Friday 29 January 2016

Something 'Bout Top of the Pops I Like

So, here we are at the end of January 2016, and we're already at the end of February 1981!

Are Madness still staring at me?


26/02/81 (hosted by Peter Powell)

(19) Status Quo – “Something ‘Bout You Baby I Like”
The first of two top ten hits in 1981 for the Quo, this one peaking at number 9.

(6) Roxy Music – “Jealous Guy” (6) (video)
This John Lennon tribute went on to become Roxy Music's one and only number one hit.

(22) Beggar & Co – “(Somebody) Help Me Out” (rpt from 12/02/81)
Still on its way up the charts. But edited out of tonight's 7.30pm slot.

(43) Kim Wilde – “Kids In America”
Kim's debut on the show with her first single which became her joint biggest hit, just missing the number one spot.

(25) The Passions – “I’m In Love With A German Film Star” (rpt from 05/02/81)
Now at its peak in the charts. And then we never heard from them again.

(7) Madness – “The Return Of The Los Palmas 7”
A non-mover at number seven and even turning up in the studio couldn't push it any higher. Still, an easy night out for Suggs though!

(31) Kelly Marie – “Hot Love”
A second time on the show for Kelly's final top 30 hit, which eventually made it to number 22. Edited out of the 7.30pm showing.

(8) Coast To Coast – “(Do) The Hucklebuck”  (rpt from 12/02/81)
Their only top ten hit peaking at number 5. Lots of dancing going on but Legs & Co have gone Awol again!

(2) Ultravox – “Vienna” (video)
I make this five times on the show now for Vienna, and why not its a great song! BBC4 obviously thought five was too many times so it got the 7.30pm chop.

(9) Freeez – “Southern Freeez” (rpt from 12/02/81)
The first of two top ten hits for Freeeze, this one finally froze at number 8.

(40) Kiki Dee – “Star”
Her first hit since 1977, Star reached number 13, and then Kiki had to wait until the end of 1993 for her next (and final) top 20 hit.

(1) Joe Dolce Music Theatre – “Shaddap You Face” (video/credits)
The second of three weeks at numero uno for Joe Dolce.


Next up then is the 5th March 1981 with Mike Read.

80 comments:

  1. Ah so we draw to a close the month of February 1981 with this show, with BBC4 still going too fast for us, thanks to more yewtree work, coupled with an urgency to add Fridays to these repeat runs. And sad to say no Legs & Co this week…hmm

    Roxy Music – I always remember at the time thinking that Bryan Ferry’s face was too close to camera on this video, and nothing has changed in my views 35 years later. Bryan, back a bit please, we know it’s a cash-in (I mean tribute) on John Lennon, but do we really need to get that close?

    Kim Wilde – “making her debut and only 20 years old”, hmmm yes indeed Mr Powell, what was unusual about that? I mean Kate Bush is the same age, but charted as early as 1978 at the age of 18.

    The Passions – as mentioned before, a supreme piece of songwriting and a gem from the 80s. Just can’t help but enjoy this over the years, and it’s a shame we don’t get music like this in our current era. One hit wonder or not, it lives on for generations to come I hope.

    Madness – can’t say I remember them being in the TOTP studio for this one, cos I only seem to remember them on that corner café video. Waiter………..
    At least the nutty boys made the effort to put on a nice palm tree set in the TOTP studio this week as they got stuck at no.7 with no further progress I’m afraid.

    Coast To coast – I’m kind of getting used to the two birds backing up the lead singer. I mean twice in two days on BBC4 on two different shows with Skinner and Powell. Wow, this was only possible by not showing the DLT show in between, and we so get Coast To Coast, Freeez, Beggar & Co and Kelly Marie on two days running this week in the new two-shows-per-week format that BBC4 has started recently.

    While Motorhead and Girlschool power their way to no.5 this week, it’s……….
    Joe Dolce – still at no.1, but this week we see the first showing of the video –“one more time for mama”, while Ultravox wait in vain at no.2.
    Ah Shaddapa Your Face!

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    1. dory, i presume you describe the backing vocalists in coast to coast as "birds" strictly in a postmodern-ironic sense?

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    2. Yes, it's our british term for "chicks" as on the Happy Days set which I think Coast To Coast had copied perfectly here.

