Pi-a Pi-a Pi-ano Pi-ano Pi-ano
23/02/89 (Bruno Brookes & Susie Mathis)
S’Express – “Hey Music Lover” (14)
They ended the last show and get us underway this time and the song made it to number 6.
Michael Jackson – “Leave Me Alone” (4) (video)
This eighth single from his Bad album peaked at number 2.
Edie Brickell & The New Bohemians – “What I Am” (32)
Flying in from Texas but this cool tune surprisingly only went up one more place.
Rick Astley – “Hold Me In Your Arms” (10) (rpt from 09/02/89)
At its peak.
Tyree featuring Kool Rock Steady – “Turn Up The Bass” (33) (breaker)
Peaked at number 12.
Living In A Box – “Blow The House Down” (31) (breaker)
Peaked at number 10.
Tone Loc – “Wild Thing” (30) (breaker)
Peaked at number 21.
Dusty Springfield – “Nothing Has Been Proved” (28) (breaker)
From the movie Scandal and it peaked at number 16.
Hue & Cry – “Looking For Linda” (16)
A second live studio performance and the song went up one more place.
Michael Ball – “Love Changes Everything” (2)
No doubt he's singing it live this time - he really belts out this cracking tune but number 2 was as high as it got.
Simple Minds – “Belfast Child” (1) (video)
First of two weeks at number one.
Bananarama & Lananeeneenoonoo – “Help” (12) (video/credits)
This year's Comic Relief single was also Bananarama's tenth and final top ten hit peaking at number 3.
2nd March is up next.
Susie even shorter than Bruno! Can hardly hear him over his jacket!
ReplyDeleteS'Express get us off to a storming start, and I didn't even mind we'd had most of the video an hour before. Was the lady in the middle barefoot?! Anyway, best thing on the show.
Michael Jackson with a hit Harry and Meghan could relate to, and an animated video in the style of Paul Simon's The Boy in the Bubble (and Tears for Fears Sowing the Seeds of Love, coming soon). The song, eh, not too bad as these things go, but it's rather whiny.
Speaking of Paul Simon, his other half shows up here for a song I was sure was Top 10, but didn't make it into the Top 30. Eccentric little number, very Greenwich Village Coffee Shop, I wouldn't be surprised if Edie was barefoot too (but couldn't see her feet).
Hmm, a repeat of Rick Astley bodes ill for the rest of the episode, still can't recall how this goes, sounds like library music for 80s daytime TV.
We won't see Tone Loc again with his non-Troggs Wild Thing, but just pause to remember his album had one of the worst titles of all time, Loc'ed After Dark. Anyway, he was a flash in the pan as it turned out, very salacious in persona.
Hue and Cry back and annoying again, with exactly the same performance as before (maybe Pat has toned down the boopity-boos).
Michael Ball, they've let him sing live this time, powerful voice but all very middle of the road Housewives' Choice. At least he's ditched the jacket and jeans.
Then a number one hardly anyone remembers, because it's thuddingly forgettable. Black and white video is a warning of the content.
Now, I love French and Saunders, Kathy Burke is great, so why is their Comic Relief single so blah? Maybe because it sounds like they spent as little time on it as possible? It's very "will this do?" The SAW production does little for the Lennon and McCartney melody and the Nanas' singing is indifferent. There's only about one laugh in the "comedy" video. RIP Simon Brint, incidentally. But a sign of things to come in charity comedy records, alas.
like thx i am bit surprised that edie brickell's single never got that high in the charts, as to my recollection it got an awful lot of airplay at the time. i also recall thinking it was quite a good musical groove, but at times that edie sounded like she was singing in a completely different key!
DeleteI was thinking actually that Michael Jackson's video got the idea from Peter Gabriel's video style, but good call on Paul Simon, as I forgot that he too used that style, so a merry-go-round between Gabriel, Simon and Jacko as to who started the idea of using semi-animation, but probably the first two at around the same time in 1986. Come to think of it, there was also The Talking Heads, who I think started this trend a bit earlier in 1985 with the video for And She Was:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cl3B_FTDKD0
Yes, of course Talking Heads And She Was too, I'd forgotten that! I wonder if it was the same director on all of them?
DeleteI see Spike Lee is making a film of David Byrne's stage show, incidentally. A True Stories sequel at last!
It's a second and final bite of the TOTP cherry for Susie, and on this evidence it's a shame she didn't stick around for a bit longer, though I don't imagine that was ever going to be a realistic prospect. As for Bruno, the jacket is ghastly but he seems more enthused than he sometimes is.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, yet more S'Express to start us off, and I see the "guitarist" has kept the eyebrows she had in the video. Jacko next, with an inventive video and a decent tune unfortunately married to whingeing, self-pitying lyrics. What makes the subject matter all the more galling is that we now know he fed some of the more outlandish stories to the press himself! It is a surprise Edie Brickell didn't do better with this catchy, laid back effort, as it has been much played on the radio down the years. Still, she looks great and it's rather a shame we won't be seeing her again - I wonder what attracted her to the multi-millionaire Paul Simon?
