See you next year?
25-11-82: Presenter: Dave Lee Travis
(20) YAZOO – The Other Side Of Love
The duo's third hit of the year, this one peaking at number 13.
(16) MUSICAL YOUTH – Youth Of Today (video)
Also a number 13 peaker.
(17) LIONEL RICHIE – Truly
His first 'truly' solo hit, peaking at number 6.
(28) ULTRAVOX – Hymn (video)
Peaked at number 11.
(34) CULTURE CLUB – Time (Clock Of The Heart)
The follow up to their number one hit, this 'Time' number 3 was the peak.
(29) SUPERTRAMP – It’s Raining Again (video)
Their final top 30 hit which peaked at number 26.
(26) TALK TALK – Talk Talk
Originally released in April 1982 when it made number 52, this remixed version fared better and made it to number 23.
(14) A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS – Wishing (If I Had A Photograph Of You) ®
Went up four more places.
(1) EDDY GRANT – I Don’t Wanna Dance (video)
Third and final week at number one.
(13) BLUE ZOO – Cry Boy Cry (crowd dancing) (and credits)
Got no higher in the charts.
Back to BBC4 now for December 2nd 1982.
It's a DLT not a BLT sandwich!
ReplyDeleteWeird to see Culture Club doing their new song when it was outside the thirty, especially when the last hit was still in the top twenty.
The same happened a couple of months earlier when Dexys Midnight Runners followed up their massive No.1 Come On Eileen with Jackie Wilson Said.
DeleteIn contrast to the previous show, this one is stuffed with new songs. DLT is generally in one of his more likeable moods, though he does make a howler when introducing the Flock, claiming they are at 16 when he has just said in the rundown that they have climbed to 14!
ReplyDeleteThe Other Side of Love is very much a forgotten Yazoo hit, and in truth it does sound pretty pedestrian compared to the likes of Only You, Don't Go and the sublime Nobody's Diary. Vince's hair is as silly as ever, and someone should have told Alf not to go in for the Mrs Mop look! Musical Youth follow up their number 1 with more of the same, the video also rehashing the "cheeky young rebels" schtick they had created for the Pass the Dutchie promo. Rocky 3 gets a notable plug, making this the third video on TOTP in '82 to reference the film in some way.
Lionel Richie, now on the verge of becoming a huge 80s solo star but yet to fully lose his 70s afro, is in the studio with a typically treacly ballad, though this one does at least come to life towards the end! Ultravox are on video once again, with a good, anthemic song that sounds a bit like a dress rehearsal for the superior Dancing with Tears in My Eyes. The promo is a bit of a weird one, seemingly suggesting that politicians are demons in disguise - the glowing eyes effects predate those that would be used in the Total Eclipse of the Heart video by several months. Raiders of the Lost Ark is the film getting plugged here, and Kid Jensen makes a very brief cameo.
My favourite Culture Club single next, a smooth, effortless piece of pop soul which should have got to the top. George appears to be singing live here, acquitting himself well, and I like the clock face on the front of Jon's drums and the way the band's name forms into another clock at the end of the performance. I have never cared much for Supertramp, in no small part because I can't stand Roger Hodgson's whiny voice, but this one is quite catchy and the video is well made and tells a good story - you can't help but root for the hapless bloke in the bow tie as he searches for his lost love and encounters so many mishaps on the way. They are reunited in the end, though the video gets cut off here before it reaches that point.
Talk Talk are back, becoming one of that select group of artists who have had a hit named after themselves - Living in a Box also come to mind, and I am sure there are others that I can't think of at present. The band look more confident here than they did on their previous performance, though Mark Hollis continues to look like a slightly uncomfortable frontman. Zoo are of course always full of confidence, and they take the floor at the end, in ludicrous fancy dress, to strut their stuff to their blue counterparts...
Yeah, I don't recall this Yazoo hit, and it is best forgotten in my opinion. I noticed that for the second show in a row, the opening song on TOTP had a very keen cameraman looking for as many upskirt opportunities for his camera as possible, and seemed to do quite well. Oh the things they got away with in those days!
DeleteJohn, in terms of songs whose title is the artist's name, there was also "Doop" by Doop.
