Keeping the red flag flying here
24/07/86 (Gary Davies & Peter Powell)
Hollywood Beyond – “What’s The Colour Of Money?” (8)
Getting the show off to an upbeat start with their only top 40 hit, and it went up one more place.
Sinitta – “So Macho” (16) (video)
Her first of four top ten hits, this one being the biggest when it peaked at number 2.
Audrey Hall – “Smile” (19)
With her second and final hit, which peaked at number 14.
Robert Palmer – “I Didn’t Mean To Turn You On” (11) (video)
Went up two more places.
Spandau Ballet – “Fight For Ourselves” (30) (breaker)
Their first hit for a year and a half, and it peaked at number 15.
Five Star – “Find The Time” (25) (breaker)
Their third of four top ten hits in 1986, this one peaking at number 7.
The Jesus & Mary Chain – “Some Candy Talking” (20) (breaker)
Their first of twelve top 40 hits, and it peaked at number 13.
Haywoode – “Roses” (14)
Peaked at number 11.
Madonna – “Papa Don’t Preach” (1) (video)
Third and final week at number one.
Katrina & The Waves – “Sun Street” (33) (video/credits)
Another summer hit for the band, this one reaching number 22.
Next up is July 31st.
Quite a good show this week, with a number of sexy girls performing. Peter Powell I think was by now the longest standing TOTP presenter, dating back to 1977 when he made his debut, so 10 years in presenter position, albeit by now he was certainly cutting down his appearances to much less than before.
ReplyDeleteSinitta - making her debut on TOTP, albeit on video, thankfully, as many mens tickers would not have been able to cope with her sustained sexiness. All I can say is Coorrrrr!
Robert Palmer - I think the video was too similar to the last one, but to its saving grace was the bevvy of lovelies, especially the ones in the white evening dresses, ahem, during the day. Keep em coming Palmer!
Haywoode - another looker, I mean wafer-thin beauty, as if Sinitta and the Robert Palmer girls were not enough, I think this show would have had a permanent erection from Sinitta all the way to Haywoode. I think I'll have a wafer-thin.....I mean a wafer with my cup of tea tomorrow.
Katrina & The Waves - I think the playout should have been awarded to Cock Robin, who to be fair to them were a bit further up the queue at No.28 and still rising, so I don't understand why a No.33 new entry Katrina gets the playout so soon, and poor old Cock Robin get no full play apart from a Breakers clip last week. Boohoo.....
hollywood beyond: wasn't this just the singer masquerading behind a band name? can't recall being blown away by it at the time, but it now seems more powerful rhymically (nice slapping bass line) than i recall. i wasn't taking that much notice of the lyrics, but presumably the message is along the lines that the love of money is the root of all evil?
ReplyDeletesinitta: i'm fairly sure i despised this at the time, but nowadays i'd say it was inoffensive light dance fluff. or at least i would if i didn't know that c*nt simon cowell was behind it. i originally thought the shrink in the video was richard "pie in the sky" griffiths, but it turns out to be some other guy who is also playing the other male roles
audrey hall: this is real reggae curtesy of sly and robbie, as opposed to the cod variety proffered by a certain bunch of mainly white brummies featured on the show last week. the backing is not dissimilar to the UB40 effort, but their tune is miles better
robert palmer: definitely one of the best white dance records of the 80's, blowing away the original version by cherrelle that was courtesy of jam & lewis productions - and to upstage the latter is really saying something (the 12" mix is even better btw). the only flaw is that the gender-swap renders the lyrics somewhat unbelievable - are there really any straight guys out there that would resist a sexual come-on from an attractive woman as they only wanted to be friends with them? with regard to the video: i suspect as a result of "addicted to love" becoming notorious they decided to do it again with bells on, hence a troupe of dancers and even a couple of glamourous "technicians" as well as the original "band". all the slight imperfections of the latter in the first shoot have been corrected: the best lookers are now in the front row, moving as one well-oiled unit rather than a disparate bunch of a different well-oiled kind; one can actually see the drummer (although she still doesn't get a close-up, which probably annoys her even now!); the dresses are uniform, as are the guitars (and straps). yes it may be viewed as sexist in some quarters, but to me it's simply glamour with a dash of tongue-in-cheek
heywoode: decent-enough brit poppy dance/club music, although i can't remember hearing it in clubs at the time. i can't make my mind up whether she's attractive or ugly. also not sure who's more anorexic - her or sinitta?
katrina: don't remember this it all, and i'll gladly never hear it again
You're right, wilberforce, about Hollywood Beyond being a project rather than a bona fide band - cf. Robin Scott's M, or Mike Skinner's The Streets. Singer-songwriter Mark Rogers, from Birmingham, had a huge hit across Europe with 'What's The Colour of Money?' and was even hailed by some critics as Britain's answer to His Purpleness. However, Hollywood Beyond's second single 'No More Tears' was too repetitive to climb higher than No.47, and the project's sole album 'If' failed altogether despite the involvement of 3 distinguished producers.