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    3. The two dancing 'chicks' get to wear the same outfits in the video for this hit. The dance is identical with the blonde girl starting off on top of the double bass. I must admit a guilty pleasure to this as it is infectious!

      Incidentally, the 'Old Gold' reissue of this had it as the 'B Side' of Fred Wedlock's hit. Unfairly I would say.

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    4. It's even more catchy when you see it on the end credits on the 5th March TOTP edition with Mike Read where he likes it so much that he leads the dancing with the studio audience. Brilliant!

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    5. i thought that as all old gold singles were reissues of hit songs, then surely they would be double A sides? but it seems sct is right about the fred wedlock / coast to coast combination. presumably the same applies where any artist only had one hit of note, and thus was paired with another with a similar track record. and i'm guessing the pairing was based on when they were hits, rater than any musicality they had in common (which is none in this case!)

      i remember as recently as 15 years ago i was searching for "the more i see you" by chris montez and couldn't find it anywhere - eventually i went to a second-hand record shop in wolverhampton (where i happened to be visiting) and was stunned to be asked £5 for it on an old gold reissue single! despite the extortionate price i badly wanted it at the time, so coughed up as i didn't think i'd find it elsewhere! how times have changed since then...

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    6. Oldies Unlimited by chance?

      The chap who ran that shop, Charlie, also used to do a record valuation slot on the old Wabc radio station as well!

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    7. Oldies Unlimited by chance?

      The chap who ran that shop, Charlie, also used to do a record valuation slot on the old Wabc radio station as well!

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    8. Oldies Unlimited by chance?

      The chap who ran that shop, Charlie, also used to do a record valuation slot on the old Wabc radio station as well!

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  2. I Wonder How Long BBC4 Will Keep These
    Twice Weekly Re Ruts At This Rate We'l Run Out B4 Summer. Or Maybe BBC4 Will Wrap Em Up B4 The Proms Start In August
    Which Means No Totps For The Rest Of The Year. Hope Not

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  3. I sense a Peter Powell cut and paste intro - "it's her debut and she's only X years old". Anyone remember his intro to 16-year-old (and stoned on stage by her own admission) Honey Bane? Anyone?

    Five showings for "Vienna"? Five? Was Jesse green in Ultravox, then? (old gag for long-time forumites)

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    1. I wish PP would stop saying 'hit 25' (or whatever number the song is) instead of number 25. I'm sure I didn't find him as irritating first time round

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    2. I think this is actually the fourth outing for Vienna on the show, though for us in 2016 it is five if you count the homoerotic leather biker performance on Big Hits!

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  4. Most of my TV watching seems to have been TOTP recently. Hey ho, bring it on.

    Status Quo livening up their one song with woo-woo backing vocals. Actually does the job, too. And they made it to the studio, they must have had a tour date nearby.

    I suppose we should be glad we didn't get a Danny Mirror-esque tribute act to the late Ron Nasty, as Roxy Music were far classier. That suit's a bit crumpled, Bri.

    Excellent camera technique from Kim Wilde, you can see why this was a hit. I used to think this was one of the hardest records I'd ever heard when I was a kid, probably down to the ultra-butch backing vocals.

    The Madness track would be a pleasant surprise on the test card, and I mean that as a compliment. But please, no spitting.

    Kelly Marie voted Scotland's best singer? I think Sydney Devine would have something to say about that.

    Must say, Vienna had grown on me (or re-grown) these past couple of weeks, I don't think it's too bad now. Still think the shot of Midge roaring with laughter breaks the spell of the video, though.

    Did Kiki supply her own name in lights or was it knocked up by a helpful props department? Like the squelchy synth on this. Somewhere Bob Monkhouse had an idea for a theme tune...

    I totally remember Joe Dolce getting the pizza in the face at the end of this video! Someone told me about it at school before I saw it, and I was sceptical anything could be so vulgar. That was me told. He had that act honed to a fine point, didn't he?

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    1. was mr ferry's whistle (i'm referring to the garment, not the noise coming out of his mouth) made of bri-nylon?

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    2. I think the 'keep away from fire' label was edited out in post production.

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    3. The Quo were pretty prolific at this time weren't they? Same green guitar from Francis. I look forward to my favourite Quo track later this year...

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  5. I used to like the Quo when I was kid and especially their early eighties stuff - I had their greatest hits (12 Gold Bars 1 & 2?) on tape. One of the first tapes I got for my walkman!

