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Well, there was enough for everyone......
04/08/83 (John Peel & Mike Smith)
Wham! – “Club Tropicana” (10)
What a great start to the show! Peaked at number 4.
The Police – “Wrapped Around Your Finger” (7) (video)
At its peak.
Kim Wilde – “Love Blonde” (34)
Got to number 23.
Galaxy featuring Phil Fearon – “Wait Until Tonight (My Love)” (37)
Peaked at number 20.
Elton John – “I’m Still Standing” (24) (video)
Made it to number 4.
Tracie – “Give It Some Emotion” (33)
Her final top 30 hit, peaking at number 24.
Bruce Foxton – “Freak” (27)
His only post Jam top 30 hit, peaking at number 23.
Shakin’ Stevens – “It’s Late” (11) (video)
At its peak.
Paul Young – “Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home)” (1) (rpt from 21/07/83)
Third and final week at number one.
Gary Byrd – TOTP rap
Gary Byrd & The GB Experience – “The Crown” (6) (audience dancing/credits)
At its peak.
Back to BBC4 again next for August 11th.
While we're indebted to to having this show put up on u-tube, it is only 23 minutes of it, and has missing the songs from Elton John, Shakin' Stevens and Paul Young in the studio for his final week at No.1. Has anyone got the full show to put up on this blog instead?
ReplyDeleteWham - nice to see such a quick turnaround after Bad Boys. This if course was still Wham mark 1, with DC Lee on board, and possibly her last song with them? Anyway, it is one of their best ones in the TOTP studio, and the video wasn't bad either, with the lead girls in bikinis...
The Police - easily their best hit, and one of their last too. Rare for TOTP to show the silent start to the video before the music sets in. They normally start a video after the music starts. What nice big candles you have Mr Sting.
Here is the link for the full show
ReplyDeletehttps://we.tl/5V4vNc3cQi
Thank you :-)
DeleteNice one Anonymous with the full uncut show. It's a pity that Freeez did not get one more play on TOTP, considering they were still sitting firmly at No.2 for the third week with IOU. Or at least a playout instead of Gary Byrd.
DeleteThanks to Angelo too for getting four TOTP shows out this week.
hosts: once again it's peelie and his younger blond sidekick. oh, hang on - its not kid... sorry david jensen this time, but mike "smarmy" smith. who immediately shows that unlike jensen, he has no rapport with peel whatsoever
ReplyDeletewham: probably seen by many these days as cheesy cocktail funk and typifying what was wrong with 80's music. but this was my favourite of theirs (that i'm not ashamed to admit to), and it still sounds infectious and irrestistable to my ears. i particularly love the wordless harmony vocals (mainly by george himself rather than pepsi and shirley, who are given little to do other than sway back and forth in black leotards) and the ivory tinkling. it looks like their old chum david austin gets another invitation to share the stage with them - this time doing some rather odd things with what looks like a bedsheet!
police: and the good stuff continues with what is (like wham) their finest effort for me. and i also loved the video (made by godley and creme to my recollection) with all the slo-mo effects and the massed banks of candles. which reminds me of the shaolin temple scenes in the classic 70's series "kung-fu"... which by coincidence i'm actually watching on dvd at the moment! oh, i forget to mention that my favourite bit in the track is in the middle section, where stewart copeland does one of his trademark pinging snare whacks half way through!
kim wilde: i suppose it was too good to last, as we go from one insipid blond(e) to another. i don't remember this cod-swing effort (that was obviously done by machines than actual musicians) at all. kim tries her best as a sex-kitten but vocally she's no peggy lee, being no-more suited for this kind of thing than she was for the lighweight synth pop that preceded it
galaxy: another one that either passed me by at the time or i've since forgotten. more fair-to-middling brit-post disco as lady diana and helen shapiro swap places this time. phil's also got a band of sorts with him as well, although nothing they "play" can actually be heard on the recording! i got bored of this tune-free effort pretty quickly and (in contrast to the invitation from the backing singers) the only reason i stuck around was to see if phil would perform another back flip or similar gymnastic feat, and i was not to be disappointed in that respect. but like his music, it's getting a bit samey and repetitive now!
tracie: i don't know if the backing was re-recorded for the show or not, but it sounds like it's being played by people who don't really know what they're doing. tracie's mistake was to carry on performing solo (for which she paid the price as far as her career as a pop singer was concerned) - perhaps she should have hooked up with another couple of modestly talented-but-reasonably attractive girl-next-door types in order to give bananarama a run for their money? in that respect, fellow performer on this show kim wilde comes to mind as a candidate. but who would be the third nana-clone?
bruce foxton: i remember his ill-fated stab at a solo career post-jam, before spending many years with stiff little fingers and then ending up in a jam tribute act! but not what this sounded like. as a sort-of nod to the 60's soul scene it's much better than the recent truth effort, and actually quite enjoyable. although bruce shouts out the word "freak" a bit too often as it goes on, which might explain its failure to get much higher in the charts?
