More and more and more, we're going to the 11th of November 1993 edition of Top of the Pops!
Don't go singing my part
11-11-93: Presenter: Mark Franklin
(26) CAPTAIN HOLLYWOOD PROJECT – More And More
Getting this live show underway and the song went up three more places.
(2) BRYAN ADAMS – Please Forgive Me (video) (and charts)
At its peak.
(24) SOUL II SOUL – Wish
In the studio but the song got no higher.
(18) PAUL WELLER – The Weaver (video) (Breakers)
Got no higher.
(15) MICHAEL BOLTON – Said I Loved You But I Lied (video) (Breakers)
Got no higher.
(13) LEFTFIELD LYDON – Open Up (video) (Breakers)
Got no higher.
(11) SOUL ASYLUM – Runaway Train (video) (Breakers)
Peaked at number 7.
(10) THE ORB – Little Fluffy Clouds (video) (Breakers)
Got no higher.
(9) URBAN COOKIE COLLECTIVE – Feels Like Heaven
Performing their second and final top ten hit and it peaked at number 5.
(NEW) JANET JACKSON – Again (via satellite)
Peaked at number 6.
(NEW) ELTON JOHN & KIKI DEE – True Love
The duo perform their second and final hit together and it peaked at number 2.
(1) MEAT LOAF – I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That) (video)
Fourth of seven weeks at number one.
18th of November is next
A place for your comments on the 10th of November 1977 edition ~
ReplyDelete10-11-77: Presenter: Noel Edmonds
(30) THE JACKSONS – Goin’ Places (and charts)
(5) TOM ROBINSON BAND – 2-4-6-8 Motorway
(29) RUBY WINTERS – I Will (video)
(11) ROXY MUSIC – Virginia Plain (clip of TOTP 24-8-72)
(22) BONEY M – Belfast ®
(33) ELVIS COSTELLO – Watching The Detectives
(12) THE BEE GEES – How Deep Is Your Love (danced to by Legs & Co)
(39) KENNY EVERETT & MIKE VICKERS – Captain Kremmen (Retribution) (video)
(18) SANTANA – She’s Not There (video)
(26) TINA CHARLES – Love Bug – Sweets For My Sweet (Medley)
(21) DARTS – Daddy Cool/The Girl Can’t Help It
(1) ABBA – The Name Of The Game (video)
(3) ROD STEWART – You’re In My Heart (and credits)
Seen it, done it - I was there first time round! :-D
DeleteI think Angelo has put this up on here cos this blog was not around for the 1977 shows, and it only started from the 1979 shows, so there is nothing to refer back to in order to put up comments, and I don't think it can be slotted below the 2014 links where we had the 1979 shows. Or can it?
DeleteAngelo took over the baton with his marvellous work from (I think) Chris Barratt when he suddenly packed up, Chris having stepped in when Simon shut his "Yes It's Number One" blog which was the original one for us forumites still on here. I managed to find Simon's blog for the 1977 episode earlier this week and enjoyed looking at the old comments.
DeleteChris was ok, but his tiresome yew tree comments became, er, tiresome.
DeleteThanks Angelo for putting 10/11/77 up here for comment.
DeleteNoel I've missed you on this channel! Daft jokes and all. I noticed on some links he was giggly and jokey and in others, formal and rather sullen. One part of the show must've gone better than the other.
Chart rundown to The Jacksons. Great chart. Ok single. Noel's intro noticeably lacking in humour or a warm welcome.
Tom Robinson Band; Under some merry lights, my favourite 6 music presenter with his band in his classic school uniform look. Great to see him looking so cheerful and enjoying the moment, beaming first into an uncomfortably positioned camera and then to the audience. I've seen the clip of him singing 'Glad To Be Gay' on 'So It Goes' and my god he could do pissed off. Great road tune which the audience seemed to enjoy.
That seemed to be completely live as Noel has to wait a moment for the guitar to stop.
Ruby Winters; Noel makes a quip about Winters being in The Four Seasons with Donna Summer. Yes, I spotted a flaw in that joke almost immediately.
Pleasant song and she has an attractive soul voice and attractive Sheila Ferguson hair singing to us in a brilliant white studio complemented by a big wicker chair and possibly some fag smoke. Great moment near the end where she looks like she's going up an escalator but it's actually the camera going alongside her piano lid!
