So anyway, here we are at March 31st 1983, the Easter bunny is about and someone's parked a funfair in the studio!
Where's Johnny Pearson's orchestra when you need them?
31/03/83 (Richard Skinner & Steve Wright)
New Order – “Blue Monday” (17)
A very brave start to the show this week with a commendable totally live performance of Blue Monday, though it also highlighted why most acts preferred to mime! The first of seven top ten hits for the band, eventually peaking at number 9 (but not until September!) and spending 38 weeks in the chart.
The Style Council – “Speak Like A Child” (4)
Their studio debut, certainly not playing live, and Speak Like A Child rose no higher.
Mari Wilson – “Cry Me A River” (30)
This cover of Julie London's number 22 hit from 1957 became Mari's second and final top 30 hit, peaking for her at number 27.
U2 – “Two Hearts Beat As One” (24)
This second single from their number one album War, peaked at number 18.
Kajagoogoo – “Ooh To Be Ah” (20)
This slightly odd song was the follow up to Too Shy, and the second of three singles from their top five album White Feathers, Ooh to be Ah peaked at number 7. And nice purple bin bag trousers sported by Limahl.
Tracey Ullman – “Breakaway” (18)
The first of three top ten hits for Tracey, Breakaway was a cover of an Irma Thomas b-side from 1964, it reached a very impressive number 4 for Miss Ullman. Richard Skinner and Steve Wright clearly enjoying her hairbrushes for microphones performance.
Duran Duran – “Is There Something I Should Know?” (1) (video)
Second and final week at number one. Then who should appear in the studio but non other than Sid Snot ~ and the Kenny Everett Television Show was on BBC1 next.
Kenny Everett – “Snot Rap” (27) (audience dancing/credits)
Kenny's only other hit was Captain Kremmen, which made number 32 in 1977, Snot Rap fared better, running all the way to number 9 with its Barry Cryer double entendres.
Today's BBC1 line up
April 7th 1983 is next.
Was that Eastenders 'duff duffers' in the middle of Kajagoogoo's latest effort?
ReplyDeleteAnyone can Ooh in Ah
That's the easy part you must keep it going
Anyone can Ooh in Ah
Over the years it has to keep growing
etc.
Poor old Dickie gets landed with another less than stellar co-host, but he does a commendable job of holding the show together while Wrighty seems to be laughing away at his own private joke for most of the show. The brief appearance at the end of Kenny Everett, the man Wrighty has spent his career trying to be, perfectly encapsulates the gulf in talent and charisma between them. Other notable general points about this show are that chart placings were included in most of the artists' name captions for the first time, and that none of the audience on that merry-go-round seemed to be having much fun, doubtless because they were forced on to it! I can only assume Michael Hurll associated Easter with funfairs as well as bunnies...
ReplyDeleteProbably one of the best known TOTP performances of all time up first, as New Order make their debut. I think the band deserve a lot of kudos for attempting a live version of this classic, and I don't think it's anywhere near as bad as people like to pretend. The thing that puzzles me is Bernard Sumner's Jacko-style whoop at one point, and his laughter later on in the song - had he detected a bum note? The Style Council then have their first studio appearance, with both Paul and Mick looking as if they have been dressed by their mums. At least Tracie adds a bit of sophistication to the band image here.
Cry Me a River is a superb old standard, and Mari Wilson does it adequate justice here in this well-staged rendition, even if she can't compete with the sensuousness of Julie London's vocals. Having said that, her cartoon beehive does undercut the serious nature of the song a bit, and this style of music was hardly where the charts were at in 1983, perhaps making it unsurprising that this was her final visit to the Top 30. U2 make another studio appearance, though I can't imagine there were many more to follow. It's an energetic performance of a song that feels a bit like a retread of New Year's Day, but it's not bad, at least until Bono bizarrely starts singing Let's Twist Again at the end. He also does his trademark thing of getting in amongst the audience, as would memorably (and embarrassingly) be showcased at Live Aid two years later.
