Somebody told me it was a short show this week...
16/06/83 (Mike Read & Dave Lee Travis)
Imagination – “Looking At Midnight” (32)
Went up three more places.
Kajagoogoo – “Hang On Now” (13) (video)
At its peak now.
Nick Heyward – “Take That Situation” (40)
His biggest solo hit, peaking at number 11.
Shalamar – “Dead Giveaway” (20)
Their fourth and final top ten hit, peaking at number 8.
Bucks Fizz – “When We Were Young” (23) (video)
The band's penultimate top ten hit, peaking at number 10, though it would be another three years until their final one.
The Truth – “Confusion (Hits Us Every Time)” (41)
Peaked at 22, their only top 30 hit.
Marillion – “Garden Party” (24)
Making their debut on the show with a breakthrough single that reached number 16.
Michael Jackson – “Wanna Be Startin’ Something” (14)
The fourth top ten hit from Thriller, reaching number 8. And poor old Zoo only seem to get routines on yewtreed shows at the moment.
The Police – “Every Breath You Take” (1) (video)
Third week at number one.
Flash & The Pan – “Waiting For A Train” (10) (audience dancing/credits)
Went up three more places.
Back to BBC4 next for June 23rd 1983.
i'm fairly fortunate in that i don't have to set my alarm clock too often these days. however the downside of that luxury is that whenever i do, i then get paranoid that the damn thing will fail to go off and thus miss whatever i've had to set it for. so as a result i end up staying awake most of the night! but at least i've been able to pass the time by dashing off another couple of reviews via youtube...
ReplyDeleteimagination: they're in a no-win situation here, as by trying to make an effort to move with the times they lose what made them unique in the first place. any pretence of playing instruments has gone as part of the transformation, which leaves them was a big errol-shaped problem. as such you think lee and ashley might have have given the guy a chance to sing a bit - regardless of whatever vocal limitations he may have had (like lennon & mccartney did with ringo)?
kajagoogoo: had limahl cleared his desk by now? maybe that was why they showed a video rather than the band being in the studio? boring verses, but an interesting chorus for once
nick heyward: presumably this was his side of the story with regard to the haircut split? but whatever it's quite clear to me that he was running on empty by this point - solo or otherwise!
shalamar: inversely to imagination, the superfluous members are given a keyboard and bass guitar to mime on rather than be (virtually-silent) choreographed backing dancers. this isn't that bad as an upbeat dance number, but not something i would go out of my way to listen to again
bucks fizz: a rather overblown effort that sounds like it's trying to make up for a lack of tune. and just for good measure, not for the first time they chuck in some modulation at the end! no doubt dory will be pleased to see that jay gets another opportunity to show off both her voice and her legs (did cheryl ever actually sing lead on any of their records?)
truth: to my recollection they were touted as some kind of updated version of dr feelgood. and although there's always a live market for sweaty rhythm & blues, that kind of thing was pretty passe by this point chart-wise. so presumably this cod-soul effort was against type, and simply an effort to gain a hit single (more for the benefit of their record company than the act themselves) that wouldn't have happened otherwise?
genesis... sorry marilion: quite appropriately ripping off the instrumental section of "robbery, assault and battery", although doing so with nowhere near the same aplomb
wacko: this is always overlooked in the scheme of things as far as singles from the "thriller" album are concerned. although in my view it vies with the title track and certainly pisses all over eveything else culled from it other than "billie jean". and that's despite the fact it's one of wacko's sow's ear riffs turned into a silk purse by quincy jones, not to mention pillaging from "soul makossa" (did manu dibango get a cut of the royalties?)
Cheryl Baker sang lead on Bucks Fizz's 'Rules of the Game', which only managed to reach No.57 in late '83. She also sang much of the middle eight by herself in 'I Hear Talk', a Top 40 hit for the quartet in '84.
DeleteI'd forgotten what a fine electro-pop offering Shalamar's 'Dead Giveaway' was! Because it did not come from their platinum album 'Friends' - the source of most of their big hits - it rarely appears on oldies stations' playlists.
