first broadcast 27 February 2024.

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Listen via Windows Media Player. Click or tap here and “open file”
Listen via other media player (eg. VLC) Click or tap here and “open file”

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com


Power Plays w/c 4 March 2024

COLLATERAL Glass Sky (Big Shot Records)
THE ZUTONS Pauline (ICEPOP)
THE GEORGIA THUNDERBOLTS Rise Above It All (Mascot)
MATT PEARCE & THE MUTINY From Here To The Moon (indie)
THE BLACK VULTURES Never Say (indie)

Featured Albums w/c 4 March 2024

09:00-12:00 LEE AARON Tattoo Me (Metalville)
12:00-13:00 THE END MACHINE The Quantum Phase (Frontiers)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003-2023


To see our Tweets you need to be logged in to a Twitter account



Popular (last 10 days)


This entry was posted in ALL POSTS, DVD REVIEWS and tagged , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply