I must put my decorations up at the weekend...
26/11/81 (hosted by Mike Read)
(25) The Jets – “Yes Tonight Josephine”
The family of Shaking Stevens lookalikes get us off to a rocking start this week, and dancing behind them in the audience is indeed the unmistakable figure of Boy George! This tune by the way was now at its chart peak.
(3) Earth, Wind & Fire – “Let’s Groove” (video)
The band's final top ten hit, now at its peak.
(23) Toyah – “Good Morning Universe”
This might make your hair stand on end, but Good Morning Universe was Toyah's final top 20 hit when it peaked at number 14.
(15) Cliff Richard – “Daddy’s Home” (video)
Who else was wondering if they would show this? Well it is nearly Xmas, so you've got to have a bit of Cliff - and as things got more xmassy over the next month, Daddy's Home climbed up to number 2.
(28) Imagination – “Flashback”
The one edit from tonight's 7.30pm show.
(18) Ultravox – “The Voice” (video)
The second single from their top 4 album Rage in Eden, The Voice went up two more places.
(24) Kim Wilde – “Cambodia”
She seems to have got rid of her band, but Cambodia rounded off a highly successful 1981 for Kim when it peaked at number 12.
(14) Kool & The Gang – “Steppin’ Out”
Looking a little bit 70's here in their matching outfits, Steppin' Out went up two more places.
(1) Queen & David Bowie – “Under Pressure” (audience dancing/credits)
Mike Read informs us that Queen and David Bowie hadn't yet made a video so Top of the Pops had to put a few images together themselves of things blowing up and the like. And next week would be too late because there would be a new number one.
The next edition then is from December 3rd 1981 with David Jensen.
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Will the transmissions stop at the last one of 1981 and be back in the New Year, or do you think they'll keep going ?
ReplyDelete1982 begins on June 17th!
DeleteOh no, I was looking forward to a 6-month break.
DeleteTalking of breaks, just thought I'd let you know that I might miss up to six episodes and not watch and critique them. I'm on hols abroad from next weekend for a few days and nowhere near a PC, and my list of chores and work backlog might be too much for me to play catch-up.
DeleteWell, I didn't see many TOTP from this period on original tx as I was at boarding school so am happy for BBC4 to keep 'em coming.
DeleteIt was Wrighty last night, its Ready tonight as Mike takes the mic-shaped baton and introduces The Jets as our party-opener. The only thing worthy of note here is Boy George throwing some shapes behind the band and getting more screen time than most keyboard players get.
ReplyDeleteEWF in a video that I presume featured a lot of newly-created special effects. Don't know what the general opinion of this was when it was released but it hasn't aged well has it? The song firmly belongs in the take-it-or-leave-it category. Oh, and how round is Maurice White's head? I half-expected the moon to circle it.
Toyah confirming that her previous hit was the best thing she would ever record. And what the hell was the drummer thinking wearing that hideous yellow outfit? For shame.
Up next it's Cliff, or is it? Yes!! Yes it is, so obviously the God-botherer is not yet verboten (and quite right too - innocent until. . . etc) One of my fave Cliff songs and a decent-enough video. Not sure about his five o'clock shadow look though.
No JK in the USA this week, instead we'll have a look at the current UK album charts, with Readie making a giant cock-up claiming The Human League's album is Travelogue which peaked at number 16 the year before. Surely he meant Dare?
Ultravox going all arty (arsey?) with their vid followed by Kim Wilde's Cambodia. I mentioned last time Ms Wilde was on that Simon Bates mentioned it was her third hit. And here, Read tells us that Cambodia is her 4th hit this year. Are we keeping tabs on ALL singers' hits this year or just hers?
Still on Cambodia. How similar is the verse melody to Leo Sayer's Moonlighting? Almost identical. Also there's a Gregorian Monks chant thing going on, just like in Fun Boy Three and in Ultravox's current singles. Bet there was a couple of Monastery rooves repaired this year.
Mr Read gets 5. Look he's confident in front of the camera, knows his music and has just enough audience interaction without going overboard, but The Human League cock-up can't be overlooked.
