Bless this House
04/09/86 (Gary Davies)
The Communards – “Don’t Leave Me This Way” (2)
An exhuberant performance to kick off an exciting show tonight, of what will be number one next week, and the biggest selling single of 1986.
MC Miker G & Deejay Sven – “Holiday Rap” (23)
Over from Holland to perform their only hit (thankfully!) which somehow peaked at number 6.
Bruce Hornsby & The Range – “The Way It Is” (15) (video)
In contrast, this fabulous song got no higher than number 15.
Bon Jovi – “You Give Love A Bad Name” (22)
Making their studio debut with the first of an incredible 37 top 40 hits, this one being on its way to number 14.
Farley ‘Jackmaster’ Funk – “Love Can’t Turn Around” (16)
Doing the live vocals whilst rolling around on the stage is Darryl Pandy, and this house music breakthrough hit peaked at number 10.
Frankie Goes To Hollywood – “Rage Hard” (6)
Returning to the studio with a scary new look and their first song for over a year and a half, which barring re-issues and re-mixes became their fifth and final top ten hit when it peaked at number 4.
Boris Gardiner – “I Want To Wake Up With You” (1) (video/credits)
Third and final week at number one.
September 11th is next, but it's a Mike Smith edition.
Gazza continues to favour chunky jackets as he competently and informatively hosts another solo show, which I notice also sees Michael Hurll return to a hands on role for the first time in several months. The Communards first, and I remember Jimmy up on that balcony well from the time. Poor old Richard Coles is rather sidelined by the two singers, but the camera does at least focus on him during the instrumental break - I suppose he can take satisfaction from the fact that his profile nowadays is much higher than his erstwhile colleague’s. Just what the world needed next, two leather-trousered white Dutch rappers mashing up Cliff and Madge, an unlikely pair of musical bedfellows indeed! This is predictably awful, its success presumably due to those pesky holiday discos again. How many other rappers have donned cardigans, I wonder?
ReplyDeleteA fairly short snatch of a slick but unremarkable video from Bruce Hornsby, which seems to be decrying the evils of big business, before Bon Jovi usher in the age of Poodle Rock with their studio debut. This energetic performance looks like a compendium of rock cliches, thanks to Jon’s macho mic grabbing and the guitar playing histrionics, but the song is precision tooled pop-rock that I can’t help getting drawn in by. No breakers this week, but instead another big indicator of where music was heading as house makes it debut in the shape of Farley Jackmaster Funk - Run DMC also entered the Top 40 for the first time this week, heralding the emergence of rap as a major force and no longer just a novelty. I am no fan of house music in general, but this reworking of an old Isaac Hayes song does have plenty of energy and a larger-than-life front man in Darryl Pandy, whose antics here certainly help to sell the record. Just a shame that from this acorn so much mindless, repetitive drivel would sprout…
At the time Frankie’s TOTP return was doubtless seen as the big event on this show, but now it looks like a sad coda to their once-stellar career. The first single from the critically-savaged Liverpool album, it’s not terrible but sounds like an uninspired remix of their earlier hits, and Holly’s deep vocal mannerisms early on are annoying. Was Paul going on to do a bank robbery after the show? Boris once again fails to turn up in the studio, so Hurll relegates his video to playout status.
Sadly, the animated Darryl Pandy died in 2011 at the age of just 48.
DeleteI can't say that is altogether surprising, given how overweight he was here.
DeleteThe 11th September show has been posted on YT by Calvin Henderson - it's just missing the Iron Maiden breaker clip and a bit of Peter Cetera at the end:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZdfida4h50
I think we'll wait till Neil B or gia or brie come up with the full show. I'm not into watching the shows with missing bits, but thanks for the heads up.
DeleteI can upload full show if required
DeleteYes please
DeleteHere it is
Deletehttps://we.tl/t-KJjPBVU6uh
Thanks Anonymous
DeleteGreat stuff, Anonymous! Any chance of uploading any of the following shows, all of which BBC4 removed acts from. They are 21/9/78, 9/03/79,29/03/79 and 15/10/81.Cheers!
DeleteYes here are all four episodes.
Deletehttps://we.tl/t-BeyVlTHpnL
Absolutely brilliant. Such nostalgia on these shows. Any chance of 29.6.78, as there is only a UK Gold copy of this DLT show, and it has some bits missing, so if you have the original, that would be great
DeleteYep here it is.
Deletehttps://we.tl/t-TeOQ2jtCXT
Wonderful stuff. Many many thanks. Does 7/5/81 exist in the archives? It has apparently mute links but would love to see it uncut if its out there?
DeleteFantastic, Anonymous! Have you got 6/03/80? I asked before, along with three others that you posted.It's the only one with front and end missing on it that I need.
DeleteThanks for these Anonymous! Great stuff!
