To be fair, Paul's got other things on his mind besides his hat right now.....
14/07/83 (Andy Peebles & Peter Powell)
Elvis Costello & The Attractions – “Everyday I Write The Book” (32)
Chapter one begins with Elvis Costello's Everyday I Write the Book, which peaked at number 28.
Malcolm McLaren – “Double Dutch” (10) (video)
Became his second and final and biggest top ten hit, peaking at number 3. But edited out of tonight's 7.30 showing.
Paul Young – “Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home)” (2)
Knocking firmly on the door to number one.
Heaven 17 – “Come Live With Me” (6)
Went up one more place.
Echo & The Bunnymen – “Never Stop” (30)
Halfway to its number 15 peak.
Bananarama – “Cruel Summer” (21)
The second top ten hit of 1983 for the trio, peaking at number 8.
Sylvian & Sakamoto – “Forbidden Colours” (18) (video)
From the movie Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, this was David Sylvian's biggest hit post Japan, peaking at number 16.
Rod Stewart – “Baby Jane” (1) (video)
The final week at number one for Rod's final number one. And the cliffhanger is ~ who's been tinkering with the video?
Donna Summer - "She Works Hard For The Money" (29) (audience dancing/credits)
And so we reach the final chapter of tonight's show, featuring lots of skipping, which is very apt as BBC4 will do doing a lot of skipping over the next week or so. Peaked at number 25.
Next up should be July 21st but one of the hosts is Jimmy Savile, so BBC4 will skip to July 28th instead.
Did anyone notice the edit at the introduction to the show, with only Peebles appearing to be talking when introducing the show? It is normal practice for both DJs to talk at the start of the show, and not just one of them. Anyone know what BBC4 did not like here, and had to edit out??
ReplyDeleteAlso I noticed another edit at the end of the show when Powell introduced the playout track. This is easier to guess, in that Jimmy Saville was presenter of the next show.
When Peebles introduced Heaven 17, there appeared to be a blonde with white bikini top and fair busom looking very aroused. To add to that, when Powell introduced Echo & The Funnymen, a different girl in yellow bikini top with smaller breasts appeared next to him, and then again at the end of the show where Powell couldn't resist a clinch with her wearing only a yellow bikini top and shorts.
Blimey, without looking at the weather history books, I would think that July 1983 was a scorcher of a month! And nothing to comment about the music on this week's show which I thought was very bland compared to the week before.
I spotted that edit at the start - no idea what it was for, but doubtless PP or Peebles mentioned someone who is now unmentionable. I am now trying to imagine who might have been in the line-up of a band called Echo and the Funnymen...
Deletejimmy tarbuck? alexei sayle? stan "jairmans" boardman?
DeletePerhaps Jimmy Cricket as well!
Deletethe (somewhat feeble) joke i was trying to make was that the "funnymen" line-up would consist of scouse comics, as opposed to scouse musicians. so as an irishman, i don't think jimmy cricket counts?
DeleteSorry Wilberforce, I didn't twig the Liverpool connection between your names! Ken Dodd would be an obvious choice on that score. I was thinking in terms of comedians who were big at the time, hence Jimmy Cricket - given that many Scousers have Irish antecedents, perhaps he could sort of count?
Deletedoes tom o'connor count? definitely when it comes to being a scouser, but perhaps as a "funnyman" might be pushing it a bit...
DeletePP seems a lot happier presenting with Andy Peebles than he did with Master Bates last time out, and they make for a solid pairing - I notice PP has been assigned t-shirt plugging duties once again. Mr McManus is back under the Elvis Costello branding and offers up one of his better songs, a nice tune with a clever lyric. Zoo read away in the foreground, and what were that young couple in the crowd up to just before they had to get out of the camera's way? The backing singer on the left looked very like one of the future members of Soul II Soul, but I've no idea if it is the same person.
ReplyDeleteThis Malcolm McLaren effort is rather more palatable than Buffalo Girls, with some nice female vocalising to offset Malky's ramblings. The skipping looks a bit underwhelming at first, perhaps because McLaren was putting them off, but they get into their stride as the video goes on. Paul Young is back, thankfully with a better suit this time, and then Heaven 17 return to the studio. There is a lot of grinning and turning to the side by Glenn Gregory during this performance, perhaps as there just happens to be a Zoo cage dancer on either side of him...