I can only assume Limahl wore those purple trousers to distract attention from this painfully feeble, utterly unmemorable effort. It's so bad that it makes you wonder if the band would have had much of a long-term future even if they hadn't tossed Limahl overboard soon afterwards. Tracey Ullman does much better, launching her brief pop career in fine style with this highly energetic, enjoyable cover. I saw some of her new show the other day, and she does that singing into the hairbrush thing on the opening titles.
The Duran Duran video up next, all outsize sets and artful split screens, before the audience try to dance to the pretty tiresome Snot Rap. I thought Kenny was going to perform initially, but I guess it would have looked weird if he mimed Cupid Stunt in his Sid Snot get-up...
I also noticed Bono fishing off his song with "Let's Twist Again Like We Did Last Summer", which I thought was quite funny, and I couldn't quite work out the significance of this. It was made all the more interesting when he moved onto the balcony for a cuddle with one of the studio audience. Strange, as it was not as though U2 were at all big in the music industry at this point.
DeleteI got the impression Bobo was trying to do what Hendrix did on the Lulu show in 1969 where he stopped playing Hey Joe and switched to his take of sunshine Of Your Love. That was a live show as well.
DeleteElvis Costello tried a similar trick with less success on the show Alright Now where he stopped singing as the end titles ran and started shouting at the audience.
Elvis Costello also got himself banned from Saturday Night Live with an impromptu rendition of Radio Radio they hadn't discussed beforehand.
DeleteStyle Council's Tracie Young had this to say about Kajagoogoo's 'Ooh To Be Ah' in an edition of the magazine 'No.1' published in '83:
ReplyDelete"I really didn't dislike 'Too Shy' that much. But this is dreadful. Nice video, shame about the song."
In the same item, titled "Yeahs and Yucks" (referring to a performer's favourite and most disliked recordings, respectively), she also censured Haysi Fantayzee's 'Shiny Shiny' thus:
"This sounds like a bunch of drunken old hillbillies. I can just picture them sitting round the fire with their banjos and home-made elderberry wine."
However, she had high praise for Spandau Ballet, Paul Young and Squeeze.
No wonder Weller liked her so much then. She couldn't be more po-faced if she tried!
DeleteThere's nothing wrong with a bit of silly pop music....
I remember the following year our Tracie boasted that "Elvis Costello's written me a song" which was (I Love You) When You Sleep. What she didn't realise was that it wasn't really specially for her as he re-recorded it with new lyrics on his album under the title Joe Porterhouse.
DeleteWeller did a similar thing with drummer Steve White. They co-wrote a song called With Everything To Lose on TSC's Our Favourite Shop album and when Weller got the gig to do a song for the Absolute Beginner's soundtrack he ditched Steve's lyrics and re-wrote it as Have You ever Had It Blue? I bet the air was blue in Steve White's house!
i saw steve white do a drum clinic at the olympia music show, on the same visit where i saw mark brezinski doing likewise (as mentioned in a previous post). the latter won the "battle" hands down!
DeleteThe poor bloke in the Easter Bunny outfit must have been sweltering. Where was he when Bright Eyes was at number one?
ReplyDeleteNew Order up first with a rather notorious live version, it really does sound exposed in the studio and they all look embarrassed to have agreed to appear. Still, you get the gist of one of the most overplayed records known to humanity - I used to like it, but overexposure has dulled its charms.
Style Council almost determined not to dress up their light jazzy soul whatever you want to call it. You expect to see gum in Paul's mouth now, don't you? Not this time.
Hi, and welcome to Jazz Club, and here's Mari Wilson doing a nice enough live rendition of an old standard, but it's not the sort of thing you tuned in at half seven on a Thursday night to hear. Do you still get saxophones on pop records?
U2 with the song Phil Collins had a bigger it with later on, er, something like that. The audience are well into this, but I never got the appeal. How did Bongo get up there so quickly?
Kajagoogoo, where they try to make up for the lack of tune by swamping the song in the production and the results are a bit of a mess. You'd never know it from their performance, but the wheels were coming off after just one hit as the next big thing.
