Friday 11 March 2016

One Top of the Pops in your Life

Well the days seem to be getting a wee bit warmer now so winter must be almost over ~ indeed in BBC4 Top of the Pops 1981 land it's June already!

You'd better show my video in full this week ~ or else!


04/06/81 (hosted by Richard Skinner)

(29) Siouxsie & The Banshees – “Spellbound”

What a spellbinding start to the show from Siouxsie ~ how did this fabulous song only get to number 22?

(2) Shakin’ Stevens – “You Drive Me Crazy”

Edited out of tonight's 7.30pm showing.

(13) Kate Robbins & Beyond – “More Than In Love”

Paul McCartney's cousin Kate from Crossroads with her only hit, though it did make it to number 2. But edited out of tonight's 7.30pm slot.

(40) Squeeze – “Is That Love?”

A whole year since they were last on the show, and now post-Jools, here's another terrific song that wasn't as big a hit as it deserved to be, somehow this one stalled at number 35.

(43) Imagination – “Body Talk” 
'Leaving nothing to the imagination' says Richard Skinner referring to the band's outfits! Even Legs & Co would have blushed! But Body Talk was on its way to number 4.

(4) The Jam – “Funeral Pyre” (video)

'Setting the charts on fire' The Jam straight in a number 4 but it rose no higher.

(12) Michael Jackson – “One Day In Your Life”

This week the Leggers have a very dark and dramatic set, a bit of a thriller you could say, on which to perform their routine to this six year old Michael Jackson song that would make it all the way to number one.

(8) Toyah – “I Want To Be Free” (video)

Trying to break out of the confines of her own video I think is Toyah here, with this follow up to Its a Mystery now at its chart peak.

(44) Phil Collins – “If Leaving Me Is Easy”

Phil's back in the studio with his tin of paint to perform the third single from his huge number one album Face Value. If Leaving Me is Easy made it to number 17.

(1) Adam & The Ants – “Stand & Deliver” (video)

'The new full version' of the Ants' video, with the hanging scene replaced by Adam repeatedly smashing through the window, in time for its fifth and final week at number one.

(23) Odyssey – “Going Back To My Roots” (audience dancing/credits)

We play out this week with Odyssey who were going back to the top ten all the way to number 4.

The next edition is the 11th June 1981, but it's a Jimmy Savile so won't be on BBC4. Instead they will show the 18th June 1981 hosted by Peter Powell.

70 comments:

  1. I hope I'm not the only one that thinks Collins latest self pitying slice of drivel is among the very worst things we have suffered on totp !

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  2. Powering along like a juggernaut, it's Siouxsie and her Banshees with the mighty Spellbound, terrific way to kick things off. Not everyone can carry off a PVC waistcoat, but she managed it.

    And not everyone can carry off a pink jacket, but Shaky sure has a good try. Still don't think he sounds like Elvis, though.

    Woman of a thousand voices Kate Robbins with a limp ballad I vaguely remember, though I was distracted by the berk at the left of the screen mucking about with the piano. He was entertaining nobody but himself. Kate's finest moment was in Sex Lives of the Potato Men, of course.

    Not my favourite Squeeze track, but it sounds terrific after what was before it, with the boys sounding lyrically disillusioned in spite of the jaunty arrangement. It was nice to hear them back last year with the rather good theme tune to that Danny Baker sitcom.

    Then Imagination, you could practically smell the testosterone, the whole band selling their grinding funk to ludicrous levels of lust. OK, I laughed, they were amusing.

    No recollection of this Jam track, even though it was a pretty big hit, presumably the fans bought it because it was their comeback and not because it was any good, which it wasn't much. No tune. Kept expecting to see a musclebound Spandau Ballet hoving into view.

    Prefer Michael Jackson's funkier material, pleasant enough but does anyone know why it was re-released? Was he falling behind in getting new stuff out? As for the dancing, looked a little silly with them being introduced two by two in overdramatic fashion. And that was just the frocks.

    Being very loud, Toyah's video must have been loads of fun to make. What a weird career she's had. And it's all on YouTube.

    From the fun to the no fun at all, Phil Collins with a deadly dirge that doesn't have a tune either. He's sticking with that paintpot, isn't he?

    Looks like the record company listened to the parents' complaints and re-edited the Stand and Deliver video. Pretty ham-fistedly too. Why are there US GIs in the background? Just noticed them.