Wilberforce, agreed totally with regard to Jay Aston's part in the video, and I would also add that she was in heavenly white as well to add to the male viewers' enjoyment. I felt that the Bucks Fizz new entry was the highlight of the whole show this week, even ahead of Zoo!
DeleteLess interesting edition this one, thanks to ho-hum material predominating.
ReplyDeleteTypifying that are Imagination whose well of inspiration has run dry. Maybe they could become a dance troupe instead? It seems to be what they always dreamt of.
Kajagoogoo, and it appears the public are cottoning on to their lack of tunes after their number one. Like the cartoons in the video, but I can't recall how this goes half an hour after hearing it.
Nick Heyward, this is more like it, excellent brass livens up a more upbeat ditty from him, though his vocals go a bit strange in places. Certainly one of his catchiest solo hits.
Shalamar, functional dance pop but no more than that. Jody once again proves how difficult it is to dance and play keyboards at the same time, so ends up hardly bothering. All sporting shades, too!
Bucks Fizz, didn't recognise the title, but once it got going I was "Oh yeah, that one". Jay's vocals are oddly yippy here, but it has an acceptable chorus if they really needed to go all serious on us.
The Truth, needed more work this one, chorus very ELO, the verses a couple of years out of date. No surprise that they megastardom eluded them, but it was easy enough to listen to.
Marillion, a band whose fans are second only to Michael Jackson's in terms of obsessive devotion. When you hear their unexceptional rock it's difficult for the uninitiated to understand why. Sort of OK, Fish was a fine frontman, but really average otherwise.
Oh, speak of the devil, here's Whackson with one of the best cuts from Thriller, maybe the best. Zoo actually coordinated for a change. What kind of vegetable, Michael?
Police still plodding along, and the great Flash and the Pan to end on, with Zoo still in unison for a change. The future definitely looks bright for them!
Agree totally with regard to The Tubes using the same song title as ELO, some four years later here. Not only the chorus THX, but they even fade out the word Confusion almost identically to the fade out on the ELO song. I'm surprised they were not pulled up on this by Jeff Lynne or the plagiarism people in pop music!
DeleteThe Truth had previously been known as Nine Below Zero which were more like the Feelgoods. Frontman Dennis Greaves had had enough of being a cult hero and wanted a bit of pop stardom. Weller might have had a hand in this did they tour with The Style Council? But it was three years too late for the mod revival - they reverted back to being NBZ
ReplyDeleteThanks to Neil for making this one available. Some interesting stuff on it, even if not all of it was to my taste!
ReplyDeleteImagination - Not a great start sadly, with a song that makes it obvious that their big hit making days were already behind them.
Kajagoogoo - And this is also average fare. Were they really on tour in this week or was Limahl, to quote Alan Partridge, in the process of being 'subject to a sacking'?
Nick Heyward - For some reason I completely forgot about this until I played it on my radio show a couple of years back. Silly me really, because it's a great little pop song.
Shalamar - More like 'When will they go away?' as far as I'm concerned. Fairly soon, I gather.
Bucks Fizz - Now you're talking. Yet another GREAT song from the group who churned out so many brilliant singles. Jay Aston is looking particularly foxy here even if her vocals verge on the...erm..interesting at times. I hope we get to see this on a future show. Do we?
The Truth - I really don't know what to make of it. They're not helped by the fact that they simultaneously sound like about half a dozen different bands from the previous few years. And even more curiously, sound a bit like Jellyfish would in the early 90s!
Marillion - Or is it Thotch?! I'm not a fan of the song, but whenever Marillion were on TOTP, Fish always gave it everything and he's an absolute legend if you ask me.
Jacko - Lots of people love this song. I've never really understood why.
Poor Flash & The Pan, getting the Zoo treatment twice effectively given that they're on the playout. But I suppose it's their fault for not being arsed to come over from Australia like Men At Work did!
I forgot to mention re the Bucks Fizz song that despite their throwaway pop nature, if the rather brilliant line 'Youth it passes while age is collected' had appeared on something supposedly credible (one of Weller's bands for example) it would have been held up as genius I expect.
