And now many thanks to gia for this full version also at WeTransfer
That's the way I comb it
12/04/84 (Richard Skinner & Dave Lee Travis)
Scritti Politti – “Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin)” (17)
The first of two top ten hits, peaking at number 10.
Dead Or Alive – “That’s The Way (I Like It)” (25)
Making their debut with this KC & the Sunshine Band cover, that peaked at number 22.
The Cure – “The Caterpillar” (20)
Creepy-crawled its way to number 14.
Then we get a Top Ten Video show.
Lionel Richie – “Hello” (1) (video)
I forgot to count April 5th, so this is actually the fourth of six weeks at number one for Lionel.
Rufus & Chaka Khan – “Ain’t Nobody” (13) (video/audience dancing/credits)
This was Chaka's first hit since I'm Every Woman, over five years earlier! It peaked at number 8.
Back to BBC4 next for April 19th 1984.
scritti politti: sadly no trace of the totp appearance on yt, but going by the official video green is now well into his "princess diana" phase - with new girly vocals to boot! yet another namecheck record (this time for whom i refer to as "the queen of scream" - no, i'm not a fan), but i remember thinking how incredibly big-sounding the production of this was - even if the song itself wasn't that brilliant
ReplyDeletedead or alive: a pointless rehash of a disco classic, and i much prefer green's concept of androgyny to that of the scary pete burns with his tarty look and shouty singing. listening to the backing vocals from the trio of scrubbers here, it's a case of "come back ladybirds - all is forgiven!"
cure: robert smith also throws his hat into the androgeny arena, having now perfected the crazed clown look we all know (if not love on my part). once the cat-walking-on-a-keyboard intro is out of the way (actually the cat might have been a more competent player than lol, who looks really pleased to be here - not!), i remembered this as a pleasant enough cod-hippy thing. that is apart from bob's also-now-trademarked whine, that i simply can't stand!
chaka khan: i actually thought this came out as far back as the 70's, although i listened to it again in more recent times and realised it was well-crafted mid-tempo 80's dance/r&b that doesn't quite get my juices flowing
You're thinking of 'I'm Every Woman' which was Chaka Khan's first hit in 1979, but 'Ain't nobody' had its first release right here in April 1984. Chaka then released both singles again in 1989 as remixes and fared marginally better with them.
Deleteno, i wasn't thinking of "i'm every woman" as i know every single note of that disco classic inside out! i was of the belief that "ain't nobody" was a follow-up to that, but as angelo says there was nothing for several years afterwards
DeleteChaka Khan released loads of singles in between her two hits. And in mind Ain't Nobody is by Rufus and Chaka Khan taken from the partly live album Stompin' At the Savoy.
DeleteBut still Bama, there was no release (in the UK at least) of any singles by Chaka between I'm Every Woman in 1979 to this one in April 1984 with Ain't Nobody, i.e. 5 years of nothing from her in the UK charts that is.
DeleteAccording to 45cat there were at least 8 Chaka Khan singles released in the UK, you have to look up Chaka Khan NOT Rufus and Chaka Khan. None of them charted though.
DeleteIs anyone at all surprised?
Deleteyes i am a bit actually, given her standing as a top-notch soul/r&b singer. mind you, she probably didn't do herself any favours by flitting between solo and band activities in her uk "wilderness years"
DeleteA few of her singles topped the R&B charts in the US and two of her albums charted in the Top 20, I just checked out a few of the singles on YT, eg Do You love What You Feel, Clouds and Hot Butterfly and they're pretty classy stuff with superb production but perhaps not as immediate as her two biggies.
Deleterufus recorded an excellent funky disco track in the late 70's called "walk the rockway", but chaka only did backing vocals on that!
Deleteby the way: is anyone else here aware that chaka's sister is taka boom, who was in the norman whitfield-mentored group the undisputed truth before going solo (and later on did vocals for house artists such as joey negro)? what i never knew until now was that there real first names are yvonne and yvette!
A revamped version Ain't no body went a couple of spaceshigher in 1989
ReplyDeleteThanks to David for making the download available, though it is a shame that Scritti Politti are missing at the start, particularly as the performance is not on YouTube - hopefully Neil B or someone else might come up with it in the next few days. The song's production sounds clunky and dated now, but it's a good tune and there is something enticing about Green's soft vocals.
