Will the real Thomas Dolby please stand up ...
02/02/84 (David Jensen & John Peel)
Musical Youth – “Sixteen” (27)
Getting the show underway with their final hit are Musical Youth, with a little help from Sandra Lobban, and it peaked at number 23.
Queen – “Radio Ga Ga” (4) (video)
John Deacon battles it out with Brian May for the biggest hair in Queen and comes out on top, the single didn't quite make it to the top though, peaking at number 2.
Matthew Wilder – “Break My Stride” (5)
His only hit, went up one more place, but unfortunately edited out of the 7.30 showing.
Fiction Factory – “(Feels Like) Heaven” (6)
Now at its peak.
Thomas Dolby – “Hyperactive” (29) (video)
Taken from his top 20 album The Flat Earth, this manic single featuring an equally manic video was Thomas's biggest hit, peaking at number 17.
Thompson Twins – “Doctor Doctor” (18)
The follow up to Hold Me Now bettered it by one place in the chart when it peaked at number 3.
Juan Martin – “Love Theme from the Thorn Birds” (25)
Also edited out of tonight's 7.30 broadcast, it peaked at number 10.
Duran Duran – “New Moon On Monday” (12) (video)
The second single from their number one album Seven and the Ragged Tiger, (hindsight is a wonderful thing but did they really think this was better than The Reflex?) and in the video the band are seemingly attempting to start a revolution somewhere in eastern europe! Number 9 was its peak.
Manhattan Transfer – “Spice Of Life” (26) (audience dancing/credits)
No number one song this week of course because banned Frankie Goes to Hollywood were there for the second of five weeks with Relax. So we have to make do with 'chart veterans' Manhattan Transfer's first hit since 1980, and also their final hit, peaking at number 19.
Today's BBC1 lineup
Next up is February 9th 1984, but DLT is one of the hosts, so BBC4 will skip a week to February 16th instead.
Musical Youth - Good Lord, was this really their last hit and last appearance on TOTP? Yes indeed, and what a short tenure it was. In less than 18 months since Pass The Dutchie, they were about to fall away at the start of 1984. The female lead on this track was the only saving grace in what was a poor final single.
ReplyDeleteQueen - after a long break since mid-1982 when they had Las Palabras De Amor, this long awaited return with a new album and single was a little of a surprise in Radio Gaga. I still don't know to this day what they were on about on this new single.
Thomas Dolby - now here is a classy single. I'm intrigued as to who was the 'old man' in the video who looked around 85 years old, and was probably born around 1900 or even 1899 if he was 84 or 85 in that video. Amazing to think of such a thing now!
Chart rundown - with the mother of all edits, the chart rundown by editing out Juan Martin at no.25, was made to look like a complete un-interrupted rundown from No.40 to No.11 with no-one (except us) noticing. But we know that BBC4 sneakily edited out Juan Martin at no.25, cos the original broadcast did have a break in the rundown half way through. Tut tut BBC4, cought you at it with the mother of all edits. I'm still in shock as to how you did it so perfectly.
Duran Duran - guess what this video reminded me of? The Carry On film called Don't Lose Your Head. I was waiting for Phil Silvers to make an appearance, as the costumes and scenery looked like scenery form the Carry On film.
Phil Silvers was in Follow that Camel, not Don't Lose Your Head (that was the French Revolution one, Camel was the Beau Geste spoof).
Delete'Radio Ga Ga' was essentially along the same lines as 'Do You Remember Rock N Roll Radio' (Ramones) and 'Video Killed The Radio Star' (Buggles), a comment on how radio broadcasting was a shadow of its former self, as remembered from childhood memories. However, it differed from those other two by having an optimistic outlook: "You've yet to have your finest hour".
DeleteSadly it wasn't to be. I wonder what they would think of the state of UK (and presumably US) radio broadcasting today? (No disrespect Noax, I'm thinking of Heart/Capital/Smooth etc.)
Body Language was Queen's last Top 30 hit but it was a long rest they had.
DeleteThat was surely a first tonight - a song being edited out between the rundown segments.
ReplyDeleteStrange decision to leave Matthew Wilder out the early showing, I would've left out Fiction Factory or the Brits best video segment.
