Five starry starry night
10/04/86 (Mike Smith & Steve Wright)
Bronski Beat – “C’mon C’mon” (25)
Peaked at number 20.
The Art Of Noise & Duane Eddy – “Peter Gunn” (8) (rpt from 27/03/86 + chart)
At its peak.
Bryan Ferry – “Is Your Love Strong Enough?” (29)
Peaked at number 22.
Janet Jackson – “What Have You Done For Me Lately?” (37) (breaker)
Her debut hit and first of 17 top ten hits (but not a single number one).
Big Country – “Look Away” (18) (breaker)
Became their fourth and final top ten hit when it peaked at number 7.
Simple Minds – “All The Things She Said” (15) (video)
Peaked at number 9.
Five Star – “Can’t Wait Another Minute” (36)
Became the second of four top ten hits in 1986 for the group when it peaked at number 7.
Cliff Richard & The Young Ones – “Living Doll” (1) (video)
Third and final week at number one.
Queen – “A Kind Of Magic” (7) (video/audience dancing/credits)
Peaked at number 3.
Next up is April 17th.
Another helping of our favourite presenting duo, with Wrighty the more tolerable of the two overall, while Smitty completely messed up his breakers intro - whether that was deliberate or a genuine error, it still made him look a total prat. The all-new Top 40 countdown returns in a slightly modified form, with the scrolling graphics ditched in favour of one title appearing at a time. It didn’t work too badly this time, actually, helped by the fact Peter Gunn is an instrumental. Incidentally, it was highly unusual by this point to see a repeat of a studio performance unless the record concerned was at number 1, but at least in this case it affords us a final glimpse of the circular TOTP logo.
ReplyDeleteBronski Beat start us off with the most balloons we have seen in the studio for a while, and it is a colourful, fun performance to match the video, though it wouldn’t get them much higher in the charts. Quite how they had gone in less than two years from thoughtful purveyors of synthpop and social comment to a Modern Romance tribute act is something of a mystery. Bryan Ferry was misspelt in the chart rundown, but is nevertheless in the studio for the first time in a few years. A rare sartorial misstep from Bry here, with an ugly tasselled jacket that was about 16 years past its sell-by date as a fashionable item. Thankfully the song is a good one, never played these days but with typically sophisticated, atmospheric production allied to a harder edge than you sometimes get with his music.
As the breakers are on again, straight to Simple Minds. Like Bryan, they had by now found a musical formula that they were reluctant to deviate from, but this has enough oomph in the production to make it dynamic and enjoyable. The band seem to be cloning themselves like mad in the video, and what were all Jim’s feathered friends doing there? More tightly drilled moves from Five Star back in the studio; all very impressive from a technical point of view, but it just makes them look robotic and hard to relate to, which may help to explain the stick they would get. At least by now they had discovered some decent songs, and this one does have a real earworm of a chorus.
I think the last time that Bryan Ferry was in the TOTP studio was with Roxy Music in 1980, with Oh Yeah (There's A Band Playing On The Radio). Through 1981-1985, TOTP was only transmitting Ferry on videos, so this week's appearance on TOTP was a true rarity as Steve Wright points out correctly.
DeleteThe Simple Minds video was just brilliant, and I think this new formula with the black female vocalist has really worked wonders for them for that extra lift towards a top ten status, because without her they struggled to break the top 20 on their own just with Kerr's male vocals.
As far as I remember Bryan last appeared in the studio with Roxy in 1982, when they did More Than This.
DeleteStill, first time in the studio for four years, TOTP must savour the moment!
DeleteNot just Bryan Ferry's name spelt wrong, I counted at least 2 other typos in the captions this week!
