You come back in my life singing the 25th of March 1993 edition of Top of the Pops!
Bling a song
25-3-93: Presenter: Tony Dortie
(16) SYBIL – When I’m Good And Ready
Getting the show underway with what became her third and final top ten hit when it peaked at number 5.
(5) THE BLUEBELLS – Young At Heart
Reforming to perform a song that had peaked at number 8 back in 1984, and this time around it will get to number one.
(3) SHABBA RANKS – Mr. Loverman (video) (and charts)
At its peak.
(20) JADE – Don’t Walk Away
Flying in from LA to perform what became her only top ten hit when it peaked at number 7.
(22) ROBIN S – Show Me Love
In the studio with what became her first of four top 40 hits when it peaked at number 6.
(8) CLIFF RICHARD – Peace In Our Time
A second time in the studio with this song but it got no higher.
(24) BANANARAMA – More More More (video) (Breakers)
Their 23rd and final top 40 hit but it got no higher.
(19) SUNSCREEM – Pressure Us (video) (Breakers)
Got no higher.
(10) DAVID BOWIE – Jump They Say (video) (Breakers)
Went up one more place.
(NEW) LULU & BOBBY WOMACK – I’m Back For More
Together tonight and the song peaked at number 27.
(1) SHAGGY – Oh Carolina
He's back in the studio again for his second and final week at number one.
1st of April is next.
Shabba Ranks - This TOTP episode must have been the first one after the clocks went forward for BST, or the one just before, so the Shabba ranks video of the essence of loving life and summer at the swimming pool was very timely, and at rerun level on BBC4 also timely with the current heatwave!
ReplyDeleteRobin S - dance floor classic of the 90s and beyond, just by its memorable intro if anything. I remember mentioning that The Gibson Brother's Cuba released in 1980 went on to be played on the dance floor well into the 90s and for around 20 years in all, and this Robin S single took the 90s and 00s for around the same longevity. Dance floor heaven!
The Breakers - Bananarama finally at the end of their long career spanning back to their arrival in 1982, this new and last ever single for them was I think a cover of Andrea True Connection's single More More More from 1976, as the curtain finally comes down on Bananarama after 11 years of regular chart action. There was to be no invite to the TOTP studio for this final single, as the Breakers slot this week was at peak position.
Actually Dory, after checking Bananrama's discography on Wikipedia, it turns out they made a comeback in 2005 and had two more top 30 hits. Can't say I remember them, but noughties music did seem to just pass me by at the time.
DeleteMy encyclopaedia on the pop charts is the Guiness World Records British Hit Singles & Albums 17th edition (2004) which gives chart positions between 1960-2004, which is the reason that it is showing Bananarama's last single was in 1993, as it is unlikely that a predominantly 80s group like Banarama would be releasing new material after 2004.
DeleteSo on this occasion it just missed a new comeback single in 2005, and I stopped following the charts and TOTP by the end of 1995 which is where I'll probably be getting off the bus Angelo, cos the 70s & 80s groups had virtually all called it a day by that time too, even with singles peaking outside the Top 40 which is currently worth staying on for!
There's some great stuff 97-99 Dory, worth sticking with. (I mean there's some dross too but that's TOTP)
DeleteJust noticed that the last book version of the UK charts was released in 2010 which was the Virgin Book Of British Hit Singles Volume 2, as I suspect that after that it was not worthwhile the cost of publishing these thick and heavy paperback books with nearly 60 years of hit singles, and to make way for online browsing. However, I still like the book browsing for a more at-a-glance chart information.
DeleteYouve got the same Hit Singles book that I use Dory.
DeleteIncredible, and considering we've never met before, that is some co-incidence. Is it the 17th edition that you have, as I bought mine in 2004 from a WH Smith store in the music books section. Apparently the final Guiness edition released was in 2006 with the 19th Edition, before the book rights were sold to Virgin who released only two further editions under their name in 2008 and 2010.
DeleteFolks... I am using my well thumbed Guinness Book of British Hit Singles Volume 18 (2005) with a silver cover. 'More More More' is the last Bananarama chart entry listed in there.
DeleteSo you have the penultimate edition before the Guinness books went out of publication for the last time in 2006. My green cover edition of 2004, the one before yours, is the one I have been using for looking up chart action over the years, and would cover these TOTP reruns until 2004 if BBC4 will still be going with this phenomenal repeat run of TOTP episodes going back to 1976.
