The very last time
01/12/88 (Bruno Brookes & Mike Read)
Rick Astley – “Take Me To Your Heart” (12)
Rick gets the festive month underway and the song peaked at number 8.
Michael Jackson – “Smooth Criminal” (8) (video)
Got no higher.
George Michael – “Kissing A Fool” (24) (breaker)
His sixth single from his number one album Faith, and it peaked at number 18.
Angry Anderson – “Suddenly” (16) (breaker)
His only hit and it peaked at number 3.
Cliff Richard – “Mistletoe & Wine” (7) (breaker)
Will be this year's Christmas number one of course.
Phil Collins – “Two Hearts” (6) (breaker)
At its peak.
Pet Shop Boys – “Left To My Own Devices” (4)
The dynamic duo are in the studio once more but this lastest hit got no higher.
Bros – “Cat Among The Pigeons” (2)
This contender came straight in at number 2, but it is perhaps one of their least memorable tunes, and it got no higher. Craig was ill with ME at this point in time and this was to be his final record with the band.
Robin Beck – “The First Time” (1) (rpt from 10/11/88)
Third and final week at number one.
Humanoid – “Stakker Humanoid” (18) (+ credits)
Some energetic dancing but this was their only top 40 hit and it went up one more place.
8th December is next.
Angry Anderson - I remember at the time that this Breakers clip of Anderson was all we got of it, not only on TOTP, but also on any British tv, in these the days before Utube, and I was left disappointed not to be able to get to see the whole video. Well thanks Utube all these years later for letting us see it in all its glory. No wonder it went up to No.3 the following week with such a warm and fantastic video!
ReplyDeletePet Shop Boys - amazing that they were still coming to the TOTP studio for a rock-solid three years now since West End Girls. It seemed that every single released since 1985 they came to the studio to perform - this despite having great videos which were much better than their bland TOTP studio persona.
Robin Beck - final week at No.1, and I'll miss her alot, cos she was so cute and certainly very pretty in that outfit for four weeks in a row on TOTP. I don't think there was a video made for this single, hence the same repeat performance for all three weeks at No.1, but hey, who needs a video when you get her looking so good in person on the TOTP centre stage with the video screen. Come back and visit!
Humanoid - wow, what an energetic playout, and superb performance by that duo. While most of us cringe to see the rise of this type of music gradually taking over from the pop greats of the 70s and 80s not dependent on technology, I must say that performances like this are thoroughly captivating and refreshing, especially to play out a show. Like this one a lot unusually.
Robin Beck did have a video - we saw a short clip of it in the breakers a few weeks back - but as it was effectively a Coke advert we never got to see it in full.
DeleteWell pointed out, it's the very 'First Time' that I have seen the video!
DeleteMy memory of December 1988 is that it wasn't all that festive, what with the grim triple whammy of the Armenian earthquake, Clapham rail crash and Lockerbie dominating the news. In any case, all is jolly in the TOTP studio, with Little and Large providing competent if unexciting presentation - what was that green stuff Mike Read was messing around with?
ReplyDeleteRick is back, looking like some ageing smoothie from a 50s British film, and with a particularly big quiff. His songs were all beginning to sound a bit samey by this point - this isn't bad, but it really is SAW by numbers. Jacko next, making cunning use of a hat to hide his increasingly freaky features, while putting in some very impressive moves in his best video for some time. Smooth Criminal is one of the better Bad singles, though I actually prefer the tongue-in-cheek Alien Ant Farm version.
A bumper collection of breakers this week, with George Michael joining Jacko in continuing to mine singles from an album released more than a year previously. He goes for a retro jazzy ballad sound here, successfully enough that you could just about imagine someone like Peggy Lee tackling the song, but it's not exactly dynamic. However, that word can definitely be applied to what is perhaps PSB's finest hour, a triumphant co-production with Trevor Horn which seamlessly blends Neil's sardonic semi-rapped vocals on the verses with a really infectious chorus, enhanced further by the sympathetic orchestration. The performance mixes studio with brief snippets from the video; Chris is on the keytar this time, and Neil models Peter Capaldi's future Doctor Who costume.
