mfr
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Post by mfr on Nov 22, 2020 20:29:36 GMT 1
To be honest I don't understand the dislike of the choices of what gets included in the show.
To my mind nothing seems to have changed since the top 75 started in 1978 (at least). Sure, there are pluggers trying to jump the queue for their acts but not many seem to get listened to.
Nine times out of ten, possibly more, if you go down the chart from number 2 onwards, look at what has climbed, strike out what was on last week - breakers don't count as last week - if there are 8 further slots the 8 highest eligible tracks are on. The need to balance out studio and video ratios had some affect.
If the act can't make the studio and there is no video, then the record is not going to be on in the absence of a dance troupe. By this time, if the record company hadn't made a video the BBC wasn't go to commission one for them.
This is probably why Stone Roses weren't on. Nor was the remix for Ram Jam's Black Betty, for which there was a video for the original version in 1977, but it presumably didn't match the remix and there was no point playing the original version because that wasn't what was being promoted.
As for the playout track being on the next week. We are privileged to see most of the video now, but on the original broadcast the show was often cut straight after the credits ended, and they were usually on early in the piece, so that it could be cut off for trailers and continuity. This presumably influenced whether the track was eligible the next week, upward chart movement permitting.
My musical opinion is that the actual records featured are generally not a patch on what was in the charts a decade earlier, when producer Robin Nash usually had 40 minutes to use.
The next producer, Michael Hurll didn't make such good use of that time, in my opinion, with too much chat and top 10 video countdowns in some years. He seemed also averse to showing anything twice unless he had to, and very rarely strayed below position 30 (or even 25) eventually and the show had been cut permanently to 30 minutes in 1985.
Despite the music being less appealing, to my ears, by this point, I see some elements of the way the show was in Robin Nash's later years (1978 to 1980 specifically) in Paul Ciani's shows. It's very sad he didn't survive much longer and the show took a downturn under Stanley Appel's stewardship, again in my opinion, although he had done of lot of good work producing with all of the three previous Executive Producers.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Nov 22, 2020 21:28:50 GMT 1
Back in the days when there was no video the BBC would sometimes fill in with live footage. If the BBC had no live footage for the Stone Roses then the BBC should not have been allowed to continue as the nation's broadcaster, an outright failure in its remit.
But looking at the choice of the show on 29 March. Three songs that had been on the breakers the previous week. But there are no breakers on the 29 March show so that means you have three songs with some publicity in consecutive weeks - and some with none at all. There were new entries/climbers that were entitled to a play from Skid Row, Beloved, Jungle Brothers, Stone Roses (and there WAS a video for "She Bangs The Drums"), Janet Jackson, The Cure, Rebel MC. There's enough there for a show in itself - yet instead we get a 50% repeat of the previous week. Indeed there are only 3 fresh songs on the show.
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mfr
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Post by mfr on Nov 22, 2020 22:26:19 GMT 1
They didn't always have time for a breakers slot. Sometimes better to have one song on in full. Breakers often amounted to only 30 to 45 seconds of play in any case. Then Emma took that slot on April 5th. I think Top of the Pops was obliged to show our Eurovision entry in those days, if only to publicise their broadcast of the contest itself.
A bit drastic to close a station down for not showing one act on one show. How on earth would that act ever get on the show again if that had happened? Anyway, record companies would by this point and earlier fall over each other trying to get videos - or live footage - onto such a popular show in the absence of a studio appearance. If nothing was available TOTP would just move on to whoever was next on the list.
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Post by o on Nov 23, 2020 14:34:21 GMT 1
Great show that started with Happy Monday and Madonna - Vogue and then went south with Emma's horrorvision song and Jason Donovan, redeemed later by Snap and Black velvet!
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SheriffFatman
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Post by SheriffFatman on Nov 23, 2020 17:26:47 GMT 1
The lack of Stone Roses seems deliberate - over the course of two weeks they've had 3 songs in the charts and none of them have been shown.
Big fun are so awful you have to laugh really, I kind of felt sorry for them.
They Might Be Giants are from New York and then 2 weeks later they're from Boston. It's a shame they didn't keep climbing, because it's a great song and because I'd be interested to see where they were from next.
There's been some great stuff on lately - the Inspiral Carpets second performance was mercifully free of the inappropriate clapping which ruined the first. Happy Mondays avoided being forced to have sily dancers on the stage by employing Bez, how much better Top of the Pops would be if he was onstage for every performance.
I thought I had fond memories of The Power but looking back now it's really quite crap, isn't it? Bizz Nizz on the folowing week too, I think these are the early signs of European superclub music that turned dance from an innovative and exciting genre to a bland, dull experience by the mid 90s.
