So we're very lucky to have D42 who has kindly uploaded the show to Vimeo
It slowly dawns on Jeff why no one else is standing where the floor has just been polished.....
24-6-82: Presenter: Dave Lee Travis
(31) IMAGINATION – Music And Lights
Became the band's third and final top tenner when it peaked at number 5.
(12) STEVE MILLER BAND – Abracadabra (video)
With his first hit since Rock n Me in 1976, this one made it to number 2.
(38) LEO SAYER – Heart (Stop Beating In Time)
His penultimate top 30 hit peaking at number 22.
(7) ODYSSEY – Inside Out (danced to by Zoo)
Their fifth and final top ten hit.
(36) STATUS QUO – She Don’t Fool Me
Got no higher in the charts than 36.
(33) CAPTAIN SENSIBLE – Happy Talk
On holiday from The Damned here, with a summer number one about to be.
(18) THE BEATLES – Beatles Movie Medley (video)
Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the charts, here's another great white medley! At least it's the real deal this time, and the first of two top ten hits for the Beatles in 1982, this one peaking at number 10.
(37) BUCKS FIZZ – Now Those Days Are Gone
Going a capella and making it to number 8.
(25) SHALAMAR – A Night To Remember
Oh such a terrible shame that BBC4 are skipping Jeffrey Daniel's amazing routine, a true classic Top of the Pops moment! The song peaked at number 5.
(10) STEVIE WONDER – Do I Do (video)
At its peak.
(1) CHARLENE – I’ve Never Been To Me ®
One week at number one for Charlene's only hit.
(8) DIANA ROSS – Work That Body (crowd dancing) (and credits)
Went up one more place.
Next up is July 1st 1982 with John Peel.
Imagination – didn’t really like the antics and pathetic costume of Leee John, but I must admit that the song itself is their second best after Bodytalk, simply because of its great vibe, and keeping the classic late 70s disco sound still alive somehow.
ReplyDeleteSteve Miller Band – I don’t recall this video at all, but rather only the other one of the live concert footage, which seemed to be the one that TOTP later showed in subsequent episodes and when it got to No.1. The video this week was in REO Speedwagon proportions, and I liked it a lot, especially the cute ballerina type purple mini-dress girl in the video.
Odyssey – love the Zoo costumes and colours on this one. There is actually a superb video for this Odyssey song, regularly played on VHI and Vintage TV, which I don’t think was ever shown on TOTP, but is definitely worth a look, and one of my favourite videos of the 80s:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s41fhNaJDCE
Captain Sensible – this was always destined to be No.1, and they made a great reworking of the original version from South Pacific in 1958, and I found the original video here (pity that Captain Sensible never made a video of his version):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXgmQDFhPjo
The Beatles – fantastic movie medley montage of videos, and just when we thought the medley craze of 1981 was over, this was one of the better medleys on offer. I liked the brief glimpse of Albert Steptoe of Steptoe & Son in the medley video, which made it a nice touch, along with John Lennon’s interesting peach-shaped hairdo in one of the clips.
Bucks Fizz – I noticed Jay Aston borrowed Natasha’s (Iko Iko) white mini-dress from the show the week before in the chart rundown caption picture when Natasha was at No.24. Not one of my favourite Bucks Fizz singles, but seeing Jay Aston in that dress did somewhat save the day.
Shalamar – this studio performance was iconic in pop history as the twitching dancer performing this, is what gave Michael Jackson the idea for his later work in 1983 onwards in Thriller and beyond to move his body like this in his videos. I remember hearing this story on TOTP: The Story of 1982. I really did not know this until 2016!
Stevie Wonder – very quickly after his No.1 success with Ebony and Ivory, he fared less well with this one by ditching Paul McCartney to return to solo status. However, this new video including some good disco dancers somewhat saved a very average song in my opinion.
