For the final time, I do not have a son called Rob Beckett - and I've never heard of Draco Malfoy!
21/04/83 (Janice Long & Richard Skinner)
Culture Club – “Church Of The Poison Mind” (2)
Getting us underway in the studio, with what sounds like live vocals, are Culture Club, hoping to be next week's number one, but there's some stiff competition this week....
The Human League – “(Keep Feeling) Fascination” (16) (video)
And the first contender can be found inside a big red house where The Human League are performing this fantastic single, but number 2 would be its peak.
F.R. David – “Words” (4)
A second studio performance of another tune that almost made it to the top, but number 2 was its peak.
Twisted Sister – “I Am (I’m Me)” (18)
At its peak but edited out of tonight's 7.30 slot.
Toto – “Rosanna” (19) (video)
Also edited out of tonight's 7.30 showing.
Heaven 17 – “Temptation” (31)
This was the band's breakthrough single, and like the Human League (from which they were born) a real contender for number one, but ultimately, another song that stalled at number 2.
Thompson Twins – “We Are Detective” (21) (video)
A real fun tune and video here, and a peak of number 7 in the charts, making it their biggest hit to this point.
Spandau Ballet – “True” (10)
Straight in at number 10, and looking all sophisticated in their dinner suits, with the reason why all those other great contenders didn't make the top spot, because Spandau Ballet were going to be next week's number one, its true.
David Bowie – “Let’s Dance” (1) (video)
Third and final week at the top.
Michael Jackson – “Beat It” (3) (audience dancing/credits)
At its peak now.
Today's BBC1 line up.
Next then is a live show from April 28th 1983.
Janice dressed as Andy Pandy for some reason, and very low in the mix compared to Dickie.
ReplyDeleteCulture Club first, with Helen relegated to very far behind the band, as if she was on the naughty step. With that huge tie George looked a bit clownish. Harmonica sounds live, judging by those bum notes.
The classic video for Fascination next, how long did it take them to paint that house and street, then? They'd do it with computers these days. Great song too, love the out of tune synth. Band seem to be having fun throughout, though painting everything grey in the room is an odd choice.
F.R. David, still not having much luck with the dancers, and those girls sat swaying by the edge of stage are reminiscent of Val Doonican's specials.
Twisted Sister, now, there's an obscure and bizarre action movie from the 80s called Never Too Young to Die, and it stars Gene Simmons as the baddie who has obviously nicked his whole look from Dee Snyder here. Which is more interesting than this "big myself up" tune.
Toto's hymn to Rosanna Arquette, but alas they didn't put her in the video. Was she in any videos at this time? She seems the right sort of cult actress who would appear in that sort of thing. And what a lovely location the band picked to perform in. As for the song, there's worse ditties to have dedicated to you, I suppose. Can't imagine that moustachioed singer going out with Miss Arquette, however.
Heaven 17, resembling a band of yuppies on a night out, with a minor classic of over the top pop, complete with religious references and gospel singing. In fact Glen looks a bit scared of the lady he's sharing the stage with.
Thompson Twins, now is this supposed to be a French-sounding song or a Spanish-sounding song? Can't make up its mind. The lyrics are paranoid, but the chorus indicates they are the detectives, so are they spying on each other? So many questions.
Spandau Ballet with their behemoth of a ballad, what more is there to be said about one of the loudest sensitive love songs of the decade?
Bowie and Whackson to end on, the same goes for those.
THX - you took the words right out of my typing fingers with regard to Val Doonican! Do you remember Russ Abbot's parody of the Irish easy-listening legend as "Val Hooligan"? The backing singers in that sketch were Charity, Purity and Hope - portrayed by Susie Blake, Sherrie Hewson and Bella Emberg respectively.
DeleteTalking of Irish crooners, Chris de Burgh remade Toto's 'Africa' on his covers album 'Footsteps', as well as naming his beauty queen daughter Rosanna - so that band must have been a regular fixture on his car cassette around that time.
Heaven 17's 'Temptation' is a classic of its time, aided by some dynamic vocal support from Carol Kenyon - who would also guest on Limahl's solo hit 'Only For Love' later in the year. She'd come a long way from her membership of the Southern gospel chorus that accompanied Kenny Everett's evangelical character Brother Lee Love!
As for the Thompson Twins, 'We Are Detective' appears to have been inspired by Argentine tango music. On 'Strictly Come Dancing' - which I followed for its first 7 seasons - the instrumentation accompanying the Argentine tango almost invariably included an accordion, or at least an electronic keyboard imitating that instrument.
Carol Kenyon has certainly been in demand over the years, performing with everyone from Pink Floyd to The Pet Shop Boys, and Tears For Fears to Mike Oldfield.
DeleteFurther to your note THX about Helen Terry being relegated to the back of the stage on Culture Club, it must have been a blatant move by Boy George, lest he get upstaged by a superior vocal which I believe it was in this case. He was certainly making sure that the camera was fixated on him and not Ms Terry!
