Aha! So there you are!
17/10/85 (Peter Powell & Mike Read)
Shakin’ Stevens – “Lipstick, Powder & Paint” (18)
Peaked at number 11.
A-ha – “Take On Me” (5) (video)
Made it to number 2.
Elton John – “Nikita” (19)
His penultimate and biggest top ten hit of the 80's, peaking at number 3.
Level 42 – “Something About You” (21) (breaker)
Peaked at number 6.
Grace Jones – “Slave To The Rhythm” (14) (breaker)
Peaked at number 12.
Jan Hammer – “Miami Vice Theme” (10) (breaker)
Peaked at number 5.
Colonel Abrams – “Trapped” (3)
At its peak.
Jennifer Rush – “The Power Of Love” (1)
Second of five weeks at number one.
Madonna – “Gambler” (7) (audience dancing/credits)
Peaked at number 4.
24th October is next, but its yet another Mike Smith edition.
The two longest-serving TOTP hosts of the time are put together this week, but the results are decidedly underwhelming. Neither man is on top form, with both falling in to the "Colonel Abrahams" trap, and PP in particular seems to miss his cues. Chemistry also seems to be just about non-existent between the pair, and what was all that below and under par stuff from Mr Read about during the Top 10 countdown?
ReplyDeleteAs I have mentioned previously, this Shaky song has always stuck in my mind, though I don't think I have heard it since 1985. It is strictly standard issue fare from Mr Barratt, totally dominated by the chorus, and he does all his usual moves. I must have seen the Take on Me video a billion times over the last 33 years, and I didn't particularly want to see it again, though it did look as if the scary violent bit had been edited out here to avoid frightening the kiddies (I must admit, I found that bit quite disturbing at the time). I don't think A-ha were anything that special from a musical point of view, and while this song is a decent enough bit of synthpop, without the video I doubt it would ever have broken through in a big way.
Elt is commendably in the studio once more, though given how static the performance is it might have been better to show the promo. While pleasant enough, Nikita is definitely one of his more snoozesome hits, and I was more interested in Elt's mullet (or half-mullet, given there wasn't much up top) than I was in the song. Shamefully, this brief clip of Slave to the Rhythm is all we will get of one of the standout songs of the year, the eccentric video matching the music well. The other two breakers will get shown in full, though to label a record already in the Top 10 and another already in its third week in the Top 40 as "breakers" is definitely pushing the definition somewhat...
I would have much preferred more of Grace to another studio outing for Colonel, though he does seem to have adopted a more relaxed style of dancing this time around. Ms Rush is back too, this time in the red leather top I remember well from the time, before Madge plays us out with a song I don't recollect at all, and which I have never knowingly heard since. It's OK I suppose, but far from her best - still, nice to see "Duncan Norvelle" back, dancing in the crowd...
The Shakin Stevens song was one that passed me by I must admit, but the best part of this performance was the superb evening jacket that Stevens was wearing. Now that is a girl magnet if ever I saw one. Good Lord, I now know what I missing when going out in the 80s and 90s.....a Shakin Stevens dapper jacket to woo the girls!
DeleteWhich bit of the AHA video was scary and violent, and was edited out, as I couldn't figure it out?
It's the bit where Morten gets attacked with the spanner by the other men - I am pretty sure that was edited down here.
DeleteSorry john, but I just checked the You-Tube version, as well as the iTunes version, and both are exactly identical to the TOTP airing, so there is no scary bit removed.
DeleteIn fact in the original video, it stops just short of Morten being attacked by the spanner, where it then shifts to the cafe scene where the girl has been found to be dreaming.....yes it was all a dream. Hope this clarifies everything, unless anyone else has something to add that we don't know.
Ah well, it must be my memory playing tricks - it is quite a while since I saw last watched the video properly. It just seemed to me watching this show as if there was an unnatural edit in both the video and the song, but perhaps not.
