What? They still won't show DLT?
24/02/83 (Andy Peebles & Dave Lee Travis)
Spandau Ballet – “Communication” (24)
Tony looking very smart in his suit, Communication peaked at number 12.
Michael Jackson – “Billie Jean” (2) (video)
Andy Peebles gets it right, this will be next week's number one.
Thompson Twins – “Love On Your Side” (12)
Went up three more places.
Toto – “Africa” (3) (video)
Now at its peak.
Phil Everly & Cliff Richard – “She Means Nothing To Me” (29)
A rare outing for Zoo here treating us to some leotard acrobatics. The song peaked at number 9.
Eurythmics – “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)” (21)
Its three years since we last saw Annie and Dave, and now the Tourists have been replaced by the Eurythmics, performing this classic song that peaked at number 2.
Bonnie Tyler – “Total Eclipse Of The Heart” (14)
Andy Peebles gets it right again, here's the song that would deny the Eurythmics the number one spot, and our first sighting of Bonnie in four years. It probably took her all that time to squeeze into those leather trousers!
Kajagoogoo – “Too Shy” (1) (video)
Final week at number one.
Depeche Mode – “Get The Balance Right” (22) (audience dancing/credits)
Peaked at 13.
Back to BBC4 next then for March 3rd 1983.
DLT is back! And with a cold on this show, I mean, Good Lord, you could hear it more so on the chart rundown.
ReplyDeleteSpandau Ballet - did anyone notice the embarrassment for Tony Hadley at the start of his lines, when the guitarist walked backwards into him, and Hadley had to swerve out of the way, in order to start singing, and all this embarrassment in front of the TV camera. I'm very surprised that the show did not ask them to start again and re-take the song from the beginning.Very poor showing by the guitarist and I'm sure that Hadley gave him a right bollocking after the performance.
The Thompson Twins - superb drumming piece by the female 'Twin' just before the end of the song.
Toto - this video reminds me of a similar video that Tears For Fears made a couple of years later in 1985 for Head Over Heels, where Roland as a customer/user of the library fancied the female librarian, and was trying to win her heart. I wonder if Tears got the library idea from the Toto video for Africa in this week's chart, as the library scenes are similar, but hey, Toto were first with that idea boys!
Anyway, here's the Tears For Fears video in 1985, so what do you think?:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsHiG-43Fzg
Phil Everly & Cliff Richard - indeed Angelo, it is a rare Zoo performance, and the first time back for them since December 1982, but I felt that this song should have gone to the end-credits with studio audience dancing to the this odd pair, instead of Depeche Mode on end-credits, so that Depeche Mode could have had a second visit to the studio, especially as Phil & Cliff had no video for their song, and then if put on the end-credits we would not have needed Zoo to come back for just one appearance. Seems a waste really, and unfair to Depeche Mode who should have got a second visit. Hmm! Anyway Cliff seemed to be trying to drag Phil Everly into the 80s style of music, while Everly was trying to stay 1950's. Seems that Cliff won the tug of war here.
Chart rundown (with DLT's heavy cold) - at No.27 and still going up, Thin Lizzy never got this song played on TOTP in any form while in the charts, and like Prince at No.26 with the same fate with 1999, it's a pity really that these two got the short straw, but Prince certainly arrived at last with the British public the following year with When Doves Cry.
The Eurythmics - another group not seen in the charts for three years (thanks for mentioning that, Angelo), and arriving all at once like the buses with Fleetwood Mac, Toto, and this week Bonnie Tyler too, so I make it four groups from the 70s who were 80s-shy at start of the decade, but just had to muck in with everyone else.
Just before Bonnie Tyler, DLT introduces studio audience member Ellen having just turned 21, and same age as Wilberforce, Arthur Nibble and Shakey Shakerson, with those three not getting on the show, but only the lovely Ellen of course, haha!
Bonnie Tyler - this was a Jim Steinman song, written for her while he was on a spat with Meat Loaf in early 1983, with Meat having personal and financial problems at this time, and not charting in the UK since Deadringer For Love a whole year earlier at the start of 1982, and so Jim found Bonnie for this one, and did much better by getting to No.1
Top Ten rundown - a very unlucky Cocker & Warnes not to get a third showing while still stuck at No.7 this week and not tumbling yet, but it seemed to be asking a lot for TOTP to show three American videos all in the top ten when they were playing the Michael Jackson and Toto videos at No.2 and No.3 this week.
