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Post by vya on Dec 3, 2021 23:57:36 GMT 1
10 - George Michael - Jesus To A Child 02 - Babylon Zoo - Spaceman 09 - Oasis - Don't Look Back In Anger 03 - Take That - How Deep Is Your Love 07 - Mark Morrison - Return Of The Mack 06 - Prodigy - Firestarter 01 - Gina G - Ooh Aah... Just A Little Bit 09 - George Michael - Fast Love 07 - Baddiel & Skinner and The Lightning Seeds - 3 Lions 09 - Fugees - Killing Me Softly 02 - Gary Barlow - Forever Love 07 - Spice Girls - Wannabe 01 - Peter Andre - Flava 09 - Fugees - Ready Or Not 08 - Deep Blue Something - Breakfast At Tiffany's 05 - Chemical Brothers - Setting Sun 05 - Boyzone - Words 09 - Spice Girls - Say You'll Be There 01 - Robson & Jerome - What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted 08 - Prodigy - Breathe 00 - Peter Andre - I Feel You 06 - Boyzone - A Different Beat 04 - Dunblane - Knockin On Heaven's Door 08 - Spice Girls - 2 Become 1
A good year!
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Post by vya on Nov 21, 2021 0:52:01 GMT 1
12 Dec 91 Dortie and Simon
Cathy Dennis - "Everybody Move" As low as no 37, which is unusual on new TOTP. Unfortunately this is not much cop, and not the dance anthem it aspirs to be.
"Musical crackers" in the top 10 apparently now, one called "Smells Like Teen" apparently now.
Digital (actually Digital Orgasm) - "Running Out Of Time" No 36. Siren effects. Strobe lights. Lots of samples actually permitted. A poor imitation of Human Resource's "Dominator" (another product of the low countries) at the start, then it takes off a bit. Incidental but not wholly loathsome. Less bland and more characterful than other dance tracks seen recently.
Cliff Richard - "We Should Be Together" Cliff sitting on an armchair by a Christmas tree. Earnest, sweet, warm-hearted, and maybe less dull than I remembered, even if the emotional effects are layered on. Unlike Chris Rea he favours planes and trains and has no need for cars.
Kym Sims - "Too Blind To See It" Very US (Chicago) sound of house, definitely not from Stafford or Peterborough. Not without its moments or hooks. The video detracts rather than adds.
Salt N Pepa - "You Showed Me" The problem is they only have one way of styling their raps , and while it was at first appealling... Doing ok on the mainstream variety show entertainment front, which wasn't obviously the direction they might have taken once. It's OK.
Right Said Fred ft Jocelyn Brown - "Don't Talk Just Kiss" Well lots of popstars have ludicrous opinions but eschewing that, anything that gets Jocelyn Brown, and properly credited too, onto the Pops has to be welcome. Both less memorable and less irritating than their debut, OK for a Christmas party in the pre metoo era I suppose. So good to hear Jocelyn Brown adlibbing a bit here! Her voice is magnificient.
Breakers Jason Donovan - "Joseph Mega-Remix": no recollection of this whatsover UK Mixmasters - "Bare Necessities Megamix": Now I understand why we went to the low 30s for the stage acts earlier. U2 - "Mysterious Ways": surprisingly fine, if less off-the-wall than "The Fly",new sound U2 are a big improvement on the old one New Kids Of The Block - "If You Go Away". Probably as well this is only on the Breakers, not the main show, it's a bit shrill and superficially sentimental.
Martika - "Martika's Kitchen" Sure she once (even recently) promised more than this, which seems to be a cast-off from Prince, (and which would have sounded a whole lot smuttier in other people's hands). A disappointing track.
Elton John & George Michael - "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" Played at great length.
Hmm.
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Post by vya on Nov 21, 2021 0:18:10 GMT 1
5 Dec 1991 Franklin & Smyth
Shades of Rhythm - Extacy Seem to have allowed more samples here, sensibly. This has a sharpness in-your-faceness about it, a cut above a lot of the commercial dance pop on here recently. Proper pirate radio vibes. Good. Vaguely pantomime-esque outfits, like they wanna be Peterborough's answer to Altern-8. maybe they will be or are that. Some good vocal back and forth, and rhythmic synth work too.
Top 10 (after threat of Guns n Roses exclusive coming)
Erasure - Am I Right? Wintery set (snowman, conifers, fake snow). This song is delightfully miserable and melancholy. At this point probably only Erasure could pull this sort of thing off and get it into the top 20. A fading and fragile lament desperately trying to hold on. Maybe the best thing on TOTP for weeks. (neither commercial dance nor on a major label, note). Cut off too early, inevitably.
Simply Red - Stars Soul music without soul? Capable, crafted, competent, but really, middle-brow muzak.
Exclusive - Guns N Roses - Live & Let Die TOTP really majoring on utterly needless cover versions the instant they choose to play stuff not in the charts. Horrible. Kilt-wearing in video on stage is unexpected diversion.
Diana Ross - When You Tell Me That You Love Me Returning to her gifts after at least one album in which her label had the genius idea of trying to reinvent her as an imitation of Paula Abdul. She is Miss Ross the Boss you know! This is what a real singer sounds like, at last! This is sentimental and impassioned, "in a world of lies you are the truth" is a line that would also not pass muster with the postmodernists, but Ross is right and they are wrong. Classic and timeless, and rather lovely. Please, please, more Diana Ross on TOTP. Even the questionable key changes are forgiveable here.
Breakers Cliff Richard - "We Should Be Together", this what is known as a crap Christmas single Salt N Pepa - "You Showed Me", hmm, not sure they are not running out of ideas, following Jason Donovan into the Turtles cover version league, don't do that. Brian May - "Driven By You". Unironic rock to sell Fords. Oh dear. Kate Bush - "Rocket Man". Not sure a reggae beat suits either the song or Bush's unique style. not a needless (or carbon copy) cover, I suppose, at least.