Deletei'm not risking downloading this - especially now dory has stated that "4shared" brings high risk of unwanted nasties! but fortunately i can cobble enough together from the scraps available on youtube to make some kind of contribution
ReplyDeleteyazoo: yet another one i have no recall of whatsoever, probably because it's pleasant enough in-one-ear-and-out-the-other stuff. alf models the kind of headgear hilda ogden used to don when she was charring, but that looks totally relatively normal compared to that badly-dancing guy on the right - whatever it is he's wearing, words just fail me i'm afraid
musical youth: "pass the dutchie" pt II, and another one completely erased from my memory. but why is dennis making off with an apple pie at the start?
lionel richie: sadly this is one that i do recall to some extent. not that i could sing it all the way through or anything, or even really remember how it goes as such. but certainly well enough to know i never want to hear it again as it's just more of his vomit-inducing slush that paid for his swimming pool
ultravox: the chorus of this came back to me as i started watching the video on YT. another one surprisingly free of midge's guitar histrionics, but that patented synth solo sound of theirs is getting somewhat tiresome by now. definitely a hint of NTNOCN "nice video, shame about the song" about it - this time they've even got an actor-of-sorts involved (oliver "stud" tobias, whose appearance here indicates that his career was already on the wane by this point)
supertramp: another hole in my brain for this one, that sounds like a leftover from "breakfast from america". but at least they had the good sense not to feature their beardy lank-haired selves in the video
talk talk: so go on, see if you can name all the acts that had eponymous hit singles. john has already mentioned another one above, but i'll chip in with immaculate fools and a track called (wait for it) "immaculate fools". as far as i'm concerned it's a much more interesting exercise than listening to this particular piece of music by mark hollis & co!
If you click on the link the video plays automatically - no downloading necessary.
Deletethanks thx - i had a look at that, and all i can add really is the following:
Deleteculture club: unlike talk talk and several other acts in recent times, rather surprisingly their two flop singles prior to "do you really" weren't re-released. instead a brand new song that i thought was pretty good at the time, although i had to have my memory refreshed as (unlike its predecessor and that karma chameleon crap) it soon disappeared into the mists of time (ho ho). i do seem to remember the first showing of the extremely grandiose video for this (featuring a cast of hundreds) being a major event on "the tube" though...
my apologies - the busby berkeley-style video was for a later single of theirs called "victims"!
DeleteVisage by Visage
DeleteIs THX short for Thanks?
DeleteWilberforce, I think Supertramp did a Fleetwood Mac here, i.e. returning in 1982 after three years with no hits since 1979, and what a humdinger of a video this was. I do seem to come across it on the retro video channels like Vintage TV, etc, and have always liked it.
DeleteYeah there was three years between 'Breakfast in America' and 'Famous last words...' from which 'It's Raining Again' is taken. However, in 1980, a double live album 'Paris' was issued. I say 'live album' as I believe it was given a certain amount of pre-release treatment! However, it's a good set of the band at their peak.
Delete@Dory: No, it's short for THX 1139, which is one louder than THX 1138, the sci-fi movie. I find the internet very sci-fi.
Deletepurely by chance i've just stumbled across an eponymous hit single by motorhead!
DeletePublic Image by Public Image Ltd.? Hmm....not quite.
Deletekool & the gang did have a self-titled single. but it never made the british charts, so does that count?
DeleteIt's available on WeTransfer at https://we.tl/jM6WTTa196
ReplyDeleteYazoo start with a track that never gets played now, you can tell why, it doesn't have the hook their other hits have but it's nice enough.
ReplyDeleteMusical Youth with a video Charlie Chaplin would be proud of, do bands still make comedy videos? Seems to be part of the past. As for the song, a far more palatable call to arms for ver kids than Sham 69 ever concocted, but not as memorable as their biggest hit.
Lionel Ritchie with one of his trademark snail's pace ballads, a tribute to Truly Scrumptious from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, of course. Probably. Just needed a paint pot to offset that piano nicely.
The overelaborate video... yes, Midge Ure is back with a Faustian tale, though what it had to do with the actual song is anyone's guess. Doesn't sound very church-y, but it's a not bad "eyes to the skies" bit of synth.
Always thought this was a very poetic title for this Culture Club song, and it's definitely one of their best singles, wistful in a way that I prefer to their previous hit. All that and Freddie Parrot Face Davies on sax.
I was intrigued enough by the Supertramp video to check out what happened at the end, and could see why they cut it off at that point: can't have those levels of brutal violence before the watershed! They're never going to be my favourite band, but a pretty decent pop song all the same.