Kajagoogoo - the first showing of the video this week, and in it recreating the TOTP studio feel, with their own studio audience in the video. I like much more the studio audience in the Kajagoogoo video than the TOTP studio audience this week.
So this week showed the whole top three in the chart as videos, that must be a first on TOTP unless anyone knows if it happened before??
It's possible Depeche Mode weren't available for a studio appearance that week, but there is a video for this song which could have been played (assuming it was available at this point). Meat Loaf has subsequently claimed Steinman wrote Total Eclipse for him before they fell out, but both Steinman and Bonnie insist that it was written for her.
DeleteI have seen that Tears for Fears video before, but it's another one that perpetuates those librarian stereotypes!
DeleteThe Yewtree'd Cornflake makes his first appearance in this run of twin-handers, acompanied by Andy Peebles- with his face that was definitely made for radio. A fairly complimentary pairing this one, a bit of interchange and 'comedy' between them and neither trying to upstage the other.
ReplyDeleteFirst up, its Spandau Ballet in their Woody From Toy Story phase, and they are definitely heading down the middle of the road route that will lead ultimately to 'True'. Hard to believe that this was written by the same hand that wrote Chant Number 1 and Musclebound.
Jacko and Toto on vid and TinTin's mates back in the studio offer no scope for comment before it's the return of Cliff, half of The Everleys, and Zoo. The song is so-so, and sounds like it was originally written for Cliff alone. Zoo are all-female tonight, but they still aren't Legs are they?
The-Band-Formerly-Known-As-The-Tourists step up next. Ok - cards on the table, I dislike this lot, and this song is one of the reasons. I wish I could tell you why it grinds my gears, and do so in such an elegant and mind-blowing way that you think; 'Blimey, Shakey's right, this IS utter garbage'. But I can't. It just does. Oh, and was anyone else reminded of Max Headroom when first gazing at St Annie, here?
Poperatic Bombast alert!. Here comes Bonnie with the really quite wonderful Total Eclipse ( and it's wonderful not just for keeping the Eurythmics off the top spot). You can't really imagine any other female having the Benson & Hedges- soaked lungs to carry this off, can you? The performance is a little wayward especially as I was looking forward to the brilliant video. By the way, if you haven't come across it, can I recommend you go on YouTube and search out something called 'Literal Videos' and the literal video of this. It is a work of comic genius. 'Mullet with headlights' indeed.
Scores. A 'meh' show. 6 for the presenters who did nothing too much wrong, but didn't exactly set the show on fire either. The music gets 5 with Bonnie being the apex and The Eurythmics being a very nadir-ish nadir.
Happy 21st birthday to me.
Indeed Shakey, Legs & Co were also not convinced by Zoo at this point, as they returned on the ITV Breakfast show three months later, looking for a new name and outlet for their skills. Sue Mehenik and her lovelies here tells us here how they are still plodding on as Legs & Co in 1983, despite their replacement by Zoo:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eq_cwZq4qP4
A highly enjoyable show, and in my view the best of the year so far. DLT and Andy Peebles, the latter now looking markedly different from when we first saw him on the show, make for a surprisingly good partnership, appearing at ease in each other's company and both very slick on the chart rundown. Although the general consensus was that Peebles made a hash of his sole previous attempt at hosting a regular show, back in 1979, I didn't think he was too bad then and he did a good job here - perhaps having DLT at his side made him feel more relaxed? I do hope his specs didn't get damaged in that link into the number 1, though...
ReplyDeleteSpandau get their most successful year underway with this bright and breezy effort. They were now unashamedly embracing a mainstream sound, with an increasingly slick image to match, but the song is certainly not unlikeable. The Thompson Twins return for a new performance in between two repeated videos, but don't really add anything to their first appearance. It's noticeable that Tom never actually wears those fancy glasses around his neck - an affectation, I assume? Zoo then turn up officially for the first time in 1983, and they have a cracker of a tune to dance to in the shape of this excellent, bouncy pop-rock collaboration between Cliff and Phil Everly, who were both celebrating 25 years of hit-making around this time. The success of the song foreshadowed the reunion of The Everly Brothers later that year after a decade apart, and to my mind it is perhaps the last really good single that Cliff ever put out. A shame then that Zoo don't do it justice, once again behaving more like acrobats than dancers - cartwheels are all very well, but how about some proper choreography?
