Beret I don't care
06/04/89 (Simon Mayo & Anthea Turner)
Brother Beyond – “Can You Keep A Secret?” (22)
Getting the show underway but the song got no higher.
Kon Kan – “I Beg Your Pardon” (8) (video)
Went up three more places.
Holly Johnson – “Americanos” (14)
In the studio with the second single from his number one album Blast, and it peaked at number four.
Paula Abdul – “Straight Up” (3) (video)
At its peak.
Cookie Crew (with Edwin Starr) – “Got To Keep On” (37) (Breaker)
Peaked at number 17.
Yello – “Of Course I’m Lying” (32) (Breaker)
Peaked at number 23.
Roy Orbison - "She's a Mystery to Me" (27) (Breaker)
At its peak.
T'Pau - "Only the Lonely" (34) (Breaker)
Peaked at number 28.
Coldcut featuring Lisa Stansfield – “People Hold On” (12)
A second studio performance and the song went up one more place.
Simply Red – “If You Don’t Know Me By Now” (19)
Singing a live vocal once again, and this Harold Melvin cover became their second of ten top ten hits when it peaked at number 2.
Transvision Vamp – “Baby I Don’t Care” (16)
Became their second of two top ten hits and also their biggest hit when it peaked at number 3.
Madonna – “Like A Prayer” (1) (video)
Third and final week at number one.
INXS – “Mystify” (21) (video/credits)
Peaked at number 14.
April 13th is next
Mayo and La Turner form a surprisingly effective partnership here, helped by the latter reining it in significantly – can we hope that the decibels might continue to be toned down in future? A multi-coloured Brother Beyond are the first to grace the stage this week, with a yawnsome effort, originally released a year earlier, that would be their final Top 30 entry. The band still look as if they are riding the crest of a wave, but this was almost certainly their last TOTP appearance. More Kon Kan to follow, with a helpful explanation from Mayo for how they got their name, before Holly Johnson is back with what I regard as the superior of his two big solo hits, effortlessly catchy – unfortunately, it would all be downhill from here. Holly looks immaculate and quite Hollywood in his gold suit, but my attention was more on his highly attractive guitarist…
ReplyDeleteI was a bit underwhelmed by Paula Abdul’s video, which I thought might feature rather more elaborate choreography than we got – I preferred the studio performance. Sadly the one breaker we won’t see again is this fabulous Big O song, written by Bono and the Edge and worthy of comparison with Roy’s 60s classics – the conclusion never fails to send a shiver down my spine. Coldcut are back in the studio, with Gracie making a conscious effort to act out the lyrics, before Mick turns up to once again drain all the life out of a classic (see Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye). He gives it his all vocally, but the arrangement is just so dull – both the keyboard players look thoroughly bored.
Happily the Vamp are on hand to liven things up with their biggest and best hit, a great bit of pop-punk which has weathered the years remarkably well. Not sure about Wendy’s look here, though, as she seems to be drawing inspiration from both Madge and Frank Spencer! Speaking of Madge, we get the same excerpt from the video yet again for her last week at the top, before INXS serve up a good playout record but a very dull video which suggests their record company were not prepared to stump up for anything more elaborate.
Slightly disagree about Holly Johnson going downhill from here. While Americanos did well for him and giving us such great eveningwear outfits for Holly and his two gorgeous girl colleagues on this week's TOTP studio performance, I always felt that his next single Atomic City was his best one, as it was a sort of Pied Piper of Hamlyn kind of story and one of the videos of the year.
DeleteWhat I meant was that it went downhill for him chartwise after Americanos.
DeleteVer 'Yond to start, but I've elaborated on them elsewhere. The Kon Kan, or, er, Konadian Kantent?! We have to blame Canada for this one, but anyway, a bit more of a fine one hit wonder.
ReplyDeleteHolly Johnson makes an appeal to the Americans to buy his records by flattering them throughout this hit, it's a solid bit of pop, but I do find Love Train more inspiring. For some reason the guitarist has shown up in just her underwear.
