The host is Jimmy Savile so obviously do not click the link if you wish to avoid him.
http://www.4shared.com/video/7ZdGuKnLce/TOTP_1981-09-10.html
It's grab a grandad night tonight!
10/09/81 (hosted by Jimmy Savile)
(33) Linx – “So This Is Romance”
The band's final top 20 hit, peaking at number 15.
(4) Cliff Richard – “Wired For Sound” (video)
Now screeched to a halt at its chart peak.
(36) The Hollies – “Holliedaze”
Another medley cash-in here, this one reaching number 28, and the Hollies' first top 30 hit for 7 years.
(18) Randy Crawford – “Rainy Night In Georgia” (video)
Another song at its chart peak.
(26) Alvin Stardust – “Pretend”
An unlikely mini-revival for Alvin begins here, with Pretend becoming the first of three top ten hits in the 80's, when it made it to number 4.
(31) Imagination – “In & Out Of Love”
The follow-up to Body Talk, reaching number 16.
(7) The Rolling Stones – “Start Me Up” (video)
The Stone's final top ten hit, now at its peak.
(11) Ottawan – “Hands Up (Give Me Your Heart)”
Perfect for a Legs & Co routine of course, the duo's second and final top ten hit made it to number 3.
(2) Adam & The Ants – “Prince Charming” (video)
Straight in at number 2, and soon to take over at the top.
(1) Soft Cell – “Tainted Love” (rpt from 13/08/81)
Second and final week at number one for 1981's biggest seller.
(14) Ultravox – “The Thin Wall” (audience dancing/credits)
We play out to Ultravox at with The Thin Wall at its chart peak.
Back to BBC4 next then for the 17th September 1981.
This week the man with the mic is He-Who-Can't-Be-Shown attired in fairly sedate (for him) jumper and trousers. Everyone else has decided that it's still summer and are dressed accordingly, none more so than show opener Linx with the sunshiney So This Is Romance. This fairly dark tale of a girlfriend going on holiday alone and marrying a gigolo is another of those songs that doesn't get played on t'radio anymore, but I think it's their best tune actually.
ReplyDeleteThe Hollies get to their back catalogue before Gidea Park can stomp their size nines all over it, to come up with a novelty in the medley genre; an Original Artists medley. Unfortunately their best tunes (He Aint Heavy, Can't Tell The Bottom From The Top etc) don't fit in with the BPM and are eschewed in favour of this collection of lumpen tunes. Not their finest moment.
Having seen Shakin Stevens coin it in all year, some enterprising soul within Alvin Stardust's camp realised there was still life in the fifties revival. And so we get the former be-gloved one back on the pops after a number of years in the wildnerness, having spent that time learning to play the guitar I presume. It's ok, I guess. Good production anyway.
Imagination with Leeeeeeeeeeeee John wearing a nappy, the campometer pushing through the hundred barrier and a collection of ladies sitting in chairs with their backs to camera. For some reason. File under 'Of Its Time'.
Time now for one of The Leggers last routines on ToTP, dancing to disco 'classic' Hands Up. This song is awful, horrible; a musical 'fingers-on-a-blackboard' cacophony of gastliness. Despite being a million miles away from the kind of music I associate with Western film, Flick has got the gals dressed up as 'ladies' from Miss Kitty's Saloon and the guys in the audience to wear cowboy hats. Obviously.
Adam charms his way straight into the number two slot, Soft Cell get another week at number one, and Ultravox have one final outing with The Thin Wall as our see-out track.
So a bit of a drop in standards from last week. More repeat showings, too much disco, a medley, and an annoying 'audience' babble in amongst the tunes. Linx, The Stones and Adam probably the best and The Leggers outfit garners an extra point too - 5.
He-Who-Can't-Be-Shown gets 5. Everything about him was toned down this week, but his countdown of the charts was extraordinarily off the pace and he still looks and sounds as he doesn't know or care about most of the music.
Legs & Co were in great form once again, and I liked most the solo piece from Lulu at the start and end of the song. To think she was still only 21 at this point after five and a half years on TOTP since early 1976.
Deleteit was around this point that mr now then-now then tried to clean up his image a bit, with suits and a haircut that could actually have been on the head of one of the new romantic acts. but it was not to last as the casual scarecrow look that lasted the rest of his life eventually took over...
