Wad of the Pops!
12/05/88 (Simon Mayo & Mike Read)
Harry Enfield – “Loadsamoney (Doin’ Up The House)” (4)
Cashing in on his popular Friday Night Live comedy character, this was Harry's only hit and number four was its peak.
Prince – “Alphabet Street” (9) (video)
Got no higher.
The Adventures – “Broken Land” (23)
Making their studio debut and the song went up three more places.
Narada – “Divine Emotions” (16)
He'd had a number 8 hit in 1980 with I Shoulda Loved Ya, and now here he was in the studio eight years later with his second and final top ten hit, which also peaked at number 8.
Liverpool FC – “Anfield Rap (Red Machine In Full Effect)” (13) (breaker)
Peaked at number 3.
Belinda Carlisle – “Circle In The Sand” (31) (breaker)
Peaked at number 4.
Derek B – “Bad Young Brother” (26) (breaker)
Peaked at number 16.
Prefab Sprout – “The King Of Rock ‘N’ Roll” (28) (breaker)
Became their only top ten hit when it peaked at number 7.
Star Turn On 45 Pints – “Pump Up The Bitter” (12)
In the studio and they do seem to be doing live vocals, but the record got no higher, thank goodness!
Wet Wet Wet – “With A Little Help From My Friends” (5)
Will be number one next week.
Fairground Attraction – “Perfect” (1)
First and only week at number one.
Kylie Minogue – “Got To Be Certain” (15) (video/credits)
On her way to number 2.
May 19th is next.
Our hosts (who I notice were tweeting each other today about this repeat) generally do a good job on a highly eclectic show, though Mike's Loadsamoney impression was probably his most toe-curling TOTP moment, and the leather jacket suggested a mid-life crisis was brewing. The audience was also very noisy this week for some reason, to the point where some of the music was being drowned out by their whooping.
ReplyDeleteIt was certainly hard to escape Loadsamoney at the time; the character caught the zeitgeist, and you can hardly blame Enfield for cashing in. Musically it's worthless, but there is some amusement to be had from the impressions and Harry's wisecracks. The big mallet was impressive, and a young Paul Whitehouse looked genuinely wasted - I assume that is down to his gifts as a comic actor rather than because he had really been dabbling! A colourful video up next from Prince, the use of letters reminding me of a contemporary promo that The Moody Blues put out for the single No More Lies. The Purple One also channels his inner James Brown for his moves, but the song itself is forgettable funk.
The Adventures have by far the best song of the night, and this melodic, powerful tune will definitely be in my Top 10 of the year - it baffles me that it only got to 20, particularly as it had strong Radio 1 support at the time, but perhaps it was just too much at odds with the prevailing chart sounds at the time. They never had another Top 40 hit, so this is the only time we will see them in the studio - I wonder who the singer was waving to near the end? The artist formerly known as Narada Michael Walden finally registers another hit, and is apparently trying to muscle in on Jacko's territory with this dance routine, though his backing dancers look hopelessly uncool in their lycra shorts and white socks. As for the song, it was lively enough and sounded musically up to the minute, but it left no great impression on my mind.
The breakers will all return, so let's move straight on to Star Turn on 45 Pints. I still don't think it's that funny (though perhaps a bit more so than the Loadsamoney record), but I was amused by the gurning DJ and the hideously loud jackets, while the bingo ball machine reminded me of childhood summer holiday evenings spent in a clubhouse at a caravan park in Highcliffe, where just such a machine was installed. The Wets are back, doing their bit for charidee with this bland, nicey nicey Fabs cover which nevertheless managed to emulate Joe Cocker's radical interpretation by reaching number 1. Marti looks particularly smug and slappable here, as if he knows they are heading for the top.
Fairground Attraction make the most of their solitary week at the summit by turning out for another studio performance, Eddi once again annoying with her constant movement, and also on this occasion with her stripy leggings. At the time she reminded me quite strongly of her fellow Scot Kate Copstick, who was appearing in the kids' Saturday morning show On the Waterfront. Incidentally, Mayo was correct that they would not be one hit wonders, though of course they would fail to enjoy the long-term success he doubtless anticipated. Kylie plays us out, with a second hit that doesn't sound too far removed from the first, with SAW evidently determined to take no risks. Even the video breaks no new ground, feeling like an amalgam of the official promo and the BBC film for the previous hit.
