Thursday 7 July 2016

Top of the Pops Working Overtime

Making his BBC4 debut tonight is the legendary John Peel, who had last hosted the show some 14 years earlier on the 1st of February 1968!

At this rate you might see me again in 1996!


4-2-82: Presenter: John Peel

(40) THEATRE OF HATE – Do You Believe In The Westworld?
The show gets off to a spikey blonde hair and perfect teeth cowboy song this week. A somewhat bizarre record for sure, but I think it deserved to get higher than its number 40 peak.

 (6) ORCHESTRAL MANOEUVRES IN THE DARK – Maid Of Orleans (The Waltz Joan Of Arc) ®
Went up two more chart places.

(47) THE JETS – Love Makes The World Go Round
This Perry Como rock n roll cover became the Cotton brothers biggest of their string of hits when it peaked at number 21.

 (20) SOFT CELL – Say Hello Wave Goodbye (video)
A deliciously over the top dramatic video for this deliciously over the top dramatic song, which became the first of three top 3 hits for the duo in 1982, when it made it to number 3.

 (25) GILLAN – Restless ®
(12) SHAKATAK – Easier Said Than Done
(14) AC/DC – Let’s Get It Up (video)
These three songs were all edited out of tonight's 7.30pm slot.

 (15) XTC – Senses Working Overtime
A new studio performance here, this time with a slicked back hair Andy Partridge, and the song went up another five places.

 (21) GEORGE BENSON – Never Give Up On A Good Thing
Zoo do a Legs style video performance here to George Benson's only hit of the year, which peaked at number 14.

 (7) CHRISTOPHER CROSS – Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do) (video)
At is peak now.

 (1) KRAFTWERK – The Model (video)
Some strange ups and downs in the chart this week culminating in The Model making it to number one but it won't be there next week....

 (5) MEAT LOAF – Dead Ringer For Love (crowd dancing) (and credits)
Also going back up the charts this week, but 5 was the peak.


Next then is February 11th 1982 with Tommy Vance.

56 comments:

  1. What a scorcher to start this week's TOTP: Theatre of Hate with their only Top 40 entry, which did top the independent chart. Such an inspired post-punk outfit deserved to achieve so much more. Soon after 'Westworld' had exited the chart, a Geordie band called Danceclass attempted to emulate TOH's powerful drum sound on a number called 'Up the Congo', which is on YT.

    This week, Zoo are down to a trio consisting of Heather, Sharon and Eddie, with the latter in the role of a two-timing Jack The Lad. I'm not quite sure how a slick jazzer such as George Benson would have reacted to this routine; nevertheless, it seems to suit the upbeat feel of the song.

    How fitting that Kraftwerk - the pioneers of electronic pop - should top a chart that also includes at least three major acts who owe their success largely to the German outfit's influence: OMD, Soft Cell and Human League.

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    1. I was thinking the same as you Julie about Kraftwerk - their influence is very strong in this Top 10, and Maid of Orleans would top the charts in West Germany later in the year.

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    2. I liked the Zoo performance this week, and the lucky male Zoo dancer with the two girls must have been in cloud nine, dancing with those two outfits and some would say perfect figures. Oh, and I forgot, good tune by George Benson. Hmmm, indeed. More Zoo please!

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  2. To paraphrase the man himself, that John Peel's so good, doesn't it make you want to spit!

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    1. with regard to mr peel telling us that OMD were liverpool lads, i think julie would confirm that they were actually woolybacks (i.e. from the wirral peninsular on the other side of the mersey) rather than true scousers!

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    2. You're right, wilberforce - they hailed from Meols (pronounced "Mells"), a village near Hoylake on the Wirral peninsula, though Paul Humphreys was born in London. Andy McCluskey was born in Heswall, also in the borough of Wirral - as was Peely! The title of OMD's earlier single 'Red Frame, White Light' referred to an old-fashioned red telephone box in Meols that was once used by the duo to arrange their gigs - and that box still stands in the village as a monument to the duo!

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    3. "red frame, white light" sounds really cool... until you realise it refers to a red telephone box. strangely enough i was in a boozer in the village of dobcross (in the saddleworth moors in lancs) this evening, and there's one of those old-fashioned boxes outside it!

