Wakey wakey, rise and shine, it's Top of the Pops 1984 time, and 8.15 million alarm clocks are chiming for June 6th and the last ever show to be presented by the Rhythm Pals.
Have I Got Tonsils For You
07/06/84 (David Jensen & John Peel)
Spandau Ballet – “Only When You Leave” (5)
Getting the show underway with the first single from their number 2 album, Parade, and it peaked at number 3.
Howard Jones – “Pearl In The Shell” (8)
With Jed mark 2 on the saxophone, Pearl in the Shell went up one more place.
Evelyn Thomas – “High Energy” (9)
Performing the sound of the clubs and peaking at number 5.
Bananarama – “Rough Justice” (29)
Perhaps not one of their best known hits, though it had quite a catchy chorus, but it peaked at number 23.
Bronski Beat – “Smalltown Boy” (13)
Making their studio debut with an impressive live vocal from Jimmy Somerville, Smalltown Boy was their first of four top ten hits and peaked at number 3.
Wham! – “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” (1)
Clearly enjoying their first number one, but this was its second and final week.
Sister Sledge – “Thinking Of You” (19) (audience dancing/credits)
This was their first top 30 hit since they were Lost in Music in 1979 and it peaked at number 11.
The best songs always end far too soon....
Next up is June 14th.
So farewell, The Rhythm Pals, you made me laugh more than any other TOTP combination. John Peel would have been 78 this week. At least he found a new double act with Janice Long.
ReplyDeleteVer Spands to start, and this is an overlooked entry in their canon, a pity because it's not bad at all, catchy, plaintive chorus and the guitar keeps it all bubbling away. As does the invisible keyboard.
Bring back Jed, Howard, he was a lot less creepy than the robot you hired for this performance. Textbook "give up miming and start dancing" stylings from Howard. Still like this.
Evelyn Thomas donning pink trouser suit and white heels, brave choice. More or less the same as before, except she has busier hands this time - on herself, oddly.
Didn't think I recognised this one from the 'nanas until it reached the chorus, and then I was "Oh yeah!" Not a bad effort, but I'm not sure getting so political was right for them. It has Siobhan all over it (had she cut her hair or was it tucked under her cap?).
Bronski Beat, overplayed now, but striking back then, Jimmy's falsetto was a piercing weapon. See, New Order? That's how you do it. Always reminds me of the Brass Eye episode where they crammed all the "gay news report" clichés into one two minute sequence, including playing this.
Wham enjoying their triumph at number one, with specially made tops. A truly joyful sound.
Sister Sledge with one of those remixes that are difficult to distinguish from the original, but a lovely song nonetheless, those strings and Nile's guitar are an unbeatable combination.
Yeah, couldn't agree more regarding Evelyn Thomas with that superb punchy number in song and fashion. Would you say that Bronski Beat were Scotland's finest pop produce at the time?
Deleteummm... out of the three bronski beat members, only mr somerville was scottish. and he moved down to london to try and better himself both professionally and personally (as i think the lyrics of "smalltown boy" relate). so they could hardly be described as "scotland's finest pop produce at the time"
DeleteI know Jimmy, like Marc Almond before him, was one of those openly gay singers who were very popular with the nation's mums, bizarrely.
DeleteWe bid a fond farewell to Kid, who despite saying at the end that the Rhythm Pals will see us soon would abandon the Beeb a couple of weeks later for the commercial fleshpots of Capital. He has been a mainstay for most of this repeat run, and out of all the presenters I think he has been the most consistently professional and enthusiastic, and will be missed. A generally good last outing for the double act, with Peel making his views on Spandau Ballet all too clear through his body language...
ReplyDeleteThe Spands start us off, in leather jackets and shoulder pads, looking more pleased with themselves than ever. The song is very slick, very polished, and very, very bland indeed, ideal music for the fledgling wine bars. I noticed a number of message t-shirts in the crowd, including one saying "Relax." The female dancer in orange at the front of the stage also looked a bit like Joan Collins from a distance. Howard makes it to the studio this time, but its a pity we get that eerily still saxophonist rather than Jed, given the latter's starring role in the video. At least Saxman (who looks a bit like Captain Sensible) does start moving in the end, and it's a fun enough performance.