    Peter Powell seemed less exciteable on this show, maybe his high waisted trousers were constricting him.

    Good show overall I thought.

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  6. another day, another old edition of "top of the pops" to review...

    host: pp repeats the name of the first act in his intro, and then repeats the chart position afterwards. did the guy ever actually run through his links beforehand?

    quo: this is pleasant enough and one of their better more recent efforts, but still not a patch on their mid-70's heyday. sadly they still seem to believe they are still actually living in the mid-70's. quite unusual in that francis and rick take turns at the lead vocal. given their well-documented drug use it's quite amusing to hear rick singing about "being high as a kite"!

    roxy: like many i've seen this video a milliion times, but one i don't mind watching again as the sultan of suave looks magnificent in his stylish suit that matches his light blue eyes. as for the song, i'd never heard it before
    and was actually quite impressed by it's poignant feel (regardless of the tragic reasons for this being released), although i never checked out lennon's original until many years later (apart from "dream no. 9 i think it the only decent thing he did solo, but maybe because i was exposed to roxy's cover first i still prefer their version). one of the few songs featuring a bit of whistling - others i recall being "sitting on the dock of the bay" and "golden years" - can contributors come up with any more? as for it being a tribute or cash-in, i would say a bit of both - roxy were still riding quite high at this point so it wasn't a desperate career-relaunching move on their part by any means. but then again the band's musical style never really showed any debt to lennon. but how would ferry's ego feel in retrospect, knowing his only no. 1 hit was written by someone else. and even then only due to that person's violent death?

    beggar & co: further to my previous comments, the guy i thought was the bassist looks in fact like a chas smash/bez band hanger-on who serves no particular purpose other than filling up the stage (a task this particular guy is well equipped to do)

    kim wilde: her brother ricky's pop-star career faltered due to premature baldness, a fate that also befell famous dad marty. but unlike dad he didn't start wearing a syrup, instead bcoming a back-room boy and co-writing material with wilde senior for a third member of the clan, who was fortunate to be photogenic even if she wasn't much cop as a singer or performer! i haven't heard a kim wilde track in decades, but having done so again now my sentiments remain exactly the same, with the music's not much cop either - even if in relative terms better than what was to come. ricky's also on stage playing keyboards, but the camera wisely doesn't focus on him and the rest of the nominal band (why are the drummer's cymbals so high?), instead for obvious reasons the come-hither looks and luscious bee-stung lips of our very own blondie clone!

    passions: a repeat i know, but i mention them again as a contrast to the previous act, who musically they knock into a cocked-hat. but despite the same line up of three geezers backing a girl, visually singer barbara grogan with her pixie looks, thin lips and dark mushroom perm just can't compete against the bardot-like sex kitten ms wilde. if only she had paid a visit to the beauty salon for a shot of peroxide and collagen (yes, i knew the latter wasn't actually available at the time) beforehand, maybe this magnificent single would have climbed a lot higher in the charts?

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    1. King of the whistlers was Whistling Jack Smith with I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman.

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    2. yes, i thought about him after writing my review: when the guy (who didn't even actually whistle on the recording itself) appeared on totp he just stood there with his hands behind his back and his lips pursed - i suppose there was little more he could do!

      also: didn't roger whittaker do some whistling?

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    3. Was there some whistling of Wind of Change by the Scorpions? I'd check it out on Youtube but the football's about to start.....:-)

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    4. You're better off with the football!

      Yes, Roger Whittaker is an incredible whistler.

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    5. Chinese born American raised don Robertson the whistler not forgetting games with out frontiers and joyride

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    6. also of course, ennio morricone used a whistler (by the name of alessandro alessandroni) to great effect on much of his spaghetti western work

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    7. The horrendous England Swings by Roger Miller also features some very twee whistling.

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    8. in my ignorance i thought "england swings" might have been some groovy freakbeat fest. but it turned out ot be plodding country record with ludicrous lyrics such as "england swings like a pendulum do, bobbies on bicycles two by two"!

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    9. It's the line "rosy red cheeks of the little children" that always gets me reaching for my sick bucket - it comes over as a stereotypically ignorant Yank's vision of what England is like. In fairness to Roger Miller, I do like King of the Road, and also his turn as the rooster minstrel in Disney's animated version of Robin Hood!