Lots of studio turns tonight, as Echo & the Bunnymen turn up with probably their strongest single up to this point, even if the guitar sting seems to have been lifted wholesale from Duran Duran's Rio. Ian is fiddling with his shirt again, but thankfully desists after a while! PP tells us that the Nanas are "live" in the studio, but from the way Siobhan was attempting to "play" that Flying V I think we can all be grateful that they were actually miming! A good song anyway, with strong production making up for the girls' vocal inadequacies.
We finally get to hear the Sylvian and Sakamoto tune, and it is a pleasant listen, if not exactly exciting. I suppose it was inevitable that David would end up working with a Japanese musician after quitting Japan, and it is certainly a worthwhile collaboration. I like the way that the shots of David are lined up with the film clips so that the actors morph into him. Curious, however, that none of the clips feature Bowie - I wonder if he got left out because they were afraid his presence would overshadow Sylvian? We end with a decent Donna Summer effort, as Zoo attempt the Double Dutch craze for themselves, amidst much annoying whooping...
Elvis's backing singers were indeed Caron Wheeler of Soul to Soul, the other was Claudia Fontaine.
DeleteThe late Malcolm McLaren who died in 2010 from lung cancer at only 64, found his biggest hit here with Double Dutch, as this got to No.3 somehow.
DeleteIt's strange that skipping did not develop into a fully-fledged sport, given the advanced level of the skippers in the video. It was just as skilled as many other sports that get to the olympics, and so a missed opportunity by McLaren to develop it into a world sport, as with other activities that have campaigned themselves into the olympics somehow.
Caron Wheeler and Claudia Fontaine appeared as backing vocalists on Elvis Costello's then album "Punch The Clock" under the name of Afrodiziak. A superb album, three singles were taken from it - one was "Pills And Soap" and the third was arguably the weakest track, "Let Them All Talk", which only reached number 59.
DeleteThanks Arthur and Angelo. It was actually Claudia Fontaine that I recognised here, rather than Caron Wheeler. I note on Wikipedia that Claudia is not listed as a member of Soul II Soul, but I am sure she is featured in the Back to Life video, which is where I recognised her from:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TB54dZkzZOY
john i also recognised the lesser-known (but more visually noticeable) claudia fontaine but not caron wheeler. and yes, claudia was involved with the soul ii soul collective too to my recollection...
DeleteAngelo - I'd make sure that you enjoy your holiday rather than worrying about getting all next week's shows blogged immediately. In any case, given the number of shows we have to get through over the next couple of weeks, I think we will all be grateful for a few breaks!
ReplyDeleteNo worries John, it's all in hand ~ the only link I haven't got yet for the yewtreed ones is August 18th with DLT.
DeleteThat's good. I'm limbering up for the marathon - can't believe that we will already have reached the end of September in 2 weeks' time...
DeleteIt's obviously T-shirt weather, but thankfully there's not as much heavy perspiring this episode.
ReplyDeleteElvis Costello with a tripping little melody where he thought up as many book based puns as he could and crammed them into his song. Oddly innocent after Pills and Soap, charming in its way.
Malcolm McLaren with the highlight from his all-time classic Duck Rock album, a mixture of original subject matter, killer tune (those strings!), and a production that transcends the fact he was a bit rubbish at rapping. Highlight of the show, and the video brings back memories of Blue Peter where they briefly replaced steel drum bands with double Dutchers.
Paul Young, oh, this again. As with Nick Heyward, the underdressed dancers prove to be a distraction, which is becoming a running theme recently.
Same thing again with Heaven 17, a very self-amused performance that's not helped by the lady beckoning the audience in come hither fashion.
Echo and the Bunnymen, now you never hear this one on the radio anymore, and it's obvious why: no real tune. Ian offers an interesting combination of can't be arsed and "oh, go on then" in his performance.