Harry Enfield also seemed to follow in the footsteps of Alexei Sayle's similar theme in 1984, with Hello John Got A New Motor, but with a little more crass, with lyrics like "shut your mouth" on several points during the record.
DeleteIt also reminds me a bit of when The Young Ones and Cliff Richard got to No.1 together with Living Doll in 1986, and one of them picking his nose in the video. The 80s did seem to bring out anti-establishment behaviour during the eternal Thatcher period already nine years in by 1988 where we are now in these reruns.
This is the show I've been waiting for since the re-runs began on BBC 4 as Terry Sharpe who is the singer in The Adventures is a good friend of mine. He mainly makes a living on the Belfast pub scene and I got to know him as he frequents and plays at my local bar. I've always loved this song and I knew Terry for years before I knew he was the singer because he's a very ordinary and humble man, not predisposed to boasting about his golden days. Glad to report that The Adventures have had somewhat of a revival in recent years and can regularly pull live crowds into the 1000's in Belfast. They supported Bananarama last year and in answer to John G, it was Sara Dallin who Terry was waving to as they were an item at the time (Terry is the guy in the "shy boy" video).
ReplyDeleteOn another point, is it just me or is the Wet Wet Wet cover the absolute end of the pier nadir of 80's pop?
I had no idea that The Adventures were from Northern Ireland, and I guess it follows in the footsteps of Feargal Sharkey, and The Undertones preceding his solo career. In any case I just love this Adventures debut with Broken Land, and I got so much time for it, and could hear it all weekend long. It is that good and uplifting, despite the morbid song title, which doesn't reflect the gorgeous sound of the record.
DeleteIt sounds more like something out of a 1981 or 1982 chart, but even as late as 1988 you really got to hand it to these guys for what was in my opinion the highlight of this week's TOTP, and it's a pity that it only peaked at No.20 as Angelo points out.
It is a strangely uplifting sound for a song with such heavy lyrics that is of course about the hopelessness of the situation in Northern Ireland at this time. Wonderfully, the band totally bridged the political divide and do so to this day despite knowing tragedy.
DeleteTell Mr Sharpe that Send My Heart should have gone Top Ten. Heck, it should have gone to Number 1!
DeleteSonny - thanks for the interesting info on Terry, and for being able to provide an answer to my question, which I would certainly not have expected! Nice to hear that the band are still going.
DeleteTerry Sharpe was previously in Northern Irish new wavers Starjets, who'd been on TOTP in 1979 (also hosted by Mike Read) with the utterly briliant "War Stories", whose number 51 peak was a travesty.
Delete"Broken Land" also managed to pull off the trick of making a three-week appearance in the Billboard top 100, peaking at 95.
DeleteHere's Terry from nine years earlier...
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baRJGXw5cUM
I don't recall The Adventures at all or this particular tune which is odd given it was the song most played on Radio 1 that year.
DeleteI must be honest and say that it left me feeling indifferent, however it has a sound that I would possibly warm to after a few more plays, which is perhaps why it only ever achieved a peak chart position of 20. As John G suggests, the music of that era had become somewhat formulaic (with Stock, Aitken and Waterman in the ascendant, etc), and maybe songs that climbed the chart back then were more immediately catchy.
Interesting to note also that the band's debut television appearance in the UK, playing a different song, was on the children's teatime series Crackerjack back in 1984, a programme at that time also produced by Paul Ciani.
The band's manager, Simon Fuller, would ultimately of course achieve great success in the music industry with the Spice Girls, and also in television as creator of the American Idol franchise.
THX, I did see Terry last night but didn't pass on the message as he was watching Man City v Spurs. He doesn't like being disturbed during Spurs matches!
