So a huge thanks goes to Robert Thompson for making it available here at WeTransfer.
And to Glenn Marshall for making it available here at Vimeo.
I'm the number one number one of '82!
25-12-82: Presenters: John Peel, Dave Lee Travis, Peter Powell, Mike Read, Andy Peebles, Steve Wright, Tommy Vance, Mike Smith and Richard Skinner.
SPANDAU BALLET – Lifeline
SHAKIN’ STEVENS – Oh Julie
Clips:
THE HUMAN LEAGUE – Don’t You Want Me (video)
KRAFTWERK – The Model (danced to by Zoo)
THE JAM – Town Called Malice (video)
(10) THE JAM – Beat Surrender (clip of TOTP 2-12-82)
TIGHT FIT – The Lion Sleeps Tonight (video)
GOOMBAY DANCE BAND – Seven Tears (video)
BUCKS FIZZ – The Land Of Make Believe
DURAN DURAN – Hungry Like The Wolf
DEXY’S MIDNIGHT RUNNERS with THE EMERALD EXPRESS – Come On Eileen
Clips:
BUCKS FIZZ – My Camera Never Lies (video)
PAUL McCARTNEY & STEVIE WONDER – Ebony And Ivory (video)
MADNESS – House Of Fun (video)
ADAM ANT – Goody Two Shoes (video)
(1) RENÉE & RENATO – Save Your Love (video)
CAPTAIN SENSIBLE – Happy Talk
STEVE MILLER BAND – Abracadabra (danced to by Zoo)
(41) DIONNE WARWICK – Heartbreaker (via satellite)
(68) CULTURE CLUB – Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?
Clips:
CHARLENE – I’ve Never Been To Me (danced to by Leo and Libra)
IRENE CARA – Fame (video)
SURVIVOR – Eye Of The Tiger (video)
NICOLE – A Little Peace (video)
(30) EDDY GRANT – I Don’t Wanna Dance (video)
SOFT CELL – Torch
HAIRCUT 100 – Love Plus One
MUSICAL YOUTH – Pass The Dutchie
(11) CLIFF RICHARD – Little Town
PHIL LYNOTT – Yellow Pearl (crowd dancing) (and credits)
Next up is the final edition of 1982, a live show from December 30th.
Why the **** was Renee & Renato clipped out of this recording of the show after Adam Ant? Not much to say on this episode, apart from the fact that the backing girls on Captain Sensible were dressed smartly this time with Christmas dresses, and not like cleaners in the TOTP studio when the song was at No.1 in the summer. Suffice to say that this was the best act on this show by a cool distance, simply by the way Sensible and the girls were allowed to stroll across all the stages in the studio with so much fun and happiness and joy on their faces.
ReplyDeleteSteve Miller Band - Zoo did well on this one, with the return of the magician and his sexy assistants. I particularly liked the French maid reduced to her lingerie when he pulled her dress off as part of his magic act. A classic Benny Hill style sketch.
Dionne Warwick - this studio performance from New York was much better than the one we saw in November while charting in the UK, where you could hardly hear the backing music. This was a lot stronger in its melody, and second only to the official video for sheer crispness of sound and backing music.
Culture Club - if anyone is wondering what his white top is carrying, it is the Hebrew translation of "Culture Club", and of course in Hebrew letters. Boy George I think is Jewish or half-Jewish.
Charlene - wasn't that Zoo couple one sexy couple if ever you saw one? Really liked this clip, albeit a very short one, and I wish the performance was played in full, and not part of a montage, so that we could appreciate the whole dance by the Zoo couple.
Haircut 100 - so they had broken up as a band before Christmas 1982, and Richard Skinner saying that they got them back together for this show. Ah, nice touch TOTP. Not as good as Fantastic Day, which is my favourite Haircut 100 song.
Musical Youth - weird to see them in the studio when they were only on video in October 1982 during their No.1 status for three weeks. I wonder how TOTP managed to take them away from their homework.