Delete@Julie: Of course, Val Hooligan! Russ could be very funny sometimes.
DeleteJust looked up Rosanna de Burgh on image search and I assume she takes after her mother?
Russ Abbott certainly had a penchant for classic name-twisting. Remember Julio DoubleGlazias, and C U Jimmy, not to mention Bella Emberg as Blunder Woman and who could forget Cooperman? Anyone remember any others?
DeleteThere was a petition to get some of his 1990s BBC shows released on DVD but nothing's happened yet.
DeleteIsn't his chart hit Atmosphere coming up soon?
I can wait!
Deletewhat little i saw of russ abbott as a comedian failed to move me. on the other hand, i only had to hear a few seconds of his dreadful musical efforts to get out of earshot as soon as possible!
DeleteTwo great shows this week, there's no doubt we've reached the point in time where ToTP performances really registered with me as they were broadcast, whether they were good (Heaven 17 and Kissing the Pink) or bad (Twisted Sister!)
ReplyDeleteEventually I'd catch back up retrospectively, and the period of early 1983 would become one of my very favourite moments in musical time.
Heaven 17 with a real classy pop moment that will always remind me of a particular moment at school, the great Fascination vid (shame we missed the ball bounce back as white again) and Toto's Rosanna are my highlights in this varied show. The latter video has some wonky West Side Story vibes for me, what with the metal court fences and lovely model strutting around.
One thing that narks me now is how much Susanne Sulley continually hams it up in League performances of this period, whilst Jo Catherall looks and acts classy and cool. They're like chalk and cheese!
Definitely the better of the two shows on BBC4 this week. Good to see Dickie finally get a decent partner in Janice; they seem to get on, and both seem very enthusiastic about the music.
ReplyDeleteAlas, Dickie's tip that Culture Club would get to the top would not come true (yes, pun intended), but here they are in the studio for an enjoyable performance. Was Helen Terry confined to the back because she came dressed as Mrs Mop? Mikey tries to upstage George by wearing a big top hat, but fails - ironically, George would soon start adopting similar headgear for himself. Fascination spelt the end of the most successful phase of the League's career, as it would be the final single produced for them by the influential Martin Rushent (now sadly deceased). I can't say I have ever been too keen on this one, as it sounds a little discordant to my ears, but I love the way everything in the video apart from the band is painted grey, even the instruments!
The multi-talented FR David returns to the studio, but this time the crowd separate him from the dancers. Otherwise, this performance is pretty indistinguishable from the last one. The same goes for Twisted Sister, who put on another highly energetic and camp turn. Something new next from Toto, but this is not a song I like very much, thanks in no small part to the singer's whiny vocals. The video reminds me a bit of the one for Beat It with the run-down setting and stylised gang members, but the band themselves completely lack Jacko's onscreen dynamism or (at that stage in his facial development) good looks.
Heaven 17 were doubtless relieved that their old bandmates were not in the studio with them for this show. They would help to spectacularly revive Tina Turner's career later in 1983, but here they enjoy their own moment in the spotlight with by far their biggest hit. It still sounds pretty good, though I have heard it a bit too often now - Glenn Gregory looks like a cross here between an albino and the product of some kind of genetic Nazi experiment. The Thompson Twins show they have a sense of humour with this fun video, and it's a decent song too. Interesting to read the other comments from posters here speculating about the musical inspiration behind it - to me, it has a definite whiff of Weimar cabaret...
The New Romantic clobber is very much a thing of the past as Spandau turn up for their first go at their monster hit. It's all very slick, but for me True has to rank as one of the most boring and chronically overplayed songs of the 80s - whenever I hear it start up my eyes start to close! Not much else to say, as we get the Bowie video for what feels like the millionth time, before a pleasingly packed studio dances to Jacko over the credits, if not perhaps to his own level of proficiency...
the main cause of the human league/martin rushent fallout was that the still-teenaged female backing singers (and in particular suzanne) deluded themselves that they were now experienced musicians and thus demanded a say in the creative process! that added to the massive pre-digital cut-and-paste job that rushent did for the "dare" remixes (released under the aegis "the league unlimited orchestra" as a sort-of tribute to barry white) effectively drove him into retirement, although he had apparently been working with the old recordings again at the time of his sudden and premature death about 3 or so years ago...
DeleteWith John rightly pointing out that this was Human League's last real single of note in this second phase since 1981 with the addition of the two Sheffield girls in the line up, I remember the following year in 1984 really willing them on to make it into the top ten again with singles like Louise, The Lebanon and Life On Your Own, but they did not manage to trouble the top ten, and Human League then faded away until a return in 1986 which also did not bring them back to their dizzy heights of the 1981-1983 era, so this here single called Keep Feeling Fascination was almost a goodbye hit in the view of the record-buying public.