Another video, Paula posing in the by now cliched black and white with her dancers. Still a good song, but it certainly hung around, didn't it?
Brief mention of The Big O, sad to say his last real hit with "new" material, and it was a bit of a yawnfest courtesy of U2. They got around him being dead by focusing the video on... a cup of coffee?! I suppose it's O-shaped if you look at it from above.
Another repeat, or the same song again anyway, Coldcut and Lisa, at least they have something approximating a proper drumkit this time. Good "picking out the camera" technique from Lisa.
Oh Gawd, Simply Red ruin a perfectly good soul record by making it sound as if it's been slowed down to one millimetre and hour. This was just interminable, Mick's voice isn't so good that he can get away with this treatment.
Ah, pogoing to the rescue is Wendy James and, um, the other fellas, with their Louie Louie-inspired hymn to nonchalance. She's having such a good time she blows us an extravagant kiss at the end. It's bog standard rock pop, but well put across. Incidentally, have a look online at what The Kingsmen looked like - nothing like you'd imagined, I'd wager.
That Madonna clip for the fourth time in a row, I know it's a long song but why not a different edit? Anyway, shan't bother us any longer.
INXS to end on, with the title track of the Michael Hutchence documentary that takes the media to task for endlessly slagging him off, driving him to despair... sounds familiar this week. But the tune is a decent little effort, with a honkytonk piano for the verses, so it sounds.
Roy Orbison had a couple more hits in 1992 - his take on I Drove All Night (we should get Cyndi Lauper's version in a few weeks) and a duet of Crying with K D Lang which I prefer to the original.
DeleteI can't take Simply Red's take on If You Don't Know Me By Now seriously. Every time I hear it, I think of David Brent's version from The Office.
Yes, Roy did make a post-mortem comeback, in fact he must have recorded Drove about the same time as Cyndi recorded her version.
DeleteCan't stand The Office or R*ck* G*rv**s, so I'll take your word for that!
Yeah, I love this Roy Orbison song, and it is right up there with Only The Lonely, and his more recent Top 3 hit You Got It. At least Mystery didn't have the Jeff Lynne influence in the same way as You Got It, and here on Mystery you can hear Roy's unique brilliance and genius in song. Absolutely brilliant!
DeleteThere was also a 3rd posthumous Roy Orbison Top 40 hit called 'Heartbreak Radio'. But that wasn't very good.
DeletePretty awful outfit being worn by Anthea on this one. Otherwise she’s a little less shouty than usual.
ReplyDeleteSurprisingly few comments on this episode two days later – is everyone getting bored with 1989 I wonder? There is still a lot of good stuff amidst the dross, although this show was quite underwhelming.
Brother Beyond – Can you keep a secret – Do you want to know a secret this ain’t. The appeal of BB escapes me.
Kon Kan – I beg your pardon – What a mish mash this is! Can’t get into this at all. Give me New World any day – check out their cover of Gordon Lightfoot’s ‘If you could read my mind’….oh hang on, not loaded on YT, sorry.
Holly Johnson – Americanos – Nice outfits but lacks the bite of ‘Love Train’ and no Brian May solo either.
Paula Abdul – Straight up – We’re spared the sight of Lenny Henry again by the video, but it’s one of those annoying ones where they flash up lines from the lyrics. Went to the top in the US where Paula had six no1 hits! Wow!
Breakers – Nothing decent apart from Roy. Glad they cleared up the mystery as to whether T’Pau’s song was a cover.
Coldcut / Lisa Stansfield – People hold on – Not my cup of tea at all.
Simply Red – If you don’t know me by now – Nice cover I have to grudgingly admit. I do prefer the original by Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes but credit where credit is due.
Transvision Vamp – Baby I don’t care – The guitar riff is straight from ‘Since you’ve been gone’ by Rainbow which is a far superior song in my view but I guess this is OK.
Madonna – Like a Prayer – Surprise surprise, they didn’t show the start of the song again. I never watched these shows when they went out so I didn’t realise that the BBC had put a ban on showing those bits. Still, could have been worse; at least they showed some of it.
