Hurrying up the charts
03/11/88 (Nicky Campbell & Mark Goodier)
Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine – “1-2-3” (24)
Getting tonight's show off to a lively start with a live vocal in the studio and the song peaked at number 9.
Robert Palmer – “She Makes My Day” (8) (video)
Went up two more places.
Tanita Tikaram – “Twist In My Sobriety” (26)
This song reminds me a little bit of Elvis Presley's Fever, and it went up four more places, but was Tanita's final top 40 hit.
Bryan Ferry – “Let’s Stick Together” (28) (breaker)
It got to number 4 in 1976, this remixed version made it to number 12.
Robin Beck – “The First Time” (17) (breaker)
Will be number one in two weeks time.
Kylie Minogue – “Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi” (2) (video)
At its peak.
Yazz – “Stand Up For Your Love Rights” (4)
Another energetic performance in the studio and the song went up two more places.
Enya – “Orinoco Flow” (1) (rpt from 20/10/88)
Second of three weeks at number one.
Guns N’ Roses – “Welcome To The Jungle” (25) (video/credits)
Went up just one more place.
10th November is next.
Campbell and Goodier don't make the most appetising of pairings, but the former was restrained and the latter amiably cheesy for what was overall a good show. Glo and Co start us off with their Latino dance-pop sound, chucking some decent live vocals into the mix. This is an energetic and danceable record, if not an especially remarkable one. It does also feel as if it should have been a summer hit, though it looks as if Glo wasn't feeling the autumnal chill too much!
ReplyDeleteRobert Palmer is on video with this lush, lavish ballad, which must rank as one of his finest songs. Given its happy, optimistic tone, it seems a bit of a strange decision that the video was made in gloomy black-and-white, but as it's just an "in performance" affair perhaps the director thought it would make it seem more arty - unfortunately, it is still quite dull, which probably helps explain why the song gets cut off early. The sombre theme continues as "Tinita Tikaram" and her cohorts turn up all dressed in moody black. I really like this song; I don't know what TT is singing about, but the production is very atmospheric, the drumming is excellent and the oboe brings a very distinctive and complementary sound to the proceedings. You can see why everyone thought TT would be huge, but it wasn't to be in the end.
More from the breakers next time, though I think we did get brief, surreptitious shots of a Coke bottle and can in Robin Beck's video, appropriately enough. We also get to see Kylie's promo this week, as our glamorous heroine becomes the one ray of colour in a drab French town that looks too much like a studio set for comfort. Yazz is considerably less glam, and indeed doesn't seem to be aware that wearing a baseball cap sideways makes you look a proper nana. An energetic turn, as Angelo says, and she has brought along an actual couple of musicians this time. As for the song, it's a reasonable follow-up to the monster hit, but pales a bit in comparison - her next, very different single was better.
Guns N'Roses were evidently still struggling to gain the affections of the record-buying public at this point, as this is another famous song of theirs that could only make a relatively lowly chart placing. It's a great rocker, though, accompanied by another unimaginative video in which Axl looks virtually unrecognisable without his trademark bandana.
John, Tanita Tikaram's song was apparently about the strangeness and sometimes emptiness you feel when you grow from childhood to adulthood.
DeleteThanks Arthur - I guess she was the right age to be writing something like that at the time. I think this song is a classic example of how you can enjoy a song without understanding the lyrics!
DeleteGlo and co back in the studio for a song that sounds like something off of Sesame Street - she must have appeared with The Count at some point and sung it, surely? Boppy start to the show, I prefer these dancey numbers to their ballads. For some reason she's dressed as if she's fronting Judas Priest, in an off the shoulder leather jacket and chaps.
ReplyDeleteRobert Palmer's director shows off by shooting his video in one continuous take, but it suits the easygoing, indulgent mood of the tune. He was apparently aiming to be his generation's Tony Bennett by now, but this isn't too bad a try at that.
The Leonard Cohen Fan Club with a song that will forever be associated with the French and Saunders pisstake where Dawn-as-Tanita was on Star Test and stumped by the pertinent question, "What does Twist in My Sobriety actually mean?" Anyway, as a Laughing Len impersonation, I've heard worse, and her voice is almost as deep as his.