Roxy Music; To be honest 'Virginia Plain' is the one single of theirs that I've never been that bothered about. Love the intro and the instrumental parts but the song I find rather clunky. They look fantastic of course though the audience wouldn't have danced any differently if it had been the New Seekers in the studio. Good that it survived.
Boney M; A real costume box performance of 'Belfast' with its rousing tune and wonderfully simplistic lyrics. A rare lead vocal from Marcia Barrett. Goodness she looks and sounds stern.
Elvis Costello and the Attractions; "Mr. Red shoes" as Noel introduces him, with little audible enthusiasm. His following link describing what we've just seen and heard as ..."watching the detectives and things", suggests he wasn't any more impressed by the end. Brilliant performance and love that guitar blast at the end. I guess another seminal moment in the show's reluctant move with the times.
The Bee Gees; Hmm. An interesting interpretation by Flick Colby for 'How Deep Is Your Love' with 'Saturday Night Fever' reimagined as 'Sunday Morning Farmers Market'. Legs & Co doing a kind of gentle cockney / Ambridge lark about under what looks like a Closhe.
Noel makes some particularly tenuous joke re the song title which he acknowledges with a laugh possibly due to mild embarrassment because Patti is simultaneously wiggling seductively and smiling over her shoulder at us. I'm not listening to what he's saying at this point. Lulu adopts the role perfectly in this routine. She could've been in the cast of 'Half a Sixpence' for the previous three months.
An oddly captivating routine.
Kenny Everett and Mike Vickers; Oh that's where I remember a voice saying "He's so hunky!" on the radio. Funny and rather wistful musically with the great ex Manfred Mann member Mike Vickers on board.
Santana; Even the legendary appearance in the Woodstock movie didn't do much for me so I was never going to be that bothered about a low quality, muffled live clip of their moody cover of 'She's Not There'. One day I might get their appeal.
Tina Charles; Another cover and this an uninspired ramming together of two different songs. Disappointing.
Darts; A 2nd appearance for the band for this medley and another lively performance. Deep voiced Den lurching around then towards some girls at the front of the stage, one of whom looks like she can't get far enough away.
Abba; At No.1 with 'The Name Of The Game', and the friendly exchanges over the game of Ludo. Still strangely meandering but a great great tune.
Rod Stewart plays us out with my favourite song of his while an ugly outline wobbles around.
Speaking of Tom, his 6 music show this evening features a tribute playlist for Mimi Parker who passed away a few days ago. Truly saddening. An incredible talent and one of the very best voices of modern times.
DeleteHi, well what a treat to wind back to an era when I can safely say I liked most of the music on ToTP and am motivated to do a complete review.
Delete(Chart rundown) Jacksons – Going Places – Out of the charts hopefully.
TRB – 2 4 6 8 Motorway (P) – Phenomenally popular at the time, it even snuck into Nicky Horne’s circa 1978 ‘top tracks’ charts which was supposed to comprise of just album tracks; this was a single cut only at the time. Here we are treated to TRB playing live with a slightly edited rendition.
Ruby Winters – I will – I have a version by Clodagh Rodgers which I prefer to this. Had to think twice about Edmonds’ ‘Four Seasons’ reference but then my brain sprung into gear and I got it.
Roxy Music – Virginia Plain (P) – Wow! How fortunate that this was re-released to accompany a ‘Greatest Hits’ package at the time as the BBC still had access to the original show (which I watched!) which presumably they then wiped. This single has everything, never tire of hearing it and a great performance from a great band but cruelly cut short. Strange, no matter how good this is I always find my mind turning to ‘Big Train’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEa9HvEcIlE
Boney M – Belfast – Start of the decline of Boney M and a big disappointment after three good first singles which culminated in holiday celebrations a year or so later.
Elvis Costello – Watching the Detectives (P) – Elvis popped up on the Alan Hull documentary which was well worth watching and he was extremely complimentary about Hull and Lindisfarne. This is one of his better efforts.
Bee Gees – How deep is your love – A smoochy classic. How I miss Legs and Co. I could watch these ‘builders’ all day…Lulu Cartwright was definitely a crush of mine at the time.
Kenny Everett & Mike Vickers – Captain Kremmen – Haven’t heard this for years and can’t say I have great memories or Everett’s show nor this novelty hit. Looks like he borrowed some wobbly sets from ‘Dr Who’.