Plus marks awarded for Ultravox, Kim Wilde, Cliff and Queen/Bowie. Also for not featuring Zoo. But the rest of the show did little to raise interest - 6.
I can certainly hear Moonlighting but to me the verse of Cambodia reminds me of Ma Baker.
DeleteThe plural of 'roof' is 'roofs' nowadays, 'rooves' being obsolete. Bardo's Sally Ann Triplett is guilty, too, as you'll find out later this year; she could have TOOKEN one step further. (Wink.)
DeleteGiven that Cliff hasn't even been arrested - let alone charged - with anything so far, it would be utterly absurd for BBC4 to airbrush him at the present time. Mind you, there have been a couple of documentaries on the same channel recently where you might have expected him to feature quite extensively but where he only got mentioned in passing - perhaps an insurance policy so they won't need to heavily edit repeat showings if charges are brought?
DeleteThe one Leo Sayer song that was completely ripped off was "I Love You More Than I Can Say", ripped off by The Police "Every Breath You Take"
DeleteJulie - when I wrote this I knew 'rooves' looked wrong but that it was correct. Or at least it was when I was growing up. 'Roofs' just feels wrong. Maybe thats why people started using 'rooftops' instead?
DeleteLeo of course covered More Than I Can Say, which was originally a hit for The Crickets, and later Bobby Vee.
Deletehost: mr read gets ever-so-slightly more competent each time he presents, but never quite gets to the point where he seems totally at ease with what's going on. still, at least we were spared his cliff impersonation this time!
ReplyDeletejets: having had their 15 minutes of fame 35 years earlier (apparently they're still active on the omnipresent rock 'n' roll revival scene), if the cotton brothers are watching this then they must be doing so with mixed feelings knowing that everyone else is probably watching the superstar-in-waiting dancing in the background rather than them!
ew&f: i've listened to this several more times since it was last on the show, and for the first time i've noticed there's a whooshing airplane noise just before the "glide like a seven forty seven" line. although musically they've managed to successfully move with the times whilst keeping the classic ew&f sound intact, sadly the same can't be said visually as it looks like they've raided the "blake's 7" costume department. and maurice's hair looks more absurd than ever - even some of his band colleagues (but not bro verdine who looked possibly even more ridiculous) must have found it hard not to stifle a snigger whenever they saw him (a bit like biggus dickus in "life of brian"). also, didn't the jacksons do that video effect some time before this?
toyah: i don't even remember the title of this one, never mind the music. just when i thought the noises emanating from ms wilcox's mouth couldn't get any worse, she unleashes a diabolical double-tracked falsetto-type assault! and musically it almost makes "thunder in the mountains" sound half-decent. drummer nigel glockler has now left (to join saxon), and i've just discovered his replacement is former teenage prodigy simon phillips, who having previously played with stanley clarke has obviously gone from the sublime to the ridiculous
cliff: still just-about managing to keep one step ahead of the yewtree squad, cliff ditches his recent attempts at trying to get down wiv da kidz in favour of some slushy and anachronistic doo-wop. the lyrical subject matter is obviously not autobiographal
Simon Phillips has certainly worked with a wide diversity of artists - he would go on to play with the likes of Mike Oldfield, Tears For Fears and Big Country, and also drummed for The Who on their 1989 reunion tour. Later, he became a member of Toto for many years.
Deleteit's another two-parter...
ReplyDeleteimagination: scandalously cut from the earlier edition - surely not because of leeee's scanty outfit that also seems to have came via blake's 7? by the way, that series' arch-villain's servalan's gowns were apparently shirley bassey's cast-offs! i'd hated "body talk", and only gave a grudging respect to "in and out of love". but here was where they really kicked in for me (the precise moment being where the groove kicks in after the intro). as a result of this i still listen to most of their debut album fairly regularly even now, and strongly recommend it to you all. there's a bit of a weird edit of the track at the end here, but otherwise it's highly enjoyable with the fast-frame effects and drummer errol once more not being able to resist the urge to join the others at the front (although he doesn't really gyrate with the ease of the others!)
