I'm feeling gladioli all over
24/11/83 (Simon Bates & Richard Skinner)
Paul Young – “Love Of The Common People” (5)
Paul's already got his festive jumper out to perform this wonderfully atmospheric cover of the Nicky Thomas hit from 1970. Helped out here by the simply gorgeous Fabulously Wealthy Tarts, Paul's version made it to number 2.
Tina Turner – “Let’s Stay Together” (16) (video)
Tina Turner was just two days short of her 44th birthday would you believe! This cover of Al Green's 1972 original was famously produced by Martyn Ware and Greg Walsh of Heaven 17, and it peaked at number 6 and totally re-ignited Tina's career beyond her wildest possible dreams.
The Smiths – “This Charming Man” (30)
Making their studio debut before rushing straight off back to Manchester to perform at the Hacienda that night, This Charming Man went up five more places.
Thompson Twins – “Hold Me Now” (14)
Peaked at number 4 but edited out of tonight's 7.30 showing.
Marilyn – “Calling Your Name” (9)
That's quite a pair of goggles he's sporting there and he saw the song go up to number 4.
Simple Minds – “Waterfront” (25)
Jim Kerr looking very smart in his suit here and the excellent Waterfront made a splash in the charts and peaked at number 13.
The Style Council – “A Solid Bond In Your Heart” (11) (video)
Originally this was going to be the Jam's final single, but Paul Weller changed his mind, and now it was already at its chart peak.
Billy Joel – “Uptown Girl” (1) (video)
Fourth week at number one for this clever Four Seasons homage.
Eurythmics – “Right By Your Side” (15) (audience dancing/credits)
Peaked at number 10.
The first ever Now album was released four days after this edition of Top of the Pops
Next up should be December 1st, but it's a DLT edition, so BBC4 will skip it in favour of December 8th.
Good edition I'd say except for Marilyn and The Style Council(not one of their best).
ReplyDeleteAh The Smiths at last. Not the debut single which had the bare bum on the cover (that Andy Rouke was so embarrassed about) but the second single which was briefly available as a "dance mix" which Morrissey famously hated and demanded its immediate deletion. This single was really pushed by Rough Trade and was distributed by London Records. I was working at our price at the time and recall the rep from the record company offering us loads of the dance mix singles which our manager turned down. Of course they're worth a fortune now and we all should have bought one.
ReplyDeleteGosh, I didn't think the Smith's were around as early as 1983. It was only from 1985 that they really hit the big time, so this one probably passed people by as one of those never-heard-before groups. A bit like Prince charting at No.41 in our charts in 1980, but not appearing on TOTP until 1984 with his first significant hit in the UK.
DeleteI must have started watching around this time, as this was the second single I ever went out and bought with my own money (the first one was Eurythmics 'Right By Your Side', and Paul McCartney's 'Piece of Pipe' was the third - after that I have a total blank!)
DeleteSimply wonderful stuff from the Smiths, arriving on ToTP as the full formed package, and such a great performance. I'm surprised that this only made no.25, was there a distinct lack of daytime radio AirPlay for it at the time?
DeleteThe Smiths were always far more successful with their albums ~ very few of their singles made the top ten.
DeleteThe talented Paul Young opens with "Living In The LAND of The Common People", as my dear Mum used to call it. Forget Nicky Thomas, The Boss and even The Everlys - THIS is the definitive waxing.
ReplyDeleteTina Turner relaunched her chart career in style with this BEF-produced electronic cover of The Rev Al Green's all-time soul classic. Like Leo Sayer, Tina changed her nationality not so long ago - in her case, from American to Swiss. 'What's Love Got To Do With It?' was round the corner - enough said. (!)
Marilyn's song, co-written by former Haysi Fantayzee maestro Paul Caplin, wasn't too bad - but not up to the standard of Mr Robinson's melodic third single 'You Don't Love Me', which appears to have been influenced partly by Sir Van Morrison's 'Cry For Home'.
I subscribe to starry's view that Paul Weller has done a lot better than 'A Solid Bond In Your Heart'; even his cover of 'Meet Me On The Corner' was preferable to this rehash of 'Speak Like AAYY Child'. His aberrations aside, however, he is undoubtedly one of the industry's greats. I've recently been listening to 'Stanley Road' again; it is a timeless classic.
