All of my dreams are locked up inside the 27th of April 1995 edition of Top of the Pops!
One host wonder
27-4-95: Presenter: Chris Evans
(6) MN8 – If You Only Let Me In
Getting Chris's first and only edition underway with their second of three top ten hits but this one got no higher.
(8) LET LOOSE – Best In Me
Also performing their second of three top ten hits and it also got no higher.
(3) BOBBY BROWN – Two Can Play That Game (video) (and charts)
At its peak.
(12) LOVE CITY GROOVE – Love City Groove
A second studio performance and the song went up five more places.
(NEW) OASIS – Some Might Say
In the studio with the song that will become the first Britpop number one, and the band's first of eight chart toppers.
(4) BOYZONE – Key To My Life
Performing their second of eighteen top ten hits and this one went up one more place.
(7) TINA ARENA – Chains
A second time in the studio and the song went up one more place.
(NEW) THE WILDHEARTS – I Wanna Go Where The People Go
With what will become their fourth of thirteen top 40 hits when it peaks at number 16.
(1) TAKE THAT – Back For Good
Fourth and final week at number one, and it's farewell to Robbie.
(NEW) WEEZER – Buddy Holly (video) (and credits)
Peaked at number 12.
May the 4th be with you next.
27-10-77: Presenter: David Jensen
ReplyDelete(29) SANTANA – She’s Not There (and charts)
(50) SLADE – My Baby Left Me – That’s All Right (Medley)
(27) MARY MASON – Angel Of The Morning – Any Way That You Want Me (Medley)
(NEW) DARTS – Daddy Cool/The Girl Can’t Help It
(7) RAM JAM – Black Betty (danced to by Legs & Co)
(3) ROD STEWART – You’re In My Heart (video)
(47) BONEY M – Belfast
(15) TOM ROBINSON BAND – 2-4-6-8 Motorway
(5) ABBA – The Name Of The Game (video)
(NEW) SMOKEY ROBINSON – Theme From The Big Time
(1) BACCARA – Yes Sir I Can Boogie ®
(8) THE SEX PISTOLS – Holidays In The Sun (and credits)
Impressive how they managed to squeeze all of these into the 30 minute slot!
DeleteIndeed, and there were some notable performances on this show, particularly Darts with a song title already penned by Boney M a year earlier but a completely different song. interesting that Boney M were on the same TOTP roster this week with Belfast, and would have seen the Darts version of Daddy Cool, so I wonder what they thought of it.
DeleteLegs & Co came out very raunchy on Black Betty by Ram Jam, but steady on girls, it was still early evening when the show went out, but cor, the girls were hotties in those raunchy outfits.
Boney M with Belfast, and a different lead singer just for this song it seems, as the usual leads were taking on backing vocals on this occasion, and around 10 people on stage.
Smokey Robinson in the TOTP studio, now that is rare, and was it his only visit to the studio to perform a single? Bacarra with their week at No.1, and I like the way that Kid Jensen introduces Peter Powell at the end of the show as next week's new Radio 1 presenter of TOTP, so this is where it started for Peter Powell on TV?
An oddly samey first part becomes a wonderfully eclectic show with the sizeable bonus of a live performance from Smokey Robinson B'jove! A startlingly short haired Kid Kensen does the honours with a new mop of hair joining him at the end.
DeleteSlade; Top 40 to Santana with a cover then Noddy and big hats in the studio with another cover. A medley of chair ripping rock'n'roll. Big hats and mad outfits are not so apparent here, this is 1977. What we do see is a menacing looking Dave Hill with head completely shaved though still with the cheeky smile. The band mean business and the audience join in in a sort of nice to see you back kind of way.
Mary Mason; From a covers medley to a medley of covers. I like the songs but like the flamenco'd version of 'California Dreamin'' on the '78 show last week, this is the sort of version you would find on '321'. She goes for it particularly for 'Angel of the Morning ' with lots of impassioned stares and frantic head nodding. Everything about this says 'Abigail's Party'.
Darts; So another rock'n'roll medley with the arrival of Darts and one member in particular announces himself. It is of course Den Heggarty who lurches off stage and tumbles to the ground. Certainly one girl finds it funny. I've enjoyed all their performances and great that they've been featured so much in these re-repeats. The lead singer here looks remarkably like Greg Davies when he pulls a face.