The same applies to the second studio visit of Evelyn Thomas, with the crowd looking very engaged with another lively performance from Evelyn herself. I was less impressed by the Nanas, who were so dressed down as to look positively slovenly on this occasion. I don't remember ever hearing this at all, and it's no great surprise it didn't do that well as it's nowhere near as catchy as their previous hits.
I agree with the Rhythm Pals that Smalltown Boy is one of the hits of the year. A hypnotic, haunting tune and obviously important in a social and cultural sense, as an openly gay band unapologetically address homophobia in society for probably the first time on TOTP. Jimmy's (or is that Ian Hislop's?) live vocal is excellent, though it sounded to me as if the backing track was from the original recording. George was of course still very much in the closet in 1984, but his glittery "Number 1" t-shirt is quite camp in its way, as well as underlining the fact that he is the star, as all of his bandmates have plain black-and-white versions. A excellent Sister Sledge record to finish, though it does remind me that we are just a year away from the godawful Frankie. "Joan Collins" appears in close-up while this is playing, and suddenly looks a lot less like Joan Collins...
Kid would also be hosting the Network Chart by the Autumn which was produced by Capital. I would guess this was the main reason for his defection as the new chart show must've been in planning at this point. I didn't like the Network Chart much, but Jensen has been one of the best presenters of these re-runs.
ReplyDeleteWhat a shame the Capital money men didn't offer the gig to Bates, they could've got his time checks sponsored.
Another appearance for Reg Hollis tonight!
I too saw the Reg
DeleteNot very often I get on here this early these days. ‘Twas all the time way back when. (Edit – mind you, I’ve already been beaten to some of my comments!)
ReplyDeleteDeep sigh. Bye and thanks for everything to the best DJ pairing this show had or ever would have, and arguably to the best host we’ve had thus far.
Ben Watt’s wearing a “Relax” T-shirt in that Everything But The Girl mugshot, and so is a woman behind the first act, introduced in Clive James / Margarita Pracatan style by Peelie. It’s Leather Ballet, with an enjoyable tune, better served if they’d given Spiny a Roland, and a superb balloon kick by Ole Three Notes. Why was Jake miming with brushes?
The Shadows’ Golf Club Dad is remodelled by Howard Jones’s shirt and jumper combo. The cameraman looming over Howie’s keyboard was more interesting than Sax Knob. Bring back Jed! I’ll start the campaign.
Look at that punk hair on the gal behind the lads introducing Evelyn Thomas! Look at the punters trying to knock our gal, tickled pink (ahem) by a top ten hit, off her perch with their balloons. I was worried Evelyn would do a Wonder Woman off that podium.
Here comes Bananarama with an effort similar to “Belfast” by Boney M and “The Lebanon “ by The Human League – decent effort, but it doesn’t quite work.
Oh my, what a debut. Small dogs runs across town towards the set. Jimi nailed it with that live vocal. Did you see that strange confusing kerfuffle at 20:30 into the show when the tall lad at the front of the audience appeared to be asked to move away?
So, George, beat that last vocal! Oh, you can’t. Despite the glittery top, this was the weak link in the show for me.
So, Kid, “We’ll be back soon”? Sniff. And signing off with The Sledge Sisters? Mind you, a sumptuous slice of Chic disco. I still wish Kid had said “Goodbye and good love” at the end.
I like your Wonder Woman comment Arthur. She was a bit spinny this week.
DeleteI bet Banal-arama were pissed off being sandwiched her and Somerville, it's like spot the amateurs.
Yeah Arthur, I did have another look at the Bronski Beat performance for the 'strange confusing kerfuffle' as you put it, and it was a little odd to say the least. I wonder what that poor lad did wrong in the audience to be pulled away like that, in what would have been his claim to being on the telly which was very difficult in those days with only four channels on terrestrial tv.
DeleteSmalltown Boy isn't obviously a gay song unless you see the promotional video.
ReplyDeleteOnly When You Leave is my favourite Spandau song and from a very consistent album.
Only two weak points for me....
Rough Justice, nothing like as good as Robert De Niro's Waiting, either in melody or the lyrics.
