We can make it right, there's no need to rush, we can finish the 26th of April 1990 edition of Top of the Pops!
Tasty licks
26-4-90: Presenter: Bruno Brookes
(25) PAT & MICK – Use It Up And Wear It Out
Getting the show underway with what became the duo's final top 40 hit when it peaked at number 22.
(30) NATALIE COLE – Wild Women Do (video)
Peaked at number 16
(29) UNIQUE 3 – Musical Melody
In the studio tonight with their only top 40 hit and it got no higher.
(3) PAUL ABDUL – Opposites Attract (video)
Went up one more place.
(34) ALL ABOUT EVE – Scarlet (video) (Breakers)
Got no higher.
(35) KID CREOLE & THE COCONUTS – The Sex Of It (video) (Breakers)
After a seven year break fron the charts this became their final top 40 hit and it peaked at number 29.
(38) SINITTA – Hitchin’ A Ride (video) (Breakers)
Peaked at number 24.
(20) JESUS JONES – Real Real Real
Went up one more place.
(26) PHIL COLLINS – Something Happened On The Way To Heaven (video)
Peaked at number 15.
(28) TONGUE ‘N’ CHEEK – Tomorrow
A very enthusiastic studio performance of became their biggest hit when it peaked at number 20.
(1) MADONNA – Vogue (video)
Third of four weeks at number one.
(33) BRUCE DICKINSON – Tattooed Millionaire (video) (and credits)
Became his first of five solo top 40 hits when it peaked at number 18.
3rd of May is next.
first out the gate..
ReplyDeletePat and Mick - Ooh a cover, can’t remember when we last had one of these. FF
Natalie Cole - nice tune, but spoilt by the rapping at the beginning
Unique 3 - it ain’t musical, and it ain’t a melody
Breakers:
All About Eve - ok, bit folksie for me, but a fine voice
Kid Creole - alright what little we heard
Sinitta - another cover, but I will let her off :-)
Phil Collins - upbeat tune, and who can resist a dog in a video. How many in the band?!
Tongue n Cheek - don’t remember this, and still can’t. Did someone forget to turn down the microphones.?
Bruce Dickinson - alright, but not a lot different from his day job. Chorus sounded like another song...
...forget to turn UP the microphones..
DeleteGreat songs on this episodes videos
ReplyDeleteNATALIE COLE – Wild Women Do
PAUL ABDUL – Opposites Attract
PHIL COLLINS – Something Happened On The Way To Heaven
MADONNA – Vogue
Pratt and Dick up first, blanding out all the fun and spontaneity from a classic disco record. Mind you, what do I know? There's one woman dancing to it like a whirling dervish, so someone likes it. The world changed when Mr Sharp cut his hair, I think we can pinpoint it to that.
ReplyDeleteNatalie Cole doing her best Whitney Houston impersonation - is this a remix? Sounds suspiciously like one. Hasn't aged too well, comes across as a desperate bid for relevancy.
Unique 3, first of tonight's forgotten tracks, well, I suppose there is indeed a musical melody in it, but they might as well have pushed the button that makes the keyboard play a tune built in from the factory settings. The rapper's not too bad, but that's it.
Paula lusting after a cat we've seen, going for the furry market, then the Breakers which has All About Eve going all acoustic on us, nice enough from the ten seconds we hear, Kid Creole's comeback single that was actually really good in his inimitable style, but didn't make much of an impact. Then Sinitta we'll see again.
Jesus Jones we've seen, then Phil Collins on video, so no paint pot, and I'm going to surprise myself here, but I don't mind this, it's a perfectly decent little pop ditty far preferable to his moping and lecturing. Not sure what the dog has to do with it - big canine contingent among his fans?
Tongue N Cheek is a terrible name for a group, especially when they're not sarky in the least, and there's three singers so you can't go who's Tongue? Anyway, the music is pleasant enough, if pretty basic, but I sincerely doubt it's been played anywhere since 1990.
Two vids to end on, Madonna still there at the top (and still missing the bit with her see-through lacy number), then Bruce Dickinson who we see more of next time...
I think Pat & Mick having seen the success of FPI Project covering the other Odyssey single Going Back To My Roots at the turn of the decade, decided to join the party and find another Odyssey single to cover, but it was nowhere near as good as the FPI Project, but good try though!
ReplyDeleteKid Creole I was surprised to see back after their only brief appearances in 1982-83 in the UK charts, and by now I thought were a band that had long hung up their boots. I don't recall this one at all, but not a bad video to check out in full, and to see if the comeback was worthwhile.
The Sex of It by Kid Creole got quite a bit of airplay, but it didn't translate into a big hit. There's some amusing spoken word bits in it, I recall - I'll have to check out the video too, I think.
DeleteHad a checkout of the video on Utube, which only has the MTV play of the video, not the original, but it has a Prince-style sound and theme, which didn't really give us the real Kid Creole type of sound that was so noticeable in his 1982-83 period. I mean I couldn't even work out where The Coconuts were on this video, apart from on the mature woman in her white underwear.