kim wilde: more weedy singing on top of more weedy synth-based pop. i suppose she still looks as luscious as ever (how many people bought her records simply for that reason?), although the hair's now got definite signs of mullet-ness about it. i've no idea what this was about (and never bothered listening here to find out), although with a title like that i don't suppose it was a barrel of laughs. and why do three black guys pop up behind her at the end? couldn't they find any cambodians or similar ethnic types to do the job?
kool and the gang: i've decided i simply don't want to listen to anything they ever did in the 80's if i can help it, as for me it was not so much stepping out as selling out (RIP funk!). so fast-forwarding was in order. but every time i stopped to see where i was they were chanting the track's title- was there actually anything going on in this other than that?
queen/bowie: with respect to fellow contributor bama, you'd have thought that these two acts would have had more than enough money between them by now (i remember that members of queen were reported to be earning around a million quid a year each around this time) to have commissioned a proper video, rather than get some firm to knock up a cheapskate montage of public domain stock footage (however well it might have been put together)
The Under Pressure video isn't very good but remember they literally only had a week to put it together and had to use copyright-free footage in order to prevent any delay in making it. Sadly the bitt hey showed didn't work and it drops down to number 2 next week. i still feel proud to have had a hand in a Number One song's video.
DeleteWe also contributed to a Depeche Mode video in 1982 when I worked with Julian Temple - I'll tell you about that nearer the time.
Under Pressure starts like it really means business, but after that it sounds largely like a series of improvisations stringing it out. Most fall flat to me, Freddie's voice enlivens some sections. I think it got to number 1 (and relatively quickly I guess) based on the fanbases for them both getting it there. Not sure how long it hung around.
ReplyDeleteThe chorus to Cambodia is meant to be Eastern sounding (another song with that infuence), but it just feels tacked on. The only part that feels integral to it is the opening melody really, and that's done to death. So I think it's popularity is based on the atmosphere (which is best at the start) and her vocal. Like Under Pressure I think it's overrated.
Cambodia is a bit like her later hit Four Letter Word - both have great tunes and are nicely done but the there is something about them that seems like pop-by-numbers. They're almost too good.
DeleteIf you refer to Wiki, you'll find that the melody of 'Ma Baker' is adapted from a Tunisian folk song. 'Cambodia' is in the same key (D minor), and the melody is rhythmically similar, but it is markedly different in tempo and arrangement - so I don't think Marty and Ricky Wilde need worry about the prospect of an email from Frank Farian's publisher. Incidentally, 'Cambodia' reached No.1 in 4 European countries despite peaking at No.12 here in Britain.
ReplyDeleteOn the subject of soundalike songs, I share the commonly held view that Queen's ''39' is stylistically very similar to Lindisfarne's 'Meet Me On The Corner'. It's Corinne Bailey Rae's 'Put Your Records On' that gets me, though, with its obvious nod to Gallagher & Lyle's 'Breakaway' in the chorus. The chord line is almost identical, and both songs are in A major as well as being similar in tempo and general approach.
Toyah - I didn't like the way she walked off her stage into other parts of the TOTP studio, as though she owned the place. I mean come on, it was only her first year in the charts and she didn't exactly have a string of No.1's.
ReplyDeleteCliff Richard - it didn't feel right the way that TOTP went straight into the lyrics section of the video without the intro part. They are normally very good with starting the videos from the first image, and short as the entire video was, there was no excuse for missing this bit out.
The other thing with this video is that Cliff plays the happy contented father with his wife and daughter coming in to the pool hall for him, and boy did he look the part too, but ironically in real life he has remained a batchelor till now at the age of 76, being hounded by the yewtree mob. Life stinks!
The LP Chart - first time a top ten LP chart rundown. Was this a chance to boost LP sales, and I wonder who came up with the idea to feature it on TOTP?
Queen & David Bowie - it's interesting that Mike Read said there was no video, which I'm sure was indeed the case, but the images from the final video in the first minute of the song were in fact there, so what ended up as the official video must have ben the stills that TOTP or the BBC had made for it.
Once again the late night repeat gave us the full showing of the No.1 to the last note, whereas the early evening one must have mimicked what we actually got in 1981, i.e., a quick fade out after the end credits had completed. It seems I can only record the late night showing and no longer the early evening one, just for getting these play outs in all their completeness and 100% showing which we never even got way back in 1981!
