BrosAid
21/12/89 (Bruno Brookes & Anthea Turner)
FPI Project – “Going Back To My Roots” (30)
Getting the last regular edition of the 1980's underway with what became their only top ten hit when it peaked at number 9.
Duran Duran – “Burning The Ground” (31) (video)
Doing their own sort of Jive Bunny thing but it got no higher.
Sonia – “Listen To Your Heart” (32)
In the studio (of course!) to perform what became her second of three top ten hits when it peaked at number 10
De La Soul – “The Magic Number” (25) (breaker)
Became their first of two top ten hits when it peaked at number 7.
The Beautiful South – “I’ll Sail This Ship Alone” (39) (breaker)
Peaked at number 31.
49ers – “Touch Me” (36) (breaker)
Became their only top ten hit when it peaked at number 3.
All About Eve – “December” (34) (breaker)
Got no higher.
Bros – “Sister” (12)
Doing a live vocal in the studio with what became their eighth and final top ten hit when it peaked at number 10.
Band Aid II – “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” (1) (video)
First of three weeks at number one for this new cohort of Band Aiders.
The Christians – “Words” (33) (video/credits)
Peaked at number 18.
December 25th is next.
Sadly, the last regular TOTP of the 80s proves to be a total turkey, ending the decade on a real low note that ends up exemplifying the overall decline of the charts during its final years. There’s precious little festive cheer on display either, not helped by the fact that our hosts had previously been in a long-term relationship that was, by all accounts, “volatile”. Anthea, sporting an unflattering new hairdo which ages her considerably, tries too hard as usual, but partly seems to be compensating for a listless Bruno who, doubtless because of his co-host’s identity, would rather be somewhere else.
ReplyDeleteWe start with some tedious, faceless dance fodder of the type that would only become more prevalent on the show in the new decade, with some dancing girls trying their best to make it televisual. The background chanting on this really irritated me, as did the mind-numbing repetitiveness – one strictly for the clubs. It’s appropriate that Duran Duran should feature in the show, as one of the defining 80s bands, but this attempt to jump on the dance/remix bandwagon, mixing together snippets of past glories, sounds pretty dreadful as well as desperate. The video goes down the same route, featuring clips of videos past and inadvertently reminding everyone how far the band had fallen.
Sonia, in a gem-studded top, pluckily dances along to her latest generic SAW offering, which I had forgotten even before she finished. De La Soul give us yet another variation on the same musical theme, OK but hard to get excited about after their previous few singles – the slightly grim shots of urban dancing in the video help to further undermine any sense of a Christmassy vibe. Only one of our four breakers would feature on the show again – of the ones that did not, Bon Jovi (you missed them out, Angelo) now just seemed stuck in a rut of producing the same tedious power ballad over and over again, and the Beautiful South are their normal twee, smug selves. The All About Eve song wasn’t too bad, with its gentle rock sound, though the “remember December” rhyme was clunky and the song didn’t sound especially festive.
Bros return in sombre mood with a song that, I assume, was inspired by their own sister’s tragic death. Sadly, though, this just sounds dull and is hardly conducive to Christmas cheer, though admittedly it’s not as bad as their attempt at Silent Night the year before. They then appear again in what would be the festive number 1 that year. I had forgotten how many non-SAW acts, like Chris Rea and Jimmy Somerville, actually took part in this, but the Kylies, Jasons and Sonias are centre stage, clutching their headphones and trying to look sincere in a video that doesn’t attempt to differentiate itself from the usual charity singalong promo that the original Band Aid pioneered. I have always quite liked the doomy, synthpop arrangement of the original version of the song, which SAW predictably just add their normal sound to here and bland out in the process – still, not quite as bad as I remember it being. A deeply disappointing show comes to a forgettable end with a lacklustre Christians effort that sounds vaguely Irish and appears to have had its video filmed in the Emerald Isle. Still, I suppose it is appropriate for a pre-Christmas show to finish with The Christians…
Forgot to mention Silver Bullet, but not much to say other than that shouty dance/rap really isn't my bag, and the video was equally unappealing.
