Sax Machine
11/08/88 (Bruno Brookes & Liz Kershaw)
Mica Paris featuring Courtney Pine – “Like Dreamers Do” (26)
Getting tonight's definitely not live show underway but this song got no higher.
All About Eve – “Martha’s Harbour” (15)
Accepting an invitation to return to the studio after last week's diastrous technical issues, this time the duo perform it live and the song peaked at number 10.
Breathe – “Hands To Heaven” (17)
Making their debut with a classy power ballad that became their only top ten hit when it peaked at number 4.
Iron Maiden – “The Evil That Men Do” (6) (video)
The second single from their number one album Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son, and it went up one more place.
Tanita Tikaram – “Good Tradition” (23)
Making her debut with what became her only top ten hit when it peaked at number 10.
Brother Beyond – “The Harder I Try” (24)
Another band making their studio debut with what became their biggest hit when it peaked at number 2 for these Bros-a-likes.
Yazz & The Plastic Population – “The Only Way Is Up” (1) (video)
Second of five weeks at number one.
BVSMP – “I Need You” (4) (video/credits)
Went up one more place.
August 18th is next.
No sooner was Janice out the door then TOTP began trying out some new female hosts. First up was Liz Kershaw, who I thought did pretty well here and also had good chemistry with Bruno, despite towering over him - they would of course go on to present a long-running weekend show together on Radio 1. She was a bit over-dressed, and a little late on a couple of her links, but I don't really understand why she wasn't used again when Anthea Turner was.
ReplyDeleteAnother decent show overall, beginning with a jaunty team-up between Mica and Courtney, the latter of whom was fresh from filming an improbable guest appearance in Doctor Who. It's a pleasant listen, and I like Mica's hair in this performance, but Courtney doesn't really contribute that much and it outstays its welcome towards the end. It was only right that the normal rule was broken and All About Eve were invited back for this show, even if the previous week's fiasco had arguably helped lift them further up the charts. They make the most of the opportunity with a masterful live performance, one of the best we have heard in these re-runs, and Julianne looks great in that ravishing red dress.
Breathe were into their waistcoats, weren't they? I haven't heard this rather lovely song for a long while, but it still stands up very well and makes me surprised they couldn't sustain their success - admittedly, they did manage another two Top 10 hits in the States, where this song almost topped the charts. Iron Maiden proceed to lower the tone by reverting to auto-pilot and pumping out their usual song, redeemed slighty by a vaguely rousing chorus, but not by a thuddingly unimaginative video.
As her name and looks imply, Tanita Tikaram had a rather exotic background, the son of a Fijian-Indian soldier and his Malaysian wife who spent her childhood in Germany before arriving in Basingstoke as a teenager. I do have a soft spot for her husky voice, and this pretty tune with its rousing violin parts still sounds good, though I do prefer the follow-up. Maybe it's the mature, sombre way she is dressed, but she looks quite a bit older here than 18 - her 19th birthday was actually the day after this show.
Next, SAW muscle in on Bros territory with the debut of their similarly-named arch-rivals. This is a slick Motown-inspired confection, and Nathan's vocals are less annoying than those of Matt Goss, albeit a little whiny in places. He certainly works that stage, and a handful of other less well-remembered hits would follow. Yazz is on video this week, in a big corrugated iron shed for some reason. I don't know if the aim was to evoke some kind of illicit rave, but they really needed more dancers and some flashing lights to create that kind of vibe...
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DeleteBruno and Liz (billed as Liz and Bruno here) bringing back memories of their uncomfortably antagonistic pairing on the weekend Radio 1 Breakfast Show in a few months' time. Remember when Liz smashed up a turntable because it was playing Wet Wet Wet? Or when Bruno broke her only copy of The Adult Net's Waking Up in the Sun on air so he could play "proper music" (i.e. Level 42), causing her to furiously storm out of the studio for the rest of the show? Happy days. Or not.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, on with the music, and Mica's brought a friend, Doctor Who's favourite Courtney (I note the current Doc has a song out, mark that as another one to play the character who has dabbled in music). This is bright and cheery enough, but the mood of the wine bar is not dispelled by the frequent sax breaks.
