The Four Tops of the Pops
22/12/88 (Nicky Campbell & Steve Wright)
The Four Tops – “Loco In Acapulco” (15)
All the way from Heathrow to get tonight's show underway with what became their eleventh and final top ten hit when it peaked at number 7.
A-ha – “You Are The One” (20)
Also in the studio tonight and on their way to number 13.
Kim Wilde – “Four Letter Word” (19)
Looking very respectable and grown up this evening in a very fetching 1940's style frock performing a song that would peak at number 6.
Shakin’ Stevens – “True Love” (28) (breaker)
Peaked at number 23.
Freiheit – “Keeping The Dream Alive” (27) (breaker)
Their only hit and it peaked at number 14.
Neneh Cherry – “Buffalo Stance” (13)
There can't be too many performers who made their studio debut just weeks away from giving birth, and this song became her first of five top ten hits when it peaked at number 3.
Kylie Minogue & Jason Donovan – “Especially For You” (2)
Topping off an impressive night in the studio to perform the song that was patiently waiting in line to be number one after Christmas.
Cliff Richard – “Mistletoe & Wine” (1) (rpt from 08/12/88)
Third of four weeks at number one.
Status Quo – “Burning Bridges (On & Off & On Again)” (7) (rpt from 08/12/88 + credits)
Went up two more places.
December 25th is next.
Not the most festive of pre-Christmas shows, at least until Cliff came on and our hosts started dicking around with presents at the end. They were both quite restrained by their standards – Campbell gets a couple of black marks for his comedy German accent and his none-too-subtle attempts to stop an audience member’s arms from getting between his smug mug and the camera during his opening link – but there was a marked lack of personal warmth or chemistry between them.
ReplyDeleteI haven’t checked Popscene to find out when The Four Tops last appeared in the TOTP studio, if ever, but it must have been well over a decade by this point. They were all in their 50s, but they could certainly still move and this excellent single is a real throwback to their glory days, perhaps unsurprisingly as Lamont Dozier co-wrote it with Phil Collins. It’s sobering to think that this performance actually saved the Tops’ lives, as they had been booked to fly back to the States on the Pan Am flight that exploded over Lockerbie, only to miss it as a consequence of this appearance. A-ha are all over the place sartorially, a jumble of shirts, ties, denim and peculiar waistcoats, but this is still a good song and it’s a shame that it gets abruptly cut off, though that is a sign of things to come.
Kim goes for a demure and sophisticated look, but ends up coming over a bit matronly. Still, this is another decent offering from her, not quite as good as the previous two hits but still pleasant enough, even though it is pretty obvious she isn’t comfortable singing in a high register. Kim’s chart fortunes would start to fall away abruptly after this, as it was her last Top 10 entry, though there were another couple of sizeable hits to come in the early 90s. We’ll be hearing more from Freiheit in 1989, but thankfully no more of Shaky’s dire cover with its naff Christmassy video which doesn’t suit the song at all – what was the giant goose doing there? I am prepared to give Campbell some brownie points for his sarky intro to this one…
Two famous performances in a row next, firstly Neneh Cherry with baby bump clearly visible and looking like she is having a whale of a time – nice of her to give a couple of Ken Dodd’s Diddymen some employment too! I have very mixed feelings about this song – the rap parts get on my wick, and the “what is he like?” bit makes me cringe, but the chorus is brilliant and makes me forgive the rest. Kylie and Jason, the latter looking much better with his new haircut, then turn up for the studio turn I remember vividly from the time, slickly choreographed with our two protagonists kept apart for a suitably tantalising amount of time before they finally come together. The show then ends underwhelmingly with two repeats, and not even a plug for the Christmas Day show or the New Year’s Eve 25th anniversary special, the latter of which we will not be seeing on BBC4. Anyone got a copy of that one?
I don't think there was any love lost between Campbell & Wright which would help explain the lack of chemistry. And that Shaky video was - well, shaky. It would've looked naff even in the early days of these re-runs.
DeleteYes, they certainly didn't look like bosom buddies - they were probably as adept at irritating each other as they were a large chunk of the audience!
DeleteIn a roundabout way, it's festive that The Four Tops should be on the pre-Christmas show, because Loco in Acapulco's tune was lifted by The Darkness for I Believe in a Thing Called Love, who are only recalled now for their Yuletide single. Apart from that, I never warmed to this revival from ver Tops, it's not as good as their heyday and while I don't begrudge them another hit, this does nothing for me.