INXS – Mystify – I’m mystified as to the appeal of INXS.
I'm still watching these shows.......wait for me Sct353.
DeleteI would say regarding the Kon Kan tune, to only concentrate on the female part of the song, the rendition of Rose Garden ("I Beg Your Pardon I Never Promised You A Rose Garden)", which for me really makes this tune a fantastic one, and the video continues where last week's playout finished off.
It's a little unfortunate that the initial part with the male lead singer is enough to make you fall asleep, but boy how this tune gets redeemed once the girl starts signing, "Smile for the while and let's be jolly, life shouldn't be so melancholy, come along and share the good times while we can......".
Here in Britain it still managed to peak at no.5, doing only better worldwide in Holland where it got to No.3. I can't think of any other band that came from Canada to do so well in Britain & Holland.
I thought Kon Kan had sampled Lynn Anderson's Rose Garden because she was Canadian, but nope, she was American.
DeleteAnyway, Canadian bands more successful than that lot: Neil Young and Crazy Horse, Arcade Fire, Barenaked Ladies, Sum 41, Rush (if you count the album charts)… any more?
Incidentally, the Transvision Vamp and Rainbow riffs owe a whole lot to Louie Louie by The Kingsmen, much covered and once investigated by the FBI.
DeleteIt was difficult to choose between Wendy James of Transvision Vamp, and Vix of Fuzzbox, as to who was the bigger turn on, but I think Wendy just pinches it on account of her Piscean nouse and dare, and her outfit on this show was just soooooo cool and original. Love it!
DeleteI've had a busy weekend, sct - down the pub Friday night, completing visiting every current Football League ground again by visiting Salford City yesterday (anticipating a potential 'dawn to past midnight' trip to Barrow next season to top up!) and catching up with a week's load of chores today. Hang on in there (baby), I'll critique some time in the next day or two.
Deletesct i reluctantly decided to stop regularly reviewing these shows a year or so back as a result of getting flak from the completists. but i now realise they actually did me a favour, as there has been very little of interest to me on them since. so doing that now would very much be a chore, rather than a pleasure as was the case back in "the good old days"
DeleteSorry guys, I'll be more patient next time! Wliberforce...your observations are always worth the money and often make me chuckle!
DeleteNo need to apologise, sct. More chores tonight but I've seen and critiqued the previous edition - hope to check this edition out tomorrow night.
Deletethanks for saying so sct - although i no longer contribute regular reviews, i still follow the blog and try and make what i hope are salient observations when i can
DeleteHi Anonymous! I'm back on again to ask if you've got any of the following original archive shows all from 1977.They are 6/01, 31/03, 14/04, 22/09 and 24/11. Cheers!
ReplyDeletesorry brie don't have any originals of those only bbc4.
DeleteOK mate, never mind.
DeleteCanadian bands who did better in the UK than Canada, part 27 - Bran Van 3000, who released the trip-hop slacker smash "Drinking in LA", a number 3 over here in 1997.
ReplyDeleteMan, was that record overplayed! I think everyone got sick of them after that so they didn't have any comparable hits. Though their Curtis Mayfield "collaboration" wasn't too bad.
DeleteDon't forget the much-maligned Nickelback - wasn't Chad Kroegor once proclaimed the ugliest man in rock?
DeleteNot according to Avril Lavigne! Or Avril's double.
Deletei was only vaguely aware of chad kroeger, and certainly had no idea what he looked like. but having looked him up now, as long as he steers clear of silly haircuts and/or facial hair then i would say there are/were a lot more ugly rock stars than him around?
Delete... shane mcgowan has just come to mind!
DeleteShane and Chad are certainly comparable in the growly voice stakes.
DeleteHi just wondering if anybody would have a copy of 19th Feb 1976 show most of it survives thanks Meer
ReplyDeleteHi Meer! I think xrayfour is your best hope with this one. I was going to ask him for it at a later date but he's still doing 21/11/74 and 30/01/75 at the moment.