DeleteVery pleasing to see a bit of love for Broken Land on here. If you are interested this link is to a paired back contemporary version from local TV last year
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9Bxl5Zk-GY8
@Sonny: that's OK, I wouldn't like to get between a man and his football!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteSonny, please also pass on to Terry how much I adore the 'Sea Of Love' album, even if I did belatedly discover it via the expanded version released a few years back. 'Heaven Knows Which Way' and 'Hold Me Now' are my favourites from the non-singles. At student radio we played their 90s song 'Raining All Over The World' a LOT - that should have been a huge hit!
DeletePrince - still on top of his game at this point in the 80s, and I just love the coloured alphabet letters making the video very pleasing on the eye, as our eyes love colours - well mine do anyway! Prince was about a year or so away from entering his new interest in movie soundtracks where his career would vere next, towards the end of the decade, but while we have him still doing these jolly colourful tunes and videos in the first phase 1984-1989 era, let's enjoy them while we can, as he became a lot more complicated and specialist come the early 90s.
ReplyDeleteStar Turn On 45 Pints - the Geordie baby-boomers and heavy accents, as they were clearly much older than the average age of performers in the new house era of 1988, which were now mainly the X-generation born in the 1965-1984 era, so holding on as the old guard still up there. The song being a take-up of Pump Up the Volume and Bomb The Bass with a Geordie flavour, was also the handing of the baton to the next X-Gen generation, and also my generation as a late-60s born person.
Kylie Minogue - her second ever single, and I just loved the video with her Star Trek uniform a-la- Lieutenant Uhura, but with thinner 20-year old legs for our Kylie! Pity that BBC4 cut this video short like her Star Trek dress, but does anyone have the original broadcast of the show, as surely BBC1 at the time showed more of the playout video? Anonymous/Neil B, can you help out?
I've asked that specific question on Twitter & was assured it was how they were originally shown, which I question judging by some of the hamfisted fades there've been (George Michael "Father Figure", Beastie Boys "She's On It" etc.).
Deletehttps://twitter.com/thePopPicker/status/1146454476179611650
I thought last night's was the worst example yet & most obvious, as the viewer barely got a look at the producer's name before Kylie faded to black.
A commenter on DS who recorded on VHS from BBC1's original broadcast says over a minute was cut from the BBC4 repeat of last night's, which I can well believe as the actual Pops footage on BBC4 when you take all the guff out added up to 28:55.
Personally, knowing what the Beeb are now like with chucking as many adverts as possible between programmes, I'm inclined to believe the scheduler's dictating there must be a certain number of the insufferable damned things & hoping fans of the Pops won't notice.
The worst example I felt was the New Year's Eve 1987 edition where about 90 seconds was chopped from Mel & Kim (in addition to an already truncated edit due to the split-second appearance of the Board Wobbler).
That one was a 35 minute original but got butchered to 30.
Not good enough really, is it?
Dory there were two versions of Kylie's sexy video. Here's the other:-
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYV_jelnZdE
In fact there seems to be three versions, ie, the playout video on this weeks show which was the original and best version where the video is set around the painting hobby and paintbrushes, and then a second version (your link) based around her friends in the coffee house, and then a third version (in the next TOTP show at No.4) with a fully outdoor video. Good Lord, whatever next!
DeleteAh, remember the days when a comedy character could have their own novelty hit? Surely Matt Berry could conjure up a Toast of London tie-in single? Anyway, back in '88 I was never that keen on Loadsamoney because he didn't make me laugh, and Enfield showed how he felt about him shortly after by killing him off, literally, on TV. Good to see Charlie Higson and Paul Whitehouse in support (Paul's Gone Fishing with Bob Mortimer is one of the best things on TV at the moment), but I've no idea who's on one-fingered keyboards. Well, it was a thing.
ReplyDeletePrince with a pared-down funk sound on Alphabet Street, low-fi but fun video and his usual lyrical obsessions about getting it on with a lovely lady. About middle of the quality table for the Purple One, which is miles above many other artists.
The Adventures, now their Send My Heart is one of the great "shoulda been" records of the 80s, and while this isn't quite as good, it's still a top pop record, plaintive in melody and arranged with a lush, Irish sound. Sweet to see how chuffed the lead singer is at the end.