Five of tonight's tracks - Queen, Fiction Factory, Wilder, Duran Duran and Thomas Dolby - appeared on Now 2 with the Thompson Twins track appearing on Now 4.
Yes, I called it the mother of all edits, as it is unlikely to ever be matched for sheer editing perfection from the scissor men at BBC4. Not that I like any of this editing malarkey anyway.
DeleteIt's highly unusual for BBC4 to edit out a track that appears between the chart rundowns, which makes me wonder if they had to remove Juan Martin because of copyright issues surrounding the Thorn Birds clips that feature in the performance? I guess the late showing will reveal the answer...
DeleteThey'll have to do that again for 13/12/84 because Gary Glitter is between the rundowns then.
DeleteAccording to Twitter it was rights issues. A very impressive edit though.
DeleteStrange to see a Fonz / Happy Days spin-off programme on BBC1 - surely "Happy Days" was on ITV at weekends? Of course, "Happy Days" gave us the phrase "jumping the shark", meaning to lose all sense of credibility and believability, when Fonz did such a thing on water skis in one episode.
ReplyDelete10.30. "Play School". Brian Cant RIP. In his own way, the man was a genius.
Indeed, but Fonz & The Happy Days Gang was a cartoon, and if ITV took it on, it would be too confusing for their regular Happy Days broadcasts which they did from 1973-1984. The cartoon series which BBC1 showed was produced between 1980-1982, simultaneously with the comedy series on ITV, so the BBC was quite late showing this in 1984, just as the regular series on ITV was coming to its final series in 1984.
DeleteI wonder why Happy Days didn't feature a talking dog called Mr Cool like the cartoon did? Missed a trick there.
Delete"But they still have to get back to 1957 Milwaukee!"
My favourite cartoon at the time was Dogtanian and The Three Muskehounds, also shown on BBC1 around the same time as The Fonz & The Happy Days Gang. Such craziness in cartoon titles in those days, don't you think?
DeleteCast of 'Play Away': "Brian can't!"
DeleteBrian Cant [cheerily]: "It's 'Cant', actually!"
He was one of the best children's TV presenters ever, and also worked steadily in adults' TV as an actor. He could NOT play the harmonica, though, as this episode of 'Bric A Brac' emphatically proves: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crrkyb4vfTs
P.S. Here's a revealing interview with Brian's fellow 'Play Away' presenter Toni Arthur-Hay, taken from Sky Living's 'Mystic Challenge':
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fw9GVgAvCXU
I watched the earlier version because the listings said the later one was exactly the same length, but two performances were cut out, darn it. Anyway, filled in the gaps thanks to YouTube and off we go...
ReplyDeleteMusical Youth, yeah, bit of an age difference there, but I suppose singing about being ten with a bullet for your heart wasn't going to be convincing. What am I saying? It still wasn't convincing.
Queen, very famous video "sampling" Metropolis which funnily enough Freddy would be doing music for when Giorgio Moroder presented his cut down version in cinemas. I'm not a big Queen fan, but as their anthems went this was pretty decent, like the sentiment, sort of an answer to The Buggles' number one. In a year it would be energising Live Aid...
Matthew Wilder, now a very successful producer, but here prompting questions about the lyrics ("girl?"). He couldn't look more 1984 if he tried, in fact he looks like an undernourished 80s footballer, but damn this is a catchy tune, key change and all. A pop trifle, insubstantial but amusing while it's playing.
Mr Fiction looks like a blond Stuart Adamson, I'm thinking. Stuart had better taste in jumpers, though.
Thomas Dolby, this was the highlight for me in '84, the first time I'd heard Hyperactive and I absolutely loved it. The video was amazing to me (looks a bit clunky now, but it is a lot of fun), but that beat, that insistent melody, those wacky lyrics - deserved to be a much bigger hit. Great stuff.
The Thompson Twins seeking medical advice as well, with a mournful, overproduced ditty. It's OK, but I find it hard to get excited about them. Alannah has a lot to do here, she must have been exhausted.
Juan Martin, on YT there's the caption thanking Warners for allowing them to use a Thorn Birds clip, so no surprises why this got the chop - thanks for nothing, Warners, you moneygrabbers. Mind you, as a record it's simply Cavatina lite, but millions of mums across the nation were captivated by Father Richard Chamberlain and his forbidden love for Rachel Ward. Could have been a lot worse!
