Flat-top of the pops
02/06/88 (Nicky Campbell & Peter Powell)
Aswad – “Give A Little Love” (18) (video)
Getting tonight's cobbled together show underway with a song that peaked at number 11.
Desireless – “Voyage Voyage” (14) (video)
With her only hit and it peaked at number 5.
Tiffany – “I Saw Him Standing There” (23) (video)
She even sings live in her videos! This Beatles cover became her third and final top ten hit when it reached number 8.
The Timelords – “Doctorin’ The Tardis” (22) (breaker)
Will be number one in two weeks time.
Voice Of The Beehive – “Don’t Call Me Baby” (27) (breaker)
Thier biggest hit and it peaked at number 15.
Five Star – “Another Weekend” (25) (breaker)
On its way to number 18.
Aztec Camera – “Somewhere In My Heart” (5) (rpt from 19/05/88)
Went up two more places.
Rod Stewart – “Lost In You” (21) (video)
Got no higher.
Wet Wet Wet – “With A Little Help From My Friends” (1) (rpt from 12/05/88)
Third of four weeks at number one.
Belinda Carlisle – “Circle In The Sand” (4) (video/credits)
At its peak.
Next up is June 9th.
Angelo, it wasn't just us watching a mainly videos TOTP edition, but also in the Desireless video there seemed to be a giant projector showing videos. The Desireless tune was the highlight of the show for me, which doesn't say very much for this edition in a makeshift studio. Were they doing repairs to the regular TOTP studio?
ReplyDeleteI also quite liked the Timelords video, albeit only a short clip of it on The Breakers. It was a little un-nerving to see the police car crashing into one of the Daleks and completely destroying it, but apart from that it looked like a ok sort of video.
The BBC had discovered asbestos in TV Centre, which forced the closure of studios while they removed it. Doctor Who was another show affected, but because the story they were making at the time was set in a circus, they were able to carry on filming in a big tent set up in a studio car park!
DeleteYep...the Sylvester McCoy story 'The Greatest Show in the Galaxy' starring T P McKenna and Ian 'Tricky Dicky' Reddington.
DeleteI daresay that being forced out of the studios was a blessing for Who in this case, as filming under a real Big Top did increase the authenticity of the production.
DeleteThere's a lovely photo somewhere of the cast of Dr Who and Allo Allo all in full costume stuck in the Elstree car park following a fire alarm.
DeleteA surprisingly enjoyable show, this one, given that our hosts were crammed into the control gallery and had nothing to offer but repeats and videos. PP and Campbell actually made for quite a good team, both sustaining well the running gag about their "party." Campbell's improvement continues, even if he'll never be the most likeable of hosts, but I hope we never see that shirt again...
ReplyDeleteAswad are out and about in France, for some reason, showing what great men of the people they are. I prefer this to their number 1, as it is livelier and has a nice bouncy chorus. The French theme continues with the bogbrush-haired Claudie Fritsch-Mentrop. I haven't heard this for ages, but it has stood the test of time well and makes for quite an atmospheric, sensual listen; a second big French language hit in one calendar year in Britain as well, a real rarity. The video is a bit pretentious, though I was intrigued by what exactly the seated woman was eating. As for Desireless herself, I agree with Campbell that she doesn't exactly get the juices flowing, though it was a bit ungallant of him to say so on camera.
Tiff next, with another tedious "in concert" promo, and a dreadful cover of one of my favourite Fabs songs. This really shows up her vocal limitations, as her voice sounds horribly harsh and raspy throughout, and by the end she is just shouting - no wonder the hits would soon dry up. More from the breakers next time, though I did enjoy the Daleks made out of crates, and on to Roderick, who I believe was meant to be making his first appearance in the studio for many years that week, had the asbestos not got in the way. This is a decent enough rocker, enhanced by the female backing vocals on the chorus, but it's accompanied by another bog-standard video. The rest we've seen before.
Sounds like Nicky was desireless about Desireless. Boom boom tish!
DeleteI thought the woman was eating les escargots? Or is that stereotypical?
DeleteThat could be the case - people weren't so bothered about stereotypes back then!
DeleteThe party atmosphere was more office party atmosphere thanks to the dangerous substances, but it was an opportunity to catch up with some videos, Chart Show-style.