Diana Ross – I must say that the more I hear this song, the more I seem to enjoy it, as its sound is very hypnotic and friendly. So is Diana Ross in that video in the TOTP background video screen, more appealing than all the Zoo dancers put together in that keep-fit choreography on the playout this week. Oh to have Legs & Co back. I’m sure they would have relished this track to dance to instead of Zoo.
There's a touch of the Leni Riefenstahl's Olympiad about that Odyssey video (when you can see it through the fog of dry ice)!
DeleteAlbert Steptoe, aka Wilfrid Brambell, is in A Hard Day's Night, as Paul's grandfather. He's filthy rich you know. "He looks very clean to me!"
The Beatles Movie Medley was released to promote a compilation called Reel Music that (and this won't surprise you) contained songs from their various small screen appearances. Who bought it though is a mystery; it's one of if not their only single tlnever to be re-issued.
DeleteSorry I meant big screen appearances!
DeleteIt's a shame this one wasn't on BBC4, DLT's eighties appearances on TOTP were much better than his seventies ones.
Someone else who appeared in A Hard Day's Night was the young Phil Collins, who this week was moaning about how Macca was condescending towards him at the Queen's Golden Jubilee concert. Not uncoincidentally, Phil has a book to sell at present...
DeleteHe also has a greatest hits album and a very expensive boxset to flog - £64.99 in HMV!
DeleteThere used to be a brilliant feature in Record Mirror called Phil's World Of Wigs, where readers would request a different hairstyle for Phil to 'model' each week. Apparently he moaned about that too...
Didn't he once divorce a wife by fax? If true, class act.
DeleteYes I think he did. Next time it'll be divorce by Snapchat.
DeleteAccording to today's Observer, Phil's beef with Macca was because he called him Little Phil. Although if I'd heard Phil's version of Tomorrow Never Knows, I'd be calling him a lot worse...
He always denies that he actually asked for the divorce by fax - that was apparently agreed in person - but he did send a fax to his wife at some point to sort out custody arrangements, after the phone line went down (so he claims).
DeleteI can't imagine who would want to shell out £64.99 for a Phil Collins boxset, but each to their own...
before i start: many thanks to D42 who has provided the booty in (high-quality) streamed form!
ReplyDeletehost: obviously i haven't seen much of DLT as a result of his airbrushing. but with his bouffant hair and beard he looks like an extra from "planet of the apes", and certainly from the era those films were made rather than the early 80's. with regard to the beeb's flat-out refusal to acknowledge the guy's now done his time and as such we should be able to watch his shows legally, wouldn't it be ironic if he hosted an edition that featured the eurythmics' "sexcrime"?
imagination: by now the band and their producers swain and jolley had got this kind of thing off to a tee, and they were going to milk it for all it worth. despite that it's still a high-quality groove, especially in the chorus. ashley gets as much frontline time as leee on this one, so perhaps not surprisingly all pretences at playing bass guitar (to what is obviously a synth on the recording) are soon abandoned. sadly errol (who unlike the other two never got any credits for the songs, which was maybe why he declared himself bankrupt a few years back?) decides to stick behind his kit this time. oh, and i nearly forgot to mention: modulation going on in the instrumental break!
steve miller band: didn't his brother used to be in charge of (that pathetic dinasaur) the labour party? i thought this was part of his back-catalogue that was exhumed, but apparently not so. it dredges up the recollection that that it irritated the hell out of me when it seemed to get played interminably back then, so not one i'm pleased to hear again
odyssey: for me their second-best single after "native new yorker", with a similar smooth and classy mid-tempo feel. notable for having some strings on it when they had been all-but banished from dance-oriented recordings by this time. this was written by a guy called jesse rae, a scot who when not exhibiting fiercely-nationalist tendencies such as wearing a kilt and wielding a claymore would write and record contrary material very much in an american soul/disco vein
leo sayer: as soon as i see him on the show it's normally a case of "next!". but i gave this a listen this time and by his standards it's not too bad, although the somewhat-lifeless hi-hat sounded like it was programmed rather than played for real. plenty of modulation going on here as well
quo: blimey, even they're jumping on the modulation bandwagon now! that apart it's a return to their classic heads-down no-nonsense sound of the 70's, which despite its obvious superiority to their recent rubbish probably also explains its lack of success. you can actually hear some piano on it for a change, although andy bown makes no attempt whatsoever to mime the jerry lee lewis swipes
Wilby, no irony involving "Sexcrime" as DLT never got to introduce it on the show.