DeleteI think it's a pretty decent record, and has Kid Creole's cheekiness retained. You mentioned Prince, so I Googled the track and it turns out it is indeed a cover of a Prince track that was unreleased. The Coconuts were clearly there as backing singers in the nightclub in the video.
DeleteAlso, I got a child porn warning for the search term "Kid Creole The Sex of It"! Didn't expect that, I wonder how many other people had that nasty surprise after watching this episode last Friday?
Oh dear, most of this just washed over me so I am not even going to bother writing a full review. A few points:
ReplyDeletePat and Mick – Covering a song that missed out on ToTP in 1980 due to the strike and frankly I wasn’t bothered then nor now.
Sinitta – Leave well alone and please don’t go near ‘Early in the Morning’.
Phil Collins – Something happened on the way to heaven – A good live track so appropriate to see Phil’s touring band in this video with Chester Thompson on drums, Daryl Stuermer (who co-wrote the song) on guitar and, of course, Lee Sklar on Bass. Not sure of the relevance of the dog, but then the sleeve was equally bizarre with a photo of Tony Hancock. On the B Side was Phil’s demo version of ‘I wish it would rain down’ without Clapton’s guitar.
Bruce Dickinson – sounded exactly like I thought it would having never heard it before.
Here’s wishing for better things!
sct353, some of us were hot and bothered by the dance troupe's moves to "Use It Up And Wear It Out" in the 'trying new ideas' pilot episode made during The Great Strike of 1980. Well, at least I was!
DeleteTrevor’s back, slightly dressed down this time.
ReplyDeleteLove the Pratt and Dick analogy from THX 1139! Miming women backing vocalists’ voices from the 10 seconds I bothered with. Wipe this out and turn it off, more like.
Trev introduces Natalie Cole and instead at first we get some prawn rapping. More hair styles on Natalie than song quality. Maybe if Tina Turner had done a slightly slower and rockier version of this instead?
Early mugshots: Poor Rebel MC. How come we never heard “Better World” and suffered saturation point FPI Project? Quite like these new toned down graphics myself.
Unique 3? Not Unique ZZZ FF.
Paula Abdul with the best video so far this year, Trev? Hmm. Wish I could come up with a catty remark!
All About Eve with a pleasant enough folk club shanty which was never going to do the big digits.
Kid Creole’s effort wasn’t up there with his imperial phase. No coconut knocked down in the shy here.
They must have spent pence on Sinitta’s video and song recording.
Jesus Jones not in the studio, so not as real as they’d like us to think they are!
Mid-mugshots: Four people in Unique 3!
Phil Collins on ‘lead’ vocals there. Was the B-side “The Wild Rover”? Nice touch to show the dog’s vision in realistic black and white.
Superlative Santa beard on the bassist.
Tongue, Cheek ‘n’ Gums with a Caron Wheeler double and a dance routine and tune I’d forgotten before they’d even finished. So wrong with your forecast there, Trev.
Madge again, then Bruce with a weird video and a song with a catchy pre-chorus hook. Was this his ‘maiden’ solo hit? Harumph.
Quite a weak episode, the best tracks are Paula Abdul and Jesus Jones who've both been on before, Bruce who's on next week for longer, and Natalie Cole. Oh, and Madge who feels like she's been No 1 for 18 years at this point.
ReplyDeleteBruno in good form tonight and nice to see so may new runes..
ReplyDeletePAT & MICK – Use It Up And Wear It Out
Back again raising funds for Capital FMs Give A Child A Chance appeal. A decent pop cover of a disco classic. They don't do much wrong with this and nowhere near the worst cover version we will hear this year.
NATALIE COLE – Wild Women Do
Interesting video to a slightly over produced tune, decent chorus though.
UNIQUE 3 – Musical Melody
Utterly tuneless and an easy "turkey" of 1990
PAUL ABDUL – Opposites Attract
Still loving this
Breakers:
ALL ABOUT EVE – Not very inspiring
KID CREOLE & THE COCONUTS – Quite a funky little number this one.
SINITTA – I really like the single version of this. Hitchin’ A Ride a very upbeat poppy number that suits her well.
JESUS JONES – Real Real Real
First of two albums I bought with my birthday money in June 1990.
PHIL COLLINS – Something Happened On The Way To Heaven.
Not sure what was going on with the dog but I like this number.
TONGUE ‘N’ CHEEK – Tomorrow
And here is the second album I bought. Really into them at the time and this is a very enthusiastic studio performance of a nice tune, could probablt do without the rap now if I'm honest.
MADONNA still "Vogue"ing
BRUCE DICKINSON – Tattooed Millionaire
Not my thing - pass
No JohnG his week?
ReplyDeleteI was wondering that too. Usually first out of the blocks. Hope everything is OK John and you're keeping well.