Breakers are on next time, but just to note Robin Beck's corporate overlords didn't deem her important enough to appear in her own video, and instead compiled a three-minute commercial.
Mark Goodier baffled by a simple computer graphic effect on Kylie's video, he must have been knocked into a coma by Toy Story. Ecoutez et repetez… She looks kind of miserable here, possibly putting those acting lessons to good use.
Yazz doing the Disco Stomp, I hope that stage was reinforced with all that stamping about. Anyway, almost as big a hit as her biggie, but nobody remembers it. Does sound strident. Don't tell me what to do, giant lady!
Enya still there at the top, and then Guns 'n' Roses to end on, with their tribute to kids' TV show Rainbow, Welcome to the Bungle. Must admit, although their rawk posturing left me cold, I didn't mind this one, it does have a decent tune to it.
Estefan's attire underneath her leather jacket was in the realms of Madonna's style of psychadelia breast top, but Estefan seemed to fill it better, and I did wonder if there was matching bottoms for it under her jeans and leather combination trousers.
DeleteMusically, and on the contrary THX, I prefer the previous ballad single Anything For You to this follow up dance number, and there seemed to be a pattern forming that Estefan was only coming over to the TOTP studio for her dance numbers, and not the ballads.
It's the spectrum of opinion that keeps this blog interesting, Dory. But I think if you're calling yourself The Miami Sound Machine, you got some dancin' to do.
DeleteA lot of affection for Womack and Womack on the chart rundown this week even though it is going down. I have to say, it’s better than a lot of the traffic going the other way. No mention of the title of the DMob ‘song’ either nor for that matter Jolly Roger. Shame for me we don’t get to hear Level42’s ‘Take a look’ on the breakers and we’ve totally missed out on Human League’s ‘Love is all that matters’ that peaked at no41 but is probably well know through being plonked at the end of the ‘Greatest Hits’ album that was released at around this time.
ReplyDeleteGloria Estefan – 1-2-3 – Not the jolly Len Barry track from the 60s but a nice lively tune nevertheless. Gloria struts her stuff in the studio in what looks like jeans with a partial leather pair of trousers on top, and I can’t even begin to describe the top half! More guitar work on this track than I recall too.
Robert Palmer – She makes my Day – Ok, not the best thing RP ever recorded but a nice song, and good to see the orchestra with their musical scores.
Tanita Tikaram – Twist in my sobriety – Names safely pronounced correctly this week, this sounds better than I recall. Nice bit of oboe work too.
Breakers – Bryan Ferry – Classic stuff, hope we get to see Jerry when they show this in full. Robin Beck – more later.
Kylie Minogue – Je ne sais pas pourquoi – Love the French response from the hosts afterwards – jarwohl indeed! Video didn’t grab me really.
Yazz – Stand up for your love rights – Hearing this right through, despite the energetic performance I just found this boring.
Enya - Orinoco Flow – From the album ‘Watermark’ – thanks for the correction last week JohnG! My favourite Enya album is ‘The Memory of Trees’ but all three of this trilogy are great (if similar).
Guns and Roses – Welcome to the Jungle – Bearing in mind that people in my office wear G&R jackets on dress down days, I looked at this and wondered what all the fuss is about.
My pleasure sct! Are you familiar with The Celts album (originally just called "Enya")? For me, it is her most haunting and enduring album, as well as her most experimental.
DeleteNever heard 'The Celts'. Did buy it for my parents one Christmas as they liked Enya. Will have to borrow it!
DeleteThey do play the Bryan Ferry video in full on the next show. Quite easy to do, as it is a short video anyway, so all of Jerry Hall's appearance on it is included.
DeleteThe second glimpse of G'N'R in 1988 after 'Sweet Child O' Mine' was featured as a TOTP breaker on the first simultaneous Radio 1 broadcast episode on 01/09/1988 and this time they'd have dropped the ball to show a video as a play-out track, in 1989's repeat run, we'll see more of G'N'R with 'Patience', 'Sweet Child of Mine (reissue)' also 'Paradise City' and 'Nighttrain' from the Appetite for Destruction era.