Deleteas shaky calls him "He-Who-Can't-Be-Shown" he must really be the worst DJ the BBC ever had just can't "link" the tracks & the countdown had no rhythm to it also at the end did he say "Good Morning"
DeleteI'm not sure an original artist medley was that original, The Beach Boys were at it around the same time anyway.
DeleteWasnt 'Now Then''s image change down to his fronting of the BR ads & his long hair wasnt practical?
DeleteThere was a Bbc Four show, before things blew up, mentioning it!
Wasnt 'Now Then''s image change down to his fronting of the BR ads & his long hair wasnt practical?
DeleteThere was a Bbc Four show, before things blew up, mentioning it!
yes westy, you could be right there - i was just assuming that mr now-then was moving with the times rather than moving on a train. another who reluctantly tried to adjust to the new smart look of the early 80's was brian may. but unlike his bandmates he couldn't bring himself to completely shear off his long flowing locks, and it wasn't long before his hair was restored back to its full poodle/charles the second-like glory!
DeleteBig hair for men in the mid to later 80s wasn't really out of place with rock or metal music.
DeleteWith the school holidays over and back to school with this 10th Sep show, it was a bit of a comedown from the previous week’s excellent show with Peter Powell.
ReplyDeleteRandy Crawford – I much preferred the first appearance to two weeks earlier with Legs & Co with Anita taking lead Leg, much better than seeing Randy Crawford’s new video this time round.
Imagination – Leee John was not like anyone else it seemed, and returning with the Bodytalk follow-up here, with three new sexy girls on stage with him. He seemed to be the precursor to Prince later copying this style from 1983 onwards with “1999” and then later in the 80s with “Kiss” and “Cream/Get Off”.
Nonetheless, you got to hand it to Leee John for his creativity, and sexing up the show a bit, in the days before Prince was a household name in Britain.
Adam & The Ants – this point in pop video history was quite pioneering to see a video of this quality as early as 1981, but for Adam Ant there was no going back into the TOTP studio now that he had found his place in the pop video (Erm “Film”) concept which produced another no.1 for him on the back of the video alone. I don’t know if he would have got to No.1 on the song alone though.
hopefully we'll get to see imagination on a future non-yewtree'd edition? to my recollection their album was notable in that it was one of the first recorded digitally, which meant that the producers could easily copy and paste bits elsewhere (as they have done on this) without spending ages cutting and splicing tapes (i saw that being done in a studio once - it took about 15 minutes just to do one edit!)
DeleteI think Prince was far more influenced by James Brown than Leee John! I'm willing to be convinced otherwise, but...
Deleteprince had probably never heard of imagination! although the thought of him being influenced by the antics of leee john & co brings a smile to the lips...
DeleteWilberforce - Imagination will be on BBC4 next week, on a Master Bates-helmed show. It looks like it will be a new performance, though.
DeleteI preferred the Stand and Deliver video, shame Top of the Pops cut it to bits though. Prince Charming is largely just dancing, though edited well enough to the music at the end. And I still think the song is quite minimalist.
DeleteNot a bad show, all things considered - not as good as last week's, but that was always going to be a hard act to follow. My main gripe is the dreadful ambient crowd noise that got put over virtually every song, even on the videos. Michael Hurll did some good things for TOTP, but this was a very bad move, and I hope we don't have to put up with this on every show in future. At least Jim'll seems more lively and engaged here than he was on his last outing, perhaps because of the number of veterans on the bill. His chart countdown technique was particularly erratic here, but his attempts to "conduct" the crowd at the end were mildly amusing.
ReplyDeleteLinx get things off to a bouncy start with an engaging tune, and David Grant considerately pours what seem to be cocktails for the bass player and a member of the crowd at the end. Frustratingly, the camera stays too far away to be able to make out what exactly he is pouring! Jim'll gets very excited when introducing The Hollies, and justifiably so to an extent, with Graham Nash temporarily back in the fold after so long away. This makes this performance quite a notable TOTP moment, though it does seem bizarre that Nash should come back just to promote a medley. Even so, this is a cut above most of the other medleys we have had to endure recently, not just because the original recordings are being used but also because (and here I disagree strongly with Shaky above) pretty much all of their best hits are included here, particularly I'm Alive and I Can't Let Go. Just a shame about the dreaded click track rearing its head again...