ReplyDeleteAs far as what we do have is concerned, our hosts seem to have a good relationship, though unfortunately DLT decides to go into "wacky" mode towards the end with his bizarre ripped sleeves look; Dickie plays straight man, and does it well. The ever-shy and retiring Pete Burns makes an immediate impression with this reasonable KC cover, and it's nice to be reminded of a time when he looked like a vaguely normal human being, as well as hearing a Dead or Alive single that isn't You Spin Me Round. As noted by Wilberforce above, The Cure's offering started unpromisingly, but I was rather taken with the sunny little melody (sounding a bit like a theme from a 70s or 80s holiday programme) that punctuates the song, and on balance it won me over. The hippyish communal sit-down performance was also refreshingly different, though there were too many close-ups of Robert's scary visage for my liking!
Presumably there was a video show this week to make up for the fact that not many songs could be played in full in the time available. There are a number of videos here that we won't see again, Depeche Mode's ship-based effort looking to be quite striking, while Shaky's was undoubtedly the most risible. Can anyone imagine him being surrounded by hordes of screaming girls in real life? Chaka Khan finishes things off, with huge hair and a big song to match, her finest moment in my view. DLT and Dickie can be seen lurking at the edge of the crowd during the credits, Dickie letting himself go enough to whack a balloon...
Pete Burns was obviously jumping on the 'male looks female' concept now in full swing with Boy George and Marilyn, and was there to throw his name into the ring too as it was still in fashion up to this point in 1984, which is why I think he has gone a bit further in also wearing girlie shorts.
DeleteEach to their own, but in terms of the music they were clearly copying the movements on the original KC video from 1975 with the three trombonists up and down gyrations:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_ZPaQUS8W4
It was also now about 6 months after KC's last ever hit in 1983, and if KC had any thought of continuing his career, then this Dead Or Alive rendition of That's The Way I Like It, would have been enough to make him sick and retire for good which seems to have been the case.
boy george has actually been quoted as saying that when he and pete burns met, the latter accused him of ripping off his look! he also not surprisingly admitted not fancying visiting liverpool for that reason...
Deleteand although i agree that this cover of the kc track stinks, i would have thought it would have acted as free promo material and an incentive for mr casey to get himself back in the public eye again?
i don't know if he acted as a role model/inspiration for nick hornby's novel "hi fidelity" or not, but pete burns apparently once worked in a record shop where if he thought whatever the punters were buying was crap he would let them know his opinion in no uncertain terms!
DeleteAfter all the excitement of last weeks On-Ice special this mini-me show is a bit of a disappointment but there are some highlights, or Wood-Be if we could see them!. (see what I did there].
ReplyDeleteHaving discovered Scritti Politti via their first album back in 1982 I was already a fan but I wasn't expecting the new change in sound and production. It's a pity that the performance missing from this recording (along with every inclusion on YouTube) but you can see the video on YT which features the band in bed (albeit not praying), some bee hives and a young Michael Clark dancing.
The Charts - Two records by Nik Kershaw in the rundown this week and Relax has started going back up again.
I didn't care much for the Dead Or Alive track at the time but it makes me smile now. Sadly Peter Burns came to the androgynous party a little late to be as shocking as he'd like to be with Boy George and Marilyn and beating him to it but he's giving it everything he's got. The band are very crowded on this stage and although there are supposedly real horns on the record they do sound a little sampled here.
I hated this Cure track at the time dismissing it as a silly insect follow up to Love Cats but I thought it sounded excellent here and I liked the seated performance in the round with a pensive-looking Robert Smith no quire sure what to do after breaking all the strings on his bow.
The video Top Ten where we get to see most of the videos for the first time (The Specials and Depeche Mode looked to be the best) although sadly we don't see enough of them to get the full effect. Lionel's still chasing blind girls at the top which is getting boring now but it's a good layout with Chaka Khan and we get to see the video as well.
DLT seemed to be on good form here and shows up Dickie who looks a bit subdued.