    Then Dickie dad dances his way through the crowd for the very respectable cover of Going Back to My Roots from Odyssey. Do we get to hear the whole thing? Did they make it to the studio?

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    1. I prefer Kate Robbins to the Squeeze track which sounds like a Beatles cast off.

      Imagination can look a bit silly, but the song sounds quite cool.

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  3. RIP Keith Emerson now! Possible suicide, if it wasn't sad enough! I loved Fanfare for the Common Man when I was little, used to watch the start of Reporting Scotland just to hear it (it was the theme tune). What a year...

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    1. I love the Piano Concerto he did.

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    2. Angelo & THX, the original Adam & The Ants video shown at its first week at No.1 on the live show 7th May with the hanging scene is the one I have in my music library, and this is the one available on iTunes to purchase.

      The changed video that Richard Skinner alluded to at its 5th week at No.1 on 4th June I didn't know existed, but the first and original one is better, because it represents what the original idea of the video was, and I like originals, rather than tampered or edited versions.

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  4. host: dickie has carefully worked out his puns beforehand, but even though the groan factor is pretty high i'm always a sucker for that kind of thing. i love the fact that he didn't refrain from pointing out what was going on after imagination got their first "exposure" on the show. if mike read (and i mean the eastenders actor/comedian - not the dee jay) had cracked the toyah joke rather than dickie then it might have worked. his yellow badge reminds me of the "house" badge i had at grammar school (and still own) - all the boys houses were named after explorers/pirates (delete as appropriate) of our glorious empire i.e. drake, raleigh, etc. but mercifully within two or three years of starting there that decades-old (and increasingly anachronistic) tradition was abolished

    siouxsie & the banshees: a most excellent start to the show, and i'm rather amazed this track isn't in my collection as it ranks with the best of their output for me. john mcgeogh and budgie really do add an extra dimension to their sound. siouxsie very nearly drops a curtsey at the end, but despite that if i was ever in her presence then i think i'd feel very afraid...

    shakin' stevens: after the freshness of "this ole house" the banality is already setting in with this thing based on the simple and vastly overused C-Am-F-G chord sequence. at least it bucks up slightly (and modulates) when the guitar solo kicks in

    kate robbins: kate is now better-known for her wicked voiceovers and impressions on "spitting image" and "eurotrash" (where the europeans were usually "translated" into the thickest of brummie accents!) than the fact that she tried her hand at both pop star and serious actress beforehand. i was hooked on crossroads at this time, so i well remember the storyline where motel co-owner david hunter allowed his errant son to set up a recording studio in the basement, where kate (who i think was hunter jr's girlfriend) recorded the song that perhaps inevitably was then released as a single for real. as a singer she knocks the likes of toyah, hazel o'connor and kim wilde into a cocked hat, but that's not saying much. and she's prettier than the first two by a distance too. so what a shame she didn't record something a bit hipper, rather than this sickly cabaret ballad that even the mick karn/pino paladino-style fretless bass can't salvage. by the way, she was also apparently married to one of the child twins who you will remember also appeared on the show

    squeeze: this is very beatle-esque, which leads me to wonder if glenn tilbrook was inspired to write it after he heard "i'll be back" on "stars on 45"? but no matter how hard they tried, they never got close to "cool for cats" again as far as i was concerned. paul carrack has now replaced jools on keyboards, although given his reputation as a singer it's a bit strange that he doesn't even bother to mime here

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    1. I agree that there is something sinister about Siouxie & The Banshees, but she certainly had a damn good figure on her, and came up as the best dressed and sexiest on the show, which somewhat retrieved the situation for any doubters of the group's ability to make an impact. A nice size 8 by the looks of things here.

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    2. siouxsie certainly never had an ounce of fat on her, but like many skinny women (most of legs & co included) she never had much "up top" either. my mother used to have a rather pejorative expression for such ladies, but i can't remember what it was now. by the way dory, if i were you i wouldn't ever consider telling siouxsie personally that she's a "nice size 8", as you're likely to get one of her stiletto heels stuck in you as a result (although of course some would gladly pay good money for such abuse)!

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    3. Paul Carrack took lead vocal on Squeeze's next single, 'Tempted'. Despite being very well known it surprisingly just missed the Top 40.

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    4. Staying with this single Wellieman, Squeeze had certainly come a long way since Cool For Cats a couple of years earlier in 1979 with a change of direction with choice of lead singer and type of music. However, Is That Love only had one appearance on TOTP here at No.40, and that was this week, so it didn't do well at all.