The official Under Pressure video is definitely the one they showed here, with the out of copyright footage that bama told us about.
DeleteFirst he called it an album chart I think and then at the end called it LP. LP though might be as outdated a term as music film?
Deleteif i ever upload a long-playing vinyl record to the discogs database, then i always pick "LP" as the format choice. but others pick both that and "album" which is really annoying!
DeleteI think TOTP did a featured album track for a while in the early seventies, but whether it included a top ten rundown I don't know.
DeleteYes that was the official Under Pressure video or at least the first part of it. I think they play a bit more of it at Christmas but at the time I was disappointed that they didn't show the whole thing.
DeleteReally enjoyed this one, though Mike Read didn't seem that confident of the quality in his intro.
ReplyDeleteJust noticed, post-Robin Thicke, the slightly threatening lyrics to the Jets' cover. Maybe they should have changed it to Yes Tonight Georgina in light of a certain pop star for the following year making sure he was in camera for much of the time.
Earth Wind and Fire fresh from the set of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century with a trippy video for the groovesome Let's Groove, prototype CGI and all. I thought there were female voices in the chorus, yet the vid reveals them as an all-bloke falsetto team.
Talking of trilling in a high voice, once again Toyah is singing a little too high for her register as she delivers an alarm call for the entirety of existence. Nothing if not ambitious. Best bit of this is when she spots a fan in the audience and boogies with her for a while, quite sweet.
Who's this butch hunk of unshaven male? Oh, it's Cliff in a discomfiting video where he hangs out with a rum bunch of diner patrons and pretends to be a family man. Wonder whose wife and daughter he borrowed? The song, well, it's anodyne enough and would please his ageing fanbase.
The outrageous clobber, the pelvic thrusting, the flagrant disregard for miming properly, it had to be Imagination and it is. They always seem to be having a whale of a time on these shows, and that's infectious. Going uptempo on this one, and it's one of their best.
Is that Jim Kerr as the newsreader on Ultravox's video? I wasn't keen on this when I saw the studio performance, but on seeing the video it's really quite epic, isn't it? Not sure what it all meant (don't worry, Midge, the death penalty was abolished in the 60s) but it looked impressive in a cast your eyes to the horizon sort of way.
Kim Wilde takes Henry Kissinger to task with her latest, er, actually on listening to the lyrics it's about a woman being left by her boyfriend and pining for him, so presumably the news was on when they were thinking up the title. There's a fine line between moody and sullen, and Kim keeps just on the right side of it - just.
Wasn't there a TV show called Stepping Out? Did they use this Kool and the Gang bopper as a theme tune or Joe Jackson? Maybe one for the start and one for the end?
Looking forward to finding out if our own Bama was involved in choosing the clips we saw at the start of the Queen and Bowie track. A stock footage video can be quite effective, I really like Armand Van Helden's Koochy, for example.
There's another video for the Ultravox song, not as good but some interesting things. May have been recorded within The Leaning Tower of Pisa.
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzKDssMYvqo
They use the Costello idea of two children sat down looking creeped out. Maybe they were both influenced by The Shining, maybe Ultravox anyway lol, perhaps Costello was just going for a country song by the fireside thing. Also interesting to see a painting at the end, quite a few new wave/romantic singles covers had paintings on them. Appropriate anyway that Ultravox have a song called The Voice.
With the video of EW&F, I've heard it being compared to the Jackson 5 video from not long back. Probably inspired by that.
DeleteLooking through Wilberforce seemed to infer that comparison to the Jackson 5 too.
DeleteThere was indeed a show called "Stepping Out" about three years ago - a dreadful dance contest type show hosted by the ubiquitous Davina McCall.
DeleteA quick look at Margi Clarke's IMDB page reveals I was thinking of Making Out, not Stepping Out. Bah, so much for that joke. Although I see there is a film called Stepping Out starring Liza Minnelli and the great Jane Krakowski. That I will probably never watch...