Sadly (or not sadly for some), Pete Burns died of a heart attack last year aged only 57. I must admit that the only song I liked of his was You Spin Me Round, i.e., the big No.1 from 1985 and a disco floor classic to this day. However That's The Way I Like It on modern day dance floors has not remembered Dead Or Alive's version, but thankfully the KC original version is always the one played by DJs around the world to this day.
DeleteIn Too Deep was a great was another great Dead Or Alive dance track, dated Stock Aitken and Waterman production of course. but a great tune and full-on vengeful lover lyrics.
DeleteChart rundown - I noticed that Frankie Goes To Hollywood were having a new renaissance with Relax, now going back up to No.21, a good two months finishing off their stint at No.1 with it. Unusual, considering that their second single was not released yet!
ReplyDeleteThe Cure - was this the first time that a group appeared on TOTP all sitting on the floor of the stage? I don't recall this ever happening before. I wonder if anyone knows any other examples of this, but I think this may have been a first on the show, and as John G describes it as a hippyish communal sit-down performance. Indeed. Oh, and the song wasn't bad I thought.
Top ten video rundown - agreed with John G in that it was a necessary on such a short 20-minute show, especially as all of them (apart from Captain Sensible and Shakin Stevens) were humdingers of videos, starting with the colourful Phil Collins one to set the tone quite nicely for the top ten video rundown.
I think this was the only video done by Captain Sensible as his earlier hits in 1982 including Happy Talk had no videos for them, as at that time it was not a must for all bands, but certainly by 1984 if you had no video, then it was very poor to release a single and unlikely to be allowed to without one - unless of course you were Billy Joel with An Innocent Man!
Onto The Thompson Twins, and this was by far their most extravagant video with the outdoor setting somewhere far away I'm sure, and most successful hit going to No.2, and hence got a bigger video budget thanks to Doctor Doctor being their first top 3 hit recently. Suffice to say, that it was downhill after this one from the Twins, as their next couple years would serve a gradual decline with no more top ten hits after this one.
Full version totp 12 April 1984 is here:https://we.tl/n26XdQ0Ke2
ReplyDeleteGood Lord, that was quick gia, thanks a bundle as ever. Angelo, perhaps you can swap David marlborough's edition for this fabulous one from gia?
DeleteAnother Good Lord here - didn't the lead singer of Scritti Politti look ugly thanks to those awful teeth. He may as well have stayed at home and sent his video across to TOTP. Good Lord!
Cheers gia :-)
DeleteYes, many thanks gia. Green's outfit in that Scritti Politti performance was, erm, interesting. He also appeared to be wearing a German Iron Cross round his neck, though the picture was a bit too blurry for me to be certain.
DeleteLike Bowie, Green Gartside (real name Paul Julian Strohmeyer) changed his look with each release. Here he appears to be opting for a white Indian frock coat and matching leggings with sandals and silver and diamente accessories.
Deletei was thinking "only two more weeks to go before we finally say adios to "hello"", which has prompted the following query: were hits still played on radio 1 daytime shows whilst they were sliding down the top 30, or did they stop doing so as soon as that happened?
ReplyDeleteI have vague memories, from listening to morning and daytime Radio 1 when I was younger, that the higher up the chart the song was, the more chance it had of being played on its descent, e.g. a song reaching number 1 or 2 would still get airplay for a couple of weeks after its peak (the public had supposedly got it that high up the chart through sales so they'd still like to hear it occasionally), while a mugshot brusher would be dropped as soon as it started gliding back down.
Deletethanks for that arthur. i presume that's still the case with whatever constitutes the charts on daytime radio? not that i'd know, as i haven't listened to a radio show of any kind for at least 10 years!
DeleteIt's a bit different nowadays, certainly for the likes of Radios 1 & 2. Radio 1 regularly have songs on their playlists from acts that haven't charted but are popular live acts or have big social media followings, a good example being Blossoms, who have been on the A List despite never being in the top 40. The current Killers song is also getting a lot of airplay but hasn't made the top 40 yet.
DeleteI think things changed when the record companies went all out for high first week chart positions in the mid nineties which meant songs climbing the charts were a rarity until downloads and streaming changed things again.