Duran Duran, the hosts have a point, what were they trying to say? When this starts it sounds like a David Bowie rip-off, then the chorus kicks in with Simon's trademark slightly too high for him vocals. It's fine as far as it goes, but you can hear why it doesn't get revived much.
Then the number one - oh. OK, Manhattan Transfer climb aboard the disco bandwagon a little late. Sounds very LWT light entertainment filler.
when "the thorn birds" came out, richard chamberlain was still very much viewed as a hunk for the laydeez to swoon over (albeit now a lot older than when he was dr kildare). things have now changed somewhat since then...
Deletemy memory was triggered that the theme was written by henry mancini (i was correct on that score - ho ho), who is one of my all-time musical heroes. but sadly he had long-since shot his bolt by this point. as for the series itself: it's not something i had any interest in at the time, and nor do i now!
"Hyperactive!" was written for Michael Jackson, but Thomas Dolby decided to record it himself when he got no reply having sent Jacko a demo. Talking of which, if you want a quick chuckle (and assuming it's your bag), check out the Fry and Laurie sketch where Hugh interviews Stephen, supposedly as Michael Jackson, followed by the very brief Fry-as-Jacko song afterwards.
ReplyDeleteI remember that F&L sketch, hilarious!
DeleteThomas Dolby later went on to produce much of Prefab Sprout's best work including Jordan: The Comeback which is one of my favourite albums.
Deletei became a big fan of prefab sprout (and their dolby-produced albums "steve mcqueen" and "from langley park to memphis") in the late 80's, so i looked forward to "jordan: the comeback" with great trepidation... and on the whole was bitterly disappointed! however, "all the world loves lovers" is possibly my all-time favourite sprout song...
Deletei've just looked at discogs, and it seems mr dolby only produced three tracks on "from langley park to memphis"! but that includes another great favourite of mine "i remember that"...
DeleteI think The Sprouts' "We Let The Stars Go" is tear-jerkingly beautiful. I was such a fan of the band in the mid-80's I wrote a song with the title an anagram of their name and it was the first song I ever performed live - "Pure Fab Sport".
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteMy favourites off Jordan are 'We Let The Stars Go' and 'Looking For Atlantis.' 'Nightingales' off 'From Langley Park...' is another superb song.
DeleteThe record company weren't happy with the proposed follow up to Jordan because (apparently) of its religious theme and it wasn't released until 2009. I suspect it was rejected because it wasn't very commercial.
Sad to hear of the death today of Ruth Pearson from Pans People at the age of 70. She appeared in the first month of these reruns, i.e., in April 1976, which was Pans People's final month, which then made way for Ruby Flipper in May 1976.
ReplyDeleteVery sad news indeed.
DeleteThe Rhythm Pals guide us safely through another live show, their best bit coming right at the end with that knowing silence straight after announcing the number 1. It's a pity that yet again a large chunk of proceedings was given over to the video competition, but at least this is the last show in which it will feature.
ReplyDeletePeel's favourites Musical Youth get things underway with a pleasant enough farewell hit, though having someone no older than about 12 claiming to be 16 is just the faintest bit icky, particularly when he then has a duet with a woman who looks significantly older than anybody in the band! After two fallow years, Queen return in style with one of their signature tracks, and the Metropolis-inspired video still holds up well - I assume John Deacon used plenty of spray to give his hair that much volume...
Matthew Wilder certainly looks as if he could have been playing for Liverpool at this time, and those leather trousers he is wearing leave little to the imagination. Presumably he was surrounded by that bevy of dancing lovelies to try to distract attention from his own lack of looks, but this is a fun performance of an equally fun piece of cod-reggae. Fiction Factory are back for presumably their final TOTP performance. The singer is marginally better dressed this time, opting for some kind of oriental top that makes him look as if he has just come from a judo class.
The Thomas Dolby video was certainly innovative, and in some ways felt a little like a precursor to Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer (without the claymation, of course). Musically I wasn't so impressed, as it just came over to me like a bit of a discordant din, and one which went on forever as well. The Thompson Twins were most definitely on a roll at this point, and this is an excellent follow-up to Hold Me Now, very poppy but with some nice depth to the production. Good to see that Tom Bailey doesn't have shades hanging from his neck for once, either.