DeleteHaywoode deserved to chart high with the re-promoted 'Roses', which came from the pens of the prolific Leeson and Vale. It may have been excluded from BBC playlists the previous year because of a perceived product placement for chocolate: so he gives her Roses (capital 'R') AND flowers?
i very much doubt that i'll still be here by then, but (mike) leeson and (peter) vale helped write what for me was one of the best records of 1988 in "my one temptation" by mica paris (plus several more decent tracks on her debut album as well)
DeleteHollywood Beyond – What’s the colour of Money – Made no impression on me at all and don’t even remember it. Strange how some records did not register at all – I couldn’t have been watching all the shows.
ReplyDeleteSinitta – So Macho – On the other hand you couldn’t miss this one! Played everywhere. I think the campness of it passed me by at the time, but certainly not the silver dress! I really liked the 12” version.
Audrey Hall – Smile - Pleasant reggae and better than ‘One Dance won’t do’. Another one that didn’t register at the time. Prefer ‘Smile’ by Pussycat however.
Robert Palmer – I didn’t mean to turn you on – So another great song and video. Assume it’s the same five girls in the ‘band’? Boy doesn’t the drummer look forlorn? We do get a more close up shot of her than in the ‘addicted’ video….and all the band sport miniskirts this time out.
Breakers – Spandau Ballet – Fight for ourselves – one of their least memorable hits for me, but what were those two girls up to in the cubicle and why was the guy spying on them? Disturbing. Five Star – FF. Jesus and Mary Chain – Some Candy talking – People used to go on and on about this band but they never did anything for me and this reminds me why.
Haywoode – Roses – First of all those dreadful ‘Royal Wedding’ masks – horrific! However, things look up when the lady appears! She definitely has a sexy image based on this showing, the video and the record sleeve…and that long hair! One of those insistent dance records (originally released in March 1985) that I can’t help but like. Co-produced by Colin Campsie aka Beverley Craven’s ex-husband.
Madonna – Papa don’t preach – I feel like a worn out record, but yet again we’re denied the wonderful instrumental intro. Quite extraordinary! I’ve rewatched it again and cannot see why it would have been cut. It’s one of the great pop intros too…
Katrina and the Waves – Sun Street – Whacky video but another song that passed me by.
Angelo - this edition actually went out on Wednesday 23rd July, as the opening ceremony of the Edinburgh Commonwealth Games took place the following evening. I remember Fergie and Andrew's wedding well, and indeed it was the first Royal Wedding I saw. Plenty of Union flags and hats in the audience to mark the occasion, plus those two frightful masks - much as I dislike Fergie, I'm not sure even she deserved a caricature as scary as that! PP and Gazza once more make for a very amiable pairing, and Gazza did a good job of his little interview with the posh wedding spectator.
ReplyDeleteUnlike sct, What's the Colour of Money made a big impression on me at the time, though I have only heard it played on the radio on very rare occasions since. I really like its propulsive beat and dynamic chorus, and the unique hairdo of singer-songwriter Mark Rogers (for whom the band was essentially a vehicle) has always stuck in my mind; they would only manage one more chart hit, however, which stalled at 47. Most of the band are wearing shades here, perhaps to emphasise the Hollywood connection. Speaking of which, this song had nothing to do with The Color of Money, Paul Newman's belated sequel to The Hustler, which came out the same year.
Lots of female artists on this show, starting with Sinitta and a naff video for an equally naff song, though I suppose it's harmless enough. I have to say she looks quite muscular and macho herself here, as she helps to launch Simon Cowell on his inglorious career. Did she really have four Top 10 hits, as I certainly couldn't name any of the others! Audrey Hall next, wearing a curious shiny dress and proffering some more pleasant reggae-lite that is very much in one ear and out the other.
When it came to videos, Robert Palmer was obviously very keen not to mess with a winning formula. However, there are enough changes in this one, with the white dresses, the different backdrop and the cutaway shots to the "camera operator" and "sound recordist" to make it distinct - just a shame the keyboardist has been replaced with a new, much more severe model! Good, slinky tune as well, if not quite as immediate in its impact as Addicted to Love. We'll be seeing the breakers again, though it was nice to have Big Ron from EastEnders in the Spands' promo.
