Hole in my shirt
7/07/86 (Mike Smith)
Steve Winwood – “Higher Love” (14)
Went up one more place.
UB40 – “Sing Our Own Song” (6) (video)
Also went up one more place.
Chris De Burgh – “The Lady In Red” (10)
On its way to number one.
Cock Robin – “The Promise You Made” (31) (breaker)
Their only hit, peaking at number 28.
Robert Palmer – “I Didn’t Mean To Turn You On” (30) (breaker)
This follow up to Addicted to Love peaked at number 9.
Hollywood Beyond – “What’s The Colour Of Money?” (24) (breaker)
Their only top 40 hit and it peaked at number 7.
Stan Ridgway – “Camouflage” (17) + brief interview
His only hit,and it peaked at number 4.
Madonna – “Papa Don’t Preach” (1) (video)
Second of three weeks at number one.
Sly Fox – “Let’s Go All The Way” (3) (video/credits)
At its peak.
July 24th is next.
Smitty regales us with tales of his ripped trousers – did we need to know that?
ReplyDeleteSteve Winwood – Higher Love – The voice of the Spencer David Group and Traffic finally gets a sizeable hit in the UK charts (it made no1 in the US). This is a lively number that still sounds good and Steve and the band look good. The track made the compilation ‘Chronicles’ but my all-time favourite (1982) single ‘Still in the Game’ didn’t for some reason. I love the video shot with his then wife Nicole who sings backing vocals, and there is a distinct joie de vivre about the whole thing and a magic moment at around 2:45
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4uyHmK5AWk
UB40 – Sing our own Song – Thank goodness they did after murdering Sonny and Cher’s last time out with Chrissie Hynde! I’m not really a UB40 fan but I really like this one and a great video too.
Chris De Burgh – The Lady in Red – I’ve got a few observations about this song, but for now I’ll applaud Chris for singing this live to the backing track. To put into context. Chris had been releasing singles since 1975 and despite going down well as a support act to A&M label mates Supertramp he’d managed a mere two chart entries in the 40s. About 18 months before this hit, Telstar released a TV advertised album ‘The Very Best of Chris De Burgh’ which was ironic as, apart from his cult following, nobody had really heard his music. The album surprisingly sold well (and does feature 14 great tracks from the CdB back catalogue) and reached no6 in the album charts remaining on the charts for 70 weeks. Then came this monster hit…
Breakers – Cock Robin – The Promise you made – Dory – you hit the nail right on the head with your comment about this last week. I have never heard this before in my life! Sheesh, where have I been?! It’s absolutely fabulous. I’ve run out of superlatives! Only got to number 28 (albeit a 13 week chart run) whilst the likes of Claire and Friends, Spitting Image and gawd knows how many other numerous rubbish records get into the top reaches of the charts. No justice. The video is great too. Produced by Steve Hillage I see. Just speechless! Robert Palmer – I didn’t mean to turn you on – Why change a winning formula? Nice to see a bit of the video for the photo that they’ve been showing on the chart rundown for ‘Addicted to Love’ at last!
Stan Ridgeway – Camouflage – So how did this become a hit? Really weird record to have so high in the charts. Stan does a really pointless interview with Smitty later. Not my cup of tea at all.
Madonna – Papa don’t preach – (sigh!) Yet again started about 30 secs in missing the superb intro and views of NYC. Didn’t they like the intro on ToTP I wonder or did they damage it? Baffling.
Sly Fox – Let’s go all the way – Great eclectic video to accompany this powerful anthem. It’s a mystery how Sly Fox managed to follow this up with something so insipid as ‘If push comes to shove’ which didn’t chart.
I recall Annie Nightingale championing Stan Ridgway's camouflage song on her Sunday evening show, so maybe that's how it managed to chart? Another one she championed into the charts was Will Powers kissing with confidence.