The Juan Martin performance feels like a bit of a throwback to the 70s, with the lone instrumentalist backed by an orchestra - only Juan's leather trousers really give away the actual decade! The Thorn Birds was massive at the time, and a suitably melodramatic clip accompanies the somewhat soporific music. By this point in their career, the videos were definitely becoming more important than the music for Duran Duran, hence this overblown effort in which they ludicrously pose as revolutionary freedom fighters. As with Union of the Snake, this feels like a by-the-numbers Duran song, but thankfully better was just around the corner. We conclude with a rather surprising (if short-lived) comeback for Manhattan Transfer, who were plainly trying to make an effort to sound contemporary. Presumably Michael Hurll didn't think the audience dancing was up to much this week, as he keeps the camera a significant distance away, allowing the studio set to obscure our view of the action...
I think Matthew Wilder's other reason for being immersed in the studio audience for his performance, is that he was very short and had no band members, so the studio audience 'lovelies' filled in for any 'short'comings, haha!
Delete"Rich Tea" says - We've had so many editions in the past 5 years with edits out that tonight we were in the unique position of being able to unban the No1 tune Relax and put it back into the show at the end.
ReplyDeleteYes, but would you put the original video of Relax, with Holly Johnson playing with a tiger, or would you repeat the TOTP studio performance when they entered the chart at No.35 in the first show of the year?
DeleteRich Tea? Massive shame you got bumped off the digital spy pages for BBC4 T.O.T.P, your charming posts are missed there. Come back soon please.
DeleteSo now that we have seen that BBC4 have even edited the Juan Martin song out of the late night repeat, has anyone got the whole untampered 2nd Feb show to download on WeTransfer, as I would like to see what we missed?
ReplyDeleteNeil B's made it available here:
Deletehttps://we.tl/0hy13TmRg8
Thanks Neil B, just had the pleasure of watching this, and the Juan Martin studio appearance was very good, and the caption at the end acknowledging Warner Brothers TV is probably why this got snipped out of the show by BBC4. Still, I liked the melodic tune, and the film footage of the male chasing the woman on the beach in a alpha-male style, but Good Lord, wasn't Juan Martin ugly?
DeleteThis episode was of mixed quality, with two songs that use few chords: Musical Youth's 'Sixteen', which utilises only G and Am, and Thomas Dolby's 'Hyperactive', which hinges almost entirely on F#m - though the rhythm guitarist hints at F#m7 and B/F# at certain points in the song. The former song was a throwaway, but the latter was inventive.
ReplyDeleteI still love Fiction Factory's ballad, and look forward to catching Matthew Wilder on the extended edition. His career as a pop star may have been brief, but Matthew Weiner - for that is his real name - has an impressive CV that includes Disney soundtracks and off-Broadway musical theatre, as well as production and songwriting for the likes of No Doubt and Miley Cyrus.
The Thompson Twins' 'Doctor Doctor' was catchy enough for its time, though it has not aged well. I remember Lindisfarne's Ray Jackson covering the song on the 'flatulette' - that is, humming and blowing raspberries simultaneously - at the Geordie folk-rockers' Christmas show in Liverpool that year.
I also recall buying both Juan Martin's 'Love Theme' and Henry Mancini's main theme from 'The Thorn Birds' for my dear Mum, who avidly followed the TV series, Colleen McCullough being one of her favourite authors along with Dame Catherine Cookson. Both singles reached the British Top 40, the classical guitarist climbing to No.10 while the 'Moon River' maestro peaked at No.23.
As THX points out above, Duran's 'New Moon On Monday' sounds rather like a Bowie pastiche in the verse - but the chorus is vintage Le Bon. It was not as strong as 'The Reflex', which was to follow, but still passes the test for me. Duran had their critics, but the compilation album 'Greatest' remains a staple of my CD collection.
As for Manhattan Transfer, who by now had replaced Laurel Massé with Cheryl Bentyne, I would not describe 'Spice of Life' as 'LWT light entertainment filler' - which it would have become in the hands of a British copycat outfit such as Wall Street Crash or Stutz Bear Cats. The song was actually penned by the late, great Rod Temperton - best known for his work with Heatwave, George Benson and of course Jacko among others. While it may not be one of Rod's stronger efforts, it is a faultlessly executed slice of jazz-funk.
