Andy Bells
15/12/88 (Gary Davies & Mark Goodier)
Bon Jovi – “Born To Be My Baby” (22)
They're studio regulars by now and they get tonight's show underway but the song got no higher.
Petula Clark – “Downtown ‘88” (13)
She'd already been around for 34 years by now, and she's doing a live vocal in the studio, and what was to be her final hit went up three more places.
U2 – “Angel Of Harlem” (10) (video)
This second single from their massive number one album Rattle and Hum went up one more place.
New Order – “Fine Time” (15)
Also performing completely live in the sudio tonight - but how was he doing that weird, robotic vocal? But anyway it peaked at number 11.
The Four Tops – “Loco In Acapulco” (23) (breaker)
Became their 11th and final top ten hit when it peaked at number 7.
Kim Wilde – “Four Letter Word” (28) (breaker)
Peaked at number 6.
Londonbeat – “9 AM (The Comfort Zone)” (29) (breaker)
Peaked at number 19.
Erasure – “Stop” (4)
In the studio to perform the lead song from their Crackers International ep and it went up two more places.
Inner City – “Good Life” (6)
Also in the studio tonight and the song also went up two more places.
Cliff Richard – “Mistletoe & Wine” (1) (video)
Second of four weeks at number one.
A-ha – “You Are The One” (25) (video/credits)
Peaked at number 13.
December 22nd will be up here next.
Gazza and Goodier make an affable enough presenting duo as Christmas moves ever closer, the former seeming somewhat more animated than he sometimes is. Bon Jovi, perhaps inspired by Slash, are beset by a rash of headgear and are peddling a song that is very much standard fare for them; file in the "OK but forgettable" category. Pet Clark had actually been around for about 46 years by this point, as her career began as a child star during the war. I'm not keen on Downtown in its original form, let alone as a clunky dance remix, though Pet seems to be getting into the spirit of things in this performance - she clearly wasn't put out by this being released without her knowledge. Alas, her live vocal sounds very ropey.
ReplyDeleteA typically self-important video for U2, showing them bestriding the USA coast-to-coast like colossi, but this is a decent tune with some evocative brass and a soaring chorus. New Order are back, with Hooky seemingly modelling his look on Barry Gibb, and Sumner imagining himself to be in a rave, but this latest effort is a tune-free mess. It didn't sound live to me, but either way they shouldn't have bothered.
Erasure provide a more successful example of a single influenced by dance culture, married to a very catchy and infectious melody. They really were on fire at this point, and Stop is almost as good as their previous hit - we will soon be hearing another song with that name, of course. Nice to see Andy wearing something other than his white t-shirt, though I didn't really get the point of the bell-ringing when they are so clearly synth-generated - presumably a festive jape. We won't hear any more of this Londonbeat record, but I'm not too bothered as to me it is one of those overly self-conscious offerings which tries too hard to be a major artistic statement, but ends up coming over as pretentious and faintly boring.
Yet another dance record up next from Inner City, which does become annoyingly repetitive after a while but does have that memorable earworm quality. An energetic performance accompanies it, and the singer has a great smile. Cliff's on video, and this does actually have quite a good festive atmosphere thanks to the cosy lighting and some convincing fake snow, though the very camp Quality Street redcoats spoil things a bit. I assume that, if Cliff were making this video these days, the kids would not have been used! For our closer, it is back to New York for the second time in the show as A-ha regale us with one of their best songs, propelled along by a lively and memorable synth line.
It was only a matter of time until Bon Jovi became too big for TOTP, filling stadiums and big arenas, so this early phase of their career needing appearances on TOTP to grow their fan base was quite interesting.
DeleteI thought Petula Clark looked like an aged Patsy Kensit, and nice to see The Travelling Wilburys bursting back into the the top 40 as a re-entry at No.34, having fallen out of the top 40 the previous week, having peaked at No.21 only weeks earlier.
Hey, it's Gary Davies' birthday today! Happy birthday, Gaz.
ReplyDeleteLittle Jon wearing a Guardian Angels T-shirt, I notice, I wonder if they're still on subway patrol? Always thought they must have been a lightning rod for drunks and nutters. Anyway, the tune is their usual rawk with a Springsteen lite sound, I did remember it, but not too bothered if I never hear it again.
Now, the trouble with this Petula Clark performance isn't her singing, that's fine and in tune, its the remixed backing track that's out of tune. But she is a trouper, and as you would expect after singing this umpteen times she turns in a professional rendition. Massive in France, you know, big influence on the Ye-Ye Girls.
