Top of the Pots and Pans
22/01/87 (Gary Davies & Steve Wright)
Dead Or Alive – “Something In My House” (12)
Getting the show underway to a Halloweeny start with their final top 40 hit, barring re-issues, and number 12 was as high as it got.
UB40 – “Rat In Mi Kitchen” (13) (video)
Featuring Astro on lead vocals and Herb Alpert on trumpet, the song went up one more place.
Randy Crawford – “Almaz” (20)
Performing a live vocal in the studio, Almaz was her second and final solo top ten hit, peaking at number 4.
Curiosity Killed The Cat – “Down To Earth” (15)
Making their debut with their first of three top ten hits, this one peaking at number 3.
Taffy – “I Love My Radio” (24) (breaker)
Became her only top ten hit when it peaked at number 6.
Pepsi & Shirlie – “Heartache” (22) (breaker)
Became their first of two top ten hits when it peaked at number 2.
Siouxsie & The Banshees – “This Wheel’s On Fire” (14)
Looking sizzlingly hot and tasty in the studio, but this Dyaln cover was at its peak.
Steve ‘Silk’ Hurley – “Jack Your Body” (1) (video)
It's an amusing video, and the first of two weeks at number one for Steve's one and only solo hit.
Swing Out Sister – “Surrender” (7) (video/credits)
At its peak.
Next up is January 29th but it is a Mike Smith edition.
You know what, I admit I might have had a drink tonight, but I'm going to put it out there, I quite like Jack Your body :-)
ReplyDeleteHa. I look back at it with affection now, but at the time it felt like the end of pop music as we knew it...
DeleteWhile this tune was not as good as the other house record in the charts, ie, Jack The Groove by Raze at No.21, the video was top notch, and perfectly stitching together old Hollywood movie clips, where we have seen this tactic used effectively earlier in the 80s by other instrumentals, for example, in the summer of 1981, when we had Hooked On Classics by Louis Clark's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra getting stuck at No.2 for three weeks, where the video had some superb movie clips footage:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cgr_TEGFhrQ
While one record was orchestra, and the other one house, there are distinct similarities that were pulled off very well to achieve No.2 and No.1 status in the singles charts respectively, so let's salute both of these performers on what was an outstanding achievement in the midst of very stiff competition for the No.1 spot in the pop charts in 1981 and 1987.
Good for you Angelo - it's very infectious but as others have said there are much better dance records to come..
DeletePlenty of stripes and a few stars on show this time as Gazza teams up with Wrighty, who as usual doesn’t do much but at least isn’t too annoying on this occasion. As we know from recent shows, however, Gazza was more than capable of doing this on his own.
ReplyDeleteI had no memory of Dead or Alive appearing on TOTP post-1985, so it’s a genuine surprise to discover this song, which I’m guessing owes some of its inspiration to R Dean Taylor’s There’s a Ghost in My House. It’s a good bouncy pop tune, anyway, and deserves to be better known, making for an honourable conclusion to their Top 40 career. An excellent farewell studio appearance too, with the lighting making Pete look very scary indeed, even before the surgery had begun in earnest! Most of UB40’s records tend to blend into each other, but this is an exception, having a very catchy tune that has always stuck in my mind, and a memorable title too. It also makes a change not to have Ali singing, and I had no idea Herb Alpert was on it. The inserts of their trip to the USSR in the video seemed a bit pointless, unless the song was supposed to be some kind of allegory about Communism? I enjoyed the guard having a quick smoke, anyway.
It was well worth Randy Crawford’s time coming over from LA, as she was more popular here than at home, and this superb live performance - her voice sounds virtually identical to how it does on the record - no doubt helped to propel this lovely, heartfelt self-penned ballad into the Top 5. The least said about her dress sense the better, and she still has that annoying habit here of closing her eyes when singing, but you can’t really argue with those pipes of hers. I always remember Wogan saying when he played this song that Almaz couldn’t really count herself as being lucky with a name like that - the track was actually named after a neighbour of Randy’s who came originally from Eritrea. Curiosity Killed the Cat are probably remembered better these days for Ben's headgear than for their music, and we saw on The Story of 1987 that it has grown bigger over the years. Nevertheless, he was a decent frontman, and this delicately funky tune still stands up very well. Despite Gazza's prediction, however, megastardom would never materialise...
