So as soon as the sun will shine, I'm gonna get my 19th of November 1992 edition of Top of the Pops!
Belly button of the ball
19-11-92: Presenter: Tony Dortie
(26) CATHY DENNIS – Irresistible
Getting tonight's show underway and the song went up two more places.
(FLASHBACK) SONNY & CHER – I Got You Babe (clip of TOTP 12-8-65) (and charts)
The duo's only number one.
(9) HEAVEN 17 – Temptation (Brothers In Rhythm Remix)
Performing their biggest hit which had peaked at number 2 in 1983, and this time around it made it to number 4.
(NEW) MADNESS – The Harder They Come (via satellite)
Live from Red Square, with quite an apt song..., but it wasn't the big hit they were no doubt hoping for, peaking at number 44.
(24) THE PASADENAS – Let’s Stay Together
In the studio with their eighth and final top 40 hit and it peaked at number 22,
(21) INXS – Taste It (video) (Breakers)
Got no higher.
(14) THE PRODIGY – Out Of Space (video) (Breakers)
Peaked at number 5.
(12) GUNS N’ ROSES – Yesterdays (video) (Breakers)
Peaked at number 8.
(11) SIMPLY RED – Drowning In My Own Tears (video) (Breakers)
Got no higher.
(4) WHITNEY HOUSTON – I Will Always Love You (video)
Might just about make it to number one...
(7) GENESIS – Invisible Touch (Live)
A live performance of their live version but it got no higher.
(1) CHARLES & EDDIE – Would I Lie To You? (video)
First of two weeks at number one.
26th of November is next.
A show mainly of 80s groups still out there in the 90s, except for The Prodigy and Charles & Eddie who started off in the 90s, as we also say a fond farewell to the flashback videos with Sonny & Cher taking the last of this series of videos.
ReplyDeleteCathy Dennis – ooh, liking the belly out this week (thanks for pointing out Angelo) and a gorgeous figure all round as the show opener in the studio. Oh and the song was cool too, but it sounded a lot like Baby Baby by Amy Grant which we recently had peaking at No.2 in 1991.
The Pasadenas – we reach their last ever single with this studio appearance, and I guess it was kind of fitting that the boys were out in their smart attire, whether it was Christmas coming up or not, and this Tina Turner cover came 9 years after Turner had a big hit with it herself in late 1983.
Whitney Houston – first single in well over a year since her busy 1991 with all those videos getting on to TOTP, and I never thought that this new cover of a Dolly Parton hit from a 1982 movie called The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas could come back 10 years later in 1992 with Whitney Houston.
Genesis – not sure why this live version of their 1987 hit was released here in 1992. Was there a Greatest Hits album from Genesis in 1992 that prompted this to return to the charts in a live version?
Genesis had two live albums on the way - one for short songs, and the other for longs songs.
DeleteThanks Dory. Couldn't place the familiar sound in the Cathy Dennis tune but you are spot on with Baby Baby.
DeleteAs noted above, this Genesis live recording of 'Invisible Touch' was taken from 'The Way that we Walk - The Shorts' live album from the 'We can't Dance' tour. Unfortunately Phil decided to substitute the word 'mess' (as in 'mess up') from the original recording (and indeed the version performed on the 'Invisible Touch' tour) with another word, so this single release has the word sort of blurred out. Later tours also retained this offensive word in the song which I always found a tad childish and unnecessary.
DeleteGosh that was hard going. I thought we'd seen the last of all the reissues and covers. A right smorgasbored (spelling intentional) of half arsed covers and songs given the faintest update. Sonny and Cher from Totp 1965 for, er, variety.
ReplyDeleteTony still looking a tad uncomfortable before the camera but sounding more confident now.
At least something new from Cathy Dennis and in velvet trousers with a tantalising suggestion of the top button undone. It isn't but I couldn't help but notice. Song ok but her beamed in from outer space days are clearly in the past. Sounded like she's taken a part of Any Grant's 'Baby Baby' and changed some notes around.
Another flashback with charts from 40 to 11 and a much shown clip which interestingly looks like it was sourced direct from the series 'Sounds of the Sixties'. Anyway it is from a US studio isn't it? No way is that guy directly behind them not American. He looks like a teenage extra from the 'Mary Tyler Moore Show'. Anyway a classic bit of mid '60s footage. Didn't really notice the chart once again.
