Robert can barely contain his Christmas spirit
29/12/83 (Gary Davies, Adrian John, Peter Powell, Richard Skinner & Tommy Vance)
JoBoxers – “Boxerbeat”
Mike Oldfield – “Moonlight Shadow” (video)
Thompson Twins – “Love On Your Side”
Tracey Ullman – “They Don’t Know” (video)
The Cure – “The Love Cats”
Jonathan King – US chart rundown ~ edited out
Michael Sembello – “Maniac” (video clip)
The Police – “Every Breath You Take” (live clip)
Phil Collins – “You Can’t Hurry Love” (video)
The Belle Stars – “Sign Of The Times”
Paul Young – “Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home)” (video)
Siouxsie & The Banshees – “Dear Prudence”
Spandau Ballet – “True”
Howard Jones – “New Song”
Rod Stewart – “Baby Jane” (video)
The Style Council – “Long Hot Summer”
Culture Club – “Karma Chameleon”
Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson – “Say Say Say” (audience dancing/credits)
Today's festive schedule
Next up, it's the Story of 1984 followed by Big Hits 1984!
Link for this show
ReplyDeletehttps://we.tl/Auj5Twk5lo
Great stuff, this tops the BBC4 showing by having the JK section intact, thanks.
Delete25733 delete extra frames
Delete31020 ok
Cheers anon for this, I've edited the JK part from it back into the BBC4HD version:
https://www.4shared.com/video/yhDmtG_8ei
While I'm at it, I also put up a restoration of 14/7/83, which was one of the more challenging to fix due to there being additional BBC4 cuts at the start and end which I had to sort, as well as the original UK Gold recording having serious issues. But I did my best:
https://www.4shared.com/video/U8bI-R73ca
And thanks to brie's helpfulness in providing an alternate recording, I went back and redid my previous restoration of 23/3/83 so that the link into JK isn't interrupted by a badly-placed ad break any longer:
https://www.4shared.com/video/zRj2TPNtei
And ignore first two lines above... that's what you get for copy / pasting from notepad without paying attention :)
DeleteThanks to Anonymous for making the JK section available, though the only mildly interesting thing about it was the fact that, despite the "Second British Invasion" now being in full swing, only 3 of the Top 10 best-selling singles in the US for 1983 were British. Can't help feeling The Police got a little short-changed too, being relegated to a short live clip despite being having one of the biggest number 1s of the year, both here and across the Pond.
ReplyDeleteOverall this was the better of the two Christmas shows, with superior songs and a good hosting line-up, though why the hopelessly untelegenic and awkward Adrian John was included I don't know. The rest were all good, Dickie and Tommy especially. Nice to see the atmospheric Moonlight Shadow video, which featured Francesca Gonshaw, Maria the waitress from 'Allo 'Allo, as the young lady in the cloak.
This show also featured more studio performances than the Christmas Day one, and it was nice to see Jed back with tinsel on his chains for New Song. The Kemp brothers appeared to be growing mullets, Tom Bailey yet again had shades dangling from his neck (why?), Robert Smith put in a double shift with The Cure and Siouxsie and The Style Council make out that Long Hot Summer features banjo and congas, though it doesn't sound like it to me...
Anyway, thanks as ever to Angelo for blogging so promptly during the '83 reruns, despite the relentless onslaught of shows in some weeks. Hopefully 1984 will be a little easier, as there are slightly fewer banned shows and I suspect that, assuming BBC4 want to spin the year out until Christmas, we will also get a summer break.
yes, the kemps and their colleague steve norman were among the many that fell for the dreaded mullet hairstyle, that probably reached its peak in 1984/5. i too had something similar at the time, although i like to think it was more mad max than billy the fish!
DeleteJust seen on Wikipedia that JK has been charged again a few days ago in May 2017 for more historic offences, and a fresh set of convictions. It seems the 72-year old has his name covered in mud for the rest of his life.
DeleteI hadn't realised that, but in the current climate it's hardly surprising. That ensures for definite that none of JK's USA segments will be seen on BBC4.
Deletethere are currently plans to wipe out all athletics world records gained before 2005. so why can't they do likewise with regard to "historical" sex crimes, and save an awful lot of time and (the public's) money?
DeleteI always think the term "historical abuse" implies that the accused was dressed up as Henry VIII.
DeleteYes, thanks Angelo for all your work on 1983. Always great reading.
ReplyDeleteYep, thanks to Angelo for the hard work!