DeleteThotch fans should note there's a Brian Pern tribute on BBC Four, this Wednesday at ten.
DeleteI had spotted that. It's very sad news. I'm going to get my gatefold 12" of 'I Wish I'd Told My Father How Much I Loved Him' out that day as a special tribute.
Delete"John Bartlett ate a Chinese meal, a succulent Chinese meal".... and as for "Spirit Level"!
DeleteHeard Bright Eyes on the radio just there and can't get the image of Mike Batt having it away with Jane Asher while wearing his Orinoco costume out of my head.
Deletealthough i've heard of "brian pern" i've never seen any of his shows, so i presume the mike batt/jane asher/orinoco thing (that gives a whole new meaning to the enya song!) is a made-up thing? what i did come across as a result of checking it out was a report that young children were shocked when batt was in costume on a live telly show and did a "big ron" by removing the head without realising he was still on-air, and had to apologise afterwards and even pretend that he was just filling-in for the "real" orinoco who was ill! mind you, looking at the picture of mike in this report i'm not surprised he gave the kids a shock!:
Deletehttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2074989/BBC-gaffe-sees-Womble-Orinoco-remove-head-upset-children-live-TV.html
Yes, the Brian Pern thing was a joke, and they made a gag about the Enya song too.
DeleteThe summer of 1983 was a hot one, which probably explains (though certainly does not excuse) those very short shorts Mike Read is sporting, as well the sun symbol attachments on the hosts' microphones. As they demonstrated when co-hosting one of the 1979 Christmas shows, Mike and DLT have a good chemistry and both seem to be enjoying themselves greatly, which is nice to see in the case of the former after some of his rather semi-detached recent appearances.
ReplyDeleteImagination are back, this time without any instruments and seemingly taking part in an audition for new members of Zoo. This one isn't too popular here, but I thought it was a decent attempt to move their sound on without sacrificing their distinctiveness; in any case, their time in the sun was almost up now, with just one further Top 30 hit to go. When DLT said Kajagoogoo were not in the studio I assumed it was because Limahl had been given the boot by this point, but he then reveals that they are on a European tour - even so, his departure must have been imminent. This song is nothing special, but at least it is rather more melodic than the execrable Ooh to Be Ah, and the animations in the video are nice.
The nerves Nick Heyward displayed in his first solo TOTP appearance now seem to be firmly a thing of the past, as he gallops self-confidently through this energetic and enjoyable number. From the side, one of the trumpeters looked a bit like David Cameron! Yet another group close to splitting at this point (in this incarnation, at least) were Shalamar, who nevertheless look to be having a good time here, particularly Jody Watley in her film star get-up. The song takes a while to get going, but it gradually reeled me in and is certainly a very respectable dance track.
I thought this was the best Bucks Fizz single since The Land of Make Believe. While the production is once again excessive, it suits the song on this occasion, though they should have shortened the ending a bit. The video is very big on soft focus shots, and it's nice to have Jay so prominent. Quite why she tries to sing like Hazel O'Connor I don't know, but she seems to have stumbled on the Madonna look a year before Madonna...
The Truth did sound as if they had missed the fact that the Mod Revival was well and truly over by 1983, but this was a decent enough effort, if very out of step with the times. I wonder if the band's black sweaters were a conscious attempt to pay homage to the Fabs' look on the cover of With the Beatles? As THX notes above, the passionate fanbase Marillion enjoy is a complete mystery to me, when as far as I'm concerned they are just second-rate Genesis copyists. This boring effort is particularly derivative, sounding like an offcut from the Selling England By the Pound sessions. Mr Dick is a decent frontman, but it doesn't help to save this.
Jacko next, with a well-produced if rather repetitive track that doesn't quite make the A-grade for me. Zoo put in a decent effort this time, and are also a lot more coordinated to Flash and the Pan over the credits than they were two weeks previously. I am sure the outfits they are wearing were also sported by the women who were dancing to George Benson in the previous show - was this now the official Zoo uniform?
The Mod Revival was still going strong in my neck of the woods and (at least clothes wise) would be for another year, when a lot of Mods jumped ship and became Casuals.
