Hit de Hit!
13/02/86 (Gary Davies & Steve Wright)
Belouis Some – “Imagination” (22)
On its way to number 17.
Whitney Houston – “How Will I Know?” (10) (video)
Went up five more places.
Latin Quarter – “Radio Africa” (24)
Their only top 40 hit, it peaked at number 19.
Su Pollard – “Starting Together” (9) (video)
Her only top ten hit, peaking at number 2. Ho De Ho!
Paul Hardcastle & Carol Kenyon – “Don’t Waste My Time” (25) (breaker)
His final top ten hit, it peaked at number 8.
Survivor – “Burning Heart” (15) (breaker)
Almost four years after Eye of the Tiger, this was their second and final hit, peaking at number 5.
Diana Ross – “Chain Reaction” (14) (breaker)
Will become her second and final solo number one.
Shakin’ Stevens – “Turning Away” (23)
Peaked at number 15.
Billy Ocean – “When The Going Gets Tough The Tough Get Going” (1)
Second of four weeks at number one.
Madonna – “Borderline” (2) (audience dancing/credits)
At its peak.
Next up is February 20th.
Another very professional performance here from Gazza, well and truly showing up a visibly uninterested Wrighty, who looks like he would much rather be somewhere else. The Mickey Mouse jumper is the perfect apparel for a Mickey Mouse host...
ReplyDeleteWhile Imagination is a familiar song to me, I don't recall Belouis Some aka Neville Keighley from the time. A nice buoyant pop sound anyway, which deserved to be the big hit that Gazza was understandably expecting, but for some reason wasn't in the end. Neville's hair is almost as blond as the new Bronski Beat singer's, but in this case I think bleach has definitely been applied. The set for Whitney's video looks like it has been created by a nursery class who have done some paint swirling. It's an upbeat promo for an upbeat tune, with Whitney sporting a jaunty bow in her hair, but for all that it leaves me a bit cold, just as the similar I Wanna Dance with Somebody would do the following year.
Wrighty gives Latin Quarter one of the least enthusiastic introductions I have seen on TOTP, though I can see why this downbeat, very political song wouldn't be his cup of tea, and the band bring no visual flair to their performance to liven things up. From what I could make out the lyrics seem to be blaming the wicked West for all Africa's problems, and optimism seems to be in very short supply; musically, however, it did manage to worm its way into my head in its understated manner. After all that earnestness Su Pollard presents quite a contrast, and this isn't actually that bad a song, helped by a decent vocal from Su. Despite getting to number 2 I don't remember it at all from the time, still less the early example of a reality show that it comes from; it first entered my consciousness when Clive James played part of the video in his review of the 80s on New Year's Eve 1989, juxtaposing it with Fergie and Andrew's wedding from later in '86. Given the snowy backdrop, I think Su would have been well-advised to put on a few more layers, as I'm not sure the wacky hat would have been enough to keep her warm! By coincidence I read a newspaper interview with her yesterday - she is still going strong, and appearing in a one-woman show at the Edinburgh Fringe.
After the breakers, Shaky gives us one of his most obscure hits, which I doubt even he can recall. This was originally recorded by Crystal Gayle, and doesn't seem to consist of much more than the very simple chorus being repeated over and over again. As Gazza mentions while striking a Sajid Javid-style power pose which is meant to be a Shaky impression, Dave Edmunds acts as a sidekick on this performance. While this looks an improbable collaboration on the face of it, Dave and Shaky actually went back a very long way, Edmunds getting Shaky's old band, The Sunsets, a record deal with Parlophone in 1970 and being inspired to record his hit version of I Hear You Knocking after The Sunsets had done so a few months previously. The Billy Ocean Big Band return for another go at the number 1, and then Madge provides the musical highlight of the show with the playout.
I think it would be quicker to list the veteran entertainers who didn't have an Edinburgh Fringe show these days.