Pepsi hadn't yet arrived to join Shirley, cos DC Lee was still there on this TOTP studio performance and on the iconic video for Club Tropicana. I think Pepsi joined Wham later in the Wham singles catalogue, but I'm not sure when. I must admit that Kim Wilde's sexy black leather dress was probably the highlight of the show.
DeleteI think Pepsi was on board by the time of the next "proper" Wham single, which was Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go.
DeleteThanks to Anonymous for providing the whole show. Kid was on his summer hols this week, so Peel has to make do with Smitty instead. On paper this sounds like a real chalk-and-cheese combination, but while they don't share many links they do actually manage some humorous interaction, and Smitty is less irritating here than in some of his previous outings.
ReplyDeleteFor me, Club Tropicana was the Great Leap Forward in George Michael's career, the moment when his songwriting really began to mature. This was arguably THE sound of the summer of '83, and it remains a benchmark for feelgood, fun pop music. Good staging for this performance too, with George showing off his dancing skills before strumming a guitar and sitting down at the piano. Andrew is confined to strumming duties, while Dee C and Shirlie don't get much to do but are able to show off some very of-their-time hats. The glittery palm trees look impressive, but perhaps end up evoking Christmas more than summer!
I like the massed candles in the Police video, but all the slow motion jumping around gets a bit wearisome after a time - Sting appears to be dressed for a judo session. Kim Wilde's career then takes an unexpected turn as she comes over all Stray Cats. This actually wasn't too bad, but Kim's black leather dress lingers in the mind rather more than the song does! Phil Fearon returns next, with more by-the-numbers pop-soul which is forgotten as soon as it is heard. Everything about this feels stale and deja vu, right down to Phil's seemingly compulsory spot of acrobatics.
Elton's return to form continues with this excellent upbeat effort, the first song of his for which I retain a clear memory. As Smitty says, the choreography for the video (presumably shot in the south of France), is impressive, though I would hardly put it in the Busby Berkeley class. Elt smacks the bottom of a nubile young lovely at one point, a reminder that he was now in his heterosexual phase, with that bizarre marriage to Renate looming on the horizon. Although Tracie said in The Story of 1983 that she hated having to interact with those two dancers, she actually carries it off quite well. The song is clearly trying to capture the 60s Motown sound, but doesn't really come close, not helped by Tracie's flat vocals - no surprise really that her pop career ran into the sand after this.
More Weller connections up next. I have never knowingly heard a Bruce Foxton solo record before, and this certainly has a lot of energy, but is ruined by a level of overproduction that would blight a lot of records in the mid-80s. Shaky serves up an amusing video full of toff vampires, though I am sure that if he had turned up to the dinner party on time and properly dressed, they would have been much more friendly! Gary Byrd shows up at the end to do a cringey goodbye rap, and as the audience dance to The Crown the continuity announcer tells us that Gary will be teaching us how to do "the rap" on Breakfast Time the following morning - I bet that was worth getting up early for...
I would say that it is a close run contest between Wham and Freeez for THE sound of summer '83. In my opinion, IOU edges Club Tropicana, and it also stayed a lot longer in the charts during the summer of '83.
DeleteAt the holiday park where my parents took us to, Freeez and KC & The Sunshine Band were the 2 that got most airplay. I don't remember Wham getting a look in at all, strangely.
DeleteIndeed, I was just being kind to John G.
DeleteFreeez and KC sunshine Band were the radio favourites and holiday park favourites by a mile, as they transcended the charts to the top levels.
Freeez remained in the Top 3 for five weeks, including three weeks at No.2 during the long hot summer of 1983.
IOU is one of those rare disco/dance tracks that has stood up well through the years, and still gets people on the dance floor in a jiffy if ever there was a tune needed to do so.
Dory - I was thinking more in terms of posterity, rather than what was being played the most at the time - I was only 3 in the summer of 1983, so can't really remember! However, in the years since I have heard Club Tropicana more often on the radio than either Give it Up or (especially) IOU, so I think it does have a claim to be the most enduring song from that summer.