We'll see the breakers in full next time, so straight on to Siouxsie, evidently hoping to repeat her big success with Dear Prudence by covering another 60s classic. This is far from absolutely fabulous, however - despite an atmpspheric production, this version completely lacks the drama and passion of the Julie Driscoll/Brian Auger interpretation. Siouxsie tries her best to make up for that with her outlandish punk-psychedelic look, complete with bare back. I'm sure sct enjoyed the new number 1! I didn't like it at the time either, and it still leaves me cold now, though of course we can see in retrospect (unfortunately) that it was of pivotal importance in sending House mainstream. I remember I found the OGWT-style video more disturbing than amusing at the time, perhaps in part because there was a media fuss at the time about Mr Hurley's whereabouts (seemingly getting married, according to Gazza), and the anonymous nature of the video increased that sense of slightly creepy mystery about him. There's some more spookiness to contend with in that SOS video, particularly when the backing singer appears like a ghostly apparition and seems to yell at Corinne - this show really should have gone out at Halloween...
I don't care what anyone says, but Rat In Mi Kitchen was quality 80s pop. Astro on lead vocals didn't tell us how he was going to fix that rat. I mean, was it by the traditional mousetrap big enough for a rat, or by some other means that he could have shared with us?
DeleteI thought that Siouxie's bare back gave us a glimpse of her awesome figure, which I have said before in her busier 1981-1983 time in the pop charts, where she always looked pretty good in the TOTP studio, usually along with her nice pins, and this showing was no exception. Nice one Siouxie!
If we get 1988 we will get to see Peek-A-Boo which I thought was great record at the time. Not heard it since so will look forward to hearing it again.
DeleteI remember Bruno Brookes absolutely loved Peek-A-Boo. I still hear it sometimes on 6 Music.
DeleteJust as a footnote, lurking at 56 in that week's chart was Beautiful Imbalance by Thrashing Doves, a group who were gaining some critical momentum and were regarded by some as being the next big thing. Sadly for them, it was at this moment that the Prime Minister decided to go on Saturday Superstore and, bizarrely, took part in that week's Pop Panel running the rule over the new singles. Mrs T pronounced herself very much in favour of Beautiful Imbalance, the song stalled at 50, and bar a couple of minor US chart entries Thrashing Doves' career never really recovered...
ReplyDeletei really liked "beautiful imbalance", as a piece of jangly guitar pop, but i've just checked and the only recording i still have of it all these years later was a really muffled one i think i actually recorded off a video without any cables connecting to my tape recorder! i must get a decent copy of it some time...
DeleteGary really should’ve worn a red and white hooped top for full flag effect. New specs, Steve? They look better. They seem to improve your performance too.
ReplyDeleteDead Or Alive with “Something Spinning Me Round In My House”. Pete really needed a green face light and vampire choppers for full effect. Since when did a disco track need or even include a Flying V guitar?
Superb song sequencing to follow “Something In My House” with “Rat In Mi Kitchen”. Unusual but a nice change to have someone else in UB40 other than the feuding brothers on lead vocals.
Veronica ‘Eyes Almost Shut’ Crawford next. That’s a coat and a half. Great vocal performance for a slumbering song.
Lots to mention in those early mugshots. “Julian Cope’s “Trampoline” neither bouncing up nor down in the chart, Vesta making me hungry for stir-in-a-pan chow mein, Raze with a superb photo and a competition for highest climber and, boy, there were loads going up umpteen places.
Marks deducted sequencing wise for not following “Rat” immediately with a cat band. I say band, more like what you find dumped on cat litter. Ben Volauvent-Parrot was one of those singers I ‘d have liked to really hit hard back in the day – and now, come to that. I went to several of those ”Here And Now” nostalgia packages years back, and this was the only act my mate and I deliberately missed – we went to the bar and had two pints of lager each rather than listen to their toss.
Obviously, someone at Taffy’s record company loved motor sport and decided to combine a day at the racing with filming her cheap-as-chips video in the car showroom part.
Pepsi, what have you done to your hair? This sounds the sort of song Madonna would have done in her sleep, and not a bad thing at that.
Woo, it’s psychedelic goth disco! A different take on AbFAb’s theme tune, and distinctive with it. A real change of image for our songstress and, nicking a line from “Top Gun”, nice beaver (hat), Sioux!