Another treat next, as Annie and Dave appear on TOTP for the first time in their Eurythmics guise. They had struggled since the demise of The Tourists, their first album as a duo flopping, as did their first few singles, but they deservedly hit paydirt with this synthpop classic. This performance is interesting, as for me Eddi Reader, still some five years away from enjoying success in her own right, completely upstages the androgynous Annie, thanks to her intense sultry look and sparkly gold dress.
Great tune follows great tune, as Bonnie returns to the show after a similarly long absence to belt out her impossibly dramatic signature song. I think Total Eclipse is probably the finest tune Jim Steinman ever wrote, and it still sends a chill up my spine today. It must also be the first song I can clearly remember from watching TOTP, though it is the video rather than this studio turn that I have retained in my memory. This is a good performance anyway, with Bonnie resplendent in red leather. The "turn around" vocal part was sung on the record by a Canadian guy called Rory Dodd, but I have no idea if that is actually him in the studio.
Kajagoogoo end their reign at the top with a pretty decent video - I like the way it moves from them performing incongruously in front of a wartime audience to a contemporary one. The show then concludes on a bit of a downbeat note, Get the Balance Right not really being suitable as a closer - I agree with Dory that they should have ended with Phil & Cliff instead.
Do you remember Steinman's song "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" which was a massive number one for Celine Dion in 1996? The song was first given to Pandoras Box in 1989, then Celine Dion in 1996, and finally to Meat Loaf in 2006 for his Bat Out Of Hell III album, where Meat Loaf claimed the song was first given to him as early as 1986, but Steinman won a court judgement to prevent Meat Loaf recording it in 1986, and eventually gave it to him 20 years later in 2006, well after Celine Dion had succeeded handsomely with it in between in 1996.
DeleteWith regard to Total Eclipse of The Heart, there was a similar story here, in that Meat loaf claimed that that Steinman wrote the song for him, but the record company refused to pay Steinman, and Bonnie Tyler claimed that Meat Loaf was very annoyed that Steinman gave the song to her instead.
Bonnie Tyler with her manager approached Steinman directly to be her producer after seeing Meat Loaf performing the song Bat Out Of Hell on The Old Grey Whistle Test, and then both went to visit Steinman in his apartment in New York in 1982, and it all started from there.
There is a rare interview and performance of Total Eclipse here showing Bonnie Tyler and Jim Steinman appearing together, with both of them explaining Tyler's comeback in 1983 and Steinman's involvement:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qG3KDZXtS-s
It seemed that everything Steinman did turned to gold and achieved three big no.1's in the UK with three different singers (which Meat Loaf claimed all three songs were originally intended for him):
1983 - Total Eclipse Of The Heart - Bonnie Tyler
1993 - I would Do Anything For Love - Meat Loaf
1996 - It's All Coming Back To Me Now - Celine Dion
I do remember It's All Coming Back to Me Now, but I can't stand Celine Dion and her abrasive voice!
DeleteLet's not forget another fabulous Steinman composition - 'Making love out of nothing at all' recorded by Air Supply.
DeleteGood lord, was that one Steinman's song too? He certainly gets around.
Deletehosts: i never thought the day would come where the hairy monster's dubious facial hair would be "outshone" by somebody elses, but mr peebles manages that with what is almost a fu manchu special. they seem fairly relaxed in each other's company, and i'm guessing that as they both had manchester connections they weren't exactly strangers to each other. credit goes to the hairier one (or whoever scripted the chart countdown) for telling us "still at number 4, there's no change for "change""
ReplyDeletespandau: they all look as if they're really enjoying themselves, and i suppose this is sort-of dance/club friendly. but the fact is it simply leaves me utterly unmoved
thompson twins: another studio appearance, but tom's shirt apart it's almost exactly the same as last time. seemingly it never occured to some acts to take the opportunity to vary the visual aspect a bit if they got invited back on the show
cliff/phil everly: the latter had been estranged from brother don for about a decade by this time, but presumably he still wasn't at the point of mending bridges? or maybe he used cliff as a stalking horse to say to don "look, you can do better than that if we get back together again"! another odd couple indeed, but the good news is that cliff doesn't sound very cliff-like
eurythmics: an iconic debut appearance from annie and dave, rising like a phoenix from the ashes of new wavers-lite the tourists with their shiny new sound and vision for the 80's (even if the latter can't quite bring himself to lose the face fuzz). i've mentioned this before, but apart from the dynamic duo themselves the others performing here were involved with chart-topping hits in some way: eddi reader with fairground attraction, mickey gallagher with ian d(r)ury & the blockheads and clem burke with blondie. i actually preferred "love is a stranger" (the first single released from their second album) that unfortunately flopped initially, before getting a second chance in the wake of "sweet dreams'" success. but i've heard this so often now it goes into the "bohemian rhapsody" category of never actually going out of my way to listen to it, but always finding it okay to do so whenever it (regularly) crops up
bonnie tyler: oh no, the hawk-faced broken glass-gargler is back. i'm guessing that dory will be lapping this up (at least musically anyway as i wouldn't have thought he'd have ms tyler down as much of a "cutie", despite her leather trousers), but it's sheer anathema to me!