Santana – She’s not there – Prefer the Zombies version with Colin Blunstone on lead vocals and prefer Carlos on the classic ‘Sam Ba Pa Ti’.
Tina Charles – Love Bug / Sweets for my sweets – Diminishing returns for TC. A bit of as non-song really and snatches of a former No1 hit by the Searchers don’t really lift it.
Darts – Daddy Cool / Girl can’t help it – Another forgettable effort. Ironic that Boney M were on earlier having recorded a much better song of this title.
Abba – The Name of the Game (P) – Sheer and utter class! Probably my least favourtite Abba No1 but the bar is so high that it is still a great song and a memorable video. I do remember them chopping it at that instrumental passage as they did here.
Rod Stewart – You’re in my Heart (The Final Acclaim) (P) – I always thought that this was a nod to Britt Ekland but listening more closely to the lyrics I am not sure, not that the relevant lyrics are aired in this brief playout snatch.
Great idea to tie in with ‘Pick of the Pops’ although this show is a week or so later in 1977 than the recent PoTP show – I have put a (P) in brackets above where Gambo played the track on the show.
It was interesting that Noel Edmonds made no reference to the repeat of the Roxy Music Totp clip from 1972. Repeats from the show's archive I think were very unusual at the time, certainly for a regular show. I'm always intrigued as to how much of Totp still existed at this time.
DeleteBack to Arthur's comment, and I joined at the time of Chris's forum and transitioned onto Angelo's, but did not know about Simon's one or even looking for a forum online, as watching these TOTP reruns was spectacular enough at the time of the 1977 repeats.
DeleteKenny Everett - Captain Kremmen
Well this was interesting seeing it now, as The Kenny Everett Video Show on ITV launched a few months later in early 1978, with Kremmen having a weekly slot on the show, so this TOTP performance on the BBC's TOTP show may have been the first view of Captain Kremmen, unless someone knows otherwise.
Darts - Daddy Cool
Quite liked this one, and a rare sight where three of the four singers fronting the band on stage on this performance took it in turns to be lead singers for Darts on subsequent singles in 1978 and 1979.
I have to say that this was a superb episode. Even the naff tracks - yes you Kenny, - were fun. Definitely highlights the decline of the show in later years.
Delete@sct353 loved the big train track!
DeleteCaptain Hollywood Project - been waiting all year for this one - a class tune that reverberated with me for years after, wherever listening to it. I remember this lot were regularly in America's Top Ten with Casey Kasem which is was late night ITV treat in the early 90's so you could see lots of tunes that were bigger hits in the US.
ReplyDeleteSoul 2 Soul - surprised to see this lot still going in 1993, and looking up their singles catalogue they indeed went up to 1997 releasing new singles, although there would be a two-year break until 1995 after this one, so it a short goodbye for now at least, with nothing to come from them in 1994 at all.
Janet Jackson - although this one only got to No.6 in the UK, she got to No.1 in America with it for two weeks in December, and just missing out on the Christmas No.1 to Mariah Carey with Hero which we saw on last week's TOTP show.
Elton John & Kiki Dee - interesting to see these two dueting again for the first time since 1976 when thy got to No.1 with Don't Go Breaking My Heart. Even more interesting was that Elton was followed on this show by Meat Loaf on video, as the pair would meet in person three months later in February at the 1994 Brit Awards when Elton awarded Meat with an Oscar after Meat performed his No.1 on the Brits stage, as Elton was the host of the Brits show.
Meat Loaf - fourth week at No.1, and third different video edit, and certainly not the best sounding edit so far, but somehow we still got 3:55 of the video, similar amount to last week, and so far TOTP has not gone below 3:50 in four weeks at No.1!
“More And More”? Less and less, please. This sounded like it was nicked wholesale from Snap via Culture Beat, with added stupid choreography.
ReplyDeleteNo, Bryan, I’ll never forgive you for four months at number one with a ballad as plodding as this one.
Non-mugshots: The only week in the top 40 for Jomanda.
Soul II Soul sneak onto the show with a non-mover. Extraordinary looking singer, ordinary sounding tune.
Breakers: Paul Weller video references the Poll Tax. Boo! / Said I liked Micky Bolton’s song but I lied / I’d have preferred a whole Leftfield & Lydon to one of those exclusives / not buying a ticket for that train / Jackanory rave from The Orb.
While I was typing this I heard “The Key” being used for a House of Fraser advert, no less. UCC’s track this time has a giddy-up rhythm and is enjoyable yet repetitititive. Subliminal picture cock-up midway through.
