It's hot in the studio tonight!
09/08/84 (John Peel & Richard Skinner)
Tracey Ullman – “Sunglasses” (26)
Well, Tracey and the girls get the show off to a leggy start here, but Sunglasses was to be her final top 40 hit, peaking at number 18.
Windjammer – “Tossing & Turning” (20)
Went up two more places.
Hazell Dean – “Whatever I Do (Wherever I Go)” (8)
A terrific follow up to Searchin, and it did even better in the charts, reaching number 4.
Jeffrey Osborne – “On The Wings Of Love” (15) (rpt from 26/07/84)
Peaked at number 11, but edited out of tonight's 7.30 showing.
Blancmange – “The Day Before You Came” (22)
It just wouldn't go up any higher for them.
Laura Branigan – “Self Control” (13) (video)
Quite a risque video in parts here but it did the trick because Self Control became her biggest hit, peaking at number 5, though it was also her final top 40 hit.
Frankie Goes To Hollywood – “Two Tribes” (1)
Saving their best performance of this Cold Ward soundtrack for their ninth and final week at number one.
Rod Stewart – “Some Guys Have All The Luck” (25) (audience dancing/credits)
Rod took this song up one place better than Robert Palmer's original from two years earlier, when it peaked at number 15.
August 16th is next.
Tracey Ullman - starting off the show with a huge erection for most male viewers, we see the three girls with perfect bodies showing off their fine pins, with Tracey herself looking like she just came back from a beach holiday in the sun. Certainly there could not have been a better way to start off an August show in the middle of summer with such fine lovelies. I particularly liked the way the beach towels had come off the girls at the start of the performance. I decided I would like to be a beach towel in the afterlife.
ReplyDeleteBlancmange - lucky for them to be invited again on the show as a non-mover this week at No.22. They just about deserved it, as they were very smartly dressed, and definitely made a better version of the song than the Abba original. I don't recall this Blancmange version, but seeing it now all these years later, I don't mind it at all.
Laura Brannigan - agreed with Angelo that it was a somewhat risqué video for the time, but then so was Prince in his early videos. I must see this Brannigan video in full over the weekend, as it does look like one of these videos that is best watched in full to follow the storyline.
Frankie Goes To Hollywood - I do remember this TOTP performance at the time when Holly Johnson walked around the TOTP studio. I guess for a fifth time invited to the studio to perform this song over their 9-week reign at No.1, they had to do something different I guess, but it was their last performance on the show for this song, and they went out with a 'bang' you could say, like the last scene of the video for this track.
Rod Stewart - a good long play in full of this studio audience playout, even on the early evening showing, so well done TOTP. I wonder if at the time they ever played this much of the playout. I think not, and we are likely seeing this for the first time now at this length.
D42 has this show already on Vimeo, and that shows that the playout was pretty long on first broadcast.
DeleteNot for the first time in his TOTP career, Dickie finds himself acting as a Kid substitute here as JP continues his search for a new regular partner. They actually make a pretty good team, and Peel seems more enthusiastic here than he has for a while, his mildly obscene introduction to Windjammer being the highlight.
ReplyDeleteReflecting the fact that it was the middle of August, there is a definite summery feel to this edition, with Windjammer, Blancmange and Frankie all going for predominantly white dress codes, while Tracey and her backing singers are dressed for the beach, with an unfeasibly large deckchair for company. After her Madness cover last time around, Tracey is back here to 60s pastiche, but the law of diminishing returns was now setting in and her pop career was coming to an end - she would decamp to the States not long after this.
Another pretty standard-issue performance from Hazell and her boys, including a brief revival of her "searching" hand motion, but we have to wait until near the end before we finally get another new song, Laura Branigan's other hit. This was my favourite song on the show, and Laura was looking good in the moody video, alongside the freaky masks and dystopian Blade Runner-style shots of the big city.
Frankie did indeed save their best performance for last, the Beeb getting full value from their new hand-held video camera as it follows Holly through the crowd - I liked his hooking of the cane to the loudspeakers when he got back on stage too, though it was perhaps fortunate that the cane then fell on to the stage and not into the crowd. After all that excitement, the audience move around moderately to Roderick's equally moderate Robert Palmer cover, a ghostly Rod popping up on the big screen in what appears at first to be a dry run for the Take On Me video...