DeleteJesse Rae nearly had a hit of his own with Over the Sea, sort of a precursor to The Proclaimers' Letter from America. Fun tune, but a weird guy (never seen without his mask and kilt).
DeleteJesse Rae was so proud to be Scottish and so anti-English that when he had to travel down across the border for a while he'd take a suitcase full of food made or bought in Scotland to pay as little to the English for sustinence - I remember reading him say that in either Record Mirror or the NME.
DeleteGiven that plenty of English taxpayers' money gets redistributed north of the border, I find that a tad ungrateful!
DeleteTHX, go on YouTube and you can see Jesse Rae sans armour performing "D.E.S.I.R.E." and "Rusha".
DeleteNot sure I should be supporting bigotry... OK, I had a look, and, um, well there you go. Just some bloke. He obviously hadn't honed his craft yet, judging by those two vids!
Deletei don't have any particular anti-scottish feelings (in fact i've always had a respect for them), but it would have been great if english people had deliberately refused to buy mr rae's recordings as a result of his discrimination and provocation... thus losing him potentially 90% of the british market!
DeleteCareful now, THX is Scottish
DeleteI may be Scottish, but I'm not anti-English, in fact two of the best friends I ever had were English. I like the English!
DeleteDonna Summer had a huge gay fan base but she lost 99% of them overnight when she went all god botherer in the mid 1980s saying something along the lines of AIDS was God's punishment on gays. She regularly denied ever saying it but apparently one ex-fan personally delivered a ton of her records back to her record company and dumped them on their doorstep in protest. Don't dis the fans, that's the golden rule.
Deletept II:
ReplyDeletecaptain sensible: i suspect producer tony mansfield (playing synth on the left i think, and who was last seen on the show a couple of years back as the frontman of new musik) had a lot more to do with this than the captain. i'm not sure if this was supposed to be kitsch or what, but i didn't do kitsch back in those days so it did little for me then. quite why two of dolly mixture "play" bass and guitar and when there's clearly nothing of the sort on the recording is also beyond me
beatles: at the start of these re-runs the charts were stuffed with beatles recordings for reasons i can't recall now. then we get them reproduced by starsound, and now they're back again for yet another ride on the gravy train. why can't they just be left in the sixties where they belong?
bucks fizz: although the saccarine content is pretty high in this, it has to be said it also oozes quality in terms of songwriting and arrangement. i'm especially impressed with the four-part harmonies in the intro before mike gets his chance in the spotlight. strangely though for a bucks fizz song there's no modulation going on!
shalamar: certainly their finest moment musically (with yet more modulation!), although i find howard's and (especially) jody's vocals somewhat strained. as regards the dance routine, what can i add to this moment that hasn't been mentioned already? perhaps that whilst jeffrey was wowing us with his cool 80's wedge-cut and backsliding, at the same time he was pictured on the front of the album this came from with a huge 70's afro and flying V guitar!
diana ross: this has improved as a groove on a second listen, although miss ross's aerobics instructor routine is still somewhat tiresome to put it mildly. the good news is that even though the massed ranks of zoo have been put into action, there's no sign of cr**g f**rbr*ss among them!
Oh dearie me, some hardened criminals have made off with half of Imagination's outfits! Anyway, in spite of their continued spiting of the musician's union, their groovesome production lifts a rather basic tune.