U2's tribute to Billie Holiday manages to sound nothing like anything she would dream of recording, which renders it a bit baffling, really. Mid-tempo pseudo-blues rock. Is this a video or a home movie travelogue?
New Order in not bad live version of their record shock! But that's because most of it is already on their backing track, including the American voice Barney mimes to. Very tentative on the keyboards, Gillian. Barney turns into a proto-Bez, I suppose it's the soon-to-be Madchester influence. Anyway, one of their better tracks, though the lyrics always sounded a bit dodgy.
We see the Breakers again, apart from I think Londonbeat, which was a moody near-acapella tune much beloved of DJs wanting a bit of qualiddy to play on their radio shows. Nice enough, and better than their best known hit.
Erasure from the Undercrackers International EP (or something), a lively little number that goes a bit hallelujah in the chorus. Can anyone remember the other tracks on the EP? Thought not. At what point did you notice the bells?! Trevor and Simon did a hilarious spoof of the video on Going Live.
Inner City, ah, Paris, great little house track, addictively produced and sung, and she can certainly fling herself around the stage in Andy Bell-type proportions. Always welcome to hear on the radio.
What's with the weird backing vocal halfway through M&W, sounds like someone doing a trumpet impersonation. Anyway, the video. That's not Aled Jones! Manic swaying unintentionally funny.
A-ha, recreating On The Town in their vid, only without the tap dancing. Cheery little effort from the boys, though the broadcast cut out before the crazed synth solo which is my favourite part.
i'll take thx's word about gillian from new order's tentative keyboard prodding, but quel surprise there if so. was she was still using the "technique" of sticking bits of tape on the keys she knew she had to press? this is intended as criticism of her lack of musical prowess (despite having been part of the band for the best part of a decade at this point) as opposed to a sexist comment, but it wouldn't surprise me in retrospect if she stayed at home when hubby steve and his chums went to the recording studio. and perhaps the only time she touched any keyboards chez morris was when she wiped them down with a duster?
Deletei thought "big fun" was miles better than any house track i'd heard up until then, but "good life" was even better than that. you see, you could still make a dance track that was not only sample-free (as far as i could tell), but had a half-decent tune to boot!
trevor and simon from "going live" had a minor hit as (the) singing corner, thus being part of a "singing" quartet listed in "the guinness book of british hit singles" that also included (the) singing nun, (the) singing dogs and (the) singing sheep. the latter two were hilariously described as "canine vocal group" and "computerized sheep noises"! btw, when i consulted my GBOBHS regarding the above, by chance it fell open at an act actually called trevor & simon (described as a "male production duo") who had a top 10 hit in 2000. is that the same guys as above?
Different Trevor and Simon - their tune Hands Up is a bangin' donk effort, not a comedy record.
DeleteAs for Gillian, she was playing the keyboards fine, just very gently. On a show where Vince Clark was pounding his keytar, the difference was notable!
i'm not sure what a bangin' donk effort is, although i presume it's some genre of dance track? i also thought perhaps the original t&s might have tried their hands at being serious musicians once they seemed to go off the radar after "going live" finished (although i seem to have a memory of the posh one being quite in demand in more recent times as an advert voice-over artist)? after all, ken dodd was doing that kind of thing decades earlier
DeleteDonk was a 90s hardcore dance genre, like happy hardcore which it more or less became, specialising in unforgiving and relentless, repetitive beats.
DeleteThe original T&S did very well on the student circuit once the TV work dried up, but now as no current student will have any idea who they are, I don't know what they're up to. I presume they show up at the Edinburgh Fringe, Comedy Store, that sort of thing?
Re Cliff, the featured choirboy was called James Rainbird, and apparently a very young Myleene Klass is also on the record. Aled Jones was almost 18 by this point, so a bit too old to reach those high notes anymore!
DeleteI'm sure some angry ladies would be happy to give Aled assistance in reaching those notes.
DeleteI see Danny Aiello has died, best known to us as the preachin' papa in Madonna's Papa Don't Preach video. He also released albums of his own, but none troubled the charts over here.
ReplyDeleteI think I said this when Papa Don't Preach was featuring in the repeats, but he reminded me a bit of Keith Barron.
DeleteThe final two episodes of 1988 feature the sprites that feature after the end of the song, by 1989 approaches, they've vanished and even on the 25th anniversary show was the first not to feature the sprites since the 29/05/1980 episode.
ReplyDelete1989's double bill kicks off on the 10th of January 2020 at 7.30pm and 9pm with the first 05/01/1989 episode and then 12/01/1989, only TOTP The Story of 1989 and Big Hits are on the 3rd of January 2020, having meant that we'll reach 1990 in its 30th anniversary year as we reach a 100 consecutive episodes rather than the usual 75, cos there is no banned presenters, despite we only have two new presenters Jenny Powell and Jakki Brambles joining in the 1989 debacle plus Hale and Pace in the Comic Relief-themed episode in which they present and for the rest of the other presenters they remain the same as 1988.