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    4. As this was the final showing of OMD's Maid Of Orleans on TOTP, with again no video shown like their last two singles, cos of course OMD took every opportunity going for a TOTP studio performance, I checked out the video which is a regular on Vintage TV these days, and here it is, as it's a very good one with medieval backdrop and full intro unchopped unlike on the studio performance this week:

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


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    5. Yes, the Maid of Orleans video is very evocative, and matches the music well - I think we might get to see a clip of it on next week's episode. Joan of Arc is played by Julia Tobin, who later appeared in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet.

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  3. host: i've said as much on this blog before, but i don't understand the adulation that john peel gets from most of my peers. i certainly hated the music he played on his radio show at the time. and although the guy seemed personable enough, how genuine was he? i mean, how many other people claimed to be into hippy drippy music, then raw punk, and then indie dance stuff? he wasn't even a scouser, so his professed love for then-dominant liverpool fc also suggested it was a means to gain street cred rather than an honest admiration on his part

    theatre of hate: the band may all have quiffs (was it compulsory?) but their hair doesn't match the music with its jagged guitars and tribal drumming quite in the same manner as kirk brandon's feral features do. of course kirk is more famous now for being boy george's paramour. or not according to him, even though he lost a court case when he contested george's claim in his autobiography (and was later dramatised in the tv film "worried about the boy", which i would recommend watching for those interested in this era of pop music)

    jets: yet more quiffs, this time with music to match as we get a dose of rock 'n' roll by-numbers. the only things making it even slightly interesting are some modulation and the presence of a daryl hannah-lookalike strategically placed to dance in front of them, although her crimped hair and turquoise outfit hardly reflect the music being played

    soft cell: a bit of a disappointment for me after "bedsitter" as it drags a bit and goes on for far too long (although i always liked the line "you in a cocktail skirt and me in a suit - well, it just wasn't me"). plus marc seemed somewhat sharply out of tune at times (although i think in a strange manner that actually endeared him to the listener a bit). however, the video is well-made, which makes the song more tolerable. is the lady in it their drug supplier cyndi ectacy? and is that very camp doorman actually marc in disguise?

    shakatak: i actually thought this was a repeat of their last performance, it was that similar. i only realised it wasn't when i noticed the crimped darryl hannah-lookalike dancing behind the singers - blimey, she's even more prominent than craig fairbrass. rosie of legs & co must have left her crimping shears in the totp dressing room in her haste to leave, as gill saward has used the bloody things too. in the piano solo, why do the cameras seem to focus on every member of the band other than the guy who's actually supposed to be playing it (by the way: say what you like about the blandness of the music, but you can't dispute bill sharpe's skill at what he does)? also, does beardy guy (who isn't playing the piano solos) actually need two keyboards?

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    1. Regarding Marc Almond's habit of sometimes singing off key, I read somewhere that he used to do no more than three takes of any song to try and keep things natural. If he nailed the song early doors, fine, if not, at least it added a bit of authenticity to proceedings.

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    2. Wilberforce, I noticed on the same lyrics "you in a cocktail skirt and me in a suit - well, it just wasn't me", that the actress in the video was actually in a beautiful cocktail DRESS, and not a skirt, and considering that the video visuals were following the words in the lyrics, how nobody on the production of this video picked up this mistake, is bizarre to say the least. This was the only blemish on the video supposedly matching the lyrics.

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    3. yes - depite his gender bending appearance marc seemed to be showing his ignorance of ladies' formal evening wear there, as they would likely be attired in one-piece cocktail dresses rather than skirts with a separate blouse or top. not that i can really claim to be an expert on this code of dress as not only have i never attended a cocktail party, i've never even drunk a cocktail in my life!

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    4. Wilberforce, it's not too late to change all that. Get yourself a nice suit, and I'm sure many nice ladies would jump at the chance to try on a new cocktail dress with any drink to go with it.

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    5. I think the club doorman was artist Huw Feather who did most of the artwork for the Soft Cell and Marc and The Mambas sleeves.

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    6. dory, to paraphrase marc almond: "it just isn't me"!