No less than two exclusives wasting space for proper chart music, startimg with Janet’s snoozesome effort. “Again”? No, thanks.
Does Elton and Kiki’s track have the longest gap for a follow-up? I bet all the old folk bought this. I remember showjumper Harvey Smith almost having a hit with his version of this.
Thumbs up to Mark for giving us the full title of the Loaf’s chart topper.
Right then. Catch you in a fortnight!
I thought this was a fine edition with some really strong and representative singles from the time. If just one of the breakers had been featured in full it would have been a classic. Totally live so well done Mark for carrying the task so well, amazingly still in his teens, I think, at this point. Very assured if slightly quieter than usual presumably due to a few nerves.
ReplyDeleteWhat a start! I also really rate 'More and More', it just has something about it. Wonderfully ambient and spacy and the way the beat kicks in! Brilliant to see it live, the singer looking very sultry with a resemblance to a young Bonnie Raitt and someone else. Can't think who. Presenter Pattie Cauldwell came to mind. Captain Hollywood and crew still hanging on to the look of 1990 but it doesn't make the track any less compelling. For me maybe the best pure dance hit of the year.
Good then to have a comedown tune with the charts and Bryan Adams does the job. Yes still like this. Oh, that must be the dog on the picture sleeve. Maybe it's Bryan's dog. Maybe the song is Bryan's dog's inner thoughts. A sweetly unpretentious video with his canine friend wandering round the recording studio. I think I saw a trace of dog slobber fly out of its mouth when next to one musician, not the first image I'd associate with mournful soft metal. Funny and charming.
Soul II Soul really step up for a live version of Wish with a marvelous live vocal and Jazzie dialogue. Some very cool, committed musicians there and another brilliant single.
The breakers is usually a guaranteed disappointment but we're treated to one of the best breakers sections I think they've ever had. Paul Weller; single no. 3 from the classic 'Wild Wood'. Just what did he have to do at this point to get a studio appearance on the show? Michael Bolton; ok one weak link here. The chorus sounds just like something Ed Sheeran would write. Leftfield/Lydon; early notice of the awesome 'Leftism' one of the albums of the '90s. Soul Asylum; another classic '90s tune, not with the unforgettable video of missing persons but you couldn't show only a snippet of that. Any bit of this tune here is welcome. The Orb; seminal ambience a few years old by now but good to see finally making the charts.
Urban Cookie Collective with 'Feels Like Heaven' for me preferable to 'The Key, The Secret,' the chorus is so euphoric. Another fine vocal from Diane Charlemagne, later the singer of Goldie's 'Inner City Life'.
By satellite a sweet looking Janet Jackson alone with a pianist for 'Again', which is better in this stripped down form than on record. She was another that couldn't do much wrong at this time and that was another highlight.
The only weak item is Elton and Kiki with their unremarkable cover of 'True Love' but it's churlish to criticize. Touching to see these two old friends performing live together and Kiki Dee has one of the great pop voices.
Meat Loaf I've already heard enough of though the video is still very entertaining.
A really good edition.
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ReplyDeleteChart rundown - I noticed two singles over the chart rundown video this week that were at peak, and never got onto the show, as they were also not high enough for a Breakers slot:
ReplyDeleteNo.31 Cyndi Lauper - That's What I Think
Gee whizz, Lauper still going in 1993, considering she came onto the chart scene in 1984 with girls just wanna have fun. A little surpringly I learned that she continued with new songs for the charts up until 1997!
No.33 Rick Astley - Hopelessly
Final single for Astley, and first Top 40 since 1991, the curtain comes down on his chart career here. Pity that for his last single he didn't get to the Breakers.
Just thinking about the dog in the Bryan Adams video. At the Crouch End festival several years ago, they used an arts centre in Hornsey for a music event. There was a lovely big dog who belonged to one of the organisers and say among the audience and every time a performer did a song, the dog would go up to the front, lay down at their feet and have a snooze then go back again once they'd finished.
DeleteGood Lord, I see that there is no TOTP this Friday on BBC4, as it has lost out to snooker coverage and a night of country music, mainly Kenny Rogers.