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  5. two-parter alert:

    imagination: i really hated this when it first came out. really hated it. perhaps i was put off by the band's image (even though they had yet to reach the loincloth stage). then i thought the follow-up whilst very samey was a little better. then i actually quite liked the third single. so i eventually acquired a cassette recording of the album off a chum and i remember going around listening to it on my new walkman knock-off. and then the penny really dropped just how good their unique sound (curtesy of future 80's megastar production team swain & jolley) was - including this. i strongly recommend that you listen to the full length version as the groove gets even steamier towards the end

    jam: musically better than most of their stuff but the modfather's "singing" is pure anathema to me i'm afraid, so time to reach for the fast-forward button

    wacko/legs: you can't blame motown for cashing in on the success of their former child star, even though this sounds nothing like his recent stuff. the arrangement is slightly chicken-in-a-basket fare, but an excellent tune with a classic modulation trick half way through. thank the lord that rosie has finally come to her senses and ditched the crimpers! sadly lulu has yet to do likewise, whilst i'm guessing that new girl anita's frizziness is her natural look?

    phil collins: one i can't remember much about, but it's pleasant enough (despite featuring the anodyne electric piano sound that was to dog much of the decade) given some of the later atrocities he was to unleash upon us

    odyssey: labelling this as funk is a bit of a stretch on dickie's part. as a disco/dance number it's not bad, but i think lamont dozier's original version had the edge. i'm fairly sure that the intro for his version was used in an advert for discos crisps - can anyone confirm that?

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    1. I'm surprised you find the Kate Robbins vocal sickly and yet like the exaggerated sentimental stylings of Phil Collins. More Than In Love is sung without all those elaborations.

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    2. starry i wasn't criticising kate's vocal, but the actual song. there's not that much between that and phil's effort to be honest. but the latter's tune at least has some individuality about it, whereas kate's sounds like it's been written on autopilot by some tin pan alley hack. in fact i've just discovered it was penned by none other than our old chum (and archetypal tin pan alley hack) simon may! well, let's be thankful he didn't get to sing it himself...

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    3. I like it as a classic styled flowing melody though, whereas Phil's doesn't really go anywhere in comparison it just goes to that plodding groove at the end.

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  6. This was Kate Robbins' first appearance since being part of Prima Donna and their Eurovision song last year. I think she was in that group with her sister, and Sally Ann Triplett, who would show up again next year with Bardo.

    Now The Jam were my favourite band throughout this period of TOTP reruns but I have to admit that I think Funeral Pyre was their worst single (even weaker than News of the World, Modern World, etc). Thankfully Weller and Co return to form later this year and, particularly, next year.

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    1. Indeed, and like THX, I couldn't recall this new Jam single Funeral Pyre going straight into the top ten at No.4 this week. Best forgotten really.

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    2. I also liked the Prima Donna song.

      I think they did several weaker than Funeral Pyre, it's grown on me already. Start! was overrated for me for instance. The vocal line has some direction here in concert with those drums.

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    3. I like Funeral Pyre. Then and now. Although I totally get it not being like singles before / after. My memory of this track is that it was one of a fair few singles at that time which were dark in subject matter as well as sound. In darker days.

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  7. A right old mixed bag of a show, but it got off to a flying start with this great Siouxsie number - I loved the fast acoustic guitar parts in particular. Interesting that Richard described them as making a rare appearance on TV, as we've seen them on TOTP quite a bit, but perhaps they didn't venture on to other shows very much. Presumably the only reason this turgid Kate Robbins ballad got so high was because it featured on Crossroads. On this evidence Kate (who seemed to be modelling herself on a Nolan here) should have stuck to acting and comedy - the only interesting thing about this performance was that Richard Madeley appeared to be on drums...

    Squeeze, with Paul Carrack now on board, return with a very Beatles-like tune, as Wilberforce has already noted. I'm not familiar with this one but enjoyed it, and it deserved to do better. The excellent Tempted, with Carrack on lead vocals, would be the next single but that inexplicably failed to even break the Top 40. Regarding Imagination, I can only agree with Richard's wisecrack at the end of the song about their performance! Could Leee John have loved himself more? The bit where he straddles the synth was particularly cringe-inducing, but the song itself still sounds good.