And Thinking of You is smooth but doesn't pack the feeling that Lost in Music has.
At least two classic floor-fillers were featured on tonight's edition: Evelyn Thomas's exuberant 'High Energy' and Sister Sledge's ageless 'Thinking of You', the latter culled belatedly from the hit-heavy smash album 'We Are Family'.
ReplyDeleteBack again with the R pals for one last time and a return for Jeff Stewart who insists on standing between them which looks somehow odd. The crowd all look like paid cheerleaders this week as if Michael Hurll got confused with who was a real audience member and who wasn't, but they were perhaps at their least annoying this week.
ReplyDeleteTalking of annoying it's the Spandeau boys and they look truly hideous - they've got the lot, smug looks, mullet haircuts, polyester trousers and levver jackets with Huge padded shoulders. Hate the clothes, hate the song, hate the way the Kemp brothers keep sharing private jokes. I'm not a fan.
Howie J up next and this is a breath of fresh air. Nice to see him in the studio not with Jed this time, although hands up anyone else like me who thought that was Jed in a wig miming the sax parts. Although he's not just miming the sax parts, he mimes all he brass and a synthesiser as well just to be on the safe side. I like his crazy jacket which is adorned with badges, patches and toy figures.
Evelyn Thomas returns with another great performance of High Energy - lots of great camera angles and moves and we even get to see the studio roof and the monitor that "the kids" always look at themselves on. Wow!
Rough Justice next - and rough is the word but this is perhaps slightly less annoying than their last effort although less tuneful.
And then the best thing on the show by miles. I slightly knew Jimmy Somerville on the club scene in London and it was a total surprise to everyone when he suddenly appeared in the charts with this. The live vocal here is amazing and still sends a shiver up the back of my neck. The only downside here are those idiot airhead podium dancers who are an unwelcome distraction. Have they actually listened to the lyrics??
The record buying public did Choose Wham to be number one this week but they didn't really deserve it when George couldn't provide a live vocal like Jimmy. Not sure I care for George's glittery Number One tee shirt which with the large number of sequins is too heavy and makes him look pregnant.
Playout with Sister sledge which works well and we get to hear most of it. So it was a curate's egg of a show for me and it left me with a tear in my eye knowing we'll never see Peelie and the Kid again.
Didn’t realise that this was the last Rhythm Pals show. I’ll miss ‘em.
ReplyDeleteSpandau Ballet – Only when you leave – Boy this has aged well! I really enjoyed it. Never struck me as a great song at the time but not having heard it in years it is really refreshing.
Howard Jones – Pearl in the Shell – “Just come back from a successful US tour…” we’re told. I suppose he didn’t do too badly with a couple of US top 10 hits over two years but not with this. I love the way the song continues whilst the pals do their next link! Incidentally in my well-thumbed US Top 40 hits book, Howard is described as a ‘British synth wizard’.
Evelyn Thomas – Hi Energy – Didn’t grab me so I grabbed FF
Bananarama – Rough Justice – Forgotten how this went. It’s OK but definitely not one of their best. Eclectic outfits and minimal make-up this time.
Bronski Beat – Smalltown Boy – Sorry folks I am going to buck the trend here. I hated this and still do. Each to their own and if it was a live vocal then I admire that at least.
Chart rundowns. I noticed two things; 1) Relax kept getting played in the background, 2) The Boss was going down with ‘Dancing in the Dark’ but its time would come. Something must have woken the UK record buyers up to how good it was. Speaking of waking up….
Wham – Wake me up before you go-go – Still amazing when you look back.
Sister Sledge – Thinking of you Playout – Curious release this. I like it but it was the B Side of ‘Lost in Music’ from 1979, so what reactivated it? The next hit from the Sisters was a remix of ‘Lost in Music’.
Random thought of the week. A tune came into my head; an oldie that kept getting played in the late 70s on Capital Radio. Something about ‘Home of the Brave’. So I checked 45cat and there it is! A reissue in 1977 of a 1965 hit for Bonnie and the Treasures….except it didn’t chart both times. I think it’s amazing….
http://www.45cat.com/artist/bonnie-and-the-treasures
Following on from my observation about Bananarama's lack of make up; the video (which we may not get to see on TOTP) shows them putting on lots! They then burst into the BBC Newsroom Studio surprising Peter Woods! Well worth a look.