Deletebronski beat: despite just going around in circles chords-wise, there's nearly four minutes of this. definitely a case of outstaying their welcome
ReplyDeletebryan ferry: perhaps this should have been called "is my tune strong enough?", in which case the answer would be a resounding no. the "boys and girls" album was sheer perfection in my view, and i was looking forward to more of the same with the follow-up "bete noire", but it was a real let down with only a couple of okay tracks that probably weren't even as good as the worst of b&g. by this time i think ferry had got used to spending months if not years in the studio whittling away at his recordings in the same manner as steely dan, but perhaps this was released sooner than he'd have liked thanks to his record company leaning on him? that would certainly explain the relative mediocrity of it. the true follow-up to b&g turned out to be "mamouna", which came out close to a decade later
janet jackson: up until this point both her and wacko's other sister toyota had tried leaping on the family bandwagon with little success. but hooking up with the master production team of jam & lewis changed janet's fortunes, and meant that (unlike her sis) she didn't have to go and visit an elderly bubbles the chimp in a documentary many years later. i didn't care much for this, but better was to come with "when i think of you"
simple minds: well past the shark-jumping moment by now. although they played at the nearby salford football ground last month (i didn't go - i would only see them again if michael mcneill and derek forbes got back on board and they did nothing post-"sparkle in the rain"), the canvas adverts are still up on the railings of local parks!
five star: i could wait for an eternity before i saw them again (and i'm not going to now)
Not much to comment on a very ordinary show, except for the brilliant Simple Minds follow-up to Alive & Kicking, keeping the winning formula of the black lady as joint lead vocalist, of which without it I doubt that anyone would have bought their records.
ReplyDeleteWith regard to The Breakers section, which TOTP found hard to remove from the show like some of the other features recently, I noted that the long-awaited return of Scottish band Big Country was greeted with a Adam & The Ants style of video, of which the video that comes to mind is Stand & Deliver.
The Big Country video put me in mind of Mike Oldfield's one for Moonlight Shadow.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThanks Neil B…but it didn’t take long to watch this one! It has struck me that Smitty is on more shows that most which is quite surprising given how many DJs are on the roster.
ReplyDeleteBronski Beat – C’mon c’mon – First of my FFs
Art of Noise / Duane Eddy – Peter Gunn – Not sure about going back to chart rundowns and voiceovers, it all seems a bit rushed to me.
Bryan Ferry – Is your love strong enough – No recollection of this one whatsoever, and on first hearing it sounds a bit dreary. Nice to see Ferry on the show though.
Breakers – Janet Jackson – What have you done for me lately – sounds so dated and just not my cup of tea at all, Big Country – Look away – Not the big US no1 by Chicago, but a song I got to hear live at Queen’s farewell Knebworth show later in the year. Not bad for them.
Simple Minds – All the things she said – They may have packed stadiums out but I was never one of those packed in as SMs just did nothing for me. I assume that the female vocalist is Robin Clark?
Five Star – Can’t wait another minute – Agh! they may hail from a town near where I live but their appeal was totally lost on me and like Wilberforce I could wait forever to see this lot again. FF
Cliff / Young Ones – Living Doll – Three weeks at the top? Good lord, how did that happen?! FF
Queen – A kind of Magic playout - …and a good playout we get too. Definite case of saving the best ‘til last (in the words of Vanessa Williams).
Welcome to the Good Lord club Sct353, it's not just me then!
DeleteAh, Look Away by Chicago came in 1988 in their final phase, and without Peter Cetera, and suffice to say, it was after Britain had had enough of the group it seems by 1985 with their final hit You're The Inspiration. I remember Look Away as a big US No.1 in 1988, cos it was on Paul Gambaccini's American chart show on Radio1 in those days, once JK was long gone from Radio1/TOTP, and I remember thinking that it was a shame that the song never made the British charts cos Chicago were old news here by then, while the Americans persevered with them in their final phase, post-Cetera in the late 80s.
Suffice also to say, that Look Away was one of my first pop video purchases on iTunes when it launched around 2006, and is a firm favourite in my iTunes video library!