DeleteI thought that Anthea Turner married Peter Powell after stopped presenting TOTP in 1988? Didn't know she had a relationship with Bruno Brookes. Anyway, this week we are back into duo-presenting, as the 1989 format of only allowing male presenters to present on their own continues.
DeleteAnyway, from what THX says just below your posting, I missed all the Brooks-Turner fun before she wed Powell. Good Lord!
I think she married PP in 1990. Her relationship with Bruno was already over by the time of this show, and by her own account it had sometimes turned very nasty indeed.
DeleteYou wouldn't think so by the kiss on the lips at the end of this show.
DeleteThe Christians video was actually filmed in Cornwall - specifically, the beautiful coastline around Port Isaac, where both ITV’s Doc Martin and the 2018 film Fisherman’s Friends was filmed.
DeleteThanks for that - I see they still used a Celtic landscape.
DeleteArse end of the 80s, not helped by the better records in the chart already having been on in recent weeks. Anthea seems positively randy, going on about taking Bruno up the... charts, and surprising him by kissing him full on the lips at the end - his face was a picture!
ReplyDeleteWe start with what was basically an instrumental version of the old Odyssey/Richie Havens tune Going Back to My Roots aimed at the clubs. The two ladies doing Derek Griffiths' wibbly wobbly walk up front don't make it much more televisual that what you'd see on The Hitman and Her.
Duran Duran's last hit of a decade that had been very good to them was this dog's breakfast that I'd be surprised they had very much to do with. Not a pleasant listen.
Can't keep Sonia away, despite her awful top and too-tight jeans, she adds a little bounce to proceedings. I thought this was her Eurovision song, but maybe I'm getting mixed up with Samantha Janus.
Angelo has missed out the best record of the episode, 20 Seconds to Comply by Silver Bullet, which was proof that UK rap could compete with the American kind. Terrific, menacing hip-hop with great RoboCop samples, he sounds so angry and vital it's a pity this was his only hit, and indeed he totally disappeared from view.
Breakers didn't make much progress, usual By Jovi rawk snooze, one of the best Beautiful South songs which has one of the most startlingly bleak last lines ever, and All About Eve should remembering November, surely? Much more Goth to wander through the dry leaves under a grey sky.
Then to cheer us all up, Bros do a song about their late sister. They speak movingly about her in the otherwise ridiculous documentary film, and this tribute is nothing but sincere, but it's not great music no matter the noble intentions.
Band Aid II manages not to be the worst remake of the classic charity single, but that's not much of a feat. Again, noble intentions don't make good music, and the presence of Big Fun don't exactly make this a worthy follow-up, to pick an obvious target. Was it my imagination, or was the "Tonight thank God it's them instead of you!" not on this?
Then The Christians see us off with this version of an old folk tune, which nasty production spoils. They were on the way out too. The 1990s beckon...
I remember the FPI Project when this came out, and buying the 7-inch single straight away, mainly because I loved the 1981 original by Odyssey, which I also remember when it charted in the summer of 1981. It was one of the last tunes where there was no video, because by 1982, videos became compulsory with any record releases, but they did appear in the TOTP studio to perform it:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hussyi2HsMU
However the FPI Project's new house-music version of this song for 1989 was just as appealing, and I particularly liked the cutie on stage with the white jeans, more for her perfect-filling top, say no more! Bit of competition there for the similar-age Leila K opening last week's show just as pleasantly!
The highlights of the 21/12/89 episode as follows..
ReplyDeleteFPI Project - This had to be the other flipside 'Rich in Paradise', unfortunately future Holby City star Sharon Dee Clarke couldn't make it to the studio in the last weekly episode of the 80s, instead we get the dance instrumental to 'Going Back to My Roots' with the audience all dancing.
Duran Duran - They follow in Alex O'Neal's footsteps with a medley of their tracks right up from 1981-88, where it has some of them in video form, their final hit of the 80s is their retrospective medley, despite their last proper hit 'All She Wants Is' was already a top ten in January.
Sonia - Miss Evans makes her third studio appearance in nearly three months with one of her 'winter' danced pop tracks and in the video she is dancing to waistcoats with no human heads, despite her third original song written by SAW.