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  4. part II:

    ac dc: did the director deliberately sandwich the smooth jazz of shakatak between two hard rock bands for comical effect? this is a cut above their usual stuff, sounding very aerosmith-like to me. angus's constant head-nodding gets highly annoying very quickly - did the guy ever do anything else?

    xtc: even though it's a new performance, i really didn't feel like sitting through this marathon again

    george benson: despite the success of the "give me the night" album, for reasons never explained george parted company with quincy jones. instead he used other producers to try and maintain the formula, with ever-more weak, weedy and watery results. in that respect, he really should have taken more notice of the lyrics he was singing! i'm fairly sure the black female dancer is (sid) haywoode, who was soon to have a couple of hits of her own. but the fact that she and the other woman dwarf the guy makes their routine somewhat uncomfortable to watch

    kraftwerk: they were a massive influence on my own musical development, as they were for many others, but it was a shame they had to get a big hit via the back door of a four-year old track, rather than from the current album "computer world" that i thought was incredible at the time

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    1. As stark contract to Gillan where the headbanging was by their two TOTP studio regulars at the front of the studio audience, ACDC decided it was better for the guitarist on stage to do the headbanging for Brian Johnson. Typical ACDC video style, and apart from the fact that the song title could have been mistaken for something rude, this offering from ACDC really had no meaning lyric wise.

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  5. John Peel at last, adding a dose of hilarity to the links. Very droll man, and of course one of the most influential people in the British music industry in light of how many bands and artists he gave their first airplay to. But he was always modest to a fault, which is where the self-deprecating sense of humour came in, I suppose.

    Theatre of Hate start things off with the strident tribute to Yul Brynner and what sounds like American Indian battle cries. Pretty striking, I was impressed at the time.

    OMD, Andy has a shirt, a jumper and a coat on, how flippin' cold was it in the TOTP studio?! I know it was a tough winter, but surely they had heating?

    I'd totally forgotten about this Jets cover, but once it got going it all came flooding back. Cheery little ditty, but insubstantial. Early pioneers of chair dancing down the front, performing what would soon be called the Blockbusters hand jive.

    Soft Cell, possibly their finest moment for me, a majestic pop ballad of epic self-pity, though I'd forgotten about the video. Marc's first appearance had me laughing out loud!

    Did Gillan prefer Timotei, or was he a no nonsense Head and Shoulders man?

    Shakatak, no matter how slick they sound, when you see them they don't look like a proper band, they look like a bunch of session musicians cobbled together an hour before the show.

    AC/DC with a radical departure - oh, no, they're treading water with this one, not sure how it got to be as big a hit as it was, it's fairly undistinguished, especially compared to their better work.

    Appropriate that XTC has a tambourine featured prominently on this track when Andy Partridge recently wrote The Monkees' new single.

    George Benson gets "a seeing to" from Zoo as Peel explains, reminiscent of Tight Fit only at least they're not miming. As for the track, a bouncy bit of light soul pop, perfectly acceptable.

    Chris Cross jumpin' around with his breeks on the wrong way around... wait, wrong Chris Cross.

    Always thought Kraftwerk's The Model was the electropop version of Peter Sarstedt's Where Do You Go To My Lovely?, it has the same sentiment and wistful melodies. But they were always more of an album band, hence the lack of singles chart-bothering hits.

    Warning: these end credits feature strobing!

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    1. I quite liked this Shakatak performance, and even though they did sound like some session musicians doing a jam together, it does have that nice easy listening, garden party type of atmosphere to it, especially with its piano tones across the song.

      The addition of the two plants - the girl in the shiny blue minidress and the other one in the heavenly white minidress, gave it a nice gloss finish for good measure. Thumbs up all round!

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  6. It was good to see John Peel - he would get better when paired with Kid Jensen as his 'straight man' though.

    Theatre Of Hate - Many people I know seem to think that this should've been a bigger hit. I'm not convinced, as to me it's very slight. I don't think Kirk Brandon has much stage presence either. To me, it looks like he's been hit with the ugly stick with extreme jaw jut (god knows what George saw in him!) and his attempts at miming atrocious. Adam Ant - who also couldn't mime to save his life but had much more star quality - he is not.

    The Jets - Oh, not more rockabilly revival crap. Next!

    Soft Cell - Now we're talking. Curiously I ignored this at the time, and it wasn't until I went to University and heard someone playing it almost 10 years later that I fell in love with it. Terrific song and an entertaining video too.