    This Jam effort may have gone Top 5, but I'm pretty sure I have never heard it. The video may have been made in Surrey, but it's quite edgy and atmospheric and complements a good song well. I can only assume Motown reissued One Day in Your Life at this stage to cash in on Jacko's burgeoning superstar status, but it was an astute choice as it's a lovely ballad which really shows off the high emotion Michael could inject into his singing. I wasn't so keen on the Legs performance though - the girls took too long to all appear, and didn't do anything very interesting once they did.

    Seemingly accompanied by Master Bates' dad on sax, Phil Collins bores everyone into submission with this terminally tedious and self-pitying offering. It seemed to go on forever, and that paint pot is really getting on my nerves now - get over it Phil! At least the show plays out in fine style with this eminently danceable Odyssey track. I notice Richard half-heartedly joins in, after mercifully keeping his body still for the rest of the show! A very good turn from him, incidentally, with very smooth links and some nicely deadpan comments for good measure.

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  8. The next edition of 11th June 1981 was a Jimmy Saville one, and not repeated on UK Gold, so this would be the first showing since 1981, so we need one of the regulars to the rescue, i.e., Neil B, Meer, Manorak or anyone with a crisp copy to hand.

    For one thing, I'm looking forward to at last a new No.1 to drive of the dandy highwaymen out of the No.1 spot, so cue Smokey!

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    1. And performances of landscape and enigma in the studio

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    2. Good Lord, Norman Bates by Landscape. Now that is something to relish! Any relation to Simon Bates?

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    4. Yes, I hope one of our regular sources can provide us with this one. I have found the Bucks Fizz, Elaine Paige and Ultravox performances on YouTube.

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  9. Not much of a fan of Spellbound at all, certainly the vocal line is nothing to write home about. The drummer is actually way more important in this than the singer who may look cool but that doesn't improve the song.

    The Jam similarly have prominent drums but the vocal line is so much better. It's actually grown on me already by the next day.

    Squeeze have a song that sounds like Lennon could have sung it, but it's a bit lax and wouldn't have been one of his better ones.

    Kate Robbins has a nice melody, vocal and arrangement sound fine enough as well. Her performance though had to too much head tilting and bobbing at every word she sung, not needed.

    Phil Collins sentimentalises his vocal badly, and the groove by the end is a bit plodding as well. Kate Robbins actually sings better for me in this episode even though it's probably not considered cool to praise her.

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    1. Ah I see two people already noted The Beatles comparison, but not specifically the Lennon one.

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  10. Kate Robbins is the first cousin removed of Paul McCartney

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  11. on Thursdays Simon bates show we saw a young Anthea turner, and on this episode we saw Timmy mallet acting like a wally in the playout !!!

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  12. Good grief, June 1981 already. Getting near that Royal Wedding!

    Siouxsie and the Banshees – Spellbound. I wasn’t…

    Shakin’ Stevens – Nice performance of a song that, if it wasn’t for those wretched insects would have given Shaky a hat trick.

    Kate Robbins – More than in love – This song kept reminding me of something else…think, think Steve, what is it? Then it came to me – the chorus refrain of ‘You’re having my baby’ by Paul Anka.

    Squeeze – is that love? Is that Jools on keyboards? Ah no, he’s gone now. Don’t recall this one and it’s OK but not as good as some previous hits.

    Imagination – Body Talk – Turgid or what? People must have loved it as I believe it spent the most number of weeks in the charts of any record in 1981. Leee John from the band featured in the 1983 Peter Davison Dr Who story ‘Enlightenment’ despite having no acting experience, although arguably there is some serious ‘hamming up’ on display here!

    The Jam – Funeral Pyre – Stunning video, but I don’t remember this song at all – perhaps the lack of discernible tune is why?

    Michael Jackson – One Day in your Life – I’m not a Jacko fan at all, but this is one of only a few of his efforts that I really like. Nice production and arrangement. This single was originally released in 1975 and didn’t chart, then for no apparent reason was reissued at this point and soared. Good routine from Legs & Co but the lovely Lulu only gets a few seconds before the song is rudely truncated. I’m sure we’ll see more in weeks to come.

    Toyah – I want to be free – Like ‘D Days’ from Hazel O’Connor, I still find this song so irritating!