Music Week publish an airplay chart and you can see the influence of Radio 2 on certain tracks like the new Paul Heaton single which they're playing a lot at the moment.
For my own radio shows I've pretty much stopped using the chart as a guide for picking current songsa and go with what I think the listeners might enjoy.
A storming start from Scritti Politti, with Green's obsessively impeccable production lifting an ethereal tune into more powerful realms. Although not all his songs were as good as this one, his way with arranging them was superb, you could tell how meticulous he was from the first few notes. Performance-wise, not bad, he seems unsure about playing that guitar - also, female drummer!
ReplyDeleteDead or Alive, Pete Burns was a great pop star forever in search of great tunes he rarely found, for the most part, and he didn't do this KC cover any favours with his stylings. Massive in Japan, of course, he did look a bit anime. My hair goes like that when I wake up in the mornings (though it's not as long)).
Genuinely charming, gentle tune from The Cure, I prefer this to Love Cats (though this too has the weird noises). I used to get a kick out of playing the main melody hook on the nearest piano, probably because I can't play very much else (!).
Was Captain Sensible's video shot in his beloved Croydon? Dickie much admired the Depech-ay Mode video, but it looked like a dog's breakfast to me. Then Lionel unrelenting at the top.
Rufus and Chaka Khan to end on, video's pretty basic but this is a solid, if overplayed, dance soul standard.
Thanks to both Gia and David Marlborough.
ReplyDeleteContrasting noises from our hosts tonight. Having told us twice early doors the show was, ahem, a “Little bit Shorter” than usual, DLT quips about how miniscule the show really was near the end. Dickie mispronounces Scritti Politti first time round while we’re at it. Loved DLT's face being obscured by that Tracking sign at the beginning!
I’d become aware of Scritti Politti through John Peel’s superb eclectic late night show. I bought their early single “Sweetest Girl”, a lovely, gentle, mid-tempo dub-tinged ballad on Rough Trade which reached 64 in 1981 and was then pointlessly covered by Madness in 1986, deservedly stiffing at 35. “Wood Beez” was good enough but suffered a duff title spelling – I was more won over by later hit “Absolute”. Singer Green Gartside reminded me facially of Princess Diana for some reason, and quite easily the most gorgeous drummer in the re-run thus far in my eyes.
I wasn’t keen on either chart version of KC’s previous hit song but hated the “keep that body strong” refrain in this cover. I wasn’t too keen on the Scouse Cameo look, either. Was that the most people on a TOTP stage since Fiddler’s Dram?
The Cure, a brave choice for Dickie’s fave in the top 40. It’s that Smith bloke again! One week Robert’s performing a song about swimming horses, the next week a caterpillar – which species will our pop equivalent of David Attenborough namecheck next?
Some interesting videos there, apart from Phil, Shaky and Clayhead.
Chaka Khan sees us out with a fine track. Physically she always reminded me of a rich red wine – full bodied and plenty of character.
Some very interesting detail on the TV Cream mailout today, namely a screen shot of the caption apologising for BBC1 being closed for the entirety of April 5th due to the inaction of a particular trade body. BBC2 carried on as normal.
ReplyDeleteJust out of interest, does anyone know if the April 5th TOTP edition would have been live or recorded the day before, and had they got to the stage of selecting the acts for the cancelled show or did the Beeb have an inkling it would be off and not bother with act selection and rehearsals?
I don't know the answer to your first question for certain, but as the Rhythm Pals were meant to host that show I think it's very likely it would have been a live one, as virtually all of their shows were.
DeleteI've just checked the Genome site, and it was indeed intended to be a live edition.
DeleteIt's a shame that we didn't get to see this one as although it was short (perhaps BECAUSE of that) there were no absolute duffers here bar the No.1 which they obviously had no choice over.
ReplyDeleteScritti Politti - I like the fact that they didn't stick to the same stuff all the time (who remembers Green's dalliances with rap and hop hop in the 90s?) and this is a great pop tune.