After Randy's rather dull and literal video, complete with rain, suitcase and letters, Alvin Stardust pops up for the first time in years with a catchy and accomplished piece of gentle rockabilly; he also looks far better here than he did in his quiffed and sideburned Glam heyday. Doubtless Alvin was trying to get a piece of the rockabilly revival here, but at least he was part of the early rock 'n' roll scene in the UK, back in his Shane Fenton days. I think Billy Fury also tried to take advantage of the prevailing musical fashions to revive his career around this time, but sadly he died not long afterwards.
Imagination then return with what is essentially Body Talk Part 2, but the music still has a soothing, hypnotic quality and this is another unashamedly sensual performance - I would like to have got a better view of those girls with their backs to us at the front of the stage! While the Ottawan song does not discernibly have anything to do with the Wild West, Flick seizes on the "hands up" line to transform Legs into raunchy, sharp shooting saloon bar gals. I thought this routine was great fun, particularly Anita's pretend reluctance to "fire" the gun, and they all look to be having a great time - there was also much bottom baring to add to the pleasure! The song itself is a good fun party record, much better in my view than D.I.S.C.O.
After this, we come to one of the most iconic videos of the 80s as Prince Charming crashes into the Top 10. I guess this is really the point where Antmania peaked, and it is certainly the last record of Adam's that I like, the song's insistent repetition and slow build really getting under the skin. In the ball scenes, the look really could not get any more 80s if you tried, despite the presence of Diana Dors, and it is no great surprise that Adam struggled to top this.
Agreed regarding Imagination. While I don't think that Leee John is that appealing to women, he was not afraid to pretend that he was, and make out as though he was irresistible by clearly getting the girls to play gaga on stage for him, but somehow it seemed to work for the group.
DeleteWe got this first with Bodytalk on the yewtreed 900th TOTP show with Jimmy Saville recently, and now their return on another yewtreed show with DLT this time!
of course graham nash had long-since left the hollies for the delights of folk-rock supergroup superstardom in america. on the cover of the crosby stills nash & young album "deja vu", i can't help but be amused at the sight of this lancashire lad posing as some kind of swamps hillbilly!:
Deletehttp://www.inthestudio.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/crosby-stills-deja-vu-lp.jpg
mention of billy fury reminds me that a few years ago i watched him on late-night tv in one of those cash-in british pop-stars-in-films that were made from the late 50's to the mid 60's. in this case it's something called "i've gotta horse", where billy plays himself... and owns a horse! of course it was complete rubbish, but notable for co-starring a young amanda barrie aka alma from "coronation street"
Deletesimilar cheapy opportunistic films that are equally lame but still worth a look for anyone interested in british pop culture of the era include "the golden disc" (featuring short-lived rock and roll sensation terry dene) and "every day's a holiday" (featuring john leyton, mike sarne, and freddie & the dreamers among others, plus a cameo appearance from nicholas parsons!)
There was a very good documentary about Billy on BBC4 the other week. He really did own a racehorse called Anselmo, who ran in the 1964 Derby, and Amanda Barrie was one of the interviewees, as she was his girlfriend for a while.
DeleteA lot of these Brit rock and pop movies are on DVD, and I find them really interesting. Billy Fury was also in Play It Cool, directed by Michael Winner (!) but his best was after his heyday when he was in That'll Be the Day with David Essex.
DeletePity Gerry and the Pacemakers, though: their Ferry Cross the Mersey film featured J*mmy S*v*le as co-star! No DVD royalties for them.
oh well, gerry marsden will have to keep on plodding around the 60's nostalgia circuit. but surely these days he should be billed as "gerry and his pacemaker"? - arf! arf!
DeleteI noticed the added ambient noise maybe even more as I watched on my laptop with headphones on. Rainy Night in Georgia escaped it though.
DeleteThe Linx track is indeed nice, it does feel in the same style as Intuition but it still feels fresh anyhow. Imagination also keep close to their earlier hit, not as fresh but an ok sound.