Ah but Wilberforce, I'm lapping it up for a different reason, i.e., for the Meat Loaf link with Jim Steinman who wrote the song for Bonnie. The red leather trousers were just a sideshow.
DeleteHere's a Thursday morning alternative rare clip for you over a cup of tea, with a more classically dressed Bonnie doing this song!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qG3KDZXtS-s
Slight aside, but I am really looking forward to seeing Bat Out Of Hell The Musical next week in Manchester :-)
DeleteThe London West End musical of Bat Out Of Hell comes out in June, so we have to wait a bit longer here in the South.
DeleteSeeing this for the second time in my life as it was one of the episodes my flat mate recorded whilst I was in the States.
ReplyDeleteTotal Eclipse hit number one in the States as well, mostly driven by the video on MTV.
Ver Spands looking smugger than smug here, if they were made of chocolate they would eat themselves. As for the song, they were well into their slick pop phase, but it's not too offensive.
ReplyDeleteThompson Twins, more of the same from the trio, with the added tension of whether Tom was going to put on his Larry Grayson specs or not.
Phil and Cliff with a really rather decent pop ditty, though I always felt the melody leading up to the chorus was stronger than the actual chorus itself. As for the dancing, time for Peelie to do his tumblers joke again.
The Eurythmics' Sweet Dreams was voted best single of the 1980s by listeners to Annie Nightingale's Request Show. I don't know if it's quite that good, and I too have heard it too many times, but it is an iconic tune, to use that overused word. Annie's dancing was a little too Chas 'n' Dave Cockney knees-up.
BONNIE TYLER in one of the loudest power ballads of the decade, and that's saying something. Another 80s icon, as much for the video which we'll be seeing soon, and it is impressive for how far over the top it goes.
Don't recall Kajagoogoo's Too Shy video, but it's sort of OK, if not too memorable with the anachronistic beginning leading to basic 80s grooving and a barmaid wandering about like a fart in a trance.
Was Andy Peebles ever paired with Steve Wright? After all the insults Wrighty fired off at Andy's looks I wonder if there was any love lost between them?!
I thought that Peebles and DLT worked well as a pairing, almost like Laurel & Hardy who first paired up in 1926 by accident, as all the good stories go.
DeleteJust checked Popscene, and they do present the 28/6/84 show together, so we should see that later this year.
DeleteIn actual fact, they present three shows together during '84.
DeleteI guess what you mean is that we'll be seeing them on these blog links from our contributors uploading the shows, as I cannot imagine BBC4 showing DLT this year (hope I'm wrong though!)
Delete@Dory: I think John means Wright and Peebles together, not DLT and Peebles.
DeleteOh, and legendary comedy director Leo McCarey (Duck Soup) brought Laurel and Hardy together, no accident, he knew what he was doing.
Yes, I got my facts slightly wrong with regard to L&H. They met by accident in the same film called Lucky Dog in 1918, but were then first paired up as an official pairing in 1926 by McCarey with Duck Soup which was a lost film for nearly 50 years until a print was found in 1974. The rest is history.
DeleteI'm pleased to say that I have the entire Laurel & Hardy movie collection on DVD, with the only 'lost' film remaining being Hats Off from 1927, and would be worth a fortune and would make someone a millionaire overnight if found, but is quite unlikely as it would have probably disintegrated by now after 90 years!
THX, as a Scot yourself, have seen their movie called Bonnie Scotland (1936)? It is hilarious even for this scene alone:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsOt384btKo
I remember ITV showing this film in the early 80's when we had only 4 channels and no satellite TV then, and the film went down a treat with us at home. Och aay the nue!