Was this when the hand-held video camera came out for the first time? I thought it was later than 1984. I doubt if TOTP used one on this show even if it was already available, as TV shows are accustomed to large cameras on wheels to film performers, including TOTP I would imagine!
DeleteIn The Story of 1984 they made a big thing out of it being the first year that hand held cameras were used on TOTP, and this Frankie performance was one of the clips shown to illustrate that.
Deletei don't suppose the show's producers ever dared to "team" peelie up with slimy?
DeleteThey used hand-held cameras on the show as early as 1980 but I think this was the first time they dared let a singer stray into the crowd. But as most of the crowd are professional dancers or actors it probably wasn't considered to be to much of a risk, even if it didn't quite work.
DeleteWilberforce - alas, I don't think there was ever a Peel-Bates match-up. I'm sure if there had been you could have cut the atmosphere with a knife!
DeleteBama - I am sure you are right that they were using the lighter cameras earlier than '84, though it doesn't seem to have been until then that they made extensive use of them.
I think a hand-held camera was first used on TOTP in something like 1977.
Deleteit was known that peelie wasn't slimy's greatest fan, although the latter's views are not. i suspect slimy didn't actually have any real opinion on anybody, as all he was concerned about was himself!
DeleteTracey Ullman showing off a new tan (no fake tan in those days, unless you used Bisto) for another jolly, bright number with sad lyrics. Don't mind this at all, possibly because I'm not familiar with the original. Where does one get a giant deckchair at short notice, then?
ReplyDeleteWindjammer, I like to think their album was called Break Like the Wind before Spinal Tap did it. Slick pop soul, they're all smartly turned out, but I can't remember how this goes even on second listen.
Hazell Dean dancing up a storm (or as much of a storm as white stilettos will allow), all she needed was a handbag on the floor at her feet and the ensemble would be complete. By far one of SAW's best tunes, before they got into a lucrative rut.
A repeat of the nervous Jeffrey Osborne, it sounds like it should be from a film, but I don't think it is.
Biggest question about Blancmange: a fake moustache on the trumpeter or a real one? Neil seems to be in on a joke he doesn't wish to share.
Laura Branigan getting almost sub and dom in her borderline steamy antics, but I suppose it suits the song, which is a not bad rock pop with a chant-a-long "Woah-oh-oh!" chorus.
As mentioned above, it's a good thing Frankie finally gave a performance that did justice to their hit before it dropped off the top slot, this is great, slightly chaotic stuff, supremely confident (the drummer and guitarist have swapped instruments, because why not?). Odd coincidence this week that Liz Dawn is mentioned on the headline of the rag Holly tears up. I prefer this to what replaces it.
Roderick with a cheap and nasty-looking video, or maybe it's the effect of that monochrome screen? Bog standard cover, lacking the eccentricity of Robert Palmer's version that made it memorable.
Yes, strange coincidence that Sun front page featured Liz Dawn. I think at the time she was being threatened with the sack from the Street because she was using the press to wage a war of words with her ex-husband.
Deleteanother strange coincidence is that yesterday i was watching a recording of the 70's "crown court" drama series (a bonus feature on the dvd release of "the sandbaggers" tv spy series), and a woman in a non-speaking part as a court officer was naggingly familiar to me. then i realised it was liz dawn aka vera duckworth, of who i'd heard nothing of for many years. and then today i discovered by chance that she's just died!
DeleteRIP Jack Good, the man who invented music television. No TOTP without him. Became a monk when the music industry eventually disgusted him. Legend.
