Don't leave me this hat
25/09/86 (Janice Long)
Amazulu – “Montego Bay” (23)
Getting tonight's show underway with what would be their final top 20 hit when this Bobby Bloom cover peaked at number 16.
Huey Lewis & The News – “Stuck With You” (15) (video)
Went up three more places.
Farley ‘Jackmaster’ Funk – “Love Can’t Turn Around” (10)
Darryl is back wriggling around on the floor with a live mic, but the song went up no further.
Genesis – “In Too Deep” (22) (video)
Peaked at number 19.
Paul Simon – “You Can Call Me Al” (26) (breaker)
Became his third and final top ten hit when it reached number 4.
Marti Webb – “Always There” (24) (breaker)
With the theme from Howard's Way, this was Marti's third and final top 40 hit, peaking at number 13.
Big Country – “One Great Thing” (19) (breaker)
A thumping food tune but it got no higher.
Loose Ends – “Slow Down” (29)
In the studio with a very animated performance, and the song went up two more places.
The Communards – “Don’t Leave Me This Way” (1) (rpt from 18/09/86)
Third of four weeks at number one.
Run DMC – “Walk This Way” (8) (video/credits)
At its peak.
October 2nd is next but it's another Mike Smith edition.
The previous show was always going to be a hard act to follow, and this one doesn’t come close, for all Janice’s enthusiasm. After a slightly hesitant opening link she gets into her stride, and I liked her barbed comment about Phil Collins being the kind of bloke her mum would like her to go out with - Peel’s influence does seem to be making her increasingly acerbic in recent shows.
ReplyDeleteDreads are everywhere as Amazulu pitch up with yet another cover, an underwhelming, eminently disposable take on Bobby Bloom’s 1970 hit. This will I think be the last we see of them, which is no great loss, but interesting to hear Janice urge people to listen to their b-sides - were those actually original? More pleasant but ultimately forgettable pop follows from Huey Lewis and co, who seem to think their desert island larks in the video are rather more funny than they really are. The most memorable part features the girls in very small bikinis, where we get one or two rather risque cleavage shots…
Janice namechecks Darryl Pandy but inexplicably fails to mention the Jackmaster, although she does do so later in the chart rundown. Darryl is in his pyjamas this time, and turns in another thoroughly entertaining performance, doing a call and response routine with the crowd that I don’t think we have ever really seen on the show before - the audience seem to be loving it. We then slow right down with In Too Deep, which sounds suspiciously like a Phil Collins solo record masquerading as a Genesis number. It is certainly up there with his more soporific solo efforts, and the video is dull as well - I wasn’t too sorry that this got cut short.
Big Country’s latest is the only breaker we won’t seen again, and it sounded like quite a jolly affair with a video that pre-empts the current BBC1 idents by about 30 years. Not sure why Marti Webb was dressed like an ancient Greek in her video - hardly the most practical garb for yachting! Janice clearly likes Loose Ends a lot more than Five Star, and here they are power dressed to the nines, with the two blokes sporting the most ridiculous shoulder pads I think I have ever seen. The song comes over as quite slinky and sophisticated, but leaves little lasting impression. Perhaps surprisingly, the Communards performance from the previous show gets repeated, though that might be due to Michael Hurll not actually directing the show that week...
Amazulu had a touch of The Belle Stars about them, and I think they would have done a good job singing The Clapping Song some three years earlier!
DeleteI remember thinking the opposite of you regarding Genesis. This one really struck a chord with me at the time, partly because I was 18 that year and looking for love, and the lyrics on this were paramount to how not to to get 'in too deep' emotionally with someone, especially at such a tender age as myself at the time. The tune itself has such a nice lull or ring to it, so I would rank this as one of Genesis's finest moments, even this late in their career.
Marti Webb I found pleasantly appealing in this video, which totally passed me by at the time, as I only remember her for her 1979/80 tune called Take That Look Off Your Face. This new one for 1986 had a good video, and she looks quite glamorous and body-beautiful on it too.
Also, completely don't recall the Big Country single, but the video looks very good, and worth watching in full over the weekend, along with the Marti Webb, Genesis, and Huey Lewis video in full.
The 1986 series of Howards' Way used the Marti Webb version of the theme over the end credits, hence why it was in the charts at this time.