DeleteThanks brie . Will ask xrayfour next time he is on
Delete"Smile for a while and let's be jolly, love shouldn't be so melancholy, come along and share the good times while we can....."
ReplyDeleteI'm just loving singing this Kon Kan tune to myself the last few days, and it's really giving me a spring in my step all day. I found this recent interview with Barry Harris and Kevin Wynne of Con Kan, describing the influences on the song, with not only Lynn Anderson, but also the beginning influenced by Le Freak:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Do6PsOhcSjs
Dory's affection for the snatches of this Lynn Anderson no3 hit in 1971 raises the question of this:-
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-eclUz-RYI
Is this really ToTP? Looks like it could be Ed Stewart and the show maybe 11th March 1971. No spoken intros, but I recall another of the 1971 shows is the same (the one with 'Chirpy chirpy cheep cheep' at no1). So, is this just a one off clip from this show (if indeed it really is ToTP) and if not, where's the rest? Deep Purple with 'Strange kind of Woman' is of particular interest to me. Over to the experts!.....
It's not Ed Stewart, but another presenter from another TV show looking through a television into a TOTP show with Lynn Anderson in it.
DeleteYes, I think that is a German TV show which was using the clip from TOTP. Quite a few TOTP performances from this era only survive because they were reused in this way by foreign broadcasters.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteMany thanks guys. Good to have the mystery cleared up and great that this clip has survived.
DeleteIt's great that Kon Kan's arrival has enabled new debate around archive footage of Lynn Anderson's I Beg Your Pardon (I Never Promised You A Rose Garden). Brilliant stuff!
DeleteMade it! Family circumstances put the kybosh on my watching this last night. Here we go!
ReplyDeleteRev Mayo gets the short straw and earplugs this week. He also needs blinkers bearing in mind what Turnoff has turned up in.
Only one more mugshot track, and only just at that, for Brother Beyond and Biggest Hits Behind with their sub-Bros dross.
Thanks for the Kon Kan name info, The New Simes. Canuck New Order meets yeehah and also mixes in half a dozen disparate samples. A real carpet showroom of a track. The lads reminded me of They Might Be Giants for some reason.
I’m more of a capuccinos man than Americanos but this bops along nicely. Holly’s gold clad Rachel Riley chum completely misses her entire first vocal cue. The lyric “You know how to advertise” sums up the guitarist.
Nice corny intro into a boring, fuzzy, black and white video with random lyrics on the screen. I wish we’d had Paula Abdul’s Superbowl halftime show tryout in the studio again instead.
Cookie Crew – just a complete mess.
Yello – majestic. Boris is damn good on those skates, isn’t he?
A fine song by Roy O spoiled by a weird and completely inappropriate video.
A plodder from T’Pau, but I like the acoustic busker playing the electric guitar solo in the vid.
I love Lisa’s burst into a laugh at the start of a track where she gives us her best “Give Us A Clue” performance. A great split screen of bass and drums during the synth solo. Touch of class, that.
Oh dear, the compulsory Mayo record of the week or equivalent next (must be in his contract), and another gamble by him, with Charlie Drake doing his best vampire at sucking the life out of the song. I actually preferred the David Brent spoof (where he uses up his redundancy pay on a failed attempt at pop stardom), There’s a small section of his pretend version, 1:37 into this clip –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68aGADEniwM
My word, that’s one hell of an outfit Wendy James is wearing. I got this track in vision and not sound for some reason. She makes Madge look positively dowdy in her clip. Did Rainbow ever perform “Louie Louie”, by the way?
Oh great, we finish with a pretend recording in monochrome, a pretend live gig in colour and BonOz in love with himself as usual. Just awful.
Good Lord, was anyone actually thinking of sound over vision with Wendy James's outfit?!
DeleteBrother Beyond - Bros lite
ReplyDeleteKon Kan - yep, still like it.
Holly Johnson - don’t remember this, but it was quite pleasant.
(Nice reaction from the girl who realised everyone else had stopped clapping)
Paula Abdul - I thought this was ok this week. (Did she sing it live last time?)