Lucky Mrs Hurley. I hope they didn’t play this shite as their first dance. Worth the previous hype on this site for all the wrong reasons. Best part of this would have been the run-off groove.
As pointed out in a previous week, you would have thought Swing Out Sister would have thought of a different word than ‘revenge’ in the chorus to cover poor Corinne’s Elmer Fuddisms. What was the reason for those Blues Brothers in the video?
Ho ho! I meant to say "Naked Gun" instead of "Top Gun". Imagine Tom Cruise delivering that line!
Deletearthur you'e reminded me of 1980 when i first moved away from home and had no idea how to cook - fortunately the vesta range came to my aid with regards to alternatives to baked beans on toast, and even opened my eyes when it came to foreign cuisine (the beef risotto and paella were my favourites). but they cost well over a pound a meal to my recollection back then, which is monstrously espensive by today's standards!
DeleteWith regard to Raze already at No.21 Arthur, I agree that this was a good one to rise so quickly in the charts, and I thought a better tune than the other house record sitting at No.1 this week. I remember buying the Raze 7" single, and played it regularly in my new stint as DJ during my first year at university in early 1987, so popular was the riff on this one.
DeleteI also noticed astonishingly that Freeez were back in the chart with IOU, climbing up 14 places to No.23 this week, but neither of these two records were played by TOTP, as like Silk Hurley, you would need to get to No.1 to be played on TOTP if it is a house record! Can you imagine TOTP playing the 1983 TOTP studio appearance by Freeez again now in 1987. Good Lord, hardly!
dead or alive: like everything else other than the monster hit, i don't remember this at all. sounds like an attempt to revive their already-flagging career with something very much modelled on that, but to no avail. oh well, back to the drawing board pete (start making those appointments with the plastic surgeon). i don't know if he demanded to look like bela lugosi with that weird luminous green lighting, but it doesn't really do him any favours
ReplyDeleteUB40: not only continuing a bit of a revival in terms of street-cred after the chicken-in-a-basket covers, astro (their equivalent of bez) also actually steps up and proves he quite a decent singer. it actually gets quite dubby when herb gets on board and starts parping away
randy crawford: i never knew what the hell an almaz was as i never listened too closely to lyrics back then, although i now wonder if it was actually someone's name or just one made up for the song? the trouble i have with her is that no matter how good she may be considered as a singer, all i can think of is that black british comedian (gary something) lampooning her ott facial expressions
curiosity killed the cat: taking over from the blow monkeys in terms of offering smooth pop-dance music for the hipsters of the era. however the melody is threadbare to put it mildly, and mr beret is obviously not much cop as a singer either. by the way: like ms crawford, something ludicrous about him sticks in my mind - in his case appearing on the cover of the "ferry aid" album along with several other faces, who unlike him saw far more than 15 minutes of fame
siouxsie & banshees: another one i can't remember. unlike many it seems, i'm never going to excited when anyone covers a dylan song. but their version is infinitely preferable to the dirge that was the julie driscoll/brian auger version. i should say though that after that attrocity, the latter recorded some excellent jazz-funk fusion grooves with his band the oblivion express
steve "silk" hurley": the eagerly-anticipated moment is on us at last! funny how this got ignored by the show and still made the top anyway - i can't remember if it got much in the way of radio exposure either, but presumably it got played to death in clubs at the time? listening now i still can't really remember it too well, but i think there was a hell of a lot worse than this around at the time (and would happily dance to it in a club myself) even the over-use of sampling gets a bit tiresome after a while. it even turns into a 12-bar at one point ha ha. i hope mr hurley had a bit more involvement in it than just providing vocals though, as otherwise he makes bez look like prince in comparison
with regard to mr beret, that should have been the "ferry aid" single!
Deletei actually encountered the happy mondays for the first time around 1987, when i went to see new order play in a tent in finsbury park. they were one of the support bands, and to my ears an utter racket and a cue to head for the bar. however my exit was delayed thanks to the presence of some prat on stage with them, wearing a staw hat and jerking around out-of-sync with the music as if he was some kind of spastic. like most of the crowd, i watched with utter incredularity and disbelief at what was going on. but when it became clear soon enough that was all the guy was ever going to do, then the bar became a much more desirable place to be!