Despite the passing of founder Tim Hauser in 2014, the quartet is still active on the jazz cabaret cirtuit. Laurel Massé - who was prompted to leave for a solo career after a horrific road accident - has had a rich post-Transfer career that has included a spell as a vocal coach at the Royal Academy of Music in London, and a reunion with Transfer's Janis Siegel in the acclaimed trio JaLaLa.
I had to chuckle at Matthew Weiner! Plus a mention for Stutz Bear Cats! I bow to your way superior musical knowledge, but your chord analogy reminded me affectionately of the "Jazz Club" snippets on "The Fast Show" where John Thompson - er, Louis Balfour - explains the key modulations for The James Namce Quartet and trumpeter Piles Hussain. Niiiiice!
Deletei seem to remember arthur getting a bit excited over laurel masse when she appeared on the show with manhattan transfer back in the 70's...
DeleteNot only did Manhattan Transfer go disco, but so did a former member of Wall Street Crash - the Transfer imitators I mentioned above - around the same time. Cori Josias, who followed her short stint in WSC with a spell in the Rick Wakeman Band, came up with this admirable offering in '83:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPuCra-t_Bw
Wilby, you have a VERY good memory!
Deletethanks arthur! but that was only from 3 or 4 years ago, as opposed to the 30 to 40 years ago that i'm dredging out of my head for many of these blog reviews/responses (!)
Deletei am also a member of a facebook group dedicated to my year at secondary school, and i have been posting memories of what i remember there on virtually a weekly basis for 5 years now - a long-term chum of mine who was in the same year (and who is no slouch when it comes to pub quizzes) admitted he couldn't remember anywhere near as much from back then...
although i don't have instant or even complete recall of every day of my life (actress marilu henner of "taxi" fame is one of the few on the planet who have that incredible ability) i am aware i have a better memory than most. some might think it's a gift, but i am more of the belief that everything we have learned is still locked up inside us somewhere and it's case of making an effort to dig it out. of course the more cynical might say it's because i don't have a life (i'm writing this at 4 o'clock in the morning ha ha)!
but i'm far from infallible: i couldn't recall the taxi woman's name and had to look it up to put here (on another day that wouldn't have happened), and at the moment i'm struggling to remember the name of some dive in my hometown back in the 70's that local guys dare not go in unless they wanted a brawl with the many squaddies and matelots that frequented the place (and that's bugging me!)...
Marilu Henner is also a self-styled diet expert who is obsessed with successful bowel movements, from what I can tell.
Deletefor years i assumed that her given name originated from native american, pacific islander or some other such exotic source (mar-ILL-oo?). but when another actress mentioned her on a tv show i was watching a while back, it turns out to be an affected spelling of the old southern belle-style "mary lou"!
Deletehosts: peelie tries to fit in more with the in-crowd in his (pre-"miami vice") jacket and t-shirt combo. but unfortunately he still hadn't got the message that beards (unlike taches that were sadly enjoying a revival) were ridiculously old hat at this point. also kid - sorry david jensen's hair is looking a bit flyaway (peel's flew away years ago ho ho!) and like it could do with a bit more body to it. i remember being in a band in 1984 with a couple of female backing vocalists who sang a la bananarama i.e. in unison with the lead singer, and i later joked that their only knowledge of harmony was the hair spray!
ReplyDeletemusical youth: if the song was about being 16, then why didn't the usual vocalist dennis (who was actually about 16 at the time) sing it? i see this time they've brought their mum along with them too - presumably they'd run out of unchaperoned hours by this point? i was thinking that in a way they were the pre male equivalent of the spice girls in that certain members offered something different for different fans - the two shortarses being cute spice, and the rhythm section being scary spice. as for now-demoted ex-lead singer dennis, i suppose in relative terms he'd have to be old spice (arf! arf!)? musically this is no worse than anything else they did after "pass the dutchie", but like everything other than that i'll never remember a single thing about it again
queen: roger taylor is credited as writing this (although i have heard via a guy who knew him that queen's "fifth member" spike edney had much to do with transforming it from a little more than an acapella ditty into something substantial), so he gets to sit next to freddie in the front of their airborne vehicle whilst the others get relegated to the back! how fortunate it was for them that this video featured cod-nazi rally scenes, which meant they could do it for real a year or so on at the wembley live aid thing and thus ensure their place in rock immortality instead of just being another good 70's band that had gone off a bit by the mid-80's...