DeleteSeconded / thirded. Not used to being on here before you, mate! ;-D
DeleteIt’s just lovely to be here without a knob asking for some show that’s either:
DeleteOn YouTube already
Has been on bbc4
For fucks sake.
Not all bloggers live in UK or have access to BBC4.
DeleteTOTP's on YouTube are garbage compared to what's available here.
My comment was rude and uncalled for. How do I delete it?
DeletePat and Mick; Oh dear. Double disappointment for the Odyssey classic to coincide with the summer '80 strike in its original guise then to finally appear in this horrible version. Did these two get lost en route to taping an appearance on 'Doobie Duck's Disco Bus'?
ReplyDeleteNatalie Cole; A video possibly inspired by Paula Abdul's 'Straight Up' vid but someone's managed to not drop the reel on a damp editing room floor this time. Lots of close ups of Natalie's dazzling smile which is fine with me.
Unique 3; This does sound pretty unique for 1990. So muted and small sounding for a rap record. The beats sound like rubbish bins being randomly kicked about 2 blocks away. Very odd.
Paula Abdul; Paula sashaying alluringly with a leery cartoon cat. I'm still not sure whether this makes the record better or worse. Heard it far too many times to get that into it.
All About Eve; Another single of theirs that isn't destined to go that high getting a brief airing. Perhaps Paul Ciani and co still felt a need to apologise. More lonesome one word lilting from Julianne but with a melody nowhere near as fine as 'Martha's Harbour'.
Kid Creole & the Cocunuts; A small breakers appearance is quite enough for this and I was looking forward to another one by this bunch. Someone I work with was in the totp audience in 1982 when they were on. She told me she and her friends went to get Kid Creole's autograph and he was a right git.
Sinitta; A fairly engaging cover of the Vanity Fair song predictably losing the recorder and the great Creedence style guitar part. Incidentally Vanity Fair have the distinction of being the only act to have 2 separate songs that still exist from 1969 totp editions. 'Hitchin' a Ride' (18/12/69) was repeated in a saved Jan '70 edition while 'Early In The Morning' (10/7/69) survives via the show 'Top Pop'.
I'll take my anorak off.
Jesus Jones; More indie and a welcome arrival. Good stuff but the follow up for me is better. Candy Flip were style gurus for a while then.
Phil Collins; Pretty good this one. Wade through the horns and gated drums and you reach a good uplifting tune. In fact the opening bit if you stretch it out and get Peter Gabriel to sing it and replace the arrangement with something more grandiose, it does recall early Genesis songs like 'Watcher of the Skies'.
I was hoping the dog would do a Digby and invade the stage scaring all the band members off. Except for Lee Sklar. Nobody is allowed to make the bassist on Gene Clark's 'No Other' look stupid.
Tongue 'N' Cheek; Lovely to hear this again. Totally forgotten this one. Beautiful wispy sound. Remembering back to the 2nd ITV Telethon that went out I think that May, there was some live broadcast from a trendy club venue around midnight. On it were a band who thinking back looked and sounded very much like Tongue 'N' Cheek. Maybe it was them. There's no youtube footage to back that up.
Madonna; I missed the next repeat so this is the last time I see this at the top. It still sounds fabulous to me and I agree that this was the end of her super-imperial phase. Although I'd say that the next year's 'Rescue Me' is every bit as strong as 'Vogue' and maybe even more so.
Bruce Dickinson; Fun video, as entertaining as his band's vid for 'Can I Play With Madness'. Wasn't there a job recruitment ad in the '80s that had that similar rapid changing of characters. It ended with a woman with huge shoulder pads.
Vanity Fare. These young bands should stop all this crassly messing about with classic literature. Dear me.
ReplyDeleteThanks to everyone who has been asking after me - I am touched! Truth be told, I have decided to stop regularly reviewing the shows. I had originally intended to stop at the end of the 80s, but decided to carry on into 1990 to see how things went. However, we are now in an era where a lot of the music simply doesn't interest me very much, and commenting is starting to feel like a chore rather than a pleasure. The recent unpleasantness on here has also put me off a bit.
ReplyDeleteI will still be watching the reruns, and may still pop up from time to time if I feel I have something worthwhile to contribute, but thanks to Angelo and all the regulars on here, as it has been a lot of fun these last few years.
Pop in whenever you like John ~ your comments are always very welcome and valued on here.
DeleteThanks Angelo, I appreciate that.
DeleteSorry to see you go, John - how will we know what Breakers will be on next week's show now?! But I understand your reasons, so happy trails...
DeleteI hate it when the regulars leave. I still miss Shaky Shakerson!
ReplyDeleteThere was also Shaky Slade, 20th Century Relic and Julie Joanne Bevan, not to mention Nutty Big D and BamBoogieWoogie as former regulars who also left some time ago.
DeleteI honestly believe it’s the music. I’m planning carrying on until britpop 1995. Hopefully.
ReplyDeleteSorry. Meant the downturn in quality of the music. Mind you, next year we have grunge for a year, then a few fallow years before blur oasis et al.
Delete