Eddie Cochran was one of the great early rockers. His first hit was in 1957, his last in 1959. In 1960 he was dead, aged just 22, killed in a car accident.

His best known hits were C'mon Everybody and the resoundingly successful Summertime Blues. The last became a classic recorded and performed by just about everyone - I've seen it performed by groups as diverse as The Who and T-Rex; it is quality.

This concert disc is made up of performances given by Eddie on the American syndicated country and western show which also dabbled in rock, 'Town Hall Party'. He gave two performances on February 7, 1959; both are preserved here, for a total of ten numbers.

The image and sound are raw - greyed-out black-and-white, preserved in Kinescope - a process used before video was invented, which consisted of just putting a movie camera in front of a TV monitor and filming the TV screen.

Cochran is such a great performer that the rawness doesn't matter. This is historic footage, and it's good to have this remembrance of one of the seminal artists of rock'n'roll.

Because the original is an old Kinescope, the transfer quality cannot be gauged. How much of the poor quality derives from the Kinescope process, and how much from the transfer? There's no way of knowing.

I suspect, however, that the transfer is as good as it could get, because the DVD states it is part of a Bear Family collection. This is a privately-owned company in Germany which specialises in historic re-issues of popular singers; it is run by enthusiasts for enthusiasts and its work on CD is famous.

The multi-page booklet accompanying the DVD is comprehensive and handsomely designed.