I can't get off the carousel, I can't get off the 11th of January 1996 edition of Top of the Pops!
Jasman of the pops
11-1-96: Presenter: Lisa I'Anson
(22) JUDY CHEEKS – Reach
Performing what was to be her last of five top 40 hits. This one had previously peaked at number 17 in 1994, but this time around it got no higher than 22.
(20) TORI AMOS – Caught A Lite Sneeze
Here with the first single from her number 2 album, Boys for Pele, but it got no higher.
(3) BABY D – So Pure (video) (and charts)
Their third and final top ten hit and it was at its peak.
(14) GENE – For The Dead
Performing their fourth of ten top 40 hits, and this was the biggest, but it got no higher.
(24) DREADZONE – Little Britain
With their only top 40 hit and it went up four more places.
(5) OASIS – Wonderwall
A third showing of this performance with the song going back up the charts again after peaking at number 2.
(11) SHAGGY – Why You Treat Me So Bad
He's here tonight but the song go no higher.
(NEW) BABYLON ZOO – Spaceman
Jas Mann making his studio debut and this song from the Levi advert will be number one in two weeks time.
(1) MICHAEL JACKSON – Earth Song (video)
Sixth and final week at number one.
(TOTP2) MUD – Rocket (clip of TOTP 8-8-74) (and credits)
A number 6 hit from 1974.
18th of January is next.
6-5-76: Presenter: Noel Edmonds
ReplyDelete(NEW) MUD – Shake It Down
(11) FRANKIE VALLI – Fallen Angel ®
(14) THE STYLISTICS – Can’t Help Falling In Love (danced to by Ruby Flipper)
(NEW) BARRY MANILOW – Trying To Get The Feeling
(5) FOX – S-S-S-Single Bed ®
(46) ROBIN SARSTEDT – My Resistance Is Low
(16) SUTHERLAND BROTHERS & QUIVER – Arms Of Mary
(31) TINA CHARLES – Love Me Like A Lover
(22) THE ROLLING STONES – Fool To Cry (video)
(NEW) MAC & KATIE KISSOON – The Two Of Us
(26) J.J. BARRIE – No Charge
(41) CLIFF RICHARD – Devil Woman
(1) ABBA – Fernando (video)
(25) JOHNNY TAYLOR – Disco Lady (and credits)
DeleteThis edition was another one you'd have to summarise as 'fascinating'. Another Noel show and he does a good solid job. The audience look for the most part like they'll accept any old gubbins that's presented to them which is fortunate.
Mud; Clearly in their final days as chart contenders, if this did get anywhere, this is a more than decent stab at disco and they throw themselves into it with style. Give us a twirl Ray. Dave Mount does a cameo on a couple of specially set out drums whilst leaping about like a leprechaun. I'd have let them in to Studio 54.
Frankie Valli; This again. Terribly dull.
The Stylistics; I thought it was curious that Noel mentioned the change in the dancing troupe after they'd appeared rather than before but here is the unveiling of Ruby Flipper who I enjoyed for the short time they lasted. We're let in gently or maybe not. Where are they? gesture the Pan's survivors Sue and Cherry and before we can respond, the rest of the troupe bound on stage, starting with Gavin Trace who could be mistaken for Paul Nicholas in his 'Hair' period at a glance. Lulu's arrival doesn't go entirely well bless her. She's caught in close up wondering what to do next at one point though recovers perfectly well. Anyway Pan's People who were they?, because Patti has bounded on to the screen and is dazzling and adorable within a millisecond of appearing. I'd like to think I'd have found a new favourite dancer if I was watching this at the time. I must say I love this version of 'Can't Help Falling In Love'. The flute or piccolo hook is so insanely cheerful.
Barry Manilow; Some dreary emoting up next. Some very lumbering camerawork on display as well. Shall we pull back?; yes, no, yee-ess, maybe, alright yes. Oh well, Fox are coming up next. No??? Straight into....