KLF ft Tammy Wynette - "Justified and Ancient" A big ice cream cone with a guitar on stage. Tammy not on stage, but on video relay. This is quite mad and great entertainment. Mu Mu Land and its mythology could become Tolkienesque at this rate. Hopefully they'll do a souped-up remake of "Kylie Said To Jason".
George Michael and Elton John - "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" 3rd lot of megastars to go straight in at no 1 in a couple of months, hmm, degradation of the charts in full effect. Performance is alright (one can't fault the talent of either performer), but why is this necessary?
Not the weakest recent episode, but faint praise, etc.
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Post by vya on Nov 20, 2021 23:43:10 GMT 1
21 Nov 91 Franklin and Steve Anderson (presumably, neither the Brothers In Rhythm guy nor the fundamentalist preacher from America)
Bizarre Inc - Playing With Knives This is all very well, but the live vocals are ridiculous in this context, and detract. Completely illogical rules about which samples are allowed too (is it as simple as "female singing sample banned, male spoken sample allowed?). I seem to recall there were numerous variant mixes, with different lyrical tracks (or repeated incantations, maybe, it's not like the lyrics evolve). Even this presentation can't hide a pretty decent dance track characterisitic of its time.
Odd reference to Terry Waite being welcomed home, is he a Bizarre Inc fan?, and "a momentous week in the music industry with a brand new number one". "Momentous". Not even Smashy and Nicey would have gone that far, mate. (Ah, it's Michael Jackson at no 1, momentous, yeah right)
Top 10, some of the ups and downs even mentioned now, sensibly.
M-People - "How Can I Love You More" "A dynamic debut single", to a point. Don't think it had yet become fully apparent that this group would primarily offer "dance music for people who don't like music or dancing", as some wag later put it. Something quite old-fashioned about this, crafted, a proper song. Heather Small proved in Hot House she could sing, when she did. But dynamic? No. Manufactured? More so.
Bassheads - "Is There Anybody Out There" More commercial club dance. DeConstruction actually getting pretty good at snapping up good examples of this kind of thing, with this and K-Klass. Usual complaint about non-sampled vocals (including male spoken bits, so my earlier theory is out). Kind of builds and builds. The JAMMS' "The North is Risen" banner is behind them. Are they Mancs too? or from one of Bolton, Barnsley, Nelson, Colne?
US singles chart no 10 - Michael Bolton - "When A Man Loves A Woman" (usual major label connections in use then) Grotesque and pointless.
Love Decade - "So Real" Yet more commercial dance, with JAMMS banner still there. Not worthy to perform below it IMO. It's generic up north. Maybe worse than the Michael Bolton track, which at least started out as a decent song.
Exclusive - Scorpions - "Send Me An Angel" Odd choice of exclusive, but still ticking the major label, long-going rock act boxes, but hardly big successes in UK before a couple of months earlier. Gentle ballady song, a bit 70s, proggish almost, a bit out of time and place. I like it, but it's a bit post-10pm on provincial commercial radio. Depressingly, maybe the best thing on the show so far. Nothing says either "big hit" of "seminal innovative sound of 1991" about it though.
Breakers Anticapella - "2√231" No idea about the title. More carbon copy commercial dance music with a cheap video. Roxette - "Spending My Time". Moody-ish grey ballad, a bit more miserable than usual, doing what they do otherwise. OK Skid Row - "Wasted Time". They do ballads really well, regretful and slightly self-angry ones like this especially so. Extreme - "Hole Hearted". Overproduced rock ballad, semi-country-ish, not great.
Sonia - "You To Me Are Everything" This really is a shockingly bad edition, so much so I'm not sure a single low point can be identified. But this is another contender. Second shocking cover version, again desecrating something that started out as a decent song. I also have no idea whose Sonia's intended audience is now. She's not the very best singer.
Michael Jackson - "Black Or White" 2nd single in a month to debut at no 1. Both by big acts, both plugged on here pre-release. This video would get hauled over the coals for "cultural appropriation" and no doubt other thoughtcrimes now. Possibly the song (in today's America, despite, or rather maybe because of, its positive if slightly facile and self-evident, message) too. Musically it's not dreadful, but as with the video, there's a sense of lots of money being thrown at something and not worrying too much about inspiration. The rap interlude is dreadful.
The whole lesson of all these episodes of new-look TOTP is that the major record labels have become too powerful by far, and are crushing creativity and innovation, and the BBC is complicit with them. This episode was atrocious almost from start to finish. Notable too that all the non-major label-pushed stuff was of an almost identical style, so no effort on that side either.
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Post by vya on Nov 16, 2021 23:04:40 GMT 1
14 Nov Dortie (how many episodes in a row) and Claudia Simon
Starts with a threat/warning of Michael Jackson new video debut (pushing those obscure indie acts who need a break again), as yet unnamed female presenter off-screen, again
Rozalla - "Faith (In The Power of Love)" Not really new as claimed, a re-release, and superior to "Everybody's Free", as (a bit) less screamy and more spacious. Easy to imagine this being done in a slightly different way in the 70s. Not that much of a song, development-wise, but more than tolerable.
Sure Tony Dortie is being a bit knowingly ironic and self-mocking when he refers to the top 10 *(still done the silly way) as being "crisp biscuits". A bit less silly as at least he's announcing what the records are, even if there's no hint of what's up, down or new.
Seal - "Killer" Female presenter still unseen, so she shouts. The song is of course magnificient, but the version with Adamski was more innovative, a real case of talent meeting talent. This forgotten remake has more bass guitar and is just rather more ordinary. Not good that it was released, as it implies his set of songs is already drying up (with "Future Love Paradise" itself having been an offshoot), surely someone with a voice like Seal deserves more? Cut off at just the wrong point.