Back in the studio, Sid Heywoode turns up sporting a highly impressive hairdo, though I suspect most of it is not her own, and a couple of smart-casual dancers whose equally casual moves don't really add much to the performance. I do like the song though, a nice dynamic bit of pop that should get played more these days. Katrina and the Waves had a thing about the sun, didn't they? I don't recall ever hearing this before, and though I was prepared to hate it thanks to the overly-perky production there is actually quite a catchy tune in there - shame about the lyrically challenged chorus! The fancy dress-heavy video was more annoying than funny, looking as if it had been made for a kids' show.
john if i'm correct the "keyboard player" and the "guitarist" on the right in the "addicted" to love" video were swapped over for this one. i actually think the new "camera operator" is one of the best-looking models of the whole bunch, and as such maybe she should have been promoted to "bassist"?
DeleteAh, accordions in pop! Well, these was this and Peter Sarstedt... Hollywood Beyond: catchy, distinctive sound, charismatic lead singer, unusual subject matter - what went wrong? Better a one-hit wonder than a no-hit wonder, but based on this at the time I thought they'd have more longevity. Yet another one-hit wonder for '86, too!
DeleteSinitta, how do you review this? Featherlight pop ephemera, about as serious as its video (with Grange Hill's Roland's dad Mike Savage as the unprofessional psychiatrist), didn't hate it at the time but haven't exactly been yearning to hear it since. I recall Sinitta being dismissed in Smash Hits along the lines of "thinks she's sexy but isn't really".
I had completely forgotten Audrey Hall, but what a pleasant reminder, even if she is singing a song pitched slightly to high for her range. Nice bit of reggae, nonetheless.
Robert Palmer brings on the girls once again. As Wilberforce says, this was a cover if the lyrics didn't make it obvious, Huey Morgan played the original on his 6Music Saturday show a few weeks back and it's pretty good in either version. Bit more animated in sound and vision than his previous hit.
Haywoode, whose first name was Sid, which I found baffling at the time because I'd never heard of Sidney as a woman's name: all those years of watching Carry Ons made me think of Sid James. Anyhoo, decent little ditty about a confusing love affair, trips along with some energy, and had a lot of radio play at the time - not so much since.
Madonna rather ruthlessly cut off at the beginning and the end, presumably to make room for Katrina and the Waves. While I would be happy never to hear the overplayed Walking On Sunshine again, I really liked this at the time, and wished it had been a bigger hit. It has a lilting, sardonic melody that makes me nostalgic; the only DJ I ever heard play this in recent years was Alex Lester when I heard his show thanks to insomnia, he would occasionally give it a spin.
Were those Andy and Fergie masks meant to look like Spitting Image puppets, then? Congratulations, anyway, here's to a long and happy, er, marriage, um, never mind.
Whoops, I've added my review to Wilberforce's comment! Maybe I should log on with Google to comment as the comment box keeps telling me to...
Deletei remember reading that heywoode was known as sid, and thought that it had to be a nickname as surely only geezers ever had such a blokey given one (i had it in my head her actual first name was sharon for some reason). then many years later i watched "alias" where the female protagonist was so-called, and discovered that in america it's actually become quite popular to name girls that in more recent times. however like thx, thinking of sid james with his battered boat race and dirty laugh makes it impossible to believe that anyone would want to name a baby girl that!
DeleteAccordions in pop? I'll chip in with the intro to Paul Simon's "The Boy In The Bubble".
DeleteThe boy in the bubble. One of the finest pop songs of all time
DeleteThe heroine of the Scream film franchise was also called Sidney. On the Robert Palmer video, I took another look and I'm still not sure if the original "keyboardist" is there or not, but you may well be right - there's not enough helpful close-ups.
ReplyDeleteI did the opposite of THX there and started a new thread when I meant to reply to the one above!
DeleteFunnily enough the 1986 Documentary concentrated solely on 'Addicted' and didn't mention the similar follow up video at all. This must surely have been made at the same time judging by the photo from it used on the chart run down for 'Addicted'.