ReplyDeleteAccording to Digiguide, The Story of 1984 and Big Hits 1984 are on 2nd June, and then the episodes proper start the next week with 5/1/84 on 8th June followed by 12/1/84 on 9th June. So no obvious summer break. Maybe, they've given up with trying to show xmas episodes at xmas. It became kind of pointless once they started doing two years in one, anyway.
My thinking was that, if there is a summer break, it would be during the Proms season as it has been in previous years, but it really depends on how keen they are to finish '84 at Xmas and then start the next year (assuming there is going to be another year) in January. We'll find out soon enough!
DeleteThank you, and thank you to everyone who contributes to the comments, making it always such a lively and informative read. Can't believe it's almost 1984 already, and still haven't decided on a blog title for the year - other than definitely ruling out Sex Crime!
DeleteAngelo - can I suggest The Closest Thing To Heaven as a possible title as 1984 was such a great (heavenly) year for pop, in fact for me it was probably the last really great year,
DeleteYeah, I love The Kane Gang.
DeleteThat's a very good suggestion, bama :-)
DeleteClosest Thing To heaven was probably the last 'great' single of the 80s. I remember buying the LP at our price, and I was just completely immersed by the songs on it as a 16-year old during that year and looking for my first girlfriend around the time of my O Levels.
DeleteThe song Closest Thing To Heaven had the opening lyrics "here they come, lonely boy and a lonely girl....they can't say where they're going". The rest is history.
Ooh yeah, I do like the blog title of Long Hot TOTP, as this Bank Holiday weekend is a long hot one, and so very aptly titled Angelo, even though there is a song in this week's show to get the blog title from, but nice co-incidence I must say!
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the sunshine :-)
DeleteThe Moonlight Shadow video was the highlight of the show for me, as it was shown for the first time on TOTP on this Xmas show, as the summer TOTP editions had Maggie Riley twice in the studio, and we never got to see back then in summer '83 what was a lavish and well-produced video there was.
ReplyDeleteI particularly liked the three songs in a row from Moonlight Shadow to Tracey Ullman's They Don't Know. The Thompson Twins favourite single of mine Love On Your Side, wins best intro of '83, as I just love the way the song begins with that unique melodic sound just before the first lyrics. What a superb debut for single for anyone in 1983, let alone The Thompson Twins.
Then we get to see the brilliant Michael Sembello track on the JK section, which I was amazed was not released as a single in the UK, as I bought the Flashdance album at the time and found this song to be the next best thing on it after the title song Flashdance (What A Feeling). The mind boggles as to why the Brits never got this released in their charts.
Why oh why do the Belle Stars love dressing up in mens clothes? Come on girls, you got nice figures, so why not show them off a bit, instead of going for tuxedos this week? Good Lord, onto 1984 please!
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteDory, well absolutely. Mike and Maggie steal the show here with a fabulous video that also shows ace drummer Simon Phillips a little more than the ToTP appearance did.
DeleteMichael Sembello's 'Maniac' did get a Uk release reaching the dizzy heights of no43 in August.
http://www.45cat.com/record/can1017
Nice to see Tracey Ullman again with that 10 pin bowling ball!
May I echo the thanks to Angelo for this Blog that gives so much pleasure! Steve
Agreeing with John G, this was the better show with more variety and fewer obvious selections -though naturally they couldn't get away with not playing True and Karma Chameleon, fair enough.
ReplyDeleteWere they dice earrings on Maggie in the Moonlight Shadow video? Hard to tell. Also hard to tell was what was written on the drummer's T-shirt, "1 International Drummer's..." something? Very cryptic.
Sign of the Times still sounds good, and the ladies looked very smart and cheery even if they didn't twig their chart career was more or less over.
Was Jed writing a letter to Points of View in the instrumental break, with the emphasis on the "mental"?
Why do they always cut off Baby Jane when the saxophone starts up? Does something happen in the video they'd rather we didn't see?
Nobody could have predicted how apt The Style Council were for the current weather in this repeat showing, though it's got thundery here. Mick looked a bit Kermit-esque with his banjo.
Nice to see Adrian John, I would listen to him in bed before the Breakfast Show came on and it was time to get up for school. A very nice man.
I always got Adrian John confused with Adrian Juste, the latter was a piss-poor Kenny Everett impersonator but was Adrian John any good?