Yes this was apparently Tina Turner's first solo hit in the UK charts as late as 1983, and it does seem that she was entering her most successful years in the charts during 1983-1985 for this initial solo push, and here at the age of 44, she really is producing the goods, and on both sides of the Atlantic, with Whats Love Got To Do With It, Private Dancer, and We Don't Need Another Hero.
DeleteThere was then a brief success in 1989 with a couple of successful hits, Simply The Best and I Don't Wanna Lose You which both made Top 10 for her at the age of 49!
julie your mention of tina turner changing her nationality reminds me of the athlete merlene ottey who was one one of the great sprinters of the 1980s. but unlike her peers she carried on until well into her thirties, at which point the competition in her native jamaica became too hot for her to participate in major athletics championships. so she changed her nationality to slovenian and represented them instead. and not only did she compete in the olympics in her mid-40's a result, but in her mid-50s she is apparently still active as an athlete now!
DeleteThere have been a good number of African distance athletes who have switched their allegiance in recent years to Arab countries like Bahrain, though I think that has much more to do with money than with any desire to extend their careers!
Deleteagreed john - these legions of african distance runners competing under wealthy flags of convenience as mercenaries are beginning to make a mockery of the sport (oh what one would give for the early 80's domination of coe, ovett and cram, but that's now long-gone and almost certainly will never happen again). there really should be something done by the iaaf about it, otherwise the sport will die in the end as no one will be interested in watching it anymore! as a result of this and other problems currently in athletics i'm already beginning to consider not bothering watching this year's world championships...
DeletePaul Young with that Christmas jumper and leather breeks combo that everyone was wearing in '83, but this was a pretty decent cover buoyed by its clever production that made it fresh as a daisy in spite of the song being decades old. The FWT really earned their money here and on the record.
ReplyDeleteTalking of old records dusted off and given the sheen of a clever production, one of the greatest comebacks of all time as Tina Turner put her troubled past behind her and started getting hits again. I remember John Waters saying one of his proudest moments was going to see Ike and Tina when some of her sweat landed on him, she was that energetic. She's more sedate by comparison in this video.
An actual 80s icon, and he's a British one too, Morrissey may have turned into a complete arse since (maybe he was back then too?) but he knew his way around an indie pop record, and Johnny Marr (who's a lot more amiable) was the same, one of those matches that don't last, but create something special for a while. What had those gladioli ever done to him?
The Thompson Twins with a moody plodder, and Alannah is sporting a comedy Foreign Legion hat as seen on The Good Old Days worn by Lennie Bennett shortly afterwards.
Marilyn's back, but there's more of his front, though his aristocratic looks don't match his ungainly, loose, proto-Bez dancing.
Simple Minds break out the chiming guitars all ready for those stadium tours in their future. Big sound, one of their better singles as well.
Style Council doing a Minder impersonation in the video. The song sounds curiously like it's been sped up by playing at the wrong speed. Not so great. Mr Weller now claims he's been recruited to write the new Bond theme, I didn't know there was even a new one in production.
Billy Joel is reading Amica magazine I see, so I looked it up and it's still going to this day: it's an Italian women's fashion mag, so quite what that was doing in a garage is anybody's guess. Maybe he bought it for the articles?
Eurythmics to end on, as I note Judy Pepperdine in the credits - any relation to Vicki of Hudson and Pepperdine comedy duo fame? It's not a common name.
This Thomson Twins number is etched as my favourite of theirs, and I remember it came out in what was becoming a cold winter of 1983/84, and the words fitted so well with the cold dark evenings setting in straight after the school day, with the song so aptly titled for a winter warming hug, that is if you had a girlfriend at time, but I had no time for that, at only 15 years old and was by now well into my O Level school year by now, waiting for the summer of '84 to take those dreaded exams.
DeleteThe Thompson Twins were always second division at best for me, but I did like Lay Your Hands, though it wasn't a big hit.
DeleteJust popping in to say hello - I've noticed that Dory has been asking about my whereabouts again :o) I'm still watching the 'contraband' editions as they become available and have no recollection of anything whatsoever! Even though the studio performances do little for me (for the most part nothing more than artists miming to their records with annoying crowd noise added) I would have thought that some of the videos would have left an impression. It's quite obvious that I wasn't watching TOTP at this time (Autumn 1983), although whether it was another TV programme or some other activity responsible for this, I really can't remember.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, the real reason I'm here is to bring news of a forthcoming Kaleidoscope event in Birmingham which may be of interest:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/parkside-for-pop-tickets-33955855879
I used to go to these events when they were in Stourbridge and thought that they had finished for good. Back then they had guest appearances - nothing of the sort here, it seems, just back-to-back programmes, but it culminates in the 06/06/74 edition of TOTP! If you're based in the capital, London Midland Trains offer a cheap way of getting there (although hardly the fastest!). Alternatively you can line Sir Richard's pockets and get there quicker.