DeleteThe Human League did very well with their later "comeback" single Human, it made No.1 in the USA and was top ten here. Impeccably produced by Jam and Lewis, too.
DeleteI remember that comeback THX, but Human was not the League as we remember them, but instead a last ditch attempt for one last hurrah. How it got to No.8 with no essence of classic Human League sound, is surprising to say the least.
DeleteYou make it sound as if the League have given up the ghost, Dory! They're still going, release albums every few years, in fact in '95 they had their biggest hit in ages with Tell Me When. The follow-up to that One Man in My Heart is one of their best, a really sweet tune. I think they're genuine synth pop survivors.
DeleteI followed The Human League for years and bought a lot of their singles bu memory plays tricks on you. I thought Love Is All That Matters, Soundtrack To A Generation and Heart like A Wheel were all big hits but only the latter made the Top 30.
DeleteIf we ever make it to 1995 we won't see them perform Tell Me when as that particular show was hosted by Gary Glitter whose Rock and roll Part 1 they had of course covered early in their career.
i did quite like one of their later efforts called "all i ever wanted" (blimey - something from this century i don't consider complete crap!), that combined their classic synth pop sound with more contemporary house-style dance elements
Deleteas for their continued existence: phil oakey made a comment a while back that the reason the human league were still active and touring was that otherwise they would have to sign on the dole! and when they appeared as part of the "here and now" package tour, he also went to great pains to point out that unlike the likes of curiosity killed the cat, they were still big enough to be able do tours as a stand-alone act...
When bands do tours 30 years after their chart success, it is usually because they need the money. We recently saw that Adam Ant did a UK tour culminating in The Roundhouse in Camden in December, and I cannot imagine he had a lot of money before the tour commenced.
DeleteLet's not forget that Phil still has his big solo hit to come, with a little help from Giorgio Moroder. That one would make a good title for the 1984 blog, I think.
DeleteFrom that cinematic masterpiece (?) Electric Dreams, sort of a cute Demon Seed, which is being remade at the moment. Who's the 21st equivalent of Phil who gets to cover the better-than-the-film title tune? Any suggestions?
Deletehosts: one of the more natural pairings as both janice and dicky come over as personable types. unlike other couplings they do a lot of the links together, which suggested they actually liked each other. dicky slips in another slightly-risque comment on twisted sister (you have to remember that anything gay-related was still quite a hot potato at that point), but unlike peel is too nice to point out the modfather's ridiculous enunciation in the chart countdown. janice needs a bit more practice in that department as her voiceover is not only perfunctory but too hasty as well, thus leaving uncomfortable gaps of silence between each mugshot
ReplyDeleteculture club: mikey wears an absurdly oversized hat to go with his absurdly oversized shirt. i wonder if he was inspired by talking heads' david byrne, who by this time had taken to donning absurdly oversized suits? when an interviewer asked the latter the reason for his whistles being so large, he replied "to make my head look very small"!
human league: i presume the house was meant to be red in the manner of the "you are here" spot on maps in parks and suchlike? but on the monitor i was watching it looked pink to me! phil looks more luscious than ever here - i wonder if the rest of the guys in the band looked at him with a touch of envy and thought "maybe i should try a dab of eyeliner"?. musically it's not quite up to the best of "dare", but certainly more listenable now than i thought it was at the time
twisted sister: you could normally easily tell the difference between british and american pop acts at the timer (nobody was ever going to get toto mixed up with the human league, or even toto coelo for that matter!), but when it came to metal it all sounded pretty much the same - regardless of where they came from. i noted that iron maiden were featured in the countdown, but their latest effort wasn't played so i could compare. but i'm not going to bother listening to it otherwise just to find out!
toto: as thx notes, a (completely tedious in my opinion) paean to rosanna of the arquette acting dynasty (that included the transgendered robert a.k.a. alexis, who recently prematurely expired as an indirect result of having HIV - you don't hear about many people dying through that these days do you, like you did in the 80's?). i think the reason she's not in the video is that she was an ex-girlfriend of one of them. although why a looker like that would want to hang out with any of those ugly and/or beardy bozos is anybody's guess
fr david: i gave this a brief listen in the interests of trying to be fair. and there is one really nice bit where the major chord changes to the same minor chord. the rest is still crap though
Re HIV, I think drug treatments have now advanced to the point where sufferers can be kept alive more or less indefinitely.
Deletei think you're probably right there john, although the "cure" has never had anywhere near the amount of media publicity as the disease itself. i remember hearing as long ago as the early 90's (to my recollection) that holly johnson of soon-to-be-big-in-these-re-runs frankie goes to hollywood had picked up the virus and thinking "well, that's it for him then...". and yet more than 20 years later he's still with us!
DeleteThe media always seem happier dealing with doom-and-gloom stories than with good news, so it doesn't surprise me that they haven't trumpeted the advances in HIV treatment from the rooftops!