ReplyDeleteThis video for Steve Miller is a lot camper than it really needed to be, it's just short of having Siegfried and Roy parading around. Unfortunate lyrics in light of who's presenting.
Leo Sayer still plugging away, he gives it his all but it's strictly in one ear and out the other material.
Odyssey, ah, a bit o' class, smooth disco sounds and accomplished vocals and... good heavens, what are Zoo doing? Talk about ungainly.
Status Quo back with their song again, virtually indistinguishable from too many others. Full marks to the chap doing the pogo, he must get about four feet in the air by the looks of it, quite an achievement, if radically overstating the tune's excitement.
Captain Sensible bringing karaoke to the UK, one of those records that make you wonder why it happened at all, though I don't begrudge its success, I liked it at the time. At least he kept his clothes on.
Medley time again, presumably this is Alan Partridge's favourite Beatles single? I'm a big fan of those films the Fabs made, but who was this release for? People who didn't have time to watch all four movies (I note Macca pissing everyone off in Let It Be was omitted)?
Bucks Fizz proving there was more to them than is commonly decreed with a soulful item of rather nice harmonies. It's almost a shame they put the instruments on after a while, I'd like to have heard them go full Flying Pickets.
Ah, when Michael Jackson wasn't ripping off Bob Fosse's moves, he was ripping off Jeffrey's. I believe they used to call it body popping - why don't they call it that anymore? Good time party tune, glowing with optimism, but the dancing's the thing, isn't it?
Stevie Wonder offering another "will this do?" video. Lots of closeups of feet, for some reason.
Charlene has her time in the sun, then the massed ranks of Zoo are put through their paces, but after Jeffrey had been on they'd have been forgiven for giving up and going home before the credits even rolled.
Despite DLT's observation that both the Beatles and the Stones were in the same chart, I notice only the Beatles made it onto a show, whilst Going To a Go Go was for some reason overlooked, despite being a steady climber.
ReplyDeleteIt must have been the song title of the Rolling stones single that got them ignored on the show. I mean what does 'Going To A Go Go' actually mean?
DeleteA go-go is a dance. Where you'd presumably meet a go-go dancer wearing go-go boots.
DeleteAnother Yewtree'd edition that BBC4 viewers are prevented from seeing. Are they missing much? Darn tootin'.
ReplyDeleteAlthough its not the best of starts with Imagination continuing to mine the plinky-piano-high-camp-vocal-minimal-clothing schtich for all their worth. Very much of its time.
Ed and David's brother Steve up next with another song that has been overplayed in the ensuing years. Miller had much better stuff (Fly Like An Eagle, Rock n Me for example) but if a radio DJ says 'Coming up after the break, a classic from Steve Miller Band' then its gonna be this one, sadly. Its ok - just not my favourite.
Leo. Now this is a great chorus. Unfortunately the verses rather let it down. As do his clothes. And his 'dancing'.
Odyssey. A great song - rather reminiscent of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, but ruined here by Zoo. I mean, forget the antics stage centre, which are poorly choreographed and performed. The guys at back are hideously out of step with each other to the point where they start to resemble drunks on a Christmas night out. Awful. Just awful.
Status Quo. It took just fifteen seconds for me to reach for the FF button. In one of those happy accidents that occasionally make life more bearable, I multi-pressed the FF button, got up to x32 and skipped all but the last moments of Captain Sensible as well. As Monty Burns would say - 'excellent'.
If only there was a x256 on my remote I might have been spared the Beatles medley as well.
So far, so less-than-awsome. However...
step up the mic, Bucks Fizz and the magnificent Now Those Days Are Gone. I had forgotten all about this, and it took a few moments for the tune to register, but what a great song. It's kind of like an Abba song in parts, especially as Mike's vocals are quite feminine. Good harmonies throughout, too. Not sure about the 19th Century working-in-t'mill clothes that the boys sport though.