ReplyDeleteAswad first, apparently doing a Howard Jones in a French port town (day trip to Calais, or something?). Anyway, it's a million miles away from the reggae they started out with, but pleasant enough and with a cheery, positive message.
Still in La Belle France for the not quite as belle Desireless, a more severe-looking woman we have rarely seen in these repeats. The Last Year at Marienbad antics in the video are no less offputting, but despite that this is a top slice of Europop, nobody knew what she was singing about but it sounded really chic and tres groovy.
Then Tiffany with what is comfortably one of the worst things we ever heard on TOTP, a tone deaf cover of the Fabs' early hit with ghastly eighties production matching her tuneless gabble. Horrible sound effects, horrible sax, horrible dance moves, horrible singing, I never want to hear this again.
A repeat of Roddy leads us to Rod, with a tune that never seems like it's going to get to a chorus and when it does I went "Oh yeah, that one" without much enthusiasm. Trademark blue-eyed blonde in the video, well, he has a type, doesn't he? Seemed to have been shot by the camera crew on Network 7.
Marti, it doesn't make sense if you sing the backing vocals yourself when you get to the call and response bit.
Then Belinda to end on. An interesting diversion tonight, I suppose, harking back to the strike-hit episodes of a few years before.
It may have been filmed in the corridor but not a bad show….
ReplyDeleteAswad – Give a little love – The first of a couple of facsimile titles and I can tell you I’d much rather listen to the Roller’s ‘Give a little love’ than this. Ugh!
Desireless - Voyage Voyage – Seems like a little French renaissance at the moment and this is quite pleasant. The video reminds me a little of those weird new romantic efforts with Steve Strange.
Tiffany – I saw him standing there – Kicking off the ‘Please Please me album, this McCartney rocker (that even Lennon liked) is actually given quite sympathetic treatment by Tiff and her band, and the lady has some stage presence too. A pleasant surprise, and infinitely better than the other Beatles covers in the chart.
Breakers – Timelords – shock horror! They played a bit of a Gary Glitter song! Love the makeshift Daleks where you can see the feet! Voice of the Beehive – with a title ‘Don’t call me Baby’ all I could think of was the no1 song from 2000 by Madison Avenue. What a track that is! Great video and the band look really foxy in it! This isn’t bad either. Five Star – well two out of three breakers were good…
Aztec Camera – Somewhere in my Heart - Repeat of the frantic guitar strumming but still sounds grand.
Rod Stewart – Lost in you – This hasn’t worn well. Co-written by Andy Taylor; is that the Duran Duran guy? The title on the record says ‘Lost in you (fade)’ whatever that means.
Wet Wet Wet – With a little help – FF
Belinda Carlisle – Circle in the Sand – A few good songs with the word ‘circle’ in the title…’Circles’, ‘Circle of Life’ not to mention the group The Cyrkle’ who had a big hit in the States in 1966 with ‘Red Rubber Ball’ co-written by Paul Simon and Bruce Woodley of the Seekers.
It's a shame the Whitney Houston track didn't get an airing on the show despite it going high in the charts.
ReplyDeleteI was going to say exactly that! Strange how it's been ignored - for me it's her finest song, a good tune with no vocal histrionics.
DeleteInteresting - the false audience were very annoying, but the programme had a couple of pleasant tunes
ReplyDeleteDesiree - don’t remember this, but it was quite interesting, a bit Eurovision. Jonathan would have loved it if he was still doing His European slot...
Tiffany - As I have previously mentioned, I don’t think she could sing. This didn’t change my mind...
...and in the subject of previous mentions, 5 star continue to unimpress
Rod - another track I missed first time around. It was ok...
They appeared to have played all of Belinda
Host Peter Powell's ex-wife Anthea Turner has recently announced she's to wed for a third time after a whirlwind romance to socialite Mark Armstrong. I read in the paper today that Mark was previously married to one of the subjects of this forum's detailed discussion a while back. Yep, the Robert Palmer video for 'Addicted to love' featured those distinctive ladies as the 'band', and the keyboard player was Julie Pankhurst....who was married to Mark for more than a decade. Small world.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what new product Anthea will plug for this wedding? Who could forget those excruciating photos where she and her second hubby posed eating Cadbury's short-lived white chocolate Snowflake?