DeleteI have stumbled across a version of the 2 October show, but the sound and picture quality is not great and the Paul Hardcastle performance at the end is pasted in from another edition. I am sure a better quality, complete version will appear later, but here it is in the meantime:
ReplyDeletehttps://we.tl/t-VnEmKrxwNP
The actual Hardcastle video from this show is on YouTube:
https://we.tl/t-VnEmKrxwNP
Sorry, messed up pasting the YT link in the previous post:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQi9bdqyjb8
Still no higher quality version of this show available (yet), but James 2001 has stitched together the WeTransfer download and the YT video posted above:
Deletehttps://we.tl/t-LzlcYwov8b
Amazulu to start, a bright enough cover but doesn't add much other than a female vocal instead of the original's male one. They didn't really get this one in in time for summer's end, and their sunshine sound probably suffered when the leaves were turning brown.
ReplyDeleteSlick as you like pop from the ageing Huey Lewis and the News - anyone know who the model Huey is paired with in the video is? The lyrics aren't very romantic, are they? You wouldn't put them in an anniversary card. Not their best single by a long shot, but it did pretty well - The Heart of Rock 'n' Roll would have been a neat addition to '86's hits, but not to be.
Farley and Darryl back, with the former way back out of the limelight and the latter flinging his shoes off again, well, everyone enjoyed it before, so why not? You get the impression he could have carried on all night.
Genesis with one of Phil's "I'm feeling very sorry for myself" slowies, and of course he isn't wearing socks in the video. It's tuneful enough, but not very exciting.
Breakers, Paul and Marti will be back, but Big Country won't be, and their video looks entirely lifted from their lager ad it was the theme to - can't recall if it was Tennent's or McEwan's, mind you. If indeed there is a difference. Decent enough ditty, maybe it should have been bigger - I imagine it was bigger north of the border.
Rock on, Tommy! Oh, wait, it's Loose Ends with an impeccably produced, none more 80s slice of soul pop, maybe the melody could have done with more work but the thing has quite the groove to it.
And the last two songs are repeats. Mike Smith, anyone?
Huey was 36 at the time, but looks considerably older. Maybe it was the evening wear and the girl on his arm (I don't know who she is, I'm afraid) but from certain angles he does look a little bit like Timothy Dalton, who was cast as Bond around this time.
DeleteThe girl stuck with Huey is Keely Shaye Smith, who is currently the wife of Pierce Brosnan.
Deletei don't know if tennents lager originated and was already established in scotland or not, but in southern england it suddently came out of nowhere with great hype and publicity in the mid 80's. there were tins with three strengths to my recollection: standard, extra and super, the latter rivalling special brew as the tipple of choice for street vagrants/alkies. i once made the mistake of taking a pack of four of the latter to a mate's party, and three of them were enough to make me spend what seemed hours hanging over a toilet bowl. the upside of that was that it took place in an office block where several other conveniences were available, so i didn't have to vacate the room. however the downside was that i missed the last tube back home as a result, so ended up having to spend the night on the floor of a freezing cold office using my coat as a blanket. perhaps not surprisingly, i haven't touched the stuff since!
DeleteHad the same experience with Tennents Extra. I knocked it back like Fosters, never touched the stuff again.
DeleteKeely Shaye Smith was some babe in that video, but sadly has let herself go.
The Huey Lewis video shown on TOTP missed the first minute-and-a-half when Huey met the girl (Keely) at a summer outdoor party and asked her out, and she fell for his charm to take the ride on his 'yacht' as he tells her, which turns out to be a boat, which is where TOTP picked up from there, so here is whole video in all its Keely Shaye Smith splendour:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J08ZwySCoJ8
So in essence, the babe he picks up at the party, thinks he is rich with a yacht, but she ends up falling for him, despite only having a small rowing boat. Lucky man!
Here's the Tennent's lager ad I remembered:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwL_wP_Y2NU
Very similar to the video, so presumably Tennent's put up the money for that too. As someone says in the comments on YT, it's ironic Stuart Adamson died an alcoholic.
Oh, and thanks for the model identification, Angelo! I suppose I could have Googled...!
DeleteRegarding Huey's seafaring vehicle in the video, I work with a load of Essex lads and a yonks-old old chat up line from that area is "You can come on my boat", where "boat" was Cockney rhyming slang for something else!
Deletearthur you've reminded me of an earlier episode of "minder" where arfer daley is on a jury doing his henry fonda bit trying to convince the rest that what seems a guilty defendant is otherwise. he says something like "you can tell the man's innocent just by looking at his boat". a puzzled indian woman then enquires "what is "boat"?", to which arfer replies "boat race, madam" as if that's all she needs to know for it to become clear what he's on about!