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    10. Ricky Wilde's pop career started earlier than you think... in the early-to-mid 1970s in fact! One of my less illustrious charity shop finds was a thing called 'Mrs. Malinski' from 1974, which I'm sure he would rather forget. However, the B-side, 'Cassette Blues' is of some historical significance since he name-checks his sister, and it sounds like she could well be on backing vocals.

      Incidentally, the backing band seen here (as well as on the video and the LP cover) did not actually play on the record. Her entire debut LP was recorded by a band called The Enid, with their session musician hats on.(What! You've heard of The Enid!?' exclaimed my long haired prog rockin' neighbour who I'm sure looks down on me as nothing more than a trashy punkster...)

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    11. don't forget that roger miller was also the oldest footballer to score a goal in the world cup finals... (just joking, that was another roger miller!)

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    12. i remember the enid, although i've never heard their music (they had an eno-alike frontman with the rather pretentious name of robert john godley). i'm surprised the drummer didn't play on the record as he's obviously worked all the parts out. as for the guitarist, presumably he was chosen merely for pose value? even though they apparently didn't play on the record, they appeared on the front cover with kim to give the impression that they were some kind of band rather than a solo act (a la blondie and toyah, although the musicians involved there did actually play on their own records to my knowledge). as regards ricky's failed teenybop career: although i don't actually remember seeing him when i took a furtive look at my sister's "jackie" magazines in the mid-70's, it wouldn't suprise me if he wasn't regularly featured in them alongside the likes of flintlock, alessi and the twins from child (all of whom got to appear in earlier editions of the totp re-runs). i had a listen to "cassette blues", and was rather surprised to hear it was a raw home demo, complete with cough at the beginning! that's something i've never encountered before - does anyone else know of any more such lo-fi recordings used to fill up b-sides?

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    13. Tommy Steele 'Give a little whistle' or even Nick Heyward or Tina Arena 'Whistle down the wind'.

      I guy I work with wears a T-shirt with 'The Enid' on it on dress down days. He gets lots of people ask him "who?".

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    14. There's some superb whistling on The Equals' Laurel and Hardy.

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  7. another adjunct:

    madness: as part of the idiosyncratic way stiff records was run, it wouldn't surprise me if label boss dave robinson or some other wag there wagered that madness were now so popular that they could release any old shit as a single, and it will still make the top ten. if so then they were proven right with this herb alpert/tijuana brass homage. kudos to the band though for another colourful appearance in the studio, which probably helped sales. i'm not sure why bedders felt the need to mime playing trumpet in the middle though. for budgetary and/or egotistical reasons robinson also directed the band's videos, and it was also around this time that he persuaded the band to join him in the madness (sorry!) of investing their new-found pop earnings in an autobiographical feature film (also directed by robinson) called "take it or leave it", that was hardly going to rival the latest "star wars" film in the box office royalty stakes. a risky venture at the time to say the least, given the capricious nature of pop success (each band member coughed up £20,000, that could probably have bought a house back then!). but thankfully the band's ultimate staying power meant it wasn't as costly to them as it might have been, and for students of pop there is a legacy of some value available as a result (although making a documentary might have been a better decision in retrospect)...

    kelly marie: peter joyfully informs us that kelly has just won the "best female singer in scotland" award. so who was second? they must have been pretty dire if beaten by ms marie. in fact, was there even a second place? lulu was old-hat by then, and annie lennox (who unlike kelly could actually sing properly) was still really yet to make her mark. anyway, to celebrate the award kelly gets her two backing dancers to dress in kilts. sporrans and other traditional highland garb. although i somehow suspect it highly unlikely they actually came from north of the border...?

    ultravox: everybody raves about the grandiose and ground-breaking video, and yet that apparently still couldn't best a guy with only a silly hat and a blackboard with "humourous" lyrics on it as the competition!

    kiki dee: having watched barbara jones in some difficulty last time, the producers decided to give kiki some help on a big stage with a massive flashing sign of her stage name, that does her no favours whatsoever. and not providing an audience for this "star" to entertain doesn't help either. i suppose you have to give her some credit for carrying on competing against the kidz, but her sound is still stuck in 1976!

    joe dolce: joe celebrates his against-the-odds chart-topping success by hiring an accordian accompanist. the briefly-glimpsed stooge audience member sniffing a rose looks like a pre-fame tom watt aka lofty from eastenders!