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iDmCQ8asvM
Bruce Springsteen at this point in 1984 was still an unknown entity in Britain, and like when Prince also had his first top 30 hit in the chart rundown a year earlier in 1983, it was also not played or featured at all on TOTP. Funny that!
Delete"the boss" was not exactly an unknown entity in blighty in 1984 - his albums had always sold fairly well in this country over the previous decade, and he was very much respected by the music papers and more serious/committed music fans. so it was more a case of not having had any hit singles up to this point. i never understood the appeal of the man personally, as he had a dreadful strained style of singing and his songs bored the pants off me. but surely he couldn't have attracted a hundred thousand people to wembley stadium the following year purely on the strength of his then-latest album?
DeleteI have 'Home Of The Brave' on a compilation CD by a young lady who recorded under the ludicrous name of 'Peanut' (actually one Katie Kissoon) but I don't think I've heard this version before. I didn't 'get into' Capital Radio until about 1979 so I would have missed it. It does, however, have a very strong Saturday morning SOTS flavour to it though!
Deletenative trinidadian katie kissoon (and that wasn't her given name either) had a few hits in the mid 70's with soul-lite love duets, rather strangely with her real-life brother "mac". she was also an in-demand session singer for many years, so we've probably all heard her a lot more than we realise
DeleteI've been getting Jed's name wrong all these years. I thought he was called Jed Hollie, but he's actually Jed Hoile. While I'm at it, FGTH's Holly Johnson's real first name is William (he used to be known as Billy), and Howard Jones uses his middle moniker - his actual first name is John.
ReplyDeleteIt's good that the last Rhythm Pals show had plenty of decent songs on it and was a good send-off. Minus marks to whoever put the pictures up for the chart rundowns and seemingly put the red filter up to +100. Break Machine were barely visible!
ReplyDeleteSpandau Ballet - Before they disappeared entirely up their own arses (especially the Kemps) they served up a couple of good songs in 84 - this one, and the next single which is my favourite of all their tunes.
Howard Jones - Chewing again, or nervous tic (so he says) - whichever it is, it's annoying. And that sax player looks really skanky as well. Both distracting from the good pop song.
Evelyn Thomas - At first I thought she was on a trampoline! Mind you, she was energetic enough without it. Full marks all round.
Bananarama - Nondescript tune, and them larking around ever so slightly detracts from the subject matter......
Bronksi Beat - Growing up in a boring, traditional Home Counties market town, I was barely aware of gay people so wouldn't have had any clue what this song was all about! Great tune of course, if a little overplayed now, and a brilliant performance too.
Wham - Nice touch coming back for another performance when many acts haven't done so in the past. Even if I don't want to hear it again.
Sister Sledge - Good song to end on, shame the camera pans away quickly from Peelie's signature dance moves though. Great link to end on though 'You've got to take the rough with the smooth'. Ain't that the truth. We'll miss you, Kid!
It was a little disappointing that Wham only got a small stage this week in the studio in their second week at No.1, and it was bad enough to the point where you could hardly find Pepsi & Shirlie in the background because they had to share what little space there was among the studio audience.
DeleteIt takes us back to late 1981 when Legs & Co were given this shoddy treatment as a way of pushing them out of the show eventually. Anyway, back to Wham, and Shirlie Holliman is a real hottie in my opinion, whether or not the song is any good, and I just loved the ceroc dancing she did with George Michael on the stage. Oooh yeah!
hosts: oh well, adios kid - sorry david. you were no doubt the best of the jocks fronting the show during this run of repeats, although i much preferred you as affable solo presenter than peelie's slightly-less-cynical shadow
ReplyDeletespandau: the first of several forgettable singles from the unforgettable album they came from... unforgettable as in i couldn't help but spot copies of it in practically every charity shop i visited a few years back. samantha fox was one of those marching along on the front cover of it, but sadly her association with pop music didn't end there
howard jones: having dismissed this without even giving it a listen last time, in the interests of being fair i thought i should at least hear a few seconds this time. and 30 of them were all i needed to confirm it wasn't for me
evelyn thomas: even though it's actually a far better song, it's rather amazing in retrospet that frankie (or rather trevor horn and ztt) didn't make some kind of effort to claim plagiarism of the "relax" riff. perhaps they refrained because this was actually the trigger for said single somewhat bizarrely climbing up the charts again?
