Mick or Treat?
08/09/88 (Andy Crane & Mike Read)
Marc Almond – “Tears Run Rings” (28)
Getting tonight's show underway with one of his less memorable tunes, and it went up two more places.
Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine – “Anything For You” (15) (video)
This syrupy ballad was on its way to number 10.
Spagna – “Every Girl & Boy” (23)
In the studio to perform this fine tune but it was her final hit and it got no higher.
Anthrax – “Make Me Laugh” (26) (breaker)
Got no higher.
Bill Medley – “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” (25) (breaker)
Were people buying this version by mistake? Either way, it got no higher.
The Proclaimers – “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” (19) (breaker)
This song would eventually become their only number one hit, but in 1988 it peaked at number 11.
Michael Jackson – “Another Part Of Me” (16) (video)
This sixth single from his Bad album went up one more place.
Yello – “The Race” (8) (video)
This clever and eccentric record went up one more place.
Phil Collins – “Groovy Kind Of Love” (1)
He's in the studio to perform his first of two weeks at number one.
Jane Wiedlin – “Rush Hour” (13) (video/credits)
This dolphin-tastic tune went up one more place.
September 15th is next.
Still no showing for Donny….a far cry from the halcyon days of teeny bopper ‘Puppy Love’.
ReplyDeleteMarc Almond – Tears run Rings - Still can’t get Pamela Stephenson interviewing ‘Marc’ on ‘Not the 9 O’Clock News’ out of my head when I see this guy. This song is pretty non-descript and made no impression on me.
Gloria Estefan – Anything for you – Lovely song from Glo – what a response after the earlier dross of ‘Dr Beat’. Smoochy video and more goodies to come I nfuture releases. Start of a golden run.
Spangya – Every Boy and every Girl -Not in the ‘Call me’ league
Breakers – Anthrax – Head banging racket. Proclaimers – Love this! Who recalls the series ‘Beast’ starring Alexander ‘Pointless’ Armstrong and Doon Mackichan ? In one episode Doon kept playing 80s hits in the Vets Reception area and she proudly introduced this track at one point. Bill Medley – Not quite in the Hollies league but you can’t knock a good song.
Michael Jackson – Another part of me – oh gosh no….more ‘Bad’ music to FF to.
Yello – The Race – A bit of an irritating weird racket really. Video makes me feel nauseous.
Phil Collins – Groovy kind of love – So here’s the story of how this song came to be recorded from ‘Not Dead yet’, Phil’s Autobiography. They wanted something smoochy to accompany a romantic scene in ‘Buster’. Someone suggested ‘Groovy kind of Love’ and they asked Phil to record a demo so that they could play it alongside the scene to see how it sounded (Phil phoned Tony Banks to get the chords – wow!). Phil thought that would be it, but the films producers liked it so much that then they asked him to record it properly, and Anne Dudley produced and added full orchestration. What came out was this ‘dull dirge’ as some people term it, but it gave Phil his third UK no1. Some would say (and I agree) that Phil’s best single ‘In the Air Tonight’ would have been a more worthy no1 than this, but the same applies to Alvin Stardust and the Troggs. Nice picture sleeve as well and, yes, I like the recording….and doesn’t Phil look smart?
Jane Wiedlin – Rush Hour – So a video with Jane swimming with dolphins just conjures up Bowie’s ‘Heroes’ for me. Surely a lot of traffic jams and crowds of commuters would have been more apt? Anyway the song is a nice way to end the show, along with Phil taking us out on a high.
The first and easily best of the three TOTP episodes shown by BBC4 this week, thanks to some great videos, and totally agree about Gloria Estefan, as I always felt that this was my favourite tune of hers in her solo career. I would say that Dr Beat from 1984 as Miami Sound Machine was a brilliant dance record for the time, so this also has a special place.
DeleteThe Jane Wiedlin video with swimming with dolphins reminds me of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, where Mr Spock has to swim and communicate with a giant whale in order to save the earth. He takes Kirk by surprise when Kirk expects him to be behind him in tour group, and then sees Spock in front of him swimming with George and Gracie, the two whales:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoS1eAVNXWU
Was that the "Row, row, row the Boat" one? That was hilarious!