All About Eve making the most of the publicity from last week's cringefest and do it live, evidently trying to avoid the miming debacle again. Not exactly a bangin' choon, but they don't all need to be.
On the other hand, Breathe isn't either, and their try at classing up the place is scuppered by soporific production and some truly terrible lyrics ("What else ends in 'ess'?"). Not too bothered this lot disappeared into obscurity not long after.
Iron Maiden seemed to have browsed the video shelves at their local shop and plumped for the Charles Bronson "extreme violence" action thriller choice, then thought, hmm, this would make a great title for a song. And that was how The Evil That Men Do was born. Maybe. As for the quality, it's Iron Maiden, you know what to expect by now (though the concert video is a retrograde step, disappointingly).
Keeping up the hard rock theme, it's er, Tanita Tikaram with her debut hit, bit of a Terence Trent D'Arby career trajectory, but this was a pleasing little ditty about her teenage years that skips and trips along almost despite her curiously deep and downbeat voice. The last thing I saw her in was a film about lesbians, about 20 years ago (it wasn't a mucky movie, it was a drama or something), so no idea where she is now.
Worst dancing of the night award goes to Nathan from Brother Beyond, finally getting their hit in the face of Brosette indifference (though there were screams of admiration from the TOTP girls). Weedy, put upon song and delivery, but it did the business for SAW once again. I remember the Welsh bloke in the band was a really decent guy, with a nice sense of humour about himself. Whatever his name was.
The Yazz video is finally finished, so that's what we get, the director apparently put off showing her Thunderbirds puppet dance moves and instead giving us closeup after closeup of her face. I do recall the spinning trumpet.
Then a mercifully truncated BVSMP, "chancers" is the word to describe this unlovely lot.
I couldn't stand either Andy's sister or Trevor the truckers' friend so I rarely caught their weekend show - the only time they did me a favour was playing "Smells Like Teen Spirit" which I heard for the first time and went out and bought that morning. Also interesting to hear they didn't always rub along, which makes their top 53 smash charity hit "It Takes two Baby" all the more head-slapping.
DeleteSome of you will no doubt already be aware of this, but here's the link to a fabulous resource of complete editions of Top of the Pops from 1967 to 2006! ~ https://mega.nz/#F!h0snQACa!uiNNqosfbdrfzODHsE1clw
ReplyDeleteWow, thanks for that, Angelo
DeletePretty good show this. New girl Liz Kershaw is related to Nik perhaps? She’s a fun presenter and I love her accent although don’t ask me to name where she’s from,
ReplyDeleteMica Paris / Courtney Pine – Like Dreamers do – Jazz musician Courtney of course appeared in the Dr Who Silver Anniversary story ‘Silver Nemesis’ later in 1988, but that was probably filmed before this. Not a bad start to the show, although probably not one to feature on anyone’s ‘Desert Island Discs’ list.
All about Eve – Martha’s Harbour – Something akin to Mike Oldfield this reminds me of, very wispy and ethereal but a lovely song and performance.
Breathe – Hands to heaven – Ah, now this is one of the singles of 1988 for me. Breathe had been releasing singles without success since 1986 until, at the second time of asking, this classic crashed into the charts (December 1987’s release had seen it flop). Atmospheric, moody and reaching a climax, this was surely worth more than no4 (which puts it on a par with BVSMP !). One of the follow up singles ‘How can I fall?’ was impressive but stalled outside the top40 and sadly Breathe had breathed their last. The female backing singers performing here were not part of the band btw. Just the four lads.
Iron Maiden – The evil that men do – It’s hard to fathom just why IM started crashing into the top10. Unlike ‘Can I play with madness’ I don’t think much of this. It feels like one of the routine HM records that hovers in the top 30 somewhere and gets a brief clip on the ‘breakers’. Was this just clever marketing I wonder?