DeleteStakin' Shevens to begin, with a tune that harks back to his 1950s-style roots, think it's a cover (without checking). He was an old hand at this by that time, and gets the coffee table to gyrate on. Pretty much textbook Shaky.
ReplyDeleteThen THAT A-ha video, a master of its art, though it's not as if the song was any kind of slouch either, overplayed now (especially compared to their other hits, and there were many), but an excellent slice of synthpop. Dire Straits ripped off the video for Brothers in Arms, which everyone thought "Cuh, what a cheek!"
Elton John's tribute to his favourite Soviet-era Premier, so much better than Leonid. Pity Elt didn't bang his shoe on the keyboard. Nice enough "slowy" from Reg, but it does plod somewhat.
Presumably we'll see Level 42 again, and Jan Hammer was heard every week for years back in the 80s (who listened to that and thought, what a great tune? It's 100% production), but that Grace Jones video - is that the actual one? Absolutely bizarre, she's nowhere to be seen, either. Must check out YouTube. Terrific tune, anyway.
The Colonel's back for his last few seconds of his 15 minutes of fame, much the same as before, but what on Earth does he produce from his pocket at the end? Couldn't make it out.
Watched Jen this time, and was reminded of being a callow youth and believing she was singing about something "long and tender". Um. She doesn't. Pete's muffed intro here unintentionally amusing.
Madonna's Gambler not often revived, but it's a decent mid-tempo, mid-level bopper with a strong middle eight that's slightly better than the chorus.
You are quite right about the Shaky tune being a cover - it was originally released in 1956 by Joe Turner with Chorus and Orchestra.
DeleteThanks! Big Joe Turner, very important figure in early rock 'n' roll.
DeleteAt first glance it looked like Colonel Abrams produced a short length of chain to go with the trapped / man in a cage lyrics.
DeletePowell mentioned the cost of £100,000 to make the AHA video, which in today's money would be half a million. Besides, how do you measure return on investment on such a large outlay, and who would have shelled out that sort of money for making a video, no matter how good it was?
Delete@Arthur: Were they handcuffs, maybe? Too far away to see.
Delete@Dory: you do still get million dollar videos from the huge acts with money to burn. Presumably that earns them a couple of quid for ten million views on YouTube.
OK, just watched the full Slave to the Rhythm video and I can see why they didn't show the whole thing! Can't work out if it's a montage of existing footage or originals filmed for the thing itself. It certainly has her car advert in it.
ReplyDeleteI remember reading that it's mainly a montage of clips, from French TV I think.
DeleteThanks, that makes sense, esp. with the car ad in there.
DeleteFor completists, here is the quite lengthy bit BBC4 chopped out of the final link. Radio 1 were evidently jumping on the "Just Say No" bandwagon even before Grange Hill launched its "junkie Zammo" storyline:
ReplyDeletehttps://we.tl/oM2u9109kT
most of this show consists of moderate fare (a ha, madonna) or worse (shakin', reg, the colonel, ms rush). so i'm not going to even comment in more detail, and instead go straight to something that actually matters to me
ReplyDeletegrace jones: i don't normally bother reviewing the breakers section, as those tracks featured usually either get a full showing later on or are insignificant flops. however "slave to the rhythm" was certainly not a flop, and also far from unsignificant. and yet according to my research it never made another appearance on the show, which is utterly scandalous in my view. perhaps sadly ms jones is now far better remembered for her fiercesome image than her music. but in my view she made some of the best recordings of the 80's, with quite a few exceptional tracks in association with the compass point crew. but she even surpassed that with this masterpiece that was masterminded by trevor horn. it's actually funk, but the swishest and shiniest funk you're ever likely to hear with mr horn and his associates obviously poring over every nanosecond of the production for maximum effect. i think this is so good, that if i had to pick my all-time favourite single of the 80's then this would likely be my choice
one more thing i forget to mention about the above grace jones track: even now when i hear the ping of a microwave oven, i still can't help to sing "slave to the rhythm" in an pavlovian-style reponse!