DeleteThat alternative Ultravox clip reminded me of the episode of The Good Old Days last Friday and Roy Castle's leaning antics. Anyway, looking at the comments it doesn't appear to be the official video, but a performance from German TV. TOTP never got that ambitious! Although I am liking the song more every time I hear it.
DeleteTHX - I wasn't personally responsible for choosing the clips used in the Under Pressure video, that was down to the director David Mallet. But our company helped locate them. We had quite a few already which were regularly used in all sorts of projects. One thing that made me laugh was that one contact my boss knew was asked to quickly supply footage of slums and bad housing to fit in with the "under pressure" theme and what he had included old footage of my grandmother's flat where I lived at the time! It didn't make the final cut.
DeleteBama: fascinating stories! This is great getting a behind the scenes as it were. Looking forward to any more you have, I love Julien Temple's documentaries (and his daughter's a genius).
Deletei've just seen an old chum who was an extra in the recent remake of "far from the madding crowd", and he told me he was in several close-up shots whilst filming, but that most if not all of them ended up on the cutting room floor!
DeleteHaving rounded off the last show, The Jets also kick us off this week, though their matching cardigans and double bass-wielding antics are not enough to draw the attention away from the bespectacled - and soon to be famous - Boy George enthusiastically bopping away behind them. Tellingly, the camera seems more interested in George than in the performing act, something his bandmates would soon have to get used to as well! The EWF video was quite technically advanced for the time, though as Wilberforce has pointed out The Jacksons had already used some of these effects on the Can You Feel It promo. The band's fashion sense is nowhere near as cutting edge, as they still seem to be rooted firmly in the 70s.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone think Toyah might just possibly have been wearing a wig here? This was probably her most underwhelming single yet, failing to ever get off the launchpad and also hindered by her weak vocals. The only thing that made this performance memorable, hair and yellow tracksuited drummer aside, was her interaction with the audience, pre-empting Bono at Live Aid by nearly four years! Cliff next, and while he is obviously acting in this video it's still hard to suspend disbelief and accept him as a loving husband and father! The song itself is another old pre-Beatles number, originally recorded by Shep and the Limelites in 1961. I can't say I like it much - maybe I have a warped mind, but "daddy's home to stay" sounds more like a threat than a promise...
Imagination crank up the tempo for their third hit, and this catchy and eminently danceable track might well be their strongest release yet. The ever shy-and-retiring Leee John parades yet another skimpy outfit, and we get plenty more crotch-thrusting during the performance! This 1930s-themed Ultravox video looked like a considerable amount of money had been spent on it, and it may well be the most epic video we have yet seen in this repeat run. Did they set it in this era because it fitted in with Billy Currie's hairstyle?
Kim Wilde next, with one of her best songs. I love the doom-laden atmosphere, even if the song itself isn't really about Cambodia at all - a nice moody and unsmiling performance too. Mike Read helpfully confirms that a video for Under Pressure has not yet been made, but it would be interesting to know if Bama played any role in choosing the explosive stock footage that we do see. The audience dancing was a little half-hearted, though this isn't exactly a song that you can groove on down to - it was disappointing to see that George, after popping up again beside our host during one link, seemed to be absent from this not-so-grand climax. At least we did get to hear the song in full this time.
Mr Read, looking very smart in his bow-tie, was on his normal good form for the most part, though the Dare/Travelogue mix-up was a major blunder, and he should have left that young woman's hair alone! Interesting to see an album Top 10 countdown introduced to the show at this point, but I have a feeling it would be a short-lived feature...
I always get a bit worried by men who call themselves "daddy". Maybe because I watched Scum at an impressionable age.
DeleteGay men who are into leather call themselves "daddies". I wonder if that's what Cliff meant?
Delete"Leather daddies"! There's an 80s phrase if ever there was one. That must be what Sir Cliff was on about. Maybe he saw Al Pacino in Cruising and was suitably impressed?
DeleteI still have a "Big Daddy Is Magic" scarf somewhere, having seen him at the wrestling on holiday in Bognor Regis decades ago!
DeleteIf Ray Winstone had said "Oi'm Big Daddy now!" Scum would have been a far friendlier film. Is Sir Cliff a big fan of the wrestling?