Dead Or Alive - 'Memories of KC & The Sunshine Band' says Dickie. Oh really, 'cos I don't remember any of them wearing what amounted to a nappy? God rest his soul, whatever you thought of him, Pete Burns was never a dull frontman was he? I'm not overly keen on this one, but their next 3 hit singles are all absolutely top notch.
The Cure - I always remember this being featured on Annie Nightingale's show when she did 'songs that sound like their title'. One of my favourite songs by the band.
Top 10 videos makes sense for a short show, as others have said, and most of them we haven't seen before either. Shock horror, I think the Phil Collins track is the best thing he ever did solo, uncool though it is to admit that.
Rufus / Chaka Khan (or 'Kahn' according the ever hopeless Chart caption writer) - very few songs despite being overplayed transcend the 'housewife classic' moniker by virtue of being brilliant. This is one of them.
'Hop Hop'? Hey everybody, I've invented a new genre. That should be 'Hip Hip' obviously....
DeleteI'm with you regarding Against All Odds - although I am allergic to most of Phil's solo output, this particular track is a classy, powerful ballad. Speaking of hip-hop, didn't a group of rappers proclaim Phil to be an important musical influence for them a few years back?
Delete"Hop Hop"? Surely invented by Chas and Dave circa "Rabbit"!
DeleteThey did John and I'm sure an album came out of their admiration. Such a shame that Westlife and Mariah Carey also showed their admiration for Little Phil with a p*ss poor cover of Against All Odds a few years back...
Deleteanybody know why this was a short show ?
DeleteDon't know who the rappers are that you mention, but certainly Eminem name checked him in "Stan".
DeleteWhich incidentally is one of the most disturbing songs ever.
They had to shorten the show to accommodate the final episode of David Attenborough's Living Planet, which had been postponed from the previous week due to the strike.
DeleteSteve - thanks for that, I had a vague memory there had been some kind of tribute album released as well. Further research reveals it to have been called Urban Renewal, consisting of soul and hip hop covers of Phil's "classics," which was subsequently voted by Q magazine as the third worst album of all time! I think I managed to avoid ever hearing that Westlife-Mariah cover - if ever a collaboration was made in hell from my point of view, that would be the one!
Thanks John I rememeber it now. Based on the Q readers assessment of it I shan't bother checking it out!
DeleteSadly I couldn't avoid the Westlife version, at the time I was record librarian at my local hospital radio station and presenter of our request chart, so I had to buy and then play the damn thing...
Typical, innit eh? Bloomin' typical. You wait weeks for a decent ToTP and when you finally get one, its truncated down to the bare bones. Anyway..............
ReplyDeleteOur starter for ten this week is the lovely-beyond-all-expectation 'Wood Beez' one of my favouritest songs of all time. Not sure I know what he's going on about but it doesn't matter, because the breathy vocals, catchy chorus, and bold production all add up to a mighty fine ditty. (And Green still has 'Absolute' and 'Patti' to come!)
Rimmel-bothering Pete Burns and the rest of Dead Or Alive are this week's Scouse act. It's a cover that never really irked or pleasured me at the time, but seen now in this entertaining performance it's very enjoyable. Should I feel a bit perturbed that I find Burns more attractive than the backing singers? To answer Wilby above. Yup Pete Burns did indeed gain a bit of a rep for being an obstreperous git serving punters at a record shop. The shop in question was called Probe and was situated round the corner from The Cavern. I don't remember him myself despite visiting the shop many times, but I do recall seeing him in the neigbouring streets during the time he was wearing quite startling black contact lenses.
The Cure. Caterpillar. A wonderful wonderful song that will, in a week or two, turn into something even more beautiful. (You might have to think about that one!)
The video top ten was also mainly enjoyable but, seriously, how did Shakin Stevens get all the way up to number 2?
Ok, then, to the scores. I may be comparing this edition to the dross served up recently but, oh what the hell - its a 9.
Our hosts. The Yewtree'd Cornflake has slipped back into Zany mode and costs the team several points. Skineeeer! has, apparently, just come hot-foot from a recording of Question Of Sport and loses a point for that sartorial error and for mis-pronouncing the simple-to-pronounce Scritti Politti. Its just a 4.