matthew wilder: cod-reggae is still alive and well! well, still alive anyway. it's not so much the song i dislike as the performer, who really does have that "i want to smash his face in with a lump hammer" look about him. and if i was such a shortarse, then i wouldn't want be surrounded by a phalanx of totty dwarfing me - however attractive they may have been!
fiction factory: despite being on the show for a second time, the piggy-eyed singer still looks visibly nervous just before he opens up his mouth to mime
thomas dolby: if you're going to write a song called "hyperactive" then it's hardly likely to be a mid-tempo and refined number, is it? so i suppose in that regard it's well-enough done, but it was far too busy and noisy for my taste. and no doubt particularly so when heard on tinny old transistors, which even in 1984 was still most people's way of listening to the radio despite the new-fangled FM digital signal recently arriving (a band i had recently been in had some recordings broadcast on a local radio station, and i chose to record it in AM rather than FM as i wanted that genuine "muffled" radio sound, rather than the clean and sharp signal which would have been no different from the studio tapes!). as for the video, no doubt it was seen at the time as groundbreaking, but now it just looks like the visual equivalent of a kid being let loose in the sweet shop
pt ii...
ReplyDeletethompson twins: i had a memory that everything they did after the excellent "hold me now" was utter tosh. and yet although this isn't in that league it's not too bad at all. for some reason the song title "doctor, doctor" was a popular choice, as UFO before them and robert palmer afterwards both wrote such titular tunes
duran duran: i suppose at this point i was hoping they would come out with something on the scale of "save a prayer", but sadly all they seemed to do was replicate the far inferior "rio" over and over again. and this is typical of that, with the video doing them no favours either
manhattan transfer: i had to give this a listen on yt after watching the show, as there it was just background dance noise. although it has all the rod temperton hallmarks such as rich harmony vocals, it's some way off his best. and unfortunately whoever takes the lead really isn't suited to the job
The version of 'Doctor Doctor' by UFO on the seminal 'Strangers in the Night' double live album is absolutely amazing with a sublime keyboard and guitar intro:-
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuvrPULnCIE
Here I go again being late…late again….oh wait that’s another song entirely…
ReplyDeleteMusical Youth – Sixteen – Please!! No more Musical Youth!!!
Queen – Radio Ga Ga – A slice of class to follow the ridiculous. We’ve all heard this umpteen million times and those of us lucky enough to attend Queen concerts have all shaken our arms in the air and clapped to the anthemic chorus. But what a song…what a group…what a video (with nice clips of old classics too). The chart rundown shows the picture from the single picture sleeve but take a look at 45cat and you’ll see the originally intended (super rare) picture sleeve. Wish I had one! What kept this off the top spot? Bloody Frankie!!
Matthew Wilder – Break my stride – Matthew on ToTP at last. This was literally played to death on Radio 2 at the time but it’s stood the test of time well for me. Unusual performance amongst the crowd.
Fiction Factory – Feels like Heaven – Still sounds and feels great to me.
Thomas Dolby – Hyperactive – Hated this at the time and still do despite the arty video. Never quite got Thomas Dolby.
Thompson Twins – Doctor! Doctor! On a roll are these twins and this is the second in a great trio of singles from the ‘Into the Gap’ album. Their ToTP showings do strike as somewhat samey though.
Juan Martin – Theme from ‘Thorn Birds’. Soppy soul am I, but I absolutely loved the mini series and watched it avidly at the time and then read the book for good measure! Rachel Ward looked simply stunning in this, none more so than the iconic scene on the beach when Ralph (Richard Chamberlain) comes back in a white suit and runs after her on the beach; that cuts in at around 1:25 on here:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDOa_d2OzAY
Bryan Brown who doesn’t appear in this clip, but went on to feature in a number of other well-known films such as ‘Cocktail’ and ‘Gorillas in the Mist’ married Rachel (they’re still married I believe) after they got together on the set of ‘The Thorn Birds’.