DeleteAlong with Shaky here I'm not that convinced by the EW&F track. It sounds quite sugared up and concocted, even if it does have hooks and a beat.
ReplyDeleteCliff is also a bit sugary with the production though in a different way. The backing vocals chime in with the lead vocal a bit too well for instance.
Second good show in a row with some surprisingly good songs.
ReplyDeleteJets – Yes tonight Josephine – Upbeat opener to get everyone dancing. Rousing rendition from the band with someone looking like Boy George in the audience.
EWF – Let’s groove – Great video for this track which has aged really well.
Toyah – Good morning universe – A big improvement on the last two hits but what on earth is that on top of Toyah’s head?! Love the way ‘banana man’ makes an appearance at the end!
Cliff Richard – Daddy’s home – Cliff’s brilliant rendition of this song is just wonderful. The video is a puzzle though; if it’s a live cut, why not show a live performance?
Imagination – Flashback – Flash forward…
Ultravox – The Voice – great tune as I’ve said before but can anyone explain what the video is all about?
Kim Wilde – Cambodia – Not really heard this before and I’ve missed out. A long intro into a really haunting tune. Much better that the previous singles.
Kool and the Gang – Steppin’ out – OK it’s not “Pack all your things, you’re gonna be leaving...” but it’s a reasonable piece of disco fare. Very crowded stage with the gang occupying it.
Queen / Bowie – Under Pressure – So that’s why there was no video; they hadn’t made one! So we get some ‘people on streets’ and buildings being demolished and then the crowd dancing to the end credits. But we get the whole song right to the very end and the last finger click and for that we should be mighty grateful.
Album chart – I’m sure this rundown didn’t last long. Looking through albums I thought to myself “hey I missed out on chart hits 81”, must try to plug that hole by putting that all time classic in my record collection!
Looking at the track listing for Chart Hits 81 it contains the following non-chart hits on the second disc:-
DeleteIn your Letter - REO Speedwagon
Outlaw - Gerard Kenny
You should hear - Charlie Dore
Qwaka Song- The Waders
Panic - The Scoop
That must have been quite a surprise for anyone expecting....um...chart hits. I dread to think what the Waders track sounds like and unfortunately (or fortunately) YT doesn't give us the opportunity to judge!
Melissa Manchester - who took Elkie Brooks' British hit 'Don't Cry Out Loud' into the US Top 10 - recorded a punchier version of 'You Should Hear (How She Talks About You)' only a few months after Charlie Dore's version was released. Melissa's rendition of the Tom Snow/Dean Pitchford composition reached the Top 5 in the USA, Canada and Australia, but missed the British chart altogether despite being afforded considerable airplay.
DeleteThe talented singer-songwriter Charlie Dore, also an actress and, at one time, TV presenter (on 'Houseparty', an early forerunner of 'Loose Women'), would subsequently co-write Jimmy Nail's British No.1 'Ain't No Doubt' as well as Sheena Easton's US smash 'Strut'.
As for the other non-hits on that compilation album, 2 are nowhere to be found on the net, Gerard's done a lot better, and the REO Speedwagon effort is pleasant enough but nothing special.
There were some great non-charting/low-charting singles around at this point including Procession by New Order and Homosapian by Pete Shelley.
Deletei liked the early new order singles, especially "procession" that i remember playing over and over again. someone lent them to me to record, but the only way i could do so was by pressing my tape recorder up against the speakers of my cheap and ancient record player. so the sound quality was not too hot!
DeleteI've only mentioned Chart Hits 81 about 50 times on here recently, sct353. Not sure how you've missed that! There was even a discussion about The Qwaka Song.
DeleteIncidentally Julie, the Melissa Manchester version of that song turned up on Chart Hits 82! The compilers obviously loved that tune...
Noax - I can only apologise for missing your Chart Hits references. Which show(s) were they attached to? Maybe it was those YT ones that I tried to watch only to find them deleted.
DeleteQuite possibly! Certainly 'Open Your Heart' was on it, and that was only ever on YT editions so your theory is probably correct..