DeleteI think he was, he had a gentle manner about him that was offset with a love for ridiculous humour. I can't think of anyone like him now, no idea if he's even still broadcasting. Not the greatest DJ ever, but just right for waking up early and getting your bearings before the day started proper.
DeleteI didn't listen to Adrian John very often, but I can confirm that he was 1000% better than Sarah Kennedy ever was in that time slot. But probably not as good as Alex Lester & Janice Long were.
DeleteMany thanks Angelo for keeping this blog going (at a faster rate than I can keep up with it!), I've downloaded this one to view later, but as usual for this period of the show I won't have much to say about it.
ReplyDeleteWell I went to the Kaleidoscope event in Birmingham yesterday and saw the 06/06/74 show. It's notable for the first appearance of Sue Menhenick - fascinating to see her as the 'new girl' when I'm used to her being the senior, matriarch even, figure during the later years of Legs & Co. The show also confirmed something for me - that bit in the Who performance on the 500th edition where a frustrated Pete Townshend initiates Moonie's usual demolition act was used in a title sequence (seeing this performance online in recent years stirred a very early memory). And Noel Edmonds' links were most definitely unrehearsed!
There were many 'well established' artists who were around during the previous decade appearing in this show - The Pearls (I knew that they were two former Vernons Girls but never realised that they looked quite so ancient!), Ray Stevens (live but with rather obvious edits), The Scaffold, Cozy Powell, Cilla Black and Paul Raven (Gadd).
The Sparks performance, where the windshield falls off Russell's mic, has been around for years - I think it was originally on the BBC's 'Sounds Of The '70s' series in the 1990s, though interestingly there's no mention of its previous existence in the usual online reference sources.
The Rubettes' performance (No.1) wasn't shown in full since the end credits were rolled over it and the broadcast finished shortly afterwards, but it was good to hear a different - and 'correct' - recording having become so accustomed to the Christmas '74 performance where they mimed to the single with the Paul Da Vinci vocal.
Also shown was an edition of 'So It Goes' from 1976 which included a short clip of Rogue. Funny how a band from 40 years ago which I had never heard of crops up twice in quick succession!
Fascinating stuff, 20CR - but do you mean The Who bit was used in a TOTP title sequence or in a different programme? I don't remember it either way.
DeleteIt was in the title sequence for this edition, which consisted of brief 1-2 second snippets of a number of the artists of the day (Lynsey de Paul and Gary Glitter were two others). Obviously a shot of a drum kit being kicked over would make the greatest impression on a young mind. I've no idea for how long this title sequence was used.
DeleteIt may explain why the 500th edition exists as a colour film recording, as it was likely that prints from this (and probably other shows from around the same time) would have been used for the making of the title sequence.
by chance i've just watched a cockney crim comedy movie called "johnny was" with vinnie jones as the titular character, and one of the support "actors" (i have put that word in parentheses as most of those in it were either pop or sports stars!) was the ageless roger daltrey of the who. which of course reminds me of his appearance as a guest host on the show in 1980 with his now-infamous "watch your backs" comment!
Deletei don't remember if anybody pointed this out at the time, but (unlike many back then) having lived in the capital and been in the music biz for many years, then surely he must have had at least a passing acquaintance with homosexuals (even one of his own managers was gay). so there would have been no excuse for ignorance on his part!
What everyone (including the BBC, but no surprises there) seems to overlook is that the comment in question was made in the context of a film insert of a group from the other side of the Atlantic who cultivated an intentional image of 'gayness' (for want of a better term) as an integral part of their act. Roger Daltrey comes across as a decent chap (if somewhat hot-headed in his younger days) and I would have thought it unlikely that he would ever say such things amongst and with regard to friends and colleagues.
DeleteWith Jan 1984 round the corner, it is going to be interesting to see how BBC4 edits out JK and Gary Glitter as performers on 70s video clips in the first TOTP episode of 1984. Suffice to say that thankfully we will be back to only two episodes a week for Jan 1984, as no blogging overtime for Yewtreed episodes will be required.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I just noticed that Popscene has left out the No.1 singles for a few episodes across Jan-Feb 1984. Good Lord, there must have been a No.1 in the charts!
There was indeed a number 1, but it was Relax, which by that point the BBC had banned, hence its non-appearance on TOTP. Given it stayed at the top for 5 weeks, that must have got pretty embarrassing for the Beeb! I'm afraid that the last show of Jan 84 will also be skipped, as Mike Smith is one of the hosts - it looks as if this year 14 shows will be out of bounds to BBC4.