Tanita Tikaram – Good Tradition – Nice jaunty, folky song. Appreciated the violinist who appeared to be playing the instrument live even if the singing wasn’t.
Brother Beyond – The harder I try – More SAW fodder. Pleasant enough but formulaic.
Yazz and the Plastic Population – The only way is up – Great stuff again. I never get sick of this, although the bouncy video might make you feel a little dizzy if you have a headache.
BVSMP – I need you – Would have been nicer to have seen Julia Fordham rather than this dross. But at least one can hit the ‘off’ button.
ps. thanks for the above link Angelo. I didn't have it. One for the bookmarks.
i'm pretty sure liz kershaw was the sister of radio 1's alternative/world deejay andy (if he ever crops up, i can't help but think of his relentless patronage of the bhundu boys). if so, then proving nepotism at the beeb was still very much happening at this point in time
DeleteThey were indeed brother and sister, hailing from Lancashire.
DeleteStrange how convicted stalker Andy Kershaw has been welcomed back with open arms into the BBC fold with primetime appearances on The One Show whereas others have been airbrushed from history, isn't it? (I wouldn't mind if he was any good at TV, but he isn't)
DeleteYou could argue he did the time for the crime, so he's paid his debt to society. He's also been welcomed back by ITV, mind you.
Deletemica paris: already stumbling after a great start out of the blocks, with one of the weakest tracks from her debut album. courtney pine was achingly hip at this point, but even that couldn't help it get any higher
ReplyDeleteall about eve: i have no idea if the rest of their stuff was like this or far more goth-like, but even without the "live" hoo ha it's still a beautiful and delicate acoustic ballad that sounds more like from the late 60's than the late 80's...
breathe: ...unlike this, that could only have been recorded in the late 80's! despite carrying many of the production flaws of the era (over-reverbed side stick, sanborn-style sax solo, etc) the sheer quality of the song shines through regardless. plus the singer has a strong voice as well. i just wish i'd appreciated this a bit more at the time, as i recall choosing not to listen to it too closely because a: i lumped it in with teeny stuff like bros and brother beyond, and b: a woman at work i didn't get on with was a big fan
tanita tikaram: i remember Q magazine going apeshit over her, as if she was blighty's answer to joni mitchell or something. and yet whatever i heard absolutely bored the pants off me, and the hype seemed to be a great big fuss over nothing
I once saw Tanita Tikaram at the Hammersmith Odeon. No kidding here, the support act was a juggler!
DeleteAnyone else distracted by the bloke wearing actual denim dungarees in the audience during Breathe? You're on TV, man!
ReplyDeleteI admit I gave Liz Kershaw a hard time prior to watching this. Apart from squealing the lyrics at the end of Yazz’s track and being dressed up for a wedding, she was bouncy and perky and way less odious than Little Trev.
ReplyDeleteCourtney Pine? Isn’t that a furniture shop? Superb jazz hat, better than this cocktail bar music by numbers. There was a re-run recently of one of those ‘wanting to buy a place abroad or actually just wanting be on telly’ shows where Mica Paris looked for a property in Sardinia. She came across as down to earth and likeable, and actually wanted to buy one of the villas to boot.
“We’re kind people?” What a slimy, condescending little man. Wonderful live take by All About Eve. You could feel the waves washing over your feet on the shore. The crowd were very apprecaitive at the end. Interesting that the lyrics included the name of the next act on the show.
Breathe, from Yateley in Surrey, just popping in before heading off to a snooker tournament. I take it no mention of the next act on in their lyrics? Nope. I can see why people liked this, but I’m glad they didn’t get enough hits to merit a sponsorship from Vicks Vapour Rub or Tunes.
What’s Iron Maiden’s track called, Trev? Sheesh. Oh, it’s “The Repitition That Men Do”.