Breakers - next, good, good, surprisingly good (don’t recall either the yello Or TPau tracks)
Simply Red - dragged almost every word out to 25 syllables. prefer the original...
Transvision Vamp - she could have sung the telephone directory in that outfit...
INXS - never liked them, but this is... ok
Caught up!!!
I'm also a bit behind the game for personal reasons so I regularly seem to be the last poster though hopefully the rest of you are still reading. Mind you, it used to take a little bit longer than 2 days before the 'old show requesters' were on the case....
ReplyDeleteBrother Beyond - Easily the weakest of the hits from the 1st album, the production is very weedy.
Holly Johnson - Another great solo song which peaked at the same position as the first. The lady in gold is in the video I think (or if not, she looks very similar) but the guitarist isn't and..um...not much guitar on the record, is there?
Breakers - I'd forgotten that Edwin Starr very gamely showed up for the Cookie Crew video! I like the Roy Orbison song, very moody and the video does at least match the song in this respect.
Simply Red - Hated it then, and I'm another who cannot help but laugh following the David Brent version.
Transvision Vamp - A brilliant pop song, which on the rare occasions it gets played at discos instead of the housewife classics of the 80s (Come On Eileen, Don't You Want Me etc.) in my experience goes down a storm.
INXS - Seemingly an exercise in squeezing one more single from the album, but at least it's a decent one.
Don't panic Noax….you are not last as I am here in my usual "week behind" place...
ReplyDeleteHello to Wilberforce as well. Nice to know you are still around and dropping in your nuggets of knowledge from time to time..
So onto the show and Anthea Less Than A Turnoff Than Usual paired with the Boy Mayo who actually make a good pairing. Shame Anthea still insists on shouting down the chart rundown. Mayo needs to decide if he's going up or down. Are counting down from 30-11 then up from 10-1???. I always said counting up but even Wrighty says down so maybe I'm wrong!
On to the tunes..“Can You Keep A Secret"? Brother Beyond had their best hit first and then they got worse and worse. All over for them really in the space of about 8 months...even Smash Hits got bored of them.
The other half of the Kon Kan video for “I Beg Your Pardon” Nice explanation from Boy Mayo about the name...never knew that. As I said last week this is a frim fave.
My favourite Holly Johnson song of the time up next. “Americanos” still sounds great today although as others have said "Atomic City" is even better and "Love Train" is less cheesy.
Never knew the album got to Number 1 Angelo...well deserved.
Paula Abdul on video. A “Straight Up” dance video that we've seen done before. This song really hung around didn't it..never realised how big a hit this was. Also assume "Opposites Attract" was her biggest selling hit but maybe not???
Breakers:
Cookie Crew (with Edwin Starr- thanks Angelo, I was going to ask). Sorry blog but I like “Got To Keep On” Fast paced and fun.
Yello: Always been a fan of this lot. “Of Course I’m Lying” has a great fun video for a slightly slower number from them.
Roy Orbison can do no wrong for me. "She's a Mystery to Me" is a lovely ballad. Agree with others that the KD/Roy version of "Crying" is just sublime. Although as Wifey is a huge OFAH fan I can never recover from the Tony Angelino version of "Cwying"
T'Pau with a disappointing number from them. I will admit I've really enjoyed all their songs during these repeats. Nice link from Roy into "Only the Lonely" Very clever.
The fabulous Lisa Stansfield gives a masterclass in playing to the camera. “People Hold On” is such a great record. Huge fan of this.
Simply Red. As I've said before you either love him or hate him(and a lot of people hate him) but I quite like this stripped back, slowed down version of “If You Don’t Know Me By Now”. Another impressive live vocal as well. Would love to hear Paul Young do this as it's right up his street.
TOTP is the gift that keeps on giving - last week Fuzzbox, this week, Transvision Vamp.
“Baby I Don’t Care” is a storming record and Wendy is on fire here. Fab-u-lous
Madonna still at the top. Oh look it's even less of the “Like A Prayer” video
INXS play out. It Mystifies me how they didn't wrack up many top ten hits. This is a really strong number from them.