Breakers - De La Soul take their page book sample of Charles Broughton's 1963 hit of the same name, 'Three is the Magic Number' gets a upgrade as its their fourth track taken from their '3 Feet and Rising' album, the fifth track is also a flipside 'Buddy', the latter that instrumental hook was later sampled to Ini Kamoze in 1994, as The Beautiful South do a ballad as its getting a "wintery" feel by a song about ships, also the last of the dance hits of the 80s has an Aretha Franklin sample and Alisha Warren is one of the uncredited vocalists in the video, once again it gets the Italo-Black Box feel, and again for All About Eve, their last hit of the 80s is not one of their best songs at least it is named after the final month of the year.
Bros - The Goss twins make their appearance in the studio since 'Too Much', despite they didn't promote 'Chocolate Box' as they're already on their way to the top ten on Christmas Eve.
Band Aid II - Here it is, the final number one of the 1980s to where this song topped the chart five years earlier, only to be re-recorded by the team of Stock, Aitken & Waterman, as Matt Goss steals Bono's line 'Tonight, thank god it's them, instead of you' and yet again, the 1989 version is a let-down to the original, but honestly we do have a Michael Buerk news segment at the end of the video, sadly the team of TOTP have just cut that out, you can check it through YouTube for the ending as the charity went towards the Band Aid Trust.
The Christians - Play-out time, appropriate finish for a song that was already a new entry at number 33 in that week's chart, as it's a great tune named after a Bee Gees song, being a different track. This wasn't the final TOTP play-out track of the 80s, it was Band Aid in the 1980s review special.
In other news apart from music, Deirdre already knew that her husband Ken Barlow was having an affair with Wendy Crozier in Coronation Street and Ian Beale became a Environmental Health Officer in EastEnders and in the album charts, Phil Collins was still at the top with ...But Seriously as it became the final number one album of the 1980s in the U.K.
That is two shows in a row where 3 minutes of the video at No.1 was shown, so it seems that TOTP were realising that the maximum of one-and-a-half or two minutes of a video which was the trend through 1989, was being lifted somewhat, at least for the No.1's, but it remains to be seen if this will continue into 1990, as the whole show was still being kept to 30 minutes maximum, as has been the case since 1985 when Eastenders was launched at the 7.30 BBC1 slot on Thursday nights.
Deletei remember the ken barlow affair, and if i were him i would have stuck with wendy and ditched deirdre! to my recollection he lost both in the end anyway thanks to juggling between the two, but i do remember being quite surprised but impressed that the show's writers didn't just get him and deirdre back together again once the affair was over
DeleteYes, I never understood why Ken didn't go with Wendy either. Deirdre kicking him out also seemed deeply hypocritical, given he had forgiven her for carrying on with Mike Baldwin. I have recently been watching the very earliest episodes of the Street on YT, which are not only a fascinating peek into a long-vanished era, but are far better acted and more believable than anything you would see in soaps today.
Deletei never missed an episode of "corrie" if i could help it for over a decade in the 80's and 90's. but then they started putting out episodes on wednesays as well as the usual mondays and fridays, and due to having a busy life at the time i was finding myself speed-watching the previous episode on video in order that i didn't have to tape the next one and give myself even more of a backlog! at that point i realised i had an absurd form of addiction, so decided to knock it on the head
DeleteI was like you, Wilby. Used to watch "Corrie" all the time till it expanded to three episodes a week. They were actually originally on Mondays (usually after "Opportunity Knocks" or "The David Nixon Show" when I was growing up) and Wednesdays. ITV and especially the London region were reticent to transmit a soap opera on a Friday evening when many viewers had just finished a week's work or study and simply wanted easy entertainment.
DeleteMention of Ini Kamoze (real name Cecil Campbell) reminds me of an episode of "Car Share" where Reece Shearsmith cadges a ride in the guise of a moody and smelly fishmonger. His obvious attempts to bring Peter Kay and Sian Gibson to tears while havimg a go at "Here Comes The Hotstepper" can be seen in this...
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3xD_HL7L08
ah yes arthur, thanks for correcting me on the original broadcast evenings of "corrie" when it was still two digestable episodes - you've reminded of the early/mid 80's when i used to rush home from my shitty job on my motorbike as fast as possible on a friday afternoon, in order to watch "the tube" on channel 4 and then awitch over to the beeb's bandwagon-jumping clone "the oxford road show". those were the days (sigh)
DeleteIt was September 89 I started watching Corrie with my mum. Been a fan ever since...