    Phil Collins – If leaving me is easy – The single featured three full demo versions of the first three singles from ‘Face value’ on the B Side (as well as a pin up poster of Phil). This must make it the longest playing side of a 7” single ever? (albeit played at 33rpm). The song is curiously structured. Verses and verses and then chorus and chorus. It’s a little dreary but you can picture a late night last dance with couples melting into each other’s arms to this; not that I ever did! For me, a better (slow) third single from the album would have been ‘You know what I mean’ (later covered by Frida from Abba).

    Adam & the Ants – Stand and deliver - Full version or not, it’s FF again! Thank goodness this was the last of five weeks at the top.

    Playout – Odyssey – Another one I’m not too keen on.

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    1. I don't see the Anka comparison, but that Phil Collins song you mention definitely sounds an upgrade on what we heard on totp. It actually sounds to me like the kind of song Elton John would have sang.

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  13. I have to admit, I’m not enjoying this stretch of the re-run at all. No-one’s fault on this blog, but the two episodes a week plus the Yewtreed editions is making all this catching up feel like a chore rather than something to be enjoyed. Not sure how Angelo keeps sane!

    I’d just got up to speed after the five-episode splash and last Wednesday I thought “At last, a night off, no pressure”… and there was another Yewtreed edition. Due to life and all its events and hindrances, I won’t catch up on this edition properly until tomorrow night at the earliest but, in the meantime...

    A very brief check on t’net suggests the longest hit A-side on a seven-inch is “November Rain” By Guns ‘N’ Roses, clocking in at 8 minutes and 53 seconds. I have, however, found out about an American 33-and-a-third seven inch from 2007 by John Wiese and C. Spencer Yeh (“Tiny Red Tables” b/w “Big American Hole”) where the tracks are 12:55 and 13:09!

    Giving a glimpse of the unglamorous side of Imagination, I had the misfortune of working for the Legal Aid Board for 18 months in the mid 90’s (I worked in a brand new department and I was the 13th out of 20 to leave!) and one of the files we had was for Errol Kennedy – yes, the sausage drummer from Imagination! Bearing in mind in those days you supposedly only got legal aid if you didn’t have enough money to afford a solicitor, I wonder if he’d asked his sister, BBC2 light entertainment staple Grace, to lend him some dosh?

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    1. My view on this "chore" which I agree with you is taking out the fun/hobby element off the blog and becoming like going to work, is that we should stick to the exact week 35 years ago, i.e., March 1981, and go at our own pace and not run after BBC4.

      One blog per week is enough, and everyone in this day and age can record the BBC4 Thurs and friday repeats and watch them in synch with the right week when the blog is ready. For example, this week we got 4th June 1981 on BBC4, so why not blog this in June instead of now in March? Also, the Yewtreed editions can be put up online as a link at any time, so what is the problem?

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    2. It's no chore for me -the more episodes the better is how i feel, Used to love UK gold in the 90s as we had a episode repeated every weeknight. I wish BBC Four had started this 2 episodes a week thing when the reruns started in 2011 !!!

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    3. Dory - I think the trouble with doing that is you would eventually end up blogging about episodes which BBC4 had shown a year earlier or more! Part of the enjoyment of these blogs for me is to comment while an episode is still newly seared in my consciousness, and it wouldn't be the same if we only blogged months later, irksome as it can be to have to wade through so many episodes in one week. The good news is that the number of Yewtreed episodes starts to diminish by the time we get to 1982, and then even further in '83 and '84 (assuming we reach those years), so things should calm down a little bit before too long. In any case, thanks once again to Angelo for his dedication in keeping the blog up-to-date so quickly!

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    4. i'm in two minds about the increased portions. on one hand it's now a bit like being at a ferrero rocher party ("you spoil us, mr ambassador!"), but on the other hand it doesn't seem right that the formaula of mirroring exactly 35 years earlier as we've followed for the last five years is now being tampered with. does anyone know the reason for the speeding up? is it because bbc4 is under threat? or do the beeb know that yet more of the presenters have skeletons in their pasts that could come to light at any moment? whatever the reason, my main problem is that i'm now finding it difficult to keep tabs on all the comments left on this blog, as due to the rapid turnover some are still are being left for up to five editions back now!

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    6. I'd rather have more episodes than none at all although it does make keeping up with the comments more difficult. The other downside is that the gap between Master Bates' appearances is shorter than it would be under the old format.

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  14. shaky shakerson14 March 2016 at 09:58

    It's Richard Skinner's turn at the mic this week - a turn that he executes with his usual staid straight-bat Newsroundiness.