DeleteInteresting in light of my Timothy Dalton comment to discover Huey's girl is now Mrs Pierce Brosnan, as Brosnan was actually cast ahead of Dalton as Bond, but at that time had to turn the part down because of his commitments to Remington Steele.
Deletei may have said this before, but "licence to kill" (which retitled from "licence revoked" as it was thought most americans wouldn't know what it meant - it made sense to me, although i still have no idea what the hell "quantum of solace" means!) was my shark-jumping moment as far as the bond franchise was concerned. and that was despite some excellent villains in robert davi, anthony zerbe and even a very young benicio del toro. the problem was that dalton was quite obviously told to play the role dead straight, which in my view was a disastrous move!
DeleteDalton's Bond was much closer to the OO7 of the books than Roger Moore's interpretation, and indeed I believe he read all the books as preparation for the role. The problem was that audiences just weren't ready in the late 80s for a serious Bond; they were much more accepting of the idea by the time Daniel Craig came on the scene.
DeleteIncidentally, "quantum of solace" basically means a crumb of comfort. The term is explained in Fleming's short story of that name.
i've watched most of the craig bond films, and i can't say i'm too impressed with them either (although it seems i'm in a minority these days) - to me they are just a poor man's version of the jason bourne franchise
DeleteIt's no coincidence that the Craig films feel like Bourne imitations - the Bond producers were spooked by the Bourne franchise's success, and felt they had to go in the same direction.
DeleteAt least the Bond films still have jokes in them, unlike the pompous Bourne blockbusters (that last one was terrible).
DeleteDory I took your advice and set up account I was just looking at some 1979 shows and remembered that all the Shows with Bright eyes at no.1 where cut and I wondered if our friend from a few weeks back the real Anonymous could make the full shows available here's hoping
ReplyDeleteWelcome on board Meer
DeleteDitto from me Meeer. Thanks for all the uploads in the past that we have enjoyed.
DeleteWelcome and thanks, Meer.
DeleteAnother 86 FF fest for this one....
ReplyDeleteAmazulu - I think their version of 'Too Good To Be Forgotten' is better than the original (but that's mainly because the Chi-Lites vocals give me a headahce) but this is very much not an improvement on Bobby Bloom's version.
Huey Lewis & The News - Bland AOR. It's funny how all their big hits in the UK were with really dull songs whereas the ones I like - for the record 'Heart & Soul', 'Do You Believe In Love' and 'Perfect World' - all flopped (albeit the middle one got a double 'A' side with the 'Power Of Love' reissue but absolutely nobody was playing it)
Farley Jackmaster Funk - You can see why he was booked to come back, can't you? Nice suit this time, and I wonder if the 'lucky' recipients if his probably sweaty shoes and hat have still got them?
Genesis - Once in a while I don't mind hearing this, but it doesn't bear repeated lessons as it's musically slight.
Breakers - I think everyone knows my opinion on Big Country by now...
Loose Ends - Don't remember this one at all. It's certainly a very energetic performance (albeit in hideous clothing) but the song's not up to much.
Sorry about all the typos in that one. Blaming a stinking cold for my inability to type this morning. Obviously that should say 'repeated listens' in the Genesis comment.
Deleteamazulu: this was actually the second cover version to feature on the show, as a group called sugar cane had done it less than 10 years previously. having started out as a serious indie/roots band doing the alternative circuit, they were now practically just the singer doing pre-karaoke. perhaps they should have been billed as "amazulu featuring anne-marie" at this point, thus allowing the singer the chance of a consequent successful solo career instead of fading into obscurity? they apparently did do that a year or so on, but by that time it was too late
ReplyDeletehuey lewis: yet another mini-drama prequel to a video, although huey did actually have some acting chops that he managed to parley into some sort of career after the pop hits came to an end (he was once in a gwyneth paltrow film to my recollection). as expected the song is pretty dull. unlike the video - as michael caine will tell you, it's always a good idea to film in a nice exotic location as you get a holiday out of it at the same time
genesis: listening to this objectively it sounds a bit like "heathaze" from the "duke" album, but nowhere near as good (although the modulating instrumental solo rachets up things a couple of notches). also unlike back then the phil overkill was by now tainting pretty much anything he touched, solo or otherwise. but for all that i wouldn't object to this if i heard it in passing now
big country: don't remember this one, but it's just more of the same to me anyway
loose ends: a pleasant-enough soulful groove, although it was already out-of-date by 1986 standards (even though they were lower!). so no surprise this one didn't make much headway. i don't know if it was intentional or not, but i like what looks like a brief tribute to wilson, keppel and betty of sand dance fame. the beardy guy actually takes some lead vocals for a change instead of the female singer, which makes me wonder as the only remaining member from their brief time in the spotlight what he does most of the time if they perform live these days?