Phil Lynott - just love this perfect track for playout, and in my top ten songs of the year. Yello Pearl gave TOTP the perfect party atmosphere throughout the year.
boy george is of irish stock - it was drummer (and george's lover) jon moss who was jewish. which may have been the reason for the hebrew spelling, although it wouldn't surprise me if george just thought it looked cool. the name culture club was actually inspired by the different ethnic backgrounds of the members (the others were black briton of west indian descent and white anglo-saxon)
DeleteNot sure why the R and R bit was cut out, but you can see it here:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scOssK66itA
John, you're a star! I clicked the link to watch R&R just out of interest and something fantastic (for me) popped up on the right hand side of YT. I'll describe it more on a later 1983 show so everyone might get to see it!
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl5xMSRQA-U
I didn't think this was up to the standard of the superb Xmas Day 1981 show, but it wasn't bad. I think the main problem for me was that the overfamiliar number 1 records of the year were allowed back on to the show this time, whereas in '81 they had made much more time for lesser heard tunes and saved the chart toppers for New Year's Eve. Nevertheless, there were some good performances here, and none of the DJs hosting managed to embarrass themselves, not even Steve Wright!
ReplyDeleteThe standout performances for me were from Bucks Fizz, Captain Sensible and Soft Cell. The former group were all dressed for panto, and it was amusing to have the seemingly humourless Bobby G in drag; fun to see Cheryl going up and down on the kirby wire too. The Captain was obviously enjoying himself traipsing around the studio, though I would have liked to have set fire to that wretched stuffed albatross, and Marc and Dave were back with a welcome new performance of Torch, which for me was probably the best song on the show.
Zoo also did pretty well out of this. The Abracadabra routine may have taken the predictable magic-themed route, but it was also quite amusing, particularly when the magician decided to get into the box with the lovely lady inside rather than running swords through it! The short dances we saw to Kraftwerk and Charlene were also well executed, though it seemed strange to me that they bothered doing them just for an excerpt rather than the full songs; I particularly liked the robotic moves to The Model.
I agree with Dory that the performance of Heartbreaker here was much better than the previous one we saw. Dionne sang it better, and I think they were using the original backing track this time - just a shame about her awful matronly blouse and skirt. Haircut 100 had not actually split at this point, though Nick Heyward would announce his departure from the band the following month, so this was probably the last time they appeared on TV with Nick. They actually appear to be enjoying themselves here, and the tensions within the band are not as noticeable as when they performed Nobody's Fool a few months earlier. Nice to finally see Musical Youth in the studio, and just when it seems they are going to give a very sensible, boring, well-behaved performance they save it by starting to muck around with streamers!
Unfortunately someone saw fit to make Cliff's clunky Christmas record the grand finale, but at least the evergreen Yellow Pearl plays us out with some more decent Zoo dancing. However, this was destined to be their final TOTP Christmas...
Does Dionne still have her Psychic Network TV station or was it closed due to unforeseen circumstances?
ReplyDeleteThe pub near me advertises psychic nights. I'd have thought psychics would know when to turn up without needing signs!
DeleteReminds me of the brilliant scene in Phoenix nights.
Delete"Psychic called, wants to know what time he's on?"
"If he's any good he'll bloody know already".
we're actually in "1983" now, but i don't think anyone's come up with suggestions for the celebratory big chart hit title of this year's blog? i've been wracking my brains, but the best i can come up with is the following:
ReplyDeletethriller (michael jackson)
beat it (michael jackson)
gold (spandau ballet)
sweet dreams (eurythmics)
let's dance (david bowie)
rip it up (orange juice)
keep feeling fascination (human league)
shiny shiny (hayzi fantayzee)
Some good ones there wilberforce :-)
DeleteMy only addition to Wilberforce's excellent suggestions would be Say Say Say (Macca & Jacko).
DeleteMy only addition to Wilberforce's excellent suggestions would be Say Say Say (Macca & Jacko).
Deletethanks angelo, but if you can come up with anything better then be my guest (even though i'm your guest, if you see what i mean)
DeleteLet's Dance is probably the best option, cos it means that TOTP is effecting some sort of action from us when we watch the show. the other titles do not have any connection to what TOTP are trying to achieve with their viewers.