    Shakatak - NOOOOO!!!!

    AC/DC - I get why they are so popular but I only like a handful of their songs. I played a song by Brian Johnson's first band Geordie on my radio show last week - my goodness, I never realised how good they were!

    XTC - Not as good a performance as last time, thanks to double denim everywhere (eek!) and the lack of the multiple camera angles on the '1 2 3 4 5' refrain - I liked that bit before.

    George Benson - I never did see anything in his supposed genius, but if you forced me to listen to one, this is probably one of the least annoying of his songs.

    Kraftwerk - Quite nice that Peely comes back just in time for a cool No.1, fun though it would have been to see him introduce Shaky or the Fizz!

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    1. The most 'cool' part of the new No.1 was the clever use of model footage from what looked like the 1930s and 1940s, coupled with Kraftwerk's excellent synth style.

      It was not the type of single that I would have thought would get to No.1, but on the basis of the video alone, one week at No.1 is better than getting stuck at No.2 for three weeks let's say.

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    2. Only Andy Partridge was in double denim, the rest of the band were otherwise attired.

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  7. Wow John Peel! Wasn’t he good? I remember at the time wondering whether he really wanted to be there or not as he seemed to be mocking some of the songs. The album chart rundown was just hilarious. “I’ll be back in 1996 the way things are going” he finishes off. 1996 seemed like years away then; now its 20 years ago!!! Btw in the album chart one of the ‘Various’ albums was ‘Modern Dance’ featuring such obscure treats as ‘Sweat in a bullet’ and ‘Love Song’ by a then practically unknown Simple Minds as well as ‘A World without love’ by the News (who?) and ‘Move on’ by Fashion (again who). Some of the better known tracks on the album you’d struggle to dance to, modern or otherwise! Anyway, it must have sold well and it’s nice to see the reissued ‘Friends of Mr Cairo’ in the top 10 too.

    Theatre of Hate – Do you believe in the Westworld – I don’t recall this at all and it’s a bit of a din to be honest. Enthusiastic debut from ToH though.

    OMD – Maid of Orleans – Shorn of the intro, this still looks and sounds great.

    Jets – Love makes the world go round – Never mind the Jets, who is the girl in the tight blue shiny dress? She certainly hogs the limelight and makes another prominent appearance during Shakatak and is probably giving it some at the end on ‘Deadringer’ but we can’t see as the lights are dimmed. Nice bit of rockability from the lads though.

    Soft Cell – Say Hello, wave goodbye – The first of two stunning singles from the boys and what a deliciously camp video, featuring Cindy Ecstasy if I’m not mistaken, who sings on the next single ‘Torch’. “not going cheap in the sales” is a great line in any song.

    Gillan – Restless – D’ya know, this has grown on me. Some very ‘Child in time’ screaming from Mr Gillan too.

    Shakatak – Easier said than done – Completely distracted by the girl in the blue shiny mini dress!

    AC/DC – Let’s get it up – AC/DC never penetrated the top 10 and this video really captures their live energy even if the guitarist in shorts and no top looks ridiculous. This is Brian Johnson on lead vocals of course and the song was produced by the prolific Robert John ‘Mutt’ Lange.

    XTC – Senses working overtime – No glasses and five camera shots in the chorus for Mr Partridge here which makes this performance a little flat. I’ve got a feeling the song clips in the top 10 return soon as I well remember they used the five camera shot for this song.

    George Benson – Never give up on a good thing – The Zoo girls sporting suspenders on this film to match one of the girls in the TOTP studio. Perhaps they were on the way back in fashion in 1982 as I don’t recall Legs & Co wearing them much? Nice dance for this song regardless.

    Christopher Cross – Arthur’s Theme – Sadly less of the song this time but did anyone spot that the stage backdrop was the cover of Christopher’s self-titled album?

    Kraftwerk – The Model – Correctly pronounced by JP, this still sounds fabulous. A worthy belated No.1

    Meat Loaf – Deadringer – Great to dance to but why the dimmed lights? Reminds me of the ‘Ticket to the Moon’ video that I’ve just watched.