ReplyDeleteanother show that's pretty much bereft of anything of interest to me - for the last few years i've been fooling myself that pop music was essential and brilliant up until the point pop stars started making records for charidee at the end of 1984, but sadly it's now become quite clear that the rot had been setting in several months beforehand
ReplyDeletetracey ullman: the fact that she's still hanging around with yet another tedious 60's girl group pastiche is news to me, as i thought her 15 minutes as a pop star had long run out. i can imagine our lusty chum dory getting rather excited about 2 minutes in as the camera gets a good look up tracey's mini dress
laura branigan: yet another one i can't remember - what the hell was i doing in 1984? obviously not listening to pop music as much as i thought i did. this is way better than "gloria", but still very much an american take on synth-pop which they never really got the hang of. if dory hadn't already shot his load over tracey ullman and her scantily-clad chums, then this video with its lipstick lesbian connotations surely finished off the job?
rod: was he having a laugh with this one? if any guy had all the luck then it was him! and why did he release it as a single anyway, given that the original had been a moderate-sized hit only a couple of years earlier? maybe he agreed with my assessment that robert palmer's version had tune-free verses (replaced instead with various silly vocal noises to my recollection) and could do a better job? as such it's possibly a mild improvement on something i certainly wouldn't consider worthy of a second chance
I think you are referring to John Peel's reaction after the Tracey Ullman performance, as he then introduced Tossing and Turning by Windjammer, as 'something I know all about'.
DeleteFunny that Wilberforce, I just spotted that the title of this week's blog is The Top Of The Pops Before You Came.
DeleteOne of the best shows for a long time for me….
ReplyDeleteTracey Ullman – Sunglasses – Phew! Yes. What a pleasant surprise to see Tracey and her mates so scantily attired! Certainly got my attention, if not the record buyers at the time. A very 60s sounding song and hardly surprising as it was originally recorded by Skeeter Davis (‘The end of the World’) and Sandy Posey (’The Single Girl’). The song was written by John D Loudermilk who also gave us gems such as ‘This Little Bird’ by Marianne Faithfull, ‘Tobacco Road’ by the Nashville Teens and, best of all, ‘Indian Reservation’ by Don Fardon. Great start to the show.
Windjammer – Tossing and turning – Not for me….more dozing off.
Hazell Dean – Whatever I do – Has anyone noted before that the instrumental track resembles ‘Blue Monday’ slightly? Love the special effects on this performance which are perhaps overdone, but somebody has obviously been influenced by the ‘Time Scoop’ on ‘The Five Doctors’. Off to the Forbidden Zone all of you!!!
Jeffrey Osborne – On the Wings of love – Yep, still like it but shame it’s a repeat.
Blancmange – The Day before you came – Not seen this performance before and the boys are all in white. Love the way the trumpet player appears at the end on cue. Really lucky that this got a second appearance given it’s a non-mover. I was convinced we were going to get flippin’ Howard Jones again when I saw he had a new entry!
Laura Branigan – Self Control – Brilliant! One of my favourite records of 1984 and what a superb video too. Laura’s moves in the dance floor scene are really sexy too! She also manages to recreate the picture sleeve for Ultravox’s ‘The Thin Wall’ single. Now for me the single and album cuts of this single were cruelly edited and this showing on ToTP is the edited mix. Much better was the 12” version which to me is not one of those rehashed repeat over and over again efforts, but more the ‘pure’ version. Check it out here; especially at around 2:30.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfHB6etnELE
Frankie – Two Tribes – Final week at last!
Rod Stewart – Some guys have all the luck – The best dance playout for weeks after having been tormented by endless Jackson stuff etc. I like the way you get to see Rod’s video too (no doubt this will be shown soon). Also, as noted above, we get to see a lot of the audience dancing. Rod managed one place higher than Robert Palmer’s original (at least I assume that Robert’s was the original as he didn’t write the song) but even no15 seems a poor return for such a good song.
You'll be pleased to know that Ullman and her girls appeared in the same scantily attired minidresses in this clip which was not the official video, but what looks like a clip made for another TV show at the time, but not sure if for the Beeb or ITV:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZ0o7dcJWQs
Looking ahead to tonight's 16th Aug 84 edition, it will be missing the JK slot from BBC4's showing, so if anyone has the full original show, then please can you upload it for us in time for tonight's new blog.
ReplyDeleteI'll critique this show later in the weekend, but it's the last studio appearance for Tracey Ullman, whose music career was following the law of diminishing returns by now. Follow-up "Helpless" stiffed helplessly at number 61, next single "Terry" (a cover of a Kirsty MacColl track) 'peaked' just outside the top 75, and supposedly final single "Shattered" was pulled from UK release after promo copies had been pressed, though the song was released in Australia and some counties in mainland Europe.
