What a mighty good 24th of March 1994 edition of Top of the Pops!
Flapping 'eck
24-3-94: Presenter: Simon Mayo
(5) D:REAM – U R The Best Thing
Getting the show underway and the song went up one more place.
(32) SOUL ASYLUM – Somebody To Shove
Here tonight but the song got no higher.
(10) BON JOVI – Dry County (satellite repeat) (and charts)
Went up one more place.
(20) WORLDS APART – Could It Be I’m Falling In Love
Performing what will be their biggest hit when it peaks at number 15.
(7) REEL 2 REAL feat. THE MAD STUNTMAN – I Like To Move It (video)
The duo's first of three top ten hits and it peaked at number 5.
(15) BRAND NEW HEAVIES – Dream On Dreamer (video) (Breakers)
Got no higher.
(14) ROXETTE – Sleeping In My Car (video) (Breakers)
Got no higher.
(17) SOUNDS OF BLACKNESS – I Believe (video) (Breakers)
Got no higher. And after 9 years, that's the end of the breakers.
(8) SALT-N-PEPA with EN VOGUE – Whatta Man (via satellite)
Performing their fifth and final top ten hit and it went up one more place.
(NEW) TAKE THAT – Everything Changes
Performing the title track from their number one album and it will soon become their fourth number one single in a row.
(1) DOOP – Doop
Second of three weeks at number one.
(NEW) K7 & THE SWING KIDS – Hi-De-Ho (studio montage) (and credits)
Peaked at number 17.
31st of March us next.
24-2-77: Presenter: Noel Edmonds
ReplyDelete(4) HEATWAVE – Boogie Nights (footage from Musikladen)
(16) RACING CARS – The Shoot Horses Don’t They?
(10) BRYAN FERRY – This Is Tomorrow (video)
(29) THE REAL THING – You’ll Never Know What You’re Missing
(18) MARY McGREGOR – Torn Between Two Lovers (video)
(30) ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA – Rockaria (video)
(44) BARBARA DICKSON – Another Suitcase In Another Hall
(22) BOSTON – More Than A Feeling (video)
(26) EARTH, WIND & FIRE – Saturday Nite (danced to by Legs & Co)
(1) LEO SAYER – When I Need You
(20) DAVID BOWIE – Sound And Vision (and credits)
Not quite sure why they didn't show the edition from the 17th of February 1977...
DeleteYes, a rare Paul Burnett edition. I hope they show his one from '79 which was very good.
DeleteI remember it was Burnett who had the morning Radio 1 show on Tuesday's when he would reveal the new Top 5 in ascending order between 12.45 and 1.00 pm and play each one leading up to the No.1.
DeleteAnyway, highlight of the 24th Feb show with Noel Edmonds was ELO's Rockaria video at No.30, and especially liked the way that Edmonds looked up when introducing the video, as it started with the blonde opera singer on the balcony with the first chorus, as if Noel was in the video!
I'll do another full review if that's ok. Another fascinatingly snail paced edition from early 1977. Fortunately a few classic tunes on here and I recorded it when it was first repeated and good to see on BBC4 again. Noel Edmonds on duty and he opens sounding like he has a mild cold and a strange issue with his mouth. To use a 'Swap Shop' reference this edition is a tortuous punarama of which Noel has no peer. There's another one to Boston which gets cut out but I wouldn't want one of his editions without them.
DeleteHeatwave; It starts brilliantly; the charts fading into bright lights, then some groovy figures in sillouhette, then THAT intro. What a groove this single has and it's a fabulous few minutes albeit simultaneously broadcast to the most boring nightclub in Britain. Funny how the headwear of one of the singers makes him more intrinsically rhythmic than the rest. Another chance to marvel at and be inspired by the gulf between Rod Templeton's mastery of disco and how he looks.
Racing Cars; That didn't offer much, did it?
Bryan Ferry and as big an image and stylistic change as you could probably get from the previous thing gets cut so it's on to The Real Thing and a delightful bit of soft soul. What a voice Chris Amoo has, is it fair to call him Britain's Teddy Pendergrass? He looks the height of '70s cool here as well even in clothes that have more than a slight trace of Dr.Teeth about them. He clearly won the image raffle that night though the fun member as always looks like he's made the effort then has to hide most of it behind an acoustic guitar.