Just to confirm, I did mean Wright and Peebles - Dory snuck in with his post while I was writing mine, otherwise I would have made it clear to whom I was referring!
Delete@Dory, yes, I've seen all of L&H's feature films. Haven't seen Bonnie Scotland in decades, though (Stan had a Scottish connection). It's better than Max Miller's Hoots Mon, at least.
Deletethx you've reminded me that my dear departed grandmother always used to refer to people from your neck of the woods as "scotch" in complete ignorance and without the slightest idea it might offend them! of course i never had the heart to put her right...
DeleteIt might offend some of my countrymen but personally I don't think it's the end of the world if the nationality gets mixed up with the tipple.
DeleteHello Angelo & fellow pop pickers.
ReplyDeleteI follow your blog religiously and I've commented once or twice.
My normal blogging is on Digital Spy, and I thought I'd make you all aware of an open letter/petition being sent to the BBC for the re-instation of DLT's Yewtreed episodes on the BBC either on TV or for additional purchase at the BBC Store.
Whether the Beeb take any notice remains to be seen, but there's some convincing arguments contained within and I just thought you should be made aware of it in case you wanted to add your support.
The link is at:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdHVfLJ5ceUSMTpuFPf3sPObWasUd58h0oK0IbdVrEG196hFw/viewform
I'll be sure to take a look at that, thanks for letting us know, and best of luck with it :-)
DeleteThere's not that many episodes with DLT Left to show, as he only goes up to 1984 on TOTP I think, so is this all too late I wonder?
DeleteIts never too late, Dory :-)
DeleteWhile I am sympathetic towards this petition, and think the continued ban on DLT is ludicrous, realistically BBC4 are not going to change their position now. DLT stopped hosting the show after October 1984, and we will gone past that point by the end of this year, so I see little hope of them budging. I remain marginally more optimistic that something could be done to resolve the equally stupid Mike Smith situation, but I'm not holding my breath...
DeleteThis year is really a golden age of music in my opinion. Some absolute belters in this episode. Peebles' tash was dodgy as and I hope his glasses were not damaged by DLT's horseplay.
ReplyDeleteThe thing I liked most about this particular show of 24th Feb 83' is that it was the day after my 15th birthday, and I was chuffed that TOTP played the top three in that chart as videos, and this could have been a first, as even in 1982, not all performers were making videos yet. I think by 1983, about 90% were, except if you were Phil Everley & Cliff Richard on a duet this week!
DeleteThanks for letting us see this one Gia. Musically there wasn't much of interest for me that we hadn't already seen, but it was a great chance to see the lesser spotted Peebles.
ReplyDeleteActually, he and DLT did a great job with very little 'looniness' (link into No.1 excepted) and an excellent job on the chart rundown sections. Peebles also made 2 correct No.1 predictions! (Though I guess most people could've guessed that 'Billie Jean' would make it....)
The new stuff then -
Spandau Ballet - A middling one of theirs, I don't mind it but it's not up with the very best. Plus Gary Kemp is at his most smackable once more.
Everly / Richard - Blimey, Zoo are back! I know it's cheesy as hell and not in any way cool but let me say that I really like this song. Even as a kid I thought it was a top pop tune.
Eurythmics - Hmmm...I've never really got the love for this. I don't hate it but I find it probably their least interesting single.
Bonnie Tyler - God, this is even worse. I think I liked it at the time but now it's just a tedious, overplayed housewife classic.
Thanks for this edition, Gia.
ReplyDeleteDave and Andy made a good combo. Andy gave us the most astute forecasting yet, while DLT couldn’t resist giving yet another girl a friendly peck on the cheek.
Tony Hadley looked like he laughed off Martin Kemp’s early faux pas. Why, though, were they dressed as Colonel Sanders and the wild west Bay City Rollers?
Was that a bungee rope attached to the back of the multi-talented Alannah Currie’s jacket? Apart from Tom Bailey changing his fringe, not much added to or taken away from their last outing for this song.
A pointless return for Zoo, with meaningless acrobatics adding nothing at all to Phil and Cliff’s effort.
I could never warm to Annie Lennox, but I thought Eurythmics’ tune was class. An all-star line-up featuring Eddi Reader not wearing glasses and a fine turn by Blondie’s Clem Burke.