DeleteUnusually, this was Imagination's only appearance on TOTP for this song Flashback, and considering that it was still climbing two weeks later to No.16, they were not invited back on the 10th Dec show, nor was their studio performance repeated. Quite unusual when you consider they had multiple appearance in the studio per song throughout the 1981 year.
ReplyDeleteOne other point to note is that there was no video for Flashback which may have contributed to them being locked out on the 10th Dec show if TOTP had enough of them in the studio in the last few months, as they may have had more than anyone else in the studio per song.
Maybe Leee John had used up all the jockstraps in his wardrobe for the previous shows!
DeleteAnyone got the JS edition of 10th Dec, or even the UK Gold copy, as it is due for blogging this week?
ReplyDeleteNo sign of anything yet, but I am keeping an eye on Neil B's 4Shared account in the hope it may appear there. Thankfully the Christmas Day show is available on YouTube - for now, at least!
DeleteWhatever happens, there is no guarantee that these shows will stay up for long, as the BBC seem to be on the prowl for taking them down, as in the unfortunate case of Meer's Vimeo page which was the direct result of a complaint by the BBC to Vimeo on 31st May, as per the details given by Vimeo on his taken-down page. At least we know who's complaining!
Deleteif the beeb were to do the sensible thing and show these "yewtree'd" editions as compilations a la TOTP2 and airbrush out the "offending" DJ hosts, they probably wouldn't need to keep policing the internet to get pirate uploads removed! can someone tell meer to mention that on his vimeo sites?
DeleteAnd of course we are paying the wages of these people who are getting the videos taken down through our licence fees, just like we have paid for the shows they are taking down in the first place through our licence fees!
DeleteMaybe if anyone can be bothered who has some lawyer contacts to find out for us if we are being treated unfairly as TV Licence payers, it would be interesting to know what are entitled to watch.
DeleteThe Jets make the chart and get a second performance. Nice knitwear guys and you're certainly better dressed than Boy George who the camera seems to be in love with. If nothing else this higlights what a terrible dancer Boy George is and why did he come dressed like a squaw in a grandad cardigan - was that look al the rage in Blitz then? I think not.
ReplyDeleteGreat EWF video, borrowing a little from The Jacksons Can You Feel It this has the lot, neon lights, trips through spaces, multiple images and acres of Bacofoil. Boogie on down indeed.
Oh no, the lesser Toyah singles have started already - while I liked her earlier stuff this sounds like a car alarm going off competing with her vocals which sound like a different car alarm going off. Even though Toyah and her band were reckoned to be cutting edge new wave this is bit lame and, as if to prove how poppy they were, their drummer goes all Liquid gold on us by coming out from behind the drum kit to, er, dance and take a bow.
Rightly ignoring Boy George Mike Reid seems to have bought along his own little clone wearing the striped blazer he wore three episodes ago.
If this Cliff single is "live" then why has he made a video? Why isn't he performing it live in the concert it was recorded at? I'm confused. Either way it's a cheesy video but a nice song echoing the harmony sounds of The Beach Boys and 1950s doo-wop groups. Not sure I believe the concept of Cliff being a daddy though.
The LP Charts - wow and for the first time as well although they used to have an album spot circa 1971.
Imagination - oh no what is Leeeee almost wearing this time? This is a lot better than I remember, some nice synth sounds and a good groove. Here the drummer pull off the same trick as Toyah's drummer leaving the instruments to start dancing. They all desperatly want to be in Zoo don't they? Well everyone else was so why shouldn't they.
Ultravox - this was the start of the real storyline videos when pop stars who can't act became actors - Billy Currie gets to stare at the camera even more than usual (was there a mirror attached to the lens?), the one who looks like actor Phillip Jackson wishes he was Phillip Jackson and Midge is in charge (didn't he start directing videos at this point?). On YouTube there is a different vid to this one with them all sitting in a room with a slanting floor.
Is that a young Phil Jupitus (with the moustache) behind Mike Reid as we go into the Charts proper? Intersting that apart from Dave Stewart and Babs Gaskin all the singles in the lower part of the chart were going up or staying in the same position (The Tweets).