DeleteIn the very very early days, Coronation Street was shown on Wednesdays and Fridays, the Wednesday show being pre-recorded and the Friday show going out live. After a few months, however, the show took up residence on Mondays and Wednesdays and the live shows ended, doubtless to the relief of the cast!
Deletea lot of what was considered lightweight entertainment (including soaps) was transmitted "live" in the early days of television broadcasting, however i don't actually know the reason why. all i can think of is that it was down to budgetary reasons, as it was not considered financially justified to record the shows in advance of transmission? also of course nobody concerned seemingly considered that what was seen as filler at the time would have some sort of cultural significance half a century on...
DeleteVideotape was very expensive in those days, so I suppose they wanted to minimise the number of programmes that were recorded on it. One of the reasons so many shows from the 60s and 70s were wiped is because the broadcasters wanted to use the tape again. As you say, they also failed to foresee the future cultural significance of much of what they were wiping, or the advent of video and DVD, which would provide new opportunities to monetise old programmes.
Deletealso i would have thought that most if not all those in soaps had a thearical background in those days, so performing live was not that big a deal?
DeleteIn “t’old days”, many of the films we still have were actually filmed as a live feed from the live broadcast.
DeletePresumably the live feed was captured on film, rather than tape? That would explain why the earliest episodes of Coronation Street survive - all the 60s episodes of Doctor Who that we still have were transfers from videotape to film.
DeleteWilberforce - performing live on TV back then was doubtless easier for the actors than it is now, given they were generally theatre-trained, but it must still have been nerve-wracking to know that you were performing to an audience of millions. There was an infamous occasion in 1958 when an actor called Gareth Jones actually died of a heart attack mid-way through a live transmission of a TV play - ironically, his character was supposed to be killed by the same affliction later in the play. The remaining cast and director somehow managed to keep going, improvising on the spot - I can't imagine how stressful that must have been...
Yes - live recordings were to film. Also videos were often copied to film for export, which is why said Dr Who's can be found still abroad.
DeleteRe live problems, there is also an original Avengers episode where Cathy Gale pushed an actor into a grave, and he was supposed to climb back out, but was knocked out when he fell. After a few moments, Honor Blackburn rubbed her hands in a 'thats finished him' style, and they carried on
Don't forget the just as dramatic sound of a pencil being dropped and rolling across the floor in the Doctor Who story Carnival of the Monsters.
DeleteDidn't recognise that De La Soul mix of Magic Number at all, it was pretty muddy compared to the album version.
ReplyDeleteAs someone people noticed, De La Soul was a main slot feature just before the chart rundown 30-11, and not one of the Breakers, and Bon Jovi was actually the first of the Breakers after a main slot by Silver Bullet with their video just after the 30-11 chart rundown, which you has been left out on the blog at the top, so Angelo could you amend your summary? Not criticising for one minute, but just like to get things nicely cleaned up lol :)
DeleteThx - Just seen your comment about de la soul - not just me then!
DeleteYup, it was definitely a remix on this episode, and a hamfisted one at that.
DeleteDid you know that all four people in the caption at the top of this blog were born within 4 months of each other in the same year. Yep, 'twas the summer of 1968!
ReplyDeleteOoo, Bryan Adams was so close!
DeleteTerrible terrible (truly terrible) episode, made even worse by the over vocal audience...
ReplyDeleteFBI Project - wow, scoring a new high in tedious...
Duran Duran - though this comes close...
Sonia - rentaSAW next...
De la soul - I remember this as being a better song than this (and Even so sadly the highlight so far). I suspect that I have previously heard a remix.
Silver bullet - lord help me!! FF
breakers:
Bon jovi - a slowie, that I don’t remember, with good cause
Beautiful South - diminishing returns for third single from the album, possibly aimed at the Christmas market
49ers - not bad. It may just be the sunspot effect. I guess I will find out out next time if it gets another showing
All About Eve - another one I don’t remember, Could have been Kim Wilde.