I wonder if Nicky Campbell was watching and winced when he heard himself saying the Jam Tronik track was an excellent cover? He definitely should've.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Nov 23, 2020 17:30:29 GMT 1
The lack of Stone Roses seems deliberate - over the course of two weeks they've had 3 songs in the charts and none of them have been shown. The real reason seems to have been spite.
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SheriffFatman
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Post by SheriffFatman on Nov 23, 2020 17:43:39 GMT 1
The lack of Stone Roses seems deliberate - over the course of two weeks they've had 3 songs in the charts and none of them have been shown. The real reason seems to have been spite.
I love that clip, I’ve watched it so many times I knew exactly when the music was going to stop. “Amateurs!” 🤣🤣🤣 Was that around this time? That would make sense.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Nov 23, 2020 19:39:32 GMT 1
November '89. So the BBC boycotting them at the start of 1990 works from a timeline.
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mfr
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Post by mfr on Nov 23, 2020 20:34:23 GMT 1
Don't worry Vas. They're on twice later in 1990.
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vya
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Post by vya on Nov 24, 2020 11:17:01 GMT 1
Wasn't that Late Show performance before they appeared on ToTP with "Fools Gold" though? I'd have not expected them to have appeared "live" to promote a series of re-released singles, but it does seem odd that "Elephant Stone", in particular, but "Made of Stone" too, didn't at least get a spot in the breakers section . Maybe there were no videos for them, given they were still a deeply obscure act on a small label when they were first released?
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Nov 24, 2020 11:42:45 GMT 1
There was a video for "Elephant Stone" (albeit a very basic one). And I'm pretty sure TOTP made up videos for at least Michael Jackson when he didn't have one.
They should have changed their name to Sonia & The Stone Roses.
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mfr
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Post by mfr on Nov 24, 2020 20:31:23 GMT 1
When Michael Jackson was number 1 with I Just Can't Stop Loving You TOTP didn't play it in either week because there was no video (and no chance of him being in the studio, and no in-house dancers). I think the only other number 1s not played were due to bans (e.g. Relax).
Stone Roses' TOTP debut with Fool's Gold was just after their appearance on The Late Show.
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Tom
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Post by Tom on Nov 27, 2020 20:19:39 GMT 1
22nd March
Big Fun - Handful Of Promises Don't remember at all but realised that the intro sounds the same as a Bananarama song from their Pop Life album, Ain't No Cure?
Orbital - Chime Discovered this early 2000s and couldn't believe I didn't remember it from the time given how much of a choon it is. But after this episode I now know why! They had a dig at dance music on "The Story Of..." and at the time I probably would have agreed with them, wouldn't have cared abut this performance at all. Daytime R1 also wouldn't play it as it was an instrumental so this was the only time I could have heard it (wasn't listening to the top 40 yet). They spent more time focusing on the audience than usual and it looked like the cameramen lost interest at the end. Shame they didn't put more effort in, it might have made the top 10. That said, I do find it amusing now!
Snap - The Power Not sure how much I remember this, which suggests I didn't love it like I do now. Did like it at the time though, an absolute classic.
They Might Be Giants - Birdhouse In Your Soul As the joint highest climber I would have already been familiar with this (would have been played on Simon Mayo's chart recap) but this is an example of how a performance can enhance a song's appeal and bring it to life. Bonkers and loved it at the time, probably my favourite performance of the year so far.
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vya
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Post by vya on Nov 27, 2020 23:11:29 GMT 1
12th Apr Goody-bags
Jesus Jones - "Real Real Real", hmmm, maybe they went bad after they played to the Romanians who were then ruled by the slightly less bad section of Communists than had been in charge before. Because at least two of their 1989 singles were pure stonkers, hard-nosed, aggressive, impactful, 400 times as good as anything anyone else had done close to this genre before. This though, is watered down rubbish, characterless, as though an A&R man has pointed at Madchester and said "see that, boys".... The corporate event circuit awaits, already. Unchallenging, dull. Indie Big Fun. No Fun.
Janet Jackson - "Escapade". Also by numbers.
Technotronic fr MC Eric - "This Beat Is Technotronic". Well if people are gonna buy the same old dross time and time again (chuck on a male vocalist to feign a change), more fool them.
Heart - "All I Wanna Do". Don't think I'd noticed that the hotel in the lyrics "was a place she knew well" before. They've done this before, too.
Breakers: David Bowie - "Fame 90": the awkward mismatch between Bowie's immense but inconsistent talents and what his record company want to do with him enters a new decade. Not hideous, just pointless; Sonia - "Counting Every Minute". Why do SAW hate her so much? They're not even hiding the fact that they'll giving her all their cast offs and presuming her cheery voice will hide how poor the songs are; Blues Brothers - "Everybody Needs Somebody To Love". Not my thing. Annoying.