ReplyDeleteAlso we'll see more of Axl Rose and Slash in video form in TOTP repeat runs between 1989 from next year in 2020, despite Slash made a cameo appearance in the Michael Jackson video of 'Dirty Diana' and but I did know there was a re-mix of 'Let's Stick Together', when i'd heard it may have been compared sounding in tones to the 1976 original, this made its third and fourth appearance in repeats after the 10/06/76 and 24/06/76 episodes showed the promotional video also noting Canned Heat's original of 'Let's Work Together' from a existed 29/01/70 episode.
Two hit wonder Tanita concluded her brief chart career in style with a moody harmonic-minor key ballad that would attract a cover from Liza With A Zee, no less. The latter's comeback album 'Results', released the following year and produced by The Pet Shop Boys', also included a remake of 'Love Pains', as previously recorded by both Yvonne Elliman and Hazell Dean.
ReplyDeleteRobin Beck's Coke jingle was subsequently parodied in a TV commercial for Irn Bru, with British-based US session singer Lynda Hayes as lead singer. Here it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dac_tMyaehE
Where else have you heard Ms Hayes? That's right - on 'Young Guns (Go For It)' by Wham! ("What the hell's got into you?")
Pint-sized Kylie dominated British TV and radio that year. As well as her numerous BBC appearances, she performed her hit on ITV's 'Live From The Palladium'. As she disappeared into the wings, host Jimmy Tarbuck unwittily remarked: "What's French for 'G'day, how are ya'?" No wonder Ben Elton used to call him a "senile old git".
Enya was somehow persuaded to give an interview to the children's and younger teens' magazine 'Look-In' that year, as part of its 'Fact File' series. Ireland's First Lady of New-Age informed pre-adolescents across these islands that her greatest regret was not learning to swim - and I can empathise with her there, having tried with 4 different instructors to overcome my fear. More surprisingly, though, when asked to name her favourite recording acts, she responded: "I have never bought a single or an album in my life, so I don't have any favourites." What, NEVER? Not ONE disc? Not even an EP by Val Doonican? Was her sound classical piano training THAT repressive?
I do admire much of Enya's output, nevertheless - and 'Orinoco Flow' was a refreshing change from the dance-pop that dominated the period. To the best of my knowledge, BA Robertson's 'Bang Bang' is the only other British Top 5 single to name-check a senior member of WEA Records' staff (John Fruin in BA's case, Rob Dickins in Enya's).
Typo above: Pet Shop BOYS (no apostrophe).
DeleteTanita Tikaram actually managed nine UK top 75 hits sporadically until 1998, but the rest only peaked between 48 and 73. I remember her third single, "Cathedral Song" (which peaked at 48), as it received quite a lot of breakfast time play on Radio 1 despite sounding sombre and introverted. I recall it for the unusual way Tanita pronounced "Cathedral" as if the word contained two or three E's. Almost as many as D Mob and Gary Haisman, then!
Deletearthur you've reminded me of this excellent disco track from a guy called dc larue:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5AkMberiKU
Gave it a listen, Wilby. Good knock!
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DeleteHa, ha, ha! Tanita spent her early years in Germany and is of Fijian, Indian and Malaysian descent, which probably accounts for some of her eccentric pronunciations.
DeleteShe did indeed reach the Top 75 with 7 other singles, Arthur - but these would have been called "hitettes" in the days of Record Mirror and Smash Hits. Hit status usually means achieving a Top 40 placing. The German Eurovision Song Contest winner followed her No.1 hit 'A Little Peace' with 'Give Me More Time', which spent one week at No.75. In all honesty, could you call her a two-hit wonder?
It is evident from Tanita's Wiki entry that she still commands a loyal cult following in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, remaining a medium-weight album seller in those countries.
Typo above: the ESC winner I mentioned above was Nicole. I omitted her name!