DeleteHolly Johnson was very ill for a while, but happily pulled through. There are a few HIV+ musicians like Andy Bell of Erasure or John Grant who are still going strong.
Deletei've never heard of john grant, so had to look him up on wiki. and his old band are categorised into genres called "slowcore" and "dream pop" - both of which i've never heard of before either!
DeleteHere's a taster of the fantastic John Grant:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6iWtIFJ-og
Best lyrics evah! Who doesn't feel like that sometimes? Be warned he can get very sweary on some tracks (but not that one).
i gave this a listen out of courtesy more than anything, and didn't expect too much. but actually it's quite good! oh dear, that's now two tracks from this century that i've admitted i didn't mind listening too - at this rate, before you know it i'll be extolling the virtues of ed sheeran!
DeleteWell, there's no call for that kind of language... Ed's basically Justin Bieber for people who think they're above bland pop. Give him an acoustic guitar and they think he's credible. Well, it worked for Ralph McTell.
DeleteAnyway, John Grant is a bit of a genius, one of the few current artists whose albums are worth sitting down with to really listen to, his lyrics are superb, funny, poignant and angry.
i'm being facetious thx, but i'm sure you already know that. although i never listen to contemporary music, i am well aware that the relative-pigmy that is today's music industry manufactures "alternatives" a la ed sheeran, james blunt, laura marling et al for those comparitive few that still follow pop music who think they are too sophisticated for justin bieber!
Deleteby the way: although i can't claim to be a fan of him, i think you're being a little unkind on ralph mctell by making out he's as some kind of precedent for ed sheeran. he was a respected fixture on the folk scene for several years before "streets of london", and as this proves was capable of some decent picking too:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qn5XZUkNyE8
and whilst we're on the subject of contemporary music: am i right in that when they allowed mp3 downloads to count as sales for chart purposes, the oldies outsold the modern crap many times over to the extent that they had to be "banned"?
DeleteI never heard that, but one effect is that a bunch of tracks on the same album now are hits at the same time, clogging up the charts with fewer artists. I assume this is because streaming now counts towards sales.
DeleteOh, and I wasn't dissing Ralph! I grew up with Tickle on the Tum!
pt ii...
ReplyDeleteheaven 17: they promised so much, and yet delivered so little. and this is the worst of the lot with its sluggish non-danceable rhythms (which annoyingly didn't stop it getting a lot of club play) and mindless chanting of the title over and over again. plus i'm not keen on "queen of scream" soul-wailing either, so a real turkey for me. i still can't believe that the leaden-voiced glenn gregory was apparently martyn ware's first choice for the human league, but it's certainly a good job that he wasn't available at the time otherwise we'd probably never have got to see and hear the delight that was phil oakey
thompson twins: this cod-tango was a real let down after the promising start made by "love on your side". and sadly (with one honourable exception) there was a lot more tripe to come from them. if you want to hear something similarly influenced from that era but with a lot more class, then check out grace jones' interpretation of the legendary argentinian composer and bandneon player astor piazzolla's "libertango"
spandau: another one that falls into the "bohemian rhapsody" category for me i.e. a massive hit i sort-of liked and respected, but could never love unconditionally. and as a result something that lurks in my mp3 collection but never actually gets played. although i don't mind hearing it on the frequent occasions i am exposed to it elsewhere. it's certainly better than the other rubbish they'd put out after choosing to join the mainstream, and i did always like the breathy backing vocals. why didn't steve norman do the guitar chops that only appear at certain points in the song, rather than martin kemp? he could have then casually slung it behind his back before picking up the sax for the solo, other than standing around like a lemon just holding it for most of the time!
Point taken about Steve Norman - but I seem to remember Gary Kemp telling a TV interviewer not so long ago that the bass on 'True' was a keyboard, rather than a bass guitar, and that was the reason Martin mimed rhythm guitar rather than bass. Also, the rhythm guitar is clearly heard throughout the saxophone solo!
Deletejulie that just the way i would have done it if i'd been in charge. and also my selection would be justified in that steve was originally a guitarist in the band before becoming their utility player! i do know that when they toured later that year that they actually used an old mate of theirs (called jess something-or-other) to handle all the keyboard duties - an early instance of a "band" being joined by auxilliary members on stage - nowadays the rock superstars such as the rolling stones and bryan ferry have armies of such people to help them out!
DeleteI know who you mean: Jess Bailey, who augmented Spandau's line-up on tour and sometimes on disc, has had a long and successful career as a session keyboardist. I remember Steve Norman playing rhythm guitar on early hits such as 'To Cut A Long Story Short'.
DeleteA big improvement on the previous week’s offering with Andy and Teddy presenting…
ReplyDeleteCulture Club- Church of the poisoned mind – Well this was one exception so I skipped it..