I must admit I was thinking the same about Shakin Stevens getting all the way up to no.2. There was a danger that he could get his first no.1 since early 1982 with 'Oh Julie if you love me truly'.
DeleteIn fact I don't remember this 1984 effort at all, let alone getting to the dizzy heights of No.2.
I think your observation could be applied to most of Shaky's hits - he had loads, but only a handful are either remembered or played nowadays.
Deletei sometimes challenge people to name more than three of shakin' stevens' many hits, and very few can manage that... including me i think! i very much view erasure in the same way i.e. they had loads of hits, but most will struggle to remember more than a couple of them...
DeleteI took your challenge wilb and camebup with:
DeleteThis ol house
Green door
Merry xmas everyone
Then as you rightly said, I ran dry!!!
Came up *
DeleteLipstick Powder & Paint
DeleteOh Julie
Blue Christmas
Two of these have been on the reruns but I'd struggle to name any of his hits after Merry Christmas Everyone.
I saw Shaky at Glastonbury many years ago, he refused to do Green Door and mainly played stuff of his then new album.
with regard to the shakin' stevens "quiz", it must be taken into consideration that we've just been subjected to the majority of his hits over the last year or so... and still people are having trouble remembering them!
DeleteI should have remembered this latest shaky one as was in last weeks blog title! But it's just so unmemorable.
Deletethat's my point leetree - practically everything the man ever did was in one ear and out the other!
Deletei do remember about 10 years ago there was a phase of shakin' stevens albums becoming very commonplace in charity shops, about the same time as those of adam ant - make what you will of that...
So to continue the quiz - and as Wilberforce has mentioned them above - can anyone remember three Erasure songs? I would go for:
DeleteSometimes
A Little Respect
Blue Savannah
There's a few others I can think of but the above seem to get the most radio play.
They were the 3 I immediately thought of, but then remembered their Abba EP. Whats my prize? :)
DeleteI'm a big Erasure fan so could probably name loads, but even then I've not listened to much of their stuff since the 90s.
Deleteall i can recall about erasure's self-penned hits are bits of the choruses of "sometimes" and "a little respect", and also that another one whose title i can't remember was a rip-off of "i will survive"
DeleteI'd completely forgotten about the Abbaesque EP - I bought it and haven't played it for 25 years.
DeleteAs for prizes, maybe Angelo could award some TOTP gold stars with a signed photo of Slimes as the boovy prize :-)
*Booby prize
Deletei've just realised: erasure are certainly aptly-named when it comes to (not) remembering their songs (ho ho). as an apparent non-fan of gender benders (see below), presumably 20th century relic wouldn't have been too keen on the duo prancing about in the abba-esque video in drag as frida and agnetha ? i thought vince looked brilliant as the latter, where (s)he now reminds me of a better-looking samantha fox ha ha!:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-d4J3YUQmU
Just looking ahead to next week, about two thirds of the 19th April show (including the JK slot) is available on YouTube, albeit in poor quality:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1uY0kldq5Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FetDS_uh_mo
The 26th April show is available in full on Vimeo, for anyone who wants to watch it in advance - thanks to D42:
https://vimeo.com/181938077
I think I'll wait a few more days till BBC4 get to these, but thanks. The 19th April edition on your link will be useful only for the JK slot, cos BBC4 will have the rest of the show, not two thirds of it. Good initiative though!
DeleteI posted those 19th April links because of the JK slot - I wouldn't have bothered otherwise!
Deletejohn thanks for the heads-up regarding most of the next episode being on yt. usually all you get there is individual songs (plus somewhat bizarrely one guy uploading edits of the chart countdowns), but even here there's no "part 1" - could it have been removed by the copyright police?
Deletei put a home-made video featuring one of those awful 70's footballer-singalong records as a soundtrack on yt last year - primarily as a birthday gift for a chum of mine who supports that particular team, but also because the recording wasn't already on yt and i hoped it might go viral as a result. that hasn't happened so far, and sadly even if it does in the future i recently discovered quite by chance that the video has a "copyright claim" lodged on it by those who own the publishing rights to said song (presumably it was discovered by song-recognition software?) - with the result that although it's not been removed from yt, i am not allowed to make any money from the ads that may now appear on it (presumably unlike the copyright holder)!
how unfair is that? as a result i am seriously considering taking it down - just so the bastards don't financially benefit from my unpaid labours, where they wouldn't have done so otherwise!
if you are interested full 38 mins of 19.04.84 on Vimeo - Meer
DeleteHave you got the link please?