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  8. Lots of repeats this time around, but an entertaining enough show. PP continues in the same restrained manner that had characterised his last appearance - the only black marks against him are his mangling of the title of Quo's song and that rather weird and patronising explanation of what the charts are!

    Quo, as if making up for lost time, are back in the studio again with their first decent single of the 80s. Unusual to see Rossi and Parfitt sharing lead vocals - this must also be one of John Coghlan's last TOTP appearances with the band, if not the last. If anything good can be said to have come out of Lennon's death, then it would be this magnificent cover of one of his best solo tracks. Roxy approach the song in a low-key but achingly poignant way, and the video is appropriately stark and sombre, though Bryan's twitchy body language does break the spell a bit! Anyway, a thoroughly deserved number 1 in the making - just a shame the instrumental play-out got cut off here.

    Kids in America will forever be Kim Wilde's signature hit, and it's also her best, a fantastic bit of radio-friendly synth pop. Whatever distractions Madness were offering, Kim looks like an ice-cold pro here, and it's no surprise this became a big hit. Dad Marty also co-wrote Quo's second hit, Ice in the Sun, back in 1968 - somewhat bizarrely, a couple of years before that he and his wife had also been in a short-lived trio, The Wilde Three, with future Moody Blue Justin Hayward.

    I'm surprised Madness bothered to come into the studio for this one, as it doesn't lend itself easily to a studio performance. They look a bit awkward as a result, and some of the "nutty" antics are rather tiresome. For me, the band get increasingly irritating from this point on. I can't say I'm keen on Kiki Dee's comeback hit either, which is too American and showbizzy for my tastes. I also remember it being used as the theme tune for Bob Monkhouse's revival of Opportunity Knocks in the late 80s, a programme I hated at the time, so it doesn't have great associations for me! Kiki does give a polished performance, but a song like this really needed an audience, and her name flashing in lights doesn't make up for its absence.

    So, Kelly Marie was female singer of the year in Scotland. Sheena Easton must have been livid...

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    1. It's OK, Scotland has since disowned Sheena.

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  9. Another ToTP!! It's like my life is on fast-forward. This one is from my actual nineteenth birthday so I have the feeling I might have been down the pub when it was originally broadcast. Let's see what I missed.

    Host is the ever-annoying Peter Powell still trying to make high-waisted pants a thing, and he starts off by introducing Status Quo who are in barrel-scraping mode as they rehash Something Bout You Baby I like. Poor song, poor version.

    Roxy on vid next with a cover of Lennon's Jealous Guy. Can't say I ever though much of this in either version. It strikes me as less of a tribute, more of a cash-in.

    Powell claims Beggar & Co as the new name for Light Of The World, but weren't they just a side project?

    Sultry Kim Wilde debuts next swaying side to side as she mimes to a pleasant enough power pop ditty. I liked this when it first came out but by the time it reached its chart pinnacle I was bored of it. Time has not reinvigorated by keenness.

    Madness manage a somewhat miraculous job of keeping the viewer's interest alive during The Return Of.....

    Kelly Marie. Least said.

    Coast To Coast with their eminently-smackable lead singer seque straight into Ultravox's 'acclaimed' Vienna vid. Was there a cut in the tape here? It just seemed like something was missing?

    Kiki Dee. A bit 70s this. Certainly not a good enough song for someone who could sing as well as Ms Dee. Indeed most of her career was marred by poor song choices.

    Top 10 rundown now and there doesn't appear to be any rhyme or reason to whether the act is represented by a still photo, a video, or a ToTP performance.

    And Joe Dolce sees us out with a video performance, with the credits running over the end of it.

    Not the best of shows this one - certainly not helped by being one end of a Yewtree sandwich meaning a number of songs were only seen the previous day. Kim Wilde and Madness are the best of a poor bunch so the show cops for a 4.

    As for Powell. After being less irritating of late he's only gone and slipped back into his old ways. The high-waisted pants, the left arm held awkwardly in front of him, the vocal annoyances, the wafflingly convuluted links and, in a new quirk, speaking so low that I struggled to hear what the bloody hell he was saying ( although maybe that's not a bad thing?) Anyway he also gets a 4.