And then an iconic 'did-you-see' ToTP moment. A Night To Remember is a decent song but it was Jeffrey Daniels' game-changing routine that was the talk of the playgrounds the next day. I remember being transfixed by it and baffled as to how he slid backwards. A pivotal moment in dance culture right there. You see, Zoo - THAT is how to dance. I can imagine Zoo watching this and slinking away to their dressing room, like a sad cocker spaniel who can't quite grasp the concept of fetching a stick.
A couple of oldey-time Motown artists sandwich Charlene at number 1 to conclude the show.
Scores. First up, the Yewtree'd Cornflake. A good performance this -possibly because the show was packed, leaving little time for his 'wit' to pop up. One tongue-slip aside, he was pretty much faultless - 9.
The show. Zoo were atrocious and the music was patchy to say the least. A potentially low 4 is turned into a 7 by the double whammy of Bucks Fizz and Jeffrey Daniels.
One of the more memorable and enjoyable shows of the year, this one, aided by a good hosting job from DLT. I particularly liked the moment when he told the screeching cheerleader next to him to shut up - while ostensibly done in jest, I suspect he really did mean it!
ReplyDeleteImagination get things off to a great start with another irresistible effort. The chorus is particularly strong, and to my mind Leee and co have now cemented themselves among the more impressive acts of the era, a status I would not have accorded them before this repeat run. The outrageous costumes and stage antics are amusing, as ever, but to be honest their singles are strong enough musically to have thrived without them. I've never been keen on Abracadabra, and it doesn't help that it has been played so much on the radio over the years, along with the equally irritating The Joker. Quite a fancy video for the time, with various "magical" effects, but it doesn't make me like the song any better.
It appears from his brief, bizarre interview with DLT that Leee John loves Little Leo, but given he appeared to be high on something I would not swear to the veracity of that assertion! I In any case, Leo continues to hold the tides of musical fashion at bay with a yellow jumper and another live vocal, and this is actually another decent song from him. If Imagination had the "spring stage" this week, Leo appears to have the snail one, judging from the appearance of the spiral shapes around him! Odyssey return with their last significant hit, and it's another good one, but is not really done justice by this clunky Zoo routine, the more physical parts of which look extremely ungainly, to put it mildly. The only good thing about it are the men's suits, which look far better than the normal Zoo costumes.
Perhaps no great surprise that this Quo number stiffed, as it is strictly by-the-numbers stuff from the boys, if well executed. Rick of course is another currently sick star who I hope will soon be back to full health. Rather like Bucks Fizz, Captain Sensible is someone who I remember constantly being on TV for a time in the 80s, always with that red beret perched on his head. This may be a novelty record, but at least it isn't irritating, and clearly this performance must have struck a chord with the public as it would soar to number 1 the following week. In truth, I think the Captain was rather lucky to get on the show, considering that Midge Ure was now in his second week in the Top 30 and still hadn't appeared - indeed, it is notable that no fewer than five of this week's featured tunes are outside the 30.
Just when you thought the medleys had gone away, they strike back. In fairness this is a better example of the genre, as it features the original records and does not have an annoying click track. A decent collection of Fab tunes too, apart from the terminally dirgey All You Need is Love, and the accompanying video is a good compilation of clippage from the films. Bucks Fizz are this week's act to do without a studio audience, but that does actually help the atmosphere for this sad and surprisingly moving ballad. It's notable that it always seems to be the blokes who sing lead on the Fizz singles - were Cheryl and Jay considered not up to the mark vocally?
The highlight of the show follows, as Jeffrey Daniel puts Zoo thoroughly to shame with his ground-breaking combination of lunar perambulation and Marcel Marceau impersonation. However, I was puzzled as to why Jeffrey was on his own - where were the rest of the band? After that highlight, the rest of the show is a bit of an anti-climax, with a dull (literally) Stevie video, an appalling number 1 and finally some static flag waving by a no doubt chastened Zoo to Diana Ross.