DeleteGlad that you took to Cock Robin on first hearing it, even though 32 years later. I remember back in 1986 when I first heard it, that it was like something very special. I never saw the video until a few years ago when I found it on iTunes, and boy does it ring out well. I see on YouTube it has had about 25 million views:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pk3A_QSINI
steve winwood: the 60's teenage prodigy was getting close to 40 by now, but still looking quite youthful. this is well-produced, pleasant enough to listen to on the radio, and has a danceable feel about it. however for all that it's a bit too much in phil collins territory for me to really go overboard about it
ReplyDeleteUB40: not in the same league as their early stuff, but not too bad and again perfectly listenable radio fodder. and as sct says, at least it's one of their own. despite challenging earth wind & fire and the emotions in the get-as-many-people-on-stage-as-possible video stakes, ali still feels the need to use a keytar (a roland sh-101 as far as i can tell)
chris de burgh: if you had asked me to compile a top 10 turkeys list at the end of 1986, this would have been a stone-dead cert. but even though the year's not yet out in these re-runs, i doubt he'll make it now. of course he'd already been around for ages as a quite-respected album artist in some quarters, although his plain and uncharismatic looks (at least one source likened him to a presenter on "playschool" ha ha) didn't help his cause with regard to me investigating further. and after hearing this ad nauseum, there was no way that was going to happen! listening again reminds me how suspect and annoying his vocal style is (there's no "R" in the word "dance" chris), and the lyrical sentiment is nauseating. yet the production and arrangement are quite tasteful for the era (is that the ubiquitous pino palladino on bass?), and there's a nice unexpected chord change in the chorus
cock robin: looks like this one won't make the show, although a dim memory came back when i checked it out. as an accomplished piece of american mainstream rock (if somewhat bizarrely produced by old british space rock hippy steve hillage) with synth pop/dance elements about it, it probably should have done better chart-wise than it did
stan ridgway: having been a member of american indie band wall of voodoo that had a minor hit with "mexican radio", i was expecting something a bit more quirky than this - well, at least musically anyway. like most of the new stuff this week it comes over as pleasant to listen to on the radio (and in this case almost country-like), although the telling-a-story-with-twist lyrics not only made it a bit of a novelty but also rather tedious when listening to it for the umpteenth time
wilberforce, I checked the Bass credits on 'Into the Light'. Three bassists are mentioned as playing on the album; John Giblin, Al Marnie and....Pino Palladino.
DeleteCarol Kenyon sings on one track too.
the bass playing certainly has all the slippery hallmarks of palladino, although ex-sessioneer john giblin (now with simple minds at this point) also proved mastery of the fretless bass on "breathing" by kate bush
DeleteThanks again, Gia.
ReplyDeleteShitty on usual form again, starting as he means to go on by crashing Steve Winwood’s vocals. I never really got into this but see it as perfect drivetime AOR. More Nik Kershaw baiting fit-inducing lights there.
You probably split your trews with all that hot air, you idiot!
One of UB40’s better pop / reggae efforts there. It appears the video was filmed at The Portland Club near Edgbaston in Birmingham which obviously had a reinforced stage.
Johnny Ball, er, Chris De Burgh trying and failing to carry a tune in a bucket but, yes, fair play he did sing live.
Cock Robin, complete with comely Italian / Chinese singer Anna LaCazio, were big in mainland Europe, especially Belgium and The Netherlands, but I can see why this mellowness didn’t quite take off over here.
Nine women in Robert Palmer’s otherwise identikit video this time, complete with some nice synchronisation and the return of the pissed off badly miming drummer.
Heralded by “The Tube” from memory, Hollywood Beyond’s Arabic disco was definitely different.
The offbeat and quirky Stan Ridgway, who had good reason there to ask Shitty back if he was taking the mick, with a wonderful story song. Unusual way Stan’s cheeks keep blowing out. Was that Chris Lowe in the army gear on stage? Anyone who can rhyme Tijuana with iguana in one of his songs is fine by me.
Not the usual ‘standing there and pouting’ video by Sly Fox which made a change. I wonder, though, if they’d managed to do another dynamic studio turn, would that have helped the tune go all the way (ahem) to the top?
arthur there's actually 11 women in the robert palmer video - there are also a couple of shots of two "technicians" in the form of a camera and sound person
DeleteI thought it was a nice touch to add in girls with gorgeous white evening dresses worn during the day, compared to the all black attire in the first video.
DeleteAlso it was somewhat unusual to see the first and second records from Palmer, side by side in the chart rundown at No.29 and No.30. I wonder if this has happened before with two singles outside the top ten where they are in adjacent chart positions?
I can think of two such examples (as I have the original recording of both charts!) - w/e 15/10/77 had Donna Summer at 15 and 16 with "Down Deep Inside" and "I Remember Yesterday" and w/e 22/10/83 had UB40 in the same two positions with "Please Don't Make Me Cry" going up and "Red Red Wine" going down.