Ram Jam; Right, not a covers medley special then but another cover and presumably the oldest song to be covered ever on Top of the Pops. 'Black Betty' Video shown a few weeks ago, this time Legs & Co treat it to a fabulously raunchy, hair shaking dance. Gill of course is the hair shaker supreme and she throws a glance to camera early on that says do not mess with me in the slightest. Love how the rest move away as Sue starts a frantic solo dance then Patti leaps to her side. Lighting a little nondescript as it so often is back then but that was a great routine with a brilliant bit of formation at the end.
Rod Stewart; Beautiful song. Can never tire of hearing 'You're In My Heart'. Some gorgeous sentiments in that and a fabulous nostalgic melody. Brilliantly evocative video with a panto violinist sashaying about between evergreens and art nouveau lamps. It made me think of 'Nationwide' for some reason.
Only disappointment being that it ends too soon.
Boney M; The dressing box fully raided and Marcia takes lead for 'Belfast'. Bonkers. Bobbie knocks over a mic stand, liz with headwear of a muppet show alien and a bassist throwing heavy metal poses.
Tom Robinson Band; Another debut and my favourite DJ looks thrilled to be on the show. A really enjoyable performance of '2-4-6-8 Motorway' with Tom virtually trampolining with the beat. A delightful bit of Townshend windmilling at the end.
Abba; Heading to the top with another classic and the smiles round the board game video. Who won I wonder? They were obviously a group in a hurry; they don't even wait for good weather for Frida to do an outdoor shot.
Smokey Robinson; Totally live in a big studio. The camera lumbers towards him from a long distance away and when it finally reaches him, he's full of smiles. Great performance of a not well known number.
Bacarra; Kid playfully questions a female audience member."Can you boogie?...ooh I'd like to watch!". Female laughs/splutters down the mic in response. Elegant chart topper which I can't hear without smiling.
Kid says goodbye but not before spinning around newcomer Peter Powell who wears a horribly tight totp emblazoned t-shirt and doesn't seem capable of forming speech, just grinning and making grateful sonding noises. Hello. Cut to 'Holidays In The Sun' crashing around with the lights.
I came back here looking to see if Demis Roussos’s ‘When forever has gone’ ever featured on the start of the BBC4 repeat run. I’m not sure whether it did (and it wouldn’t get shown now as it’s a DLT hosted show) , but the live rendition from Demis on the show is on YT. Did you know that the hit version was missing a verse? I happened to buy the flop single from 1974 ‘With You’ which had this song on the B Side and the extra verse is there. I wonder why it was chopped? Anyway, saw this was October 1977 and fancied spending half an hour watching this rather than Gary, Robbie and co. I was struck by the superb picture quality from 1977.
DeleteSantana – She’s not there (chart rundown) – I think I prefer the Zombies version – who spotted Yes pictured on the shores of the Lake at Montreux in the chart rundown? A shot taken from when they recorded ‘Going for the One’ album, some would say their very best.
Slade – My Baby left me – That’s alright – Don’t remember this at all. Did a double take at Dave Hill shorn of his hair. Don Powell looks the same as he ever did chewing gum.
Mary Mason – Angel of the Morning / Any way that you want me – A bit shrieky. I prefer Juice Newton’s version of ‘Angel’ – great production.
Darts – Daddy Cool / Girl can’t help it – Rousing and energetic!
Ram Jam – Black Betty – Phew! What a shame they cut this routine. Also rousing and energetic!
Rod Stewart – You’re in my Heart – I kept expecting Britt to appear. Maybe she did in ‘Tonight’s the Night’.
Boney M – Belfast – Probably the least memorable of BM’s hits of this era.
TRB – 2-4-6-8 Motorway – Tom’s guitar says ‘Keep music live’ and this certainly was. Great performance.
Abba – The Name of the Game – Another winner! Did TOTP ever show the full video I wonder?
Smokey Robinson – Theme from the Big Time – Not one of his best and I don’t recall it. Bring on ‘Being with you’.
Baccara – Yes Sir I can Boogie – Perhaps Baccara should have recorded ‘The Name of the Game’?! Nice live rendition and great it managed one week at No1 between David Soul and Abba.
Sex Pistols – Holidays in the Sun (Playout) – Very short airing of this. Don’t think it was ever a main feature of the show.
Is there a British broadcasting personality who screams THE 90S more than Chris Evans? I always liked him better on the Big Breakfast than anything else.
ReplyDeleteTwo slightly dull openers, then a good pop song from Bobby Brown, a solid enough LCGand a great exclusive from Oasis.
I dislike Boyzone as much as Take That (and Westlife I dislike even more than both).
Tina Arena has a classic song.
I like he Wildhearts though it's an unusual exclusive choice.