Kimbo gets all serious on her next single nicking a Russian folk tune to represent Cambodia. O well. Once again members of Zoo are in the background doing that stupid robot dancing that was suddenly all the rage. What has it got to do with the song? A: NOTHING
The Top Ten and then we play out with THE VIDEO for Under Pressure that My Creed says doesn't exist, or at least part of it. How annoying not to see the whole thing. Once again Zoo get to take over the studio proving that if you give a group of extroverts the keys to the dressing up box this is the result. Oh well it makes a change from dumpy girls in white jeans staring at themselves on the monitors instead we have self-obsessed tossers in leather trousers staring at themselves on the monitors. That was 1981, that was,
Why is Mike Read dressed for “Come Dancing”?
ReplyDeleteA Jesse Green-style third outing in their first mugshot week for The Stray Jets. Behind you!!! That O’Dowd boy may as well have been the vocalist for all the camera time he got.
Nice early pyramid synchronisation by EW&F. It felt a bit eerie seeing Maurice White again so soon after his parting.
Into the audience part 1 with Toyah – look at that hair and weep, Terry Hall – and her Alternative Car Park solo conga with Bananaman stuck on stage. As for the song – “Good Morning Universe”? Goodnight, Toyah!
If Daddy was home to stay, why did the mum and daughter scarper at the end? Decent doowop by Cliff, but “Eighteen With A Bullet” by Pete Wingfield was far superior.
Into the audience part 2 with some great early audience participation for Imagination. Ashley, at least try and play that bass! If this song had been more of a rave tempo, surely it would have been called “Acid Flashback”. I hope Leeeeee’s trousers were half price. Surely we’d see this clip again – next time would be the second leg. Boom boom tish!
Very arty and deep and meaningful (I guess) video for Ultravox, but I’d have thought Midge would have smartened up for his court appearance. At least a shirt with a collar, man.
Into the audience part 3 for Kim Wilde and her slow, moody Laura Brannigan-style vibe, ruined partly by her thin voice and ruined greatly at the end by those bloody ‘dancers’.
Sadly, once again the end of the show was FF country for me. A repeat of Kool and the Everton Mints, then an interesting if somewhat depressing video for the number one followed by those f#cking dancers again! God, I miss Legs & Co.
Right, that'll be it critique-wise from me for a while, at least 10 or 11 days. I'll try and catch up the episodes I'll be away for, but if I don't, keep up the fine work!
Like Arthur I will be on holiday soon (next week) so will have lots to catch up on.
ReplyDeleteHopefully the shows will be better than this one. For a No.25 that bloody Jets song is getting enough airtime.
EW&F improve things, then Toyah comes on to do her famous impression of The Sun. I didn't think I knew the song until it started then I vaguely recognised it. Probably because it sounded like a nursery rhyme. For an early 80s song it is remarkably underproduced as well.
I am 99% certain that the single release of the Cliff song was not live. Regardless of that, it's drivel.
Imagination and Ultravox take things up a notch, although neither are their very best offerings.
Then Kim Wilde with a tune that I've never really got, though it may grow on me.
Just a crap Kool and the Gang song (no surprise there) and a decent No.1 left. And another long dance-off again, though Zoo have sadly killed that novelty stone dead.
I've just played my copy of 'Daddy's Home' on the 'Private Collection' CD with the phones on. It definitely doesn't sound like a live recording with perfect backing vocals etc. However, right at the end comes the applause, clear as mud. Now my guess is that as the last track on the 'Wired for Sound' album, Cliff (the producer for this track) thought it might be good to end the album with some applause. There is nothing on the album sleeve to indicate a live cut either.
DeleteKim Wilde's outfit was nice, but she should have worn something gamboge - that's a deep mustard colour derived from tree resin whose name comes from gambogium, which derives from Gambogia, the Latin word for Cambodia where the resin was discovered. Coat, please!
ReplyDeleteWith this the final week on TOTP for Queen & David Bowie's No.1 single, I found this other brilliant Freddie Mercury collaboration with Minserrat Caballe in 1987, called Barcelona:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1fiOJDXA-E
Suffice to say that both the videos for Under Pressure and Barcelona are very good and recommended viewing, and both available on iTunes to download and collect for a mere £1.89.