Deletebelouis some: this muscular funk-rock is not too bad at all and certainly one of the better hits of the year, but it's basically bowie in all but name. in fact it's a shame that it wasn't bowie himself, as he was obviously far superior to the rather indistinct belouis in the vocals department. and mr some can't hold a candle to the dame visually either (with his blond crop, he looks like a poor man's version of rutger hauer in "blade runner") . i did wonder if he was gay or not, but if so then nothing ever came out on that front. there's some rather weird air keyboard antics going on in what is obviously a (sanborn-influenced) sax interlude by a timmy mallet lookalike
ReplyDeletewhitney houston: after the syrup of her debut chart-topper, this uptempo follow-up sounded fairly fresh and exciting. and there's a nice example of modulation near the end, although what became hideous over-use of saxophone in the era sours that section a bit in retrospect. a bit of a shame that this has been allowed to be forgotten, whilst the similar-but-inferior housewife classic "i wanna be with somebody" lives on
latin quarter: despite the name of the act and the subject matter of the title, this is actually a case of cod-reggae. but in my view excellent reggae none-the-less, and a track i've enjoyed listening to many times over the years (the drumming is particularly impressive). i could do without the right-on lyrics though - the mention of mugabe reminds me that he was still viewed as zimbabwe's saviour at the time, rather than the despised virtual dictator he actually turned out to be. apparently comedian omid djalili was a band member, but presumably had been given the boot by this point?
su pollard/shakin' stevens: oh dear, it was actually going quite well up to this point
There is one song that can truly be described as a cut above the rest on this week's repeat: 'Radio Africa', which should have been a No.1.
ReplyDeleteSu Pollard, meanwhile, would become the third act from a Perry & Croft sitcom to score a Top 2 hit, following Clive "Don't panic" Dunn and the pairing of Windsor "Shut up" Davies and Don Estelle. Along with Anita Harris, Cannon & Ball and several other faded TV stars, she recently took part in ITV's reality series 'Last Laugh In Vegas', which culminated in an all-star cabaret billed as "The Brits Are Coming". The Vegas regulars lapped it up, with Su proving she had lost none of her vocal or comedic ability - though the veterans' mentor Frank Marino did ask her to slow down at rehearsals so that her strong Nottingham accent would be understood in Nevada.
P.S. I forgot to mention that 'Starting Together' was composed by Bill Buckley, who at that time was a regular reporter and performer on BBC TV's 'That's Life'. Nowadays, you can hear him on BBC Radio Berkshire.
Delete'Starting Together' was not Su's only chart entry; she had managed to sneak into the 75 the previous autumn with '(Come To Me) I Am Woman', which had previously been recorded by Abba's Frida on a solo album, and was co-written by Lord Dundas of 'Jeans On' fame.
i presume that's frank marino as in the american drag queen, as opposed to the canadian guitarist of hard rock band mahogany rush (not to be confused with the canadian hard rock band rush featuring geddy lee et al)?
Deletei remember watching bill buckley as one of the regular male sidekicks on "that's life" in the 80's, and thinking he was a very nice clean-cut young man who no doubt had an equally nice girlfriend. and then many years later he popped up in a series of "come dine with me" (strangely enough though not as a celebrity, although he is arguably at least as much of one as some of the so-called slebs they've used in those editions) where his bank clerk haircut and suit had been replaced by a shaved head and casual wear, and he made no bones about being gay!
Yes, it was Frank Marino the female impersonator, from the Big Apple.
DeleteThe other participants in 'Last Laugh In Vegas' were pianist and musical theatre actor Bobby Crush, comedians Bernie Clifton (with the ostrich!) and Mick Miller, singer and entertainer Kenny Lynch, and singer/actor Jess Conrad. With Frank's encouragement, Bernie reprised his singing turn from 'The Voice': a powerful rendition of 'The Impossible Dream'.
i don't know if he was in "mufti" in his role as mentor to over-the-hill british entertainers, but even when entertaining in drag mr marino still calls himself frank. i also don't know if frank is gay or not (which is the case with most drag queens, such as ru paul). but i suspect the reason for using his male (possibly given) name in his act (as opposed to a femme one) is that it's made clear to what is probably mainly a conservative blue collar american audience that it's just a guy in a dress clowning about, rather than trying to fool anybody and making thm feel rather uncomfortable as a result
DeleteI noticed on this show that Gary Davies read the chart countdown single handed.
ReplyDeleteWhere a pairing has chemistry (which this duo didn't), to alternate between presenters works better, however I still wonder whether who did the chart rundown perhaps owed more to the availability of each presenter at the time that week's insert to the show was put together.