(meanwhile, much better, but ignored: Ride -"Like A Daydream", Marillion's wonderful "Easter", and The House of Love's "Beatles And The Stones") Bizz Nizz - "Don't Miss The Partyline". By far the most interesting thing about this is that its acoustics and sense of space suggest it was made for warehouse or outdoor parties, not pokey little clubs. Second most interesting thing: just how very very tall the guy with the mike on the stage is.
Paula Abdul - "Opposites Attract". Not just by numbers, but very annoying.
The Cure - "Pictures of You". I was never a fan of the Cure - too self-indulgent, I thought. Just on a few occasions ("A Forest" and "Love Song" before this) though it all fits together so very well. Sad, plaintive, and with a story. Watching I this I found myself asking - are they going to cut it off before the resolution of the story in the final line of the song? They almost didn't. We got the first third of the line at least. By a long long way the best thing on this episode. But even the BBC couldn't desist from maltreating it.
Madonna - "Vogue". Not exactly by numbers, but, well, not life-changing either.
Quireboys - "I Don't Love You Anymore" - miserable nu-old blues, not without charm, but a bit draining, which is probably the point.
Almost painful to endure this episode. While it's true there is a lot of rubbish in the top 40 at this point (41-100 offering richer pickings most weeks), when it comes to what the producers ask for, well, they're not sending their best, are they?
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vya
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Post by vya on Nov 27, 2020 23:35:45 GMT 1
19th Apr Brambles
Sonia - "Counting Every Minute". Err, she might be Liverpool but this barely makes it to Tranmere level, Marine maybe more like it...Skelmersdale, even. Fast forward.
Quireboys - "I Don't Love You Anymore" - I can appreciate this, and it is finely crafted, and it is as drenched in upset as its lyrics warrant. It's a bit too much.
Adamski (with Seal uncredited) - "Killer" Obviously of an entirely different order to much of the rubbish in the charts. Keyboard + computer + vocals in harmony, awkward, innovative. Adamski's silly hat and prancing detracts from the subtle power of the song. TOTP can now be relied upon to detract from almost anything it touches, as was once not the case. Of course they cut it off too soon. Thanks Jakki for the advice to check out Seal's superb vocals after we've just heard them, I'd have never noticed otherwise.
Blues Brothers - "Everybody Needs Somebody To Love" Really, I don't care.
Alannah Myles - "Black Velvet" Competent and crafted semi-bluesy commercial rock, done really rather well, in all aspects. Better than most recent Tina Turner singles by some way.
Adventures of Stevie V - "Dirty Cash" A reissue from the previous autumn (a remix possibly). Catchy and insistent with a driving beat, and some variety, a cut above, well, Technotronic for sure.
Faith No More - "From Out Of Nowhere" A bit more straightforward but in its way almost as epic as "Epic", this is proper fun (and sounds a bitless adolescent than they look/act). Quality, not least in its discordance. Fantastic.
Madonna - "Vogue" There's really nothing to it.
The Family Stand - "Ghetto Heaven" Is this the same beat that the Chimes used on "Heaven" a few months earlier? I'm not sure it's not. Still this is rather agreeable.
Rather less terrible than some recent episodes
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Nov 28, 2020 11:57:35 GMT 1
12 April, Goodier, and the first band to play in Romania after its liberation. Jesus Jones. It's not as biting or exciting as "Info Freako", it's more mellowed out, and it isn't for the better. It's still fairly decent and I'm digging the Aztec hoodie. Also interesting contrasting vocal lines in the chorus. But this is entry level material.
Janet Jackson, with the same background as she always seems to use. I'll pass.
Charts. Lots of interesting new entries, plus The Blues Brothers. Now a support act to Madonna. Technotronic. Wasn't expecting that. But doubtless Madonna couldn't have a proper band that might overshadow her. And YET AGAIN it is the same f***ing backing. One could give them credit for their total laziness, but it should not be indulged by British television.
Heart, YET AGAIN. f*** OFF.
Breakers. We start with a pointless remix of a Bowie track, so that's basically three songs in a row that are blatant cash-ins. Talking of which, Sonia, who gets a play, of f***ing course, even though there are a dozen other new entries that have actual tunes. You surely have to have had a lobotomy to buy this. Blues Brothers. Now, we've had new entries from Faith No More, House Of Love, Adamski; yet we get ANOTHER RE-ISSUE instead? And we know these breakers are all going to be on next week if they go up. Oh f***ing joy.
Bizz Nizz. Jesus. I'm warming to Al Qaeda at the moment.
Paula Abdul with the gimmick of a cartoon cat. I'm warming to Dignitas now.
Charts. Nothing to see here. The Cure in the studio, unexpected. Finally something worth watching on this otherwise wretched episode. This is almost Cocteaus in its twirling otherworldliness. Why the f*** are the audience CLAPPING ALONG? Smith looks like he could murder them all.