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    1. sct you've given mention of two of my favourite bands of the early 80's: simple minds of course went on to make an impact as the decade went on (their "shark-jumping" moment for what was "don't you forget about me"... at which point i did!), but i had already become of aware of their potential through "i travel" by 1982. and i thought fashion's "fabrique" album was brilliant in places, and it was a real shame that they never quite made it (did they actually ever appear on totp?)

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    2. Regarding The Jets, I must admit I too was watching the girl in the tight blue shiny dress, and some of the other dancers in the studio audience, as this was a more interesting sight than The Jets themselves.

      Suffice to say that the rockabilly revival, while having lost its momentum by the end of 1981, seemed to be continued somewhat by The Jets into 1982 to a reluctant TV viewer audience perhaps.

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    3. Fashion were a synth band from Birmingham who had three top 75 hits, and I remember seeing them perform their top 46 smash "Streetplayer/ Mechanik" on "Tiswas". News had one chart knocker, "Audio Video" on the George label, which peaked at 52.

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    4. the was a limited edition of the cassette tape release of fashion's "fabrique" album that had another album's worth of remixes on it, some of which were really good - sadly to my knowledge most have yet to appear in digital format. there was also another fantastic extended mix of "streetplayer" released as a 12" single, that i only came across many years later. most of their music was very dance oriented, but perhaps the best track of all on what an impressive album was a poignant ballad called "slow blue", that i thought rather eerie as it lyically prophesised singer dee harris's sudden departure from the band just as they were on the verge of breaking through:

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

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    5. wilberforce, I totally agree with you re early Simple Minds (though I also like some of their later stuff as well!)

      'I Travel' is brilliant, as is 'Life In A Day' and all their 82/83 singles are fab.

      My favourite of their early album tracks is 'Carnival (Shelter In A Suitcase)' which is utterly ridiculous but brilliant!

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  8. While I share some of Wilberforce's doubts about how genuine Mr Ravenscroft was (the accent must have been learnt for a start, given his upper middle class background and public school education), he does an excellent job here - self confident, deadpan, knowledgable and witty. It does make you wonder why it had taken TOTP 14 years to invite him back...

    I assume JP must have enjoyed the fact that there was a relatively credible line-up for this show. Theatre of Hate certainly put on a striking performance to get us started, and I liked the guitar work, but this rather weird effort didn't quite do it for me overall - a few more listens might be in order. After a welcome repeat for OMD, The Jets return with more quiffs and extremely nasty yellow cardigans, but another energetic turn can't disguise the fact that this is highly formulaic, anonymous rockabilly - God knows how it managed to become their biggest hit.

    Proceedings take an upturn with Soft Cell, and this pleasingly sleazy video. The song is a slow-burner that takes a little while to really click, but the chorus is epic in a quiet way and Marc going out of tune somehow doesn't spoil it. I was wondering if and when Marc would show up in the video, and his appearance as the doorman (I'm sure it was him) was well worth the wait! I'm mystified as to why Shakatak were invited back to the studio, as they were hardly the most charismatic of performers, but this is at least nicely directed and the focus is wisely kept on the singers. AC/DC then provide a complete contrast, but this is bog-standard fare from them with boring in-concert footage to match.

    I enjoyed the casual new XTC performance, but sad to think that it was only 6 weeks later that Andy Partridge suffered the on-stage breakdown that ended the band's touring career. This George Benson effort is pleasant enough, and the Zoo trio we see here, in what appears to be an attempt to make their own music video, put on a decent routine - I like the blonde the best...

    Kraftwerk finally get to the top, and then Meat Loaf plays us out. I've no idea why Michael Hurll prefers to concentrate on the lasers rather than the dancers as the credits roll, but it is notable that the cheerleaders are a lot more subdued this week, and less in your face - maybe the antics of Craig & Co the previous week had been deemed too OTT...

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    1. the bbc have had some guy called tom ravenscroft doing a show on one of their radio stations for while now - i wonder how he got the gig?

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    2. Hey, lay off Tom, a perfectly decent DJ with the same line in self-deprecating humour as his dad. It's always nice to hear him play a Peel session track, a little link to the past.

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    3. The apple did fall a long way from the tree though didn't it.

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    4. Not necessarily, Tom champions new music much as his dad did, and if there's any radio station that carries on Peel's variety is the spice of life ethos it's 6 Music, where you can hear Tom every Friday.