Deletedespite the mystery of the chart card showing a clip from this for "addicted to love", i remain convinced that they were filmed on separate occasions. there is actually a third video featuring palmer and his glamourous mannequin-style models, although this time they're not bothering to pretend to play any instruments:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RITAsKGuLLs
by the way palmer's first single from the "riptide" album was the somewhat odd and stately title track, which was in fact an old tune from the tin pan alley era (among others it was recorded by al bowlly, a british-based crooner who was tragically killed by a bomb in the blitz). however despite it flopping, the beeb liked it enough to constantly use the instrumental intro as backing music for their sports round-ups for a good year or so:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wmky5iYESxg
Some 86 shows have been a bit duff, but this one was great, liked everything on it, especially Smile by Audrey Hall.
ReplyDeleteSorry, hosts, I couldn’t give a shite about the royal wedding, no matter how many plugs you give it!
ReplyDeleteA great Eastern promise style stomper from Hollywood Beyond, with a song including colour in the title but everyone in monochrome except the drummer. A superb bassist hat and unusual right wrist apparel on the singer.
I can’t see why Sinitta needed a shrink in her ‘hilarious’ fashion round-up video.
More candy floss reggae from Audrey Hall, complete with mullet, leather and tie dye and a song which doesn’t feature the title (‘Smiled’ is said a lot, though).
Robert Palmer’s drummer – “I’m over here!”
A weird pervy video to show pre-watershed for Spandau Ballet, featuring one of the blokes in the classic “How do Do It All do it?” DIY TV advert.
Oh, great, Five Star with more substance in the routine than the song.
I never got the appeal of the Jesus and Mary Chain, and I found the video really annoying to boot.
Haywoode needed a whole tin of Roses to bulk up. She was almost rooted to the spot there. I quite enjoyed the singy dancy types at the back.
Today I saw a Twitter clip of a snowstorm in a place near Gateshead called Sunniside. More relevant to me than Katrina’s midtempo mediocrity.
A similar storyline to the Sinitta video came about five years earlier in 1981 when REO Speedwagon debuted with Keep On Loving You. The male-female roles were reversed, as the male patient was under the spell of a sexy female psychiatrist, and imagining her in her lingerie throughout the video, only to wake up at the end of the video to see her in her professional attire fully clothed, and just doing her job:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJzNZ1c5C9c
I just browsed the bespoke Popscene site and discovered Sharon Haywoode was in the reviled Zoo from 1981 to 1983!
ReplyDeletelooks like i was right about haywoode also being known as sharon then! i've now discovered that before becoming part of zoo, she was a member of (benny) hill's angels:
Deletehttp://benny-hill.wikia.com/wiki/Sharon_Haywoode
She was also in (wait for it) the first Superman movie in 1978 with Christopher Reeve (yes Hollywood!).
DeleteHollywood Beyond - My memory of Mr Rogers is that he took himself rather seriously which may not have helped future progress. Good pop song though.
ReplyDeleteSinitta - Dreadful rubbish.
Audrey Hall - Strangely catchy despite not being absolutely top drawer. Definitely better than her previous hit.
Robert Palmer - As wilberforce said, this version is better than Cherrelle's original. Shame about the video, bloody repeats!
Breakers - Presume we don't get J&MC again? I certainly hope not as like most of their singles, it's a tuneless dirge.
Haywoode - Another good pop song, surprising that it took so long to be a hit given how much it sounds like many chart hits from the year before.
Katrina & The Waves - I love this tune, very under-rated. I don't think I'd seen the video before and that's...less good.
Been listening Ooh Gary on Sounds of the 80s today and here he is his prime (highly recommend the radio show)
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately PP is back too. Oh well.
Royal Wedding day is it. Fergie Time...
Hollywood Beyond, glad they made it to the studio as I love this song. Love his hair. The drummer has come as a member of Fuzzbox. What's with the flags, very odd.
Sinitta. And here she is. Simon Cowells squeeze. Probably best known now for that leaf dress. Dodgy video for a song that was everywhere at the time. One from the club's I think.
Audrey Hall. Time for some reggae. Sorry, just find this song annoying. Not smiling. Next.
Robert Palmer. Amazed how well this song did as it really doesn't ever get going but somehow worms it's way into your ears unfortunately. As others have said rubbish repeat of a video.
Breakers:
Spandau. Oh I like this one, very mid 80s. Did wonder what those were going to get up to in the toilets.
Five Star. I always imagined they went out dressed like that all the time. Even to the supermarket. Good song though.
JAMC, Just dirge.
Haywoode . One hit wonder? Very catchy, great performance. Quality tune.
Madonna still at the top. Fab video,
Katrina. Never realised they had another hit between Sunshine and Eurovision. The song is familiar but never knew it was the Waves. Bit country. Is it a cover? Odd little video.
Average show. Hollywood and Haywoode best of the bunch.
Let's hope the royal couple fair better...