Bros - they churned them out didn’t they? Dire!
Band Aid II - hard to criticise, but a bit too poppy for what is after all a sad song.
Christians - YAWN!
Not sure The Beautiful South were aiming for the Christmas market with a song whose last line is "they said if I burnt myself alive you'd come running back"!
DeleteLooks like Anthea has had a haircut on this one Not a bad show actually.
ReplyDeleteFPI Project – Going back to my roots – Well I prefer the Alan Parsons Project, but this just sounds like Odyssey’s hit without the vocals and I just kept waiting for one of the girl dancers to start but they just danced on…
Duran Duran – Burning the ground – Scraping the barrel more like ! Nice to see Roger Moore right at the end.
Sonia – Listen to your heart = Lovely lass. I checked who the songwriters were for this catchy tune and to my surprise it’s Stock, Aitken and Waterman ! Nice little dance routine in the middle which features in the video c/o two disembodied dancers!
De La Soul – The Magic number – FF
Breakers – Beautiful South – pretty non-descript, 49ers – I perked up my ears at this one; sounded good. Look forward to seeing this again. All about Eve – This also sounded good, but I guess we won’t see it again.
Bros – Sister – “Best band in the country”? I think a few others might have had something to say about that proclamation at the time! Change of pace this time and it’s certainly more palatable than some of their recent bombastic efforts.
Band Aid II – Do they know it’s Christmas – I haven’t read any other reviews before writing this, so I’m gonna stick my neck out and say that I absolutely love this version! Something about the repeats of the verses and that great line from Sonia “The greatest gift they’ll get this year is life”. You never hear this in the Shopping Malls at Christmas….more’s the pity in my view, but I am sure that I am in the minority.
Christians – Words – From Christmas to Christians and this song title brings to mind old F R David to me. Nice traditional tune though and lovely scenery in the video.
Soon be time to choose the top 10 and bottom 10 of 1989 folks!
Ah, as John Peel called him, "The multi-talented F.R. David"!
DeleteThanks for reminding me of the late JP's chart rundown wit and sarcasm! I think he was similarly unkind to Toto if I recall correctly. I've always had a soft spot for 'Words' and since being reminded of it by this show, can't get the tune out of my head, much to the derision of the people in my house!
Deletealthough i never cared for toto themselves, some of them did sessions for steely dan before the band was formed. so i shall always have more time for them than for (punk bandwagon-jumper) peelie's "emperor's new clothes" bands such as the fall and bogshed
DeleteHi Anonymous! I'm on this week to ask if you've got any of the following shows in their archive state that BBC4 either didn't show or cut bits from. They're all from 1987 this week and are 22/01, 26/03, 27/08 and 29/10. Cheers!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
Deletehere are a couple one is lower res
Deletehttps://we.tl/t-rr0MxNaebv
Great stuff, mate! Thanks for these.
DeleteA dreadfully thin gruel edition (no other top ten song to accompany the number one, only two songs from the top 24, and SEVEN songs between 31 and 40) with thin gruel hosts - couldn’t we have ditched Trevor for Andy Crane and Anthea for Jenny Powell? – though they seem to get on despite their break-up.
ReplyDeleteHellfire, that ‘yeah wooh’ loop’s back. FPI FF. Get your roots done properly while you’re at it.
Oh, God, another mash-up, and this DD abomination grates really badly.
“We’re stuck for an act, call Sonia”. Ikea SAW here, but give Sonia her due, she’s a trooper.
I agree, this mix of the De La Soul hit sounded different, and horrible.
Punk rock rap next from Silver Bullet. Again, 20 seconds was enough.
Bon Jovi give us a formulaic soft metal ballad and more hair than shirt material.
At last, something I actually enjoy to an extent. No Briana in the mugshot for The Beautiful South, whose number about trying to get an old love back suffers from the title being used too much in the song overall, and it’s probably too mellow to be a big hit, but I quite like it. The song’s last line is incendiary, literally.
The 49ers, so called because the vocalist was the 49th to audition. “Freda Payne in the bed?”. Rubbish.
I’m glad I wasn’t the poor bugger clearing out all those leaves from the studio for All About Eve’s video. Oo, a Goth goblet. And yes, it’s the 5th of November you’re meant to remember.