As I understand it the chart rundown was pre-recorded during the afternoon, so Wrighty could never do it as he was presenting his Radio 1 show at the time.
DeleteHe still does Steve Wright In The Afternoon to this day, but nowadays on Radio 2, so you could say he has done the same afternoon radio show for nearly 40 years for the BBC.
DeleteHe presented the R1 afternoon show for 12 years, and has racked up 19 years doing it on R2, so that's 31 years in total so far. I think his schtick got tired many years ago, but he is evidently still pulling in the listeners as the BBC show no sign of dropping him.
DeleteDory, he really IS doing the same show he did for the last 40 years, that's the problem! At least for a while in the 80s he had some talented people with him like Phil Cornwell doing his entertaining impressions. Now it's like audio wallpaper. Mystifyingly, it always does well in the ratings.
DeleteWell, er, something for everyone this episode. Starting out with "Belouis" "Some", bane of Smash Hits spiting them by gradually climbing the charts. It's OK, but its straining for jaded cool begins to grate somewhat. Everyone keeps their clothes on in the studio.
ReplyDeleteWhitney Houston, didn't she look like a star in this video? I would say it was from happier times, but according to that new doc she never really had happier times. You'd never know it from this, one of the best pop songs of the 80s and my favourite of hers, if that counts for anything.
Latin Quarter, little bit of geopolitics there, as a contemporary comedian might have said. Moody, dare I say haunting, rundown of the issues facing the titular continent, but strangely insistent. Wrighty seems to have forgotten the title.
Su Pollard, let's rock! What the hell were the couple in question doing on NBC?! Surely the Americans didn't take to this show too? Anyone know where they are now? Don't tell me they divorced! Anyway, Su belts it out over cheapo 80s production, and the nation's mums took it almost to the top.
Odd cold cream theme to Paul's vid. "Is it East versus West, or man against man?!" No it's a silly film. But I'd rather hear Burning Heart again than Eye of the Tiger for the billionth time. Miss Ross is back!
Shaky with a tune I don't recall at all, but while it's not exactly advancing the songwriter's craft, it's entertaining enough. The man himself risks an injury at work the way he's throwing himself around.
Then Billy, still majestic at the top spot. I remember one of these performances attracting the ire of my school when one of the backing singers looked as if she couldn't be arsed, and I've been trying to work out which one it was. Wasn't this one, there's only one backing singer and she's giving it her all. Maybe next week's? Or was it the first one?
Madonna to end on, certainly hung around, this, didn't it?
i can understand why someone with the given name neville keighley would change it for something more appropriate as a would-be rock star, but why exactly did he choose that bemusing stage name? no wonder "smash hits" ripped the piss out of him!
DeleteTHX - the happy couple are indeed still together, or at least were in 2016, which is when the most recent online piece I can find about them dates from. They have four kids now.
DeleteThat's nice. I suppose we should be thankful Desmond Wilcox didn't film the births.
DeleteThe only new stuff on this show that I liked was the Breakers section. In the case of Paul Hardcastle, he seemed to be backing music for the tasty female singer, and the few glimpses of him in the video clip seemed to show him as a bit of comical fruitcake, when you compare with his massive No.1 a year earlier with N-N-N-N-Nineteen where we didn't actually see him in the video, only images of Americans in military action in Viet Nam. How the perception changes in the space of a year when he reveals himself to the public.
ReplyDeleteThe other Breakers entry was Survivor, back with their second Rocky theme after the Eye Of The Tiger in 1982. Was this group only resurrected every time a new Rocky film came out, and for that matter, did they do any of their own stuff in between, not related to any movies? Did they even jam for fun? It's a bit naff that this was their first outing since their huge no.1 in 1982 for the first Rocky movie. And besides, the lead singer has changed since Eye Of The Tiger!
Dory you might like to give the follow up to 'Eye of the Tiger' called 'American Hearteat' a spin. No.17 in the States, No. nothing here! For me it's the best of the lot!