Good for Susie, pronouncing Tone Loc correctly. The record is completely unremarkable, but the video is a blatant rip-off of Robert Palmer's Addicted to Love promo. Two live vocals in a row follow the breakers, with Michael Ball definitely outshining Pat Kane, who is more conservatively dressed this time. We get the same bit of the Belfast Child video as last week (is that because it's the most lively bit of the song?), before the approach of the second Red Nose Day is heralded by the Nanas with French, Saunders & Burke. As Fabs covers go, this isn't too bad, but both song and video are disappointingly mirth-free, as would become Comic Relief tradition...
Edie Brickell and her New Bohemians flying in from Texas to the TOTP studio, and still they are flying in for TOTP, even though the show has gone downhill since the mid-80s for reasons mentioned before, but nice to see Brickell back with the same lovely hair as in the Breakers video clip on the previous week's show.
DeleteTalking of the Breakers, agree entirely with regard to Tone Loc debut, although his girls on this Wild Thing video were a little more sexy than the ones on Robert Palmer's Addicted To Love promo in 1986.
You forgot to mention in The Breakers the brilliant Tyree featuring Kool Rock Steady, with one of those classy videos using a mishmash of 1920s & 1930s slapstick movie clips, which seemed to be the norm for some of these jack/house hits of the late 80s. Would be great collectors items, as mixing house music with old movie clips seemed to be a clever idea for the disco floors at the time.
Tyree's video was Jack Your Body's video with Steve Silk Hurley replaced by Tyree's effort on the soundtrack. Bit of a rip-off...
DeleteInteresting that this week's show had two live performances, i.e., Hue And Cry, and Michael Ball. I believe this was very rare on TOTP historically up to this point, never mind two in one show this week.
ReplyDeleteThis could be part of the incoming Paul Ciani having radically different ideas to Michael Hurll's previous reign as director of the show, and I wonder if this trend was to grow even further, with TOTP becoming like a Later With Jools type of show. Let's see as we go along....
When Rik Blaxill took over as producer, he insisted everyone sing live until some "ooh!"-inducing out of tune trilling from some performers put him off the idea.
DeleteI think the live singing rule was brought in by Ric's predecessor Stan Appel, at the time of the ill-fated Year Zero revamp in 1991. We should get to that around the spring of next year, assuming the repeats continue.
DeleteShould be entertaining for all the wrong reasons.
DeleteI think there were a lot more live vocal performances in the 70's and 80's than many people think.
DeleteBack to a boy/girl host pairing and they’re quite good.
ReplyDeleteS’Express – He Music Lover – Hang on, we played out with this last week (in full) so why on earth to we get subjected to it again? FF
Michael Jackson – Leave me alone – Straight in at 4? Oh per-lease!! Wait, it was the bonus track on the CD as I recall, so probably all vinyl buyers thought it was a brand new release. Just awful.
Eddie Bricknell and the New Bohemians – What I am – Interesting that the Tin Tin guys used the same guitar sound on their cover with Emma Bunton. This deserved to go higher (especially given what reached no4 this week!).
Rick Astley – Hold me in your arms – No video to show?
Breakers – First three, no comment. Dusty and the Pet Shop Boys – great to see the images on this clip coming so soon after the excellent ‘Trial of Christine Keeler’ series. I thought both actresses to play Christine were really good and we even see Roland Gift as ‘Lucky’.
Hue and Cry – Looking for Linda – Try as I will I can’t get excited about this song.
Michael Ball – Love changes everything – Some would say that this rather than Simple Minds at no1 but that’s the record buying public for you! Needless to say a faultless live rendition from a singer who doesn’t need studio trickery to enhance his voice. I saw ‘Aspects of Love’ during its run, but MB wasn’t in it then. The other singles from the show? ‘Anything but Lonely’ by Sarah Brightman and ‘The First Man I Remember’ by Michael Ball and Diane Morrison. Both bombed sadly.
Simple Minds – Belfast Child – An excerpt, we miss out on the early verses and just get the climax as last week. Maybe next week we’ll get the beginning? Bohemian Rhapsody never got this treatment!
Bananarama and Lana…. – Help – Ah, a dose of Lennon/McCartney to end on. Comic Relief with French and Saunders. All good fun….surely not shown in full on broadcast?
Hi Anonymous! I'm on to ask if you've got the original archive versions of the following shows. They are 14/07/77, 11/01/79, 24/05/79, 11/10/79 and 15/11/79. Cheers!
ReplyDeleteSorry brie i don't have any of those.
DeleteOK, mate. No worries. Have you any of these from 1980? 3/01, 10/01, 17/01, and 24/01.Cheers!
Deleteno sorry, i only have BBC4 versions of those, were they cut then?
ReplyDeleteNo they weren't, but I just wondered if there were any extra bits, as some of them you've uploaded for me have a bit more at the start or end. Thanks for looking for me anyway!
ReplyDeleteI just realised that this TOTP edition went out on my 21st birthday in 1989. Good Lord, and no TOTP 21 celebrations?