DeleteNo, that was Star Trek V: The Final Frontier that you are referring to.
Delete"So Marc, when's the new album out?" "Erm, yesterday!" I'm reminded of the pisstake on Not the 9 O'Clock News too! Anyway, must admit I'd forgotten this one as it's never revived, but it's not bad, bitter pop. You can tell why he wanted to record his own version of The Days of Pearly Spencer from this, can't you?
ReplyDeleteGloria and ver Machine with a song that sounds like it should crop up halfway through a Don Bluth cartoon. No, that's not a compliment. Starts out all delicate then quickly ramps up the production to bombastic levels. Thought that was Judd Nelson in the video, but then thought... Madonna's boyfriend from the Papa Don't Preach video, maybe?
See, Spagna did have another hit! She found an image and stuck with it, didn't she? Square bashing around the stage like she's embarking on a long career, maybe she does have one, but she didn't get it in this country. Song, eh, fair, but not as catchy as her biggie.
Anthrax, who got very embarrassed when unknown agents started sending actual anthrax to public figures in the US post-Sept 11 2001. I note one of them is wearing a Public Enemy T-shirt - their later collaboration on a redo of Bring the Noise is an absolute monster of a track.
The other Breakers, ooh, bad timing Bill Medley! And if I never hear 500 Miles again it'll be too soon. Alas, being Scottish I will never get away from the bastard.
Whackson with Another Pwort of Me, well that's what it sounded like. Marvel at the fans insanely worshiping this very ho-hum song. Is it any wonder they get lampooned? At least we know there's no ban at the BBC, or did they show this because it's Halloween and they wanted to scare the kids? Evidence of his eventual horrorface to be seen here.
Ah, this is more like it, best thing on the show! Yello had been around for a while, and their song Oh Yeah was a breakthrough elsewhere (especially with Hollywood soundtrack compilers), but this is a real gem for my money. Wonderfully offbeat, hammers along like a powerhouse, and Dieter Meier provided one of the best bits of Radio 1's Round Table when he was absolutely disgusted with Mike and the Mechanics' The Living Years which he described as emotional pornography or something. Whatta guy!
Speaking of disgust, here's an undeserving, "will this do?" cover that is about as far from groovy as it's possible to get, and all for the sake of advertising his nasty little film.
To take away that bad taste, Jane Wiedlin brightens up the credits with her swimming with dolphins video for Rush Hour. Wink to the camera, star jumps - you can't say she wasn't doing her best to go Top 10, and odd that she didn't make it.
i have a scottish friend who is a semi-pro musician, and he informs me that that he often has to end his set doing a medley of "500 miles" and "hi ho silver lining" (something that i would walk 500 miles from in order to get out of earshot!)
Deletei remember being pleased that yello had finally gained some commercial success having been around for the best part of a decade with their groundbreaking sound (they were creating "samples" by actually cutting up and looping bits of tape), but sadly for me this was not in the same league as earlier stuff like "i love you", "base for alec" and (in particular) "lost again"
i used to love listening to radio 1's "roundtable" in the late 70's and early 80's (one memorable moment was when someone sneered at meat loaf's vocal efforts, saying "they must have used varyspeed to get him in tune"!). i have just found a recording of one edition on youtube featuring three of the coolest and best-looking guys on the pop scene at that time (shame it was only on the radio ha ha) that i shall have a listen to when covenient. also in the accompanying pic i see that they do actually sit at a round table, although they could have been sitting at a square or oblong one for all the listeners knew!:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYupjFCaQgk
I think Gold Rush was the first Yello single I took notice of (a friend of mine was a big fan, however), and it was nice to hear it on the soundtrack for Stranger Things (they usually went for the obvious, not this time).
DeleteIncidentally, is Dieter Meier still one of Switzerland's richest men? And that's saying something. What a fascinating lifestyle he has.
DeleteJust checked out the video for Lost Again - yes, I remember this tune too. I must have been aware of them earlier than I thought.
DeleteIn the late 80's I used to follow a North London band called The Chairs, whose leader wrote songs very much in the acerbic style of John Lennon and, particularly, Elvis Costello, so you can inagine his unbounded joy when Declan gave their final single an excellent review on "Round Table".