For their brief early 90s comeback I think CJ Mackintosh (for it is he) hired in some other singers and rappers though I seem to recall that he did do some of the 'heavy lifting' himself
DeleteI saw Huey in the Robert Altman film Short Cuts many moons ago, and my abiding memory of him in it is the scene where takes a piss in a river. Ah, showbiz!
DeleteWilberforce - I have never compared 'In too Deep' to 'Heathaze' before, but yes, now you mention it... Speaking of the latter, it's one of those album tracks from Genesis that never got played live, but should have been. Obscure live cuts of 'Down and Out' and 'Like it or not' are worth checking out however...
Delete...as is this 'Mellotron added' mix of 'Heathaze' which is simply gorgeous.
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aW8bINWsUk
thanks sct - you can't see (or rather hear) the join ha ha. every now and again i imagine things like backing harmonies or string lines that aren't on original commercially-released recordings, and have considered doing my own mixes with my added ideas/arrangements overlaid. i've never actually got around to doing it though!
DeleteWe are getting closer to that 20/11/86 edition which does have the opening track from Europe with 'The Final Countdown' in which UK Gold removed out of their repeat due to allocating timeslot where they'd edited one song out, which did involve copyright issues, only UKG cut three songs out from the DLT Boxing Day 1977 episode in which proved to feature videos/repeat performances in previous TOTP episodes.
ReplyDeleteAt least for BBC Four got performances by OMD and Loose Ends this week as a bonus between the two episodes on two days, by the UK Gold edit-factor which gives us the "BBC Four" uncut feeling with Europe (20/11/86) and Boris Gardiner (25/12/86) which will be shown during at point when Christmas time comes.
Janice solo and looking pleased to be there.
ReplyDeleteAmazulu – Montego Bay – With a chorus reminding me much of ‘Best years of my life’ by Modern Romance (as opposed to ‘Talking’) this is another take it or leave it record for me.
Huey Lewis – Stuck with you – Very popular in the States (no1 for three weeks in a year when most manged only one or two weeks) this is a very amusing video indeed and a very nice Castaway companion!
Farley ‘Jackmaster’ whatever – Love can’t turn around – Arghhh! Hoped not to see this again so instant FF. Still going up the chart somehow…
Genesis – In too Deep - Savagely chopped halfway, Mike, Tony and Janice’s Mum’s date (perhaps she should read his autobiography!) deliver a smooth ballad and pretty run of the mill video. I never saw ‘Mona Lisa’ from which this was featured in, but I have played the ‘Invisible Touch’ album a few million times. Belinda Carlisle would release her own ‘In too Deep’ ten years later and I liked that as well.
Breakers – Paul Simon – You can call me Al – The whole ‘Graceland’ album with its ground breaking ‘sounds’ was completely lost on me and I longed for the wistful Simon and Garfunkel sound. Marti Webb – Always there – A massive improvement on Anita Dobson the other week, Marti is back once more delighting my eardrums. Big Country – One great thing – Interesting video, sounds like Big Country however - ironic that both BC and SQ featured with Queen at Knebworth as both had a tendency to sound the same on all their records!
Loose Ends – Slow down – John Miles this aint, so FF.
Communards – Don’t leave me this way – You can’t keep a good song down! Still!
Run DMC – Walk this way – No mention of Aerosmith and they’re in the flippin’ video!
Can’t believe Jermaine Stewart was still no2!!
Mona Lisa in retrospect was an obvious dry run for the same director's superior The Crying Game (guess which song that used?), but Bob Hoskins and Michael Caine are fantastic in it, and make it worth watching. A bit televisual, though, despite the two big stars.
Deleteof course both films also featured young mixed race women as the love interest...!
DeleteGood – we’ve got the host early doors once more, and it’s Janice this time, which is a bonus. Bad – the host’s still listing who’s on the show thus ruining the element of surprise.
ReplyDeleteAmazulurama with the musical equivalent of cottage cheese on a Ryvita – a bland cover. The backing on Bobby Bloom’s version was so much better.
A fun video for Huey and the lads, though I don’t think you can get away with photographing a stranger’s bikini top these days. The song was the cottage cheese without the Ryvita.