Tina Turner - "Way of The World" Again, an obscure indie act not in the charts in desperate need of promotion. "Taking the p*ss" might cover the BBC-Major label love-in. This track is not a career standout
Altern-8 - "Activ-8 (Come With Me)" "One of the hardest sounds around" claims the finally visible Ms Simon. She is over-emoting, as if her ambition is to be a 1980s Radio One DJ before the Bannister Massacre. If only she knew that the DLT Big Sulk is almost imminent. This track is kind of wacky, like LFO masquerading as Tricky Disco (sure they had released more credible tracks under other names too). This does not work with live vocals on TOTP, anyhow. Why the contempt for samples? "Staines Massive"!!!!!!!! AHAHAHAHAHA Ali G was here. Blimey. The dancing is probably what you'd expect at a nightclub in Staines.
Breakers Sonia - You To Me Are Everything: I am not, overall, a Sonia Hater. But if all her records were like this one, maybe I would be REM - Radio Song: an album track, really. Bassheads - Is There Anybody Out There: solid club track, that like Altern-8, would not translate live to TOTP. And the crap and unrepresentative extract of what is an atmopsheric track suggests the producer of TOTP knows nothing about dance music anyway, and would prefer to have 30 minutes of Roger Waters on the stage or something every week. Michael Jackson - Black And White Life is too short to watch this in full (10 mins), it's not as if the song is very good anyway
Vic Reeves & The Wonder Stuff - Dizzy This is a preferable brand of eccentricity to that proffered by Michael Jackson et al Cut off early. "Someone should get Vic Reeves a straitjacket for Christmas" says Dortie. Harsh! And he'd not get away with that today.
At least they've changed one of the silly things about the chart countdown. Almost everything else about the new look still needs a good kick up the posterior though. And the cutting numerous songs short for the benefit of the Michael Jackson idiocy is a low point too.
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Post by vya on Nov 15, 2021 21:04:12 GMT 1
It's weird, not least that (a) he is hardly a public name (and is known by a different name now anyway) and (b) he is visible for, what, 40 seconds or 1 minute at most of the entire show... The Queen tribute is by far the most enjoyable part of that episode (yeah Nirvana performance has its cultual significance I suppose), but really we're not missing much by losing this edition....
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Post by vya on Nov 6, 2021 0:36:11 GMT 1
Seven Eleven Mark Franklin, again. And Elayne Smith. Who we mostly hear rather than see, and we only find her name some way into the show. Odd.
The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu - It's Grim Up North Innovative brilliance. A great list song. Scowling. Morris men with batons and flowers, "THE NORTH WILL RISE AGAIN" banners. An obscure ceremony is conducted as rave beats accompany Jerusalem. So so fantastic.
Crowded House - Fall At Your Feet "It's Grim Down South" he starts...before a skilful bit of gently emotional melodious soft rock. Classy and sophisticated, but still a bit raw. Very good. The studio set on this stage, with a silvery metal arrangement with vaguely organic (fish, giraffe) shapes is a distraction.
Top 10 the silly way
K-Klass - Rhythm Is A Mystery The thing about this is the masses of repetitions that twine together without quite becoming dull. The beat, the riff, the chorus, the piano (sample?). Doesn't necessarily translate that well to this context. Solid, capable, appealling, something beyond rave. Quality.
Belinda Carlisle - Do You Feel Like I Feel "Exclusive" and not in the charts. More major label big star promotion. The driving beat under the soft power pop is the thing here, maybe as it's far from her strongest song. Both the rhythm and the lyrics have a vaguely obsessive insistence about them. Not brilliant but I recall it with fondness. Obviously not big hit material.
INXS - Shining Star Almost bluesy. About the perils of seeking rock fame, but the song barely goes anywhere. Rawish, seems a fanbase purchase.
Control - Dance With Me (I'm Your Ecstasy) Not sure why Manc rave is palpably worse than London rave at this time, but it invariably seems to be so. This is weak, would have been tediously generic in the summer of 89.
Breakers: Metallica - The Unforgiven: how to do a hard rock ballad, emotive, skilled, engaging Chris Rea - Winter Song: understatedly gorgeous, several cuts above D****** H*** F** C******** Manic Street Preachers - Love's Sweet Exile: not an obvious single choice, nor a top pick from the album, but in your face-ish. And Richy-era Manics have SUCH style and spunk Charlatans - Me. In Time - while their organ sound is impossible to fault, this track is possibly a bit too psychedelic and self-absorbed for its own good (look at that full stop in the song title...)
Album chart track:Neil Sedaka - Timeless - Miracle Song Firmly in the "track for parents" slot. or WTF? Variety show middle of the road. Not sure what the producers were thinking. Completely out of place (last seen in the top 40 sixteen years earlier), and, well, not that much cop.
Vic Reeves & The Wonder Stuff - Dizzy A new no 1, again, and we get the mad vid, all the washing machines and dressing up. Indisputably fun. And nearly as absurd (and eccentrically British) as the JAMMS track at the start of the show.
A bit more than half of the tracks here were on the right side of decent. But the formula doesn't quite work.
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Post by vya on Nov 5, 2021 23:58:50 GMT 1
Hallowe'en, Same presenters again
SL2 - DJs Take Control Doing these vocals live has a real pirate radio/rave feel (if you ignore the audience). Can't remember how this differs from the recorded version at all (less vocals surely). Very much characteristic of its time, more about the slightly grey atmosphere than any specifics.