I'm thoroughly enjoying Tracey Ullman's sketch show at the moment (her Germaine Greer is superb) so it's nice to be reminded of her Three of a Kind days and the pop career that resulted. A cheeky cover and there's an air of "I can't believe we're getting away with this" about it that adds to the fun.
Duran Duran with a regulation 80s "pretentious, moi?" video, seriously, what was the plot supposed to be? Those stairs look murder to climb, I'll bet he can't do that now.
And then the explanation for all those leather daddies (and mummies) in the crowd, they're all dressed as Sid Snot of course. Wrighty and Dickie don't give Kenny much to work with in this interview, but he's amusing anyway.
saxophone solos on 80's pop records was a bit like itv's regular "best of 3 frames" snooker tournaments from the same decade - two classic cases of killing the goose that laid the golden eggs! i have a sax-playing chum who once told me that the final breath of a saxophone solo on a pop record before it disappeared was on that all-star charidee lou reed thing "yooooovve got to reach"... sorry, "perfect day". and that was as far back as the late 90's to my recollection...?
DeleteI'm currently watching Barry Hearn's latest 'genius' masterpiece of snooker, 1 frame shootouts with limited time per shot. Which makes that ITV concept sound brilliant.
DeleteRegarding 'Perfect Day', you are correct - the charity version was released in late 1997.
I'm afraid Weller was chewing gum on this occasion as he always did - did you know he copied the idea from Nick Lowe who did the same thing when he was in Brinsley Scwartz. He also nicked, sorry borrowed, the tune of Speak Like a Child from their 1973 organ-led song Surrender To The Rhythm - judge for yourself (note Nick Lowe's chewing gum here):
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMYc5U_jIdc
@bama: Busted! Even Nick's hair seems to have been an influence!
DeleteAlso, the most recent hit I can think of that featured an elaborate sax solo is M83's Midnight City. Checking the stats, it got to 34 here in 2011, but it did get a lot of airplay.
Brinsley Schwartz were a hairy pub band and apparently on the day they recorded that session for Whistle Test Nick Lowe had his hair cut and turned up dressed like that much to the band's surprise.
Deletethx i'll have to take your word on the above recording with a sax solo in it, as a very few honourable exceptions apart (the kings of convenience, alucidnation) my musical world is a 21st century-free zone!
DeleteOK, fair enough, I have a friend who adheres to the "modern music is rubbish" rule, and he has very good taste in oldies, so I know where you're coming from.
DeleteI like to mix it up with old and new, though, the latest M83 album was one of my favourites of 2016, and I've just been listening to Thundercat's latest effort, a great update of 70s FM smooth rock with a hip hop inflection. It's not all Ed Sheeran these days (thank the Lord).
It's a shame that this show has the following -
ReplyDelete1) Steve Wright presenting
2) The pointless funfair nonsense
3) One of the most talked about appearances ever
as these overshadow the fact that there's some good stuff on this show.
New Order - So let's start with the bit that everyone remembers. Kudos for them for trying to be proper musicians, but really this is no better than The Clash throwing a strop about NOT playing live, since 'Blue Monday' is totally unsuited to it. Their next live appearance is even worse...
Style Council - Nothing much to say, an average song.
Mari Wilson - Not much love for this here it seems, which is shame. I thought that Mari's version was awesome, with a suitable amount of reverence from the studio audience for once. It is admittedly totally out of place with everything else on the show.
U2 - Can't say I remembered this single, now I know why as it's not great.
Kajagoogoo - No love for this either? I think it's a pretty fine pop song, I especially like the 'wobbly synth' bits. Hopefully you know what I mean.
Tracey Ullman - As a kid, I loved this to bits, especially as it was on my beloved 'Chart Runners' compilation. I still like it now, while acknowledging that 'They Don't Know' is much better.
Kenny Everett - The second 7" single I ever bought! I still find it quite funny, but then I've always loved cuddly Ken.
So, what was the first single you bought, Noax? Apologies if you've already told us before.
DeleteI was repeatedly defending it only a few weeks ago to widespread indifference (!) as it was the Patrick Cowley Remix of Donna Summer's 'I Feel Love'.