Mary McGregor;. You've got to hand it to Noel. Who else could do a silly pun on the singer's name and make you think he's let you in on a central aspect of the song that you'd completely missed. 'Torn Between Two Lovers' has the same theme as 'Don't Be A Stranger' but while that one is a torrent of longing and guilt, this is sung with all the emotion of someone who's absentmindedly forgotten to buy a pack of scones. I don't know but I'm assuming it was enormous in Australia as it sounds exactly like the sort of song that would get played in the restaurant the staff members went to every night in 'The Young Doctors'.
ELO; Some classic split screen over the topness from ELO and 'Rock Aria'. Great fun. The cellist could've smashed his instrument to a thousand pieces at least three times in that clip. Favourite bit was Jeff Lynne miming to a slide guitar part without using a slide.
Barbara Dickson; From an opera singer on a balcony to a ponderous and tongue tied interview with Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber. 'Supersonic' this is not. Noel is strangely deferential as if he's addressing actual royalty and ends by referring to "that...Evita".
Not a No.1 but 'Another Suitcase In a Another Hall' is a real bit of elegance as done by Barbara Dickson. Singing a big musical number outside of a theatre stage, the last thing you'd want to do is sod up one of the lines but Barbara gets through it without any fuss though she did seem to be a little sheepish immediately after. Still great performance. Shouldn't the bloke at the end be on his way to his football match by now?
....No Boston and further Noel punning but we get another long winded joke into the Legs routine. Somehow Flick Colby has managed to make Earth, Wind and Fire seem dull despite the costumes ending barely above thigh level and Sue still looks sweet with her hairstyle and Patti throws one of her sparkling facial expressions to the camera. The audience do not move a muscle. Not a single person. Even some time after the applause comes up they just stand there. Not a smile among them. I wonder what the dancers said to each other after that.
DeleteLeo Sayer; Noel is inordinately proud of his prediction for 'When I Need You'. It's actually rather touching. It's also completely correct. I've always loved this song and Leo just has one hell of a voice. I bet he could do marvelous covers of Tim Buckley songs. Lots of Leos whirling around and at one point he sings in front of a starburst light that may well be the width of the entire studio.
Noel praises the No.1 one more time. Then the show does something strange. I'm talking about the original repeat, not the annoyingly early snip of last night. The lights whirl around to 'Sound and Vision'. The long, long intro plays then David Bowie murmurs a couple of lines. Then the screen fades out. I'd love to know what viewers made of that at the time. An unsettling, challenging end to a very MOR edition or just Bowie's latest release. I'm not sure.
Well this was another treat and I’m just lovin’ these older repeats. One of my first ever CDs was an Old Gold compilation ‘We’re all Alone’ which amazingly features three songs from this edition which I have asterisked below.
Delete(4) HEATWAVE – Boogie Nights (footage from Musikladen)
One of those records I couldn’t wait to end. I guess it has the dance factor but that’s about it.
(16) RACING CARS – The Shoot Horses Don’t They? ***
One hit wonders Racing Cars are billed as such on the record label but bizarrely in the Guinness Book of Hit Singles as The Racing Cars. A bit of a dirge this one.
(10) BRYAN FERRY – This Is Tomorrow (video)
…well it wasn’t on this repeat. Not one of Ferry’s finest.
(29) THE REAL THING – You’ll Never Know What You’re Missing
They just kept coming up with good songs. This one not as memorable as the first two maybe but still sounds good after all these years.
(18) MARY McGREGOR – Torn Between Two Lovers (video) ***
Mary hated her biggest hit (No1 in the US) and sadly got divorced after she’s hit the big time briefly with it. Same lyrical territory as ‘How can I tell her?’ by Lobo.
(30) ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA – Rockaria (video)
Opera singer Mary Thomas famously messed up the first take but Jeff Lynne included it on the track at the beginning on the massive ‘A New World Record’ album (I don’t know if the single cut featured it). What a track! Similar tempo and sound to the Move’s ‘California Man’ which Roy Wood wrote but that single included ‘Do Ya’ on the B-Side which Lynne wrote and then included in another version on ‘A New World Record’.