Don McLean - American Pie Odd that an old rerelease would get a studio appearance, but the $$$ + Corporate Rock + Major Labels Plugging nature of Year Zero TOTP makes it so here. He at least has experience in singing live. Old school. Not characteristic of this time.
Top 10 again done the silly way
Congress - 40 Miles Chirpy singer with her hair in a treble clef formation, because. Late italo-inspired house, alright, if no more. The Jimi Polo sample will get further outings.
Zoe - Lightning Cash-in cookie cutter carbon copy of Sunshine on a Rainy Day even down to the weather refs. But man she can't sing. I think this is the better, more flowing, more balanced, more effective, of her two hits. But man she can't sing. So the recorded version is vastly better. Cruel to expose her like this. The track done properly is a minor joy.
Breakers Control - Dance With Me (I'm your Ecstasy): crap generic rave, no coyness about druggy lyrics no more on TOTP I see INXS - Shining Star: clip is not helpful - just the title being repeated, track seems to have been forgotten, almost certainly not close to their best
Moby - Go Calm ambient rave, then fairly innovative and cool and refreshing. A good thing. The way he is jumping about madly at the keyboards doesn't really match the melancholic undertow. Too much lucozade mate. (oddly the "yeah" samples seem to be allowed, but geezer has to shout "go" to fit in with The Rules)
Kylie Minogue with Keith Washington - If You Were With Me Now Unfashionable but I rather like this, her best bit of semi-balladry so far certainly. Not the most complex song. But kind of beautiful even. Cut off brutally early.
Genesis - No Son Of Mine Billed as an exclusive, but already in Top 10. Earnest Serious Mature Rock. Despite the limitations of the genre. And anthemic in that way which Genesis had mastered by the mid-80s. Builds and builds, and has an emotive story. A cut above most of Phil's more recent solo output. But, above all: Too long. Some brutal cutting would have been useful.
U2 - The Fly "The posse from Dublin", yeah right. Avant-garde-ish experimental genius, exciting even, a bit sleazy, and thank goodness Bryan Adams is down at last. A worthy and welcome chart-topper even if it's a but too niche and unobvious to be likely to stick around long.
A weird mixture mostly of classic rockers (even if U2 taking a new direction) and utterly contemporary ravey stuff. Broadly tolerable. Or not utterly intolerable.
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vya
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Post by vya on Oct 24, 2021 21:14:50 GMT 1
24.10 The same forgotten to history presenters again, week four, hoping to outlast Bryan Adams "A full house from Elstree": very preempting the delusional guy who runs Boreham Wood FC there
2 Unlimited - Get Ready For This One good thing about this is its entire lack of any claims to credibility. Whenever it might hint of pretentions in that direction, some guy shouts "yeah" and we're back in the high street.
Charts still done the stupid way
Album track - Kenny Thomas - Voices - Something Special This is alright, wintery warming semi-soul, at least. More album track filler than single though.
Vic Reeves & The Wonder Stuff - Dizzy Washing machines onstage. Surrealism with violins. His more (excessively self-consciously un-)conventional comedy has always left me cold, but this is a good laugh, the Stuffies in their utter lack of nonsense being good foil for this.
Queen - The Show Must Go On Minor league anthemic, actually.
Kiri Te Kinewa - World In Union Open-mouthed children staring and gawping at a classically-trained singer singing over Holst for the benefit of international sport, I suppose this incongruity is a return to classic ToTP. The problem is, like Whitney's Olympics number, it's too sententious. Any decent rugby-linked music would be of the Wigan variety surely.
Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine - After The Watershed (Early Learning The Hard Way) I had quite forgotten how we used to chant "God's not dead, no he is alive" at their gigs. Real British and London originals, eccentric, some hint of genius that allows us to overlook the dodgy singing. The Rolling Stones not happy? Their problem.
US Charts ($$$ Record Company plugging) Mariah Carey - Emotions OK she has a really technically capable voice, but this is barely more than an adequate way to put it to use.
Breakers Simple Minds - Real Life: a rare example of peak-pomposity SM hitting the mark, maybe their best single from this period Don Mclean - American Pie: not sure why this was rereleased but it's the same as it was Pet Shop Boys - DJ Culture: barely a song, almost a Chris Morris parody of the PSBs ("We are called the Pet Shop Boys, and we clutter our records with this irritating noise") , but somehow still capable and competent
Exclusive: Tin Machine - Baby Universal The 2nd TM album is much better than the 1st, mostly as it's less afraid of melody, but both are way above the over-produced commercial pop pap that Bowie had been persuaded to put out for much of the 80s. This is no classic, and not particularly memorable, but has energy, and it is a welcome step away from all that...
Bryan Adams 16th week no 1 etc FFWD>>>
Play out theme tune
This format is too restrictive, even when the music is good, as at least some was tonight, this isn't what TOTP is FOR....
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Post by vya on Oct 22, 2021 23:21:46 GMT 1
17 Oct, Dortie and Franklin, AGAIN. Three times in a row. I guess the vacancies were hard to fill
Slade - Radio Wall Of Sound There really, presumably intentionally, is something Spectorish about this. Fun revivalism that isn't quite revivalism. Or more 80s than 70s at least. Radio announcments very Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now. And just when ToTP had thrown off even the vestiges of the Smashy and Nicey legacy.
Top 10 - still a bad way to do this, not even a hint of what's up or down
Enya - Caribbean Blue Think there is a harpsichord in here. Not on stage though. An Enya track, like countless other Enya tracks, maybe one of the better ones. Nice, Pitching for advert gigs for upmarket tourist agencies that go to out-of-the way places. Would love to hear her take on Basildon, though,
Lisa Stansfield - Change The semi-spoken intro hints at reviving a past successful formula perhaps a little too cynically. Not horrid at all, and her voice remains attractive and emotive. The problem is the song is too limited. It might make a nice shampoo advert tune. But frankly, she can do better. And should.