As I've mentioned before on here, what was so galling about Smitty's TOTP ubiquity at this time is that he wasn't even on Radio 1. Having said that, he did return there in May 1986 to replace Mike Read on the breakfast show.
DeletePeter Cetera is performing in concert next month at the London Barbican, including the Chicago hits. Might just get a ticket for that!
DeleteThanks again to Neil B. I loved the early doors colour bar testcard and ambient whining clock countdown. Better than some of the acts on the show!
ReplyDeleteI forgot to mention, the show’s new startup now looks really dated. I mean, a cassette at the beginning!
As mentioned earlier, it’s Ay Ay Ay Ay Bronski, reversing an old pop song trend by making the second verse longer than the first.
Not a top gunn idea (see what I did there?) to keep this stupid type of chart rundown going over a tune. Apart from Brian Ferry (and Atlantic Star again later) we also get Tippi Irie in the listings. Thank goodness they didn’t mis-spell Big Country!
A mellow but insubstantial song from Bryan, the second act in a row wearing a coat with sleeve fringes. Is your washing machine strong enough?
Oh, right, a Jackson sister copying her bruv’s staged dancing video ideas as well as his shoulder shrugs. How original.
An unusual two setting video for Big Country. Very taken with the attractive woman in the Ready Brek bodice.
And another twist on this new fangled pop video craze with Jim Kerr falcon around in the first verse and ‘owling the words in the second. We finally get multi-pics of another band member (but just the one - I bet the others were pleased) about 7 minutes into the clip.
It took more than a minute, but I succumbed to Five Star’s track. What a knackering routine. Shame they didn’t show some originality and dress up like the five Thunderbirds, though.
Poor Rik gets his speech chopped, followed by an FF, a quick bit of waffle from the gruesome twosome, and another FF for a band I really don’t and won’t get apart from their early singles.
Completely agree about the opening credits. They have dated so much more than the previous spinning records titles.
DeleteAnything mid to late 80s with that kind of BBC graphics look has dated really badly.
Watching the video for this Bronski Beat track I thought "Amazulu", but seeing them in the studio they went the full Black Lace. Surprised they didn't opt for hand gestures too.
ReplyDeleteAoN and Duane I've covered, so onto Bryan with an absolute tuneless yawnfest of the kind Roger Scott might be playing on Radio 1 at the weekend. You know, the "qualiddy pop" type thing. Mr Ferry seems to have come dressed as Gene Autry, sans Stetson. A cowboy ballad would have been preferable.
Presumably we'll see the Breakers again? They were fairly big hits. So to Simple Minds, and this is my favourite single of theirs, a bombastic slab of pop rock, with some ill-advised trouserage in the video, just like proper rock stars. Really takes off and flies, this one.
Five Star, you can't fault their military precision, and this is a slick, catchy track aimed squarely at the kiddie market which I was too old for at the time. Looking back, I can see how well marshalled they were.
Then a couple we've seen before to end on - someone really liked that Queen video, didn't they?
Not particularly sad to miss this one on the TV given that there was absolutely nothing top drawer on.
ReplyDeleteBronski Beat - Strangely depressing to see them doing this drivel. Which ironically is not the mood the song is aiming to create.
Bryan Ferry - I don't mind this one, but it's certainly not the best thing he ever did.
Breakers - I like quite a few Janet songs, but not that one. I think you know my feelings on Big Country by now if you're a regular!
Simple Minds - Of all their mid-80s stadium rock stuff, this is ome that I can at least cope with. As with Bryan Ferry though, they have done much better.
Five Star - Make it a hat-trick of 'not bad, but not their best' with this one!
It had to be Wrighty making the classic cock-up in announcing the final track. It is NOT called 'It's A Kind Of Magic', in the same way that The Human League's biggest hit isn't 'Don't You Want Me Baby' and Tina Turner never did a song called 'Simply The Best'. As you can tell, these things wind me up!
regarding adding annoying assumptive bits to song titles, i noticed a while back that people were referring to the wild cherry classic hit as "play that funky music white boy". i have to admit though that due my utter aversion to tina turner, i wouldn't have known that wasn't the correct title if you hadn't said so!