      I will say, finding new music now is a lot different from Peel's day, where most consumers don't actively seek it out or rely on their favourite DJs to recommend stuff, that still happens, but these days it seems to me most people plump for what has the most money behind it, or YouTube channels of singers covering material the majors supply anyway. 1982 never seemed so far away.

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  9. Shakey Shakerson8 July 2016 at 22:37

    Ok then - two episodes on the spin that are fronted by presenters with little or no cringe factor and a level of musical knowledge clearly missing in most of their colleagues.

    First up, the welcome sight of John Peel and his patented couldn't-give-a-monkeys-about-this-pop-malarky schtick. Apart from one nonsensical link (leading into OMD) this was a sure-footed and droll presenting job. Nicely done, Mr Peel.

    This episode is a veritable rollercoaster of highs and lows starting off with the rowdy, tuneless Do You Believe In The Westworld, by the aptly-named Theatre Of Hate. I say aptly named because I really Theatred this piece of crap.

    An enjoyable repeat for Peel's fellow Wirralians OMD before the Jets strut their meaningless way through another slice of fifties cornball rock n roll. Hello Mr Fairbrass. Still sporting those knee high boots I see.

    Another high from Soft Cell with the excellent 'Say Hello' complete with a highly watchable video is followed by the show's nadir - a repeat of Gillan and the frankly risible Restless.

    Things improve a bit with Shakatak before plummeting to earth with ACDC. I really dislike heavy metal, especially the high-pitched caterwauling that passes for vocals and this is a glorious example of the genre. And by glorious, I mean awful.

    XTC were an improvement; George Benson even more, although I would have liked to have seen a video or some concert footage instead of a rather pedestrian Zoo outing.

    The excellent Christopher Cross, Kraftwerk rather miraculously at number one and Meat to play us out.

    So, a real case of highs and lows with Soft Cell being the best of the best and Theatre Of Hate and Gillan duking it out to be the worst of the worst. 6.

    John Peel gets an 8. His links were short and pithy; his countdowns were excellent, and he's just a very likeable presence.

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    1. Not to worry Shaky, cos the George Benson video will be played next week on the Mike Read hosted show when Benson will be in the top 20 by then, and they would not need Zoo anymore. I suspect that the video was not available at the time of this week's John Peel hosted show, and hence the use of Zoo.

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  10. The return of the album chart top ten this week was highly welcome in my opinion. Interesting observations on a early 1982 album chart:

    No.10 - Kool & The Gang - naming the album Something Special. Now was that referring to the quality of the whole album as a sort of plug for it, or one particular song on it?

    No.8 - Jon & Vangelis - fantastic album cover and album title. It goes without saying that they really id well with the singles releases off this album.

    No.6 - Meat Loaf - best album cover of the whole top ten this week, and a lot of effort must have gone into this. I remember buying this album as a cassette first, and then upgrading it to the vinyl version cos I liked the album cover so much, even eclipsing the Bat Out Of Hell famous album cover.

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  11. Did anyone notice the two vicious headbangers at the front of the stage on Gillan? I wonder if these were the same two from his past TOTP studio performance?

    Gillan, like OMD, seemed to be always available for a TOTP studio performance, and we never got any videos from him, although for this week's track called Restless, I found this TISWAS performance where the delectable Sally James introduces the show with the Gillan intro, and then appears on the end of the song o stage with them just as they are finishing up.

    Worth a watch (for Sally James at least):

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czFfOE-y_Rw

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  12. Having watched both the early evening and late night showings on BBC4, the end credits playout with Meat Loaf had much more of it on the late night repeat, with the studio audience going full throttle with their dancing (I expect they must have been inspired by the video), and we got some amazing laser light effects in the studio, pointing at the large disco ball which was much more in effect on the late night version. Well done BBC4 for letting us see it, after the awful measly amount of footage on the early evening showing.

    Another way of looking at this is that Meat Loaf could have changed the lyrics this week to " I don't know anything about you baby, but we're already at a career high of No.5 this week, I don't know who you are but my my album cover is also in the top ten album chart which Peeely showed off this week."

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  13. Some interesting trivia this week around the topic of Soft Cell's video for Say Hello Wave Goodbye.