    Up first, it's Siouxsie with her Banshees. Now, I'm not a huge fan but I liked this. Siouxsie does what she does over a thumping backing (especially like the deep-bass drum rolls from Budgie.) Nice bit of movement from Siouxsie as well.

    Kate Robbins with a song called (according to the girl in the audience) 'More Than I'm In Love'. There's a lesson to be learned right there Mr Skinner. This is wimpy, cruise-ship stuff - made more unoriginal when compared to the rest of the females in the chart this week. Miss Robbins is 8 years away from giving birth to Emily Atack who would grow up to be Will's object of desire in The Inbetweeners. So, well done for that Kate.

    Skinner has now acquired a yellow button on his t-shirt. Why? From whom?

    Squeeze. The first of 3 songs tonight that I personally like but which seem to have failed to find favour with the rest of you. This is proper 3 minute hooky pop. Interesting lyrics over a great melody. Can't believe this failed to trouble the top thirty, and I can't believe so many of you dislike/cant remember it.

    Anyways. . . Up next Imagination. One of those singles that rapidly became annoying. I mean you can admire it for a number of reasons, the backing, the vocals, the atmospheric piano. But it has not survived the test of time - not helped by popping up on those talking-heads 'Fifty Shocking moments in Pop' things.

    The Jam. Second of my 3 loved songs. Ok, it's no Eton Rifles but it still stands head and shoulders over most of the tepid stuff floating around at this time. And its a great vid as well.

    The Leggers get to do what they should never be allowed to do - dance to a slowie. This looks like it was choreographed by a six former and danced by her mates. The dull unrelentingness of it wasn't helped by the girls popping up one by one either.

    Phil Collins. Number 3 in the Am-I-The-Only-One-Who-Likes-This? list. Yeah, it was probably better heard at the end of a night out down the local disco, when the lights go out except for that one spotlight trained on the mirrorball, and you've got your arms around that girl who you think might be tempted after you buy her a kebab. Here in the studio it does drag a bit, especially the high-pitched Bee Geeesque chorus that goes on and on. But it's still a great tune with smart lyrics and a haunting quality to it.

    Scores. The Leggers' performance cost the show a point so its only a 7 (with high points being The Banshees, Squeeze, The Jam, and Phil Collins)

    Host. Skinner was his usual authoritive self, having no-truck with intermingling with the audience apart from asking that girl to mangle Kate Robbins' song title (1 point dropped) and dad-dancing at the end (another point dropped) - 8.

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    1. I disagree amazingly with nearly all of that. My problem with the Legs performance though is the shiny stuff they are wearing, it's a sad ballad not a glitzy disco offering.

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    2. I'd rather have a sad ballad than a bad salad. Talking of Newsroundiness, this morning I heard John Craven doing a voiceover for Marmite in a radio ad!

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    3. In case it wasn't clear I have no problem with the ballad it's the fact they combine it with these shiny dresses, it just doesn't go together.

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  15. Phew! Finally made it! Decent knock by Dickie Skinner, giving two of the three non-mugshot chart placings, giving us another pronunciation of Ennio’s hit and making a good fist of it.

    Siouxsie wore probably the sexiest punk outfit ever in this outing, enjoyed by a tiny yet enthusiastically pogoing crowd. Great drumming by Budgie, who was used to supporting females with less support – he was drummer with punk trio The Slits. I think we’ve (un)covered their topless album sleeve before.

    I had an unusual problem with my PC – syrup oozed out of it when Kate Robbins was on. Mind you, I did like “We’ll Find Our day” by Stephanie De Sykes, one of the other hits from “Crossroads”.

    Different to see bassist John Bentley on backing vocals for Squeeze’s Beatles period minor hit, complete with the oft misheard lyric ”Beat me up with your lettuce”.

    Imagination were flamboyant, but Leeeee John was so slappable, and he needed to take lessons from Darts’ Den Hegarty as to how to straddle a keyboard.

    Was that Jam video shot at Chobham Common? Pretty sure Paul McCartney used that area for his “Pipes Of Peace “ vid. A real case of hunt the chorus – I couldn’t see the wood for the trees!

    I wonder if there was any problem in Legs & Co with new girl Anita going first alphabetically in the credits?

    Put the kettle on, it’s Toyah and Phil Collins. Had he realised he’d use that paint pot prop for several singles, maybe Phil’s follow-up to his first hit should have been “I Second that Emulsion”. Boom boom tish!