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN73mvEdWjI
Indeed, a damn good follow up to Eye Of The Tiger, and the title American Heartbeat would not have resonated with British record buyers, as they would have thought 'what about us British', but I agree with you that it is a mighty good single, and I like the video too. Suffice to say that the opening riff and instrumental break seemed to have the sound of Jeff Wayne's War Of The Worlds not surprisingly!
DeleteNice relaxed hosting here from the hosts…
ReplyDeleteBelouis Some – Imagination – Did Imagination ever do a cover of this? Could be one to join Talk Talk by Talk Talk, Living in a Box by Living in a Box, Visage by Visage etc. Maybe they didn’t cover it.
Whitney Houston – How will I know – horrible. FF
Latin Quarter – Radio Africa – I didn’t hear “drums echoing tonight” on this and I soon got bored and hit FF
Su Pollard – Starting together – I watched every episode of the docu drama of Marc and Karen Adams-Jones and lapped it up. I believe that the marriage has lasted over 30 years. Marc always reminded me both facially and haircut-wise of Jimmy Connors. Always remember the opening titles where Karen’s skirt blew up getting into the car! As for Su, I always felt she was an odd choice to sing this, having driven me mad in ‘Hi de Hi’. The pink outfit and make up against the snow is very striking however.
Breakers – Paul Hardcastle – Don’t waste my time – I didn’t, FF. Survivor – Burning Heart – “er that ‘Eye of a Tiger’ was huge, so can you guys please write me something similar for my next Boxing movie?”. Job done….but I quite like it nevertheless. Diana Ross – Chain Reaction – another dance floor staple of 1986 but not a mention here of the song’s brilliant writers nor their very prominent backing vocals. The clip gets stopped very quickly here and Steve talking over it for the next intro is just plain annoying! One of the mega hits of 1986 for me; I never get tired of hearing its gradual climax and subtle key change. Anyone prefer Steps’ cover? Thought not…
Shakin’ Stevens – Turning away – Usual studio performance style from the man but even Dave Edmonds can’t lift this above average rockability.
Billy Ocean – When the going gets tough – Not a patch on the video, although the song is obviously pretty fine as noted previously.
Madonna – Borderline danceout – Still going up but couldn’t quite get to the top thanks to Billy’s fine effort. A nice one to dance out to but I found myself heading to YT to watch the complete video…and yes, the guy shown playing pool ends up ‘teaching’ Madonna by leaning over her and, um helping her cue-action…or something like that. Anyway I love the way the track gently fades out. Certainly one of her forgotten gems for me.
poor old paul hardcastle - when he wrote this track, he bever realised that 30 years on he would fall victim to sct's rapier wit! as for the steps cover of "chain reaction": i don't recall that at all, but i thought their (or rather their producers') treatment of another gibb tune "tragedy" was a vast improvement on the bee gee's original (even though i quite liked that too). when i first moved to manchester 20 years ago, you couldn't go out in the city centre on a weekend (especially in the gay village) without hearing it being pumped out in virtually every bar or club you visited!
DeleteI've just given Steps' version of' Chain Reaction' a blast through the 'phones and actually it's really not that bad. The video is quite hilarious however, and must have been inspired by 'Casualty' or something!
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsuRgxsd6bk
steps have just reformed again and are currently touring, if anyone's interested - the fat one has actually got back in decent shape as well!
DeleteI remember seeing once that the gay area of Manchester is in or near Canal Street, which someone gigglingly defaced by whitewashing over a particular letter of the street name!
Deletethey actually allegedly whitewashed over the first letters of both the words in the "canal street" sign. so work that out for yourselves...
DeleteSome real oddities in this edition, so at least it was interesting!
ReplyDeleteBelouis Some - There was a time when this song appeared on almost every 80s compilation, for some reason. I don't mind it, but their follow-up hit (yes, they were NOT one-hit wonders) 'Some People' is better I think.
Whitney - Definitely one of the few songs she made that doesn't want to make me watch or listen to something else.
Latin Quarter - African politics is sometimes BAD, m'kay? For all the holier than thou nonsense, this song has something going for it even though it at times feels so slight that it might blow away.
Breakers - Not sure if we'll see these again but just in case I'll be brief so Great / Good (miles better than bloody Eye Of The Tiger) / Housewife Classic
Shaky - I'm sure this song must actually exist, but every time I hear it I instantly forget how it goes.