DeleteGood point wilby. Wild Cherry will also go on the list!
DeleteThis isn't TOTP-related, but as I know there are some Blake's 7 fans on here I thought I would say RIP to the great Jacqueline Pearce, who sadly died the other day.
ReplyDeleteRIP Jacqueline, though it was Sally Knyvette I fancied when I was little, Pearce was one of the all-time great bad girls of TV. A real class act.
DeleteThe rule of three applies, Liz Fraser of I'm All Right Jack, Carry On, Confessions, millions of other comedies, passed away on Thursday.
And biggest of them all, Burt Reynolds left us the same day, biggest movie star in the world in the late 70s/early 80s. Now there was one seriously charming good ol' boy.
i was a jenna fan when it came to blake's 7 too, although i was in my late teens at the time. i was disappointed when she left, although i read in later years it was her choice due to finding herself relegated to usually hanging around on the liberator whilst the others went on their adventures. mega-camp servalan was of course a match for avon as the series' most arch character, and not surprisingly had her own army of young male admirers (ms pearce once made a comment about how she was pleased to give pleasure to a whole generation of pubescent boys!). also the extravagant gowns she wore had previously been used by shirley bassey whenever she appeared on the beeb!
Deletei happened to see liz fraser very recently in an episode of "the benny hill show" on dvd. and as for burt reynolds, my recollection of him is his ex-wife loni anderson relating how he used to scream with anguish as his hair disappeared down the plughole whenever he had a shower!
Burt Reynolds was immortalised for me on that 'Fawlty Towers' episode where Sybil is on the phone ("I know, I know, I know...") and she then describes a picture of Burt in 'Cosmopolitan'.
DeleteThe download's deleted and I only got a chance to see the first few minutes. Can anyone re-upload it or put it up on 4Shared or Vimeo, please?
ReplyDeleteDitto. Didn't realise it was uploaded on a Monday, so now I've missed it too. PLEASE!!!!!
DeleteYou should be able to watch it here:
Deletehttps://drive.google.com/file/d/1RLQivVeJUwYJVA-AufGRKAmg5f5m33Yq/view
Brilliant, thanks!!
DeleteFinally getting all caught up.. What do we have tonight..??? A rather "official" looking copy of TOTP.. Thanks to whoever managed to get hold of this and share it..
ReplyDeleteBronski Beat. Didn't think we'd see this again. Amazed I don't remember it. Very upbeat and summery start to the show. Shame the song isn't great. Instantly forgettable.. Is that a young Ed Balls on the left ??
Back to the charts ruining a song. This time a repeat of Peter Gunn. Not much to say except it works better with the song in a box and it being an instrumental.
Bryan Ferry I don't recall ever being in the studio so must have been a while ago. Looks like he's wearing a catfish jacket. This is the second instantly forgetable tune of the evening. Next..
Breakers :
What was that Mike... 😀
Janet. Hooray. Love this. One of her best. Always liked Janet. Thought she made some great records. Rhythm Nation is an amazing record.
Like this Big Country song as well. Nice video too.
And another great tune form Simple Minds. Remember this video well. This is fabulous. 😀 That owl will not behave will it. Very impressive video.
Hello Romford. Hello Five Star. Cue one very polished dance routine. Don't get it wrong.. Daddy's watching.
American Football was just getting big in the UK around the mid 80s so it's a clever costume idea.
Must admit this is one of their better songs. Like.
George having to wait another week so we get one more week of Cliff without the intro.. Had enough of this one now.
Nice to see some more of the Queen video. Show got better as it went along. Smithy fine. Wright a waste of space as usual.
So a single presenter next week.. Interesting...
i just thought it might interest some that 5 star's daddy buster made a pretty good funk record before he started grooming his brood for pop stardom:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kef8Vf2g7u4