DeleteA remarkably good presentation by the Beeb and our hosts given the circumstances - they obviously got on and bounced off each other nicely.
ReplyDeleteNever mind Whitney Houston not being shown, I’d haved loved a bit of Brass Construction.
Les Aswad with one of their 17 (yes, 17) top 75 chart entries. First time we’ve seen petanque / boules on the show. I was harsh on this song last time round – it was actually quite pleasant in a fluffy way.
Desireless, making Siouxsie Sioux look like Patsy Kensit in comparsion. Quite enjoyed this. Was that woman actually eating Ferrero Rocher-style semi-wrapped chocolates? And was that a young Helen Bonham-Carter at one stage in the video?
Tiffany with “I Heard Her Screeching There”. All the horrible 80’s sound effects in one throwaway globule.
The Timelords and a Dalek with feet. Marvellous. Not filmed inside a tent in a car park, though. See what I did there?
Voice Of The Beehive. Wonderful. Oo, Madness’s drummer Dan’s found new employment.
Five Star with their ‘raunchy’ image. Harumph. More like one star, giving us a Janet Jackson tribute act look and a Michael Jackson attempted rip-off.
Aztec Camera. Good but seen it before so FF.
Rod Stewart’s video was incredibly fast paced for him. The song sounded very Simple Minds-like to me but had an incredibly weak chorus.
The number one. Crap and FF’d before so FF’d again.
Nice to see more than 15 seconds of the outro song this time, especially as it was a fine song, a well thought out video, and the lovely Belinda Carlisle, who also did a ‘Debbie Gibson and Tiffany’ spread but at the age of 42!
You'll be telling us Samantha Fox posed starkers next!
DeleteThe Brass Construction track was a tinny remix, so probably for the best we didn't hear it.
to my recollection the original version of "movin" appeared (in the form of a video or whatever they were called then) on one of the very early editions of these re-runs, and was a "eureka" moment in my life that changed my path forever (the the one i had been treading prior to that led to metal central!). and yes the remix was another totally unncecessary and vastly inferior remix a la the real thing
DeleteChart watchers may have spotted that making its debut at no88 this week is 'Fast Car' by Tracy Chapman. To me, this (and its parent album) are one of the great chart mysteries. I just don't get the appeal at all. A staggering 13 weeks on the singles chart (peaking at no5) in 1988. And then (not that I was paying any attention) another 18 weeks on the chart in 2011 (peaking at no4)....and several other brief forays.
ReplyDeleteTo use my phrase regarding Taylor Swift last week; "have I missed something?".
Cue....derision from some of you folks no doubt, who probably have this on your 'all time' lists!
sct i totally agree, and still wonder what all the fuss was about. in my view she was just another joan armatrading, whose appeal was also lost on me. i'd like to think it was her that nicked stevie wonder's backing tracks or whatever it was, that meant he couldn't perform and so she stepped in as a last minute life-changing replacement
DeleteWasn't/isn't Tracy a pal of Peter Gabriel's? Can't remember if he discovered her, but he would have given her a career boost.
DeleteI got her first album on cassette, nice, laidback folk-rock sound with a dash of earnestness and wistfulness. Didn't rock my world, but a relaxing listen at the time.
As someone who is an admirer of Joan Armatrading, I have always found it more than a little galling that Tracy, basically appropriating her sound, achieved the multi-platinum sales and worldwide success that Joan never quite achieved.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteCompletely agree. Never saw the appeal of Fast Car. The song just never gets going for me and I'm not sure I even like her voice.
DeleteLots of people liked it though..and still do
Nice to see the TV sets still in evidence despite the small apace they had. If PP had been more honest he would have said "You'll be seeing a lot of these production people"!
ReplyDeleteAswad - I prefer this to their No.1 hit, even though it's barely reggae at all.
Desireless - Unlucky to be in the 'chopped down to 2 minutes' slot since I think it's brilliant. They've even got 'Le Toppotron' in the predictably odd video.
Tiffany - Utterly dreadful, one of the worst Beatles covers ever.
Rod Stewart - A live appearance might have helped this average effort further up the chart, but I doubt it.
Hopefully our archivist will have a copy of 23/6/88 as it looks like BBC Four are skipping it. I think he did mention he managed to get most of Mark Goodiers editions before he lost access to the archive and as this is a Mark Goodier one I keep my fingers crossed he has a copy!