    I remember the TOTP cabaret video with the red disco background, which acted the lyrics in the Pink Flamingo bar as on this week's TOTP showing. Indeed I also thought it resembled somewhat the video for the 1978 hit Dancing In The City by Marshall Hain.

    However, in later years, another interesting video surfaced for Say Hello Wave Goodbye which is now the official 5-minute video shown by the music video channels like MTV, VH1 and Vintage TV, etc.

    It is the one with Marc Almond sitting alone in a warm dry cafe during the day , with a massive downpour outside and hitting his window in vigorous fashion, in which all the other characters in the video got caught up in it, getting completely soaked outside, especially the girls in the video, wearing what looks like summer outfits. Anyway, here is the official daytime video not seen on TOTP, as nowadays the TOTP Pink Flamingo bar video seems to have been lost in the meantime:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLmXLzu0_6w

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    1. The original video for Say Hello shown on the show tonight was part of the Non Stop Erotic Cabaret film which had a video for most songs on the album. The one you link to is from the reissue of the song 10 years later with a more gay friendly feel. NB; although the song is on the surface about a couple breaking up it's really about every gay mans experience of the gay scene where you have a thing with someone and the next time you see them they blank you.

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    2. Ah, that seems to explain what I found confusing over the years, as to why there were two videos made for this, in that the second video was made as late as 1992.

      It is hard to choose between them, cos they are both very good videos, but I would plump for the first one from 1982 as per the one on this week's TOTP, as this would have been what was on the mind of Soft Cell when they released the song the first time round, and that is what counts. Thumbs up to the Pink Flamingo bar.

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    3. It was from 1990 actually and was a re-recording. The original 1982 film was called Non Stop Erotic Video Show, you can see the whole thing here:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDcfr69eDaw

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    4. Thanks Bama, I didn't know that the video for Say Hello Wave Goodbye was taken from a longer film made by Soft Cell in 1982. It all seems to come together now.

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    5. Just had another thought. As this film called Non Stop Exotic Cabaret is similar length to a TOTP edition, and coupled with the fact that there is no TOTP repeat until Friday cos of Sky At Night this Thursday, is there any chance of putting this film up for blogging as a nice filler for having no TOTP on Thursday?

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    6. To be perfectly honest Dory, I'm relieved there is just one episode next week, as the blogging has been pretty intense of late! There's also another Yewtreed show to squeeze in after the next one, too.

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    7. Sadly only the first part is on You Tube.

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    8. I noticed that too Bama. It's a shame cos the whole Non Stop Exotic Cabaret film must be about the same length as an episode of TOTP, which I thought would be a brilliant filler in place of TOTP on Thursday for the blog, as Soft Cell had only one appearance on TOTP with Say Hello Wave Goodbye, with the Pink Flamingo video, and even that was cut before the end, so I would still like to see the whole video, and the only way it seems to do that, is if someone has the whole copy of Non Stop Exotic Cabaret for the weekly blog. Can anyone oblige and put a link up of the whole version?

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  14. I must admit I wasn't really a John Peel fan at the time, I didn't listen to his show until the following year, but he does bring a much needed breath of fresh air to the show. There's something very funny about seeing a forty year old man with a receeding hairline and a deadpan delivery cracking sily jokes alongside all the party mayhem and obvious fakesness around him.

    I could have passed for a member of Theatre of Hate back then, I had a flat top, blue Levis with turn ups, American shirts from Flip in Covent Garden and pointed creeper shoes but I wasn't a fan of them. This was okay musically but somewhat spoiled by Kurt Brandon's vocal screams in the chorus. I'm not surprised this wasn't a bigger hit as hit the performance is a bit lacklustre.

    Was it comedian Will Hay who joked that Joan of Arc was Noah's wife. Another fine, if slightly muted outing from OMD. Odd the way the cheering at the end comes in a bit late.

    Nice studio atmosphere for The Jets with some cheerleaders including inevitably Craig Fairbrass joining in the hand jive. This reminded me of the clips I have seen of Oh Boy from the 1950s. They could/should have been as big as Shaky if only the lead singer would put down the bass and just sing.