Back to '92. I think. Glen Gregory's leery grin would've caused me to watch Heaven 17 from behind the sofa in '83. Perfectly happy to watch them now although there wasn't much different to the original that I could make out.
Madness with a cover of 'The Harder They Come. Live from Red Square. Yes, well, goodness! Suggs no Jimmy Cliff and his endless, "look at me with everything around me falling down" routine I've always found slightly irritating but, well, songwriting genius and Lee Thompson played sax on 'Dangermouse'.
Oh come on! Another flaming cover by a group not given to originality in any form. Maybe the curious wedding reception farewell routine by a couple of them
could pass as original. Lush curtains there, pointing ahead to the period when the set resembled a green field stage at Glastonbury.
Breakers. New music? Mostly. INXS with the one with the weird vocal in the chorus. The Prodigy 'Out of Space' still sounding lots of fun, G 'n' R overwrought and tune free then Mick Hucknall drowning in his own vocal ability to finish.
Whitney Houston and another attempt to come up with something new to say about a single over many weeks . Nice version. I prefer the original though.
I should hate this ultra shiny sleeves rolled up mullet thing from Genesis but I can't deny I like this one. Very live, in fact they seemed to be threatening to break into full concert mode but thankfully someone in the gantry who doesn't like reissues / covers THAT much pulls the plug on them
I've always loved 'Would I Lie To You' and if you'd heard it for the first time you would think it was a very faithful cover of a lost soul classic. Nope, entirely new for '92. Charles should've had a successful solo career and Eddie's semi quack of a voice only adds to the enjoyment for me. Great record. Some fine No 1s this year.
To suit this strangely retro edition we end in 1984.
Cathy Dennis's song title Irresistable was just perfect for her clothing style in the TOTP studio performance, and easily the highlight of the show this week.
DeleteFour songs at peak position further down the charts this week, and with no TOTP for them this time round:
ReplyDeleteNo.29 Enya - The Celts
Strangely enough, this will be the last Enya release for three years until November 1995 when she will make a comeback with a Top 10 hit, but for now this Celts single was a temporary farewell until then.
No.30 PM Dawn - I'd Die Without You
Bit harsh, but to think about it, this was PM Dawn's fifth single since coming on to the scene in mid-1991, and yet their only one TOTP appearance was for their second single Set Adrift On Memory Bliss which made Top 3 of course.
No.49 Gary Glitter - Through The Years
I can only imagine this was a montage of his career singles and possibly to celebrate a 20-year chart career since 1972, unless anyone knows any different, but in 1992 he would have been still been a firm favourite with pop fans.
No.61 Joe Cocker - When The Night Comes
Reissue of his 1990 single which only made No.65 back then, and now this reissue didn't do much better, going only four places higher at No.61, so I guess there were no more thoughts of a second reissue in 1994! Cocker will take a break now for two years until his next single in the summer of 1994 which reached No.17 called The Simple Things.
The Glitter release is not a montage but a new song....backed with the Christmas song that you don't hear on the radio these days.
DeleteA montage 'All that Glitters' was released in 1981 and peaked one place higher at No48 than this effort managed.
Thought we'd seen the last of Ms Dennis. Don't remember this one at all. Sounds a lot like all her other hits but not as memorable. Average rather than irresistible. Moths have been at her new jumper as well. Poor Cathy.
ReplyDeleteSome redubbed Sonny and Cher with the charts. Was there no Erma Franklin video?
Brother In Rhythm work their remix magic on an 80s classic and how nice to have the original artist on this. "temptation" such a great song it survives being turned into a 90s banger although it loses the charm of the original. Great live vocal.
I wondered if this Moscow performance from Madness would survive the current situation but it has. A rare Madness mis-fire as well. All rather bland and it looks freezing there.
Pasadenas have become a standard covers band it seems. Shame really as they showed early promise and energy.
Breakers:
INXS: not for the faint hearted it seems
Prodigy: like this one. Great fun.
Guns N Roses: haircuts yesterday
Simply Red: is Montreaux still going?
Whitney with our first of many many sightings of the Dolly Parton tune that will be in our lives for the next 3 months. I will say now it's a decent if not exceptional ballad. The film soundtrack album is excellent (think I picked up the cassette with my Xmas money) and one of my favourite soundtrack albums. A great video as well. As for the film, Mrs Morgie loves it. I have never seen it as it has Kevin Costner in it, one of the worst lead actors to ever grace the screen.