Bros angle unsuccessfully for a Christmas number 1 with this uncharacteristic ballad. The production is quite atmospheric, but Matt's weedy vocals undermine things - still, I guess we should be thankful he doesn't growl! Interesting that Craig is sitting down here. I had assumed that was simply due to the nature of the song, but I guess his ME may have also been a factor in light of Angelo's comment above. A decent show comes to a less than stellar conclusion with an utterly forgettable and faceless dance track, the dancing in the studio proving far more energetic than it is accomplished.
Alien Ant Farm do an amazing job with Smooth Criminal. I'd forgotten about that John.
DeleteIt was on permanent play on video channels back in the day as my step son had music TV on all day and his was a favourite.
Best episode for ages...
ReplyDeletePleasant, if not groundbreaking, start with Rick Roller..
One of Michael’s better tracks, if not a little repetitive lyrically, and interesting video (Do i remember weird al yankovic doing a spoof of this video? - I know he did Bad/Fat)
I must be in a good mood, even the George Michael track was quite pleasant. Angry Anderson goes gentle with a world wide smash hit, then auld lang syne from Sir C’s christmas run, and finally one of Phil’s better solo tracks. Good breakers.
PSB - another cracker from PSB. Only just noticed how similar this is to Hairstyle of the Devil by Momus (who? I hear most of you cry...)
Bros continue their diminishing returns. They forgot to write a tune. Definite lowest moment in a surprisingly good episode, with less repeats than previous weeks.
Oops, spoke too soon, Bros displaced from most boring tune in a last minute entry from Humanoid...
Oh, you can very safely bet the PSBs had heard of Momus!
DeleteLoved listening to Momus back in the 80s - Tender Pervert in particular.
DeleteYou might be thinking of Alien Ant Farm's Smooth Criminal video, which happily took the mick out of Jacko.
Deletefinally - a show worthy of comment on...
ReplyDeleteangry anderson: although i never got to hear any of their music (although i somehow get the feeling i never missed out in that regard) "angry" and his rose tattoo chums were regulars in sounds magazine throughout the 80's. therefore i was already aware of him when he played tina turner's repugnant henchman in "mad max 3", and he actually did a good job in that regard. so hearing this slop a few years after that came as quite a surprise. one can only assume that as a familiar face in oz he was financially induced to record it - regardless of a stage name that couldn't have been more inappropriate
pet shop boys - thank you neil and chris for coming to my rescue with regard to my top 10 crackers for this year, otherwise for the first time since these re-runs began i would have been forced to have included two tracks by the same act. i actually remember a radio 1 DJ (either wrighty or DLT) getting really excited both before and after they played this on air for the first time, and maybe primarily due to the epic string arrangement (by anne dudley i think) i had to agree it was quite an epochal moment. and as a result actually started taking notice of them as a force to be reckoned with, as opposed to being just another synth pop duo a la erasure
humanoid: not really top 10 cracker material, but certainly prefereable to most of the lightweight pop crap that appeared on the show this year. and maybe the pick of the numerous house recordings that were popping up in the charts at that time despite being practically unlistenable outside of a sweaty club (or a field in the middle of nowhere). i think the main reason i liked it was because the "humanoid" sample had been lifted from an amusement arcade machine that i frequently played 10 years or so earlier!
I wonder what Bruno was standing on? A box? A pile of CDs? An audience member?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, Rick up first, and a sign of his slipping fortunes that he was struggling to reach the Top Ten. It's a fair effort, and the stuttering synths make it a little more distinctive than some of the SAW output, but otherwise not very vital.
Next, the Smooth Criminal himself, well it was out in plain sight after all, he admitted as much through the medium of song. Said song sounding like it should be more exciting than it is, but at least it aims to raise the pulse. This extract was from his Moonwalker film, a more sickeningly self-admiring movie it's difficult to imagine. Whackson's Bob Fosse rip-off moves even more blatant here than usual.
We don't see this George Michael video again, and of course it's in black and white to look "classy". As slavish imitators of the Golden Age of jazz ballads go, it's acceptable, but more reason to be suspicious of his yearning for critical acclaim, never a smart path to go down.
PSBs with one of their masterpieces, helped along by an impeccable Trevor Horn production. No idea what Neil is on about, but his insouciant performance here is one of his best. Just an absolute pleasure to listen to.