It could have been Jeffrey from Rainbow (the children's TV show, not the rock group) and no-one would have thought any different. Anyway Jeffrey wasn't on his own, cos George and Zippy were not far behind.
DeleteWell this really is a shame to be stuck in the vaults. Many thanks D42 for letting us see it - this is certainly one worth viewing. Incidentally I pulled out Clodagh Rodgers ‘its different now’ album from the cupboard recently and who else but DLT wrote some very encouraging sleeve notes.
ReplyDeleteImagination – Music and Lights – Not a particular favourite of mine, along with all their other hits. A matter of taste I guess.
Steve Miller Band – Abracadabra – Great hit. Nothing from Mr Miller since the excellent ‘Rock n’me’ in 1976 and then this staple. The album version differed slightly but both are good and this video is an excellent accompaniment.
Leo Sayer – Heart (stop beating in time) – Bee Gees written hit, did they ever record it? Another record from Leo that probably should have been a bigger hit. How did he reach those high notes?
Odyssey – Inside out – Each release of theirs seems better than their only no1. I quite like this although it’s not normally the type of music that I go for.
Status Quo – She don’t fool me – Sounds like all their other hits. Good performance. No green guitar for Mr Rossi this time.
Captain Sensible – Happy Talk – No comment – more thoughts written on the 01/07 show.
Beatles – Movie Medley – Not a great release in terms of the actual quality but gives a unique flavour of why the fab four were fab. It’s a hotch potch release really but it’s still the Beatles dammit! We’re not treated to ‘Get back’ here as ‘Ticket to ride’ is interrupted before it segues.
Bucks Fizz – Now those days are gone – Just wonderful. Best release bar none from Bucks Fizz for me. How could this stall at no8 and the Captain reach the top? No justice.
Shalamar – A night to remember – This performance is a just a legend and I had no idea from the 1982 documentary that it was on a DLT show and presumably won’t be seen by BBC4 viewers apart from in that compilation. Amazing. Great song too.
Stevie Wonder – Do I do – Not one of the greatest releases by Stevie. Just a ‘nothing’ song for me. How did that reach no10?
Charlene – I’ve never been to me – Opinion is divided on this record. You either love it or loathe it. I’m in the former camp and this is a nice live rendition, albeit without the spoken interlude. One of the least likely records to get to the top in 1982 but certainly one of the best for me.
Diana Ross – Work that body – Dance fodder. Love the leotard Diana!
Two woolly answers to questions from the floor, and apologies if I'm wrong on either count.
ReplyDeleteJeffrey Daniel might have been on his own due to disputes rumbling between Shalamar and their record label, or possibly because group member Jody Watley was pregnant. It could even have been because Jeffrey had previously demonstrated his dance style and the powers that be saw it as a lightning in a bottle moment.
Not sure if The Bee Gees ever recorded "Heart (Stop Beating In Time") but the bespoke 45cat website doesn't show them releasing it as either side of a single.
Two woolly answers to questions from the floor, and apologies if I'm wrong on either count.
ReplyDeleteJeffrey Daniel might have been on his own due to disputes rumbling between Shalamar and their record label, or possibly because group member Jody Watley was pregnant. It could even have been because Jeffrey had previously demonstrated his dance style and the powers that be saw it as a lightning in a bottle moment.
Not sure if The Bee Gees ever recorded "Heart (Stop Beating In Time") but the bespoke 45cat website doesn't show them releasing it as either side of a single.
Thanks for that Arthur - those certainly all sound like plausible explanations for Jeffrey's solo turn. Re the Bee Gees, they had made a conscious decision at this point to retreat from the limelight and concentrate on writing for others, so it would not surprise me if they never recorded this particular song.
DeleteThere was already friction in the group because Jeffry Daniel had been dating Jody Watley but dumped her to date, and eventually marry, singer Stephanie Mills (she of The Medicine Song). I also read that it was this solo spot by Jeffrey that led to the eventual splitting of the group. After this he was the one who was interviewed all then time, especially in the UK, and he wanted to stay in Britain to pursue a solo career.