Ah yes, I remember the release of 'Now That's What I Call Music'. It'll never catch on...
I went to the Kaleidoscope event late last year where they showed the recently recovered episode of The Avengers and they did have guests then, at least one of which wasn't announced.
DeleteSo there may be some at this event too, although I won't be going myself.
In complete contrast to Sir 20thCR I love most of the studio performances at this time....the Smiths, the Thompsons, Paul Young and the Tarts, Simple Minds, even Marilyn. All of them adding to the great mood in the studio and making pop music of all varieties and subjects fun!
ReplyDeleteUnlike pretty much everyone else I rather like the Style Council tune, and have grooved along to this in many an occasion. All of my friends raved about the Jam, in part through adoration passed down from older siblings, so much so that it put me off him for years. It was the Style Council's 'Wanted' that changed my mind and made me go back and discover gems like this Solid Bond with its lovely jangling chiming guitars. It's a great 80s take on Northern Soul as far as I'm concerned. His solo 'Into Tomorrow' single really caught a hold of me and I thought he really was the bees knees for all of a couple of months. Sadly the whole Modfather nonsense after Stanley Road put me off him all over again!
By the way I'm gutted that neither of the Aztec Camera performances or the Assembly are making it into BBC4...both are big misses :(
As Angelo mentions, the Style Council number here was originally meant for The Jam, but nevertheless I did like the video a lot with its storyline and Paul Weller playing an ordinary person, and for once not putting on that alpha-male ego seen in his performances and videos in The Jam. Here he was appearing as the normal smiling guy who looked happy, so you could say it was best left for The Style Council phase.
DeleteI think this 'contented' Paul Weller was something to do with the fact that he had finally found happiness with DC Lee, as apparently they started a romantic relationship soon after the formation of Style Council, and this seemed to reflect itself in the new video here, and that face of his in the video likely reflected that newly-contented Weller, happy to play the school-hall disco that no-one turned up to, putting his ego aside, with the contentment of having a beautiful girlfriend on the other end of the phone every day.
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ReplyDeleteAs we close out November 1983 in style, we move onto December, edging ever closer to Xmas, but still no sighting of the 1st December show with DLT, where Billy Joel had one more week at No.1 for 5 weeks in total, and lucky him with Miss Brinkley every week on TOTP!
ReplyDeleteThe 1st Dec show was never shown on UK Gold and has not since been repeated by the Beeb, so this would need to come from someone's own home recording me thinks, as BBC4 rushes straight to the 8th Dec show this week.
1st Dec's turned up , but unfortunately Dory it's on an AVI file. For anyone else it's at https://wetransfer.com/downloads/c6b2af034f9d82e28ad7686dd104e18520170513111956/491491
DeleteOh no, avi. is always unopenable. Can anyone transfer this to a conventional file?
DeleteHi Dory,
DeleteThere is an mp4 copy at vimeo.com/217362827
Brilliant stuff Anonymous, just watched the Vimeo link, and the show is now up on the blog.
DeleteAnother good show, and Master Bates once again proves that he works best when paired with solid, reliable Dickie Skinner. Alongside the usual time checks, Bates makes a cryptic remark at the start about problems they are having making that week's show, but he doesn't specify. I would assume that they were strike-related, but it appears to be business as usual in the studio.
ReplyDeletePaul Young gets us going with a tremendous cover which knocks the Nicky Thomas version out of the park. This was the first song that I can really remember getting saturation airplay on the radio (my parents generally listened to Capital in those days), and I got sick of it for a while, but it's a great record. Despite Paul's unfortunate sartorial choices it's a
good performance too, with the Fabulously Wealthy Tarts looking, erm, fabulous! Another first-rate cover to follow, as Tina Turner (with help from Heaven 17) takes hold of the Al Green classic and makes it her own, spectacularly resurrecting her career in the process. The video is simple but effective, with Jerry Hall well to the fore. Does anyone know who the other model was?
