|
Post by o on Apr 26, 2019 13:35:25 GMT 1
I saw there was a big gap in the recordings May look at those later. Then Jerico and Tpau on the latest one I saw, Gary Davies looked really bored, or disinterested, there wasn't anything happening in the news for his lack of enthusiasm?
|
|
Robbie
Member
*Funky!*
Posts: 24,832
|
Post by Robbie on Apr 26, 2019 15:46:52 GMT 1
^ The TOTP uploads are only available until next Thursday so if you want to watch them you've only got 6 days left.
I'm glad they got uploaded as otherwise I would have missed out on my favourite number 1 singles of 1987, the excellent 'Pump Up The Volume' by M/A/R/R/S. Every appearance of the song at number 1 was on a Mike Smith hosted edition. And the Christmas Day edition in which the song is also featured is again a Mike Smith hosted edition.
I didn't notice Gary's lack of enthusiasm. Perhaps he was just tired? I did check to see when he was moved from lunchtimes on Radio 1 but that wasn't until 1992
|
|
|
Post by raliverpool on Apr 26, 2019 17:55:24 GMT 1
I'll wait for Vas' proper caustic review, but I thought last night's BBC4 1987 edition of TOTP, was about as good as you could hope for considering the dubious material proliferating the Top 40 by then.
|
|
vastar iner
Member
I am the poster on your wall
Posts: 17,427
|
Post by vastar iner on Apr 26, 2019 22:48:06 GMT 1
20/8. Long and Wright. We start with Wax. 5cc? It's OK. Bit different to most of the rubbish around. There's a level of sophistication in it. Gouldman doesn't seem to age.
I don't wish to cast aspersions, but is Janice Long pregnant? She's wearing a sort of pregnancy dungaree thing. Five Star, dressed as boiler maintenance workers, with something that's generated by an algorithm, and is astoundingly forgettable, even by their fairly low standards.
Steve Wright is a total w**ker, isn't he? Sherrick. So he did make it into the studio. This is obviously a slow burner with the public. I can't be doing with it though.
Charts. Temptations in at 40. Bruce Willis influence? Then Jerico who don't have an h in their surname. Quite a rock chart this week, Motley Crue, The Cult, Bon Jovi, just noticed Long is doing the whole lot, Wright can't be bothered.
Bon Jovi are in the studio. This is a ballad. Oh dear. In the words of Cleveland Brown, no, no, no, no, no.
Breakers. Sheena Easton. Christ alive, when did she become a whore? That's quite startling. With Prince. Not much of that, it's all we really need to get the idea. Smiths with a typically brilliant song title. What's the video? Is that Rita Tushingham? PSBs & Dusty Springbok witht he highest new entry and it's only a breaker? Neil Tennant doesn't seem to be showing much interest in those gorgeous girls in the video.
Oh, we have to leave that as a breaker so we can see f***ing Sinitta. Another whore. Another load of sh*te.
Top 10. New Order drop to 5? Damn. Spagna is at 2. That's atrocious. As is the no. 1. Which still has no video so we play out with the appalling no. 2.
God almighty. That was a dire episode.
|
|
Robbie
Member
*Funky!*
Posts: 24,832
|
Post by Robbie on Apr 26, 2019 23:28:54 GMT 1
^ Yup, Janice was pregnant!
Sheena Easton turns 60 tomorrow! I still think of her as the 21 year old woman that I quite fancied back in 1980...
|
|
vastar iner
Member
I am the poster on your wall
Posts: 17,427
|
Post by vastar iner on Apr 27, 2019 10:53:47 GMT 1
*sigh* 27/8. These are beginning to morph into one. Gary Davies but there is an utter lunatic Chinese woman in front of him doing the peace sign. She's more worthy of watching than most things.
Anyhoo. Then Jerico. Any story as to the name? Or the song title? They're meant to be a mega band. It's stadium rock wannabe. GREAT chorus though. I can see the lighters being lifted for this. There's a hint of Bunnymen here too.
The Shoppies (alas not the Assistants) have gone from 10 to 2. Sure fire chart toppers next week. About time Dusty had a second. Needs more Dusty and less Neil, frankly. And the Vera Duckworth barnet doesn't really suit her.