Robin Sarstedt; The ladies of Ruby Flipper make this just about bearable. Also the singer/dancers set-up which seems to anticipate 'The Muppet Show' by four months. Robin Sarstedt comes over like a one man Robson and Jerome, the main difference being that they could actually sing in tune. Almost compellingly hopeless. An extra point for sheer novelty value. God what TV presenter does he look like?
Sunderland Brothers & Quiver; I think this is the performance that sent it up 10 places the following week which isn't surprising. 'Arms Of Mary' is a lovely song with a classic hummable melody. "Seductively ". Have you heard all the lyrics to this one Noel? The lead singer resembles Richard III with that hair. It sounded entirely live which meant it was rather shakily delivered like a very good pub performance but very charming.
JJ Barrie; Three more cuts lead us to this experience. What was the title of this one again? I like the way he lists all the items and how much each one costs. He should've included how much this rubbish cost the record buyer. Tortuously overexplained lyrics. JJ's performance is intriguing. His voice and smile are teddy bear soft but his eyes frequently communicate some sort of irritation. A girl at the front turns to her friend and laughs an "am I supposed to find this funny?" laugh. Another dreadful but can't look away few minutes.
Cliff Richard; After that even Cliff is going to seem edgy and 'Devil Woman' is certainly one of his best of the '70s. Not with the shades for this performance but with arms outstretched like he's impersonating a Red Kite or something. I can never tire of watching how his arms interpret a song. A girl rushes to join her waiting friends stage left. Maybe she's late coming back from the toilet. Noel says something witty or informative about the song just heard but bless him, he's not Nicky Campbell and it gets a little jumbled. He concludes just in time for the next song to start. The No.1. Which he doesn't seem to pronounce right.
Abba; The video for 'Fernando' which is always a joy. Bjorn beaming with his acoustic guitar. A big emphasis on how it's not Brotherhood Of Man anymore.
A friendly goodbye then something I forgot as soon as it finished.
Good Lord, quite a few tunes edited out of the show for BBC4's 2024 schedule of giving only 30 minutes coverage for each TOTP show, as if we were in the post-1985 period where it was the norm to be only 30 minutes per show without editing anything out.
DeleteThe Mud single on this 1976 show was their penultimate hit, getting to a lowly No.12 by their standards, and a divergence from the classic Mud sound of the glam years of 1973-1974 which was their heyday. They were now trying to be disco by the sounds of this one, as disco was all the rage in 1976.
Frankie Valli was a regular in the TOTP studio in the 1975-76 years, with this one his final appearance in the TOTP studio, as his next single was two years later in 1978 as the Grease soundtrack title which got to No.3, but nowhere to be seen, as TOTP had no footage, and I remember a Legs & Co performance to it, but where was Valli when TOTP needed him most in 1978?
The Stylistics/Ruby Flipper - ah the TOTP dance troupe in the six months or so interim period between Pans People and Legs & Co in 1976. Only Cherry Gillespie and Sue Mehenick came over from Pans People, and Ruby Flipper newcomers Lulu and Patti were to go on to feature in Legs & co alongside Sue who would be the only dancer to have featured across all three dance troupes. Good Lord!
TOTP2 13-01-1996 https://we.tl/t-ahBtHf5FQy (there was not one the previous week)
ReplyDeleteplease thank Ben Cook & Robert Thompson from the Popscene facebook group
Also I recently got an email from Wetransfer telling me they are changing the free account limit to 3 days, down from 7.
Thanks Rob, Ben and Robert!!!
DeleteThanks very much
DeleteCheers Rob,
DeleteI think I have Mrs Lurker hooked on TOTP2 now.
She never watched the original broadcasts.
Today she say to me, see if Rob has posted TOTP2 yet?
Thanks as ever.
Watching this episode of TOTP2, the Video Stir section featured a German punk group called Bates with their own version of Michael Jackson's Billie Jean, and the black and white video featured their own interpretation of the lyrics and story in a gruesome manner, which I'm surprised that TOTP2 showed, considering it is a family show, and on in the afternoon.