The No.1 & 2 to end, which doesn't happen too often. Clearly they should have been the other way round in the chart.
I forgot Su Pollard! On the face of it, something that is quite hard to do. I'll say this - by no means the worst song of 1986. Which says more about the music of that year than this song.
DeleteI see the case against Jonathan King has collapsed. All that for nothing. He had an apology from the rozzers and that was it. Typically, we're past his TOTP appearances now.
ReplyDeletein my view the whole "operation ravine" and consequent trials never should have happened in the first place. the (male) "victims" below the "age of consent" (which of course is an artificial construct of society, as opposed to the natural order of things) were emotionally and sexually aware, knew exactly what they were getting into and what they would get out of it in return. and no one was forcing them to do anything they didn't want to do. i myself met a local (male) musician at least twice my age at a musical event i was involved with when i was around 15 - i was charmed by his friendliness, and so seized upon his offer to allow me to play an expensive guitar he kept at his home. yes, that was rather nieve in retrospect. but when it became clear to me what he was after in return and i chose to reject his sexual advances accordingly (albeit by playing dumb rather than flat-out refusal - although he probably realised what i was doing), he didn't try to force himself on me after that (and i still got to have a go on the guitar ha ha). and as such it didn't even occur to me to report him to plod as a pedo afterwards!
DeleteNever mind Jonathan King - though he should have known better, to my mind DLT got right royally shafted by the BBC4 police for a suspended sentence.
DeleteSo one great and one annoying presenter in a kids jumper. How big is that jacket Gary?
ReplyDeleteBelouis Some kicks us off with a quality one hit wonder. Proper party record. Bleached Billy idol look is still in fashion then. He doesn't seem to be having much fun.. Enjoy the moment.. 😀
The full Whitney next with a very well known video. She had real talent and could cross easily from ballads to pop to rnb. This is a wonderful pop song that often gets overlooked for Wanna Dance but is just as good.
Latin Quarter get rather a naff intro from Wrighty. Another political number but probably a lesser known one. Works as a protest but not so much as a song. Becomes quite forgettable very quickly.
Reality TV strikes. Su Pollard. OMG. My mum loved this record and the TV show. Serious Su for a change, the song is a bit naff. Wonder if the couple are a together???
Breakers:
Paul H with a more standard pop song. Very catchy. Odd little video.
Survivor with eye of the tiger part 2, could they not have written a different tune at least
Diana Ross.. The Bee Gees collaboration that is the best thing she ever recorded. Fabulous.
Shakey Take 51. There go the legs, 50s guitar, hand clapping all present. 😀
Nowt memorable here.. Move on..
Billy back in the studio with different backing singer(s) again. No wonder 11 year old me got confused.
Borderline did so much better than I remembered.
An OK show. Nothing to write home about
Coat? Gary Davies appears to be loitering within tent! As for the show, for me it was very nearly as bad as Gaz’s co-host.
ReplyDeleteIt’s Belouis Some People. Should’ve covered “Louie Louie” and re-spelt it to cover his stage name with two singles. A veritable 80’s jacket wardrobe on stage and an absolute vision in blue who was obviously cold at the start of the song.
First FF of the night next.
F#ck me, Steve! At least make an effort to introduce Latin Quarter properly, even if their song’s on the earnest side. You could re-write the lyrics to “I’m hearing only dross now on Radio 2 FM (when Nodding Dog’s On…)”
Julie beat me yonks back with all the meaty facts about the next tune and its tie-in series. I thought the groom in “The Marriage” looked a bit like that Trevor Eve out of “Shoestring”. Despite her Dennis Taylor specs and prototype Mr Blobby outfit, Su Pollard can actually hold a tune properly and some perfectly subject fitting lyrics there from Bill Buckley. The very first time I’ve heard this and sort of enjoyed it. I must be getting old.
“WE’VE got the charts to do”, ay, Steve? Bollocks!
As for the breakers, a cocktail disco sort-of classic then two FF’s , the first being one that Slimes couldn’t name properly last time out.
Blimey, FF number four for the chart topper.
No, Steve, I’d rather eat pins than stay tuned for the Leonard Cohen of soap operas.