Narada, having dropped two thirds of his name for some reason (but every DJ reminded you who he was every time they played this anyway), with a sunshine bright paean to the quasi-religious effect the object of his adoration has on him. It's not as enduring as his other hit (that is fantastic, they can't all be at that level), but I like how it skips along breezily. No idea what he was doing to his female backing singers 3/4 of the way through, mind.
Star Turn on 45 Pints, that's a lot of drinking, and their ridiculous act makes it to the studio. I'd forgotten the bassline was played on a Bon Tempi organ! Even if this doesn't make you laugh, you have to say the attention to detail and willingness to pick up the concept and really run with it is impressive. Instead of "Oh boy, what a great record!" we get Tone asking "Is this a load of garbage?!" Did they have an album? I bet they did.
Fittingly after that pub-based absurdity, we get Wet Wet Wet with their chicken in a basket cover of the Fabs' With a Little Help from My Friends which adds nothing to the original except, well, smugness. Ringo was at least humble-sounding, but Marti is more arrogant. 50 years since Abbey Road!
Fairground Attraction reach the peak of their career one record in, no matter what Simon says, and eh, it's nice enough but they're very pleased with themselves. Mind you, if you can't be pleased with yourself about getting to No.1 then when can you?
Kylie back with the SAW sound and a strained attempt to live up to the success of her debut - those synth chords are a little painful to listen to. If her dress was any tighter it would be bursting at the seams - guess they filmed this before lunch.
I remember Enfield killed Loadsamoney off by having him knocked down by a car during the second Red Nose Day in 1989 - it did seem quite shocking back then.
DeleteRe Star Turn on 45 Pints, I forgot to mention in my comments that they also manage to cram in a take-off of Tennessee Ernie Ford's Sixteen Tons, which is the last thing I would expect to hear in a house record, even a parody!
Delete"You drink sixteen pints
DeleteAnd what do you get?
Wake up in the morning
And your bed's all wet."
Star Turn on 45 Pints released no less than 11 singles over a sporadic 30-year period, this hit being their first release for seven years after their other chart rumbler in 1981, their self-titled third single which neatly peaked at 45. They also released two albums. The MC in the cap was a chap called J. Vincent (Vince) Edwards who released myriad singles years earlier and also wrote and co-wrote Maxine Nightingale's two UK hits.
DeleteTHX, I was watching the Cincinnati tennis semi-finals yesterday on BT Sport, and one of the commentators mentioned that the mother of Jelena Jankovic (now retired) would have a sip of water for every point that her daughter won, and so as a spectator, must have had a number of toilet breaks during the match, considering that her daughter was doing a lot of winning in her prime.
Delete@Dory: Depends on how big the sips were, I suppose!
Deleteharry enfield: i was never a big fan of either his loadsamoney character or the greek kebab guy, but i found this vaguely amusing at the time. the funniest bit for me was the call of his "loadsa loadsa loadsa" with the sampled response of abba's "money money money". apparently benny and bjorn weren't too happy at their work being snaffled in this manner, and as such were probably the first superstars to make sure that nothing got past them without permission or a legal suit. sadly though once has-been/superannuated pop stars from the past realised that having bits and pieces from their old hits mauled by talentless rappers and suchlike was making them look cool wiv da kidz, they were all too willing to ruin their legacy in return for a bit of contemporary street cred and a top up to their already-bursting bank accounts
ReplyDeleteI think it was ABBA who had a whole album by The KLF pulled and pulped.
DeleteI think Edelweiss got in trouble for nicking a bit of SOS as well in 1989.
Crickey, The KLF, with memories of 1991-1992 of their distinctive sound and that white album. I remember they were so talked about and promoted, and with their very grand videos. Bring them on in these reruns if we get to 1991!
DeleteA surfeit of (c)rap tracks this week.
ReplyDeleteThe ‘comedy’ records continue. Next...
The adventures - a good tune massively underproduced. Chorus sounded like Weather With You...
...and Narada sounded like a track Michael Jackson rejected.