Ah, Terry Dene, of A White Sport Coat fame. Back in the late '90s he ran a pub down the road from me. Apparently. Way before my time and with no Internet/YouTube I wasn't to know any better, but was told no, it's not him. But he blew it by saying he wrote AWSC as well as sang it, and one didn't need the above mentioned digital fripperies to find out that it was written by Marty Robbins. Then suddenly he did a midnight flit, leaving unpaid bills and wages and dog muck upstairs. That was Terry Dene. Apparently.
Deleteto paraphrase kirsty mcoll: there's a guy works down the boozer swears he's (the english) elvis...
Deletei once worked with a guy who insisted his dad had had a hit single - he was an "aldridge pryor"-type and full of bullshit, so after he claimed that then as soon as i got home i dug out my copy of "the guinness book of singles", and of course there was no trace of his dad in it! and unsurprisingly i made that known to everyone at work the day after!! many years later i discovered by chance that the guy in question was a cabaret crooner who did actually release a few singles in the 1950's. but none of them were hits, which isn't quite the same thing, is it?
here's a scene from "the golden disc" where terry dene performs for the kidz. note the cool be-quiffed "american" guy at the beginning of the clip (actually a british-based canadian called lee patterson), cast to give the film some "hollywood glamour"! sadly though it doesn't include the bit where the the yank's debutante girlfriend who runs the coffee bar says to mr dene in her best roedean accent "oh terry, won't you please play a tune for us"?:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmXtbgbixJw
I fear the Griff Rhys Jones "Hey Wow!" urge to shout "WILL YOU SHUT UP! I CAN HARDLY HEAR MYSELF THINK!" will become more prevalent over these episodes, they're like an audience at a modern gig who record everything on their phones, only here they're keeping up a dull roar of conversation instead of actually watching the acts.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, fighting his way through the crowd's indifference are Linx, and Dave has brought props to help him with the actions. Jolly little ditty this, lovelorn lyrics notwithstanding, should have been top ten but it was not to be.
Horrible pun and horrible synthesised handclaps, it's The Horries, I mean, The Hollies, oh how the mighty had fallen. Their return to the charts a few years later off the back of a beer ad was more dignified than this.
Randy Crawford in a video that didn't look quite finished. OK version of a great song, is that Dave's letter she is holding at the end?
Alvin Stardust trying his luck with a revival himself, and I didn't begrudge him that one bit, he was a true pro and these 80s singles were pretty slick and catchy. Like the overemphatic drums on this.
Do you think Imagination were miming? Why was the drummer wearing a garter? Why did they feel the need to bring their own ladies? Mysteries lost to the mists of time. Tune-wise, they'd found a formula and they were sticking to it.
High kicking Legs & Co sponsored by the NRA there. Ottowan were a bit of fun always bigger on the Continent than here, but I liked their cheesetastic disco at the time and feel a little nostalgic for it now.
When I was a kid I had no idea who Adam was impersonating at the end of the Prince Charming video, I thought he was trying out new looks. I suppose he's at number one next week? Er, this week.
Is it real audience talk in the studio though? It sounds like it's just added over it by the sound editor.
DeleteTOTP added audience applause at the end of every track for years, so it could be they were going mad with power in the editing room.
DeleteHere's a fact pretend was a uk no 2 for nat King Cole in 1953
ReplyDeleteI'll definitely be one of those who'll stand up for Ottawan here, the verse is more catchy than D.I.S.C.O. The previous song flowed well, this one is just extra catchy. Nothing cheesy, it's just a good honest party sing along.
ReplyDeleteThe performance with the guns and gun shot sounds was a bit strange, no doubt it would be criticised as very bad taste now.
Cliff Richard is clearly the rank amateur roller skater when compared to those around him. He looks lumbering at times. If he's particularly tall, I'm not sure, that probably doesn't help him either.
as a committed fan of what i saw as "proper" disco, i reviled both ottawan's hits at the time. but now i have put my own hand up and admit i don't mind them at all these days in a "so cheesy-it's-good" way!
DeleteThe verse might sound even better in the French version, an interesting alternative at least. The English one has more punch on the chorus though for me.
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m0lquPk6hg
I won't watch this edition until the weekend, so thanks to Neil B in advance. What I will say while I remember is that, with its wrinkly line-up, this edition was less T.O.T.P. and more T.O.A.P.!