DeleteIt certainly looks like Guinness stopped doing these books in 2006 with the 19th and final edition when TOTP closed its doors for the last time in that same year, as otherwise it would be too much of a coincidence!
Good episode overall, especially for Black talent! Can't believe there's only one this week though.
ReplyDeleteThe Lulu/Bobby duet I could have done without and it feels like Cliff was only just on but everything else I'm on board with - pretty much everything that isn't those two or a breaker is a solid 1993 classic and the kind of thing you get in best of the year complications. I missed indie/rock this week but it's not like there isn't plenty to come soon.
I bought the Hit Singles books (and albums) from issue 1 to final death. Nearest equivalent now are 'The Official Charts...' books, but they are week by week.
DeleteI remember the did one edition that covered just the 1960's, and that was a good one because its the only one that included the separate EP charts, before it was abolished at the end of 1967.
DeleteI also have the Guinness book of No1 Hits. My copy ends at No709 (June 1994) which is Wet Wet Wet's cover of the Troggs 'Love is all around'. Whether the original or this version is the best is a moot point (I prefer the former) but I read at the time that Reg Presley made so much money on royalties on it that it funded his 'crop circle' research at the time. Certainly made more on that than the notorious 'Troggs Tapes'!
DeletePosting this after hearing Pick of the Pops from this week in 1977. Blimey that was eclectic! Just a brilliant hour of pop music. This week's Totp was pretty eclectic too and a good one. Three favourite singles of the year and you can't complain about a live vocal from Bobby Womack.
ReplyDeleteMust say I really like Tony's enthusiasm and I think I'll miss him when we're deep into the celebrity presenters ironically sending up the show period.
A joyful start with Sybil with 'When I'm Good and Ready'. I always assumed it wasn't a cover but had no idea it was a Stock/Waterman product (no Aitken apparently) and I really love this tune. Like all their best stuff, unpredictable but so catchy. That bridge with the harmonies is as good as anything they ever did. Great voice she has. She deserved to have a big hit with something that wasn't a cover.
A return for The Bluebells performing a rerelease of their '84 hit which is nice to see. Used for an advert (not so common now), they look like they're having just as much fun as they did before. We take another uncomfortable trip on board an instrument, this time the violinist's bow which is positively violent after a couple of seconds. The guitarist looking a lot like the Scream's Andrew Innes if he'd barely made the effort.
Tony introduces Shabba Ranks with a routine that is clearly cool in his head alone. Good single but difficult to enjoy.
Jade in the studio next with a belter. Love this tune. For me this also has one of the best musical motifs ever. As bright and instantly catchy as 'Here Comes The Sun'. A stunning performance from the advance party Sugababes. Not sure if the other two girls are live, the chorus harmonies are so startlingly precise but whatever. That is just ace!! I hope they do a 2nd performance next week.
Belter no.2! Robin S with 'Show Me Love', a dance classic for me and another storming vocal. She gets the crowd involved at the end. Lucky crowd this week I'd say.
Cliff Richard next. Well it is Top of the Pops isn't it. Weird experience seeing Cliff at any time other than pre Christmas and it's the same windy thing as that horse one. It's ok and I fully agree with the sentiment and he is admirably reckless in his Cliff swirling between two Olympic torches.
Breakers very poor then another 'new' item with a duo that I certainly didn't see coming. Bobby Womack is quite a gain for the show. Wholly live, making me think of a similarly 'lucky us' turn from Smokey Robinson back in 1977. What a voice he had. Had he ever been on the show before? Lulu proves herself to be more or less his equal here and it's a great little extra for this edition. I bet most of the audience didn't have a clue who he was.
Shaggy at the top again with a repeat clip. Stupid but good fun.
Tony says goodbye and is joined by a dick under curtains bigger than many we've seen adorning the stage lately. He'll be an embarrassed viewer today.
Mic, it looks like Bobby Womack's brother and sister-in-law beat him to TOTP by nine years. Bobby could have been on before this show with a bit of luck, as he collaborated with Living In A Box on "So The Story Goes" in 1987 and it reached number 34 but it never got on the show. Bobby then scraped into the top 75 with a cover of "Living in A Box". As far as I'm concerned, his peak is "Across 110th Street". What a track.