DeleteJohn, I thought you were older, certainly by means of the maturity on your blogs. So if you're still in your late 30s now, and I'm in my late 40s, and we're debating on the summer of 1983, then I look forward to the summer of 84 with the same banter.
DeleteAlthough I can trace my earliest musical memories to 1983, I have a clearer recall of 1984, and once we reach that summer I will make mention of the records that really stuck in my head at the time!
DeleteThe earliest record I remember getting stuck in my head was Lazybones by Jonathan King, annoyingly. The earliest I remember on the radio was The Wombling Song, on Noel Edmonds' breakfast show on the kitchen set.
DeleteGoodness, Wham knew their target audience by this stage, just laser precision on what they wanted to hear, from every word of the lyrics to every note of the tune. The drinks are free! You can suntan! (Is that a verb?)
ReplyDeleteAnd now to bring down the mood, Sting does his Plastic Bertrand impersonation, pogoing through the candles to this doleful ditty. Just a bit too AOR for me.
Kim Wilde gets her leather frock on for a song I have no memory of, but it's not so bad, and she is clearly having fun performing it. I think synth suits her more than swing, however.
Galaxy with tumbling Phil, his stunt is about the only thing that's interesting about this - OK, maybe the golden cummerbund as a fashion statement too. My mind started wandering around three seconds in.
Elton with possibly his finest eighties hit, a lot of people might have bought this because the liked the video, but it's a rollicking tune away from that too, though the vid is very decent (and very saucy for pre-watershed TV). Everybody remembers this one.
And nobody remembers Tracie's follow up to her bigger hit, sounds very Continental, in that it should have been clogging up the Dutch charts we saw a few weeks ago, not because it's sophisticated. Not the worst thing ever, but a bit tinny and cheap.
Bruce Foxton quickly realising it wasn't him who people bought Jam records for. This comes across like the theme tune to a Channel 4 show, all overemphatic attitude and just trying too hard to be hard hitting.
Well, it was the era of the video nasty and here's Shaky with his own terrifying take on that moral panic. No, it's not Cannibal Holocaust, but what do you expect from the man? "It's late" = "after midnight and the ghoulies come out". Missus.
Yeah, Paul, whatever, but here's Gary Byrd every bit the slick voiceover professional with a rapping tutorial in twenty seconds. You wouldn't get Patrick Allen doing this, so appreciate it.
Have a nice holiday, Angelo!
Elton John video - Was that the one Bruno whatsit from Strictly was in?
ReplyDeletePaul Gambaccini on Pick of the Pops this week described Kajagoogoo's Ooh To Be A as "pole vaulting" into the charts and I'm still not sure if it was an innuendo or not. Just thought I'd mention it.
ReplyDeleteWell I was thinking that as well as compiling a ‘Big Hits’ for each year, the BBC could compile a kind of ‘Hits you’ll miss ‘cos we won’t be broadcasting the shows that they’re on’ edition (need to work on a more punchy title perhaps?). However, there’s not much to lift from this show…
ReplyDeleteWham – Club Tropicana - ….except this one. Epitomises the Wham sound and image at the time. An absolute delight from start to finish. This made no4 and New Edition made no1 (sigh!).
Police –Wrapped around your Finger – This gets missed again by BBC4 but we only see a short bit of this atmospheric song here. The Police may have been bickering behind the scenes but their output on ‘Synchronicity’ (‘Mother’ aside) was pretty awesome.
Kim Wilde – Love Blonde – Written by Dad again, I don’t recall this at all. Admirers of Kim’s fetching frock will be pleased to know that it is featured on the single’s picture sleeve (front and back!).
Galaxy – Wait until tonight – I waited a few seconds before FF
Elton John – I’m still standing – Missing from the YT posting but it’s a classic EJ rocker as we all know.
Tracie – Give it some emotion – I actually prefer this lesser hit from Tracie to her debut single, but my goodness, what a load of waffle on the single’s sleeve! Nice trousers!
Bruce Foxton – Freak – Don’t recall and not really impressive.
Shakin’ Stevens – It’s late – missing from the YT
Paul Young – Wherever I lay my hat – Mostly missing too.
Presenters – we actually get JP with someone other than David Jensen – that’s a first! Not sure about the ‘emotion’ bit from Smithie.