DeleteP.S. Referring back to Tanita's performance on TOTP this week, the oboe was actually played by classical oboist Malcolm Messiter - NOT Helen O'Hara, who mimed the part!
DeleteGloria Estefan - pleasant enough, but not a very exciting start to the show.
ReplyDeletePalmer and tikarim continue the ‘pleasant enough’ pattern
Ferry - another unnecessary, and indeed unnoticeable, remix.
Scmaltzy video for the coke tune
Kylie - Interesting that the now run of the mill black and white / colour mixture is considered so ground breaking.
And finally a bit of energy as we go out with GnR...
It’s professional Scotsman Campbell (oh dear) and Goodiebags, fresh from the golf club but sounding a natural for the Sunday top 20 countdown on Radio 1.
ReplyDeleteGloria: “Anything PP Arnold or Sabrina can wear, I can do better”. And, boy, she did. Ride ‘em, cowboy! MSM almost in EW&F stage number territory there. Good, bouncy song complete with free gift guitarist gurning.
A nice if show-offy one-take video for Robert Palmer’s mellow swayer. Reminded me of the all-in-one Shara Nelson “Down That Road” street walk. I guess the monochrome helped you focus more on the song.
Wahay! It’s Tanita with “Let’s Twist In My Sobriety Again Like We Did Last Summer”. We get this again next week, a whole four places higher over a fortnight. The oboe lifts this up another level – is that Helen O’Hara from Dexy’s playing it? The same woman was on violin duties in the “Good Tradition” video.
Erm, nice ‘tache, Bri?
So, which woman in that Coke video was Robin Beck?
If only the clock in the bar for Kylie’s vid showed the same time as when it was visual on TOTP. Just me, then. “Strictly” awaits Kylie with that dancing, though I noticed at 14:54 in the show via iPlayer that the second street dance sequence started all colour for a second or so (yes, anal retentive, I guess). This song’s grown on me and I think it’s one of her best, and I loved Kylie’s subtle straight acting of the lyrics and her plight.
Yazz with “Jump Up and Down On The Spot For Your Love Rights”. One Hell of an outfit there, Yasmine. Rave lite, and no bad thing in itself. Campbell, it’s actually her second top FIVE hit in a row. McDoh!
Enya there, warming up for the sequel hit “Tomsk Trickle”.
We finish with Oral Se... erm, Axl Rose and the shadow man in black from Stoke-on-Trent. “Sweet Child Of Mine” was way better but I can see the appeal of this.
Mark and Nicky both on Ok form tonight but we appear to have let Work Experience loose in the sound booth first up.
ReplyDeleteGloria and her machine singing live nut we miss the first 1-2-3 as no one turns her mic on. A lively opener but what is she wearing? Some sort of cone bra and leather trousers over denim shorts? My goodness the 80s were tough for fashion weren't they.
Now Goodiers mic isn't working properly. Ooops.
Classy video and song from Robert Palmer. More of this please.
Tanita is one intense teenager isn't she. Getting to here the whole song reminds me how much I like it. Excellent stuff.
Breakers:
Let's stick together a pointless remix for Bryan and put it out..someone will buy it.
Anyone fancy a cola. No. How about a cheesy American teenage girl with a mans name? Robin who?
Debbie Gibson look away now - she's gonna out perform all your hits put together.
Schindlers List must have caused hours of discussion in the Goodier houselhold.
A brilliant video for one of Kylie's finer tunes.
Yazz storming into the studio for the performance of the night (and dare I say it, the last 5 shows I've watched today). Gonna have to play this one more. full of energy and power. Great stuff.
Studio of roses for Enya on repeat.
GNR head to the jungle. If I'm A Celeb was on in the 80s the cast would all be signing this. For charidee of course.
Not my favourite style of music but don't mind hearing it and we got a lot of the video which was nice,
5 TOTP in a row - I'm off for a lie down..
Oh yes..need to vote...almost forgot!
American teenage girl? Good Lord, Robin Beck was actually 34 years old on that performance! Must be those fine pins that caught your attention.
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