ReplyDeleteTrevor, what the feck are you wearing? And waffling before the first turn too. Blimey, Susie must be miniscule for Trev to tower over her!
ReplyDeleteToy keyboard, big lashes, S’Express were always a party on a stick in the studio.
“Leave Me Alone”, Wacko? With pleasure. FF.
Wide mouth Edie with “What Am I” according to the intro text credit. Never got this hippie AOR effort.
A nice smooth intro to Rick Astley from Trevor there. You can tell he’s done this before.
Some identikit house lite next. Next!
An oh-so-80’s video next for one of Living In A Box’s lesser moments. Well, it wasn’t “Living In A Box” now, was it?
Tone Loc with the blueprint for his next and best / biggest hit sequel.
Dusty with “Nothing To Prove”, ay, Trev? Can we sub you? Ooo, Joanne Whalley! Sorry, nurse.
Does Hue and Cry’s single actually ever mention ’Sweet’ Linda in the lyrics like Matey Boy babbles onstage? Don’t know about sweet, she sounds pissed and a bit of a handful if you ask me.
Fine pipes by Michael Ball, complete with relief at hitting the crescendo and a live “thank you”.
A cameo of a video, eh, Susie? Satire! I still FF’d it, mind.
We finish with an irrelevant and unfunny
cover which was neither comic nor a relief.
Thanks and bye, Susie. All too brief. You may have been provincial, but I’d have preferred you over Glaring Jacket Boy and Anthea Turnoff any day.
Bruno was a bit all over the place at times, wasn't he? A bit like his jacket then.
ReplyDeleteMichael Jackson - The lyrics are not the best, as has been pointed out, but it is at least a strong tune. At the time it was only on CD versions of 'Bad' which is why it did so well in the chart despite the album having been out for ages.
Edie Brickell - This song got so much airplay at the time that it seemed destined to be big. Strange how even a TOTP appearance didn't help much. She did have a No.40 hit in the 90s without her band called 'Good Times'.
Breakers - Tone Loc's 2 hits both sound very similar, but this is the less interesting of them as far as both song and video go.
Bananarama et al - Not particularly interesting or funny, unfortunately. Seemingly it set a precedent for Comic Relief songs to come with the next one along being the nadir.
A right mixed bag this week with Bruno & Squeaky Mathis introducing quite a few songs we've seen already.
ReplyDeleteSo we ended last week with S’Express and “Hey Music Lover” kicks us off tonight. Must admit I preferred the video to this very flat studio performance...let's all just stand in a line...
Michael Jackson begs the press to “Leave Me Alone”. Single Number 8 as Angelo said and I like this one. I think the video is quite clever as well, some good animation and cut + paste and some headlines used to drive the narrative.
Edie Brickell & The New Bohemians fly in and promptly get cut short mid last chorus, why didn't they cut out some of that guitar solo?. “What I Am” should still have been a much bigger hit. In fact none of last weeks Breakers have made much impact this week.
Rick on repeat next.
Breakers:
Tyree featuring Kool Rock Steady – Who? “Turn Up The Bass” sounded dated in 1989 and the video is an absolute rip-off of MARRS and Steve Silk Hurley. Terrible.
Living In A Box with a belter of a tune. Hopefully they will get to “Blow The House Down” on the show next week. Big fan of this one. Shame the video is so badly made.
Tone Loc with a hip hop take on “Wild Thing” that seemed to be everywhere at the time. Not a fan of this, but I don't hate it either. It's just there. Nice rip-off of the Addicted To Love video in the bit we saw. I wonder if the whole video was like this or if other songs got taken off as well.
Dusty and the PSB (who should of had a credit...they are even in the video) with “Nothing Has Been Proved". A top notch song, Dusty providing a great vocal. Was that Roland Gift playing a photographer in the video?
Hue & Cry with a live vocal and I think Hue is “Looking For Cry" the amount of time he spends singing in his ear...something we should know boys??
Wow Mr. Michael Ball. That is one stunning live performance of “Love Changes Everything”. Wish this was Number One rather than Simple Minds.
He was robbed.
Simple Minds at the top. Will we ever get to hear any of the slow bits of “Belfast Child" that bored this teenager to tears...
Bananarama join forces with French, Saunders and Burke (Lananeeneenoonoo) for a rather fun video for Comic Relief. They actually take-off the 3 girls quite well and the version of “Help” is passable. Shame "Pete" can't be arsed to be in the video.
Hue and Cry were basically the Kane brothers, who were, er, brothers. So anything more is in your filthy mind, Morgie!
DeleteOops... Must have been brotherly love then
DeleteS express - Nice bouncy start
ReplyDeleteMJ - not a bad tune for the eighth single from the album. Wierd video...
(Tall woman next to susie, or is she very short?)
Edir brickell - nice tune, boring performance
(Tall man beside her, or susie short - I think that answers my question)
Breakers - derivative, very good, quite good, very good (looking good for next wek)
Don’t remember Belfast Child getting fo number one... (one for Pointless I think)
Confession time - I like the nanas solo help (which I think was on the CD single). Full video. Coo...