ReplyDeleteJS wearing a ‘Rainbow’ sweater, but where were Ritchie and co.?
ReplyDeleteLynx – So this is romance – Last week we had Modern Romance, so, this is romance this week? Well romance is pouring out and passing round drinks during the instrumental break! Hilarious. Actually this is my favourite Lynx track so a good upbeat start to the show with those wonderful choreographed bouts of arm waving from the audience.
Cliff Richard – Wired for sound – Another showing for the iconic video and that’s not a bad thing. Some of that lighting near the end reminds me of the weird lighting on the Blondie video for ‘Atomic’.
Hollies – Holliedaze – Worth the price of admission alone! Thanks Neil B for making this episode available for us to watch (in such clear quality) as without it we’d not see, for me the best of any of the medley singles. Performed by the original group and not impersonators it’s a nice selection of the more uptempo hits from the band. ‘Long cool woman in a black dress’ is possibly the odd one out, reaching only no.32 here but it did appeal to the US market and hit the no.2 spot there. Shame we’re chopped off just before ‘Carrie Anne’ cuts in, but it is a long medley and it’s great to see it performed.
Randy Crawford – Rainy Night in Georgia – Nice song, boring video, preferred the Legs & Co dance the other week.
Alvin Stardust – Pretend – Not one you hear on the radio very often and I’d not heard it for years until this. It’s well documented that the late Bernard Jewry (Alvin) didn’t sing on his early hits like ‘My coo-ca-choo’ but instead, Pete Shelly did so, and Alvin superbly fronted the song to promote it. By the time ‘Pretend’ came out, Mr Stardust was in charge and surprisingly bounced back high in the charts with this after his 70s heyday. Nice performance which could almost be live.
Imagination – In and out of love – Body Talk Part 2. More outrageous preening around; if it sells records then why not I guess?
Rolling Stones – Start me up – I’ll never get tired of seeing this video. I’ve decided that there couldn’t be a better self-parody of the Stones than this one they’ve produced themselves. A rollicking riff-filled tune and all the Stones hallmarks. It’s just got everything. The US fans loved the song too taking it to their no.2.
Ottowan – Hands up (give me your heart) – Hands up anyone who admits to liking this? Urghh I hated it then and I hate it now and coupled with the awful DISCO completes a dreadful run of releases which was interrupted by the flop ‘You’re OK’ and that should have been it. But no, the fickle British record buying public probably heard this in Ibiza or somewhere on their holidays and came back and bought it in droves and inflicted it on more taste worthy music fan for weeks on end. Mercifully only one more flop ‘Help get me some help’ (needed after listening to this!) followed and presumably Ottowan retreated back to, not Canada, but France. In terms of this pistol packin’ Legs & Co rendition of the song, I listed with the sound muted. What are the cowboy hats in aid of?
Chart rundowns – JS randomly mentions song titles…but not very often…just group names and position mostly.
Adam & the Ants – Prince Charming – “The one that you’ve been waiting for”. Er, no I was waiting for the Hollies actually. Prince Charming starts off with someone sounding like they’ve got an extreme bout of indigestion or something and despite being a slight improvement on previous releases is really carried by this lavish video. No.1 for the next four weeks, so we’ll be seeing a lot of this for the foreseeable future. Diana Dors starred in ‘Nursie will make it better’, one of the classic Brian Clemens ‘Thrilller’ episodes which is still in my complete box set waiting to be watched. Perhaps I’ll stick on now.
Playout Ultravox – The Thin Wall – A nice one to boogie on down to with JS conducting on the closing credits…
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteAn awkward host, but fair play to Jim’ll for giving 4 non-mugshot to mugshot placings, and didn’t he love it when 1964 cohorts The Hollies were back?
Linx with over-enthusiastic audience participation for a clever spurned love song, with the drummer wearing David’s old clobber and Sketch forgetting his beret, specs and miming when given the cocktail, the acting out of which grants David a 10. See what I did there? Grant? David? Harrumph!
An enjoyable medley by The Hollies with proper crafted songs. Same about the fecking clicktrack!
Decent outing by Veronica Crawford, but give me Anita’s knickers (ahem) and the Legs routine any day.