Deletehosts: wrighty finally seems to have settled into doing this presenting lark to some extent, although no doubt the reassuring presence of his co-host was a factor. it's rather ironic that he gets to meet kenny everett at the end of the programme, as he completely ripped-off the latter's crazy characters/zoo format radio shows! although kenny himself of course nicked it from american jocks in the first place. that wasn't tracey ullman's "three of a kind" colleague lenry henry dressed as an easter bunny at the start?
ReplyDeletenew order: this is playing live? they might as well not have bothered given how little steve morris and gillian have to do (and the fact that the vast majority is machine-generated). at least steve could have done the syndrums at the beginning rather than spend the whole song looking like a spare prick at a wedding. mind you, he didn't look quite as uncomfortable as gillian, who really didn't know what to do in the parts where she didn't play her synth (which was about 98% of the time). and as regards her less-then-showbiz outfit: i bet even though she's now 35 years older she would rather die than have to wear that skirt again, as it's now been passed by law that such garments can only be worn along with surgical stockings and/or a walking aid!
style council: i went around to a friend's to watch the show, and as i started to fast-forward through this he said "why have you bothered coming around if you're not going to watch all of it?". afterwards i thought that watching totp's are like eating a box of chocolates: some you like better than others, but there are always a few i can never eat because they contain nuts that i'm allergic too. and the modfather is certainly the musical equivelent of nuts to me!
mari wilson: i was aware of julie london's original version of this at the time, but didn't really appreciate just how brilliant she was until much later on (when it comes to torch songs and standards, give me julie over the likes of billie holliday and ella fitzgerald any day!). and listening now i realise what a fatal error it was of mari to cover it, as she's clearly not in julie's league. the sax solo didn't add anything to the arrangement either, and apart from being a totally unsuited squealing noise i'm sure it had some bum notes in it! the whole thing reminded me of sade's soon-to-be-heard cack-handed attempts at doing cool jazz
U2: oh, why couldn't it have been the modfather who went on the deluded and megalomaniac crusade to "end world poverty" rather than bozo? then i could still listen to their decent early music (that includes this, although it isn't their best) whenever it took my fancy, rather than not do so because i think the guy's a dick?
kajagoogoo: limahl nearly took one in the face from nick beggs' bass at one point. sadly though he managed to avoid it in time. one i couldn't remember how the tune went, and hearing this again now realise why as there isn't actually one there. instead it sounds like someone's throwing up into a toilet bowl. a shame in a way, as listening to it on the telly at quite low volume it otherwise sounded like quite a decent club-style groove
i forgot to mention about "cry me a river": surely it has to be the only song in the history of popular music that has the word "plebian" in it?
DeleteI did feel that New Order's live performance was very out of place on this show, as it felt like more of a Old Grey Whistle Test performance from the 70s, and did not possess the more punchy 80s TOTP feel that JoBoxers and Tracey Ullman were exhibiting in the charts at this point.
DeleteI discovered there was an American disc jockey in the 1950s called Kenny Everett. Our Kenny may not have nicked his presenting style from him but he possibly heard the name and decided to use it (NB I know Kenny said he got the name from actor Edward Everett Horton but I don't buy that).
Deletehis given name was maurice cole, which unsurprisngly he chose not to use as a showbiz handle. michael caine (or his agent) also realised how dull amd uncharismatic the name "maurice" is, and in fact i can't think of any well-known british guys in the entertainment industry with that name...
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteMy dear uncle who passed away a few years ago in his 90s was called Maurice. Suffice to say that 'dull and uncharismatic' were not how I would describe him, but rather very much the opposite, that must have been pivotal for a long healthy life to get past 90.
DeleteMy Dad is called Maurice. But he's not in showbusiness so this isn't a particularly thrilling anecdote I'm afraid!
DeleteI can think of two well-known British Maurices. There's Mr Gibb, of course, and also Maurice Colbourne, the star of Gangsters and Howards' Way. The curious thing about him was that his real name was Roger Middleton, and he actually took his stage name from another actor called Maurice Colbourne. He obviously didn't consider Maurice to be dull and uncharismatic as a name...