Was that ex-Dexys’ Helen O’Hara helping out on violin for Tanita’s bubbly cajun pop? Tanita made me feel a bit giddy with her upsy-downsy movements.
The harder I try, I still don’t like this fake Motown stuff. I can hear Pete Waterman now – “George Michael’s gone off the boil singing about monkeys and dour stuff, so why don’t we write a Wham! C-side for that Nathan fella and cash in?”
Yazz making Tanita look like a statue in that oh so expensive looking video.
BVSMP FF FFS.
Bye, Liz, ta for dropping in. Hope the reception’s good.
Mica had a cookery show a few years ago, didn't she? I didn't imagine that, did I? Or was it fashion?
DeleteMica hosted a fashion show called "What Not To Wear" but she has dabbled with one-off appearances on cookery shows as well.
DeleteYes, she took over from Trinny and Susannah, didn't she? Which went about as well as Trinny and Susannah's careers have gone in the past 20 years.
DeleteParis & Pine (there's an ITV detective duo in the making!) - I do remember this from the time, but it's so insubstantial that you do wonder what the record company were thinking.
ReplyDeleteAll About Eve - In answer to your question wilby, their other tracks are usually not as acoustic but equally lovely, with the odd goth influence here and there. Getting them back was a good thing to do, and the live performance is great.
Breathe - I found this very snoozesome at the time but now I'm an adult I can appreciate that it's a very fine ballad indeed. 'Don't Tell Me Lies' was a great pop song that should've been a hit - for once the Yanks got something right.
Iron Maiden - Like the last single, but nowhere near as good.
Tanita Tikaram - It's a good song, but like others have said, she was hyped way too much. I remember professional irritant Richard Jobson going on and on about her on his Pebble Mill show as if she was the future of music.
Brother Beyond - I think this is a very effective Motown pastiche by PWL and deserved to do well, though Nathan's dancing is annoying. It's a bit unfair to call them Bros wannabes when they'd been around for quite a while before hitting the Top 40, their first of 3 that bothered the lower reaches of the Top 75 coming in March 87!
Spoilt a bit Liz Kershaw’s rather grating, and fake sounding even though probably not, accent.
ReplyDeleteBit of a dull start with Mica and Breathe broken by...
Return of Eve, but exactly the same set and costume
Soft spot for the Maiden’s but, as previously stated, sounds very like their previous (very energetic bass player)...
Tanita Tikaram joins my list of poor mimers. Pleasant jolly tune though.
Brother Beyond - presumably SAW production, doing Bros.
Just flicking through previous comments and noticed my SAW bros comparison has already been made...
DeleteFresh from filming his Dr Who 25th anniversary appearance Courtney Pine teams up with Mica for a song I have no recollection of at all. Completely passed me by this one. Wifey doesn't remember it either. Did well then.
ReplyDeleteMust admit I quite like it. Guessing this was big Radio 2 hit.
Nice jacket Bruno.
Live All About Eve.. Not getting caught out twice. She has a nice voice and the song is growing on me every week.
Loving Lizs' hat.. 😀
Breathe have the best selling US single then. Not surprised. Its a great song but a little bit "boyband" in retrospect. Simon Cowell and Louis Walsh were obviously paying attention.
Iron Maiden and Bruno has clearly forgotten the title. Not one of their better efforts. Dull concert video as well. Their fans always guarantee a top ten short lived hit.
Bloody love this song. Good Tradition easily cracker material for 88. Tanita has a famous brother who's an actor I believe. Shame she wasnt a much bigger star.
Brother Beyond pretending to be a real band rather than a SAW production. Check out that guitar playing.
Another Smash Hits pin up in Nathan.
Song is actually not too bad. Performance is very Bros and bouncy.
Do teenage girls like bouncy Boys?
Yazz on video this week. I think the word for the video is "cheap".
Kinda suits the song though just having the performance.
Was Liz singing along there..
BVSTURJKLMP with their one hit on playout. FF