TOTP exclusive (so obviously by a mega act with $$$ behind them): U2 - The Fly A new move, away from the insufferable stadium pomposity that Simple Minds had been imitating so tediously. An exciting move, dancier while still rockier, grittier, a twisting, turning number that might just be the best thing they have done for ages. Fabulous reinvention.
Dannii Minogue - Baby Love By no means her worst record (to damn with very faint praise). At one point it breaks down and becomes rather spacious, so yeah maybe it's just about the groove.
Scorpions - Wind of Change Still moves me and tempts me to sing along.
Album track: Paul Young - Don't Dream It's Over The song is classy. The cover is almost but not quite overproduced. There is an element of "let's show off what effects the synthetisers we've got in our studio now have", and Paul Young is Paul Young. Not sure it's essential but it's not repulsive.
Breakers Ce Ce Peniston: Finally - this is small-scale glorious, both in all the yeah-yeahing and the insistence of the beat Moby - Go: ambient house moving up half a gear, good.
Monty Python - Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life Hamming it up in a way that wouldn't have worked half as well in the old TOTP studio. Genuine sing-a-long. More things falling to the ground than in a Theresa May conference speech.
15 weeks, Bryan Adams, ffwd
Still no playout track.
This was mostly decent, but the limitations of the new format (and how it favours stuff being pushed by major labels at the expense of eccentric things hanging around the lower regions of the charts that no longer even get a mention in passing - although the charts that week offered nothing of that nature) are increasingly unavoidable
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Post by vya on Oct 16, 2021 14:46:24 GMT 1
05 - Tori Amos - Professional Widow (remix) 07 - White Town - Your Woman 05 - Blur - Beetlebum 04 - LL Cool J - Ain't Nobody 01 - U2 - Discotheque 09 - No Doubt - Don't Speak 07 - Spice Girls - Who Do You Think You Are 02 - R Kelly - I Believe I Can Fly 06 - Chemical Brothers - Block Rockin' Beats 03 - Michael Jackson - Blood On The Dancefloor 02 - Gary Barlow - Love Won't Wait 07 - Olive - You're Not Alone 08 - Eternal featuring BeBe Winans - I Wanna Be The Only One 07 - Hanson - Mmmbop 02 - Puff Daddy & Faith Evans (featuring 112) - I'll Be Missing You 02 - Oasis - D'You Know What I Mean? 05 - Will Smith - Men In Black 09 - Verve - The Drugs Don't Work 04 - Elton John - Candle In The Wind 97 08 - Aqua - Barbie Girl 05 - Spice Girls - Spice Up Your Life 05 - Various Artists - Perfect Day 03 - Teletubbies - Teletubbies Say Eh-Oh! 05 - Spice Girls - Too Much
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Post by vya on Oct 16, 2021 14:36:54 GMT 1
06 - Boomtown Rats - Someone's Looking At You 09 - Cliff Richard - Carrie 08 - Peter Gabriel - Games Without Frontiers 08 - Elvis Costello - I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down 07 - UB40 - Food For Thought 04 - Dr Hook - Sexy Eyes 06 - David Essex - Silver Dream Machine 06 - Beat - Mirror In The Bathroom 04 - Detroit Spinners - Cupid ~ I've Loved You For A Long Time 03 - Matchbox - When You Ask About Love 02 - Sweet People - Et Les Oisueaux Chantaient (And The Birds Were Singing) 05 - Adam & The Ants - Dog Eat Dog 10 - Stephanie Mills - Never Knew Love Like This Before 10 - Madness - Embarrassment
The best saved for last, twice.
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Post by vya on Oct 16, 2021 0:55:11 GMT 1
10th Oct, same presenters again
DJ Carl Cox - I Want You (Forever) Faking the samples by inappropriately applying the live vocals rule is dumb. The producers don't understand dance music. The track is OK but this set-up (the stage as well as the vocals) inhibit any chance of it, or anything like it, shining on here. So much for being post-the second summer of love. Throw away your Gaultier and grow your hair again!
Top 10 - utterly dumb way of doing this
Morrissey - My Love Life A reassuring simplicity and repetition in the music provides a fine, bare, background, to what is a long way from being Mozza's best work lyrically. For him, quite a minor single. It works on this show though. As an interlude, at least. His eyebrows are almost Brezhnevesque.
Marc Cohn - Walking In Memphis Think the piano is as live as the singing. In the charts, just, but I suspect record company pressure got him the gig. This is a bit variety show. OK. Keeping a similar mellow and mostly repressed intensity vibe as Morrissey. Not raving.
World exclusive: Queen - The Show Must Go On The most gripping single from Queen for a few years. The video is a compilation of old clips, though. Maybe a message in the lyrics, a warning. Musically, the best thing on the show so far. And of course Mercury is the finest vocalist on the show by some way.
Cathy Dennis - Too Many Walls The third single ballad formula. Rather a sweet song. As with Marc Cohn, the recorded version is superior to that presented here.
No 1 album - Simply Red - Stars - For Your Babies So, more pleasing the record companies (or fulfilling their command) is in order. By Simply Red standards, FYB is only moderately irritating. But that is some qualifier.
Breakers: Oleta Adams - Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me: great voice, but she's done better Mariah Carey - Emotions: overproduced but her voice is a slide, something special Public Enemy - Can't Truss It: whatever. (the clip gives no idea of the track anyway, but they are fairly malevolent one-track ponies at the best of times, heroes to most but...) Kiri te Kanawa - World In Union: "A Moment In Time" for rugby union, as cloyingly wholesome as that sounds
2 Unlimited - Get Ready For This Almost impressively annoying. Having live vocal shouts over something so (commercially) mechanised knocks it out of joint. Soulless, still.