A nice sentiment by Bros, but too cloying and Bros-like for me. Two weeks in and still not top ten? Start of the slippery slope, lads.
I watched an entertaining documentary about the original Live Aid last week, and that’s enough of the subject for me. I couldn’t bear listening to a second of Band Aid II.
Put him down, Anthea! What would PeTER PowELL say? No tongues!
We finish with one of the most big-headed and nasty bands from Liverpool but, for once, the moody Christians lead singer’s got his shades off. This must mean it’s a serious waltz-time ballad, and quite a nice one but not as nice as the location.
I wonder if Terry Christian auditioned for The Christians? I bet he has a lovely singing voice.
DeleteI'm the contrary person who likes Band Aid 2 the best of all the versions (I think 30 is probably the worst although close run with 20). Admittedly that is 99% because of Kylie and 1% because of winding people up who think the original is sacrosanct. I'm going to miss TOTP89 so much, admittedly the past couple of weeks have been a downer but overall it has re-cemented the year as my absolute favourite of all time with tons of songs I still have on heavy rotation today, and it's been such fun - I don't know if any other year ahead will have the same balance of dance, pop, rock, indie and miscellaneous. 1994, maybe?
ReplyDeleteI would say 1994 was a great year, as Meat Loaf was just off a six-week run in the No.1 spot at the end of 1993, following it up throughout 1994 with more singles off the Bat Out Of Hell 2 album, and the likes of M-People doing an amazing version of the classic Don't Look Any Further.
DeleteEnigma were still going, and dance music was graced by the likes of Capella and Reel-2-Real with I Like To Move It Move It. Best of all, I liked Cotton Eye Joe by Rednexx that stunned the charts to get to No.1 at the back end of the year.
Rad I agree. 1989 was a real step up from 87/88 and there were some great tunes.
DeleteThe Band Aid II version is very of it's time but has probably aged the least of the 4.
I don't remember Band Aid 30 at all, though 20 was so bad I probably just zoned out when 30 came along...
DeleteRIP Tim Smith of The Cardiacs, died at 59 after a long illness. Very influential on 90s British bands like Radiohead and Blur. Almost had a big hit with Is This The Life?, a fantastic record - that guitar solo!
ReplyDeleteTim Smith had a horrible end to his life, virtualy paralaysed for 12 years after suffering a stroke and a heart attack on the same evening. His songs were as mad as a box of frogs, sometimes with eight or nine different tunes in one song, but a bigger influence than you'd realise. Cardiacs' highest chart effort "Is This The Life" (which reached an unofficial number 80 and got an indie chart snippet on TOTP) is the classic The Cure never wrote.
Deleteok - as has been my tradition here, i am submitting my annual "top 10 crackers list" for what was featured on the show. however given that this year has been the most dire by some distance since the re-runs started, the best i can come up with is a top 8. and that includes two hits by the same act:
ReplyDeletedusty springfield - nothing has been proved
soul ii soul - keep on movin
soul ii soul - back to life
liza minelli - losing my mind
aerosmith - love in an elevator
inner city - whatcha gonna do with my lovin'
tears for fears - woman in chains
electronic - getting away with it
if i had to nominate 10, then these two would do to make up the numbers:
rolling stones - mixed emotions
808 state - pacific
I'l take only the last two from your list as crackers:
DeleteTears For Fears - Woman In Chains
Electronic - Getting Away With It
The others don't really get my ear I'm afraid.
that many?
DeleteWe do try
DeleteI would also suggest a lyric of the year. My favourite is from the opening lines of one of your choices: (Electronic, Dec 1989)
Delete"I've been walking in the rain, just to get wet on purpose........."
ReplyDeleteSo here's the last regular show of the 80s, and have we saved the best for last? Um....No. What was I saying about December 89 last week..
Bruno & Anthea certainly getting into the Xmas spirit tonight.
Woo...Yeah...Woo...Yeah...repeat...I kept waiting for the lyrics to kick in. “Going Back To My Roots” not a bad dance record but not really TOTP friendly.
Duran Duran make it to the end of the 80s with a mash up of dance grooves and previous hits. You have to ask what the point of “Burning The Ground” was?