I can't say I've ever been that keen on The Smiths, in large part because I find Morrissey very irritating both as a singer and an individual, but this is one of their better efforts, thanks in no small part to Johnny Marr's striking jangly guitar. As a performer, there's no denying that Morrissey stood out from the crowd at the time - I'd be intrigued to know where the idea for the gladioli swinging came from. The Thompson Twins next with their best song, an impressively stately synthpop ballad; unfortunately, however, they appear to have rerecorded it for this performance, as some of the backing instrumentation and vocals were missing and it sounded a bit flat. Alannah looks very scary in her Foreign Legion headgear, and she appears to have shaved her hair off, though it's impossible to tell for sure.
Marilyn clearly though he had now made it big, as he has his pop star shades on. A nice enough performance, featuring some fun interaction with the dependable Claudia. Simple Minds are also in the studio, though visually they fail to leave the impression of other acts on the show. This sounds pretty epic with some impressive guitar, but its impact is negated somewhat by Jim's monotonous vocals, which instantly send me to sleep.
Just as well Weller did not make this The Jam's last single, as it would have been an even more underwhelming farewell than Beat Surrender. It sounds very by-the-numbers, and Mick's Arthur Daley impression in the video is pretty cringeworthy, as are the Cockney subtitles. At least we get Annie and Dave to play us out, with the perfect song for a studio dance.
A quick delve into the net finds that wasn't Jerry Hall alongside Tina Turner, it was Ann Behringer, now a therapist. No idea who the other lady was, though!
DeleteIt was just a well that Solid Bond In Your Heart was eventually assigned to Style Council, and not The Jam, as you quite rightly point out John, that Beat Surender as a farewell track was more typically the sound of The Jam, but this one of the Style Council a year after the end of The Jam was not in the same ilk.
DeleteI'm amazed - I could have sworn that was Jerry!
ReplyDeleteOne thing we can be sure of: that wasn't them singing the backing vocals!
DeleteI've been really looking forward to seeing The Smiths on these repeats. This Charming Man is one of my favourite records. I also enjoyed Richard Skinner's jumper. Very snazzy.
ReplyDeletehosts: wasn't dicky saddled with slimy before? and probably was so again because everyone else coughed and made excuses? if he felt similar antipathy, then he certainly hid it well in the brief top 10 countdown clip on yt. but what the hell is slimy babbling on about when he informs us that "paul young's finally done it with "love of the common people" at five" - is getting to that particular chart position (having already topped it) meant to be some sort of achievement? having seen the thompson twins' appearance on yt, dicky gets a black mark from me for announcing them in "village PEOPLE" fashion, which is a pet hate of mine
ReplyDeletepaul young: really in his stride (and in leather strides!) with regard to hitting the charts now - is that what slimy means? i think i had been informed at the time that this was a cover of a reggae tune, but not that it had been a hit. not bad, but the tune gets a little odd in places. plus those girls are now getting a bit annoying. paul's faithful keyboardist from the q-tips era is there with his very uncool haircut, but there's no sign of a trombonist despite a rare solo on a pop record featuring said instrument - was peter thoms unavailable that week?
tina turner: i could be forgiven for not knowing the last tune was a cover, but i didn't know this one was either at the time. i did quite like it then, but have since realised how the clumpy production got in the way of what i came to realise was a classic tune. those responsible got acclaim at the time for hauling tina out of the "where are they now" category, but bearing in mind the horrors that followed they really should have got some stick (ho ho)! i bet this doesn't get played anywhere near as much as al green's excellent original these days
smiths: no doubt there have been many waiting for the debut of mr morrissey and his chums with bated breath for some time now, but i'm not one of them. i did quite like this, but thought the acclaim heaped upon it it and consequent lesser singles by both the press and "real" music fans was over the top. and indeed that put me off them for the rest of their existence. i did actually get to like some of their other stuff in the late 80's/early 90's, but the realisation since then that morrissey is rock's equivalent of the emperor in his new clothes really does make me malign him nowadays
thompson twins: my memory was that they had a fine debut hit before pissing away what promise they had with a string of drivel, before finally rallying with this. but in fact there was only one duffer inbetween, so the rest of the rubbish must have come afterwards. i thought this had a bit of quality about it at the time, but a few years back i came across an amazing 12" mix of it on an 80's compilation which really underlined just how good it was. nobody has yet pointed out that they had an unusual songwriting arrangement in that tom bailey put together the music with allanah currie (more annoying than ever here by the way!) providing the lyrics, which made them sound a bit odd coming out of his mouth. and closer listening makes that evident here. apart from apparently making no contribution to the songwriting, third member is now reduced to air congas here
Yeah, my thoughts too on The Thompson Twins. The debut hit Love On Your Side always stood out by a distance from the rest...until this one Hold Me Now came out, which took apart everything they did, and were ever to do. It still resonates so well now, and whenever it is played on the radio, I feel like I have been taken back in a time capsule to the winter of 83/84 to another comfort zone.