DeleteFunny you should say that wilby, as I did a record review on student radio and called it 'Oblong Desk' in tribute to the original....
DeleteAndy turns in a another decent performance for his second outing, and works well enough with Mr Read, who essays both an atrocious Hispanic accent and a Smashie and Nicey impersonation, some two years before they even came on the scene! A very clean-cut, indeed practically conventional, Marc Almond starts us off with a forgotten song that marks his first appearance on TOTP in a long while, though he would soon be back at number 1. I quite like it, actually - the tune is pretty, but it is slightly repetitive and goes on a bit too long. Not sure whether that unpronounceable name mentioned in the intro referred to the whole band accompanying Marc or just one of them.
ReplyDeleteMiami Sound Machine are also back after a lengthy absence, with Glo doing a Miss Ross and now getting her name billed above the band. It's a pleasant enough ballad, though not one to exactly get the pulse racing. It feels like it should have been recorded for the soundtrack to some low-key romantic film, an impression enhanced by the video. I didn't think we would see Spagna again, but here she is with the same hair and general fashion sense as before. This is another decent pop tune from her, but I couldn't make out about half the lyrics - I daresay I wasn't missing much...
Two breakers this week we will see no more of, which is frankly just as well in both cases. Anthrax offer up nothing but tuneless noise, and Bill Medley appears to be trying his best to do a Paul Shane-style club singer number on He Ain't Heavy. I had forgotten this version was in the charts at the same time as the Hollies reissue, which seems an odd coincidence. I don't like the song very much whoever records it, but the Hollies version is certainly preferable to this. Jacko continues churning out the Bad singles, this one probably being the lest remembered of the lot. It is very much the King of Pop by numbers, right down to the cliched vocal affectations, and the fact they did another "in concert" video for this, straight after the one for Dirty Diana, suggests that the record company were not really that bothered about this one.
A fun record up next from Yello, even if they are not the most visually attractive people you will ever see on TOTP. The video looked quite cheap with its creaky back projection, and I do hope none of the very nasty-looking accidents featured therein resulted in any fatalities. Phil's in the studio, in a suit that looks far to big for him, but this undeserved number 1 still sounds like a dirge sung live. However, I do agree with sct that the aquarium theme to Jane Wiedlin's video seemed a less than obvious choice - I suppose it is a more soothing watch than staring at a traffic jam...
As Spagna sang about a billion times, every boy and girl likes making love, every boy and girl a chance to believe in love. I don't think she was very deep!
DeleteAs I suspected, I wasn't missing much!
DeleteGood start - didn’t remember the Marc Almond track until we got to the chorus. but it was jolly good
ReplyDeleteSpagna - I remember Call Me, but not Every Girl and Boy. Sounds like one of those records that were a hit after people had been abroad and heard them there...
How to murder a well known song, stand up Bill Medley.
Admit it, no havering - you sang along to 500 miles as well...
MJ - Bad had some cracking tracks on it, but not this one
Yello - silly but fun (reminds me of Quantum Jump’s The Lone Ranger)
(And another version he ain’t heavy... why.)
Rush Hour - as I mentioned in an earlier post, I remember this having more bounce, and I was right!
In agreement with THX, regarding Yello which is so brilliant, and I remember taking interest in its chart position on a week by week basis. Hard to think it only made it to No.7, when I imagined this as one of those records that would peak at No.2 and stay there for a few weeks at least! The best part is when it was used in this month of Sep 1988 as the background tune on TOTP when the presenters were presenting the songs on the show.
DeleteGood job done there by Andy Crane, including mentioning a new number one without saying who it is. You see? It can be done. Readey still wearing shades in the studio and doing awful impressions, but at least he didn’t give us his Cliff. By the way, was this show in FM stereo? I wasn’t sure!
ReplyDeleteWe start with the conch shell without the twig. A reasonable effort but some of Marc’s earlier hits, erm, run rings around this. Meanwhile, Dave Ball sits at home watching this and snuffling into his Twiglets.
Gloria Estefan in crucifix decorated sheepskin (must be hot in one of those in Miami) and a pleasant Latin tinged ballad.
‘Stereo charts’ equals echoey sounding mugshot accompaniment. They call this progress, you know.