Crunching gear change to an anaemic change of direction for Bros, bit of a plodder but at least it reins in Matt's vocal tics considerably. Luke doesn't seem to be miming along to anything like the drumming on the track!
Getting ready to boot Robin off the top spot, and then one of the year's best dance tracks, not that you can hear it very well for about half the performance here. Stakker Humanoid was bloody great, a menacing, energetic slice of dance that sounded impossibly futuristic. Evidently there wasn't a video, then? In which case we had a pair of dancers fair near doing themselves a mischief instead. But what a fantastic track.
There definitely was a Stakker Humanoid video but having seen it, they may have ruled it out based on the fact that it could cause epileptic seizures.
DeleteGood Lord, tried to watch the video but it was too much for my eyes, epilepsy or no epilepsy, this is brutal to anyone's eyes! Let's just stick to the TOTP playout with the group in the studio.
DeleteGood to see Stakker (Humanoid) making a lively Acid / Techno/ New Beat appearance this week. An early Brian Dougans act, later to release classic tracks as Mental Cube, Indo Tribe, Yage, The Future Sound of London (and a dozen or so other incarnations).
ReplyDelete"We have explosive!"
DeleteI don't think Ken, sorry, Craig was mentioned at all in the Bros film When the Screaming Stops, was he? If he left the band because he was ill, you would have thought a few kind words in his direction would not have gone amiss. Is he still suffering?
ReplyDeletedidn't ken become some sort-of backroom boy in the music biz after he left/was kicked out of dross?
DeleteJust read a BBC interview with him from 3 years ago - he did very well for himself, and is a powerful manager in the music industry. He also used to go out with Kim Appleby and wrote her solo hit Don't Worry. Or "Don't Wowy" as it was rather unkindly nicknamed. He launched Robbie Williams' solo career and discovered Pink. Basically, he's loaded.
Deleteand unlike the goss twins, ken can walk down the street without anyone having the slightest idea who he is/was. however one can't help but think that even now if matt & luke had to choose between riches and recognition, they would go for the latter...
DeleteIt’s the poor man’s Blues Brothers hosting this week, with several visual jokes about Trevor’s lack of height (or indeed personality).
ReplyDeleteRick Astley in what looks like a Masters winner’s jacket and a song which didn’t make the halfway cut. The backing singers have got mics, lad, no need to wave yours in their direction. Cuh.
Oh, great, more poncey dancing from Wacko. Spot the leader, in white as opposed to black. I much preferred Alien Ant Farm’s take on this.
Micky George with an oh so earnest monochrome vid with the first 50’s mic of the evening. Never heard this on Jazz FM and quite right too.
Ugly Anderson next with a song which sounds like the vocals were done in one take after a lock-in.
Oh Christ, it’s Cliff! We’re doomed.
Oh Christ (again), one Phil Collins is more than enough. How do I eliminate the zombie replicas?
I miss Chris Lowe’s old-style PC. This keytar stuff’s rubbish. At the other extreme, a wonderful liquid cool turn from Neil, complete with smirks and Rod Stewart mic stand lifts. Easy there. Oh, the song? PSB top three in my opinion.
From that to this. Cat litter. Never mind poor Ken’s ME, he probably suffered big time from Matt’s me me me syndrome. Second 50’s mic for another tune which didn’t deserve such heritage.
Bye and ta, Robin. I must listen to your original version of a decent tune Cher just about got into the top 40. Still waiting for a tie-in hit for Irn Bru.
No no NO, Trevor! Second time tonight you’ve mixed up Humanoid’s monicker with the song title. Utter rubbish. As is the row, noise to clear pubs by. Why did the female dancer have a strange pompom-like tassle on one shoe? It’s these details which wake me up in a cold sweat, you know.
Only other thing I recall about Alien Ant Farm (aside from they actually had another hit, a tune-free rocker called Movies) is that Radio 1's entertainment reporter Briggy Smale said they were the most obnoxious people she ever interviewed. Oh, and they nearly died in a Bucks Fizz-alike bus crash which stalled their career. OK, that's three things.
DeleteI’m a little late again this week with these shows.
ReplyDeleteRick Astley – Take me to your heart - Rather unsurprisingly Rick’s back to SAW fodder after his brief foray into songwriting on the previous hit…..and it sounds just like SAW!