Wet Wet Wet. This was scooting up the charts in parallel with Astley, but for some reason seems to have stalled. No idea why, it is MUCH the better song, with a MUCH more singable chorus.
Top vierzig. Everything is going down. Oh, Squeeze are back. Levert are in too. The Cult are a new entry. Thought they were last week? Shoddy fact-checking, Pops. The Beach Boys? Wow.
Black. Colin singing live. Wow, now THIS is a single. Much better than their previous. This is wonderful. Languid, dreamlike, illusive and elusive.
T'Pau. Now I first saw this at my nan's, on Casey Kasem's US top ten programme. The conditions were not conducive for good viewing, and I was under the impression that they had two female lead singers. Which would have been interesting. As it is, Carol has a problem as to which vocal track to mime to. But all that is an aside. This. Is. f***ing. FANTASTIC. Thank God the Septics turned it into a hit, why it wasn't successful on first release her is beyond baffling. It's interesting, it's imaginative, the two vocal lines really stand out, the chorus is exhilarating. This is what pop music should be. Not f***ing computerized bullshit from predatory producers.
Talking of which. Top 10. I am NOT going to watch the no. 1 because it is a new definition of the word "dire".
Straight to the playout therefore and Prince & Sheen. God almighty, I might need a moment.
Wow. You can grow beautiful roses out of sh*t. Black and T'Pau are the roses, TJ are getting there. Ghastly is the utter sh*t.
|
|
Robbie
Member
*Funky!*
Posts: 24,832
|
Post by Robbie on Apr 27, 2019 20:01:51 GMT 1
The following link contains a massive archive of Top Of The Pops editions from 1964 to 1987 listed in separate folders by year mega.nz/#F!h0snQACa!uiNNqosfbdrfzODHsE1clw (broken link, try tiny.cc/sh7t5y ) All the episodes listed can easily be downloaded.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 28, 2019 16:29:18 GMT 1
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 28, 2019 16:33:41 GMT 1
|
|
SheriffFatman
Member
Been spending most our lives living in the Cheshire countryside
Posts: 10,930
ONLINE
|
Post by SheriffFatman on May 1, 2019 7:02:02 GMT 1
I know they’re not showing the episodes where Pump Up The Volume was number one, seemed very odd though that it wasn’t on the episode where it was the highest climber at 11.
|
|
|
Post by o on May 1, 2019 9:10:18 GMT 1
Cult and Fat Boys for me in those two editions. Ooh Sisters of Mercy top 10.
|
|
Robbie
Member
*Funky!*
Posts: 24,832
|
Post by Robbie on May 3, 2019 15:18:40 GMT 1
Cult and Fat Boys for me in those two editions. Ooh Sisters of Mercy top 10. I love 'This Corrosion'. It's a typical Jim Steinman production, completely over the top, but it's a brilliant song.
My favourite single from this time in 1987 was a record that sadly never charted and which featured Gary Marx, an ex-Sisters Of Mercy band member.
Ghost Dance - Fool's Gold
|
|
vastar iner
Member
I am the poster on your wall
Posts: 17,427
|
Post by vastar iner on May 6, 2019 9:55:28 GMT 1
3 Sep. Not shown on TV because the BBC prefers the people it pays to the people who pay for it. Bouncy rocky start for Squeeze's "Hourglass". The intro though is the best bit of the song. It's OK, but not as special as Squeeze can manage. Joolz Holland, lulz.
Levert, who have come dressed as mints. They're like the Four Tops (minus one) on jungle juice. Not very good.
They keep playing T'Pau in the background, I wonder if they'll give it the beans? Housemartins. "Me And The Farmer". Wow, it opens almost exactly like "Happy Hour". Bouncy, but not entirely original, even by their standards.
Charts, introduced by Smith doing a Joolz impression. M/A/R/R/S don't get a pic. A mention for Heart being the longest runners, interesting. Squeeze and Levert are in a race. At 18, The Motive with "Then Jerico", apparently.
Smith says you never know what's going to happen, and then he introduces that random stochastic off the wall choice of Cliff Richard. Having told us he is going to be on the show. For some reason he then says "go away" off-camera. Weak sauce.