And Weezer with one of the best videos of all time and a super fun song make for a nice palate cleanser after Barlow's whining.
ReplyDeleteAfter recent feasting on the ‘classic’ releases I finally return to 1995. Wish I hadn’t…
MN8 - Starting off with a really dull boy band song
Let Loose - ever duller boy band song
Bobby Brown - well its not a boy band…
Love City Groove - very derivative, and the 4th track to suffer the FF
Oasis - finally something with a bit whoomph..
Boyzone - and that’s 3 strikes and out for the boy bands
Tina Arena - not very exciting, but in the current company, ok
Wildhearts - highlight of the show
Take that - buy three get one free. To be fair best of the boy band bunch. (Was robbie taking the mick out of chris evans with the red hair and glasses?)
Weezer - nice, didnt get much. could easily have been played instead of much of the rubbish above
I suppose Chris Evans was going to get a chance as a presenter at some stage. Starting off by being humorously bossy with sound and no vision. Yep it's Evans in 1995. Bow down kids. I loved 'Big Breakfast' and 'Don't Forget Your Toothbrush' but had really gone off him by this point and he sounds just as Iremember he sounded that year. Monotonal blather most of which wasn't funny or interesting. Oh well. He's only on once.
ReplyDeleteMN8; Wearing smart coat/jackets but at least one of course has to have his six pack on display. Useless start.
Let Loose; Pretty good song with a Scarlet-like use of Bond strings. Came over well.
Bobby Brown; Hard to like him but this is a really strong single. Great choice with the charts.
Love City Groove; For Eurovision I guess it's memorable but it's rap 1988 cash-in style with some very dated poses. The chorus is presumably meant to be sexy but the vocalist just makes it sound like Goldie Lookin' Chain. This really hasn't dated well.
Oasis; 'Some Might Say' is still my favourite single of theirs which I bought at the time and I was looking forward to seeing this, thinking it would come over as a generational moment. It couldn't have got a more flattering intro from Evans. In truth I found it fairly boring, a decent indie band doing a reasonable job of looking cool. Yeah, it was good but little else. I wonder what was happening on Emmerdale.
Boyzone; A good performance and a single that ticks the right boy band boxes. Already better than Worlds Apart.
Tina Arena; Tina and her doe eyes return to the studio to do 'Chains', a sort of feistier 'Think Twice'. Looks like she went to acting school with all the dramatic swishing about but I remember liking her at the time and still do. Good to hear that again.
The Wildhearts; Another reliably exciting performance from this band who always seem to be on hand for the show.
Take That; The very smartly dressed while sitting on stools performance again. Charming but this can only end in Westlife.
A credit sequence that isn't an archive half verse, and it's the brilliant video for 'Buddy Holly' by Weezer. "'Eyyyyyyyy!!!"
I saw the Lulu at the BBC compilation last night. Some great clips particularly 'Lean On Me' with Bill Withers from her show in 1974. Overall though a wasted opportunity when you consider how many Top of the Pops clips of her survive. I was expecting 'Boom Bang a Bang' (which I don't like but still) from the 6/3/69 edition which she herself donated to the BBC. Not shown. She must've wondered why she bothered. 'The Man With The Golden Gun' from 21/11/74 I was hoping for but another no show. Still some good clips of a singer who's always entertaining.
ReplyDeleteTaking over the world (it seemed at the time) it's the Ginger nut/nit himself*. Golden rod in hand. wink wink.
ReplyDelete"If You Only Let Me In" the best thing MN8 have done so far. Great chorus. Liked that.
LET LOOSE just down to the "Best In Me" as they've ditched the hangers on for a decent if forgettable tune. That is my idea of a String Quarter though!
Three virgins rapping about their LOVE CITY GROOVE. Better performance than last time but the bar was very low.
Here come the OASIS tunes I know and love, kicking off with "Some Might Say". Nice MCFC jacket Liam (when MCFC were not doing so well). Awesome tune. This is the 90s at it's best.
BOYZONE with a by the numbers ballad. "Key To My Life" has just enough going for it to keep me interested. Really is a bit twee though.
TINA ARENA still the best thing in the charts and then THE WILDHEARTS completely steal the show with "I Wanna Go Where The People Go" What an absolute blast that was. Fantastic stuff. Really really liked that and so unexpected.
Hopefully we will get to see more of the wonderful WEEZER and the great "Buddy Holly" video.
*delete as appropriate
Yes, the Weezer video was back on TOTP when at peak of No12, so keep going with your catching up Morgie!
DeleteExcellent news
Delete