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    1. Yes, the Vienna vid was edited so that it went straight into the violin bit after the second chorus, as was the case with the studio performance.

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    2. Love the summing up of PP's performance Shaky! Perhaps the awkward left arm was to disguise the high waistedness of his trousers?

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    3. The video editing makes the story even harder to understand.

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    4. I have dug out my (clear vinyl) single of 'Vienna' and given it a spin. It's not edited, so I am surprised that TOTP continued to chop it whether in the studio or on the video.

      Incidentally the front cover sleeve tomb photo (which is in the video just where the cut occurs) shows the tomb of Carl Schweighofer (1839 - 1905) who was a member of one of Viennas most famous piano making houses.

      The rear of the sleeve shows a picture of little known composer Max Reger (1873 - 1916) with his surname incorrectly spelt Reiger.

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  10. one of the proplems i'm having with this overload of old totp editions is that (due to not being registered with blogspot and thus not getting email notifications) i'm having to go back several editions in the blog and scroll through all the comments to see if belated replies have been added - aarrgghhhh!

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    1. I know the feeling. I'm one of the 'belated reply' culprits too!

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  11. Sad to hear of the death today of Terry Wogan.
    I remember on his BBC1 chat show, he would always have a pop performer on the show, and was able to get some acts that preferred to appear on his show than on TOTP, and he scooped some interesting exclusives over TOTP.

    Two examples are The Charlie Daniels Band in 1979 with The Devil Went Down To Georgia, and ELO in 1986 with So Serious, as they embarked on their final album for Sony before splitting up.

    I'm sure that Mr Wogan snapped up more exclusives over TOTP, and it is a testament over his enduring appeal to celebrities and entertainers that he could pull strings that TOTP could not.

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    1. I was sad to hear of Wogan's demise. Although I think his behaviour in accepting payment for hosting Children in Need was hypocritical, he was a genuinely great broadcaster, especially on radio, and often put a smile on my face at breakfast time. He shouldn't have bothered championing Katie Melua, though...

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    2. I grew up with Wogan. My mum was mortified when he replaced John Dunn on the Radio 2 breakfast Show in 1973, but she grew to like him very much. He gave deserved wide exposure to a Clifford T Ward song 'Home thoughts from Abroad' which was actually the B Side of his biggest hit 'Gaye'. RIP Terry

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    3. Sir Terry Wogan, a man who has done so much to dumb down UK broadcasting yet I grew to respect him immensely. Having said that, I remember very little of his Radio 2 breakfast show. His first stint was just 'old foagey radio' to me at the time and his second stint, 'Wake Up To Wogan', well, at the time I had to get up it was flippin' Sarah Kennedy. Wake Up To Wogan indeed, I've always envied how the other half live. RIP.

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    4. i'm proud to say i never woke up to wogan!

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    5. I hated Terry Wogan when I was a teenager but I grew to like him as I got older. I thought his comments on Eurovision were very funny and I liked a lot of his chat shows however his looking at the camera antics used to get on my nerves a bit. He had very few cards in his pack but he played them very well.

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    6. Im sure Ive got that Elo appearance somewhere.

      Anyone going to Elo this year?

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    7. Im sure Ive got that Elo appearance somewhere.

      Anyone going to Elo this year?

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    8. Yep, I have my ticket for ELO and looking forward to it. I doubt that they'll be playing 'So serious' however, but I'm hoping 'One Summer Dream' (B side to 'Mr Blue Sky') will be in the set as I know it's one of Jeff's favourites.

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    9. One Summer Dream, Strange Magic and Living Thing were the three ELO tracks used in the 2012 movie Hunky Dory when ELO were still in their hiatus period with Jeff Lynne very much out of the limelight, and a good couple of years before Chris Evans persuaded him to come out of retirement for another blast, but this time as Jeff Lynne's ELO.

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  12. I knew that Peter Powell would slip back into mumbling mildly comprehensible rubbish again. Sure enough.....

    Status Quo - ..and mangling song titles, not that he's alone in that (hi there, Master Bates!) This opener is OK, not their best but by no means their worst. It's not Slade or Teardrop Explodes quality though.

    Roxy Music - Well, despite my aversion to whistling in general, this is alright. Such a shame that it was their only chart topper though. At least it's miles better than the original which absolutely no-one ever points out has a risible vocal ('cos Lennon can do no wrong of course!)