ReplyDeleteHowever, three songs that peaked outside the Top 40 this week from previous chart regulars, with no TOTP for them this time round:
No.47 Roy Orbison - I Drove All Night
Not sure why this was re-issued in late 1993 when it got to No.7 in the summer of 1992. Possibly a TV advert in 1993? In any case this was Orbison's last ever chart single in the UK, so the curtain comes down on a great chart career stretching back to 1960 with Only The Lonely.
No.54 Kim Wilde - In My Life
Wilde had already had her last ever Top 40 hit earlier in the year, and this follow up to once again flop was the last straw, as she would return a couple of years later in late 1995 for two more hits which also flopped outside the Top 40 to finally call it a day in 1996.
No.56 Kim Appleby - Breakaway
Not sure if this was a cover of Tracey Ullman's debut single of the same name in 1983 which made Top 4, but with Appleby's last Top 40 single as far back as 1991, this was the third single in a row to fail to make the top 40 since then, with only more more single released in late 1994 with the same fate, and then calling it a day unsurprisingly.
No TOTP for a week then but I had a great bonus viewing last night. I was going through some VHS tapes that a family friend wanted to dispose of and found a very old one. I haven't missed the absence of Mike Smith from the repeats always finding him a little lightweight as a presenter but going through the video, up came the 10/01/85 edition with Smith and Mike Read. Missing the first 2 songs (very sadly the opener was Strawberry Switchblade 'Since Yesterday' which won't get a full showing on BBC4) but the sound and picture was so clear it could've been recorded last week. Weirdly nostalgic to see the famous mirror globe cut to Alison Moyet! Also great to see the 1st appearance of 'I Know Him So Well'. Fantastic to come across it while coming to the end of my recuperation and Mike Smith I can bear once in a while. The trailer that immediately followed? The opening episode of 'Charters and Caldicott'.
ReplyDeleteWe never need two exclusives. Whilst I don't mind either track, it's a shame they're here when the breakers are a bunch of gems (plus Michael Bolton).
ReplyDeleteI like UCC but it's not a patch on The Key The Secret. I had totally forgotten Please Forgive Me was such a big hit, Bryan Adams really did have an erratic UK chart career. Nice to see Soul II Soul back even though the song is a bit mediocre.
Captain hollywood - dull backing with dodgy vocals. Less and less please.
ReplyDeleteBryan adams - cones to something when the dig is the highlight of the video…
Soul ii soul - another dull backing… overdid the smoke a touch.
Urban cookie - at last a tune. Reminded me of cotton eye joe.
Janet jackson - better than her usual rawk, but still sounding like an MJ reject..
Elton john and elton john - pointless cover
Meat loaf - clunky edit
Weird scheduling on the 9th December. First up is 16/12/1993, followed by 1993 The Big Hits. So no sign again of any of the retro TOTP, we were promised.
ReplyDeleteI hope it's not being stopped because it's coming to the end of the centenary year for BBC. One thing that suggests it will possibly be continued is that they haven't yet reshown any editions from 1981 or '82, two of the best years. The Sunday before, BBC4 are showing more children's TV from the archives so that's continuing for the time being. Hopefully they just need to fit the '93 compilation in before all the Xmas TV fills the schedules. I'm still hoping that they'll show some pre April '76 editions. 8/1/76 is ok to show.
DeletePerhaps they should dig out some of the pre 1976 episodes that were never part of the repeat run?
DeleteIt's the perfect opportunity to do that. I noticed that Olivia Newton John appears in Friday's repeat. Maybe next Feb they'll show 1/2/73 which she appears on. Would really like to see that digitally remastered and shown.
DeleteCAPTAIN HOLLYWOOD PROJECT open up but less and less of this would be great. I loved Twenty4Seven but this is truly terrible.
ReplyDeleteBRYAN ADAMS has gone to the dogs.
Usual quality performance from SOUL II SOUL but I really struggled to get into the one. Never got going.
Breakers:
PAUL WELLER – Forgettable
MICHAEL BOLTON – Terrible title. Terrible tune.
LEFTFIELD LYDON – Love this. Awesome tune.
SOUL ASYLUM – Better luck second time around
THE ORB – Odd tune but surprisingly seems to work. Very memorable.
URBAN COOKIE COLLECTIVE – Wonderful dance tune and more to come from them. Should have opened the show with yes.
JANET JACKSON – Not a fan of this one. Great vocal but poor tune.
ELTON JOHN & KIKI DEE – True Love
Probably going to be the only one here that likes this but I did at the time and I do now. Shame they are miming.