DeleteDriscoll, Auger and the Trinity are notable (by me) for appearing extensively in The Monkees' last TV special before they split up, one of the most impenetrable hours of television ever broadcast.
DeleteRe Almaz, I mentioned in my comments above that the song was named after an Eritrean-born female neighbour of Randy's. It means "diamond" in Arabic and other languages.
Deleteyes john - i did notice that, but forgot to amend my review before i posted it. sorry!
DeleteI suppose Pete Burns is a ghost now, what with being dead and all (not alive), and I had no memory of this making 12 in the charts, in fact it's slipped through the cracks of history to be totally forgotten. It's OK, but they needed better material to succeed (except in Japan, where Pete would never tire of telling us, they were massive).
ReplyDeleteUB40 with a pretty decent tune, a novel lyric and well produced to boot. The follow up, The Man from Rentokill is On His Way, failed to chart. Not sure what the snatches of conversation and ambient noise added to the video, mind you, but presumably we can thank Ali and the boys for Glasnost.
Definitely Randy Crawford, not Gary Wilmot, with a song that must have taken her five minutes to write as it's just the same few bars of melody over and over. Not sure about some of the rhymes, either - "send her" and "bend 'er"?! She has a great voice, no question, but I got awfully tired of this.
I wouldn't have bothered with Curiosity Killed the Cat at the time, because they were a girl's band (as opposed to a girl band), but listening back to Down to Earth this was really well produced, incredibly slick light funk pop, and despite Ben's parody-ready loose limbed dancing and beret, I think it stands up very well. Their other singles didn't always hit this high, but they had nothing to be ashamed of here.
Breaker, breaker, then a swirling cover of Dylan, though I expect it was actually a cover of Driscoll, Auger and the Trinity. Sounds like something off a Turkish Delight advert in places, but it's not the worst thing I've ever heard, and as usual Dylan lends himself well to other interpretations.
Count me as another who doesn't mind Steve Silk Hurley, I recall it baffled my class at the time who couldn't make head nor tail of it (they preferred U2), but it does what it sets out to do, make an unpretentious dance record to get the booties shakin' on the dancefloor. Considering some of the thrown together in a bedroom shite that passed for dance music afterwards it's an achievement. But dance is a broad church.
Thought this SOS video would be better if Pete Burns was the ghost putting the wind up Corinne. Anyway, though nothing in the lyrics suggests a haunting, it's a serviceable enough clip. The other two members sheepishly show up at the end.
maybe UB40 could help get the yankees and the commies to overcome their differences, but despite it seems ali and his ex-chums are still unable to get any glasnost going of their own!
DeleteWell there was some good music on this show…and there was Steve ‘Silk’ Hurley. Back to a double hosting with a very US looking Wrightie partnering my favourite host of this era, Mr Davies.
ReplyDeleteDead or Alive – Something in my House – Funnily enough the same writers and producers to ‘You spin me round’. Would never have realised! But having said that, not a bad sound.
UB40 – Rat in mi Kitchen – Sorry just what is a ‘rat in mi kitchen’? I wonder what the Soviets thought of UB40?
Randy Crawford – Almaz – Written by the lady herself and performed live no less, and how good it sounds. Randy’s first record that she appeared on in the UK was ‘Hoping love will last’ on Steve Hackett’s excellent 1978 album ‘Please don’t touch’, and a fine sound that is too.
Curiosity killed the Cat – Down to Earth – Someone observed above that there isn’t much tune in this (hey – you don’t even need a tune to get to no1 now!!). However, there is something insistent and compelling about this even though I prefer ‘Misfit’.
Breakers – Taffy – nope, don’t recall this. Pepsi and Shirlie – Never realised that they were Wham’s backing singers at the time. Produced by Phil Fearon.
Siouxsie and the Banshees – This wheel’s on fire – Uninspiring cover of a song that was crying out for the Souixsie treatment.