DeleteI guess I should have modified that by saying that it was over chartwise!
DeleteMODified that - boom boom indeed!
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ReplyDeleteThanks again Neil B for letting us see what others would deny us…
ReplyDeleteA mixed bag with the hosts on top form.
Imagination – Looking at Midnight – Don’t recall this and hurriedly FF on.
Kajagoogoo – Hang on now – Definitely diminishing returns despite the flashy video – Why King Kong?
Nick Heyward – Take that situation – Much prefer ‘Whistle down the wind’ – no Pino on bass this time?
Shalamar – Dead Giveaway – Shalamar and Imagination on the same show…same result for me.
Bucks Fizz – When we were young – Gosh I’d forgotten this one, but boy is it good! As noted, very Hazel O’Connor style vocal from Jay. My word, like Abba, this band really kicked on after Eurovision.
The Truth – Confusion (hits us every time) – Not one I recall but with Sting and the boys at no1 all I can think about is the Police’s ‘Truth hits everybody’.
Marillion – Garden Party – I was always surprised that this charted as it did as I felt the band’s debut single ‘Market Square Heroes’ was a better song. Nonetheless, Derek Dick & Co had arrived with this single edited down from over 7 minutes from the magnificent ‘Script for a Jester’s Tears’ album and also some subtle overdubs on the “I’m wining, reclining, I’m rucking, I’m….”. That title track has one of the most sublime pieces of music ever recorded by Marillion in the end section that starts “The fool escapes from Paradise will look over his shoulder and cry, sit and chew on daffodils and struggle to answer why….”. Listen and enjoy; if you know it you’ll know you know….
Michael Jackson – Wanna be startin something – Regulars of this column may have noted that I am definitely no Jacko fan and something about this one makes it even more irritating.
Police –Every breath you take – Still great. Didn’t realise Andy had a cigarette wedged in his guitar.
Flash in the Pan –Waiting for a train – Grows on me a little this one.
So no proper appearance for Rod with ‘Baby Jane’, but there’s no stopping the old rocker with this one!
I don't recall Marillion as early as 1983, and certainly don't recall this single. The first I remember them was in 1985 with their most known hit Kayleigh, so this one somehow passed me by. It was a bit like Prince only reaching our shores in a prominent way in 1984 with When Doves Cry, whereas his first single in the UK got to No.41 as early as 1980!
DeleteImagination getting a bit of a slating here but the 7" versions of their songs don't do them any justice. The Scandalous album had 4 very good 12"/Album versions of New Dimension, Looking At Midnight, Point Of No Return & Shoo Be Doo Da Dabba Doobee, all with good instrumental sections to them. Oh and Just An Illusion really should have been a No.1 song.
ReplyDeletesorry anon - i've just had a listen to the "scandalous" album, but there's little there that captures the imagination (ho ho) like on the first two albums - most of which i still love and listen to frequently!
Deletethe exception is this, which has a really weird animated (and errol-free) video accompanying it. but is it an official one made at the time, or (as is my guess) just a more-recent home-made effort by a devoted fan?:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYwGLzJvNug
It's amazing what having a D90 made for you when you are only about 5 years old and still love listening to imagination now. But listening to some of the music now that i don't remember at the time as i was too young, i know pretty much straight away whether I'd bother listening to it again.
DeleteAverage show but really enjoyed Shalamar and Bucks Fizz but I thought Travis and Read got more annoying as the show progressed. I see the production team still hadn't made their minds on whether or not to put up the start of song graphics.
ReplyDeleteImagination - overdressed for them, but their best since the early hits.
ReplyDeleteNick Heyward - don't know this one, but enjoyed it.
Bucks Fizz - I've said before I'm a closet Bucks Fizz fan, and this was a change of sound, but still enjoyable. Weird video! - never seen that.
Truth - never heard before. Two years late me thinks...
Marillion - I had an acquaintance who knew Fish, so she was always hyping their early stuff. A pleasant track, but wouldn't have thought it was a single - amazed it got to 16 (perhaps my friend bought multiple copies!)