ReplyDeleteApparently there are technical issues with the audio on that episode. Either that, or BBC4 have confused Mark Goodier with Smitty again...
Deletehere is neil b's vhsrpip of 23/6/88 with audio intact https://we.tl/t-1RlhGfhKbN
ReplyDeletebbc archive copy with the audio issues :
https://we.tl/t-GjDlcFY4uZ
hopefully audio can be restored by somebody?
here is another copy of 23/6/88 with excelent audio for a possible restoration.
ReplyDeletehttps://we.tl/t-10S8MG2KAa
Excellent, thanks Anonymous!
DeleteFantastic! Be lovely if this can get to the BBC and they can restore their copy for transmission. They've done it before so anything's possible.
DeleteVery grateful to Anon. for the various uploads. T
DeleteArchive edition sadly is a right dog's breakfast isn't it? The mute links with the Fat Boys overlay sounds like the band are blowing raspberries at the presenters!
If the sound could be cleaned up & dubbed in to the iffy links it might be a goer, but I think the worst bits are the missing audio during the Pasadenas & Phil Collins. Not unsurmountable of course but perhaps too much work for the BBC editors to make the deadline on this occasion?
There were rumours there's another episode like this in a couple of
This comment has been removed by the author.
Delete...Pops weeks time, which hopefully isn't as badly affected.
DeleteI've restored 23/06/88 if the BBC skip it.
DeleteNot quite finished yet but will look something like this:
https://we.tl/t-lKLs0l31w3
Here's the complete restored copy of 23/06/88:
Deletehttps://we.tl/t-kSxkHUOa6A
I'm getting some feedback that the audio level is too high on the above restoration at the Pasadenas edit point. I've tried to equalize it as best I can but it's a difficult one to get right. Here's a new restoration of 23/06/88:
Deletehttps://we.tl/t-76nvVnaAN0
Great job xrayfour! Thanks!
DeleteThanks Gia! Thanks also to Anonymous for providing the master tape. I doubt we will get to see any late reprieve for 23/06/88 on BBC4. The audio is a mess & there are no captions, graphics or end credits on the tape at all apart from the chart rundown. We will find out soon enough but I cannot see the Beeb bothering to put the effort into the restoration. If it is on BBC4 then I am more than happy to eat humble pie!
DeleteThanks xrayfour for this! I've been searching for either the full unedited shows, or the missing end bits of 28/04/83, 8/06/83, 19/01/84 and 17/05/84. You don't happen to have them have you as I don't think that Anonymous has got them? Cheers!
DeleteSorry Brie, not got them. Have you any of them Anonymous? I think Neil B might be the best source otherwise. We might try asking him politely!
DeleteI thought this might be your reply, xrayfour as I've never seen the last three anywhere online and drykid has never done a restoration on them. 28/04/83 was on a WeTransfer at the time but I don't know who uploaded it. The missing bit is a link to the following week's 1000th show.
DeleteBonjour it's Video week!
ReplyDeleteNice attempt at creating some TOTP atmosphere.
Nice to see more of Aswad. Tonight on Holiday 88 we visit the South of France. Join us as we play Boules, enjoy the bar life and explore the back streets which are full of character. Fly with Caribbean Airways from only £249...
Regardez! If you like France then sit back and enjoy this piece of classic French Pop, (with an added English remix).. Voyage 88 will transport to back in time.. Tres Bon!
Le Tiffany up next.. We saw her standing there in the last video didn't we.. c'est terrible
Breakers :
Exterminate! Docteur Qui est les Daleks! Magnifique!
Voice of The Beehive. FABULEUSE
Cinq Star. What have they done.. Where is the tune? Zut Alors!
Aztec Camera. Repeat. From the French "repeter" Superbe!
BOMBE SEXUELLE Rod Stewart up next. Very much by the numbers for him. If you like Rod you'll like this, if you dont, you won't. C'est La Vie
Il pleut des Ecossais! 😜 😜 😜
Finally this week chill out at La Plage, even have your photo taken by Ms Carlisle and hung up over the La Mer.
Ou est Whitney?
AU Reviour. Please travel with us again soon..