The big man’s back, with glittery hair and dressed like a very large stick of rock, miming the singy bit and doing the call and responsy bit live. Lucky that looked quite a sturdy stage.
Genesis with what sounds like a Phil Collins solo career leftover. Not even the cottage cheese.
I loved the Paul Simon track. Chevy Chase did a good job of acting out the lyrics and Paul showed decent straight man humour.
Wahay! Marti Webb in Greek goddess gear, ripping off the tune from the end of the chorus to “Georgy Girl”.
Big Country sounding lager than life. Boom boom tish! Tattoos there before they became de rigeur.
Loose Ends with “Hanging On a String” part 37. Bold choice of top by Jane there. Did the lads forget to take the hangers out of their jackates?
I haven’t listened to the B-sides as Janice suggested, but it appears Amazulu wrote all the flipsides to their singles. Also interested to discover they had a bloke within their ranks for the first two non-hit singles before signing to Island and also as one of the seven-piece line-up on the sleeve of “The Things The Lonely Do”, the follow-up to “Don’t You Just Know It” which only made 43. The next single after “Montego Bay”, called “All Over The World”, missed the top 75 completely. The trio then became a duo and released two more karaoke efforts on EMI before ‘Annie Amazulu’ broke away with, of all things, a cover of “Sugar Sugar” on an unknown indie label which sank without trace, and that was it.
ReplyDeleteas roger taylor of queen will be all too happy to tell you, there was a strange anomaly with regard to royalties collected on the sales of singles, whereby whoever wrote the b-side earned as much as whoever wrote the a-side - despite most not buying it for that reason, and many not even bothering to give it a listen! therefore it made sense for an act like amazulu to put self-written stuff on the flip side even though their hits were all covers. however as i've already mentioned they actually started off as a credible and bona fide touring act before blanding out, so i wonder if anyone actually bought any of their singles for the self-written and less-blatantly commercial b-sides (such as this one, which is actually pretty good in my opinion):
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayap3LT7yV8
by the way i've just discovered that their hits were produced by none other than christopher neil - yes, he of sheena easton fame and the "adventures of" soft porn films!
Christopher Neil will be always remembered by me for co-producing one of the all-time great singles (and Smooth FM staples) 'The Living Years' by Mike and the Mechanics. I'll forgive him the Adventures.
Deletebtw speaking of B Sides, Cilla Black's other half Bobby Willis penned most of hers.
it's interesting how some b-sides were used with financial gain more in mind than artistic expression: the early rolling stones ones were often credited to "nanker, phelge", which was a pseudonym for a group songwriting effort hence presumably brian, bill and charlie got a piece of the royalties action (that includes a track called "here come the stones" from a live ep, which none of them had anything to do with as it's simply a recording of the audience chanting for them at a gig!). however mike chapman and nicky chinn always let those they provided hit singles for have the b-side for themselves, presumably because a: they didn't think it was worth their time and effort to churn out another throwaway song and b: they felt a bit sorry for the acts? however all platinum records took what was perhaps the most business-like and cynical approach with their single releasess, by simply putting the same backing track on some of their b-sides minus the vocals!
DeleteJanice flying solo this week I see. Getting off to a subdued start.
ReplyDeleteWould have been better to go straight into Amazulu who give us more pop/reagge. Sing a long now ...ooooh ooh ooh ooh. Very upbeat and jolly but not much substance and not their best. Good start to the show though
Janice has woken up. ..
Huey stuck on a boat playing Jaws. Years before I'm a celeb we get stranded in the jungle. Song is perfectly serviceable and I always sing along. This is the end of The News and Huey I think.
Darryl is back for a second go at this monster hit. Fabulous.
Mining this time. Probably still knackered from 2 weeks ago poor lad. Oh here comes the live bit...quality.
There is a whole load of songs at the bottom end of the chart we will probably never hear. Shame.
Genesis we get the whole video of. Honestly would rather have seen something else as this is just dull.very poor from them.
Breakers:
Paul Simon. One of the best songs and videos of the 80s. That is all. It did take 12 year old me a while to work out which one was Paul Simon.
Howard's Way....watched every episode with my Mum. Now Anita this is how you turn a theme tune into a song..Great stuff
Big Country. Another great song from them. They were rather goof weren't they? Taken me a few years to realise that.
Loose Ends back with some soul. Nice is the best compliment I can pay bit, forgettable too..
That is a quality top ten this week.
Communards still at the top. Hooray.
Run DMC (where is the Aerosmith credit) great to see more of this video.
Not a bad little show...next...