DeleteThanks James, that is pretty good analysis, and welcome on board
DeleteSmitty tones down the irritant factor a bit this week - did that have something to do with the split in his trousers, if he was telling the truth? I thought his interview at the end with Stan Ridgway was cringeworthy - it is pretty obvious from that performance, Smitty, that he was taking the mick! We begin in serious mood with Steve Winwood making his first TOTP appearance for many years, alongside a large band. Strange to think, given that he had made his debut on the show back in 1965, that he was still only 38 at this point, but Higher Love is a rather bland effort that does not live up to his best work; even amongst his solo catalogue, singles like Valerie and While You See a Chance are considerably superior to this. Strange not to see him behind the keyboards in this performance, but perhaps that’s to emphasise that he is the main man here.
ReplyDeleteUB40’s video appears to have been filmed at the Portland Club, and thanks to Arthur for identifying which one - I guessed it wasn't the august London institution which is the oldest card-playing club in the world! Given their propensity for cover versions, the title of this song is somewhat ironic, but by their standards it’s actually quite lively, in part thanks to some good gospelly backing vocals. I don’t think there can be too many successful pop/rock artists who have been vilified more over the years than Chris De Burgh, and it’s always seemed rather unfair to me. Yes, he is not exactly an oil painting, as this performance demonstrates, and some actions in his personal life have been questionable, but he has written some fine songs over the years, including for me one of the best Christmas tunes in the shape of A Spaceman Came Travelling. As Smitty mentions, he had been releasing albums for years before this slushy mega-hit - his first one came out in 1974 - and his previous highest-charting single in the UK, High on Emotion, had only got to 44, so he had certainly worked his passage before big success came. People love to hate The Lady in Red, but I’ve always quite liked it - it’s a nice tune, and the production creates a genuinely dreamy, romantic mood. The only thing I don’t like is that Chris tries to cram too many lyrics into the verses, but other than that it is a perfectly decent record, with a fine live vocal here for good measure.
Cock Robin is an awful name for a band, and what little we heard of them here didn’t sound very inspiring to me. We will be hearing more of the other two breakers, and so next up is Stan with his spooky Vietnam yarn. I loved this as a kid, and I still think it sounds good today, particularly the rousing chorus. Smitty drew a comparison with Dylan in the interview, but to me this is more reminiscent of the work of the late, great story-songsmith Harry Chapin. Stan is still going strong today, though his only other two UK chart singles got no higher than 91, including a collaboration with Stewart Copeland called Don’t Box Me In for the Coppola film Rumble Fish, mentioned by THX in the previous post. We get the Sly Fox video to finish, which would probably be accompanied with a health warning for epileptics these days - the arty shots in the style of photo negatives get a bit wearing after a while.
'While you see a Chance' made no7 in the US and has an amazing intro. 'Valerie' of course would resurface in 2004 under the Eric Prydz guise 'Call on me', and that video!
DeleteWhile You See a Chance does indeed have a great intro, and I love the synth soundscapes that Winwood creates during the course of the song - unbelievable that it stalled at 45 in the UK.
DeleteI had expected the motionless soldier on stage with Stan Ridgeway to jump into action at some point during the song, but apparently not. It must have been difficult for that soldier to stay motionless from start to finish, and then it was also unexpected to see Stan at the end of the show being interviewed, and being downright miserable too.
DeleteI was also thinking the same about the big strobes on the Sly Fox video, which could have been the reason that it was put to the playout single, and not in the customary first video slot for a top 5 video, where UB40 were put in instead at No.6.
Erm, the soldier in Stan's performance was a shop dummy, Dory!
Deleteseems that stan's mate isn't the only dummy then. also if i had to suffer being interviewed by that insincere prat shitty, then i'd be downright miserable too!
DeleteSteve or Stevie? Anyway, Mr Winwood makes a return to the charts, and if he looks relatively youthful for a 60s survivor, it's because he was only ten years old when he was with The Spencer Davis Group. Or something. Nice enough quasi-inspirational, gospel inflected ditty, manufactured to sound at its best on the stereo of a Porsche driving down Sunset Boulevard with beautiful laydee in the passenger seat. Not so great on an overcast day in Scotland.
ReplyDeleteUB40 with a jolly little number, similarly on an inspirational trip, the synth noises are a bit 80s kids TV but it is at least a proper tune, and it's nice that the crowd join in at the end in the video.
The easily skippable Chris de Burgh next, with a first dance at an 80s wedding "classic". I think it was Mary Anne Hobbs who mused that you may not be able to remember your PIN, but you can remember every lyric to The Lady in Red. Cruel world!