Another 80s classic is back, this time for a live album plug. Can't fault this. Great tune, great performance. Phil really made his mark on the music of my youth and a shame he's now had to retire. Thanks Phil. And what a great band Genesis were.
NEW NUMBER ONE: In capitals as it hasn't happened much this year. Fan of this one. Deserved Number One and bonus points for getting rid of the Boyz. Now, which one is which?
Decent show. Genesis the highlight. 8 Dorties! Laters!
Cathy Dennis was far from gone at this stage. She continued to release new singles for a further 5 years until the summer of 1997 before finally calling time on her pop career. She was still only 23 on this new single Irresistible in November 1992!
DeleteCathy Dennis still has her pop career - as a writer. She's rich beyond dreams of avarice.
DeleteThe year is ending on some weak episodes. Charles and Eddie are a highlight and I love the Prodigy's Out of Space. Whitney is a good cover but we're going to be bored of it very soon. Nothing else particularly interesting.
ReplyDeleteThe Prodigy went up to No.6 after this week's Breakers slot, and then the following week to No.5, but TOTP did not give them a main slot in the two weeks still climbing within the Top 10. What a shocker!
DeleteSpent the whole of this Cathy Dennis track wondering what it reminded me of, but I see it's been solved above. It's OK, she knows her way around a tune, but I'd be surprised if anyone's played it since.
ReplyDeleteSonny & Cher, reminds me of Groundhog Day and not just because of how overplayed it is. Film director William Friedkin called Sonny Bono one of the true geniuses he ever worked with, because he didn't read music, wrote nothing down and composed his songs in the studio, telling the band what to do spontaneously.
Heaven 17, oh great, another remix that's not as good as the original. The female singer is ludicrously over the top (I suppose she was in the original too, but I really noticed it here).
Definition of Madness: freezing your arses off in Red Square to do a tepid cover of the Jimmy Cliff classic. Nobody cared.
Talking of tepid covers, here's the Pasadenas to bland down the Al Green classic and make you wonder what was so special about it in the first place. Cheers.
A bunch of Breakers, nothing too riveting, then Whitney with that damned inescapable film theme. I remember sitting in college and someone in the next room put this on and everyone's shoulders just slumped with boredom.
Genesis yet again reluctant to leave the stage for a cover of... themselves. Phil's phrasing very strange here, is he trying to do a "rawk" voice?
Then Chas and Ed make it to the top. But which one died?
Oh, I tell a lie about the Breakers, I do like The "Progidy" (as Tony calls them) so obviously we don't get to hear them in full.
DeleteSid here (with account issues). I can’t find the evidence online but the Prodigy apparently turned down offers to perform on TOTP. They had done BBC2’s Dance Energy the previous year and presumably weren’t impressed at studio appearances. Out of Space is probably my favourite Prodigy tune. I had great pleasure in dancing to it at one of these new silent discos recently, forgetting that 30 years had passed in the interim.
DeleteFirst off, sad to hear of the passing of Dennis Waterman. One solo UK hit but a corker.
ReplyDelete“Irresistible”? No, too generic for me but a hit for Cathy, I’ll (Amy) grant her that.
My, how Cher’s changed.
Not tempted by the inferior Heaven 17 rehash, not helped by Dorky’s waffle beforehand.
Next up, another of three covers and a reboot on the show which are all inferior to the originals. Madness with obviously live (i.e. shaky) vocals. All this did was remind me of “Contact In Red Square” by Blondie.
“Let’s Stay Together”? No lads, do us all a favour and split up and take your suitcases full of covers wth you.
INXS tasted sour to me, Prodigy had obviously heard and plagiarised “Poing”, “Yesterdays” equals dinosaurs and Mick, I wish you did what it said in that title.
Oh Christ. Taken from the joint most boring film I ever had the misfortune to watch along with “Song Of The South”.
Phil Collins always sounds like he’s singing “Invisible Toucher”. One of Genesis’s more ‘disco’ type songs.
Ah, Charles and Eddie. Listen and weep, Pasadenas.
We finish with multi-screen Dorkys and that bloody catchphrase. Hellfire.
Don't know about The Pasadenas splitting up after this single, but it was their last in the UK charts.
DeleteIt appears The Pasadenas released two more singles in 1994 and 1995 and only the latter scraped into the top 100. Before this current re-run hit, they'd had a relative flop with the ironically titled "Moving In The Right Direction" which peaked at 49.
Delete