    Kim Wilde - Brilliant tune, and I'm wondering now why she wasn't one of my crushes at the time, especially as she ended up marrying someone from my school! OK, he was a few years older than me, but still..

    Madness - Wouldn't you turn up to do an instrumental if you were asked? Utterly pointless really!

    No-one seems to have noticed that, as well as in 'Vienna', there was a whacking great edit in the Coast To Coast repeat with an entire verse going missing!

    I seem to be the only one here who loves 'Star'. I think it's a top pop tune, although the performance is a little odd as she seems to be singing live over a backing track for the verses, miming the choruses, and then doing a bit of both for the 'whoo-hoo!' bits at the end.
    Oh, and this must have been recorded for a variety show surely? The staging doesn't look right for TOTP, more like something that would be filmed as a 'guest star' spot for Two Ronnies, Little & Large or something like that!

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  13. I can't believe I'm the first to mention that Kiki Dee's hit "Star" was written by Doreen Chanter. Remember her? The tall, blonde, stripey dungaree wearing, shouty-chrous one in The Chanter Sisters from way back in this re-run ("I'm just a SIIIIDESHOW!").

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    1. Now then now then (sorry), for ten points, can anyone name the talent show which used “Star” as its theme tune? It may well have been one hosted by Marti Caine, but I can’t remember.

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    2. A couple of us have already mentioned this, Arthur! It was Bob Says Opportunity Knocks.

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    3. Oops! Sorry. Obviously going wordblind by trying to read three ongoing and growing threads at once!

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    4. We all remembered The Chanter Sisters, Arthur. It's just that we desperately trying not to! (joking aside, a part of me misses those days of loads of non-entities per show!!)

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    5. i almost cetainly mentioned this at the time, but the chanter sisters put out this excellent funk track as a single (by coincidence co-written by one of the guys responsible for "i was kaiser bill's batman" as mentioned above!):

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHjNHpYi5HY

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    6. Also, Kiki's follow-up to this, Perfect Timing (the album title track), was written by our friend from a couple or three years back, Kit Hain.

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  14. I was looking further into the Coast To Coast track Do The Hucklebuck, and there is indeed a video for it, as all three showing on TOTP across February and March 1981 were the same 12th Feb TOTP studio performance, so this video I never recalled seeing on television at the time or even till now, so any other likers of it? Certainly the lead singer's jacket was the only difference on this video. But the two hot chicks with him continue to mesmerise. Ooooh yeah!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jv4Tc0N1KKk

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    1. Yes indeed Dory, I've been studying this video also and posted my comments above before I got this far down the blog and see you've made practically the same point already! I'm miles behind.

      There is another HQ TV performance from somewhere else also on YT. Those chicks....

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    2. The blonde girl was named Donna and the dark haired girl Patti btw.

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    3. Mmm......I'll do Hucklebuck with both of them!

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    4. Wow, yes it's something you can watch again and again, particularly since the 'chicks' are in shot for much longer than on the TV performance. A great 'good time' record which seems to have been criminally forgotten until its inclusion on the Union Square 'Ultimate Collection - Eighties' 5 CD set in 2008.

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    5. Having heard it again in this rerun, it seems to sing about "twisting", and so the Hucklebuck must have been a variation on "The Twist," which seems to explain why it did so well in 1981 making it to the top 5.

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    6. I think the Twist would have been more influenced by the Hucklebuck, which dates from the 1940s. You could fill up a whole box set with songs about dance crazes 1945-1965. Or just watch Hairspray (original version).

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    7. Chubby Checker actually covered The Hucklebuck around the same time he released The Twist.

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  15. Finally got round to watching (well, mainly fast forwarding) this show. Quo by numbers with a new title thanks to Pete, and loads of ‘films’ and repeats. I wonder if Beggar & Co said they’d only come back if they were given a bigger stage?

    I always thought “Kids In America” was a daft title for a song sung in clipped tones by a girl brought up in leafy Hertfordshire, and I never liked Kim’s surly, pouting persona. I then saw her at one of those Here And Now gigs where she was much happier, and some bloke shouted she looked lovely, whereupon Kim laughed and said “It’s taken all day for me to get to look like this!”

    Was it me, or did anyone else notice Chrissy Boy of Madness mouth the word “Cock” when imitating the woodblock?