DeleteYes John, but that doesn't explain why Popscene should wipe it out of history during the time it was at No.1, especially as they list it as a new entry at No.35 for the first show of the year. Popscene is no BBC4 you know, and they should just list facts, as they don't show TV programmes like the Beeb does.
DeleteDory, the BBC ban was in 1984, not now, which is why Relax was never featured on TOTP while it was at number 1. It did feature on the first show of the year, but that was before the ban, which remained in place throughout its time at number 1. Popscene only list what was on each show, and Relax was excluded throughout its five weeks at the top.
DeleteI've no doubt the banning of Relax will be in the 'Story Of' show this week. Didn't the beeb relent later in the year? I'm sure it was on the Christmas show.
DeleteThe original 12 inch version of Relax was quite different from the one that got to number one. For some reason they remixed it and pretended the first one never existed.
Deletei was once briefly acquainted with a poet called graham palmer who recorded a parody of "relax" (under the name "graham goes to hanwell") that snidely commented on the practice of frankie's record company exploiting joe public with a plethora of "relax" remixes. it was actually called "remix" and the lyrics went "it's a remix, and it's boring - i can hear you snoring":
Deletehttps://www.discogs.com/Graham-Palmer-If-The-Face-Fits/release/2453737
sadly it's not on the internet (i must get around to putting it up on yt some day), but this equally sardonic heebeegeebees send-up is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpa46D1q9vo
The clip is I think fairly well known, but I thought I would post a link to Frankie's first appearance on The Tube, with a pre-Horn version of Relax:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVJMMT9nXRI
Steve - the Beeb did indeed lift the ban by the time of the Christmas show.
John, I think your clip is the first time Frankie appeared on TV for the performance and interview with Jools in summer '83 when Relax was first unleashed on The Tube, and then they appeared on the Tube studio in December '83 in the second half of this clip:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBAEdRzvKqM
It is important to take stock of the above two appearances on The Tube in the 6 months leading up to their debut on TOTP on the first TOTP show of 1984 which I think we will see next week.
In each of the two 1983 tube performances of Relax, they had girls in black underwear, firstly the summer '83 recording in Frankie's own Liverpool set, and then in Dec 1983 in the Tube studio. TOTP then picked up where The Tube left off at the end of 1983 with Relax now ready for chart action.
Thanks for that Dory - you can certainly see and hear the transformation effected in a few short months!
Deletethe original version was a somewhat ordinary piece of funk that tried to fudge two completely different tunes together - given that trevor horn ditched one bit and turned what was left into a heavily-synthesised electro-dance track (with most of the frankie musicians' contributions ending up on the cutting room floor), one wonders what he saw them in the first place? it surely couldn't have been the tune given there was barely one present, that's for sure. and even the S&M visual element was toned down somewhat (the ladies were handed their P45's!) by horn and/or his people/record company...
DeleteYes the band originally performed the song on The Tube in a more basic style (before they were replace by other musicians) but I'm talking about the first ZTT 12 inch version that was released in October 1983, it was 16mins long:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHCWXHG3NY8
We used to play this al the time in the shop I worked in but once it crept up the chart ZTT remixed it as the "New York" mix that everyone knows and loves and this one was forgotten (although it has appeared on a few CDs since).
releasing versions of album or 7" single tracks as remixes on 12" by trendy DJ's was really getting into overdrive at this point - i think someone here pointed out that the smiths were early "beneficiaries" of this practice with "this charming man", and indeed james ingram had to wait until for over a year when a remixed version of "yah mo be there" by jellybean benitez finally gave him a hit
Deletei remember being actually quite excited at the concept of others taking standard commercial mixes and giving them a makeover (of course the remix had already been in effect since the disco era, but up until now it had been about extending the track and taking stuff away for breakdowns, rather than adding and changing things to make it actually sound different). but then the disappointing reality hit me, in that above-mentioned jellybean effort was the first of many where i thought the original version was actually far superior!
Bama, the 16 minute version of Relax that you kindly supplied the link for, sounds in the first instance as nothing more than a "New Order" style jam between friendly musicians from Liverpool, and this 'song' evolved from being a jam from mid-1983 on The Tube when Frankie was introduced to the public for the first time on the new Channel 4 at the time, and was then subsequently honed in to its commercial release in January 1984 into the charts and TOTP, as we will see on the first show of 1984 next week as a new entry at No.35 to start off the show, and indeed the first song of the year presented on TOTP on the 20th Anniversary edition!