Bonnie Tyler’s power ballad was nothing like as powerful as her outfit. My my!
Weird to see Kajagoogoo’s none more 80’s music matched to a wartime dance setting. I found that jarring, but not as jarring as the song.
This edition sticks in the mind for me for two words – ‘red’ and ‘leather’! Unforgettable performance.
ReplyDeleteSpandau Ballet – Communication – The argy bargy (literally) at the start is with none other than Steve from ‘Eastenders’, now a judge on ‘Let it shine’. Nice performance otherwise.
Michael Jackson – Billie Jean – Next…
Thomspson Twins – Love on your side – Great performance of an unusual (at the time) sound.
Toto – Africa – I’ve written probably too much praise about this two weeks ago. Just to add that anyone rushing out to buy the single after watching this showing would have been surprised to find it didn’t contain the fade back to the instrumentation at the end (and David Hungate’s bass licks) as the video was clearly made to the longer album cut of the song – and was all the better for it.
Phil & Cliff – She means nothing to me – Somewhat underrated this song. Interesting accompaniment by a group of gymnasts!
Eurythmics – Sweet dreams – What a debut! Really unusual look. Who was the backing singer I wondered? I see the answer is above and I never knew that. I think at this point Eurythmics looked like more than just a two piece.
Bonnie Tyler – Total Eclipse of the Heart – Nothing could ever make me forget this performance in that red outfit! My word, what are the BBC4 viewers missing by not seeing this? (Thanks Gia for loading btw). This song had no1 written all over it and was one I certainly rushed out to buy, only to later find out that it was edited; so I bought the full version a while later on the back of the 12” of ‘Have you ever seen the Rain’. Just love that backing singer’s vocals too.
Kajagoogoo – Too Shy – Glad they finally showed the video. Who was the pouty shy girl I wonder? Still love the intro to this one.
Depeche Mode – Get the balance right – At this point I finished watching abruptly.
In summary, a great show with two enthusiastic hosts who were lucky to have a great bunch of songs to present.
...and for early 70s TOTP fans, here's another treat just been loaded:-
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6d818sh9ioY
Well worth watching this. Brings back many memories of June 1972 for me. Highlights are:-
DeleteNew Seekers - Circles - At 10 years old I was sooo in love with Lyn Paul and this Harry Chapin song is probably my favourite song of theirs.
The Move - California Man - Early Jeff Lynne performance in tandem with bespectacled Roy Wood.
Don McLean - Vincent - Live performance to a strangley transfixed young audience.
Shame the start is chopped but its a miracle even seeing this much.
Seems that this is one of only three episodes that still exist from 1972, with all the other episodes wiped by the BBC after the show was first transmitted. I wonder how many more of these wiped shows from the 70s will surface again.
DeleteI did like the sexy outfits on Pans People on this show, and with regard to California Man, I recall the TOTP2 show with Steve Wright showing this same clip, so how could this be if the original show was wiped?
thanks for the notification sct, but this one's not only a bit too "before my time" but also a bit too bland and dour in equal measures for my liking! but i hope you continue to keep us informed of these old and presumed long-lost shows re-surfacing, in the hope of seeing any of my old glam faves again... including the former public enemy no.1!
DeleteCalifornia Man was the last Move single to be released. Wood and Lynne were back on the show little more than a month later with the first ELO single, 10538 Overture, and by the end of the year Wood had quit ELO, formed Wizzard, and was on TOTP with their first single, Ball Park Incident!
ReplyDeleteIndeed. A 'greatest hits of 1972' CD that I bought many years ago contains those very three singles!
DeleteCalifornia Man - The Move
10538 Overture - ELO
Ball Park Incident - Wizzard
Described in the sleeve notes as a 'bizarre feat'. All three singles made the top 10 wood you believe it.
It was a case of the 'team', the 'future', and the 'fallout' in that order.
Deletei loved the oddly-titled "ball park incident", and remember enjoying watching the freakish-looking roy wood and his rag-tag cohorts performing it on totp. and was hoping for more of the same afterwards, so i was very disappointed with the "wall of sound" guff that followed!
DeleteI agree with you there Wilberforce - Ball Park Incident sounds quite fresh and exciting (if indebted to 50s hits like Stagger Lee), but Wood's subsequent attempts to emulate Spector are pretty tedious, in my view.
Delete