Bryan Adams, 14 weeks, etc
Again no play-out
The flaws in the new formula more evident than on take one. Doesn't suit dance music. And (along with promise of exclusive U2 video next time) the record company promotion element is now undeniable and blatant. Musically , this wasn't all bad.
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Post by vya on Oct 15, 2021 23:20:13 GMT 1
3 Oct 1991, New graphics, new tune, new studio, new, utterly obscure, presenters, Dortie and Franklin
Erasure - Love To Hate You Range of costumes would have done Ruby Flipper proud, the carefully choreographed and elegant dancing likewise. The song is decent but no timeless classic. Lowkey start to new ToTP, really. New studio seems airier and more spacious.
Presenters seem a bit amateur, still finding their feet, but "crisp biscuits" in the top 10, noh.... Is this all the charts we get now? The backing music is a bit Brass Eye. No indication of what is going up or down, and the number 1 (Bryan bloody Adams) is revealed already. Not convinced.
Voice of the Beehive - I Think I Love You Of course they aren't heading for the top 10, silly. So they are singing live, too, like Erasure. I guess this is part of the new regime. Works here. Great costumes. Better stage area here for sure. Albeit more like an awards show venue than the fun shambolism of old TOTP. And the record (like almost every VoTB single) is a delight and pleasure, of course. Not convinced making live vox compulsory if they have is a good idea across the board. But damn this is a great single.
Kenny Thomas - Best Of You Yes, still live vocals. Kind of enjoying his mid-tempo British soul, more South Essex than North London in feel. In no sense earth-shattering, but it's not intended to be.
New TOTP "can play any record in the US Top Ten". Oh dear.
Belinda Carlisle - "Live Your Life Be Free" (at least in our charts too, but lower) Rocky undertow to this one. Some good syncopation too. Fun, like her outfit (washing-up-style gloves apart), and familiar in style and sound, but really more of the same from her as in the past. If it ain't broke don't fix it...
"exclusive videos from all the big stars"
Stevie Wonder - "Fun Day" Hmm, no-one will remember this (A real talent like Wonder having had terrible treatment from record companies in the 80s, worse even than Bowie or Ross, so much charmless, overproduced, dross not worthy of him). "Exclusive". Inoffensive, and much better than "I Just Called To Say I Love You", but talk about riding on past glories, long past. So the new format is for the benefit of the major record companies and their conglomorate owners, I get it. So only non-live vocals are on videos, ideally film-tie-ins, I see.
Julian Lennon - "Saltwater" Brief interview with JL. Not profound. His dad wrote many, many, worse songs, which (unlike this one) were objectionable or facile in their lyrical posturing, and which were less listenable. This is merely unoriginal and revivalist.
Album chart stuff Status Quo - Rock Till You Drop - "Let's Work Together" Again, get who the record companies want on the show. Nothing wrong with this, they're having fun, but why is it here? They're really going for it, at least.
Breakers (amazed these have survived but the clips are still short) DJ Carl Cox - I Want You (Forever): harder edge of rave, a bit more underground, OK Monty Python - Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life: classic, obviously
Bryan Adams Week 13 etc
No play-out track, just the theme tune.
Not a bad edition overall, but sidelining the charts and favouring big acts with connections will take a lot of the joy and eccentricity out of ToTP, think it will require some fine tuning regardless
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vya
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Post by vya on Oct 14, 2021 23:57:35 GMT 1
26 Sept, Davies, yesterday's man
PJB ft Hannah and Her Sisters - Bridge Over Troubled Water A song it is almost impossible to destroy. Which doesn't mean they don't try hard to do so. Perfectly fine until the beat and annoying, unsympathetic, backing track kicks in. Just not after. Maybe one of Hannah's sisters might have a better voice. Woody Allen hadn't been cancelled then.
Scorpions - Wind of Change I have to admit, I find this touching, spine-chilling, even. There is a naiveity and optimism, based in (bearing in mind the act are German, not American) some perception of the reality of Central and Eastern Europe here. (Of course, events had accelerated rapidly after it was recorded, not least in the past month, with the attempted coup in Moscow that really heralded the collapse of the Soviet Union). And I heard this on the radio so much when I lived in Ukraine a few years later. A good thing, truly. Charts: more good than bad going up
Rozalla - Everybody's Free (To Feel Good) Now this is optimistic in a mostly but not entirely trite and superficial way. And her voice is close to being something like a fire alarm announcement on the tube. I suppose it ticks all the boxes for dancefloor enthuisasm adequately. Italo House still breathing in the piano accompaniment.
REM - The One I Love Quality, its chart status long overdue, the ambiguities of the lyrics adding texture. Musically, and atmospherically, brilliant.
Tina Turner - Nutbush City Limits 91 No-one needs this. No-one. Makes that Simon & Garfunkel cover earlier look like a thing of subtlety and beauty.
Bizarre Inc - Such A Feeling Think there is some KLF influence here too, not much less than with Utah Saints. The unpretentious simplicity is attractive, the instrumental sections driving and exciting. The brightest sound of Staffordshire. And beyond. Extended versions even better.
Marc Almond - Jacky Camp, elegant, contemporary, Almond really makes this his own, playing to his strengths with awareness of his weaknesses. Appropriately theatrical, many emotions raised. A very good thing.
Sabrina Johnson - Peace This is just too much. Coercive thrust. And too much chorus and not enough...respite from the chorus.
Breakers Fish - Internal Exile: verging on eightsome reel stuff, enjoyable despite stuff Ozzy Osbourne - No More Tears: : deep post-melancholy Ozzy, not sure about this either way Belinda Carlisle - Live Your Life Be Free: not her best, quite minor but somehow enjoyable
Bryan Adams, week 12
Why would you move a show from London to Elstree, c'mon?