Why was Lawrence Llewellyn Bowen – sorry, Spagna - standing so far back on that stage? Did someone in the audience have BO? Unremarkable Euro disco rock.
Woah! Anthrax finally on TOTP. Wonderful! A Flying V and a drumkit Malcolm of OMD could only dream of.
Bill, this ain’t heavy, Anthrax are. This is just awful working men’s club karaoke. You can almost hear The Hollies sniggering in the background.
The Proclaimers should have been out racewalking in the video for better effect. Was there a European version of this called “800 Kilometres”?
No part of me wanted to hear “Another Part Of Me”. FF.
Mid show mughshots - Gloria Estefan’s photo is back to front, as the ‘beauty spot’ has moved below her other eye.
Brilliant. The Swiss Sparks. I can almost forgive Yello’s countryfolk for putting holes in their cheese and making us pay for them. Dieter Meier should have challenged Robbie Robertson to a low voice contest.
Oh Christ, no wonder Andy didn’t pre-announce the number one. FF.
Given that video, Jane Wiedlin should have released the theme tune to “Flipper” as the follow-up. Great way to finish the show. Takes the taste away of that horrible chart topper.
I enjoyed the lesser heard tunes on this edition, and also Andy Crane's ability to blithely ignore pretty much everything Mike Read was saying.
ReplyDeleteMarc Almond - A good song that deserved to do better as did pretty much everything he released in this period bar the chart topper.
Gloria Estefan - Some of her ballads are alright, but this one's a bit dreary.
Spagna - Some fun Europop, albeit not as good as her big hit. A few more singles were released but flopped, including the frankly hilarious 'I Wanna Be Your Wife'.
Breakers - I don't mind some of Anthrax's songs but this one's a bit much. At the opposite scale a coincidental (or was it?) cover of a song we'll hear more of soon.
Michael Jackson - My favourite 'Bad' as I had it on a chart tape that I played to death. Like him or not, the live video does convey how popular he really was at the time.
Yello - A great song which suffered from overuse as suitable background music for racing montages. I recognise some of the crashes that are used in the video - notably Tyrrell's Derek Daly crashing into team-mate Jean Pierre-Jarier at Monaco. There's also what looks like a Brabham from the same era crashing into catch-fencing and either an Alfa Romeo or McLaren (both had Marlboro sponsorship!) colliding with a wall. As you can guess, I'm the forum's F1 expert.
i always used to like watching the F1 late night highlights in the 80's, probably as much for the odd couple double act commentary of murray walker ("and HE'S really taking CON-trol of THIS race - oh, HE'S crashed") and james "mumbling toff" hunt as for the racing itself. however as one of the few people in blighty who never owned or even listened to the "rumours" album, i had no idea at the time that the driving theme (ho ho) was by fleetwood mac!
DeleteOnwards deep into September we go...broadcast at Halloween so I'm now only 20 days behind BBC4.
ReplyDeleteAnd its welcome back Marc Almond. It's been a while. A slightly theatrical number foreshadowing some of his later stuff. He does have a great voice and I like this. Escaped my attention in 88 but a good opening to the show. I love Jacky and Days of Pearly Spencer and I look forward to them if we get to 91.
Andy Crane does look like a school teacher doesn't he.
Gloria up next. Lovely song. Very cheesy video though.
Spagna had another hit? How? Why? Oh dear. Euro Pop at its blandest.
Breakers:
Anthrax. No thank you.
Bill Medley. He ain't heavy, he's the cover!
Proclaimers. Their signature song. Brilliant. No party should be without it.
MJ still plugging the Bad album on the back of his tour. Nice song but an album track, no more. One more Bad track to come I think.
And an actual LIVE performance video. Nice.
Yello. Hooray more of the video.
Brother Beyond miss out on a number one so PC gets a studio outing to plug his movie. Not much love on here for this one last week but I like it. Crying out for a live vocal though Phil?
Nice to see the Jane Weidlin video but no Hollies which is the highest climber. Think totp has decided to miss out all the rereleases
As a side note..I see Jason Donovan has arrived at the foot of the charts...
DeleteEverybody be ready to get a cuppa!!!