Meaning that the Thursday evening slot has now been axed for TOTP, this means the "new normal" as the double bill episodes of 7.30 and 9pm will be continuing and there is no confirmation if the late-night slot could continue into next year as they've excluded the final 3 episodes of 1988.
aha playout was cut short on bbc4 here's the full show : https://we.tl/t-sXRfKUJMwv
ReplyDeleteGreat stuff anonymous! I don'tsuppose looking forward to next week you have an archive cooy of the 25th anniversary edition and new years eve show 31/12/88 that BBC Four are going to skip?
DeleteJust catching up here after a week and a bit away and was delighted to find 16.12.76 I was wondering if anybody would have the 3/4 of the show that survives from 19.02.76 and any of the orphan performances from other wiped shows in 1976. any help appreciated thanks
DeleteSorry wayne i dont have that one only tbe vhs copy that you probably have already.
DeleteOk no worries. Many thanks for the reply. Yes i do have that copy but i think its missing the first few seconds which isnt really a problem as the bulk of the show is there. One to watch on new years eve!
DeleteBon Jovi - good start to the show... (I notice that they didn’t even pretend to be plugged into anything)
ReplyDeleteI don’t usually comment on songs twice, but Pet pet, what were you thinking?..
U2 - another release from Rattle and Hum. Not sensing a lot of love for them by fellow bloggers, but I really love this album.
New Order = Hooky not very busy...
Breakers - great start, Levi could do no wrong in my book. Hope we see more... Kim continues the double meanings, but not such a strong song. Didn’t play much of Londonbeat, but can't say I will lose any sleep over that..
Aha - another pleasant ditty from the lads, with a video reminiscent of On The Town.
This week at No.1 on the other side of the Atlantic was Chicago with Look Away. This four years after Chicago's final chart appearance in the UK during the Peter Cetera years, we never got to see the new Chicago line-up without him in 1988, where they could still make No.1 in America with is one, and I must say with a superb video, and one of the first ones I bought on iTunes back in 2006 when you could actually buy pop videos online:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uKLTtVqQpE
Hi xrayfour! I'm on to ask if you've got the missing bits or the restored versions of the following shows that I've asked Anonymous for and he hasn't got. They are 7/03/85, 6/03/86, 19/06/86, 31/07/86 and 25/09/86. Cheers!
ReplyDeleteHere's my slightly modified versions of drykid's restorations brie. The BBC4 edit on 07/03/85 is a daft one. They cut Janice saying "Next week it's Gazza & Dickie". Gazza & Smithy were the presenters so BBC4 skipped it & the following two shows as well. They returned with 04/04/85 presented by Simon Bates & Richard (Dickie) Skinner. Janice was half right by accident rather than design & BBC4 could have left 07/03/85 alone & intact.
Deletehttps://we.tl/t-4mw3SEi98k
https://we.tl/t-QKXFRSd939
Brilliant stuff, mate! Many thanks for these. Also thanks for the info. I'll never understand these stupid edits, such as the one you mention here. There was one a couple of weeks back that slipped through the net on 27/10/88, where an edit at the start was made to a phoneline but one at the end was missed. Another pointless edit by BBC4!
DeleteTwo decent hosts who I thought would have had more chemistry than on display here. Oh well.
ReplyDeleteBon Jovi with a generic but enjoyable number, which reminded me for some reason of Jon’s acting role as Calista Flockhart’s love interest in the later series of “Ally MacBeal”.
I love the original “Downtown” but hate the Shithouse remix. Petula sounded a bit shaky (no, not him!), but she was probably just delighted to be on the show again after donkey’s years.
U2 capture some of the bluesy element of the song’s subject matter, but 30 seconds of this overwrought pomp was enough for me.
A totally bizarre, watch-with-mouth-open performance from New Order (go Hooky!) until halfway through when you suddenly ask yourself where the tune was. Barney Monday!
Andy Christmas Bell decides to wear a Superman T-shirt to ruin the snazzy waistcoat effect, and Vince with a butch haircut. Luckily not a complete overdose of stop motion frames on the song title.
Nice to see The Four Tops back with a decent song. Sad it’s attached to a shameless turd of a film, though.
“Sorry, Kim, you only went up a handful of places so you’ve been given a breakers slot this week. Keep that blouse and lipstick ready, though, we’ll get the pluggers working overtime for you”.