Bros - Try I am often inclined to defend Bros, this is an interesting blend of funk and gospel elements with other things. A fine middle eight too. In 88 this would have been a big hit, but now, probably not. Socially conscious lyrics, this is really rather decent, possibly their best single for at least a couple of years.
Not a bad edition overall all things considered.
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vya
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Post by vya on Oct 10, 2021 11:50:19 GMT 1
19 Sept,Campbell
Brothers In Rhythm - Such A Good Feeling As collages go, this is pretty effective,if generic. Tolerable background or dancing noise rather than engaging though. The sound of seaside penny machine arcades.
Salt N Pepa - Let's Talk About Sex Still tedious and annoying Charts: also largely tedious and annoying
Utah Saints - What Can You Do For Me Not as daring as the KLF, nor as experimental as (early) Shamen, nor as wacky as Altern-8, but tolerable.
Prince & the New Power Generation - Cream Funky, but pretty bland considering it's Prince. Tolerable.
Oceanic - Insanity This gets grating on repeated listening as well as being additive. Enough. Would have worked on Cheggers Plays Pop. This is not an insult.
Bryan Adams - Can't Stop This Thing We Started Conventional rocker. Patrick Bateman might have found it dangerously emotional. Not awful (and preferable to the other one).
Simply Red - Something Got Me Started Another contender for the sound of seaside penny arcades. It has a groove and a swing and a persistence, but isn't much of a composition. It holds together as it does. Just tolerable.
Erasure - Love To Hate You Ok the sampled wurlitzer organ intro is more end-of-the-pier theatre. Female backing vox welcome. Pleasant, capable and moderately characterful. Passionate at times, almost.
Ned's Atomic Dustbin - Trust Energy and melancholy and banging grind. Great use of two basses. Adolescent despair has rarely sounded so good. Fun video too. Best thing on the show so far, by far. And cut off far too soon.
Breakers Bros - Try: going funk almost gospelly, might be OK, might not, not sure Tina Turner - Nutbush City Limits (remix). Not sure the remix works but wasn't keen on the original either REM - The One I Love. A rerelease (oddly), but in its way a minor classic.
Bryan Adams, etc 11 weeks, etc
Julian Lennon - Saltwater No need for this at all.
This was not good.
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vya
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Post by vya on Oct 2, 2021 21:51:56 GMT 1
12 Sept, Mayo (what is he wearing?)
Bizarre Inc. - Such A Feeling Would be intense and driving if it were not so watered down in the vocal sections for the pop charts. From the warehouse. Woman dancing on tellies on the telly. All in all, enjoyable and promising. But in this version, a bit lightweight.
Marc Boland & T Rex - 20th Century Boy Nothing like Robin Hood, thankfully, in the 1991 context. Charts have very positive things going on, and in. ("Dominator" by Human Resource: that is as uncompromising as the Bizarre Inc track ought to be.)
Rosette - The Big L They are real masters of pop composition and storytelling. This kind of secondary track, which isn't immediately gripping, also suits them well. Enjoyable.
Sabrina Johnston - Peace The groove is infectious. No surrender, even. And the "peace" is clearly being enforced involuntarily, with more efficacy than the UN has ever achieved anywhere. It's all too much, really, other than in a rave-type context.
Stone Roses - I Wanna Be Adored Brilliant opening track of a (itself brilliant) 1989 album. The fact they are promoting it by reusing the video of another 1989 single tells its own story....
Crystal Waters - Makin' Happy Atrocious poor quality photocopy of her tedious cheap and annoying previous single. No thanks.
Cliff Richard - More To Life One of his inoffensive (or rather, here, unchallenging), worthy, but dull and ultimately forgettable, numbers. Weak.
Marky Mark & The Funky Bunch - Good Vibrations As far as this type of thing goes, this is a good example. Difficult to go wrong with "Love Sensation"
Rozalla - Everybody's Free (To Feel Good) Kind of a slightly superior sidekick to the Sabrina Johnston track on earlier. Superior as both the vocals and the lyrics (to some extent) are more subtle. Could easily become irritating on repeated listening
Breakers Julian Lennon - Saltwater. Cos what we need from him is a Beatles psychedelic pastiche. No no no. I suppose a cover of "Imagine" would be more unwelcome. Shabba Ranks ft Maxi Priest- House Call. Slick (and a bit slack) reggae-cum-lovers rock. Good. Bryan Adams - Can't Stop This Thing We Started. Better than the other one, maybe...
Bryan Adams - etc
Right Said Fred - I'm Too Sexy Unfunny and/or delusional
Mayo very annoying to an almost Campbell degree. Music varied but no real lifetime standouts (the over two year old album track doesn't count)
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vya
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Post by vya on Oct 2, 2021 8:32:52 GMT 1
6 Sept Brambles
Oceanic - Insanity Didn't realise they were Scousers, thought they were from Oldham for some reason. Maybe that was Digital Orgasm if they were a different act. Still not sure whether this is an effortless pop gem, the sort of thing the charts were made for, or a bit rubbish. Realistically, maybe both. Bad singing and dodgy key change alert.
Prodigy - Charly Most creative use of 70s public safety announcements yet. See it, say it, sorted. Charts: good stuff largely going down
Sonia - Be Young Be Foolish Be Happy "There Ain't Nothing Like Shaggin'" would have been a more daring Tams cover. This probably shows Sonia at close to her best,with her happy bubbly voice and a half-decent song. No reason to buy it or listen to it by choice though.
Salt N Pepa - Let's Talk About Sex Verses are too worthy, the chorus too dull, the beat too unremarkable, a long way from their best.
Zoë - Sunshine On A Rainy Day There's an appealing huskiness in her voice that adds something to this. Best thing on the show so far, at least.