(44) BARBARA DICKSON – Another Suitcase In Another Hall
Noel’s right this is great, and Barbara delivers a faultless live rendition. I’m going to be controversial here and say I prefer Madonna’s version. Subtle lyrical changes and that wonderful sax instrumental break not present on Barbara’s original. If you haven’t heard it before then you should have;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyYUiosqCjU
(22) BOSTON – More Than A Feeling (video)
Cruelly missed out! However, the single had a verse missing..(“So many people have come and gone, their faces change as the years go by..”).
(26) EARTH, WIND & FIRE – Saturday Nite (danced to by Legs & Co)
Nursery rhyme lyrics caught my ear when this was out but nothing else. The audience look thoroughly bored by Legs and Co’s routine.
(1) LEO SAYER – When I Need You ***
I’m with Noel again. Fabulous song and live performance from Leo. Co-written by Carol Bayer-Sager who was married to the late Burt Bacharach.
(20) DAVID BOWIE – Sound And Vision (and credits)
Not much of this played…can’t really hear the backing vocals that were sung by Mary Hopkin who was married to produced Tony Visconti at the time.
Ah yes. Boston. Famously ripped off by nirvana and smells like teen spirit.
DeleteReel 2 Real feat The Mad Stuntman - at last after 6 weeks in or around the Top 10, TOTP finally had the balls to show the video. I mean R2R didn't even get a Breakers slot when going in as a new entry at No.9 in early February, and it has taken till late March to finally give him a slot on the show. Good Lord. I believe the group will be back again shortly but in the TOTP studio in an episode presented by Meat Loaf. What a clash of styles that will be!
ReplyDeleteDoop - repeat of the studio performance when as a new entry at No.3 with the black Charleston dresses, but I preferred last week's performance at first week of No.1 with the white dresses. This single was my last ever purchase of a 7-inch vinyl single, of which they came to a halt in 1994 in the record shops to make way for CD singles to take over completely during that year.
Well this was a bit of a comedown after the last episode. Mayo does a good job, the song choices are a very mixed bag. But at least they're varied in terms of genres.
ReplyDeleteD:Ream - It's fine.
Soul Asylum - you don't hear this track much (unlike Runaway Train which the Pops pretty much ignored), so this was a nice surprise. One of the better moments of the show .
Jacket Potato and the other ones - Really not their best, dull.
Worlds Apart - this lot are still going?
As Dory notes, it's taken quite some time to finally acknowledge Reel 2Reel. With this and Enigma they've done a weird job of ignoring massive hits.
Breakers - some of the best tracks of the episode and I'm not *just* saying that because Roxette are in there.
Salt n Pepa / En Vogue - One of the other highlights of the episode, although not may fave track from either act it's a solid and unexpected collab. Shame we didn't actually get En Vogue on the video link though.
Take That - nope
Doop - see last week.
K7 - shrug
Another edition that didn't look like it was going to be much from the lineup but proved to be very entertaining. Ric Blaxill doesn't get everything right but he is certainly making the show more lively. Simon back again and he dispenses with his hip uncle image of late and here looks pretty much as he did in 1988.
ReplyDeleteD Ream;. You're going to be a big hit if it kills us. It is a lovely tune, both melancholy and euphoric at the same time and there's some great parts in this. I just think the singer sounds so bland.
Soul Asylum; A nice blast of late period grunge with 'Somebody To Shove'. Dave Pirner looking strikingly like Meg Ryan on a very casual day, does a good job and opts not to close the song by growling "I SUCK THE SCUM FROM SATAN'S ASSHOLE!!!!!!" as he did on 'The Word'. Good fun.
Bon Jovi; Oh not this again. Get it together Ric. I still can't make out any tune there.
World's Apart; Don't touch this.
Reel 2 Reel feat The Mad Stuntman; Brilliant single this. So many great ideas crammed into a few minutes. I wonder if it did so well in the UK because the lead reeler sounds so much like Zag from 'The Big Breakfast'.
Breakers and a correction. I thought 'Dream On Dreamer' had no feature o the show. Sorry I was looking at a page that didn't include breakers. This is a fantastic joyous record and really should've had a studio appearance.