DeleteSimon Bates was referring to the recording, not the performer, when he announced that Paul Young had "finally done it". 'Love Of The Common People' had initially been released, without charting, prior to the successes of 'Wherever I Lay My Hat' and 'Come Back and Stay'.
DeleteLike Tina Turner, the former Vauxhall Motors machinist could do no wrong from '83 to '86.
pt ii...
ReplyDeletemarilyn: the band have been ditched this time, but the ubiquitous claudia remains - she's so good that she can even sing two harmonies at once! as for our hero(ine), the shades aren't a very good idea, nor the rest of the outfit for that matter. and his dancing's not going to give wacko sleepness nights either
simple minds: i couldn't find this performance on yt which is a bit of a shame. but regardless of that it was still one of the best singles of the year in my opinion. their last album had a somewhat polite and muted production, so perhaps not surprisingly given the way they were developing they then secured the services of the guy responsible for the big and bombastic U2 sound (steve lillywhite). and boy, did he deliver! this is just one of several storming cuts on the "sparkle in the rain" album that might not be the most tuneful songs in the world, but more than make up for that thanks to him and the band's inventive instrumental arrangements. what is so amazing about this is that the bass guitar keeps a pedal on the same note throughout, with the never-dull variation provided by guitar, keyboards and drums
style council: after the lord mayor's show...
Another pretty good edition even if two of my all-time favourite bands (Yes and Genesis) were in the top 30 and not featured!!
ReplyDeletePaul Young – Love of the Common People – At last a hit indeed! Released in 1982 as ‘Paul Young and the Family’ it was a non charting hit in a slightly different mix. This time – whoosh! Wave of PY popularity shoots everyone to the shops to snap up the limited edition double pack featuring some recent live cuts. “Don’t forget to pray” indeed – the FWTs ‘praying’ has always stuck in my mind.
Tina Turner – Let’s stay together – In 1973 R2 DJs played to death ‘Nutbush City Limits’ and put me right off chart music for a while. When this was announced on TOTP I hadn’t heard it but feared the worst. A cover of the Al Green track, she literally murdered it! “awwwwwaaaaahhhhh”.
The Smiths – This Charming Man – Mike Smith? Not too bad a song really that I didn’t like at the time.
Thomson Twins – Hold me now – The twins were on a roll here and this is just infectious still after all these years. Denied the no1 spot by…..well no….just checked and only reached no4!!! Could have sworn it got to no2. Ah this is marvellous… Two more goodies from the ‘Into the Gap’ album to come as well.
Marilyn – Calling your name – Song has grown on my but not image! It’s a format of song used elsewhere but I can’t think of a good example; where a line repeats over and over again and then extends to the punchline of the title.
Simple Minds – Waterfront – Stadium rock! This was the start of SM mega era where they churned out anthem after anthem and Jim does look pleased at the end of it. Great record.
Style Council – Solid bond in your heart – Don’t recall this but a great video and OK song too.
Billy Joel – Uptown Girl – Wow! This is still wonderful! Lovin’ watching this over and over again.
Eurythmics – Right by your side (playout) – Skip to end…
…and no ‘Theme from Reilly’ again!!!!
i think the "reilly - ace of spies" series was broadcast on the "other" channel, so perhaps no surprise theme never got played by the beeb. also it was a classical piece, which would have been another good reason to ignore it. i never watched the series itself, but as such it must have been extremely popular for a piece of music like this to break into the top 30 singles charts?
Deletenot surprisingly there was a couple of instrumental themes albums released to capitalise on the success of "reilly", including this one that featured that well-known theme "body talk" - yes, the imagination tune!:
Deletehttps://www.discogs.com/New-World-Philharmonic-Ace-Of-Themes-Vol-2/release/7153199
that's something i would actually like to hear (even if just to find out it's awful), but sadly there's no trace of it on youtube
'Reilly - Ace of Spies' was an ITV show, that's true, but then so was 'Van der Valk' whose theme tune 'Eye Level' topped the charts for the Simon Park Orchestra in 1973 (and is featured on the Kenny Everett hosted TOTP show that does exist).