Human League - Fascination – I’m fascinated by Joanne’s make up in this video and can’t decide whether it is overdone or effective. Phil shows off his full bass range on this irresistible tune and the girls show that they still can’t dance.
F R David – Words – Still sounds sublime.
Twisted Sister – I am (I’m me) – Second clunker hastily skipped. Yuk!
Toto – Rosanna - Another classy tune from the band sung as a duet by Steve Lukather and Bobby Kimball. Interesting that as with ‘Africa’ it’s the full album cut used on the video, so we get the drummed intro and if you watch on YT the complete instrumental outro. Came in a Grammy shaped picture disc too.
Heaven 17 – Temptation – Stonker! Really put the band on the map although the female vocal gave it the ‘wow’ factor.
Thompson Twins – We are Detective – Great bass line and innovative sound. Love the video too.
Spandau Ballet – True – If ever a song had ‘number one’ written all over it, this surely did. A great live staple with Tony holding the mic out to the crowd to yell back “and now I’ve come back again”. Yes, Richard was right, one of the best songs Gary Kemp ever wrote if not the best. Timeless.
David Bowie – Let’s Dance - ….and we still don’t get the end of the video.
Michael Jackson – Beat it – Indeed; I beat it to the ‘stop’ button.
I seem to recall ‘Jury’ focused on different members of the Jury each episode and a young Martin Clunes was in one.
I did of course mean Suzanne's make up not Joanne's...
DeleteAh Toto here apparently having won grammies in America for this new single Rosanna. Thoroughly deserved too in my opinion. Rosanna is by far their best record, even though it did not do as well here as Africa which made top three in the UK.
DeletePity that we only got the first half of the video up to the instrumental break, as after that we get to see a lot more of the lovely Rosanna. The video is actually 5-and-a-half minutes long, and worth a view:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmOLtTGvsbM
With regard to Heaven 17, I think the petite female lead gave the song its appeal with a strong vocal, as I don't think Heaven 17 would have made it to No.2 without her on the record, as the band was largely an unknown entity at this point with this debut hit.
DeleteNice also to see the new Thompson Twins video played to the fadeout end, and not cut short like they had done with Toto this week, although 5-and-a-half minutes of Toto video would have broken a record for TOTP if they had!
Toto released five singles off the 'Toto IV' album:-
DeleteRosanna 04/82
Africa 06/82
Make Believe 10/82
I won't hold you back 06/83
Waiting for your love 08/83
It seemed that something clicked in Feb 83 when 'Africa' became a massive hit. 'Rosanna' was then repromoted in a different picture sleeve in Apr 83. 'I won't hold you back' then reached no37 and should have been a massive hit (no10 in the States), but I don't think we ever got to see it on ToTP which is a shame.
In fact only one track from the album; 'Good for you' didn't make it to one side of a 45.
heaven 17 were not exactly an "unknown entity", given that their previous (debut) album not only got in the top 20 of the LP charts but also sold over a hundred thousand copies!
Deletesct, according to your listing, Rosanna and Africa were release in early 1982?? Was that in Britain or America?
DeleteBoth US and UK. 'Rosanna' spent 5 weeks at no2 in the States behind 'Don't you want me' and 'Eye of the Tiger' in July 1982.
DeleteCheck out 45cat for details...
Good Lord, that is incredible that it charted in the UK nearly a year after the American charts, so by then Rosanna was a year older than in the video when we got her here.
DeleteIt was the reverse for Come On Eileen which was no.1 in the UK in August 1982, but reached No.1 in America in April 1983. The mind boggles!
Dory, TOTP showed the full Bohemian Rhapsody video several times in 1975/76 and that was nearly 6 minutes.
DeleteA couple of quick points for now, having watched this early Saturday morning...
ReplyDeleteI agree that Janice Pandy's mic was way too low down in the mix, but good chemistry there with Dickie.
I loved the way the boy's football kit and football changed from white to red when entering that Human League "you are here" hot spot.
Why was Glenn Gregory wearing two watches on his left wrist?
I got fed up seeing the guitarist hitting his fretboard with the mic (three fecking times!) but fair play to Twisted Sister for a more than energetic turn. I've discovered that, on at least two single sleeves, they've got full on make up on the front cover but go au naturel on the reverse, confirming in a surprising way that Dee Snider was more of a smouldering looker than you'd imagine.
Anyone know the story behind that "Hot Spot" video? Is the house still around? Is it still orange?!
DeleteThe house was in Newham in East London and was demolished along with the whole estate not long after the video was made.
DeleteAh, that would explain why they were allowed to decorate it thus. Thanks for the info.
DeleteIt's a shame because it would have been quite a talking point to say that you lived in a house featured in a pop video.