DeleteHere is 7th may 1981 not sure if its any different to what you may have.
Deletehttps://we.tl/t-6MIFbgXm6A
As for 060380 it exists but not avalible to view.
Wow! Your a star! Many many thanks! The copy I have of 7/5/81 is an off air vhs with the last section and credits missing. It was recorded live and Powells links after The Stray Cats for some technical reason were not recorded onto the master tape..hence the mute links in this version..and why BBC Four could not screen it..but its a GREAT edition and the first live TOTP for 10 years! Fantastic to see it in its original form here and uncut! It goes without saying again..THANKYOU! :)
DeleteFor some reason not known to us, the mute links on 7.5.81 seem to be the only available copy of this show, but it is also a show with one of my favourite Legs & Co performances doing Stars On 45, and interestingly the same song was continued at the end of the show on the playout, instead of a different song. Strange, but a nice touch from TOTP in what is left of this show to this day.
DeleteThanks for trying,Anonymous. Any chance of 11/6/81 as the only version that has turned up online has tracking numbers across the top.
DeleteHi Anonymous, is the pilot show with Peter Powell & BA Robertson 09/07/80 available to view.This would be great to see as it was not broadcast. Thanks again for the shows you have shared.
DeleteNo pilot show im afraid but here is 110681
Deletehttps://we.tl/t-MkKX2iZJTX
Thanks again,Anonymous!
DeleteAnonymous..I think i can speak for everyone here who are TOTP fans..your uploads are quite simply amazing. I would never have dreamt we would be seeing these incredibly special versions of classic editions. Fantastic stuff. Thank you!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteIs anybody else having trouble with the address to download the 4 episodes I asked for, that Anonymous put up for me? I've been trying several times for them but all I get is a redirect page to wetransfer.com.I've got all the other shows that Anonymous has put on but can't get any of these that i'm after.
DeleteMay I add my thanks to you for these superb quality rare episodes. Can I also cheekily ask, is it just ToTP episodes that you have access to?
DeleteI've managed to get them now! I was mixing the l for a capital i.
DeleteThis was a very good edition in the grand scheme of things, with some very good performances.
ReplyDeleteThe Communards - I liked the male-female formula here, with Summerville taking a female on for shared vocals, which came off very well, as she certainly had a good voice, and deserved to top the charts the following week.
MC Miker & DJ Sven - this had some interesting elements. First the similarity with the first ever proper rap record Rappers Delight by The Sugarhill Gang in 1979, and also the two girls dancing behind, dressed in skimpy white tennis dresses. It was almost like Legs & Co or Zoo had come back all of a sudden, well in part anyway.
Bruce Hornsby & The range - I wonder why they only played 1:40 of the video. You could say that Hornsby was somewhat shortchanged here, and a bit unfairly, seeing as he was climbing nicely up the charts at No.15 at this juncture in time. I think it is the last we will see of this song on TOTP, judging by this short clip.
Bon Jovi - I think this is the first time that British viewers had seen or heard of this American group, and not one of my favourites of theirs by any stretch.
Frankie Goes To Hollywood - back after a year-and-a-half away, since their last hit Welcome To The Pleasuredome (Hoo Ha Hoo Ha). I think I read once that this long hiatus during 1985-86 was because they went into a tax exile, and could not record any new music until it was sorted out, but I don't know if that was the true story or not. With regard to this new track Rage Hard, I remember the video was played no end by Channel 4's The Chart Show every Friday, to rival TOTP for viewing figures.
communards: of the two versions that were hits back in the 70's i preferred the thelma houston cover at the time, although perhaps the harold melvin original has the edge now. however both are infinitely preferable to this version that brings absolutely nothing new to the table. i am aware that richard coles has gone on to become some kind of celebrity priest, but have no idea of his denomination - presumably if he's still openly gay, then he belongs to one of the lighter religions such as the unitarians?
ReplyDeletemc miker g/deejay sven: the original is not that easy for me to listen to nowadays thanks to madonna's maddening eternal quest to keep up wiv da kidz at any cost, but rather that than this rubbish any day of the week
bon jovi: they may well have gone on to have another 36 top 40 hits, but i only know two of them (this and what i think was the follow-up "livin' on a prayer") as it's pretty much in-one-ear-and-out-the-other stuff for me. i remember thinking what a strange name one of the producers had on an early 70's gloria gaynor album: tony bongiovi, which in my ignorance thought was pronounced with a hard "g" and an audible "ee" sound after it. of course he was jon's uncle, and his ticket to the big time as nephew and his band were granted access to his state-of-the-art studio in "dead time" to record their original demos. by the way, there was a uk tribute band for this lot a few years back that went by the brilliant name of by jovi!
farley jackmaster funk: i can imagine sct squirming in his seat just at the thought of having to listen to this, but when i did for the first time in ages i actually enjoyed its simple-but-effective groove (even if hardly funk) and could imagine quite happily boogieing on down to it if i heard it in a club. and although the front guy grandstands somewhat in the studio, at least there's no (c)rap on it
frankie: not one i remember at all, and actually far better than i thought it was going to be. it sags a bit in middle, but otherwise the flashy trevor horn production drives it along at a frenzied pace. and there's even a semblance of a tune amongst it all for a change
Did anyone else notice the S-bomb towards the end of MC Miker G & Deejay Sven ?