They were obviously struggling this week as we have the non-mover at 30. It's The Cult with the same song and the same video as they've always done.
And naturally the "bright hope" is the son of a record mogul. The truly life-draining Johnny Hates Jazz. f*** this sh*t. No. 1 is even worse.
Playout is Fat Boys & Beach Boys. Hm. This is rather fun. Beasties with a sense of humour. Why wasn't this on the main show? Might mean the Ghastly reign of terror continues.
|
|
SheriffFatman
Member
Been spending most our lives living in the Cheshire countryside
Posts: 10,930
ONLINE
|
Post by SheriffFatman on May 6, 2019 10:12:07 GMT 1
“UB40 woke up in Birmingham this morning but they’ve come straight down the M1 and here they are in the studio”.
I’ve been puzzling over this for a week. I suppose the M40 wasn’t opened until the early 90s, but was the best way to get from Birmingham to London really to go all the way across to the M1 on the M6? I guess you still might go to North London that way, just seems an incredibly long way round. You’re setting off in completely the wrong direction.
|
|
vastar iner
Member
I am the poster on your wall
Posts: 17,427
|
Post by vastar iner on May 6, 2019 13:41:46 GMT 1
To get to north London, yes. The M40 decants you nearer to Heathrow. M1 will get you to north-central.
10/9. It's already better than last week because we have T'Pau. I wonder whose idea it was to have essentially two vocal tracks? It was a brilliant one. Maybe they should have had a video backing with Carol doing the one while she mimed the other.
Level 42. "It's Over". Looks like an attempt to plug into the American ballad market. Trouble is Mark's voice isn't right for it. And his look, which is basically disco dancing champion 1975, certainly is not.
WASP in the studio. Heh. This really is atrocious though. It's like a parody without the knowing insight. God, it's the theme for Goonies 2. How bad is that going to be?
Charts. Moz is wearing a Primitives t-shirt. M/A/R/R/S get the highest climber. Perhaps it will get a play? After all, Wax are, and they're not moving.
Jonathan Butler, with a live vocal. Which doesn't save the song being utter tripe.
Top 10 and a woeful no. 1. Playout is highest new entry from U2. No M/A/R/R/S again. This is looking like a deliberate vendetta.
|
|
vastar iner
Member
I am the poster on your wall
Posts: 17,427
|
Post by vastar iner on May 6, 2019 15:31:08 GMT 1
As an aside, watching the Hits of 1977 edition...
...I have come to the conclusion that the BBC Orchestra was the biggest impetus for the rise of punk in the UK.
They had on dance tracks by the likes of Boney M and Baccara and Brotherhood Of Man. And the BBC's insistence on backing everything with the TOTP orchestra meant they all sounded the same. They're different tracks, but the production work meant that it all sounded like, well, the current chart musical scene, identikit backings of no discernible interest or emotion whatsoever.
Then they have on The Jam, and even John Otway & Wild Willy Barrett. And they sounded just so different, so exciting, so urgent, so fresh, so in yer face. Because they didn't have some pointless string backing ruining everything.
On top of which, the BBC orchestral versions were audibly much, much worse than the singles versions, without adding the authentic passion of a genuine live performance. So punk singles may have got a "relative" boost from not being ruined.
|
|
Tom
Member
*Of Royal Blood*
Posts: 15,419
|
Post by Tom on May 12, 2019 18:09:46 GMT 1
“UB40 woke up in Birmingham this morning but they’ve come straight down the M1 and here they are in the studio”. I’ve been puzzling over this for a week. I suppose the M40 wasn’t opened until the early 90s, but was the best way to get from Birmingham to London really to go all the way across to the M1 on the M6? I guess you still might go to North London that way, just seems an incredibly long way round. You’re setting off in completely the wrong direction. Yes, the M40 only used to go as far as Oxford (junction 7 or 8 off the top of my head), so if they wanted to go on the motorway then the M1 would have been the only alternative. Can't remember when the M40 fully opened up to Birmingham but early 90s sounded about right, and having googled it was 1991.