DeleteWhen I was a young kid in the mid 1960s we lived in Greenford in Middlesex and our house was briefly glimpsed in a BBC Play For Today called A Designing Woman but sadly it seems to have been wiped now.
this is not entirely related, but i remember a gimmick/publicity stunt where one copy of the then-latest john otway single was pressed with only the backing track, with the promise that otway would visit the residence of the purchasing "winner" to perform it before them in person whilst the record was played on their stereo! i wonder if otway had already heard about karaoke that was then in its infancy in japan? or maybe he was a visionary years ahead of his time!
DeleteCulture Club - I remember this show at the time and I was convinced that Culture Club after two weeks at No.2 were going to topple Bowie for the No.1 spot, as Church Of The Poison Mind was my favourite of all their singles, and there was no way that anyone could have foreseen Spandau Ballet overhauling them the following week from No.10 in the charts. I wonder if it would have made a difference if they were called Culture Club featuring Helen Terry, just for this track, a bit like something new for the fans, and then perhaps she would not have been kept at the back of the stage for the TOTP studio performance. She did seem to wear clothing like Hatti Jacques in Carry Camping!
ReplyDeleteAre you saying she had a Chayste Place?
DeleteIt should say Carry On Camping
DeleteOK, had a quick look online and Rosanna Arquette wasn't in the Rosanna video, but Patrick Swayze was! He's in the West Side Story bit at the end.
ReplyDeleteBut Miss Arquette was in the video for Michael Jackson's Liberian Girl, had a look and there's about 30 none-more-1989 celebs in it, she acts pretty grumpy in it. That was it for her pop video career, don't think she's even in Into the Groove...
Without attempting to get ahead of BBC4 this coming Thursday, there is an interesting compilation of the 28th April show on Utube, including Kissing the Pink's second appearance in the studio, i.e., they were invited back:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTAQfDZkeXk
Hopefully someone will put up the 1000th edition from 5 May in the next few days, as that will fall between this week's two BBC4 offerings. There are a lot of clips from it on YT, but not the full show.
DeleteI spoke too soon, it has now appeared, courtesy of Andy Pearman:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Shb2Cg3h9gc
Welcome to Watch with Mother - Janice dressed as Andy Pandy and Dickie dressed as a Playschool presenter. And through the round window...
ReplyDeleteI had an on-off relationship with Culture Cub at the time. While I liked the songs a lot I was put off by the band's image. I feel a bit sorry for Helen Terry here who although does command a few close-ups when she sings the chorus is shoved at the back with bad-dancing harmonica player Judd Lander but at least he gets a name check. Impressed that this has both live vocals and live a harmonica on it.
I loved this Human League song to bits at the time and played the 12 inch endlessly where it has a remix on the B-side. I was also impressed with the simple-but-quirky video. Of course they could do this with CGI in ten minutes now but back then they had to physically paint the house and road red, well orangey-red. Apparently the house they used has been knocked down now.
So they can mention Johnathan King's name on the BBC, even if they can't show him, but poor old DLT can be seen or mentioned. How bizarre. FR David again with Words at number 4 "one of the highest positions a Frenchman has ever got to" quips Janice forgetting Serge Gainsbourg got to number one, or is it a soixante-neuf joke?
This sounds better the more you hear it but I am not impressed with Mr David's image or his half-hearted performance. I notice his two Zoo girls have deserted him preferring to hob-nob with the C&A-dressed audience and even the camera man is bored with him opting to pan round the back to give us a shot of his bum.
The title of the Twisted Sister song reminds me of a sketch I saw on some long-forgotten comedy sketch show where Robbie Coltrane was dressed up as TV chef Robert Carrier who was appearing a series of TV ads for Tesco at the time - and he says "You're probably thinking is it? Is he?. Well it is and I am". This is really just dreadful and sounds worse the more times you hear it. I hope the lead singer was given as hard a time as Boy George because his jokey-drag dress sense is much worse.
Like (Keep Feeling) Fascination the Toto song is another where the lead vocals are shared with different band members including the one who looks like Bob Carolgees. I liked this one at the time and the video's not bad, a big improvement on Africa. The cool dudes (not the band, obviously) who are finger clicking and fence jumping were of course influenced by West Side Story in a similar fashion to guys in the Diana Ross video for Chain Reaction a few years later.
Heaven 17 use Culture Club's trick of getting a better singer to do the chorus even if she is miming. They were another group I had mixed feelings about because while I liked a lot of their output I did seriously want to slap Glen Gregory's fat smug face not least because he used Billy Currie from Ultravox's trick of continually staring at the camera. I definitely wasn't tempted.
The Thompson Twins with their erstwhile theme song. Where's Stephen Tin Tin Duffy when you want him? I liked this a lot at the time. The video is a little cheap and uninspired and they remind me of a Legs Akimbo-style theatre group who spent all their money on the costumes but can't act for toffee.
The Spandex boys finally grow up with a grown up song and have been to a decent tailor but maybe I've heard this too many times. Mind you I still love the line "with a thrill in my head and a pill on my tongue".