For some reason I really remember this Talk Talk track because it was played on STV's Pop Shop section where they would fill a bit of time with a music video rather than a Tom & Jerry cartoon. Seriously overemphatic performance from Mark, but I do like this.
Then a bunch of repeats to end on. What changes Eddy's missus's mind at the end, anyway? I mean, I would want a go on that floating platform too, but she was seriously pissed off for most of this.
I was thinking the same regarding the Musical youth video, especially the two scenes at the beginning where they walk over a cement sheet setting in sun, and then run into a sheet of glass on the street. This was a very common Laurel & Hardy antic (not so much Chaplin), but definitely Chaplin-esque in the running on the street with feet screeching on the corner. Oh The Youth Of Today!
DeleteI have to disagree with you THX on this occasion, regarding the bit not shown at the end of the Supertramp video. Someone being attacked in the street and having his clothes stolen, before his true love arrives for him in the rain, was hardly 'brutal violence', and was common fodder in early evening programmes of the day like The Incredible Hulk, The Sweeney, etc. In fact this video is regularly shown on the music video channels like Vintage TV etc, and no-one bats an eyelid.
DeleteI expect that the last one-and a half minutes of the video was not shown because TOTP generally shows a maximum of 3 minutes of a video, and this was well over 4 minutes, so the point they cut it off was before the final scene, so it would not have made sense to show the ambush of the lead actor, and not the happy ending with his true love!
I wasn't being entirely serious about Supertramp, but did kind of suspect the beating up bit of the video might have been judged unsavoury for TOTP broadcast at the time.
DeleteAfter last week’s excellent JP hosted edition, we have a Yewtree show that isn’t much to write home about. However, before I launch into my critique, I was going to comment on the fact that the live version of ‘Caroline’ wasn’t featured on ToTP at all and now I have just heard the sad news that Rick Parfitt has died today – 24th December. RIP Rick.
ReplyDeleteYazoo – The other side of love – I don’t even recall this one as it’s not really that memorable despite the enthusiastic audience in evidence here.
Musical Youth – Youth of today – Pass…..
Lionel Richie – Truly – Little did we know then that Lionel would be huge. This was no1 in the US at this point in time and it’s a nice song. The first section reminds me a lot of the Commodores hit ‘Still’ (also a US no1). I expect they were fortunate to get Lionel in the studio to perform this and the audience really do appreciate it at the end.
Ultravox – Hymn – Another George Martin production from the ‘Quartet’ album and it’s a stonking tour de force of a track. We lose a few sections of the song due to the 7” being edited, so the album and 12” version are well worth a listen. Ultravox really were making great videos then.
Culture Club – Time (clock of the heart) – I like ‘Time’ by Pink Floyd and ‘Time’ by the Alan Parsons Project, but I’ve no time for this….
Supertramp – It’s raining again- Roger Hodgson’s swansong with the band after which he upped and left, never to return, leaving the more gruffly voiced Rick Davies at the helm. Funnily enough I remember this being on ToTP mainly because of Roger’s one fleeting appearance on the bus.
Talk Talk – Talk Talk – Not a patch on ‘Today’ nor some of their later hits.
Flock of Seagulls – Wishing – Great to see the haircut again!
Eddy Grant – I don’t wanna dance – Cut a little short after the previous week’s run through to the very end. Last week at no1.
Blue Zoo – Cry boy cry – Surprised that this was still going up.
So here indeed was the start of the Lionel Richie solo catalog of hits that we would then be accustomed to for the rest of the decade. I had only just brushed off the Commodores cobwebs, and now we have Mr Richie as a solo artist. Strewth!
DeleteWith regard to Ultravox, they were more renowned for their videos than their music, with the exception of Vienna in 1981 which cemented Midge Ure's career for good, where the song was just as good as the video. This new song Hymn was probably their second best song, but not much else to write home about.
The look on that girl's face at the start next to DLT's right elbow. Cannot be unseen. A playful headlock by the Hairy Cornflake at the end was odd too.
ReplyDeleteTa again to Neil B. It used to take my PC ages (up to 15 minutes) to download 4shared programmes, but since I registered I get instantaneous programme connections.