Gareth Keenan from “The Office” on guitar there for Londonbeat’s over-earnest effort.
Paris on the beat from bar one for Inner City’s mime, another performance filed under the “go full pelt, lads, as we may not be back” category. What was White Keytar Bloke wearing on his head?
Ah, CliffFF.
Poignant shots of The Twin Towers in A-ha’s “Shore Leave” video for a song I’d forgotten but liked. Bouncy, poppy and effective.
Re: Londonbeat. Has anyone ever IRL referred to travelling on an underground train as "strap-a-hanging"? Always struck me as a very weird lyric.
ReplyDeletemaybe the guardian angels did that kind of thing on the new york subway? despite their name, some of londonbeat were actually americans (if emigre ones). one was george chandler to my recollection - who was previously of the olympic runners, and also sang on a lot of the "top of the pops" cheapo album versions of 70's male soul hits
DeleteAbsolutely right, Wilby. Londonbeat appear to be still going, and they now include Jimmy Helms.
Deletei wonder how often londonbeat got mistaken for london boys, who were shortly to have their first hit?
DeleteUnless Londonbeat start flipping each other onstage, I doubt anyone will make that mistake. RIP The London Boys.
DeleteJimmy Helms was always in Londonbeat, wasn't he? Pretty sure he sings lead on their big hits.
DeleteIndeed, Jimmy’s a long term Londonbeater. My bad.
DeleteBon Jovi - After giving us the one song by them I like, it's back to the usual drivel.
ReplyDeletePetula Clark - At times she sounds out of tune, other times fine, but she was never the best singer in the world anyway if you ask me.
U2 - Their best single for quite some time, certainly miles better than the previous one.
New Order - I love this song and for me it's one of their very best. For once the live performance isn't totally risible either, though do we reckon that Barney had seen Bez in action perhaps? He's clearly miming the lower vocals though - I'd love to know who's actually responsible for those.
Breakers - The Londonbeat tune doesn't do much for me.
Erasure - This is more like it, a fantastic pop song, and actually there is another good one on the EP called 'Knocking On Your Door'.
Inner City - For me this is just too repetitive and my least favourite single out of the 5 released from their debut album.
a-ha - What a song this is! Obviously the idiots at BBC4 didn't think so though.....
The shows best presenter Ooh Gary gets teamed up with it's most nervous. Mr G in his Cowell hi-trousers again. Relax Mark...
ReplyDeleteBon Jovi open the show with “Born To Be My Baby”, a song I couldn't pick out of a line-up but strangely quite enjoyed as it's not been so overplayed as to become even slightly familiar. Certainly a better opener than the Quo last week.
Granny Clark up next with a live version of “Downtown ‘88” which is infinitely better than the record. Careful moving around there Pet, you'll put your hip out!
U2 with the first US themed tune of the night. “Angel Of Harlem” is rather a fine tune in fact. Possibly one of their finest tunes. It has real emotion and I love the way it builds into the title line. Video works well too.
Last week I said the New Order track wasn't familiar so it was Fine Time I checked it out. So I did and it was brilliant. Not sure what they were playing tonight though as I almost didn't recognise it! No controlled substances were harmed in the making of this performance.
Breakers:
The Four Tops: Getting in on the Buster act with “Loco In Acapulco”. Fairly decent tune but no classic. Always sing a long though.
Kim Wilde: We didn't get enough to judge “Four Letter Word” so hopefully we will get to see this slower number in full.
Londonbeat: Again another tune that could do with a full listen to judge it. I remember them having a hit with “9 AM (The Comfort Zone)" but couldn't sing a word of it if asked. Didn't they end up trying (and failing) to qualify for Eurovision the year Love City Groove got picked?
Erasure with a song called “Stop” so we can press pause on our box of tricks and spin him around! Hooray..Tv gimmick alert. I was waiting for him to rip open his waistcoat to reveal the big S underneath. You let me down Andy. Nice catchy tune though.
Inner City the highlight of the show tonight. “Good Life” is such a great dance record. Sounded excellent through the headphones!
Cliff Richard still at the top and thankfully on video.
Then it's back to the USofA-ha for “You Are The One” A proper return to form from the band. A great pop song. Shame the video is so focused on a part of New York now more famous for something rather more devastating.
Twas a good pops 2nite...
Very very late to the party here. Not the best edition ever. Enjoyed Petula Clark and A-Ha and most other stuff was either horrid or average.
ReplyDeleteGood Lord, you were even later than Morgie on this show!
DeleteIsn't that a young Jeri Ryan driving the taxi in the AHA video? She would have been around twenty then.
ReplyDelete