Thanks to Calvin Henderson for the YT posting that I viewed…
sadly all the police's albums were patchy as a result of a power struggle within the band where the other two (who had much more industry experience than sting) appeared to insist on having at least one songwriting credit on each one, despite sting's obvious superiority in that department (obvious to everyone else, anyway!). that was likely not only a big reason for the rancour within the band, but also why sting split and went solo!
DeleteYou've Been Yewtreed?
DeleteIt was nice to see a recording from the original broadcast, promising us Gary Byrd on Breakfast Time the following morning! Sadly I didn't follow his rapping tips enough to become a professional.
ReplyDeleteOn a personal note, many songs here are repeated in the edition 2 weeks later which I have kept and watched many times so this one wasn't too exciting for me. I didn't think Peel and Smith were too bad actually, at least they were both trying to make a virtue of the mismatch.
Wham! - Here's the one that it's a real shame to miss out on BBC4-wise since I know that they show the video next time. A great, fun performance but I'm not sure they'd be allowed a working shower in the studio these days....
Kim Wilde - Very much one of her weaker efforts, what was with all the swing / jive rubbish around at this time?
Galaxy - Bland and forgettable.
Elton John - Good song and video which have both become a bit over-familiar as the years have gone by.
Tracie - I know she objected to having the dancers imposed on her (as revealed in the documentary) but to be fair, something was required to liven up this really boring effort.
Bruce Foxton - Hmm...it's not terrible, but I don't really like it much either.
Holding my breath everyone, I hope we're all ready for another 4 TOTP episodes in the next couple of days, with three episodes going up tomorrow night I think.Good Lord, that is 8 episodes over two weekends in April. Good thing it is the Easter weekend with more time to blog.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone got the 18th & 25th Aug episodes that BBC4 will be skipping, i.e., the ones with DLT and Mike Smith? It's pity that they never co-hosted the same edition, so that BBC4 would only miss out one instead of two episodes this week!
We will also be busy next week, with 3 shows at a minimum to get through, and a Yewtreed fourth show to follow before the week after. That will also take us to the end of the Zoo era.
DeleteGood Lord, then this month of April will probably beat the record of 15 shows put up by Angelo in a single month!
DeleteRIP J. Geils, passed away at 71. The fact he was in his seventies is almost as much of a surprise as his sudden death, I keep forgetting how long ago these repeats were.
ReplyDeleteHere is a link for the UK Gold showing of 18th Aug
ReplyDeletehttps://we.tl/hj5XrrKQUg
Thanks for this. The 25 August show is on YouTube, courtesy of Calvin Henderson, with the first bit of the 1 September edition thrown in for good measure:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CmG5TK1RfM
This episode must have have shown really early on in the UK Gold TOTP 80s reruns if we are to assume that Mike Smith objected shortly afterwards.
DeleteWould someone be able to make the July 21st show available again please, tried to download it today but it's been deleted, got a little behind!
ReplyDeletevimeo.com/212275732
ReplyDeleteThank you
DeleteIt's not very often I get to see a Peelie edition these days, so this was a real bonus!
ReplyDeleteMusic wise, it was 'Wake Me Up Before You Go Go' which made me realise that Wham! were more than just noise merchants, but with hindsight it's obvious that their turning point was right here.
This was also the time I started to go off Kim Wilde - it was evident that the 'image' people had got their grubby mitts on her and she was losing her 'girl next door' charm. She even had a 'proper' backing band - no brother and producer's son standing in any more.
Unlike Kim Wilde two years previously, Tracie was just a skinny kid.
Wham - crikey they were prolific..
ReplyDeleteKim Wilde - quite a change of direction here. Don't know this one. (Was it me, or did it sound a bit like a cross between love cats and stray cat strut?...) nice outfit...
Galaxy - rent a disco...
Elton John - his last great rocker
Bruce Foxton - what jam would have done if Weller hadn't left. Haven't seen this clip before, but I bought it on import in the States...
To put it into perspective Charlie, Wham had at this point churned out their fourth hit in as little as 9 months or so since their debut in Nov 1982. All four songs made top 10 status with only Wham Rap failing to make the top 5. You could say that this was job done for Wham, and could not have expected to make No.1 for any of these singles in their debut year 1982/83.
DeleteAfter Club tropicana, there would be a complete break for the next 9 months or so till mid-1984, for a slight line-up re-juggle, where DC Lee would be replaced by Pepsi, another black girl to join the adorable Shirlie Holliman. This break would do wonders for Wham to take them into No.1 status for the first time with their new mark 2 phase in mid-1984 when they returned with Wake Me Up Before You Go Go.