Anfield Rap - was that the Morris Minor singer?...
Star Turn hasn’t grown on me.
For a change, a charity record that is listenable to - though that is mostly due to the writing rather than the performing. Will they play the Billy Bragg side when it hits number one? (Good Pointless answer, along with Wings double-A, Girlschool)
Astoundingly, i don’t remember the the Kylie track at all...
Yes, Charlie, and Billy Bragg's turn is a cracker as he put the lyrics on stage as an aide memoire only for dry ice to obliterate them!
DeleteGawd, I remember cringing when Billy got his words mixed up - the anguish on his face! Not quite All About Eve levels, but getting there.
Deletewell i hope it taught him a valuable lesson as a performer i.e. be properly prepared and learn the lyrics by heart in advance, rather than leaving things to chance
Deletethat reminds me of when i once saw a band in a pub, and whenever the singer couldn't remember the lyrics properly (which happened several times) he was rather pathetically stooping down to try and read them from a folder placed on the floor!
If we get to the mid-90s, we'll see Mark E. Smith reading his lyrics off a bit of paper with his hit Inspiral Carpets collaboration.
DeleteA right old bag of Revels, this one. Some great tunes and some duffers, and a ridiculously up in the mix audience.
ReplyDeleteWad a load of rubbish to start with. For the record, Charlie Higson had been founder and vocalist of funk-punk university band The Higsons, who veered towards being a Norwich Talking Heads. Paul Whitehouse looked inactive here but seriously has a great singing voice (I remember him performing part of “Figaro” brilliantly in a Harry Enfield sketch) and he’s doing okay for himself now, starring in the “Only Fools and Horses” musical he co-wrote.
Hungry for some Alpabetti Spaghetti after Prince’s funky video. Did he need trews with his name on to remind himself who he was? Interesting Prince had a heart alongside the letter “i” in the vid to prove he loved himself. Could have done without that ripped shirt shot, mind you.
After Simon’s massive intro it was nailed on that the poor Adventures, looking like a Northern Irish Deacon Blue complete with female backing vocalist, would never have another hit this big. Looking at the titles of their other chart entries, though, you could tell they were a serious band not about to launch into “Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep” any day soon. Several cuts above anything else on the show but almost drowned out by all that bloody whooping (for a song about The Troubles? Really?), this contains one of the loveliest re-run moments as a focussed Terry suddenly recognises someone and waves as if to say “Cheers, we’ve made it onto the show and you’re here”.
Narada (as in Florida?) with 2-and-a-Half Star and a pre-jog workout for some average disco.
Oh dear. It’s a crap football record. John Barnes will perform a much better rap two TOTP years from now, i.e. next year. We get Ian Rush saying they need to teach us to talk like scousers only for the next ‘artiste’ to be a Zimbabwean. Duh.
Belinda with one of her better tunes and a simpler, less cryptic beachy vid than Debbie Gibson’s recent Hitchcock effort.
Derek B. “Bad Young Brother” – bad, young and, er, just bad.
Some humorous scheduling next, as we get two North Eastern acts in a row and both with their leader having nicked virtually the same suit from Martin Fry’s tailor.
The criminally underrated Prefab Sprout, with a strange video and we don’t get to hear the verses, but still silver medal on the show by some distance.
M/A/R/R/S must be spitting at the telly. How ironic that we missed "Pump Up The Volume" completely due to an horrific four-week Shitty stretch, then its mickey-take by Star Turn On 45 (Pints) gets two airings on BBC4. Definitely an acquired taste, but I thought this was a very well put together and knowing classic of its admittedly narrow genre. “Whip crackaway” indeed. My personal bronze medal of the show – well, it takes all sorts. I’ve been humming this all week! So glad we got arguably the two hosts who would be the most humourously sympathetic to the track.
Give me Star Turn over Marti Pellow anyway. “Would you stand up and walk out on me”? Defo. FF.
Some unusual elements there with Fairground Attraction. Brushes instead of drumsticks, a mariache guitar masquerading as a double bass, and Acme Company Itching Powder down the back of Eddi’s coat, otherwise she wouldn’t have been such a whirling dervish. Enjoyable song but I agree that a later hit will be much nicer.