Loved Alvin’s moody, surly performance, with an unexpected wink and smile, and a pretty good mime of the guitar part. Very pleased to see him back. RIP Bernard.
Ooer missus part 1. Non-woman type Leeeeeeeeeeeeee John rising the gals’ temperatures (no jockstrap required this time), but not as much as non-drummer Errol’s spray-on Bacofoil dance–free ‘no ballroom’ shorts.
The Stones. Ooer missus part 2. Seen this before. Next.
Oh dear, Shite part 1. At least Ottawan’s song was. Who decided a Bad Manners style Can Can in a western bar would fit this song? Still, nice costumes and top quality dancing as you’d expect. Lulu AND Anita singing along. I miss Patti!
Ah, Prawn Chow Mein! Loved the “Wired For Sound” party invite. Another Tarzan-like showing from Ada. Windows last time, chandeliers this. Loved the Alice Cooper impersonation.
I ff’ed The Conch Shell and The Twig and also the outro, which was at least better without Midge’s bunnet. Insert punchline here.
The B Side to 'Hollidaze' is 'Hollipops'. This is a more of a snippets joined together affair, but there is no clicktrack. The songs featured are:-
DeleteStay / Yes I will (in glorious mono) / Look through any window / On a Carousel / Jennifer Eccles / Listen to me / He ain't heavy he's my brother.
(no room for 'I can't tell the bottom from the top' or 'The air that I breathe').
There are also some interesting comments regarding the background to 'Hollidaze' on the 45cat entry for the disc.
Sorry, Linx was a non-mugshot to near-mugshot announcement. These things happen!
ReplyDeleteThank goodness for UK Gold repeats (how many editions did they show in total?) and thank goodness for those who taped them.
ReplyDeleteThis must have been the biggest gathering of veterans since these re-runs started, with two big names from the sixties, a big name from 7 years previous plus Cliff, who has been around since the year dot. I too noticed that JS was rather more enthusiastic, probably because of this.
Coincidentally, I was on the train the other day when a mother and a gaggle of noisy kids got on and plonked themselves opposite, so I instinctively reached for my mp3 player. The first track (I'm an avid shuffler) was Prince Charming, and what struck me was the depth of musical arrangement which was probably lost in the band's highly visual profile of the time.
Slightly surprised the Imagination performance isn't a little more notorious for its sexism. Women with their backs to the audience throughout worshipping at the temple of Imagination, with Leee's partner, the one that does the most theatrical chest feeling at the end, having a hairstyle that brings Princess Diana to mind - I wonder whether that thought was being left to the viewer's "Imagination" then.
ReplyDeleteNo-one who has been on a Club Med holiday will forget "Hands up (give me our heart)" Great performance by the Leggers, loved what they did with those rather phallic revolvers.
"Prince Charming" was definitely the one they were waiting for then, as Adam of course was absolutely enormous by this time and I guess for many (most, if it had not already been shown on "Swap Shop") this was the first viewing of the video, which remains iconic and perhaps the first to feature a proper "outside" celebrity, in Diana Dors.
I remember a jokey cartoon strip in "Flexipop" shortly afterwards about he history of the Ants to date, with the punchline in the last frame being "Some people were so taken in by Marco's impersonation that they thought the fairy godmother was played by the sensational Ms Dors herself!"
"Prince Charming" is famously uncannily similar to Rolf Harris' "War Canoe" from 1965, and according to the write-up on Wikipedia an out-of-court settlement was reached between the parties.
I watched this one at the weekend, and it's quite a good one I think, barring the presentation naturally.
ReplyDeleteThe Linx song I'd forgotten about until I heard it again recently, and it's a pleasant enough song.
The Hollies performance I'd seen before on TOTP2, as others have said at least it's the actual artist doing this medley for once!
We're getting to the time where a lot of songs featured on Chart Hits 81 are coming up, and I have a natural affinity for them. 'Pretend' is one of those - great pop song.
Imagination I can take or leave, the slightly icky performance didn't help.
'Hands Up' was also on the aforementioned compo and I think it's much better than 'DISCO'. Still cheesy, a big hit, but never heard on the radio.
I adored the 'Prince Charming' video at the time, couldn't get enough of it. I've seen it plenty enough now, of course.