DeleteIt was certainly changing times for TOTP, and the non showing of Grace Jones in full through its time in the charts was largely due to the fact that the show was now cut down to 30 minutes to squeeze in before Eastenders, and many songs were having to wait till their third or fourth week in the top 30 to get a showing, and if they started to go down by then, well it was too late, and I think this is what happened with the Grace Jones track.
DeleteI mean, Good lord, Jan Hammer was termed a 'breaker' at No.10, and the previous week Simple Minds being a breaker at No.12, now that is late for TOTP.
The times they were a changing, as Bob Dylan once said, and poor old Stevie Wonder who got as high up no.3 for a couple of weeks with Part Time Lover, got no feature at all!
I'm not a fan of this move by TOTP to shorten the show like this, as it broke with 21 years of tradition, where they could show a new release to start the show before it reached the charts, where TOTP could help influence it. Now, in 1985, they would start a show with Red Box at No.3 for example.
40 minutes was ideal for the show, 45 minutes even better, so that a song rising up the charts could be shown every two weeks till it started to drop down, but now, everything got messed up because of the poxy Eastenders, which to this day I refuse to watch, due its morbid outlook on life, and all the un-necessary shouting and screaming on the show, which I also detest.
Second great edition in a row!
ReplyDeleteShakin’ Stevens – Lipstick, Powder and Paint – Title always reminds me of Chicory Tip’s ‘Cigarettes, Women and Wine’ which I like a whole lot more than this pretty run of a mill Shakey effort. It’s harmless enough but it won’t be long before snow is falling, all around….
A-Ha- Take on me – Just amazing! What a video! What a song. The Americans put it at no1 whereas over here it could ‘only’ make no2. Alan ‘we don’t talk any more’ Tarney’s production is just amazing. Such a catchy feel good number. I have to grudgingly admit that A1’s cover that did get to no1 some years later was pretty good and similarly had a great video. You don’t hear it much now do you?
Elton John – Nikita – One his very best for me! Love the keyboard/synth solo. Love the backing vocals which are none other than George Michael. Reg’s hair looks quite long here.
Breakers – Level 42 we’ll see more of soon, as will Jan Hammer (got to no1 in the US with this). Grace Jones never did much for me (certainly not in that Bond film) but I really like her 1981 single (flop) ‘I’ve seen that face before’ which was featured in the Night Club scene near the end of the Harrison Ford film ‘Frantic’.
Colonel Abrams – Trapped – Introduced as ‘Abrahams’ once again, it’s a surprise that this was featured again when they could have chosen Simple Minds or Madonna – both going up and in the top10.
Jennifer Rush – The Power of Love – Second week and a third studio appearance. Once again the song is definitely the remixed version and again the ‘lost is how I’m feeling, lying in your arms, when the world outside’s too much to take, that all ends when I’m with you’ verse is missing. If you haven’t heard Air Supply’s cover of this, it’s well worth a listen. Slightly edited off the album, and with lyrics gender switched to suit Russell’s vocal, it’s pretty damn good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=me_BhryXKZ8
Madonna – Gambler dance out – Just a bit of dance fodder really. Nothing remarkable but as it was Madonna it went top10.
the full title of that grace jones track mentioned (another excellent compass point recording btw) was "i've seen that face before (libertango)" - so yet another title with bits in brackets! however it is justified in this case, as it is a reworking-with-lyrics-added of an instrumental called "libertango" that was written by the renowned argentinian bandneon player and composer aster piazzolla - who in my view wrote one of the most emotionally moving tunes of all time in "tanti prima anna"
Deleteas for "the power of love", i've realised the reason i found it so cringeworthy (and still do) is due to the excruciating line at the start of the chorus: "cause i am your lady, and you are my man"!
sct did you actually enthuse about jennifer rush's "the power of love" at the time? if so then i suspect you got a fair bit of flak for that, as it was seen very much as a yucky "lady" tune to my recollection - in the same manner as "the lady in red" that was a no. 1 hit not long after was!