bananarama: i have just the vaguest recollection of the verse of this, but rather embarrassingly given the vitriol i've poured on them in the past i have to confess i found listening to it now not unpleasant. and it's certainly preferable to the other swain/jolley production on the show tonight
bronski beat: i have a confession to make here - i used to do impersonate jimmy somerville whilst naked in the shower with a couple of other guys! actually, it was taking the opportunity of the reverbed environment to imitate his falsetto delivery to great effect, after we had played a few hard games of badminton (honest guv!). i can't say i'd be motivated to sing this nowadays though, as there's not that much of a tune amongst the fairly ordinary synth-dance backing to be honest. one has to ask: would this have done anywhere near as well were they simply yet another bunch of skirt-chasing pretty boys a la spandau ballet?
sister sledge: i have no idea why this 5 year old track was hauled out of mothballs - at a guess due to becoming an unexpected hit on the soul weekender/rare groove scene that was gathering momentum at that time? it's pleasant enough, but it's quite clear why it was never chosen for single release in the first place
Not the best of shows with which to bid adieu to the Pops, but that is the fate bestowed upon, probably, the best of the show's many presenters. So, farewell Kid, David, Mr Jensen - nice knowin' ya.
ReplyDeleteLets skip through the chaff shall we? I don't like anything Howard Jones has ever done, I don't like the kind of Hi-energy, Boystown stuff either - too robotically computerised for me. And the Nanas' effort is a bit humdrum. As for the rest?
Spandau. They were brilliant in the beginning, and all kinds of awful in the later days with this one exception. It's kind of poppy-wanting-to-be-meaningful and the smugometer is waaaay over in the red, but I still kind of like it. Kind of.
The best-in-show this week is wee little Jim Sommerville who puts in a highly impressive live vocal over a song which, at the time, I really liked. The keyboard motif was original and memorable and its only the oft-repeatedness of the song that has lessened its appeal.
Wham do what Wham do and a distinctly average Pointer Sisters song ses us out.
The music cops for a 4 whilst the last outing for the Peel/Jensen combo scores an overmarked thanks-for-all-the-memories 9. Pass the tissues.
A couple of interesting observations that no-one mentioned regarding this episode. It was the first episode in the these reruns with no videos and only studio performances from start to finish. I don't believe this has happened before.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, I'm finding that in recent shows the playout songs have been so good and made better by the quality of the studio audience, especially this week with the bevvy of hotties in nice breezy summer minidresses.
It was Bananarama's finest hour for me - like 'Cheers Then' in late '82 it was one of their few songs which didn't go 'clickety-bonk' or 'chugga-chugga'.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the presenters, it's a shame that this is one I'm not going to get to see. I'm familiar with the impressive live vocal version of 'Smalltown Boy' since I have this in my TOTP2 VHS collection. As for the song, as per Noax.
Did Bananarama name their song after the scary miscarriages of justice documentary show Rough Justice that was on about the same time?
ReplyDeletei forgot to mention in my review that at some point in the mid/late 80's i got myself a virtual skinhead haircut... whereupon people remarked that i looked like jimmy somerville! which wasn't exactly flattering - not so much because of the gay connections, but due to the fact that he was an ugly mother with a head that looked like a potato. therefore i grew it out so it got a bit shaggy (and might have dyed it a shade of blond as well)... whereupon people remarked that i looked like don johnson of "miami vice" fame, who was the coolest guy on the planet at the time! it's funny how a bit of hair makes all the difference to how you're perceived...
ReplyDeleteI don't suppose anyone can identify the sultry-looking dark-haired girl who Peelie identifies as one of his daughters (I thinks that's her standing in between him and Kid at the end as well)? Also the cute blonde in the "WET" minidress?
ReplyDelete