ReplyDeletei always assumed that robert palmer was the author of "some guys have all the luck", but a bit of research has turned up some interesting history about it:
Deleteit was actually written by an american guy called jeff fortgang back in the early 70's, who was a bit of a van gogh in that it was the only song he ever got properly published despite being a prolific songwriter for several years
2 - mr fortgang then dropped out of the music industry and then went on to (ironically given the parallel) spend decades as a mental health psychologist, before finally commercially releasing some of his old 70's demo recordings about five years ago (that strangely enough did not include his version of the oft-recorded hit):
http://www.jeffreyfortgang.com/About-the-Practice.html
Some Guys Have All the Luck was originally released by The Persuaders (presumably not Roger Moore and Tony Curtis) in 1973:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3NWbvFsBVo
as i suspected, the persuaders were one of those legions of black vocal groups from the early/mid 70's where one did most of the work and the rest mainly threw shapes (i'd still like to know how they split their earnings - did the lead guy get half, with the rest shared among the rest?). it's a bit surprising that they did a song written by an unknown white guy who wasn't their producer or manager - i wonder if jeff fortgang pitched it with that in mind?), but although i'm still not sold on it (or should that be "souled"?) it's certainly better than the 80's covers by ageing white rockers
Deletei have to say the thought of roger moore and tony curtis doing the song in character as lord brett sinclair and danny wilde (although they were nominally partners, they were always having a dig at each other) is quite amusing - it could have been some kind of precursor to arfur & terry's "er indoors"!
A very mixed bag here, though at least expertly hosted (speaking of which, when they anounced the next show's hosts, my heart sank!)
ReplyDeleteTracey Ullman - Not very good really, is it?
Hazell Dean - See my comments in the 'contraband' show. Glad that we got to see this great pop song.
Laura Branigan - The sound quality on this edition in general was a bit of all over place, and when this was on it sounded barely broadcast quality!! It was also a mix I've never heard before, definitely not the 7" (which I own) but not the 12" either. Both of those factors partly spoiled what is a good tune. Oh, and the caption writers had obviously been enjoying a long summer holiday. They captioned this as 'No.8'!! (and in the chart rundown, Queen had apparently gone down from No.23 to No.9. Hmmmmmm...)
FGTH - At last, the one we all remember! I particularly enjoyed Holly tearing up that disgraceful 'news'paper (Latest trick: publishing grainy footage of Ben Stokes - I wouldn't be surprised if they put those lads up to goading him)
Wasn't there some talk (possibly on the 'Story Of' docu) about his walkabout being unplanned and not going down well? If so, that's clearly guff as you wouldn't have a steadicam operator in the crowd otherwise!
Rod - I'd still like someone to explain why we needed 3 different versions of this in the 80s when it's not a particularly great song to start with....
Poor Peelie looks lost without his Canadian mate but does his best with Richard "Not really a deejay but an ex-Newsbeat presenter" Skinner. Peel borrows DLT's old cowboy look while Dickie goes for the popular white trousers casual look.
ReplyDeleteTracy Ullman's Sunglasses isn't quite up the standard of her previous hits but it's got a nice 60s sound and a good performance from Trace and her two mates and a giant deckchair. We have one of those in our local shopping centre.
Windjammer with a nice breezy slice of jazz funk. Had no memories of this but it's pretty good.
The Hi Energy sound was getting heavier as proved by the Hazel Dean hit that has a brittle synth bassline and steals bits of other songs that I can't quite identify, particularly the bridge. Lots of pointing going on here. Someone should have told Haze, it's rude to point.
Oh no it's Jeffrey Osborne. My mum bought this at the time and played it to death until we were thoroughly sick of it.
Long chart rundown section with several new acts we ain't never gonna see (and a few we never saw when they were on the way up) followed by another serving of Blancmange. Not a lot different from last time but good to hear it again. Feel a bit sorry for the trumpeter Dick, this is the second time he turned up to mime with is trumpet only to be faded. I actually remember this being a bigger hit than it was.
Four number ones in the Top 40 this week (Wham, Frankie, George Michael and Frankie).