DeleteElton John's hair (or lack of it) was at this point in the 80s still covered with a hat every time he performed, as he was probably the leading man doing such things on filmed performances in the studio and on his videos. I think the last time we saw his hair, I mean baldness, on his singles catalogue was in the video for Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word in 1976. Any single after that would be with a hat on. Still waiting for the point in the 80s where he first sported the new wig. We may have to wait until 1988 for that (I think).
Delete"Nikita" also features Nik Kershaw on guitar and backing vocals.
Delete@wilberforce - Yes I enthused about JR at the time. Funny, being in my mid 20s by then, the kind of stick you'd get at a younger age didn't happen. Everyone I knew loved it. As for De Burgh; his mega hit was rather out of character. He'd released a lot of spirited up-tempo stuff as much of the 'Into the Light' album from where the rouge Lady was taken from demonstrates...
Delete@Arthur - Nikita is a real who's who of musicians; almost a Supergroup! Pilot's David Paton is on bass, Fairport Convention's Dave Mattacks on drums and finally Fred Mandel on syths, who was, for a short period of time, the fifth member of Queen (on stage).
DeleteThe largely instrumental B Side 'The Man who never died' is pretty fine too - a bit 'Song for Guy' Part 2 I would say.
The video for Elton's criminally overlooked 1978 single "Ego" has clips of him - or someone who looks like him - displaying a full head of hair. (He also has impressive eyebrows). On youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt7xtcD40Dg .
DeleteRe. Power Of Love. Firstly, despite what we were told, the two UK number ones of that title were not chart-toppers in the same year. Neither FGTH nor Ms Rush topped the chart in the US but Huey Lewis made it there ...as did Celine Dion with her 1993 cover of the Rush song.
sct if you like jennifer rush's "power of lover" regardless of being a bloke, then good on you! that i like to think i didn't dislike it because it was a song for girls, but just because i thought it was naff. same applies to "the lady in red". however there was always peer pressure to like or dislike particular songs and acts, just because you happened to be of a particular gender (or get ridiculed/ostracised accordingly). although i went against the grain in that respect early by getting into disco as opposed to following the heavy metal/hard rock herd, when punk/new wave came along i still felt some obligation to get into the likes of the jam and elvis costello... just because i was a geezer! however as blog readers will probably be well aware by now, these days i can openly declare my dislike for those two particular acts and not concern myself with what my fellow man thinks as a result. and i can also now delare my love for something like manhattan transfer's "walk in love" without worrying about being seen as some kind of nancy boy!
DeleteI have decided to stop trying to catch up and to watch the shows backwards (in showing not literally).
ReplyDeleteThis seems to be the era of soundtrack music...
Don’t remember the Madonna track - why did they pixellate the background in the club? Will have to check whether that was TOTP or the original...
I am in the middle of the ‘Power of Love’ love/hate discussion - i first heard the song in Spanish which I loved, but think the english version is a bit bland.
Has anyone got a crisp copy of the 24th October edition with the banned Mike Smith, as TOTP will be launching straight into 31st October edition this Thursday?
ReplyDeleteOver to you John G with Neil B.
Dory, Calvin Henderson uploaded this edition on youtube
DeleteThanks gia. I noticed the Echo and the Bunnymen breaker clip was edited out of Calvin's version, so hopefully Neil B will be able to provide a complete version of the show.
DeleteI'm posting here to judge the reaction, thanks to an American friend I have a copy of Top of the Pops USA from 25th September 1987. I'll post it if we get to that point in the re-runs. And Angelo, forgive me for telling you how to run the blog, but at the time, could you make a new post so we can discuss that episode?