Michael Jackson – Smooth Criminal – It pains me to recall that I actually went to see ‘Moonwalker’ at the cinema and I have to say, even then I thought it was one of the worst films I’d ever seen. Now, well….
Breakers – George Michael – With Christmas decs dangling from his ears, George is culling yet another single off the ‘Faith’ album and I like it far more than the previous one. Angry Anderson – not to be confused with Jon Anderson (who I much prefer) this passed me by at the time, and I guess it was down to lack of exposure on ToTP. Cliff – Should of course be credited to Cliff and Aled, Phil Collins- Reminding me of the ‘You can’t hurry love’ video this song is a cracker.
PSB – Left to my own devices – Curiously underwhelming.
Bros – Cat among the pigeons – Only the third song I can think of with ‘Pigeon’ in the title, it’s really boring and for me one of the (many) unworthy no2 records (see ‘Full Metal Jacket’).
Robin Beck – First time – Amazing that there was just the one studio appearance shown four times. I guess there were lipsmakin’ reasons why they couldn’t show too much of the video.
Humanoid – Stakker Humanoid – Was this meant to be taken seriously? Easy one to abandon after the first 10 seconds. Bye!
Actually make that four 'Pigeon' themed songs. There was also 'Stop the Pigeon' from 'Dastardly and Muttley in their Flying Machines'.
DeleteIs the theme song from 'Pigeon Street' also on your list?
DeleteNo....Make it five then!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteNo.1 in America this week, for one week only, and incidentally soon to be in UK Chart in a few weeks time in January 1989, was the brilliant Baby I Love Your Way by Will To Power. Huge 80s favourite of mine, and comes with a sunny feel-good video:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79r_XaUU7yE
I love that version of the song. One of my first purchases of 89 if I recall correctly. 😀
DeleteWelcome one and all to December 1988. Bros v Cliff for the Xmas Number One.
ReplyDeleteWho will win out..???
Bruno gets all excited and the box to stand on this week leading to a few height gags.. Mike looks completely disinterested throughout.
Rick has bought the band but this is much more studio produced than live. “Take Me To Your Heart” is not a bad pop number but fairly throw away.
Nice to see Rick finally looking comfortable on stage and as I have said before he works much better with a band behind him.
“Smooth Criminal” really is a cracking song and the video is very well made. Great dance moves and a real filmic quality. When MJ was on form he was brilliant and this is easily the second best track form the Bad album. (TWYMMF being the best of course)
Breakers:
Nice we get to see quite a bit of these.
George Michael: A strangely overlooked number from him. “Kissing A Fool” is a beautiful ballad but wouldn't trouble the top ten as it's was single number 6 from the Faith album. Would have made a good Xmas number one, maybe if he had released it in 87.
Angry Anderson: Suddenly every school playground burst out into joy as Scott and Charlene got married. Old baldy and his bald girlfriend get their 15 minutes of fame off the back of it. It's not even a very good song. Just infamous.
Sir Cliff of Christmas brings us his “Mistletoe & Wine”. No ill will towards this at all, its a perfectly decent Xmas tune. Always makes me feel Christmassy. The right Christmas number one.
Phil Collins doing the "Outkast" style video 15 odd years before then. “Two Hearts” another one from the awful Buster movie but the song itself is very good. Nice sixties vibe to it. My Mum liked it.
Noticed the presenters didn't even attempt to call it a breaker.
Pet Shop Boys – “Left To My Own Devices”
Hooray they mad it up the studio and number 4 is quite respectable for an odd little song that is one of my faves of theirs. Nice mixing the studio with video footage. Worked well.
Bros have had a great year and must have been odds on for Xmas number one. Then trey released this shit.
“Cat Among The Pigeons” is an awful dirge, no real tune, nonsense lyrics, and totally underwhelming. The only person happy with this would be Cliff. 😀
Didn't realise Craig left because he was ill! Always assumed he was forced out. Sad that he had to leave the band but their best days are behind them and he was always the spare wheel.
Robin Beck for the fourth and final time.
Nice way to end the show with a dance tune and dancing in the studio so full marks for the Producer. Only 2 slight problems :
“Stakker Humanoid” is a crap dance song.
The Girl couldn't dance!
Nice try though. 😀