Sonia is all on her own again and has consoled herself by devouring a tin of Quality Street and attaching the wrappers to her top. Quality is something missing from “Listen To Your Heart”. This is really aimed at the Tween market isn't it. No wonder her career fizzled out. Definitely a steal of "Let's hang on" in the middle bit.
And “The Magic Number” is 3 of course. This De La Soul track is hugely infectious and was a big hit at school as I recall.
Silver Bullet - And now how NOT to do a rap tune. My goodness this goes on and on doesn't it, absolutely endless...the Turkey has arrived.
Breakers:
Bon Jovi - Minor hit from them but pleasant enough. Bit of an odd mix and match video.
The Beautiful South - “I’ll Sail This Ship Alone” grew on me this one. Took about 15 years but I like it now. Is that Supergran?
49ers – “Touch Me” Love,Love,love this. Great dance tune and we will see more of this.
All About Eve – “December” the best time to release this song. And she's smiling in the video. Don't remember this at all but I really quite liked it.
Bros are LIVE with “Sister” and Matt has got some voice on him hasn't he. A strong vocal performance of a sad song to get all the teenage girls in a tearful, record buying mood. The song itself I have forgotten already.
Anthea is offering to take Bruno up the charts! I have no words...
Band Aid II who will of course be Xmas Number One as the SAW roster and friends do a pop-tastic version of “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” Easily the cheesiest of versions but thanks to the 2004 version nowhere near the worst! Sonia is back but how out of place do Big Fun look. Here are the Pasadenas, I wondered what had happened to them, wasn't there 5 of them?
Now Bruno gets a kiss, steady on Anthea...
Finally The Christians with "Dirge". Sorry “Words”
Well that was hard work....time to think of my Crackers and Turkeys now.
My final word is.....has anyone seen Donald's Troosers???
Just a quick note to say I'm taking a hiatus for a couple of weekends. I never watch the Christmas shows, and next week there's a summary of the 80's which I probably won't watch either. Personally, I'd rather have "The Story of 1990" (our third decade!) than watch Gambo and Ready give us stats and facts in a compilation.
ReplyDeleteWon't you be adding your best of 1989 list, like some folks do? I never bother, but I like reading others' suggestions.
DeleteOh, and I believe the best of the 80s show features new performances. Nothing you won't have heard before, but I don't think it's a compilation show.
DeleteYes, there are some new performances, though not that many and not many from artists that would be considered at the cutting edge in the 80s, either...
DeleteThey’re going to struggle to fit all of 1990 in before the end of the year, aren’t they? We should be on February by now!
DeleteI think Covid affected the production of Tge Story Of 1990.
This show is a bit of a taster for 1990. Maybe that's why I love it so much (though I seem to be alone)
ReplyDeleteFPI Project - I'm a sucker for Italian dance music so I do like this but I admit that it's not the most exciting visual spectacle. It would help if the 2 female dancers looked a bit more interested. Unusually, there were 2 versions of the single, and the vocal version featuring Sharon Dee Clarke generally got the airplay after Christmas.
Duran Duran - I like this and think that compared to say, Latino Rave, there's some imagination shown in the mixing here.
Sonia - Probably her best song. Unfortunately it still has her on it.
De La Soul - Pretty sure this is the 12" mix which someone seems to have done some very bad edits on to make it sound like the 7". I suspect this wasn't released elsewhere (IIRC other countries went for 'Buddy' on its own) so the video was probably cobbled together rapidly.
Silver Bullet - I have to be in the right mood, but sometimes I think this is fantastic, sometimes it is annoying.
Breakers - Bon Jovi's song is drivel as usual, The Beautiful South song is pleasant but released at the wrong time of year, and as usual I think the All About Eve track is amazing (and clearly released at the correct time of year!!)
Bros - I can't be too harsh on this given what it's about but I'm not a fan.
Band Aid II - Chalk me up as another who (just) enjoys this version the most. The 20 and 30 versions are both risible.
The Christians - I spotted that this was filmed in Port Isaac on the first camera pan upwards as you could just about see Doc Martin's house! It was more interesting spotting the sights than listening to the song mind you.