ReplyDeleteBite is the thing most rappers do
Yo I can write my own sh*t too
BBC2's live coverage of the FA Cup tie between Haringey Borough and AFC Wimbledon tonight needed an immediate and smiley apology from the lovely Alex Scott after she interviewed the personable Haringey Borough manager at half time and he used ye olde Englishe phrase 'bollocking'.
DeleteThe Communards, what's this, Wee Jimmy on his lonesome? Ah, no, he goes walkabout and finds his friends eventually. About to go ballistic as far as chart success goes, and I don't begrudge it one bit, a genderbending take on a disco classic (times two).
ReplyDeleteMC Miker G and DJ Sven! These two jokers were all over the radio at the time, and were ridiculous then too, but I must admit they do make me laugh now. They look like they've been hired after the wedding disco didn't turn up. Unbelievably naff, but somehow they go through terrible to end up entertaining with their cheek.
A Breakers-length clip of Bruce Hornsby (did they fail to get the clip they wanted?) and his right-on video (I dread to think what he would be called now). Gary likes it, I think he might have been the first UK DJ to play it.
Bon Jovi begin their UK chart career with the official sound of "metal that girls like". More female friendly than the usual spandex-clad poodle rockers thanks to the diminutive frontman being easier on the eyes than, say, Dee Snyder. As ever with their stuff, it's efficient, professional, but just too contrived in its rawk to convince as authentic. Rather hear this than bloody Living On a Prayer for the millionth time.
Farley and Darryl with their shortlived assault on the nations airwaves, bolstered by an infectiously simple keyboard riff and topped off by the almost but not quite out of breath vocal gymnastics. One of 86's standout dance tracks. Do your laces up and that won't happen!
Frankie are back with their tribute to Ray Charles (well, that's what it sounds like), ooh, do you think TOTP were hoping this would be straight in at Number 1? Presumably they cycled to the studio. They'll regret being so wasteful with those banknotes. Anyway, the song wasn't that much different from what they had been doing before, but somehow lesser in stature, possibly because they had not progressed. The Chart Show voted the video of this as worst of the year.
Bye bye Boris, back to oblivion.
Boris nearly made top 10 with the follow-up. Be careful what you wish for. :-D
DeleteAnd Huey Morgan's just played one of his earlier, funkier numbers on 6 Music - it's a Boris renaissance!
DeleteHoliday rap - falco sings madonna (laughed out loud at the Cliff Richard bit)
ReplyDeleteBruce Hornby - where was his range?
Bon Jovi - worst miming since Sting and the Police. Just prior to the release of their breakthrough mega album...
Seemed weird having the top 10 run down the going back to...
Rage Hard - now there is a great answer for Pointless...
Boris Gardiner - i wanna wake up... well, singing it certainly put me to sleep...
Oo (Gary Davies), a presenter seen early doors on TOTP for the first time in a while.
ReplyDeleteA show not sponsored by Breaker lager (remember it?) as there were no breakers!
The Communardes (!) kick us off with different stage presenting and Southampton’s best pop export, Sarah Jane Morris. I admit I preferred Thelma ‘No Bra’ Houston’s cover, not necessarily for her noticeably cold studio TOTP appearance. After getting zilch coverage for their last hit, I bet the lads were happy for the payback.
Modern Talking were the epitome of Europop. Now we get the complete extreme – a foreign legion reject and Paul Rutherford’s brother on benefits. Unoriginal, untalented, ripoff sampling bastards.
So we get what felt like ten minutes of that Dutch shit and just 100 seconds of Bruce’s sublime take on the Civil Rights Movement? Never mind “The Way It Is”, that’s not the way the show should have been.
Pyrotechnics! Mullets! Drumstick twirls! Blue tigerskin! Yes, it’s Bucks Fizz...er, no, hang on. Nice mic drop and grab by Jon Bongiovi early on. Fair play, at least they turned up and they were graduates of the Jaki Graham “Delighted To Be Here’ School.
If only all house had been as enjoyable as Andy Pandy, sporting the first house mullet and the biggest piece of sparkly turquoise I’ve ever seen, who sounded mime stylee for the first half and then live afterwards. Ironic how Gary turned around to introduce “Love can’t Turn Around”. He should have been static and pointed behind him for full effect.