Bananarama brighten things up with a seasonal ditty, inappropriately beaming and bouncing their way through the miserable lyrics. None more eighties production gives this one a lift, but it wouldn't be the same without the 'Nana's flat vocals, like a trademark.
Must admit I prefer the instrumental version of Ryuchi Sakamoto's brilliant opener to Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, it's such a startling sound to start off the film, which according to this video was a rare lead role in a movie for Tom Conti. Was there a comparable theme tune for Reuben, Reuben? Anyway, superb, evocative synth melody for a film that sticks in the memory for both Sakamoto's music and the strange tone of the drama.
Rod Stewart re-edited for Baby Jane, for no apparent reason other than to mess about with the video effects, it seems. I note they kept the big pink arse in. No, not Rod, though he's still there.
Donna Summer with a song that feels like it should have been a bigger hit than it was. Zoo attempt the double Dutch with, well, pathetic results. Leave it to the experts, guys.
The scissors were really out for this edition, weren't they? The edit at the end I expected, but what was going on with the start? I'd quite like to know.
ReplyDeleteElvis Costello - I'm not as keen on this as other here it seems, I find it rather dull.
Malcolm McLaren - Much better, I love this song. They were a bit crazy to edit this out of the early edition when they could have chopped Paul Young who'll be No.1 soon anyway.
Heaven 17 - "Now back to our chart" says Peebles. So did we lose something else here - a JK segment perhaps?
As for the performance, a little on the arrogant and distracting side.
Echo & The Bunnymen - I like most of their singles, but this one doesn't do it for me.
Bananarama - Although it's extremely badly done, I actually prefer the 89 remix of 'Cruel Summer'!
Sylvian/Sakamoto - A brilliant song, and the video is nicely done too.
Donna Summer - One of my least favourite of her singles, it just sounds cheap and nasty to me.
My favourite version of Cruel Summer is Rico Bernasconi vs Ace of Base from post-2000.
DeleteUnfortunately my browser is not allowing a copy-paste for me to paste it on here, but it is very good, and probably the best remake of Bananarama's song to date.
Yes, I wondered about that "now back to our chart" bit,as there was clearly an edit before it. Popscene doesn't list a JK segment for this show, but given he hadn't appeared since the beginning of June and wouldn't be on again until the end of August, it does make me wonder if he actually did turn up on this one.
Deletesomebody actually thought a bananarama song was worthy of covering?!?
DeleteThere were at least three Cruel Summer covers that I know of, i.e., the one that Noax mentions in 1989 by Banarama themselves, then Ace of Base in the 90s, then Rico Bernasconi vs Ace Of Base in the 2000s which for me was the best one, with super cool summer video:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rL5MsZBmYcw
Missed out on the longer late-night edit and, wouldn't you know it, the one track that I didn't get to see was probably nailed-on to be my favourite. I always found the McLaren persona to be easily dislikeable, but musically he was ahead of his time. Last years Buffalo Girls and next years Madame Butterfly were both brilliant, but this was his peak. I might have to go and do a bit of YouTubing.
ReplyDeleteAnd of the songs I did see. . . .
Elvis. Flick Colby has quite clearly given up now and doesn't even give the assembled Zooologists anything to 'write their books' with. The hoi polloi in the crowd simply stand around unable to stir up any enthusiasm for a song which is nice enough, but certainly not top-drawer Elvis. Oh and we seem to have gone back to the days of 'just-ignore-the-sodding-piano-player' cos poor old Steve Nieve doesn't get a look-in.
Paul Young. Same Old Song, better suit, but still no hat.
Heaven 17. Something a tad annoying about the performance here, all that smirking and glancing behind. Stop it son.
The Bunnymen. Mac smacked-off his tits here, but they're starting to meld into an above average rock band and will go on to much bigger and better things, but this one is definitely a taster for what was ahead.
The Nanas. We don't really have Cruel Summers round these parts. Wet Summers, Wash-Out Summers, and Summers that were much better back when I were a kid. But not cruel ones. It sounded like another Swain & Jolley effort, and I checked up and indeed it was - with the girls themselves down as co-writers! Not sure how much they contributed, but whatever it was, it would appear to be an early example of the mass-songwriters thing that is popular now.