So why has this been snipped out of the BBC4 broadcast? Chariots of Fire was shown in full as were a number of other film featured songs. I assume the YT link above is from this show?
Duran Duran – New Moon on Monday – The best of the songs from ‘Seven and the Ragged Tiger’ for me (better than ‘The Reflex’ in my opinion). What the video is all about is anyone’s guess but it looks impressive.
Again we don’t get Frankie appearing at no1 so it saves me having to make any mention of it…ooops.
Manhattan Transfer – Spice of Life playout – As I noted last week, this is a very different ‘chanson’ style for the late 70s ‘Pastiche’ band. Very dancy and unrecognisable as ManTran. Amazingly this playout ends very abruptly.
Hosts – These two paired yet again!!! JP should have mentioned that “at no20 are the multi-talented Smiths”.
obviously bryan brown nipped in for rachel ward when richard chamberlain wasn't looking! ms ward didn't do much after "the thorn birds" (i seemed to remember she had sort-of famous acting sister, and i have been reminded on wiki that her main claim to fame was that dreadful crime series "CATS eyes") but mr brown made a breakthrough into hollywood for several years as a result - i liked both "F/X" and its sequel, and will have to get around to watching them again some time...
Deletepresumably the reason peelie didn't describe the smiths as "multi-talented" in the chart countdown is because he thought (as i do) that morrissey is a one-trick pony?
DeleteYes, you are right sct353, the YT link you have for Juan Martin is the original TOTP clip that BBC4 snipped out of the show, as the whole unedited show is now on WeTransfer, thank to Neil B via John G in the above postings.
DeleteRichard Chamberlain wouldn't have been interested in romancing Rachel Ward because he's a homosexual gentleman.
Deletei know that thx - i was being facetious! i remember reading an interview with him in recent years where he admitted that he often felt pressure and guilt in trying to conform to his public image as a ladies' man, when he knew that wasn't the case. but was also well aware that if he came out back then, it would be career suicide...
Deleterachel ward was very much seen as an english rose i.e. a genteel lady of refinement and breeding (and indeed she was an actual toff!), whilst bryan brown came over as a typical "ocker" of his generation. therefore he hardly seemed any better matched for the hand of ms ward than that then-closted homosexual gentleman richard chamberlain! but as someone else has pointed out, their marriage still seeems to be going strong after several decades. so they obviously had more in common than it might have seemed - to use his vernacular: "fair dinkum, cobber!"
DeleteMusical Youth - All a bit weird (thank goodness Savile had gone by this point) and not very good either.
ReplyDeleteQueen - Still sounds good, and I remember the video being very exciting. I'm glad the radio is still with us, especially as I'm on it occasionally.
Matthew Wilder - My memory of TOTP is that almost every man will look like this within about a year. Which is unfortunate, though the song is at least very enjoyable.
Thomas Dolby - It says a lot about the video that when the song was remixed in 93 they didn't alter it much. I do wonder if the 'Professor' character was designed with Magnus Pyke in mind again but he was unavailable. Good song and video.
Thompson Twins - Their dullest big hit.
Juan Martin - Not missing much here, and at least the edit was good!
Duran Duran - For no apparent reason, it's one of my favourite singles of theirs. The video looks like it was filmed in Eastern Europe but apparently they were in France.
Then some average soul to finish in lieu of the disgusting filth (c Mike Read,,probably)
Juan Martin performance is on YouTube
ReplyDeleteNow here’s a thought – since they went to a top 40 countdown, shouldn’t they have changed the countdown on the ‘smashing records’ intro telly screen to a 40 instead of retaining the old 30?
ReplyDeleteMusical Youth’s opener reminded me of our dear old mates from way back Sheer Elegance, who managed two appearances despite not cracking the top 40 with a song about, erm, going out with an underage girl. “16 with a bullet” was way inferior to Pete Wingfield’s 1975 smash “18 With A Bullet”.
Queen. FF.
I like Peelie’s ‘Princess’ joke, years before Desree Hislop charted and made sure we finally had UK hits by King, Queen, Prince and Princess. Put that navel away, Matthew – or is it Graeme Souness?