DeleteAs for Reilly...beautiful piece of luscious music....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLb6tdz73oA
i don't know if the beeb played the "van der valk" theme on totp beforehand or not, but when (unlike "reilly") it got to no. 1 then they had no choice! i hated that at the time (i discovered the other week that it was at the top of the charts when i started seconday school) and now. but both the performer (simon park, aka simon haseley) and the composer (jack trombey, an alias for actual dutchman jan stoeckart) also did some pretty funky library music that was used in tv programmes like "the sweeney"
DeleteNot bad, this one. Except for Bates of course, who seemed even more freeform than usual. Fortunately Skinner was slightly better than usual to even things out.
ReplyDeletePaul Young - I don't mind this, but I actually prefer the original I think.
Tina Turner - Very slickly done, but I can't drum up much enthusiasm for it really.
The Smiths - Great performance of a brilliant pop song. I didn't really appreciate them at the time but I certainly do now.
Thompson Twins - Probably the dullest of their big hits.
Marilyn - I don't remember this look as much as the one he sported for the previous performance. With very good reason....
Simple Minds - This is where the bombastic period starts, and while there are many songs of theirs still to come that I enjoy, this one leaves me cold.
Style Council - Another load of drivel from them, and more bloody chewing from Weller in the video!
Billy Joel - I'd honestly forgotten how unnecessarily long this spent at the top of the chart!
I never realised the cover star of the sublime “Hand In Glove” was a band member.
ReplyDelete“This Charming Man” wasn’t always intended to be The Smiths’ second single. I remember seeing an edition of a short lived music mag whose name I’ve forgotten, which showed the same picture as the cover of “This Charming Man” but advertised the single as “Reel Around The Fountain”, their standout ballad at the time, which must have been dropped for the more commercial tune and remained an album track.
The Smiths were my favourite band (though Morrissey got a bit too much for me halfway through their timeline) and I saw them live four times, the last being on the “Meat Is Murder” tour which played sounds of cows being slaughtered before and during the main track. I lost count of how many people walked across the road from the venue to McDonalds afterwards.
I really liked Paul Young's version of Love Of The Common People at the time but I hadn't realised that it had already been released before Wherever I Lay My Hat. I especially liked the distinctive backing vocals by the Fabulously Wealthy Tart girls but I noticed that once they started getting loads of attention that he quickly dropped them, a bit like Culture Club would soon do with Helen Terry.
ReplyDeleteLet's Stay Together was at the time promoted as TT's comeback single but she never really stopped trying did she and she had already recorded another song with the Heaven 17 guys. I liked this a lot at the time but always thought it was weird hearing the guys voices coming out of the mouths of the two female dancers.
The Smiths debut is totally brilliant. Steven Morrissey realised the importance of props and makes good use of his big blooms and even cocks a snoop at someone in the crowd. Wouldn't we love to know who it was.
More good stuff with The Thompson Twins, another song with superb production almost too much going on to take it all in. I never cared for Alannah's bizarre taste in big hats and weird hair styles though.
Marilyn dumps his band and sports designer welding goggles to hide his piss-holes-in-the-snow eyes.
Simple Minds doing what they do best. I was never really a fan but liked a lot of their stuff, they have certainly matured since they were first on the show a year earlier.
I thought A Solid Bond In Your Heart had a good tune and a memorable title but the lyrics were a bit lame. An excellent video though reliving a 70s disco at the Woking Football Club with DJ Gary Crowley at the decks.
Billy Joel still at the top and play out with The Eurythmics a song that didn't fare as well as I remembered chart wise.
This was a great show with not a dud song, even the Marilyn tune sounds good the more times you hear it.
Not a very interesting episode. Most of these performances have turned up on TOTP2.
ReplyDeleteHighlight was the Smiths. Being in the states in 83, I came back after they were well established in the public's psyche. Didn't rate them at the time, and it is only in recent years that I have started to appreciate that they were a pretty good band.
The third Thompson Twin seems to be the Andrew Ridgley of the group...
Style Council video must have cost all of a fiver. Good tune though. Apologies if someone has already said this, but it is reminiscent of the later Jam tracks...