Steve ‘Silk’ Hurley – Jack your Body – Well, I gave it about 30 seconds before I hit FF. Words fail me! Been reading up about this; The Guinness Book of Number One Hits comments; “Officially this should have been an album hit instead. The record sold heavily as a 12” becoming the first no1 to register over half its sales in the larger format. But the playing time of the 12” was over 26 minutes exceeding Gallup’s 25 minute regulation for a single. The 12” should really have been considered as an album and this being the case, the 7” on its own would have peaked at a mere no7 on the singles chart”.OK, I’ll take that. Gallup were lazy in not applying their own rules, so in that case I make it five weeks (not four) at no1 for Jackie Wilson and three weeks (not two) at no1 for George Michael and Aretha Franklin. Looking at the end of year chart, Hurley’s effort was the least selling no1 of 1987 sitting at no38 behind much superior non no1 hits (in my view) including ‘Alone’ by Heart, ‘Can’t be with you tonight’ by Judy Boucher and ‘Always’ by Atlantic Starr.
Swing out Sister – Surrender – It is something of a relief that ToTP doesn’t playout with the no1 any more as our lasting memory of this show is this classy piece of music along with its enigmatic video.
p.s someone mentioned albums spawning lots of singles. Well, coming up very soon we’re going to have to sit through 9 (yes 9!!) singles taken from ‘Bad’ zzzzzz
Aw, here was me hoping you'd listen to Steve and suddenly think, hey, this isn't so bad!
DeleteThere were 9 singles taken from Bad? That's even more than came from Thriller - presumably it was believed that the large number of Thriller singles had helped to drive the sales of that album and that a similar trick could be played with the follow-up. It didn't quite work out that way in the end!
DeleteProbably best to note what wasn't released as a single from 'Bad' - 'Just good Friends' and 'Speed Demon' for the record.
DeleteCertainly no 'born again' moment for me on Hurley's noise! Nigel - are you out there? Time to see whether you stand by your legendary observations!!
Taffy I thought sounded too much like Sinitta, in song and also video, as the video editing and style was very similar to Sinitta. I don't think this song really took off for Taffy in the same way as Sinitta's initial tune going to No.2 the previous year with So Macho.
DeleteTotally agree with the playout being the lasting memory of the show. Corrine of Swing Out Sister really looked quite stunning with her striking looks and that short crop hair. the cool breeze on her hair made for a very much looking forward Dory to the spring/summer in the coming months!
THX Magical Mystery Tour comes close...
ReplyDeleteYes! In a way, 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee was the Prefab Four's Magical Mystery Tour.
DeleteRIP Windsor Davies who has died aged 88. One half of the duo with Don Estelle, they hit the top of the charts or theree weeks in June 1975 with the song 'Whispering Grass', sung in character from the comedy series 'It ain't half hot Mum'. I actually quite like the song, albeit it is a novelty hit.
ReplyDelete"Shut up!!"
windsor & don were true one-hit wonders (i have heard stories of the latter later reduced to trying to hawk self-produced cassettes of his recordings to punters in lancashire shopping malls and markets), but they never actually appeared in these re-runs having had their hit just prior to them starting. unlike the sensational alex harvey band's drummer ted mckenna, who has also just died - i strongly recommend that you take a listen to their blistering live rendition of "faith healer":
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMeXwtF96Gg
I remember Windsor Davies most notably in the 1975 film Carry On Behind where he was in a caravan being accosted by the gorgeous Carol Hawkins in his caravan, showing him some bare leg, and he did his best to decline the offer. If that had been Sid James, I could imagine him stepping up to the plate with his usual rubbing of hands in glee!
DeleteI never really got into It Aint Half Hot Mum, except for the ending of each show, where the Indian actor (same one as in Mind Your Language) sang "End of hope and glory....", and then Windsor Davies would yell "Shut Up" to effectively silence him at the end of the show!
Incidentally, my dad passed away a few weeks ago, also aged 88, and hence my being slow on these blogs in the last few weeks, but I'm gradually catching up again.
DeleteSo sorry to hear of your Dad's passing Dory, but quite understand why you've been missing for a few weeks on this forum. I did wonder.
DeleteSorry for your loss, Dory, hope you're coping OK.
DeleteThanks, it was tough initially, as he passed away a few days before Christmas, but it has been exactly a month now, and life is slowly returning back to some normality again.
DeleteVery sorry to hear the sad news, Dory.
DeleteSorry for your loss Dory. Take care.
DeleteThanks Morgie, it is comforting in the knowledge that he made it to 88, in the bracket of famous people like Windsor Davies and Charlie Chaplin no less, who also left us at the same age. I would expect that the next generation will make it well into their 90s as the norm.