Cock Robin, which sounds like they were named after an African penis-stealing panic, I suppose "Koro" didn't sound dramatic enough, but in contrast to that this is a great "one that got away" from 1986, it may be slick but it has a fine melody and the two voices compliment one another well (as does the choppy guitar solo). Gary Davies ended Sounds of the 80s with this a couple of weeks ago, and it sounded really good at that time of night.
Another, effectively, one hit wonder from '86 with Stan Ridgeway, and this was a big favourite of mine at the time, whenever I hear it even now I have to listen to the preposterous lyrics all the way through. Mid-80s, everyone was Vietnam War crazy, and this was one of the few items to send up that sentimentality. "Who's Bob Dylan?" made me laugh.
Madge still there at the top, so on we go to the Sly Fox video where we see slightly more impressive dance moves than their TOTP appearance. They seem to be saying something with the images (anti-war? Anti-corruption?) but who knows what, specifically.
UB40 were no strangers to 80s kids' TV, of course - me and you, you and me...
DeleteUB40 were now entering their seventh year of chart singles releases, with a seemingly fresh jolly sound new for 1986, and the journey through these repeats would not be the same without them, as they have been one of the real staples of the blog.
DeleteI particularly liked the fresh disco lights in the video, already at No.6 in the blink of an eye. Everyone seemed so happy in the video, and hearing the audience cheering vocals on it, made me think it was possibly a live video?
Bucks Fizz's TOTP career has just finished in the re-runs, but good news about Jay Aston in the present, having had her tongue re-built...
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-kent-45939035/bucks-fizz-star-jay-aston-back-on-stage-after-cancer-operation
That is good news. DJ Mark Radcliffe is suffering tongue cancer too, but with any luck will be back on air in the New Year. Don't smoke, kids!
DeleteSome songs I'd be glad to hear on BBC4 in this edition, and some I don't care about....
ReplyDeleteSteve Winwood - I was never a fan of this when it was released and it's yet another that I've played dozens of times on the radio since so it's not for me...
UB40 - Surprisingly good. On the rare occasions like this in the mid-80s where they released something that wasn't a cover, it tended to be OK.
Chris de Burgh - A Spaceman Came Travelling and High On Emotion are fantastic songs, and you reallly need to hear his album track Patricia The Stripper if you never have before. This song however, is dross.
Breakers - All good songs, shame we don't see Cock Robin in full as that's the best of the bunch. The Robert Palmer video is the same old crap but at least the song's better - and not many know that it's a cover. Hollywood Beyond make it 2 bands from Brum on the show!
Stan Ridgway - Magnificent, I love a good story song. Mike Smith seems to be under the mistaken belief that it's based on a true story though for some reason, and that interview is abysmal, no wonder Stan looked utterly baffled throughout.
Then average Madge and silly Sly Fox to end. Sadly we're now getting into the period of 86 when good songs become harder to find, at least at the very top of the chart...
Hollywood Beyond could be answered directly - pink for a £50 note, purple for a £20 note, orange for a £10 note, and blue for a £5 note - yeah that's The Colour of Money!
DeleteThen to another newcomer to the charts, none other than Sinitta for the first time in the chart rundown at No.33, arriving with those amazing pins. I remember on one of the tv shows at the time, when they had phone-ins from the public to the tv-show studio, that one person started off the call by saying to her that she has really nice legs!
Well that was an epileptic TOTP. Not sure that would have pasted the flashing lights test even if it wasn't a Smithy show.
ReplyDeleteSteve Winwood with starts the flashing lights off with a song that starts slowly and builds and builds and just makes you want to sing along. Not sure about the jacket - bit Jimmy Saville rather than Saville Row.
Another shock next as UB40 provide a decent concert video to go along with their own song (sorry) that I had forgotten how much I liked. Really enjoying seeing them on these repeats and liking what I hear
Chris De Burgh with a nice live vocal of a song I think the whole world is sick of now. Seeing it in context though just shows that it was a great song at the time - just overkill has made us all despise it...One of Mums faves...naturally.
Breakers:
Cock Robin - From this Montreaux clip we don't get enough of the song to do it justice but it's a reasonable enough tune.
Robert Palmer with a dreary song and a copycat video. Not great Robert. try again.
Hollywood Beyond - HUGE fan of this song at the time and it has aged well. Hope we get to see it in full, best of the show tonight.
Stan Ridgway - Another Mum favourite but also one I've got a bit of a soft spot for - clearly taking the piss a bit but just a captivating record that I genuinely enjoy hearing.
Madonna still at the top of the charts.
Sly Fox end the show as it started by sending people into fits up and down the country. Fab tune though and not a bad video.
Best TOTP for about 4 weeks.. FAB