|
|
Robbie
Member
*Funky!*
Posts: 24,832
|
Post by Robbie on May 12, 2019 19:32:01 GMT 1
As an aside, watching the Hits of 1977 edition... ...I have come to the conclusion that the BBC Orchestra was the biggest impetus for the rise of punk in the UK. They had on dance tracks by the likes of Boney M and Baccara and Brotherhood Of Man. And the BBC's insistence on backing everything with the TOTP orchestra meant they all sounded the same. They're different tracks, but the production work meant that it all sounded like, well, the current chart musical scene, identikit backings of no discernible interest or emotion whatsoever. Then they have on The Jam, and even John Otway & Wild Willy Barrett. And they sounded just so different, so exciting, so urgent, so fresh, so in yer face. Because they didn't have some pointless string backing ruining everything. On top of which, the BBC orchestral versions were audibly much, much worse than the singles versions, without adding the authentic passion of a genuine live performance. So punk singles may have got a "relative" boost from not being ruined. If you think the Top Of The Pops Orchestra was bad.... because of needletime restrictions BBC radio stations could only play a certain amount of pre-recorded music per day. Until the 1980s when restrictions were first eased and then abolished this amounted to about 8 hours per day for each of Radios 1 and 2. Radio 1 found ways around it - restricted broadcasting hours, live "In Concert" sessions, "youth" discussion programmes, Newsbeat plus new releases were often exempt so, for example, much of what John Peel played didn't count towards the 8 hours. Radio 2 broadcast for longer hours so had to find more inventive ways around the restrictions. Daytime Radio 2 had more speech content, specialist programming often meant the material played could be ignored for needletime restrictions and then there was the fallback - the use of the various BBC orchestras. So long as the music being played was played by one of the 8 BBC regional orchestras it also didn't count towards needletime. In the 50s and 60s Radio 2 and its former equivalent the Light Programme would often feature BBC orchestra recordings of then current chart hits. And this continued into the 1970s, albeit not as much. As late as 1978 the BBC Midlands Orchestra (led by Norrie Paramor) had a regular Saturday night programme where they played the "hits of the week". I remember listening in a handful of times, they made Johnny Pearson and his Top Of The Pops orchestra sound positively modern. Some of these Radio 2 orchestra recordings made it onto an LP series, in a bizarre "Top Of The Pops" (the cover album series) fashion. Here's one of them from early 1978...
I do believe these "cover versions" would also be played during weekday daytimes too, in place of the actual version that was in the charts.
|
|
vastar iner
Member
I am the poster on your wall
Posts: 17,427
|
Post by vastar iner on May 18, 2019 9:59:13 GMT 1
17 Sep. Smith and Davies. Who says that Ghastly is on, so that fecks any tension.
Deflep. There's something of the "I Love Rock & Roll" about it, stompy verses before everything kicks in on the chorus. Not unpleasant. Not convinced by the performance, they look like middle management doing Comic Relief.
Luther Vandross. No thanks.
House Master Boys. Isn't there a pr0n with that title? Asking for a friend. Hm. TOTP has not got this sampling lark sorted yet, insisting they appear with actual instruments. Stupid jagged jumping camera edits. This could do with a tune and some words.
Charts. Numan, Chic, Bowie, Ronstadt. It's all a bit retro.
Cliff. Can't be bothered. 96 hits. There's going to be a bit of a celebration for no. 100, isn't there?
Communards. Not a cover so it will not be a big hit. It's not bad, but I can't make the lyrics out at all.
Karel Fialka with a big climber. Why? Just feckin goes on forever. M/A/R/R/S up to 2. Surely going to end the reign of terror next week. Same presenters next week. Do they get eps now as a job lot? PUTV on playout, I don't recall it being considered so groundbreaking at the time, now it is a classic and 4AD's biggest.
|
|
SheriffFatman
Member
Been spending most our lives living in the Cheshire countryside
Posts: 10,930
ONLINE
|
Post by SheriffFatman on May 20, 2019 14:09:29 GMT 1
Has there ever been a chart act who looked less like pop stars than The Proclaimers? Fantastic performance of an amazing song though, number 25 in the charts and Simon Mayo is tipping them for Christmas number 1. If only it were so.
|
|