ReplyDeleteBetter is A-ha, we saw some of the video last episode but they've shown up in the studio for this jaunty little number, though their Top Ten placings seem to be behind them now. The red spotlight makes Morten's hair look like it's flashing pink.
Kim Wilde goes all sophisticated on us for this pretty ditty, another of her titles that prompt off-colour responses, seemingly by design. She sounds very delicate on this, like she's been dumped at the office party and is channelling her anger and disappointment in this song.
Freiheit will be back, but Shaky's "will this do?" cover is weak tea, though the video is unintentionally amusing, with what appears to be TOTP's Disco Duck making its presence felt.
Neneh Cherry, very cool lady from a jazz background (her dad), but while this is a big favourite at the indie disco, I always feel it's a bit, well, naff, and not just because of her Dick Van Dyke bit halfway through. I suppose it's catchy enough, but she did other things I prefer, this is too cheesy. However, in the same way that people used to say a woman frightened by a horse would give birth to a baby that, er, looked like a horse, baby Tyson still in Neneh's womb here must have absorbed the pop vibes, because she became a musician too when she grew up. Her sister Mabel is probably more famous, though.
Speaking of naff records, at least Jason has his barnett sorted out and this is a well-recalled item of pop TV, but the low stakes moves are not exactly impressive. Pete Waterman still seething at being stuck at number two... listen, you can hear him, it's like sleigh bells...
Gary Davies played Sir Cliff's earlier Chrimble single O Little Town last night on Sounds of the 80s, and it was a pleasure to hear in comparison to this. Backing singers remain unnerving.
The only videos were on the Breakers tonight, so we get a repeat of Quo to end on. It's never going to be my favourite.
The Kylie & Jason appearance in the TOTP studio was a throwback to Dollar, who were the last in-love couple to get all cosy up on the TOTP stage. It was a kind of worthy next-generation couple considering they would have only been 10 years old in 1978 when Dollar had their brilliant debut hit called Shooting Star:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCCDthK6mns
Dollar just edge it for me over Kylie & Jason, as they arrived in a more romantic 70s decade.
Was it just me, or was the sound on this a bit iffy...
ReplyDeleteGood start with Four Tops - loved his voice, and aha
Went a bit mad with the dry ice machine for Kim. Pleasant enough...
Shakin Stevens - potential Pointless answer, here.
Ah Freheit, looking firward to hear more of this
Neneh Cherry - not fond of rap but this is saved from the FF with the energy of non-rap bits. Tried to decide if she was pregnant - fallen foul of being wrong there more than once - so thanks to Steve for confirming.
Not sure you’d get away with ze German accent these days...
Went off a bit at the end...
Two of our cheesiest hosts together this week and it seems to reign them both in for a change.
ReplyDeleteThe Four types of hair dye on Top kick us of with the rather fine “Loco In Acapulco”. Nice they've got a little dance routine worked out but the Pasadena's don't need to worry just yet.
Nice to see A-ha back in the studio so we get the whole of “You Are The One”. Definitely a highlight of theirs.
Kim Wilde gets all sloppy on “Four Letter Word” and it's not a bad little record actually. Found myself humming along. She's had a good year.
Breakers:
Shakin’ Stevens: If there was a prize for worst ever Christmas song then this awful cover of “True Love” must surely be Top 5. OMG it's terrible. Shakey what are you doing???
Freiheit: Sounding nothing like The Beatles with a record that has somehow become a Xmas favourite even though it has NOTHING to do with Christmas. “Keeping The Dream Alive” actually a pre-cursor to the Wall in Berlin coming down in about a years time. A real quality tune.
Neneh Cherry up next with “Buffalo Stance”. Liked this at the time and enjoyed this performance tonight. Can you imagine Wrighty's face if she'd gone into labour. Anyway, the song is fun, feisty and full of energy. A great debut.
Here it is - The Kylie & Jason performance. Are they an item...no it's all for show / of course they are.... oh how much we cared at the time.
The less said about the Cliff and Status Quo repeats the better. How the hell did "Burning Bridges" get top 5?
Good solid start then the show took a nose dive late on. See next weeks show for the Xmas Number One? What no mention of the Xmas Day show? Odd.
I never thought I’d see an edition of “Pops” where Nodding Dog was the better and more restrained host. Campbell was incredibly annoying wih his oh so hilarious phrasing, especially in the mugshots, and he was bordering on the Turner Scale for slappability.
ReplyDeleteThe Four Tops dressed in Chelsea pensioner colours – how apt – and reminding us of the Stylistics era old school backing singer routines.