DeletedDon't forget the lyrics of Steve Miller Band's The Joker:
Delete"Some people call me the space cowboy yeah, Some call me the gangster of love, Some people call me Maurice, Cause' I speak of the pompitous of love".
Does that make it a cool name or not?
Are we forgetting that old smoothie Maurice Chevalier? The French pronunciation makes all the difference.
Deletethx i did say british guys called maurice! the americans also pronounce the name the french way that gives it a bit more pizazz, hence maur-EESE white of earth, wind an fire. the same applies to the equally proasic forename bernard, which in american pronounciation becomes ber-NARD which sounds much cooler (think bernard edwards of chic)
DeleteHmm... OK, do Morris Minor and the Majors count?
Deletethx you've reminded me that someone i know was recently going on about that excellent 80's comedy "brass" (that sadly unlike "porridge" et al i don't think ever gets shown on the telly nowadays). anyway, couple of characters in it were brothers called austin and morris (ho ho)
DeleteEarth Wind & Fire were fronted by Maurice White, the well recognised lead singer on Boogie Wonderland who sadly left us a couple of years ago or so.
Deleteerr dory i've already mentioned that about two entries above...
DeleteOh yes, it was early morning bleary eye
DeleteYou can't have too much EWF.
DeleteWhat about Maurice Micklewhite AKA Michael Caine? He sang (well spoke) on the Madness hit of the same name.
bama, if you fink that michael caine hasn't already been mentioned above... then you're BLEEDIN' WELL JOKING!!!!
Deletei agree though that you can't have too much earth, wind & fire. their music broke through race and other barriers to gain a massive respect from a global audience. and as their mastermind, maurice white was a phenomenal talent. and yet his passing a year or so back went almost unnoticed compared to a certain white rock star who had died a few weeks earlier...
part ii...
ReplyDeletetracey ullman: now like then i find myself asking: is this supposed to be funny or serious? it falls between two stools as there's nothing deliberately parodic in either the music or the lyrics (i didn't know it was actually a cover at the time, but i've never cared for that early 60's pop/soul sound), and yet she wants to make us fall about laughing with her "hairbrush as microphone" routine. which was about as redundant when the song was played on the radio (where people would have heard it most often) as that ventriloquist's dummy that was mentioned a few shows back! what really bemused me was that she actually went on to have a couple more hits in a similar vein...
duran: simon's hair is brilliant, as he has still yet to fall into the mullet trap that has ensnared john taylor completely and nick rhodes to some extent. although he'll never quite match the classic quiff of roger taylor, who knows his hair is so brilliant that he doesn't need to mess about with silly-looking contemporary hairtstyles! but i'm surprised the others didn't demand a bit more video time, as without any instruments to mime on they hardly get a look-in. maybe they should have played the guys in bowler hats or something? at one point one of them is standing with his back to the camera, and rather unfortunately it looks like he's taking a piss!
has anyone noticed the last programme in the bbc1 schedule above called "10 miilion people"? it reports on the fact that 20% of the nation was over 60 - something seen as a "dramatic shift" at the time. of course that percentage now probably relates to those at least 70 years old, if not considerably more than that!
ReplyDeletei have heard it said that the reason so many people born in the earlier part of the last century managed to live so long was down to "hitler's diet" i.e. having to live on rations (where food was not only scarce but was pretty basic too, so actually quite healthy) for many years thanks to the second world war! as such it wouldn't surprise me if the "never had it so good" generation and those that have followed don't last anywhere near as long, thanks to all the mass-produced hydrogenated fat-filled crap that has been the staple diet of most of them!
Yes, but if you take into account the abundance of medicines that we have nowadays, that they did not have in those days, people can live till 90 now on "bad diet-plus-medicines", like the war generation have done on rations with "good diet-plus-no medicines". I even recently heard a few months ago a diabetic saying that he still enjoys sugary foods and desserts, because his tablets are working for him!