Frankie who? Been away too long, lads. Nice try, but keep those notes and credit cards as I think you might need them, apart from Paul who, with that 16 denier over his mush, looked ready to rob the Edge Hill branch of Co-Op.
when i first started jugging with my mates right after i left school breaker was our tipple of choice in one particular bar, and as part of our new-found fun and statement of manhood we used to keep all the used-up tins on the table until you could hardly see the surface!
DeleteNot sure who was doing the captions for TOTP at this time, but at the close of Jaki Graham's turn on the previous show, we had JAKIE, while on this edition we were treated to THE COMMUNARDES.
ReplyDeletepresumably someone on ecstacy ("e's are good, e's are good...)?
DeleteA case of the sublime and the ridiculous for me this show.
ReplyDeleteCommunards – Don’t leave me this way – The current US no1 was Bananarama with ‘Venus’ – the second time the US public had put that song on the top after Shocking Blue in 1970. Thelma Houston took ‘Don’t leave me this way’ to the top of the US charts in 1977 but there was to be no repeat for the Communards with their version which we all loved over here. In fact the Communards had no US hits which illustrates in reverse the trend of US no1s (such as ‘The next time I fall’ by Peter Cetera and Amy Grant) not registering over here.
MC Miker G & Deejay Sven – Holiday Rap – If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.
Bruce Hornsby and the Range – The way it is – A brief snatch of this superb song.
Bon Jovi – You give love a bad name – Job and Richie Sambora dazzle us here in the ToTP studio before they became megastars. I live the way all the Marshall amps were stacked up to make it look live when it wasn’t! Great tune that has aged well and deserved US chart topper later in the year. Incidentally Richie released a great solo single in 1997 ‘In it for love’ that Ken Bruce made his record of the week.
Farley ‘Jackmaster’ Funk – Love can’t turn around – Sheesh! Who bought this? It’s awful! FF…before I had time to squirm in the seat Wilberforce!!
Frankie goes to Hollywood – Rage hard – I thought this lot were done. Wrong!! Another awful record FF.
Boris Gardiner – I want to wake up with you – Ah! Back to something decent, although I will concede that spending three weeks at the top was quite surprising.
Presumably there was an edit near the end saying about Smithy next week? No breakers. I was hoping for Genesis with the song ‘In too deep’ which did initially get played live on the ‘Invisible touch’ tour but by the time the UK concerts came, had been dropped.
Genesis will be on next week's shows. There was indeed a mention of Smitty in the final link, which can be seen here:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzwLjUqLMdc
After a terrible edition of TOTP, this was a massive improvement.
ReplyDeleteThe Communards - Good cover (I too would go for Thelma's as the very best) but just overplayed these days.
MC Miker G & DJ Sven - I love this, in all its naffness. There was a follow-up you know, 'Celebration Rap' which sampled...well, have a guess. Also, MC Miker G returned in 1990 with a non comedy dance track called 'Show'M The Bass'. Neither of those were Top 40 hits.
Bon Jovi - Vastly over-rated tedium. I like all of one of their songs, and this isn't it.
Farley Jackmaster Funk - Sheer unadulterated joy in this performace, and I think the song's great too.
FGTH - I don't mind this song actually, though it's clearly not as strong as the singles from their first album.
My goodness it's September. Welcomed in by ooh-gary Davies.
ReplyDeleteJimmy starts be seranading Gary on the balcony before doing a Lauper and using the stairs. Great tune. Sarah is one scary lady though. Rev on the piano. Top quality stuff. Second week in a row for the new set and it really is horrid. Since when was their an E at the end of Communardes?
Another euro disco tune from my France hols that made it over here. Like it for nostalgia value I think. Come back Chicken Song.
They look positively embarrassed to be there.
Now we know miming beat box doesn't work.
Just when you think it's over.....It goes on. ..
Bruce Hornsby and Homebase.. (sorry The Range). This just needs a bloody good key change to lift it a bit, it's ok
Bon Jovi. Hooray. Check out that hair. Like this song and love Bon Jovi. Need to work on the miming a bit Jon. He's like a cleaner version of Steve Tyler you could take home to your mother.
Jackmaster giving it large. He's like a cartoon character brought to life. Love it..song isn't bad either. Lots of fun .highlight of the show.
FGTH. Were they STILL going in 86. I never knew. Crikey. Guessing this is the non Trevor Horn version of Frankie. Desperately in need of a tune. Still obviously had a big fan base to crash in at Number 6. Bet this drops like a stone...
Go away Boris bored now. ..
Good show.
At this rate we might hit Christmas at Christmas :-)
DeleteHope we get a Xmas Special to watch on Xmas day. 😀
Deleteso boris heads off to oblivion, to resurface only once more in the future when it was reported that he was suffering from sickle cell anaemia - something that black people are apparently very prone to as i recall reading
Delete