DeleteA WeTransfer link for the full show has now appeared, though I am not sure who we have to thank for it:
Deletehttps://wetransfer.com/downloads/90b778a6344abe2aa80def915c87df4220180604210858/ef665c
John, it's Neil B.version
DeleteCheers Hyper Games - if we get there I'll post it for you - I'm sure it will be interesting to see how it compares with the UK show.
DeleteTwo longstanding hosts with nondescript presentation which matched the show in my opinion, to be honest. I can’t find a great deal to say about this edition - a blessing for you all!
ReplyDeleteGood Grief, not Shaky again! Very energetic, I’ll give him that, but try those moves while singing live with a mic, sunshine.
A-Ha! No, neither Abba nor Alan Partridge. An of-its-time video which I’m still happy to see once in a blue moon.
Elton John with a more ridiculous hairstyle than Curt Smith’s old rats’ tails. Not a fan of this song and never have been.
Mark King there in what looked like one of those creepy old style rail compartments which consisted of two rows of seats facing each other with a door either side, with no access to any other part of the train.
Not a fan of Grace Jones either, so I thought there was too much shown of this breaker but, having said that, this got scant TOTP coverage anyhow.
Once again the stupidity of a ‘breaker’ in the top ten, thus it’s shown again later in the video section.
Harking back to the edition chopped from the re-runs due to ‘excessive’ lighting for Nik Kershaw’s “Wide Boy”, how did this episode beat the censors, considering the blaring spotlights behind Colonel Abrams?
Then we get Heidi again followed by one of the lesser played Madonna-by-numbers selection.
Restored version of 17/10/85, with Neil B's upload of the missing part edited back in to the BBC4HD version:
ReplyDeletehttps://we.tl/vd2gPUlyCq
Another edition that was hardly a classic..
ReplyDeleteShakin' Stevens - Probably just above average in the Shaky canon.
a-ha - I love the band, though sadly you only ever hear this on the radio. There's an awful lot else to love from both their poppy and more AOR (post 88) albums. And although the video certainly helped, if you've heard the earlier version that was released and flopped twice, you'll know that Alan Tarney's production also had a great deal to do with its success.
Elton John - Perfectly OK, but not particularly interesting either.
Breakers - Like wilby, I think it's a crying shame that we don't get to see Grace Jones properly as it's head and shoulders above the other 2 tunes featured here. The spoken intro to the song is by Ian McShane, fact fans.
The rest we've already heard!
Back to BBC4 and it must be last week of my first senior school term so by Thursday I would have been de-mob happy. My son is starting senior school this year and as a birthday treat Wifey and Son are both in the room...
ReplyDeleteTwo of our most professional presenters introduce the 80s best selling male artist. Great cover version here. If you're onto a winner. Bendy legs have been noted by the family.
One of the most iconic videos of all time up next. Got everyone's full attention, a great song and video. Son liked the graphics and not the song and asked why it wasn't number one? Good question.
Elton turns up for the first time in ages with one of his best songs. Possibly the first time I've seen him with a keyboard. Usually just the piano.
Lost the family to their phones. Oh well.
As others have noted we seem to be missing out quite a few lower chart entries with the new shorter format. Such a shame. Maybe they should have gone back to the Top 30.
Son wants to know if the public had to vote for their favourite songs each week. Just had to explain sales chart to him...aaahh
Level 42. Love the song. Don't remember the video at all.
Grace Jones. Weird scary woman, odd song, not really a fan, video is interesting though.
All 80s fashions for Jan Hammer. Too young for this TV show at the time but I remember the theme.
Colonel Abr"a"hams back again, This did much better than I remember, great track, should have been a number one,
Should have shown more of Simple Minds.
Son has noted Madonna is on every show he has seen and been in the Top 40 already. ..she's crazy for music Dad, is she still alive.,,,does she still do songs... OMG
And here is the red and black leather outfit my Dad liked..Iconic,
Gambler is a bloody awful payout. Oh well.
Other than that a good show...