DeleteThanks Arthur. Some great info. Yes what a musically gifted family they were. And he played on 'There's a Riot Going On'. I still have his set with Damon Albarn at Glastonbury on video. He's a spectacular guitarist as well.
DeleteGood Lord, just noticed that Van Halen missed out on a Breakers slot this week, as they were at a peak of No.26, and so by not getting onto The Breakers, it meant that their live version of Jump got no play any all on TOTP despite there being a superb video for the new version:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLVcZwCgDEQ
Also at peak position but outside the Top 40 this week at No.67 was The Captain Hollywood Project, previously debuting in 1990 alongside 24-7, but now with the start of what was a great run on their own in the 1993-94 period, with a number of hits that did a lot better in America, but still very impactful in the UK for true dance music connoseurs!
Whenever I see the song title 'Jump' I think of Van Halen....others may think Pointer Sisters which came out around the same. Not heard this live cut before. Such power!
DeleteCould be that Van Halen were done with new material by 1993, hence bringing out a live version of Jump for the singles chart here in early 1993. Now where's my Guiness Book of British Hit Singles......
DeleteIt’s club night at Elstree, and an excellent lineup for the audience apart from one duffer.
ReplyDeleteWhy wasn’t there a male club /rave artist called Basil to accompany Sybil? Choon! Given the song’s writers, I can imagine Kylie having a crack at this but not as good.
The Bluebells song ‘co-written by a motor car’, a nod to its resurgence due to that VW advert. Never keen on this but I could see the attraction. They were good value on “The Story Of”.
First clue that Dorky’s a Spurs fan - he’s wearing their away kit shirt for that season. As much of the uncredited female vocalist as Shabba on that clip.
Jade with a good image, enjoyable performance and some interesting boomy mellow R’n’B.
And the club classics keep coming. Slightly mumsy looking Robin S dressed in a business suit and she means business.
And the club classics keep… oh. Such an understated backdrop and intro routine for Cliff’s return. Good grief.
Breakers in order – insipid cover, anonymous muddy sounding rave, and middle order Bowie.
I like Lulu’s cardie, which compliments her hair colour. Well sung by her and Bobby but the song never rose above the ordinary for me.
Once again The shag appears to be singing all the right notes but not necessarily in the right order.
Ah, now Tony mentions who he’s a fan of. Next time, expect to see Mark Franklin in a Tasmin Archer tour jacket.
The unknown female vocalist on the Shabba Ranks single certainly made the song more listenable and the video more watchable, as she had just as much airtime as Shabba, so it should have been Shabba ranks 'featuring'.....
DeleteDavid Bowie only got on to the show this week with a tiny Breakers clip of literally a few seconds as a new entry at No.10, and considering it was his first Top 40 solo single as David Bowie since 1987, and with a video available, he should have got a main slot, especially as the following week when still going up to No.9 he was not played at all, so TOTP was not celebrating his return as they should have, and same treatment that Peter Gabriel got a few shows ago who also came back with a No.10 hit with a great video but ignored by TOTP while still rising.
Just found on Wikipedia that the female vocalist on Shabba's track was Deborahe Glasgow, Tragically, she died horribly less than a year after this hit at the age of 29, leaving behind four children.
DeleteThanks to the 45cat website, i discovered the Jamican release of "Mr Loverman" has the credits as Deborahe / Shabba Ranks and quite right too.
DeleteMr Loverman is a cover of Champion Lover sung by Deborahe Glasgow and is the female vocal in the original 1988 release.
DeleteThe 1993 version replaces Deborahe's vocals with Chevelle Franklin.
Also i think it's Diana King who performs with Shabba on 11/3 instead of Chevelle.
Now I'm totally confused!
DeleteThanks for that, HEWS. A convoluted web of vocalists there for Shabba's remake!
DeleteJust checked the Chart Stats website and discovered Robin S's track was a top 75 hit four more times - 1997, 2002, 2009 and 2013!
ReplyDeletePrecisely, longevity of 20 years from 1993 to 2013, a generation in effect, and similar to The Gibson Brothers' Cuba from 1980 - 2000 as a regular on dance floors. I wouldn't know if Robin S endured a further decade into the 2020's on dance floors post-covid, but I wouldn't be surprised.