No, Mike, Simon Bates’s sidekick is Peter Powell. Have you been watching recently?
A nice coral outfit and hairstyle for Kylie in the approximately 13 seconds we got of this clip. Worse chopping than when AC/DC were in the studio for a song which had virtually half of the choruses spliced due to, erm, adult content.
I seem to recall the original broadcasts were pretty keen to get on with EastEnders too, often cutting off the last video halfway in, if that, so I suspect these are just the condition the tapes are in.
DeleteI do recall how pleased I was when Inner City's Good Life (I think) was given a complete airing, because I fancied the lead singer (!).
Just checked YT - it was the Big Fun video I liked, not Good Life. There's more recent footage of Paris there too, oh dear, mind you I don't look that great either!
DeleteGood call regarding the alphabet letters on the Prince video reminded you of alphabet pasta (not spaghetti Arthur!). I remember kids like myself in the 70s used to look forward to lunch at home with alphabet pasta in the summer holidays before the Autumn school term arrived with school dinners with no chance of any alphabet-shape pasta being served up. Tomato sauce on top, and just perfect pasta!
Delete@Dory: the name of the brand was Alphabetti Spaghetti, though.
Deletethx with regard to "big fun" i presume you're referring to the inner city track rather than the proto-boyband of that name* who are due to appear on the show fairly soon?
Delete* and who were all revealed to be gay in more recent times!
It may or may not surprise you to learn I was not a fan of the half-arsed boy band Big Fun.
DeleteHi Anonymous, I'm on to ask for more shows if you've got them, please! Have you got any of the following early to mid-70's shows? They are 1/02/73, 27/09/73, 14/02/74, 13/03/75 and 25/12/75, all of which haven't been requested before. Cheers!
ReplyDeletehi brie only have 2 eps sorry here they are, i have 251273 BBC4 version if that's any good?
Deletehttps://we.tl/t-poKd18mu7i
Meant 251275 sorry
ReplyDeleteThanks, Anonymous. I've got the BBC4 showing of 25/12/73, but thanks anyway. The others are on the Google drive but they are einsfestival versions, but they're better than UK Gold ones.14/02/74 is on there but I think it's a made up one as there are no DJ links from DLT and Popscene says the episode was wiped. Thanks again anyway!
DeleteSorry, I meant 25/12/75 as well!
DeleteHi Annoymous. Feel free to tell me to get lost if this is inappropriate but am I right in thinking you have access to the BBC Archive, which is why you can get hold of these episodes of TotPs? The reason I ask is because I've been trying for years to source the full recording of a BBC Radio 1 documentary from 1990 called "Last Night a DJ Saved my Life - History of Remixing", I have the first 46 minutes of it up on Youtube (https://youtu.be/FKAxkK_JJ1g). Even to know it was in the archive would be a step forward for me. Can you help at all?
ReplyDeleteHi i did have access but alas no more sorry i can't help you.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteAh that's a shame, thanks for your reply though.
DeleteSome very enthusiastic intros from our hosts. Especially Mr Read. I was left unimpressed with most of what I saw.
ReplyDeleteHarry Enfield – Loadsamoney – Just irritating – didn’t an extract from this appear on ‘Doctorin the Tardis’ later?
Prince – Alphabet Street – Didn’t give it the time of day. What happened to the bright new hitmaker that gave us gems like ‘When Doves Cry’?
Adventures – Broken Land – The highlight on this show for me. Don’t get me started as to why this only made no20 and S’Express made no1. The female Adventure didn’t have much to do here except jig around and apply some backing vocals near the end. I recall a free EP I got from a magazine around this time that featured ‘Don’t walk away Renee’ by the Adventures and it must have been her singing it as it sure wasn’t the guy.
Nerada – Divine Emotions – I wondered if this was the ‘Michael Walden’ guy. No better than that hit.
Breakers – I cringed at the Liverpool rappers and adored the sight of a dark haired Belinda. Nothing to say about the other two.