    I had to laugh seeing Marc Almond done up as a Juliett Greco- style torch singer in the Pink Flamingo nightclub. A superb video with some amazing Jacque Brel theatrics going on. A shame they had to fade it early. If you get a chance check out the extended version of this which features two beautiful clarinet solos, it will send a shiver up your spine

    The Album charts which are a bit of a damp squib as Babs Streisand is number one. Come on, this is John Peel, let him read out the Indie Chart where Theatre Of Hate were number one.

    Repeated Gillan still sounding like 10538 Overture

    Has anyone managed to work out what a Shakatak is? It always reminded me of the line "Shark attack to hit you on your back" from The Specials Man at C&A but it can't be from that. This was a better performance than last time with a better atmosphere but I still can't see why this was just a big hit, Nasty bit of feedback at the end which is odd as they are miming.

    Oh no its ACDC, they should have waited until the next show as this is more Tommy Vance's field of expertise. Still a good quality performance with Angus on full headbanger duties.I bet he's paying for it now though.

    I liked this XTC outing better than the last one with Andt P trying to look cool and failing although it's faded before the end which is a shame.

    The Charts with Peelie managing to sound disdainful in every single name he reads out.

    Then Zoo dancing to George Benson with added cries and whoops courtesy of other Zoo members presumably. This is a filmed dance sequence with loads of edits and is therefore much better than the rambling live stuff they have done up to now. This is exactly what they should be doing, so full marks, well done. And a great song, I loved this at the time.

    I remember seeing an episode of the 1970s sitcom Man About The House where housemate Chrissie is upset that her proposed marriage fell through but when it's pointed out that she was marrying a man called Mr Cross and would be called Chrissy Cross she thinks it was a narrow escape.
    The video faded early again, they didn't really like videos did they?

    Top 6 and then Kraftwerk at the top. A straightforward simple video that really works. And Computer Love is a god track at well.

    Playout with Meatloaf and at last we see some real audience members with Peelie as the cheerleaders are to busy getting ready to pose except the director has decided to concentrate on laser beams and lights. Ha ha!

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    1. Funny you should say that about TV fading videos early, I remember it was always a great novelty if you ever saw a video right to the end, on TOTP or otherwise. STV had a time filler called Pop Shop where they would do just that, but obviously you would never know when it was on, I was never listed in the schedules. The Chart Show even had a segment where they proudly played a vid from beginning to end - I always thought they should have been doing that anyway! Not everyone had MTV in the 80s.

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    2. As mentioned previously, 'Computer love' had such a good hook that Coldplay used it on the song 'Talk' from the X&Y album. The Kraftwerk guys do get their due credit.

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    3. i'm guessing there must be real-life cases where women have decided against getting serious with men because if they married them then their name would sound silly in some way?

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  15. A nuggety old show, but superbly captained by John Peel, the unexpected star of the programme.

    Yee hah time with Theatre of Hate. Turn those teeth down, Kirk!

    Those retro treadmill canaries The Jets actually made me pine for Matchbox.

    Great video for Soft Cell. Did Dave Ball win a BAFTA for his acting? For some reason, speccy Marc Almond reminded me facially of Jenny Eclair.

    A big up to Bill Sharpe both before and after his cocktail bar groove. Almost as good as a Blue Peter badge, that.

    AC/DC’s raunchy song title reminded me of poor old Bon Scott’s TOTP swansong, when “Touch Too Much” was shredded down to about 90 seconds due to its poetic content. That reminds me, with a singer retired for health reasons, a jailed drummer and a soon to retire bassist, will Angus be the only original member left soon?

    Sadly, no clever 1-2-3-4-5 camera work during XTC, and the song was unfortunately pruned before its gentle ending (or, as AC/DC might call it, climax).

    Ironic having Zoo (or 3% of the actual troupe) dancing to “Never Give Up On A Good Thing” when TOTP did by ditching Legs & Co. Ooh, satire!

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    1. One of my friends is a huge AC/DC fan and has pointed out that they are becoming the musical equivalent of Trigger's Broom!

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    2. Does that Arrows 'Touch too much' performance still exist or was it wiped? Written by Chinn/Chapman btw. Not usually noted for raunchy lyrics.

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    3. There are a couple of Arrows performances on YouTube, one allegedly from TOTP but I'm not so sure it is. Good song, that.

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