    That was one hell of a jump through that window to the top of the table by Adam Ant, and not a scratch or drop of blood on him. Dah diddley qua qua indeed!

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  16. "Is That Love" was Squeeze's only chart topper - and that was in Israel.

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    1. shaky shakerson16 March 2016 at 17:39

      Well that just confirms my contention that the song is good. If there's one thing the Israel's know about - it's popular beat music.

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  17. Any sightings of the Jim'll 11th June 1981 edition, as BBC4 will be showing the 18th June edition this Friday?
    11th June 1981 was not repeated on UK Gold, so we will need someone's personal recording it seems.

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  18. I think this might be our first totally missing yewtreed episode for the 1981 shows.we have a few performances on youtube to look at (Bucks fizz,ultravox)but sadly no full episode

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  19. Somebody on YouTube has it (for trade). So near, so far. Just found this blog and this would have been my first in sequence Yewtree ep.

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    1. keep watching this blog -there are 2 yewtree episode between next thurday's and friday's bbc four reruns (and they are both online already to watch !!!)

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    2. So I see, and for that opportunity I am grateful.

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  20. Meer doesn't had the 11 June edition but let's hope some else has it to upload

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  21. Whew! It seems as if all I've been doing lately in my spare time is watching 1981 TOTP shows!

    Actually, this 'fast forwarding' of 1981 is a blessing in disguise for me as a non licence-paying freeloader, since it has now been officially announced that the 'iPlayer loophole' is to be closed. Hopefully I will be able to get to the end of 1982, since as I once mentioned on Chris's blog, I experienced the first house move in my life in December 1982, and looking back it marked the end of a fondly-remembered 'golden' era and the beginning of a not-so-good one. Thus it would make a good break point from a personal point of view. But I'll certainly look into Wilberforce's suggestion of watching in my local library - it'll be good to see the John Peel editions again!

    Suffice to say I've been enjoying the music as a pure trip down Memory Lane and therefore find it difficult to be as critical as some on here. One memory which has come flooding back is the breakfast show on Capital Radio (can't remember if it was Mike Smith or Graham Dene at the time) making a big thing about misheard lyrics. Don't recall "beat me up with your lettuce", but there was the first line from the Odyssey single, "sifting up my booze" and Kim Carnes: "she knows just what it takes to make a crow blush". Eh?

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    1. with regard to closing the iplayer loophole, i was thinking that this change in the law might be unpolicable, but i suppose the bad news is that technology will make it easy to prove who has been watching it. still, i've not paid for a licence for 18 months now so that's over £200 saved. and more importantly, not a penny of mine has gone into the pockets of the likes of graham norton!

      but if i still choose not to pay for a licence after the law is changed, then the fact is that i don't really care for watching iplayer at home on my laptop with headphones on anyway, so i might as well watch the few programmes that interest me at the local library again! and of course much of what is broadcast will end up on youtube, which we will still be able to watch for free!

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    2. with regard to 20th's house move, 1981 was a landmark for me in that respect too. i was living at home on the dole at the time, and my parents used to make me "do a yosser" by forcing me out of the house every weekday at 9am to look for work. i got so sick of it that in the end i had a punch-up with my dad and left/got thrown out (delete as appropriate), and spent that night at the local salvation army hostel with the tramps and alkies. the next day i rode my motorbike to a much larger town about 30 miles away where i thought the streets would be paved with gold. but instead i spent the first few days sleeping in the floor of an empty house! it wasn't for around three months that i got myself sorted out to the point where i had a telly of my own (i never paid for a licence for it ha ha), therefore it might not surprise you that i never got to see many of the 1981 totp episodes that are being shown at the moment...

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    4. House move that year for me, too. Parents frowned on TV ownership for a while, so I only saw the show twice in 1981 (one was 30/04/81 - JS yewtreed ep). I made do with the radio (and the odd copy of Smash Hits). Parents relented and got a TV in summer 82. I saw only a handful of episodes between summer 78 and then. I began watching (or paying attention) in 1977.

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    5. Smithy would've been doing the Capittal Breakfsst Show in 1981.

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  22. Can anyone get hold of the 11 06 81 edition

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  23. It is possible to get hold of the 11-06-81 episode for £96 via the www. Maybe we could organise a whip-round if nobody can come forward with this edition. I have no idea about the quality of the episode, or if it is complete. Maybe Angelo can organise it - I would be happy to supply the contact details.