Had no memories of the Laura Brannigan song until I heard it on the JK section a few weeks ago and I had forgotten that it charted here. Visually Laura reminds me of Sara Brightman in certain shots here which is weird because the masked man looks like he's from Phantom Of The Opera (who SB would eventually chart with with Steve Harley. who should cover his ugly mug with a mask).
I remember this performance of two Tribes for obvious reasons. I like the fact that the lads swap instruments and mime with each other's almost as badly as they with their own, I like the fact that Paul Rutherford comes in too early on the last chorus but pretends that he did it on purpose and that Holly's walking cane almost causes an injury. The famous walkabout isn't much of one and doesn't quite work because they keep cutting back to the others shrouded in dry ice because clearly Holly was either trading on peoples toes or someone kneocked the cameraman over. Still it's a classic but one that wasn't repeated.
Odd that the copy of the Sun Holly was reading (and rightly tearing up in disgust) mentioned Corrie's Vera Duckworth on the cover as Liz Dawn died yesterday.
While I liked the Robert Palmer original I was never that fussed about Rod's version of Some Guys. And I can't work out if the video is in black and white or the Son Of Toppatron is playing up.
Nope, nothing's playing up - Son of Toppatron is actually Father of Toppatron and IS black and white. Jeez, when are they gonna retire this thing?
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8a_T3U1rg2I
how can anyone possibly dance to old goat minces' "delilah"?!?
DeleteThanks D42, and thanks John for the tip-off - I get to see this one! Anyone else notice Peelie's deliberate error at No.28 on the chart rundown?
ReplyDeleteYes, it's the ladies who dominate this edition. Having said that, I've never rated Tracey Ullman as a singer. Or as a pin-up, come to that.
Hazell with her trademark single dangley earring (I can remember this at the time) and then luscious Laura on video - this is more like it!
As for the rest, Windjammer, Blancmange and FGTH all had one thing in common in that the instruments seen on stage bore little resemblance to what was on the backing tape. It's all getting a bit silly now.
20th i certainly agree that tracey ullman is no natural beauty. but with the help of a wig, a lot of slap, a padded bra (i'm making her sound like a transvestite here ha ha) and skimpy costumes, she obviously scrubs up well enough to give at least one viewer here the hots
DeleteI don't suppose anyone can name the gorgeous blonde standing in between Peelie and Skinner at the very beginning of the show...been noticing her a lot in recent episodes!
ReplyDeleteAfter a week of three-quarters deafness, I had my ears syringed on Friday, and thought I was hearing things with the dreadful sound imbalances on BBC iPlayer’s version of this edition, which had obviously been sponsored by Persil.
ReplyDelete“Sunglasses” was much better than I remembered, with its lyrical reference to the (American) top 40 which is now relevant to this show. Magnificent pins there, Tracey. I still wonder if her debut hit “Breakaway” could have topped the charts if it was given more than the sole TOTP outing when it wasn’t even in the top 30.
Poor autocue eyes from Peelie before Windjammer’s very smart ensemble and very bland tune.
Here comes Hazell Dean with “Blue Monday part 2” which, thanks to an outro mispronunciation, helps Peelie keep his yummy finger!
By the time Blancmange arrived, I was desperate for a Black Lace style Hawaiian shirt or anything to make this show look like it was made in colour. A candidate for performance of the re-run thus far, going to the trumpeter whose walk onto the stage was longer than the time allowed for his solo!
After the videos for David Sylvian and Queen, what would DLT have made of Laura Branigan’s saucy effort? On second thoughts... The video was obviously sponsored by a bin liner manufacturer. How dangerous were those roads covered in plastic sheeting? Tsk.
Quite a dynamic and exciting roving reporter style appearance for Holly and the lads (please, not yet another act wearing white!), with the drummer / ‘guitarist’ having a whale of a time.
And we go from brand new hand-held technology to Rod on 33mm Toppatron. Next week, “Agadoo” performed using slides.
There there Arthur, Tracey Ullman will be back this Thursday with the video for Sunglasses on the 23rd Aug show (hope it's not edited from the 7.30pm showing), and I couldn't help getting a sneak preview of the video, and yes the pins were out again, although more modest beach attire than the studio performance.
DeleteNever seen the Brannigan video before. Really enjoyed it. No idea what was going on though!
ReplyDelete