Hi fellow TOTP fans,
ReplyDeleteAnyone of you have TOTP June 05, 11, 25 1987 in original quality to trade? I was traveling overseas last march and could not record ;/
UV.
Here ya go 3 eps from BBC4
Deletehttps://we.tl/t-PMcsMf7YT1
Anonymous can you got 30/04/81 (from archive)? Please
Deleteyep here it is :
Deletehttps://we.tl/t-KVqTmahIZz
Thanks!!!
DeleteIf you're missing Gary Davies, and we haven't seen him for a while, then you can catch him on Pointless Celebrities tonight, BBC1, at 8.15. I have every faith he will get through to the jackpot round, and win the money for his charity. And get pointless answers in the rounds before. No pressure, Gaz.
ReplyDeleteAh well, out in the second round. I wonder if he woke up in the middle of the night with a cry of "YORK!"?
DeleteThanks friends, but my whole collection is 1080p HD in original mpeg quality. If anyone has TOTP June 05, 11, 25 1987 in original quality to spare I would really appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteUV.
Sorry for trying then!! Originals were never in 1080p HD. Too picky maybe you should remember to set recorder next holiday!
ReplyDeleteHi Anonymous! I'm on again to ask if you've got the following early to mid 70's shows that I've not asked for before. They are 20/09/73, 4/10/73, 27/12/73, 11/04/74 and 24/07/75. Also have you got the original archive show of 28/04/83? Cheers!
ReplyDeletecan only find two eps mate :
Deletehttps://we.tl/t-oyp0NIvDhA
Thanks Anonymous for these. I think the first two from'73 are made up on Google drive as Popscene says they are wiped.
DeleteChanging tack and forums, does anyone else here look at the Popscene website? I've had huge trouble for the past month or so trying to read their A-Z TOTP acts index. I get to the alphabetical list under each letter but then, when I click to see how many times an act was on, I get a screen which reads "This site can’t be reached - z6.invisionfree.com took too long to respond". Does anyone else have the same problem or a fix for it?
ReplyDeleteHi Arthur, yes there is a problem with the Popscene A-Z index. Neil is aware of it & hopes to sort it out at some point.
DeleteThanks for letting me know, xrayfour.
DeleteRIP Ric Ocasek, not huge in the UK, but with at least one massive hit in the 80s.
ReplyDeleteLead singer of the Cars no less. 'Drive' being an enduring favourite.
DeleteI was surprised to learn that he was 75, which means he was well into his 30s before The Cars broke big.
DeleteJust to let you guys now unfortunatly 14/7/88 has gone the same way as 23/6/88 with BBC Four skipping it due to more technical reasons. Its Simon Bates last episode so hopefully theres a copy out there somewhere that can be shared. This edition could be an issue as our archivist friend has said he doesn't have access to the archive anymore so we can't obtain a 'clean' copy so an audio mix can be repaired with an off air copy like the wonderful restoration xrayfour did on 23/6/88.
ReplyDeleteEither way I hope something turns up as I would hate to have to skip an edition after we have come this far in the repeats with the gaps filled in where neccesary. Fingers crossed we will see some copys out there soon of 14/7/88.
Yes sadly i can offer nothing. If only i'd known when i had access there were issues. Hoping Neil B has something.
ReplyDeleteFor Christ's sake, we've missed swathes of TOTP action through wiped editions, Savile, DLT (not jailed) and Shitty, now we're missing editions 'cause those idiots at the BBC can't store sound links on their shows properly! What with the news this week that the red text button feature's being ditched early next year (so that's no more quick catch-ups on news, sport, weather or travel), and with no interest in "Strictly" or the other stale autumn / winter schedule re-heats, I really wonder what I'm paying a licence fee for!
ReplyDeleteIt does make you wonder what the Beeb were playing around at in the summer of 1988 - messing up the sound on two editions in such quick succession seems more than a little careless. Still, I'm sure someone will be able to provide us with a watchable copy.
Deletearthur do what i do, and don't pay for a tv licence! despite the mammoth advances in media and technology over even just the last 20 years, as far as i know the catch-all fee system hasn't been changed since the day the first television images started transmitting from alexandra palace close to a hundred years ago now. but as long as joe public continues to cough up for an absurd/archaic/anachronistic method of charge without complaint to the authorities concerned, then they will be quite content to keep it the way it is!
Delete