DeleteSad to hear the news of the passing of John Noakes today, former Blue Peter presenter at the age of 83. Noakes was a regular on our TV screens on Blue Peter with his dog Shep through the time of these TOTP repeats, and was probably as familiar as many of the TOTP hosts. And this only days after the passing of Sir Roger Moore, so it has been a sad week all round.
ReplyDeletedidn't gilbert o'sullivan sing a song about his dog? and by the way dory: roger moore didn't make it to 90 in the end, so never count your chickens in that when someone is that old they'll see their next birthday!
DeleteI assume you're joking with us Wilby. It was of course The Barron Knights who did a song about Shep (Get Down Shep) in 1978 which the year Noaskes left Blue Peter.
DeleteAs a kid he was a big hero of mine and I thought the BBC treated him disgracefully after they wouldn't let him use Shep in a TV commercial and they dropped his Go With Noakes show. In fact I don't think he appeared on the BBC for many years.
It was The Barron Knights who did the 'Get Down Shep' song. I have a lot to thank John Noakes for - some brilliant TV memories of course, but also my nickname (as used on here!) which became part of my 'radio name'.
Deleteyes bama i was joking about gilbert o'sullivan, but he had a no.1 hit in 1973 with a song called "get down" that was apparently about a dog - so given how popular john noakes and shep were at the time, you never know. i remember really liking that tune at the time but i only discovered its follow-up "ooh baby" very recently, and gilb gets really funky with the clavinet-style licks!:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baxkOKHFMYg
and noax, i never made the connection with you and your late near-namesake!
The great John Noakes showed up again on the BBC on the 80s infotainment show FAX, where he broke the news Shep had died - and broke down in tears.
DeleteWilb - was the song really about a dog or was that just how Miss Colby interpreted it?
DeleteRIP John and thanks for the memories, another piece of TV's Golden Age gone.
"get down" does contain the line "you're a bad dog, baby", so flick had a right to interprete it literally. but if as suggested on wiki that it's an allegory for a girlfriend, then it's a pretty demeaning one - intentionally or otherwise! anyway, here's the classic pans people clip - best moment being where one of the mutts decides he's had enough after a mere 30 seconds of the song... or is he actually taking notice of gilbert's instructions?:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFVueJSJuEM
The Guinness Book of No1 Hits states that it was a plea to his dog to get off the furniture. Sounds reasonable to me!
DeleteLook Back With Noakes, a retitled repeat of "Go With Noakes" was on that week's TV schedule.
DeleteA few years ago I found a load of video tapes of old TOTP shows in a skip that someone had thrown out and this was the earliest show I found so I have seen this show a few times. A great lively party atmosphere and the highlight for me was The Style Council but there are lots of other gems including The Cure and The Thompson Twins.
ReplyDeleteI feel sorry for The Joboxers, maybe they didn't know that this was as good as it was going to get but it's nice to see them again although I would have preferred Just Got Lucky.
The same is true of The Belle Stars, Sign Of The Times was their only big moment but they're making the most of it.
Nice to finally see the Moonlight Shadow video and be reminded of others especially Tracy Ullman's classic They Don't Know.
All-in-all a great post-Christmas show and a reminder of what a great year 1983 was for pop music.
Definitely better than the other Christmas show, 2 No.1 artists in the studio (OK, I'd gladly never hear either song again, but it's right that they were there) and a good variety of songs.
ReplyDeleteHow lucky are we that, unusually, neither Savile nor DLT were on call for this one? You have to assume that one was originally pencilled in and later replaced by Adrian John. I feel a bit sorry for him, as he's not comfortable but he's not as hyper as Adrian Juste was when he was allowed on before, and also infinitely preferable to Steve Wright!
posting death notices on this blog is not the norm for me, but i thought the passing of general noriega should get a mention. ironically it was this year (1983) that he became dictator of panama, but that isn't the reason i mention him. it's because several years later when the united states government tried to depose him, the US military flushed him out of the embassy he had taken refuge in via the method of playing continuous rock music at extremely loud volume!
ReplyDeleteregarding the new name for 1984 totp: sorry angelo but unlike last year, (to paraphrase the old knight of the grail in "the last crusade") i think that you chose... poorly!
ReplyDeleteWell I nearly went for If It Happens Again, but decided Time After Time was a bit more snappy, perhaps like the crocodiles waiting beneath that bridge :-)
Delete