Rosette; a breakers spot after a studio appearance which is unusual. Sounds of Blackness; Very big at the time and sounds uplifting as choirs tend to do.
Goodbye then to the Breakers. I don't think I'll miss it but a big part of the show to be gone.
Salt-N-Pepa with En Vogue; The highlight of the edition by some distance with two of the most entertaining acts of the previous 5 years joining together to do a barnstorming record. It's exactly as you'd want it to be from this collaboration and the words slap me round the face and crack me up to this day. A brilliant live performance as well and love it that one of them even name-drops Simon Mayo among the lyrics! Equally funny Simon's response; "We're just good friends!" The best clip of '94 so far.
Take That; What's the point in an exclusive from this group? It's going to zoom to No 1 with no trouble at all in just a couple of weeks as everyone there knows. Still it's a great song and the first time I really thought they were worth listening to. Robbie's first lead performance on TOTP then.
Doop; So a 2nd week for the sound of 20 geese charging into an electric fence. Enjoyed it a little more this time. The power of attractive dancers.
K7 and worst montage so far.
I would say that Zig and Zag emulated Mad Stuntman’s style on their hit later in the year!
DeleteYes they did have a single out. Zag was obviously wise to the chart potential of his voice. Or was Zig the lead singer. He did tend to dominate proceedings in the Big Breakfast house.
DeleteI added a bit to the '89 edition. Speaking of that year, RIP to Trugoy of De La Soul. A shock and far far too soon. Rap didn't really get through to me but they did. They reached everyone in my year at school in '89/'90. Fun and smiles and that voice that always sounded like a trusting friend. Happy days.
ReplyDeleteChart rundown - ss we say a final goodbye to The Breakers after 9 years on TOTP since 1985, a new entry this week at No.27 for A-Ha could not somehow get that final Breakers slot, as The Breakers this week took in nothing outside the Top 20, and A-HA were now on their last single, before an unexpected return in 2000 with Summer Moved On brought them a mediocre No.33 success.
ReplyDeleteAlso a new entry this week by Marillion on the chart rundown at No.30 had no TOTP exposure, as they fell badly to No.56 the following week. Marillion still going since 1982, but no longer with Fish as lead singer, and this was their penultimate single until a surprise comeback in 2004 with two Top 20 singles after an absence of 9 years since 1995.
Surprising to see Lisa Lisa back in the charts with a new entry at No.34 with Skip To My Lu, and her first single since 1991, and on her own this time without Cult Jam, this was to be Lisa Lisa's last single before calling it a day, in a career going back to 1985 with I Wonder If I Take You Home which reached No.12.
With the end of the Breakers I wonder how many more songs will fail to get a TOTP airing? Although recently a Breaker slot can mean you just get a few seconds snippet of a video, usually missing out the actual catchy part of the song.
ReplyDeleteA 12” I bought at the time was Degrees in Motion “Shine On” that is currently top 10 and spent several weeks in the chart without an appearance on the show. It has a pretty polished video to go with it as well, you wonder why it was ignored so?
I would say that with no time to play all the climbers, and some missing out at the expense of others, it was probably the start of the decline of the show. I was never a fan of the show being cut to 30 minutes in 1985, as for two decades before then, the show was usually around 40 minutes which gave all the climbers at least one appearance on the show on stage or on video, but now it was a perfect example with Degrees In Motion that not every group was given a fair chance on the show.
DeleteI'd have got rid of all the needless self-promoting exclusives and album tracks and include more actual current hits in the programme. I blame "EastEnders" for this. Once that doomfest started, TOTP was cut to half an hour for good.
Delete“We’re Salt ‘n’ Pepa”? But there are three of you! Who’s the other condiment?
ReplyDeleteI like Si but he was too puntastic and self-knowing in this edition.
D:Ream, D:clining chart peak compared to last time. Still, nowt wrong with this track.
Soul Asylum’s leader gives us the first annoying swaying back and forth motion while playing guitar since Loz of Kingmaker. I bet this sounds better on record but still not bad.
The satellite snooze of “Derby County” again? Can’t we have a new hit instead of this?
Non-mugshots: Juliet Roberts’ minor hit gets properly titled this time – last week the two sides’ titles were lumped together without the appropriate “\” sign.