DeleteAlso worth adding to the confusion that the track was originally released in the UK in 1990 as Robin Stone, with European releases in 1991 (also as Robin Stone), then the remix version as Robin S first hitting the shops in 1992. If at first you don't succeed!
DeleteSad to hear that Paul Ryder has passed away. He never seemed to get the same praise that Mani has long had but The Mondays tracks are full of brilliant bass parts. I loved the 5 note bass line in 'Kinky Afro' from the moment I first heard it on the school bus in 1990.
ReplyDeleteYeah, very sad to hear this. Who would have thought that Shaun would outlive his younger brother? Although I think Paul also led an equally addled early life. I loved the Happy Mondays - one of the reasons I moved to Manchester in '88 (along with The Fall and New Order). Some good obituaries appearing for Paul in the Guardian for example, he "brought funk to Happy Mondays' debauched carnival of sound".
DeleteCliff never did know what fo do with his hands, but his voguing was dad dancing at its worst
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi everyone. My name is Louise and I am the daughter of a man you might know as Shakey Shakerson. Im sorry to say that a few months ago, dad lost his battle with cancer.
ReplyDeleteHe was a wonderful man - very funny and loving and caring, and both my sister and I were hugely fortunate to be raised by him. He was also responsible for my love of music. We developed a weekly ritual of watching the ToTP repeats together and he would often do so while tapping on his laptop and occasionally laughing to himself about something he wrote. He told me about this site, but to be honest I couldn't really see the point in writing reviews for shows that were thirty odd years old.
I'd forgotten all about this until just recently when I came upon his list of bookmarks and noticed the name 'TOTP Repeats'. I remembered his 'pen name' and went looking for his entrys.
For almost an entire evening I read and re-read all his words, laughing out loud and, yes crying as well. It was hugely cathartic.
So I just wanted to write this and let you know, and thank you for those couple of years he spent in your company. Because of my dad - and these repeated shows - I have a wider palette of musical taste than the vast majority of my friends and for that I will always be grateful.
Peace and love x
Sorry to hear about your loss Louise, and I remember Shaky Shakerson on this site for the 70s and early 80s shows at least. Hopefully the 90s TOTP shows now being repeated every week by BBC4 may be recent enough for you to write reviews of your own on this site. Peace and love too from a regular on here.
DeleteSorry for your loss Louise x Glad you found some joy in your dad's posts.
DeleteSorry to learn of your father's passing Louise. He was a marvelous contributor to this blog and one who's posts I always looked forward to reading. Love and respect, Michael
DeleteSorry for your loss Louise. I'm glad you managed to read your Dad's posts and take some comfort from them.
DeleteVery sorry to hear your sad news, Louise. Shakey was a valued and valuable member of our crew. Glad you have happy memories of him, this show and the music you shared and you've discovered yourself. XX
DeleteSybil is good and ready with the PWL drum machine. It's even got the Undercover beeps on it. Great voice and a decent dance tune but not a patch on The Love I Lost.
ReplyDeleteAll down to the local comprehensive for the Barn Dance and it's a reformed Bluebells wondering how they got so lucky! Nice sing-a-long tune and you can see why the advertisers picked it.
Shabba stuck at Number 3 with the charts and good to see The Grid did so well after last week's appearance. Can we just agree that Shabba looks a bit of a prat in this video.
Now I do like this Jade tune. Never realised it was group, thought it was a singer? Bit of an En Vogue vibe and very much in the Eternal mould. Cracking tune.
Robin S with a club classic and this is one of the 90s finest dance tunes. Deservedly stood the test of time. I'm loving that she has no idea which camera is on. Stunning vocal though.
Cliff is back and it's all fire, brimstone and striking a pose. Another chance to see his God loving Eurovision wannabe tune.
Breakers:
Bananarama: How do I like it? Umm
Sunscreem: How did I completely forget this band?
David Bowie: I say, wonderful and one of my favourite Bowie tunes.
Lulu and Bobby Womack both back for more. Very much Radio 2 fodder this days but did Radio 1 play this at the time? I want to be mean to this but It's not bad actually, quite enjoyed it.
Shaggy back again and milking his 15 minutes, little knowing he's here to stay!