DeleteThere was something a bit shambolic about this whole show: Steve Wright appearing incapable of delivering a line correctly, the bloke dressed as the Easter bunny but still trying to dance funkily, the roundabout that got in the way of the bands, New Order demonstrating the limitations of live synth-based music, Bono trying to be wacky, Kenny Everett turning up and then failing to mime to his hit...
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, the most enjoyable bit of the whole show, for me, was Tracey Ullman and her pals and their energetic miming of 'Breakaway' into their hairbrushes. While all around them were trying to be clever (Duran's oh-so-80s video) and sophisticated (Mari Wilson and her lone sax player), Tracey and co. embodied the simple joy of pop music.
Suffice to say that Duran Duran got to No.1 here in exactly two years of trying, when they burst on the scene in March 1981 with Planet Earth. They had to do something out of the ordinary, as they could have just wilted away like Altered Images did in this month of March 1983, also two years on the scene, but with no No.1 to show for it.
DeleteThe parallel careers of these two bands in this week's top ten could have been no more contrasting at the two-year turning point of each of them. As one elevated upwards, the other fell away into history.
Some great songs in this episode but it was a shed of a show. Skinner and Wright were shambolic. They should have let Kenny present the show instead. Old Grant Santino was dancing through gritted teeth at end.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I'm not the only person to recognise the former disco dance champion Grant Santino.
Deletewondering what the cut-off point of fame on wiki is, i had to check out if "disco dancing world champion" grant santino was there or not. perhaps not surprisingly it's the latter
DeleteSome good songs on this show including classic Duran Duran, Tracy Ullman & Style Council.
ReplyDeleteGood to hear we are getting 1984 this year as well, but not surprised they are still going to ditch the DLT ones. I suspect this now has more to do with them able to get 2 years worth of shows in one real year if they drop DLT and Smith hosted shows than anything else.
That could well be a factor - if they do '85 and '86 next year, Mike Smith crops up so frequently as a host that we will lose roughly the same number of shows as this year.
DeleteI did say from the beginning when they started to ditch the DLT episodes, that I felt it was more because they wanted to get through the shows more quickly, and later to get two years into one. Around the time that they pulled the DLT shows, it was when they announced the closure of BBC3, and there was no knowing how long BBC4 would survive with further possible cutbacks, so it was more to do with this than the accusations against DLT. The Mike Smith thing just played further into their hands for where they wanted to go with these repeats with regard to timelines. etc, as these repeats would otherwise continue for another 15 years or so, when the world may be a totally different place!
Deleteangelo, how do you know that beeb will not be broadcasting any more editions of shows hosted by dlt? have they made some kind of offical statement to that effect? and if so, have they given an explanation as to why not? i would really like to know their "reasoning" for this - however absurd i may find it to be!
ReplyDeleteWhat I find odd is two popular BBC presenters were sacked after being accused of doing worse things than DLT was charged with, but it was all hushed up and they are both still working on the BBC. The Beeb and the Crown Prosecution Service needed a 1970s DJ to use a scapegoat and DLT was it. I think he's being treated disgracefully.
DeleteWell we’re back to two shows a week – booh! Mr Wright appears here sans glasses and they’ve hired all the fun of the fair too in order to liven things up.
ReplyDeleteNew Order – Blue Monday – You couldn’t get a livelier start than this! Totally deadpan and must have been bewildering for the audience to actually hear something performed live. Even if the band weren’t too proud of it, I think it’s not a bad effort considering it can’t be the easiest of songs to reproduce live.
Style Council – Speak like ‘A’ Child – Paul’s jumper looks really snazzy!
Mari Wilson – Cry me a River – A little dull for me and the beehive is totally anachronistic with the song which John G points out as well.
U2 – Two hearts beat as one – Like Noax, I don’t remember this and not too keen on it either. Now hang on as THX notes; “Two hearts, believing in just one mind….” Er no, not quite.
Kajagoogoo – Ooh to be ah – Not one you hear very often these days and guess why, its dreadful… Limahl looks like he’s enjoying it though.
Tracey Ullman – Breakaway – Wow what a fast tempo! Out of breath listening to this and watching Tracey and her pals gyrating in the miniskirts! Presumably Tracey wasn’t planning to give her fella the (hair) brush off?!