ReplyDeleteThe forgotten hit part 1, as Yazoo gives us what sounds like a cheery, uptempo B-side. Alf clearly enjoyed herself, which is at odds with what the duo felt about this tune in months to come. I don’t think it’s appeared on any Yazoo compilations.
The forgotten hit part 2 as Musical Youth give everyone but the bassist a crack at the vocals. Unusual Highway Code baiting colours on that lollipop sign. Look at the prices of those instruments!
Lionel Richie, in the studio, Cripes! What an 80’s shirt collar! As for the tune, not one of my faves but I can hear Gilbert O’Sullivan crying from here.
Warren Cann laughing? In a Uretravox video? One of the band’s best songs in my opinion.
My fave Culture Club song, with unreal echoey vocals recorded in either a toilet or a tube station.
Supertramp’s tune includes one of my least favourite rhymes – fighter / uptighter. Yuk.
Another very emotive performance by Talk Talk’s Mark Hollis – those ears! – with an excellent ‘of its time’ track.
Excellent audience participation as DLT and the crowd all look up at that Flock of Seagulls.
I forgot to say, did DLT have a sly pop at Mark Hollis's ears by implying they'd been stuck forward with chewing gum?
ReplyDeleteA crying shame that we couldn't see this one given that everything apart from the last 2 tracks was 'new' and that DLT did a professional job with minimal 'comedy' bits.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, how is it that one presenter can be allowed back onto the BBC with extreme haste after being banged up for stalking (let alone now slagging off a deceased pop star for not being 'cool' enough) yet another that wasn't sent to prison isn't allowed on. I digress....
Yazoo - Not much love for this, and it's fairly slight in lyrical terms, but so is 'Don't Go' and everyone adores that! I must say that I think this one is unfairly forgotten.
Musical Youth - I remember even at the time struggling to discern a tune. Yet again a video in London too, come on lads, be proud of your Brummie roots!
Lionel Richie - Commits the cardinal sin of being extremely dull.
Ultravox - A great track that I know for certain only features on 'banned' shows. Any others from this edition?
Culture Club - My favourite of their singles. Beautifully produced, and I assume George is singing live since the echo machine seems to be on 11.
Supertramp - Pleasant enough pop.
Talk Talk - Ditto really, probably the weakest of their Top 40 hits but still pretty good.
sorry noax, you've got me there with the presenter allowed (unlike dlt) back on the beeb after being sent down - any more clues?
ReplyDeleteHere's a big clue: it was Andy Kershaw, who is one of those people who orders you what to like about pop culture, as per his own opinion as law, naturally. I don't mind suggestions as to taste, but his obnoxious George Michael article was extremely poorly judged. Sadly it seems there are those who cannot understand why others feel sad when a celebrity they liked died, and berate them for it. Even Keith Harris had his fans!
Deletethanks thx - i'm no particular fan of andy kershaw as a DJ, but living in a democracy i'd rather he had the right to state his own opinions and beliefs than just go along with the general sentiment or be silent for fear of disapproval and outrage. when it comes to recently-deceased musicians i am a big fan of bowie's golden years of the 70's and what it inspired (which is in effect what we are watching a lot now on these totp re-runs), and an even bigger one of the work of (the much under-rated) maurice white from the same era. but in my opinion both were creatively spent years if not decades before they died, so my reaction was one of "sorry to hear you've gone, but thanks for the memories guys" rather than get all hysterical over something that happens to all of us in the end...
DeleteYes, I was referring to Andy Kershaw who is and has always been a massive prick.
DeleteAs I have said to people, if his beloved Bhundu Boys were as world famous as George Michael, then he might have an argument. Unfortunately he's one of those music snobs who think that because something's 'pop' then its not as worthwhile as Bowie and the like. What an arse.
@Wilberforce: I agree everyone is entitled to their opinion, but there's no need to express it as spitefully as Kershaw did. There's plenty of music I don't "get", a lot of it played on these repeats, but I wouldn't start slagging off those who really did love it, it's great to be passionate about something like music, which can be as ephemeral or lasting as any entertainment, no matter what your preference.
DeleteObviously death is as inevitable for us all, celebs and civilians alike, but there's nothing wrong in mourning a singer or musician's passing if they meant something to you, it's not naff or weak or uncool, it's a normal human reaction. Kershaw and his ilk don't give that any credence, and that reflects badly on them. Nothing wrong with a little compassion, especially this year.