DeleteJeffrey Daniels’ relationship with Stephanie Mills was a quick burner. He became the first of two husbands to last just a couple of years.
DeleteJeffrey’s only chart placing outside of Shalamar was with, erm, Shalamar, albeit all three members named individually (I assume for legal reasons) alongside Babyface and LL Cool J. Jody Watley fared much better as a solo artist, with singles just missing the edge of the top 10, 20 and 30 amongst her eight non-Shalamar chart entries.
A very long show this week at nearly 43 minutes, a great pity it wasn't shown. Imagination kick off with a song I had forgotten about mainly because all their stuff sounds very similar but it's pretty good. The outfits the boys are wearing are getting more ridiculous with each single and the miming isn't getting any better but at least the drummer stayed put this time.
ReplyDeleteThe Steve Miller Band relying heavily on members of the Magic Circle to make his video look more, er, magic. Still it works and gets round the fact that the band have been made to vanish.
The Leo Sayer song is actually quite good but he was a man out of time in 1982. Everything about screams the 1970s from his corkscrew hair to his yellow sweatshirt. Small wonder he was nearing the end of his chart career.
The Zoo dance routine for Odyssey is perhaps the worst they have done yet. Three blokes in duck egg blue suits and pink pixie boots manhandle a spiky-haired woman and throw her around like a rag doll in the name of art. At one point of of the guys is doing to her what poor DLT was accused of doing to she-who-must-not-be-named. Such a shame to ruin such a brilliant record with a naff distracting dance routine.
Status Quo go back 10 years to re-record Paper Plane. Yawn.
I was never really a fan of Happy talk but I suppose it was a bit of harmless fun although it's hard to imagine why the record company thought it was a good idea to record this as a joke, let alone release it. But somehow it worked. Nice to see Dolly mixture Debsey, later backing vocalist with St Eitenne, and a Wei Wei Wong lookalike (or is her?) doing The Birdy Dance 6 months too late.
As someone gave me a bootleg compilation of Beatles videos many years ago I am very familiar with this video (it ends with the four Beatles watching themselves on screen taken from the end of Yellow Submarine. It's quite nicely done, musically and visually and it's hard to remember just how starved we were of old film clips like this back then so it was a real treat to see them even if it was in medley form.
I re-discovered this Bucks Fizz track a few years ago and loved it to bits. It's a song that only makes sense lyrically when you are a bit older and it reminded me of someone I used to know. A shame this wasn't a bigger hit.
The Charts and I see poor UB40 have left the Top 30 again after rising to number 29. They really were going through a lean period weren't they. They didn't even make it onto the show.
A night To Remember is another tune that brings back happy memories. In November 1982 I was dragged me to see them at Wembley Arena and I was blown away by how good they were. Sadly we only had last minute restricted view seats but it was still a good night (to remember) and everyone was dancing along. And Jeffrey Daniels did his famous moonwalk body popping stuff when they did this song, not that we knew what it was called at the time.
So Stevie did a video for Do I Do, not much of a video, but it was better than nothing which was what we usually got with Stevie. The song is okay but nothing special compared to some of his previous hits.
The Top 9 then Charlene at the top spot which I must admit I fast forwarded though.
And play out with Diana Ross with "the whole gang" as DLT puts it (although minus Jeffrey Daniels and Leeeeee John) for some bizarre reason using semaphore signals as a dance routine. If I read the signals correctly they are saying "help, get me out of this studio, I arrived ten months ago and I've been held captive ever since".
The lean period for UB40 for quite while yet, and would run between Sep 1981 - Sep 1983, following this success of One In Ten in the summer of 1981, until the arrival of Red Red Wine in late 1983.
DeleteOh God - the beginning of UB40's long run of anaemic cover versions.
DeleteBig thanks for this show, D42! Five of the 12 songs were outside the mugshots but that didn’t result in a loss of overall quality or frivolity.