    Kelly Marie, Scotland’s best female singer? I bet Lena Martell was spitting feathers. Oh well, at least Kelly had given the school their gym mat back.

    Why was that sign spelling out Kikidee? Why no gap between the second “I” and the “D”? Kiki, love, the camera’s over her – and careful not to trip over that mic lead! Was she actually singing a live vocal over the single?

    I was surprised Pete didn’t give a deep sigh and repeat his St. Winifred’s “it takes all sorts to make up the chart” before announcing Joe Dolce.

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  16. Just a quick update on everyone's favourite bored vocalist - Freeez's guest chanteuse Ingrid Mansfield Allman now works in a Further Education College in North London, and she's also a journalist and DJ.

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  17. Watched it at last - the one I've been waiting for! I can remember well how Kids In America just blew me away when I first heard it. Having enjoyed what Gary Numan did in '79/'80 (lead synth coupled with a traditional rock rhythm section) this was a natural progression, but it sounded so contemporary. And by a 'girl next door' type as well, rather than the freakish, dayglo Honeys and Toyahs who had been on recently. Now here's a strange thing, I always thought that PP introduced her as being 19 years old rather than (correctly, I believe) 20. Perhaps I was thinking of another introduction to someone else, or maybe someone on the radio said she was 19.

    As for the rest of the show, lots of good music, shame about the No. 1, some rather obvious audio edits giving it a rather hacked-about feel and I just knew that PP would come in for a lot of flack on this blog - his opening link was most definitely ad-libbed!

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    1. Peter Powell was correct, as Kim Wilde had turned 20, just three months earlier in November 1980, so by February 1981 on this debut on TOTP she was well into her 21st year, and same age as Rosie of Legs & Co.

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  18. Better late than heather 2:

    OMG TOTP with opening titles! Whatever next?

    Another rock warhorse is back - last time Gillan now the Quo. I didn't mind this one at the time but I wouldn't have admitted it to anyone.

    I always found Bryan Ferry a bit creepy in the video for Jealous Guy. He's showing off his Wallace and Gromit teeth to good effect here (and seems to have has them newly whitened) but has a cold look in his eyes and why does he keep wobbling his head about? And the whistling, my God the whistling is enough to set anyone's teeth on edge (even Bryan's). Good song though but i would have preferred the original.

    Beggar and Co again which sounds even better the second time around.

    Superb slice of pop from Kim Wilde. I must admit I really liked this at the time, a great production and I like the guys backing vocals and the way they take over on the coda. A very self assured performance from Kim even though she said she was scared stiff on the Story Of 81 doc.

    The Passions. I like the way the name at the end throbs with passion. Nice touch.

    While I love Madness this clearly mimed performance is a bit silly, even for them but there are some funny moments eg when Lee pretends that he's surprised that the tea tray is stuck on his hand. Suggs doesn't have a lot to do and pretends to be conducting the band, not that they're taking any notice of him. I was never sure if Chas really could play the trumpet or was he just giving himself something to do.

    Kelly M again this time opting to sport a jump suit with a glittery jacket over the top while the dancing guys opt for Royal Tartan kilts. The Scottish disco thing never really took off did it?

    Coast to Coast, Freeez and Ultravox again, getting a bit bored with the latter now.

    The Kiki Dee performance must be the official video for Star although it could easily be filmed in the studio although there are no crowd present.

    The top ten and then play out with the song that shoulda been a hit for Andrew Sachs/Manuel. But it's-a not so sad.

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    1. Calvin Harris might disagree that Scottish disco never took off.

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    2. I think the Kiki Dee performance was in the studio - it certainly looked like the studio set.

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    3. Not only could Chas play trumpet, he was bassist in the North London Invaders for a while before they became Madness.

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  19. Jesus. Is The Grim Reaper on overtime or what? Maurice White - founder/lead singer with EW & F- is the latest musical hero to bite the big one. Farewell Maurice.

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    1. maurice was a true talent and innovator. and although i don't consider any popular musicians worthy as being descibed as a genius, in my view he wasn't far off from that. he certainly had more talent in his little finger than that also now-departed guy who played records and spoke a bit of blarney inbetween had in his whole body. but no doubt the press are still eulogising the latter, whilst maurice will be lucky to be a footnote!

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