The Top 9 with climber Tracie strangely absent from the show, as was Cliff who was a high new entry further back. Then the Dame again and play out with Jacko as we ironically beat it.
I quite enjoyed this show with Twisted Sister being the only annoyance. Janice and Dickie worked well together being the same age (about 55) and the audience weren't annoying.
i'm never a great one for listening to lyrics in songs, so i never realised there was a drug-taking reference in "true". presumably the totp lyrics police also failed to pay attention, as surely they would otherwise have demanded that the line be re-written in order to protect our kids from the dangers of illegal pharmaceuticals? perhaps they could have got gary to change the lyrics to mention cigarette smoking instead? that would then of course have been perfectly acceptable...
DeleteWhat if the pill was an aspirin?
DeleteI read in The Guardian that the song is actually about Altered Images' singer Clare Grogan. Steve Norman also talks about originally being a drummer and why he switched instruments:
Deletehttps://www.theguardian.com/culture/2012/may/14/how-we-made-true-spandau-ballet
if the pill in question had been a mere aspirin, gary probably wouldn't have been listening to marvin all night long!
DeleteGood to see a pairing who work well together, and happy for Dickie not to pull out a plum again this week, though his number one forecast was rubbish.
ReplyDeleteIn those mugshots, did the old guy far left in the Kids From Fame really count as a kid, and did he sing on the record?
I liked the synchronised toing and froing of George’s three usual stooges, with Jon’s syndrums set up apart to assist with the choreography. I also noticed the threat of the strong backing vocalist nixed by her being placed in a different postcode.
Those should have been red walls and floor for The Human League’s pad. Tsk.
Does the FR in FR David stand for fornicating racket?
Ah, Mister Gumby with the daft moustache from Kissing The Pink is back – ah, no, it’s some bloke in Toto. Now, who’d win a West Side Story fight? Those thrusting young bucks in the vid or the rocking accountants as Peelie might say? Where’s Harry Hill when you need him?
Bearing in mind the set-up for the Human League vid, I’d have loved it if they’d rigged up the words “You are here” and an arrow in lights pointing down to Heaven 17’s mate Carol Kenyon in her red dress.
I feel so sorry for Gooseberry Joe in The Thompson Twins. Ooh, it’s the multi-talented and oh so attractive Alannah Currie, ‘singing’ like a bird - a chicken stuffed with Paxo. Bread sauce, anyone?
Ah, Gary Kemp, looking like the young Tony Blair, and as smug and ultra slappable as ever. Didn’t anyone tell Martin the Colonel Sanders tie was for the previous single? I noticed drummer Jake Keeble singing along throughout. I really wish they’d miked him up live for full effect.
Incidentally, there was a funny "Ageing Pan's People" sketch/song in last Friday's Tracey Ullman Show if you didn't catch it. It's near the end if you want to iPlayer it.
ReplyDeleteThe tape that this episode was recorded on must have been propping open a door in a damp room judging by the picture quality. However, despite a lot of excitement about this one, it didn't do much for me.
ReplyDeleteCulture Club - This was good though, I remember this performance from the time and showings on TOTP2 and the like since.
Human League - And this is good too, better than 'Mirror Man' certainly.
FR David & Twisted Sister - I was in no hurry to see these again, particularly the latter.
Toto - I knew and liked this song before it was a hit as it was featured on the K-Tel Chart Hits 82 compilation that I owned.
Heaven 17 - I never really thought this was much cop, and I'll probably be shot down in flames for this but I think the 92 remix does wonders for it and gives the song more structure.
Thompson Twins - I used to really like this, but I now find it rather slight compared to some of their other singles.
Spandau Ballet - Housewife Classic Klaxon! Always hated this sickly rubbish.
Saw that Tracey Ullman Pans People sketch.
ReplyDeleteThere was a reference to Yew Tree wasn't there?
Both series so far have been very patchy.
Was the format based on her US series?
As far as I remember, her US series had her playing a different character every week, the new show is more like Little Britain (or Dick Emery, if you want to go back that far).
DeleteFor those of us who enjoy watching early 70s TOTP, Calvin Henderson has now made the 1/2/73 show available on YouTube. The picture quality isn't great, and there is no sound during the Pan's People routine (copyright reasons, presumably), but it's a good show:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdvEls2hzLs
thanks for that john - i didn't realise the presenter was tidybeard until the camera zoomed in! one or two other things to mention: if ever there was a guy that long hair didn't suit, it was focus's keyboard player; that tony christie thing was worst-ever theme by far for an ITC adventure series (where was edsin astley?), but then again the "the protectors" was rubbish too; that there's a couple of all-time classics for me in "roll over beethoven" and "blockbuster" (where steve priest's antics always crack me up); and i remember we had a reel-to-reel tape recorder in my house at the time (my parents used to put up foreign language students, and i think they used it for practice), and i remember taping "superstition" off the radio onto it!