Slyvian/Sakamoto. Lovely. Just a very evocative piece of work that still sounds fresh and original today.
Okay then - the scores. Not a great lover of either these two. Peebles has decided to adopt Smile-In-The-Voice's habit of having his pants up high on the chest, or at least as high as his prominent gut allows. There is no chemistry on show. At all. 3.
A fair old show this one. The Bunnymen and (had I seen it) Double Dutch my favourites- Rot Stewart's chart topper the only real coffee-cream in this bag of Revels. 8
all the imagination stuff was credited to swain & jolley plus "band members" leee john and ashley ingram. i suppose only they know exactly what the division of labour was, but i suspect leee & ashley had a bit more in the way of musical chops than bananarama!
Deleteone reason the latter were able to keep having chart success despite their limitations was that they saught to become clients of whatever producers were currently hot - at this point it was swain & jolley, and later on stock aitken & waterman. i once read an interview with pete waterman, where be bemoaned that bananarama were a somewhat tiresome job as they believed they had some songwriting abilities and wanted an input into the creative process... unlike the likes of kylie and jason, who just did exactly as they were told!
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Deletethe massed-songwriter credit thing probably really kicked off with the spice girls, who made sure they all got a songwriting credit for their stuff... along with the backroom team that probably did all the actual work! but they weren't the first, as "the king" had a reputation for offering to record unknown somgwriters' material... as long as he got a compositional credit too - even though the song was already fully formed before he got to hear it!
Deletehosts: blimey - i got to actually watch a whole edition for a change (well, at least as much as the beeb allowed due to their obsession with re-writing history and airbrushing yewtree "offenders" out of the show in any form). like tommy vance, andy peebles sounds alright but is visually completely all-at-sea in this era of shiny pop and provocatively-dressed dancers. and even pp's looking a bit long in the tooth for this kind of thing too by now
ReplyDeleteelvis costello: i'm very forutunate that his earnest meat-and-potatoes music never held the slightest interest for me, because if it had then i would have found his grating sandpaper rasp even more annoying! i don't suppose he was too impressed with the "dancers" literal (or should that be "litural?) interpretation, but then again he doesn't exactly contribute a lot on the visual front of his own accord. but just what is that (string-free) thing the bassist is using? did he knock it up in his garden shed just before coming to the studios?
malcolm mclaren: take out his awful (and superfluous) whine and the backing here isn't too bad. but it is authentic african music, or just something knocked up by trevor horn and his chums? whatever, it certainly reminds me of stuff from paul simon's supposedly ground breaking "graceland" album that came out some three years later
echo/bunnymen: i don't remember this either, but one or two guitar effects apart it's utterly indistinctive and therefore no surprise. i thought mr mcculloch was going to expose us to yet more of his skinny frame, but fortunately he thought better of it in the end
bananarama: their 15 minutes of fame as a novelty act must be up by now? if it were down to me then they would go the way of many others who have been in these re-runs, that disappeared into the "where are they now" category after two or three hit singles. but sadly like a bad smell they will continue to hang around for quite some while yet
sylvian/sakamoto: as they say: where's there's muck, there's brass. at last! something of class on the show. i happen to like sylvian's melody and lyrics that were added to the original instrumental (presumably for the sake of a commercial hit?), but i'm not surprised others don't share that view. even sakamoto himself admitted (if somewhat politely) in an interview many years later that sylvian perhaps contributed a bit too much in that respect! am i right in that there was no sign of bowie in the film clips?
Yes, definitely no sign of Bowie in the clips, for reasons unknown to me.
DeleteAnyone got the original edition of this, without the edits?
ReplyDeleteDid anybody come across the full show yet ?
DeleteIt's finally turned up on WeTransfer. Andy Peebles mentions JK's US chart section at the start and then does a dodgy Jim'll impression at the end when telling us he's doing next week's show. The copy is obviously off an old VHS tape as the tracking lines are terrible at the end.
Deletebri do you have the link?