DeleteI was quite heartened to know that my hero Stan Lee, creator of the Marvel Comics characters, made it to 95 before he left our dear world only a couple of months ago, as I grew up as a child in the 70s with his comics that I saved up for with my pocket money.
Steve Wright was much less annoying in this edition I thought, but made up for that by being particularly all over the place, visibly missing his queue at the start and almost trampling all over Gary's line during the link into the Top 10!
ReplyDeleteDead Or Alive - A very sensible slot for this, as it surely couldn't fail to get the crowd going. Yes, very similar to some of their earlier hits but still good.
UB40 - Ah. I cannot stand this song, I've always found it absolutely irritating in the extreme.
Randy Crawford - This is the kind of thing I would usually skip, and I certainly would if it were any of her other hit singles. However, for some odd reason I really like this one! Good performance of it too.
Curiosity... - I don't think I took much notice of them at the time, I wasn't exactly the target audience. However, this one and (especially) 'Misfit' are decent pop songs.
I was going to skip the breakers but since nobody else has mentioned this...in this country, the lyric of Taffy's song was changed for airplay on the Beeb from 'my midnight radio' to 'my DJs radio' because they didn't have live radio at midnight then. Yes, this is faintly ridiculous, especially since they've overdubbed the video too - take a look!
Siouxsie & The Banshees - 'Dear Prudence' was perfectly fine yet somehow this is extremely forgettable.
Steve 'Silk' Hurley - I'm going to go against the grain here as I like it. Not in the sense that it's one of the best songs ever made or anything but it was hardly the death of music. In the same way that during the 'Summer Of Love' in 67 that musos bang on about, Engelbert Humperdinck was No.1 for weeks, this song topping the charts didn't mean that 50% of the Top 40 became house music overnight!
Ohh Gary again this time joined by the annoying Wrighty who has not improved with age.
ReplyDeleteVery much still alive DOA back in the studio - I really had no recollection of anything they did after spin me round so every time they turn up again I'm pleasantly surprised. This is pleasant enough but hardly stands out. Can the rather normal looking Pete Burns actually play that guitar? Good studio performance though. Liked this.
UB40 - the dividing line of 80s pop in our house - my Wife draws the line at UB40, can't stand them. I've always rather liked them. I guess Russia was suitably unobtainable for a tourist in the 80s for a travelogue video to be a good idea. Looks a bit tired now. Great song though.
Randy in the studio (all the way from LA) and the second song tonight I don't know. Nice performance and not a bad song either. To my surprise I actually enjoyed that. Very nice.
Curiosity Killed The Cat - Megastars Gary? Not quite but they did well for themselves. Nice radio friendly song - the trouble with CKTC is that whilst I don't mind their stuff I would never deliberately out one of their records on. The singer has a very old fashioned look even for the fashion hell that is the 80s. Think that hat might sit me though..
Breakers: Just the 2
Taffy - I had forgotten all about this, Who the hell was she and where did she come from (and more importantly where did she go??). Great pop song though.
Pepsi and Shirlie - Brilliant. Will say more next week.
Next we get the full Banshees murdering of Wheels on Fire. Best version of this is still the Ab Fab theme, Never knew it was Dylan. It's a great song.
Great hair Siouxsie.
NEW NUMBER ONE!!!
Jack Your Body totally grabbed my attention at the time as I've said before but it's probably my least favourite dance No.1. Nice they've finally managed to cobble together a video. Second Number 1 in a row without the artist in the video. Bet that's not happened before..
THERE IS A BLACK AND WHITE DUDE FLOSSING IN THIS VIDEO - I need to get my son!
SOS get the playout from a great edition of TOTP with even Wrighty bearable. Enjoyed that. Back to the contraband.
Taffy came from Deptford, South East London, which she revealed on the following TOTP show when performing in the studio, but I guess you wrote this before you got your answer!
DeleteI'LL JUST CORRECT MY TYPOS
ReplyDeleteCuriosity Killed The Cat - Megastars Gary? Not quite but they did well for themselves. Nice radio friendly song - the trouble with CKTC is that whilst I don't mind their stuff I would never deliberately put one of their records on. The singer has a very old fashioned look even for the fashion hell that is the 80s. Think that hat might suit me though..