Star Turn – Pump up the Bitter – No thanks.
Wet Wet Wet – With a little help from my Friends – Joe Cocker gave us a stunning rendition. Ringo’s jaunty version still excites me whilst this is comfortably the worst version of this. I don’t ever recall hearing Billy Bragg singing ‘She’s leaving home’ and frankly don’t wish to. Wonder who had a crack at ‘Within you without you’?
Fairground Attraction – Perfect – “You are perfect tonight….” Not a bad no1 though.
Kylie Minogue = Got to be certain – Almost prophetic. Kylie has never quite been certain of any of her relationships other than they’d end at some point. Never did get the Hutchence hook up. Cut very short this I have to say. Wonder if the ‘library’ version contains the full video?
A very bad Dalek voice does indeed cry "dosh dosh dosh loadsamoney" on Doctorin' The Tardis.
DeleteMr Music and the Boy Mayo this week so 2 very competent presenters. I think Mike is quite pleased with his Harry Enfield impression...
ReplyDeleteHere comes Mr Loadsamoney on Top of the Wads. Nice DJ skills with needle firmly off the record. Nice to see Paul Whitehouse as well. I will admit I bought this but its aged very badly.
We get a longer look at Alphabet Street. One of Princes best songs. Very bright video as well and fairly clean by Prince standards.
The Adventures. What a tune. Such a shame they couldnt follow it up. Always sounds good on the radio. He's having trouble with the miming bless him.
Nice wave to Mum there...
Narada. I don't remember him from his early 80s appearances. Although the song and performance are very 82/83 and nothing wrong with that. It's a nice tune but you do forget it as soon as its finished. Not sure it needs 4 people on backing vocals. Nice energetic performance though
Breakers :
Anfield Crap.
Belinda Carlisle. Circle In The Sand. Lovely tune that still sounds fresh today.
Derek B. Bad Young Brother. A huge improvement on his first hit. Don't mind this at all.
Prefab Sprout. Tune of the night. Absolutely adore this song.
Star Turn on 45 Pints. Is this meant to be funny. At least Harry Enfield had some gags. Martin Fry wants his clothes back. This is bloody awful. I'd even rather have Anita Dobson back.. Possibly the worst thing I've seen since 1979.
WWW. Oh how I HATED this song at the time. Obviously for charity but so overplayed everywhere. It's a fairly straight forward cover version. Who knew this would only be their second most annoying song.. Wonder if Billy Bragg will get a look in..
New Number One! Perfect. 😀
Kylie gets her second hit and its a huge improvement so her Lucky debut. In fact this is one of her best SAW tunes.
A show of 2 halves tonight. Very hit and miss...
I really enjoyed this edition - no coincidence that this was roughly when I started getting properly interested in music again.
ReplyDeleteHarry Enfield - We always watched Friday (Saturday) Night Live but although I liked Harry I confess that I never found Loadsamoney particularly hilarious. I'm pretty sure that's William Orbit on keyboards as he produced the song. I bet he doesn't put that on his CV. Oh, and in this week's fishing show with Bob Mortimer, Paul Whitehouse said that his Mum was an accomplished opera singer so no wonder he can sing!
Prince - It's my favourite song by him, so I was a bit annoyed that they chopped the video even though the duration is only 2 and a half minutes anyway!
The Adventues - A brilliant song, mystifying that it didn't make the Top 10.
Narada - I was told once that it's pronounced 'Na'ada' (ie a silent 'R') but I've no idea if that's true. I really like the song, even with it's daft lyrics ("I look at you and I go boing boing boing" indeed!)
Star Turn on 45 Pints - I think it's funny, and props for doing it live even though they had no real reason to do so as it would've been easier to mime it!
Wet Wet Wet - Hmmm..not the best thing they ever did. The live version they do now is based on the Joe Cocker arrangement.
William Orbit! By George, I think you're right! That's one itch scratched.
DeleteThey played Paul Whitehouse's mum singing over the end credits of Gone Fishing yesterday, an amazing voice (though I admit to being ignorant about opera). Sad to hear Paul say she had dementia now.