Martika - Love...Thy Will Be Done Mildly hypnotic, with some undertow, now this is the best thing on the show so far. With a stronger musical accompaniment this could have been really special.
Utah Saints - What Can You Do For Me This is a very dancy edition. Surely some KLF influence here. Decent enough.
Kylie Minogue - Word Is Out Still looking back to the 70s disco, this is rather fun and agreeably more mature if a bit too incidental to work as a comeback single. A teaser for better things on the album ahead? Indeed it was.
Breakers Motley Crue - Primal Scream: loud, not well formulated Sabrina Johnston - Peace: insistent and tolerable-ish Crystal Waters - Makin' Happy: annoying but thankfully forgettable Rosette - The Big L: hinting at their continuing pop genius even on second tier tracks
Bryan Adams, week 9 etc
Runrig - Hearthammer Subtle, intriguing, attractive one of those pleasures largely unknown south of the border.
Not a great episode, and too many repeats
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vya
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Post by vya on Sept 24, 2021 21:00:54 GMT 1
29 Aug Goodier
Marky Mark & The Funky Bunch ft Loleatta Holloway - Good Vibrations The live rap part does not enhance this, to say the least. ("C'mon Loleatta": she's not on stage with you) Pity, as in other ways as this has a certain vigour and energy and pace. And Black Box have to be thanked for inspiring another "Love Sensation" lift, actually credited this time. It has a good beat.
PM Dawn - Set Adrift On Memory Bliss Works much better than it should. Would love to hear "Only When You Leave" get this treatment, Charts: more good than bad going up, especially lower down
EMF - Lies They are very young. And have lots of energy. I'm sure we've heard this (and inferior versions thereof) before. Repeatedly.
Prince & the New Power Generation - Gett Off Low slung bassline and groove. Interesting to see which lyrics are censored here (no "23 positions in a one night stand", but that is hardly the most explicit line here).
Arnee & The Terminaters - I'll Be Back I suppose this could be a Front 242 or Ministry b-side. Steve Wright Built my Hotrod. (The future of rock and roll, as Goodier says. Well, Nine Inch Nails...Less moronic than most subsequent records with this quantity of gun references).
Simple Minds - Stand By Love Pompous and tedious and forgettable
The Farm - Mind The weirdest, most incongruous and appealing thing about this might be the soulful, almost gospel-esque female vocals. There is real brilliance here. And the drumming too. Their career peak IMO.
Tin Machine - You Belong In Rock And Roll Very 70s sound, though as obviously Bowie's 70s work was better than that of the 80s, this might be long overdue. Old-school, with that eccentricity that had been lost under acres of mal-production and bad ideas. A really welcome return. Maybe we can hope for a similar renaissance from Diana Ross, who trod a not entirely dissimilar path.
Right Said Fred - I'm Too Sexy Still annoying. A London (well, trendy West London) version of Pump Up The Bitter.
Breakers: Salt N Pepa - Let's Talk About Sex; well put together Dire Straits - Calling Elvis: not an essential return from a break away
Bryan Adams, etc, week 8, etc,
Mark Bolan & T Rex - 20th Century Boy Timeless in its way
Overall that edition was enjoyable!
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vya
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Post by vya on Sept 24, 2021 20:31:35 GMT 1
22 Aug Brookes
Midge Ure - Cold Cold Heart Bibbly bobbly keyboards were avant garde in 1981. A bit too Bontempi by 1991 though. No classic, (more Cumbernauld than Vienna) but there is a kind of coming of maturity story here, at least. And singing in a Scottish accent wins. Fine drum breakdown too.
Prodigy - Charly Somehow manages to stand on the right side of the innovative/annoying line. Charts: climbers/entries mostly positive
Zoe - Sunshine On A Rainy Day Subtle this is not, but still a deserved hit on re-release (marginally less anti-chill than Prodigy tho). Don't think we'll hear much more from her though. Lightning never strikes twice.
Utah Saints - What Can You Do For Me Staying on dancy-and-sampling vibes, this is also on the right side of the innovative/annoying line. It feels like something good is gonna happen.
Jason Donovan - Happy Together Sparkly jacket suggests (a) he's being ditched by SAW and (b) he has concluded musicals are more his thing. A needless cover version that (somehow) isn't his worse 60s pastiche, and maybe introduces the song to a new generation. But it is not good. AND THAT KEY CHANGE. OUCH.
Karyn White - Romantic Somehow she's never caught fire in the UK. On this occasion, I think it's her fault for putting out a Janet Jackson pastiche. When she had too much of a beat and not enough of a song she at least disguised it with wicked choreography. This isn't, quite, dreadful, but the musical backdrop and the vocals are out of step with each other.
Oceanic - Insanity Quite the opposite of subtle. "Special K" t-shirt clearly the new 2nd vowel of the alphabet. Dead dead good? Well, so infectious it's time to call the clinic, at least. Weird to think an act as refined in their way as the Charlatans inflicted this aural assault on the world. Also, key change alert.
Martika - Love...Thy Will Be Done Now this verges on being classy. Tension and restraint.
Breakers 808 State - Lift: Sonic soundscape, quasi-inhuman computerisation thing, ok. Tin Machine - You Belong In Rock and Roll: A TM song with a tune! Surely some mistake. But the best thing Bowie has done for, well, many years. Love. Marc Bolan & T Rex - 20th Century Boy: A welcome revival (follows on well from the TM track too).
Bryan Adams - yawn (week seven) Not as Brookes says, "the best record of the year"
The Farm - Mind Brillantly infectious chorus from an act of little discernable talent, singing about something they know about, so maybe authenticity is what makes it. Against my will I have to sing along.
Generally a decent enough edition
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