ReplyDeleteAshley, why bother with that bass? In fact, was there one used on the record? Why was birthday boy Leeeeee John apparently dressed for Ascot Ladies’ Day? Top marks for their showmanship, mind.
Next up, Steve Miller with some Smashey and Nicey bilge to be FF’d.
Leo’s song’s verses reminded me for some reason of “Would I Lie To You” by Charles and Eddie. Not one of his best.
Odyssey’s cover was pretty close to Jesse Rae’s original apart from being faster and the obvious gender change in the lyrics. That Zoo gal was incredibly supple and she was given a saucy routine to put it mildly. As for the lads – orange shoes with that outfit!
Status Quo with a song so forgettable their warehouse won’t open for them to record their perfunctory video.
Orville! Emu! That gull on a string! Birds we’d like to eradicate. I’d like to know how a punk band’s bassist showcased this idea to an exec of a different record company to his band. Heck, it paid off!
Some nice even BPM segues at the end of that Beatles medley. Why were they performing in a cage earlier on?
Ah, the majesty of Jay Aston in an intriguing string garter, that Rita / Cheryl and two Hovis boys with a classy change of style. I’m also wondering why the gals never got to perform lead vocals on one of the hits.
Weep and retire, Zoo! A definitive moment in both TV and dance history, and also a good way to boost a single teetering in the mid 20’s. Well played, Jeffrey!
After that dance masterclass, a real letdown with a functional Stevie Wonder vid, the balloonless Charlene performance and some semaphore shite to Diana’s dreadful workout.
Another thanks from me that we got to see this in such good quality!
ReplyDeleteImagination - This is one I always forget about, along with many others here I see. I am amazed that this got into the Top 10.
Steve Miller Band - I don't mind this song, I seem to remember it being an 'end of term' fave at school along with Natasha and Irene Cara. It's certainly 1000 times better than the tedious 'The Joker'.
Leo Sayer - Good live vocal, unmemorable song.
Odyssey - A brilliant song and a shame that the band couldn't be there to perform this ode to stalking. Instead we get Zoo seemingly inventing the type of vile pastel suits later seen in Miami Vice.
Status Quo - No recollection of this whatsoever. Next!
Captain Sensible - I hated it at the time (although my Dad thought it was hilarious) and I haven't changed my opinion.
The Beatles - This was my earliest exposure to the Fab 4 in visual form I suspect. I think it's quite well done actually. Here's a question - if this was on a non-Yewtreed show, would it have been edited out for rights issues?
Bucks Fizz - I love almost all of their singles, and this is a particularly fine one with its melancholy feel.
Shalamar - Yes, Jeffrey is very impressive (and didn't they feature this on the 'Big Hits' show? If they didn't, they should have done) but the song has sadly become an overplayed Heart FM housewife song classic. Jody Watley flounced off to later become 'Shop's Own' Janet Jackson of course.
Stevie Wonder - Would in no way have been a Top 10 hit without 'Ebony And Ivory' having been huge.
Diana Ross - Inevitable that we would get a Zoo workout routine at some point. Semaphore presumably a tribute to the Fabs in 'Help!' ??
Interesting thought you raise about the rights issue. After the 'Bright Eyes' debacle we did get to see full showings of things like 'Chariots of Fire', so maybe this would have been OK to have shown too?
DeleteI like A Night to Remember, but must admit that when I hear it my first thought is always of the Harvester restaurant ads it used to feature on, rather than Jeffrey's moonwalking!
DeleteIncidentally Noax, in response to your question Jeffrey's routine was featured quite heavily on the Story of 1982 documentary, but was bizarrely left off the Big Hits show! Still, BBC4 viewers will get to see his second coming this week...
DeleteThe Steve millers the joker originally a no 1 in America in 1973 wasn't a hit in Britain until a Levi's tv used the song for it to hit the no 1 spot in 1990
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