That Detroit Spinners track had already been half killed by David Grant and Jakki Graham, now Braincells Apart trample the carcass to death. Terrible. Bring back Big Fun.
Si gives us Real 2 Real’s seven chart placings and not eight. Duh! Dividing those 175,000 sales meant you could get in or near the top ten with 25,000 sales a week in those days. Good to see Mister Sawn Off Trouser Leg at last. Let’s move it!
Breakers in turn: Accessible midtempo acid jazz, a complete waste as we had this last week (and this gets an overlong breakers snippet to rub salt in), and the honour of being the last ever breaker goes to a nice slice of gospel pop.
Where are En Vogue then? Booo! Rip off! Earth Wind and Fire award for the most people on set for a satellite link, unless you thing Sting’s bunch topped it recently. A sort of De La Soul groove to this one.
I suffered enough of Robbie last week , let alone… oh God, he’s on lead this time? FF FFS.
Did Craig David get inspiration for “7 Days” from those opening words of the montage accompaniment? Si, the Cab Calloway song you mentioned was actually called “Minnie the Moocher”. Please get it right.
Salt 'n' Pepa always had Spinderella as their companion on their singles, spinning the discs in the background, hence being called Spinderella, so it could be her as the 'three' of them.
DeleteAh yes Earth Wind & Fire you are probably referring to the 1979 video for Boogie Wonderland, where I counted they had a total of at least 12, but possibly 15 band members on the stage.
Three singles peaking outside the top 40 this week for previous chart regulars, but no TOTP for them this time round:
ReplyDeleteNo.42 New Kids On The Block - Never Let You Go
Last ever single for NKOTB in a career stretching back to 1989 when they stormed onto the scene with two number ones - You Got The Right Stuff and Hanging Tough - they had nothing in the charts after 1991, until this the second of two releases in 1994 which got to No.27 No.42 respectively, and that was pretty much it.
No.55 Dr Alban - Look Who's Talking
First single in nearly a year since Sing Hallelujah, and first to fail outside the Top 40, we had already seen the last of him in 1993 when Halleluyah got to No.16.
No.56 Average White Band - Let's Go Round Again
Ah yes, I remember the original release in 1980 which even got a Legs & Co routine, but I'm not sure why the Band released it again here as a remix in 1994 when they had nothing at all in the singles charts since 1980. A tv advert possibly?
Quick request to Angelo:
ReplyDeleteCould you please check the comments inbox for the previous show (17/03/94)? I wrote a critique last night, it wasn't there today, so I wrote a new one today which has also disappeared.
Another remix and another D:REAM top ten hit. Not The Best Thing they did but not far off - Peter C still waiting for someone to pinch him, yes you are on TOTP.
ReplyDeleteLoving the Eric Cantona reference. Obviously he has now kung-fu chopped the Crystal Palace fan. There was a SOUL ASYLUM song? Sorry, passed me by.
BON JOVI we've seen before and then WORLDS APART from Take That it's BoyBandLite with a note for note cover of Could It Be I’m Falling In Love. Lead singer struggling a bit vocal wise there. Should have mimed.
REEL 2 REAL finally get a look-in. THE MAD STUNTMAN clearly in the cold (you can see his breath). I Like To Move It sounds great in the clubs and rubbish on the TV. Zig and Zag version anyone?
Bye Bye Breakers:
BRAND NEW HEAVIES – Deserved a full slot on the show. Nice tune
ROXETTE – One of their very best
SOUNDS OF BLACKNESS – Not getting in to this one
I liked the Breakers slot in this newer longer format but it's days were numbered. The whole show has much more energy and style since Ric took over and they don't really fit now.
SALT-N-PEPA ditching EN VOGUE to tell us Whatta Man Simon Mayo is. Strong performance and I do like this one. It has real swagger about it.
It's as if an Adidas catalogue came to life. Everything Changes sees Robbie take the lead (you can see him already thinking "I don't need this lot"). Tune is ok and I was singing along. Number One awaits.
A bit of Twenties then from DOOP and K7 (sampling Minnie The Moocher which was a minor hit for the Reggae Philharmonic Orchestra in 89).
Decent show again. 1994 is proving to be a lot of fun.