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    1. I don't think any of us are that desperate Andrew. I would only like to know if Landscape appeared in the studio, as according to Popscene, it looks so, as it does not have the word video in brackets, and I'm just curious to see how they looked in the studio, as their first hit Einstein A Go-Go was just videos in each of the two plays they got.

      Also, how much of the Smokey Robinson hit was played as the new No.1 finally knocking off Adam & The Ants, as last time on DLTs show, only the first half of the video got played, which was a bit stingy on the part of TOTP for such a good tune and video.
      As for the rest of the show, not much of interest really.

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    2. 96 quid - not worth it (if it's the ioffer seller i wouldn't touch him with a barge pole anyway !! )

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    3. And enigma preformance of ain't no stopping

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  24. Landscape were indeed in the studio Dory ~ I remember it from the time. It was a fairly dull performance as I recall it, though that was my view as a 14 year old!

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    1. Haha, and I was 13 years old, and still can't remember it.

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  25. I'm very late to this one - like many here it seems, I can't keep up with the pace!

    There aren't too many Siouxsie singles that are truly memorable, but 'Spellbound' is one of them.

    No-one's mentioned the disappointment re Skaky - we finally get to see it on BBC4 and they chop a whole verse out! I'd rather have seen all of Shaky and half of Kate Bobbins and her boring effort.

    The Squeeze song is OK but not one of their best, and the same goes for Imagination I guess but the performance simply must have helped it go up the charts, there's no way you could forget it!

    The Jam song is pretty awful, the Jacko one I disliked at the time but now I can enjoy it for what it is, a well produced ballad (admittedly a Motown cash in, but it's way better than the Smokey song)

    Entertaining though the video is, I'd rather have seen a repeat of the Yewtreed Toyah performance. This one gets a chop as well.

    The Phil Collins song is SO dull, and the paint pot thing is getting really tiresome now.

    Not keen on the Odyssey track, for me it's the weakest of their singles.

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  26. A great start with Spellbound. This was the first Siouxsie single that took them away from punk arena and into pop. Not sure why the guitarist is standing like he desperately wants to go to the loo. Still a superb song a a great performance. Love the drums!

    And looking like a giant Licorice Allsort in eyeliner it's Shaky driving the crowd crazy. Hard not to like this and I had forgotten that this got as high as number 2. He's almost lost in the sea of audience members but this is nicely done, reminiscent of old style 1950s pop shows like Oh Boy.

    I remember I detested Kate Robbins and Beyond (beyond what?) at the time, dismissing it as MOR tosh (which it is). She was in Crossroads of course as Dickie tells us and I can recall watching the soap around the end of 1981 when The Bill's Jeff Stewart (and part time TOTP dancer) was in it as a skinhead who terrorised Miss Luke. Funny the things you remember.

    I could never understand why this Squeeze song wasn't a bigger hit, it damn well deserved to be. It and the album it's from - Eaast Side Story - are the best thing they ever did. Of course the next two singles were bigger hits but this one somehow got forgotten and I'm glad they did it on the show. Nice to see Paul Carrack who of course would take the lead vocal on the next single.

    Good first performance from Imagination with all three members (!) milking it for all its worth. Not sure if the little dance was supposed to go on longer or she came on late but it almost worked.

    While I liked the Jam and bought all of their singles up to this point, I wasn't taken by this one as I had been by the others Interesting that the lyrics include the word "pissing" but it wasn't banned as was Heartland by The The a few years later. But that's the beauty of mumbling the words.

    One Day In Your Life sees the Legs ladies in what looks like Stonehenge in lame dresses and silk scarves. I wonder if they were allowed to keep the outfits they wore?

    Toyah's single was one of those songs that I really liked to start with but grew tired of very quickly. The video looks like an ad for recycling plastic.

    Not sure why the musicians with Phil Collins aren't the ones on the recording when they are quite clearly miming. There's no way Phil could reach those falsetto notes without a little technical help. "It could be a future number one" says Dickie, er so could all the records in the chart if they sold enough copies. Doh!

    The "full length" video from Adam and The Ants - I was never sure why they were running away in slow motion at the end but it's still a good video or it would be if they showed it untampered. I don't know why it was edited anyway becasue the whole point is Adam isn't hung but escapes.

    Play out with Odyssey and Dickie dad dancing. I like the bit right at the end where he grabs a hat off someone's head and puts it on and then they immediately grab it back as if to say "give that back y'bastard!".

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