Duran Duran – Is there something I should know – The famous video that I’ve seen a million times, but what does it mean?!
Kenny Everett – Snot Rap – Is this Kenny’s first appearance on the show since the one that he hosted that still exists where the Simon Park Orchestra were number one in 1973? Not too struck on ‘Snot Rap’ mind you.
So in summary, not a great episode for me, and yes, not surprised that we won't be seeing the Hairy Cornflake on BBC4.
From memory Kenny was on video (of sorts) when he hit the chart with Captain Kremmen in 1978 and made a brief appearance around the time he re-joined the BBC.
Deletei'm sure kenny did pop up as a non-performing "guest" at the end of one show a while back in these re-runs. and as in this appearance, it was quite clear that his humour was of the scripted rather than the ad-libbed variety!
DeleteHe did turn up at the end of a show in early 82 (I think) to plug his TV show which was on directly after the Pops.
DeleteYes, it was the Bates-hosted show from 11/3/82 on which Kenny appeared.
DeleteI'm really enjoying this current crop of shows more than any for some time. 1983 was a good year for me and seeing these shows again is bringing back a lot of happy memories, even the ones presented by my least fave presenters - Slimey and Steve ("a great face for radio") Wright.
ReplyDeleteA bit cheeky to say that New Order were playing live when a lot of it was clearly already recorded and there were a few bum notes. I remember seeing this at the time and while this is a brilliant track Gillian makes it obvious she doesn't have much to do especially at the end when she looks bored to death. Get a grip love, this is your big break!
There was of course a fourth member of The Style Council in the shape of drummer Zeke Manyika also the drummer in Orange Juice and The The (who I don't think we'll see on the show for several years yet) who is strangely absent here. While the band (ie Mick) are not playing live Weller and Tracie are singing live and doing a good job. I noticed the two people dancing in the background are asked to leave the stage after the first verse, a shame as I was enjoying cardigan boy's bad dancing. The flipside of this single was called Party Chambers and is equally good. Neither track appeared on any official Style Council album, in fact they wouldn't release an album until the next year.
Mari Wilsin returns at last with her cover of the Julie London classic ballad making it sound not so classic. A brave choice but this live delivery sadly highlights the limits of her vocal ability and is lacking the humour that made her big hit so much fun. Still a brave choice for a single. The crowd look bit bored and deflated..
U2. Strange to see Bobo sans shades and The Edge sans hat but with hair. I see the cameraman mows down the crowd at one point which is a return to the past shows. I like Bobo's presumably unplanned gantry invasion at the end and his additional Lets Twist Again vocals and his admission that he doesn't know the words.
While I quite liked too Shy I thought Oo to Be Ah was just a bit stupid. What in God's name does "Ooh to be a tu tu" actually mean? Answers on a PVC mini skirt. And Limahl, a jet-setter?! Hardly dear when you're dressed in rhubarb and custard while the bass player appears to be draped in a table cloth.
Tracy Ullman was great fun and even though she was really pretending to be a pop star here she does a superb job. I bet Mari Wilson was pissed off with her for stealing her sixties kitsch revivialist crown. This was of course a cover of an obscure Irma Thomas song which is a worthy hit. Even better was to come with her cover of Kirsty Macoll's They Don't Know where Tracy simply sung a new vocal over the Kirsty's original backing track.
The Top Ten and then the Durannies on video which has some funny moments in it despite its pomposity, the kid with orange football bit reminds me of the video for The Human League's Keep Feeling Facination which I guess we'll be seeing soon
Nice to see Kenny Everett but I bet he wanted to punch Steve Wright hard for stealing his act. And I bet those dancers in bikers caps and leather suddenly felt a bit stupid seeing as Kenny dressed as Sid Snot was similarly attired. I like the line about circumcision.
It's a wrap!
Bama - have a look at the 45cat entry for Tracey's 'They don't know'. The comments makes interesting reading...