Had A-Ha all come from a wedding and only had time to change their trousers? I’d forgotten how peppy and chirpy this song was.
A stylish song and stylish look for our Kim. Rather thin on the high notes but still preferable to the Bros massacre of “Silent Night”.
True shite from Shaky, and a dreadful video to match. I actually prefer the 1975 cover of this song by showjumper Harvey Smith. No, I’m not making that up.
Freiheit sounded more like a German ELO to me. I didn’t realise the song was about the Berlin wall, so the band’s name (which translates as “Freedom”) fitted nicely.
My word, that’s a debut and a half from Neneh. I think someone’s already got fresh with you, love. Superb half rap half funk in my opinion. Who were those prats on backing vocals, though?
It’s Strictly Come Aussie, nicely staged as Wrighty confirms. The song had too many sugars in it for me, mind.
Sadly we end the year with two awful FF’s. Oh well, you can’t have everything.
The Four Tops - I love their 60s / early 70s songs but this one is absolutely dreadful, for some reason it used to be all over local radio. Not so much now thank goodness.
ReplyDeletea-ha - This got cut off pretty sharpish! (for the 2nd week running) sadly.
Kim Wilde - A nice song, that's 3 fine tunes in a row from her.
The Shaky song is truly terrible.
Neneh Cherry - What a brilliant track this is, though I'm not sure what the 'performance art' backing singers brought to the party. This started life as the B side to a single by Morgan McVey called 'Looking Good Diving' which has even more 'cockernee' bits in it! This all happened because Cameron McVey was her soon-to-be husband.
Kylie / Jason - Ah, it's the famous one. The routine that Johnny Vaughan and Denise Van Outen later brilliantly recreated (SATIRE)
And that's it from me. Have a good break everyone!
Phil Collins back again…oh no it’s the Four Tops!! Looks like Steve Wright has had a haircut!
ReplyDeleteFour Tops – Loco in Acapulco – Bustin’ up the charts it’s a Buster bonanaza! We’ve had the Four Seasons, The Four Pennies, The Fourmost, The Fab Four, The Four Preps, and now the Four Tops!
A-ha – You are the one – With a definite nod to ‘Take on me’ this is the Scandinavian Quartet (the Four Ha’s perhaps?) back on good form.
Kim Wilde – Four Letter Word – Continuing the ‘four’ theme of this show, another great song from Kim in a much more sober black spotty dress this time. Kim’s had a great 1988.
Breakers – Shakin’ Stevens – The best version I have heard of ‘True Love’ is by Oasis rather than Shakey. Farenheit – this song makes my temperature rise – love it. No breaker slot for the Travelling Wilbury’s – bah humbug!
Neneh Cherry – Buffalo Stance – Not Gals? At least Malc had some style but this is truly awful.
Chart rundown – Is it just me or has Alexander O’Neill taken up permanent residence in the chart? On the other hand where has Madonna been during 1988?
Kylie and Jason – Especially for you – One of my favourites of 1988 this is surely a classic duet. Love the dance routine in the instrumental break. Don’t they look great together? Age has been much kinder to this than Cliff at the Christmas no1 spot.
Cliff Richard – Mistletoe and Wine – With Cliff singing live in the studio we miss the Aled Jones bit at the end, but they didn’t even play that far on the video last week. Walking in despair!
Status Quo – Burning Bridges – Another surprising studio performance repeat. Not that this is unworthy.
If anyone is interested in checking out the Oasis version of ‘True love’ – here it is – enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lf7sOs_d5ik
Dollar looked more in love than Kylie & Jason as best TOTP love couple, but having said that, Dollar were in a much more romantic era, ie, the 70s, which stuffed the 80s in my opinion for chart music quality.
DeleteMost loved up performance? Surely this?!
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0qW9P-uYfM
Erm no way, I wouldn't put Elton in the love couple status of the above two. Come to think of it, there was Peaches & Herb in 1979 with Reunited which seemed to get lodged in the No.4-No.5 position for an eternity in the summer of that year:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FZ8uK_dJhE
However, I think the loved up video of them all, and also probably the last of the 'great artists' generation must go to Aaron Neville & Linda Ronstadt in 1989 with Don't Know Much, and pleased to say coming up soon in the current TOTP reruns:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MODa6wpbKok
Classy choice Dory. Certainly look forward to Linda and Aaron. Only denied top spot by flippin' New Kids on the Block. What happened to them?
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