DeleteDisappearing Act....in tribute to the increasing number of non-shows
ReplyDeleteMore seriously..That Was Then, This Is Now
Indeed, a total of 15 shows were put up on this blog by Angelo in the month of December 2016 alone. That is an average of one show every two days. That is how bad it is becoming with BBC4, now not showing TOTP shows from three DJ's, i.e. Jimmy Saville, DLT, and now Mike Smith.
Delete15 shows I think is the record for a single month on this blog. The last time it happened was March 2016 also with 15 TOTP shows put up in that month.
The real problem is BBC4's new insistence on flinging out 2 shows a week, which means you always get a glut when Yewtreed and/or Smiffed shows are on in close proximity. We actually skipped slightly fewer shows in 1982 than we did in '81, and that will also be the case for the next couple of years as well.
DeleteOn the blog title front, I'm going to put forward Club Tropicana and New Song.
It's a case of too much of a good thing. One show a week is more than enough and it stops the blog becoming a chore for those who review each show.
DeleteStill, at least the beeb are committed to showing the re-runs and it seems there's 300,000 or so people who are prepared to watch two a week.
If we do reach 1984, I'd suggest Carmel's More More More for the blog title, although something with 'less' in the title might be more appropriate...
It's a case of too much of a good thing. One show a week is more than enough and it stops the blog becoming a chore for those who review each show.
DeleteStill, at least the beeb are committed to showing the re-runs and it seems there's 300,000 or so people who are prepared to watch two a week.
If we do reach 1984, I'd suggest Carmel's More More More for the blog title, although something with 'less' in the title might be more appropriate...
Steve, just wondering why you seem to duplicate most of your posts. Is it because you want to get the total number of postings up for each blog, despite having nothing different to post?
DeleteSteve - yes, completely agree that it is too much of a good thing. Still, it looks like the way it is going to be for as long as these reruns last now, and as you say at least the Beeb are continuing with them - when the repeats first started I didn't seriously expect them to get past 1976!
ReplyDeleteI just wanted them to get though the disco years - everything after that is a bonus.
Deletei thought i would really enjoy the shows of the early 80's given by that time i was a fully-formed young adult (in some aspects, anyway), rather than a gauche fledgling teenager. however i have to admit that given the way my life has worked out (or to be more accurate: how it's not worked out!), as one who missed the boat as a musician at that time i can't help but watch some of the more recent shows with a degree of envy given that the majority of those on them are more-successful peers of mine (and in some cases less-talented ones too - yes, i'm referring to you mr & mrs ridgeley!), rather than heroes to admire if not aspire to. but if they do continue showing them up til the end of 1984, then i'll try to stick with it until then as that was always my original intention...
ReplyDeleteShame we couldn't see this as like the 81 edition, it did well in playing some of the good songs from the year that weren't necessarily chart toppers.
ReplyDeleteHighlights : Bucks Fizz (The top half of Cheryl's costume she'd definitely worn previously, but not the bottom half. Or the Kirby wires!), Duran Duran, Dionne Warwick (I agree, MUCH better this time), Soft Cell & Musical Youth (which we had at least seen on the 'Big Hits' show)
Good use of Zoo for once too, though I could have done without the latest magic gimmick....
I have only just watched this and concur with most of the views above. I really would have liked to see all of the Zoo routine to 'I've never been to me' as it reminded me of a similar duo routine to 'Hard to say I'm sorry'. Could have done without Captain Sensible and Musical Youth again, but I guess they were trying to capture all of the No1s. Like the way they did the Cindy Ecstasy bit to 'Torch'. Oh yes, and 'Heartbreaker' sounded superb!
ReplyDeleteMeant to ask, why was the BBC4 logo in this if BBC4 didn't show it?
ReplyDeleteBBC4 repeated this show in 2008, long before Yewtree, hence the logo. Leo and Libra performed the Charlene routine see here, and if memory serves me correct they also danced to Hard to Say I'm Sorry.
Delete