Deletehttp://www.45cat.com/record/buy180
Thanks sc353, I wasn't aware of that. I liked both Kirsty and Tracy's versions of all the songs recorded but at the time I did think it was unfair that Tracy got all the glory and the hits while Kirsty was reduced to doing the backing vocals (not that the word "Baby" in They Don't Know is a backing vocal as such but presumably they thought it sounded better when Kirsty sung it.
DeleteAh yes, the (in)famous live rendition of Blue Monday. I didn't see it at the time (can't remember what I was doing) but my sister did - and she wasn't impressed! But, unlike the good old days with three guitars and a drum kit, it was a difficult thing to pull off live so credit where it's due.
ReplyDeletedoes anyone else remember that all-day music event that was on the bbc in 1984? new order had an "in the studio" half-hour spot (some of it completely live, some of it with backing tracks a la "blue monday") that was memorable for two things: the band dressed as if they were going to the beach, and bernard sumner keeping on urging steve morris to "speed it up" - alledgedly barney was actually off his head on speed that day, which was the reason for his constant interjections!:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tq7cCFCLLYA
Why the merry-go-round in the studio? They should have added to the funfair theme with Steve Wright impersonating a coconut shy.
ReplyDeleteA real WTF performance by the sometimes statuesque New Order. A+ for having the balls to do the song ‘live’, B- for the end result.
Paul Weller’s hair looked like a poor Star Wars wig from a joke shop. I thought Tracie actually looked cool in an effortless way. Mick looked, well, like Mick.
If only Wrighty had followed Paul Weller’s stupid title phrasing by calling Mari Wilson’s song “Cry Me AYYYY River”. Never mind the sax, where was the piano? The audience obviously didn’t think “Mmmm, niiiice”. They looked bored senseless.
Bono was too far forward on that stage. I bet The Edge was thinking “I want my hat back”.
Limahl’s trousers reminded me it’s bin day tomorrow. That’s what this trash needs to be put in.
Superb punk speed 60’s girl soul from Tracey and her mates who looked familiar to me. They were all singing into hairbrushes (but dressed occasionally as schoolgirls) in the video for the song.
Here come Duran Duran with their arty farty video. Yawn. Followed by a comical manic and his cheap facsimile, and a rap song so poor the audience can only muster halfhearted frugging.
All the fun of the fair? The trouble with most of these songs was I wanted to dodge ‘em. Dodgem, geddit? Harrumph.
here's one more recollection on new order, just in case they don't appear on the show again before my intended cut-off point at the end of 1984 (that's only 10 months away now!):
ReplyDeletei liked all their early singles when i heard them on the radio (usually on the early evening shows hosted by the likes of kid jensen and richard skinner, as none of them managed to break into the top 30) and was pleased when i had an opportunity to borrow them off someone. unfortunately though i had no means to copy directly from vinyl to cassette, so had to stick the speakers of my very old and cheap fidelity-style hi-fi up against those of my cassette recorder. so the sound was somewhat tinny to put it mildly. but despite that i remember listening to "procession" (which was a very appropriate soundtrack for my circumstances of the time i.e. living in a bedsit on the dole) over and over again...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7ESIclwccg
Two points here....
Delete1) We get a repeat of the "Blue Monday" live effort plus a couple of outro turns, and one appearance in 1984, none of which are contraband.
2) I hope when it gets nearer the time you change your mind and stay with us.
thanks arthur, i'll have to see how i feel when the times comes. as i've said before, the watershed moment for me was pop stars taking it upon themselves to record massed singalongs in support for charidees. which meant the music itself was no longer the primary motivation, and as a result something was lost. that's not to say all music was rubbish from that point on, but there was a lot more bad than good (certainly as far as the charts were concerned) to come afterwards - as this album (that i remember someone showing me back in the late 90's, and practically recoiling in horror in response!) amply demonstrates:
Deletehttps://www.discogs.com/release/385510
there are a a few honorable exceptions (bryan ferry, princess and go west - yes, i'm serious about the latter!), but one of the main culprits with regard to the demise of pop music is definitely wrong by claiming "things can only get better"!
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ReplyDeleteTotp 14 april 1983 with JK segment is here (thanks to Neil) https://we.tl/2z7fAR1AtI
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