DeleteIn Recorded For Recall featuring August 1974 from a rare surviving TOTP episode from that year, where most of he weekly shows were wiped, there was Mud with Rocket, and it was interesting to know that Mud had actually formed as early as 1966 and before colour television had arrived, and that they were regulars on The Basil Brush show before they had any hits, so before 1973 then.
In the Tomorrow's Hits section Johnnie Walker prodicted a new entry at No.1 for George Michael's first single in two years called Jesus To A Child. Good prediction.
Lots of new stuff so 10/10 for variety tonight.
ReplyDeleteWell this Judy Cheeks tune has had a bit of s ReMix. I like it. Proper club tune. Give it some welly love. Superb.
Tori has either forgotten her stool or needs the loo rather badly. Either way she's gonna do her back in. Sorry Tori but this lacks the hook of previous numbers. Not a fan.
Baby D on a roll. More ot the same really and I'd had enough of them by now in 96. Pass.
Incoming LULU ALERT!
Gene I never liked. This hasn't changed my mind. He's not a great singer.
Dread zone. Ambient dub is it? No matter what it is. I like this a lot. A London based band that John Peel was a fan of. Could be tune of the night for me I think (Dubstar possibly joint best)
This Wonderwall one's got legs hasn't it. Wonder..ful. quality record.
Shaggy! Legend. Loads of fun as always.and quite mellow this time
Full on Marmite tune from Babylon Zoo.. personally…I love it. So cool. Really different..great number one tune of the 90s.
Mrs Morgie hates it.. Should I tell her it will be back?
6 weeks at No 1. That'll be a non album MJ single then
Rocket. Spaceman. They've though about this one.
This was Tori Amos's first Top 40 single in nearly two years, so perhaps she was making an extra effort to get noticed by standing up over her stool.
DeleteI had a thing for Tori Amos, so it's great seeing her again.
ReplyDeleteI liked Spaceman, but the lead singer got a big head and full of himself.
He thought he was going to be the next best thing, he was wrong....
The rest was awful.
The Spaceman tune by Babylon Zoo was around the same time that the new Star Trek movie First Contact was released in 1996, as I expect it would have been filmed in 1995, and the Babylon Zoo look and outfits resembled what we would see on Star Trek First Contact, which was the first of the Star Trek movies without any of the original cast.
DeleteAs Morgie says, great variety. Opens with three acts whom I mostly like with singles that are a bit below par.
ReplyDeleteI like Gene fine, this one and Olympian are their best tunes IMO.
Loved this Dreadzone track at the time, great to hear it again.
Wonderwall continuing the weird trend of playing songs past their peak. Still love to see it though.
Shaggy track was pretty dull, Spaceman is great even if Jas Mann was a bit weird.
I noticed a couple of peaking singles further down the charts, including two in this week's Top 40 that failed to get a TOTP placing, so we wouldn't see them.
ReplyDeleteNo.23 Taylor Dayne - Tell It To My Heart
Re-issue of her 1988 single, and not sure why now again in 1996, but still achieved Top 30 status second time around.
No.37 Nick Heyward - Roller Blade
Although Hayward had been releasing solo singles intermittently ever since 1983 after leaving Haircut 100, this was hist first solo Top 40 single since 1984, and was also to be his last single release, so the curtain comes down on the whole H100/Nick Heyward phenomenon since 1981.
No. 92 Jose Carreras - Tristesse
This was from the tenor's new 1996 album called Passion. I first came across Tristesse unknowingly in the 80s when it was used in instrumental form in the background of the Robert Youngson's 1965 compilation movie Laurel & Hardy's Laughing Twenties, which I presume was made as a tribute to Stan Laurel's death that year (Tristesse meaning 'Sad' I guess as we had lost both Laurel & Hardy by 1965), but definitely worth a listen of the new Jose Carerras version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUeKQ57syV8