I wonder why you never see a sign that says “Hello Dad”?
Fiction Factory’s singer looked smarter and also more assured, even laughing when an out-of-shot balloon had obviously hit his face. Award there for most protruding middle part of a keyboard stack.
Thomas Dolby’s track was manic and the video was frantic but enjoyable, complete with a drawing of some breasts!
Peelie missed a trick by not saying The Thompson Twins “featuring the multi-talented Alannah Currie”, still wearing that bloody foreign legion hat. Never seen a bongo and kettledrum combo before, and I probably never will.
Juan Martin – FF. Oh, hang on, the BBC have done it for me!
Dura Duran, complete with the yelping slappable Le Bum. FF.
Frankie – not even an FF! Great pregnant pause there, lads.
Manhattan Transfer see us out with a tune which would make Shakatak spit feathers, but which spice of life are we talking about here? Ginger? Scary?
The Rhythm Pals are still my favourite presenters by a long way. And I think their radio shows were the only ones I listed to on Radio 1 at the time.
ReplyDeleteI was ready to skip the Musical Youth song but it was actually nice surprise. Not too sure about the female singer's Eric Morecambe shorts though. Were they ever fashionable?
With videos available at the click of a mouse today it's hard to recall how powerful it was to see new video in its entirety on this how, especially the classic comeback single by Queen which even features clips of their old videos.
Mathew Wilder next with a song to be heard and not seen methinks. He looks like namesake Gene Wilder playing at being a pop star and being short of stature they should have found two less-tall ladies to stand either side of him. But I like the song and the performance with the crowd following him across the studio floor and Peelie introducing it from the gantry.
The Thomas Dobly video was one I recorded at the time and played back a lot. There's a multitude of interesting ideas here only slightly let down by the limited tecniques of the time.
Thompson Twins, another goody which made me wish it was 1984 again. I never realised you could make tom-toms out of old drainpipes.
The Top 40 is a bit too lengthy when read out in one go like tonight, with poor old Juan edited out, but I'm glad they're featuring the whiole 40 at last as we get to see a lot of names we wouldn't otherwise see. A shame they didn't start doing this earlier.
I have no memories of this Duran Duran song or video and I think I had totally lost interest in them by this point. The video is perhaps a bit too glossy for its own good but then aren't they always.
The ban on Relax still not relaxed but Man Tran spice things up with an all-too-brief snatch of their number 26 hit. A real shame we couldn't see them in the studio, it seems such a long time since they were last in the chart.
Spinal Tap fan, Bama? Well, who isn't?
Deletespinal tap were okay, but i'm more of a bad news man myself
Deletei don't think we'll see thomas dolby on the show again. so i'm belatedly taking the opportunity to recommend what i considered a highly-superior (but sadly failed chartwise) follow-up to "hyperactive", which was called "i scare myself" and was an electro-lounge-style cover of a song by an obscure 60's musician called dan hicks:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyPPVDX-tVA
interestingly that wasn't the only cover version of that song released in the early 80's - this one is by grace jones' guitarist barry reynolds that features all his compass point chums such as sly & robbie and wally badarou:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IunZRB_sQI
Good call. I love 'I scare myself' and bought the 45 when it came out - and I wasn't much of a one for buying singles at the time.
DeleteIt's still one of my all-time favourite love songs, and it's hard to reconcile Tom's touching performance of the song with the frenetic nature of 'Hyperactive' and 'She blinded me with science'.
as a result of that, i checked out a "best of" dolby cd in recent times when the opportunity arose in the hope i might find other things of similar quality. sadly i was disappointed on that score, although "airhead" and "screen kiss" were okay. the main problem i have with mr dolby is that his vocal efforts sound very much those of a background boy thrust into the limelight, rather than a natural frontman
Deletewhen dolby performed "i scare myself" live on "the tube" (which was how i became aware of it, as it didn't get any radio airplay to my recollection), he rather amusingly introduced it by saying something like "this got to number 4 in the venezuelan charts, where there was a coup - and i'm hoping the same kind-of thing happens here"!
Deletesorry - the other dolby comment should have read "backroom boy"!
DeleteI'm not keen on 'I Scare Myself' particularly, but his 1992 minor hit 'Close But No Cigar' is rather good!
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