DeleteThe record-buying public in 1973 didn't think too much of Avenues and Alleyways, as it only got to 37. It was rereleased in 2005, in the wake of Tony's Peter Kay-sponsored comeback, and made it to 26 that time.
DeleteWow thanks for that John. hadn't spotted that one myself. I will indulge and enjoy. There 'missing' shows suddenly appearing really are an unexpected treat. I am sure I must have watched this one at the time.
DeleteLooking at the ELO performance of 'Roll over Beethoven' on here. I am sure the 'singer' with the silver wig is Roy Wood and not Jeffe Lynne. Yet it is definitely Jeff's vocals on the track and I am sure that Roy had left by then....or is it just a trick of the wig?
DeleteI think it must be the wig, and also the dodgy picture quality, but I agree that Jeff does look a bit like Roy here. Roy had left ELO several months previously.
Deleteelo very much started off as a vehicle for the already well-known roy wood, so my guess is jeff lynne was trying to fool people that he was actually wood at that point? something that i think i mentioned about this track on here a while back: despite thinking it was brilliant whenever i heard it, i always thought there were a couple of abrupt-sounding bits in the arrangement. then a few years back i got hold of the album version on mp3... which is practically twice as long, and thus explained the sudden changes on the (heavily-edited) single!
DeleteThere is a very good surviving TOTP clip of California Man with ELO still under the name of the Move, even after the formation of ELO, and I remember this clip shown on TOTP2, which is one of my favourite clips!
DeleteSurprised no-one’s broached the subject yet, unless you all knew already.
ReplyDeleteI always wondered about the reference to seaside arms in Spandau Ballet’s “True”. I found out today out it’s an adaptation of the phrase “seaside limbs” mentioned in Nabakov’s novel “Lolita” which Gary Kemp was given by Clare Grogan, whom he worshipped from afar.
does that mean it's a song about paedophilia as well as drug-taking?
DeleteI mentioned it above Arthur or at least the Clare Grogan connection.
DeleteOops. My fault! I sometimes get lost in the mass of thread messages.
Deletei think we're all starting to make those mistakes now arthur! having been babbling away on this blog for several years now, i also have the recurring nightmare that i will post something i already mentioned in an earlier show! but if so then i always preface it with "i might have said this before, but..."
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DeleteThis week's edition is brought to you by the number 2.
ReplyDeleteOur 2 presenters this week - Sister Cheggars & Skinnnnneeeerrrr!! - are one of the best pairings. He is growing into the presenter's role, she is affable and adept, and they both appear knowledgable and to actually like each other. Generally, a good job - although Sister Cheggers' countdown was a tad boring.
2 acts this week have attended the BBC's annual 'Diversity In The Workplace' workshop and as such have allowed an actual honest-to-God female to join their ranks. Culture Club stick Helen Terry right at the back not because George was wary of her singing talents, but more likely she didn't fit in with the band's sartorial image. And, in case my dad is reading this - See! George is a man, he's wearing a tie for gawd's sake. Skinnneeer! taints them with the ToTP MysticMeg spell by prediciting they'll be number one next week. Nope.
Heaven 17 are more upfront about Carol Kenyon. Although I didn't mind this at the time it has not worn well over the years (much like Martin Ware actually). And as mentioned several times above Glen Gregory is smugness personified.
2 acts were unceremoniously subjected to the FF finger and, pleasingly they followed on one from the other. FR David cops for a Golden FF, having suffered the same fate the last time he was on. Twisted Sister bring to mind a rather good Robbie Williams lyric - "I look like Kiss but without the make-up".
2 songs that I really liked get the video treatment.Human League are, by now, running out of ideas, but this is one last decent hurrah which reminds me of my first car, which I had just bought when this came out. It was a clunky banger which didn't have a radio or cassette, so I had a battery-operated cassette player with a hand-held-microphone-recorded-Sunday-Night-Chart-Rundown-Show tape. When Fascination is played these days, I can remember vividly how it sounded when my battery's started dying. Nostalgia - thy name is a duracell battery on the way out.
Toto hit their peak as far as I'm concerned with Rosanna. The video looks like it was filmed on a live-action Top Cat location, but it's just a great song, so forgiven!
There are 2 people in a set of twins and there might just as well have been 2 in The Thompson Twins as well cos Joe does nothing of note here. This, too, is another band at their peak for me. Lovely quirky music although the lyrics don't stand too much scrutiny.
And that leaves us with Spandau Ballet's T(r)UE. Gary Kemp has the smug look of a man who knows he will never have to worry about a pension. Over familiarisation has relegated this to the never-want-to-hear-again pile.
And we end with 2 dead people. Bowie at the top and Jacko to play out.
Scores. 7 for our presenting duo. 5 for the songs with Toto being my pick.
So there's a gap of 2 in the scores!
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