Deletehttps://vimeo.com/227605263
DeleteThanks very much Meer. Wilberforce - if I were in your shoes I would definitely take that video down! Re the 19th April show, I'm sure the copyright police did remove part 1.
Deletejohn thanks for your support! i shall be removing it shortly, and i'll look into the possibility of masking the music from song-recognition software (can anyone help here?) before i consider uploading it again
DeleteMeer, your link no longer works. Looks like someone has taken it down.
DeleteJust checked out Scritti Politi's line up on Wood Beez (and the follow-up Absolute) Discogs and it seems that the drummer on the recordings was US session player called Steve Ferrone, so the female drummer is a stand-in/dummy as they say in the trade. Wonder who she was? (NB - she's not Alyssa McDonald who played bass with Scritti much later).
ReplyDeleteAh Steve Ferrone - remember him from his days as the Average White Band drummer.
DeleteSteve is a member of Tom Petty's Heartbreakers nowadays - given that he is black, it's somewhat ironic that he was in the AWB!
Deletebrightonian (is that the right way of describing someone from brighton?) steve ferrone replaced the original AWB drummer and drug casualty robbie mcintosh, who like the rest of the band was white and scottish (no doubt the new ironic twist on the original one that white men can't funk was somewhat of a factor). as a fan of AWB i remember reading that steve played the drums on some of the "cupid and psyche"-era scritti politti recordings, although there were so many effects applied that it could just as easily have been a drum machine. but better that than wasting his talent playing with a rock plodder like tom petty!
Deletefunk alone obviously doesn't pay the rent as steve ferrone's AWB colleague hamish stuart did much the same in later years, slumming it as a member of macca's touring band. what must he have thought of the musical talents of the lovely linda?
DeleteLooking at what was on offer I wasn't going to download this one, but after reading the comments here I did in the end. To be honest I needn't have bothered - three gender benders and the rest was videos (or bits of them) which made for a good game of cliché bingo if nothing else. Even the antics of DLT (the odd one out amongst a load of people who took themselves SO seriously) didn't lift this out of 25 minutes of uninteresting schedule filler.
ReplyDeleteSorry, this show did absolutely nothing for me.
Any sign of sct353? He's not been on here for a few weeks.
ReplyDeleteHmm. Not much to rock my boat.
ReplyDeleteCure - Funnily enough *my* violin playing is similar to that of Mr Smith :-)
Several videos i hadn't seen before - specials, culture club, sensible, bananarama, shakey
And one I've seen way too often (hello, FF, goodbye!)
People are people has the worst couplet since culture club war is stupid...
Just watching the lead singer of Def Leppard live on BBC Breakfast now, talking about the 30th Anniversary of the Hysteria album.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, pleased to say that I'll be going to see Bat Out Of Hell: The Musical tonight at the London Coloseum. When I saw the slogan 'must end 22nd August' I felt compelled to buy a ticket.
We saw Bat Out Of Hell twice when it was in Manchester. Enjoy!!
ReplyDeleteI did enjoy it very much Charlie, especially the way the cast did I'd Do Anything For Love & Heaven Can Wait, not to mention the superb Objects In The Rear View Mirror from Bat Out Of Hell II. A fantastic night out I must say, even for those who are not Meat Loaf or Jim Steinman fans.
Deletei can assure you that it wouldn't be for me - even if i was forced into the venue at gunpoint, i would do my utmost to get out of the place as soon as possible... or if you will: like a bat out of hell ho ho!
Deletequite bizarrely last year i was informed of a tribute double bill consisting of "bowie" and "meat loaf". i cetainly can't imagine fans of the dame geting excited about mr loaf (if at all), and i would imagine it's much the same likewise...?
Haven't seen 'Bat out of Hell' nor this edition of TOTP as it's gone! Serves me right for going on Holiday!
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