Deletehttps://wetransfer.com/downloads/62b28c57f75573206ae320d5f78904d420170414161125/b7a495
DeleteThanks Dory but that link is expired can you by any chance re-upload it ? Thanks Meer
DeleteMeer, I pasted the link above from John G's post on the 1st Sep '83 edition blog, and I just tried it again this morning, and it does still download, so I don't understand how it can have expired. Try his link from the 1st Sep '83 blog, and if it doesn't work, then perhaps John G can help, as I don't know how to upload a MP4 file.
DeleteMeer, if you're still having trouble, go to Top of the Pops 1983 BBC4 Digital Spy and go to page 236. Find post No. 5882 by Scott Whitton and click on the link there.
DeleteThanks that link is working again - Meer
Delete"When your old enough to know better, find strange hands in your sweater".
ReplyDeleteClassic yew tree lines I would have thought! Surprised it was allowed to stand.
Which song are you referring to?
DeleteThe elvis Costello one. Within first couple of lines.
DeleteMany too many shows have appeared this week again and I’m behind already…
ReplyDeleteElvis Costello – Every day I write the book – Not a book I’ve read…
Malcolm McLaren – Double Dutch – The Famous Charisma Label’s joint highest chart placed single ever reaching no3 (joint with ??...). Love the video which is featured on the single sleeve. Another Trevor Horn production which is just fabulous. Ironic that Malc ended up on Charisma when, in his punk era with the Pistols, most Charisma bands like Genesis (hence my opening line 'Many too many'..) were derided by the punks.
Paul Young – Wherever I lay my hat – A bit like Joe Cocker’s ‘With a little help from my friends’ totally reinvented the song, this did the same… That fretless bass still gets me all these years later.
Heaven 17 –Come live with me – A very infectious tune given a nice presentation in the studio by Glenn and co. Been in my head ever since this one!
Echo and the Bunnymen – Never Stop – An OK single give the usual rubbish miming from the lead Bunnyman.
Bananarama – Cruel Summer – An underrated hit from the feisty girls who’ve popped in to the TOTP studio once more to entertain us.
Sylvian and Sakamoto – Forbidden Colours – At last! We get practically the whole ingenious video with film clip fades to Sylvian for this sumptuous piece. It features in instrumental form, opening side two of the fabulous ‘Imaginations’ compilation album of instrumentals which was out selling bucketloads at the time following the equally sublime ‘ Reflections’ album.
Rod Stewart – Baby Jane – I noticed the video tinkering too…just like the Police the other week with the blue tint. I wonder if Rod and Penny ever settle down in front of the fire and listen to things like ‘Baby Jane’ these days?
Donna Summer – She works hard for the money – Seems to be jump here so I suppose a reference was made to next week’s host as the show is not on BBC4 so I’m off to hunt it down! Anyway not one of Donna’s most memorable hits.
I had never seen this Elvis Costello performance before and I loved this to bits at the time. I bought the single and the Punch the Clock album although it saw a change in direction from his previous work with a more commercial sound, emphasized here by the inclusion of the very prominent female backing vocalists. They also appear on the Free Nelson Mandela single.
ReplyDeleteCan I just say I detest the inclusion here of those "dancers" at the front doing that business with reading the books, shame on you Michael Hurll for such a cheap gimmick.
I liked the Malcolm Mclaren Duck Rock and the Double Dutch was one of the highlights, nice to see the video again. Sadly team skipping never took off in a big way though did it, altghough I notice one or two of the dancers on the show with skipping ropes. You can't force a trend, it either happens or it doesn't.
Paul Young again, on his way to the top with another slick performance. Like wise with Heaven 17 but I think I would rather see the video again. Don't particularly care to see Glen Gregory's perma-grin even when he's singing. It's a tad creepy.
Echo and The Bunnyman was a song I liked at the time but didn't buy. I was working in Our price at the time and some things you just didn't need to hear any more than you already had in the shop.
Bananarama. Cruel Summer? A cruel joke more like.
I had no time for the Sylvian and Sakamoto track at the time but I have since discovered it and just how beautiful it is. Never saw the film though.
I have had enough of Baby Jane now thank you. Nice hear this Donna Summer track again though although the Zoo dancing antics are a bit off-putting.
Very dull
ReplyDeleteHighlight was Donna Summer, and that was the play out...