Top 10. The new no. 1 is The Bandwagon Jumper. f*** it. The graveyard slot goes to The Quireboys. Slow bluesy, emotive and intriguing. This ought to go down a storm in the States. Girl in the video is amazing. Well, two great songs, one OK song, the rest beyond dire. Not a great episode.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Nov 28, 2020 12:54:47 GMT 1
19/4. I still hate this theme music, Brambles looks like she's on the Friday night razz with a load of secretaries, and we start off with Sonia because the BBC are ****s.
Quireboys, see last week.
Charts. Mick & Pat have swapped around. Ride go down because they didn't get a play last week as we had to see f***ing Sonia. Or the useless Bowie remix that has also gone down.
Adamski, with "a killer tune". Funny that he has a cheapass number plate on his synth rather than a professionally designed logo. This is indeed quite startling. Not sure what the dancer is there for.
Regular as clockwork, Blues Brothers. American comedy, which is also called "American" for short. Although Belushi and Aykroyd were serious about the music and got loads of great bluesmen in the film. But it's an indication of the vapidity, and lack of imagination, of the contemporary popular scene that a re-issue of an homage becomes a top 20.
Alannah Myles at no. 2, had forgotten about her; compare the lack of play she's had on this show with the force-feeding of Sonia. Interesting staging, she's slouching around on stage to let the song sell itself.
Charts, and Adventures Of Stevie V. We've got to the Molly Parkin stage of house, haven't we? Basically it's now a badge, a fashion, watered down for the masses and wannabes. This is, to be kind, dire.
Faith No More. Now this comes as a total shock from the last one. They look like they're taking the Micheal on stage as well, throwing exaggerated rock poses, probably a protest for having to mime.
Top 10. Graphic has the copycat as going up to no. 1 rather than a non-mover. Skip to the playout, which is Family Stand.
Now. Looking at the top 40, House Of Love and Tongue 'n' Cheek have been entitled to be on on two occasions each. Marillion and Ride were entitled to be on last week. Pat & Mick and Unique 3 this week. That's 6 songs that could have been on in the past two episodes and all of them have been omitted so we can see Sonia twice. And The Quireboys twice. And The Blues Brothers twice.
This is patently not the best use of the tools available to them. I blame Eastenders.
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SheriffFatman
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Post by SheriffFatman on Dec 3, 2020 0:16:30 GMT 1
We already know that this beat is Technotronic, we heard it on your last two singles.
I’d forgotten how good that Quireboys song was.
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vya
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Post by vya on Dec 4, 2020 22:22:20 GMT 1
26.04.90 Bruno. They've meddled with the graphics again, and not for the better this time.
Pat & Mick - "Use It Up and Wear It Up" They do a lot of work for charidee, mate. Probably not the weakest of their Help a London Child colloborations, to damn with faint praise.
Natalie Cole - "Wild Women Do" What is annoying is that she is not without talent ("Jump Start", especially, was fab). But this is soulless and empty and annoying, trying to hard to be commercial, and ending up charmless, like other of her recent singles, only more so.
Unique 3 - "Musical Melody" Bradford's finest, Unique 3 put out a string of really interesting, eclectic, and likeable dance tracks, mostly a bit more techno-orientated than this one, and leaning in the same direction as the bleep-ridden sound of WARP records in Sheffield. While the rap on "Musical Melody" is fluent and the sample/structure not without charm, I think it's probably the least appealling of their singles (and more annoyingly, the AA side, "Weight For The Bass", is rather more attractive). Still, it's authentic and unmanufactured, and it's welcome to see an innovative British dance act on TOTP, and something that has been all too rare...
Paula Abdul - "Opposites Attract" Contrary to the lyrics, nothing like fun.
Breakers: All About Eve - "Scarlet". Pre-Raphaelite, languid, mildly gorgeous, but probably too subtle to garner much attention; Kid Creole & The Coconuts - "The Sex Of It". Certainly the unexpected return of the year. Dirty and funky, a Prince LP track essentially. No "Annie I'm Not Your Daddy"; Sinitta - "Hitchin' A Ride". Very cheap video, more Stevenage than Hitchin.
Jesus Jones - "Real Real Real" Wish they'd stayed in Ilescu's Romania, where student clubbing involved the government calling out miners to attack youthful demonstrators with clubs. Then we'd marvel still in amazement at "Info Freako" and "Bring It On Down" and say: they were amazing, what a pity they disappeared with such a gift. Instead we have to endure not just this dross but what could have been an amazing reputation, wrecked, like a young man's head on a square in post-liberated Bucharest.
Phil Collins - "Something Happened On The Way To Heaven" Bombastic and a bit prickish. Not actually despicable, but I'm sure Bret Easton Ellis is taking notes right now.
Tongue 'n Cheek - "Tomorrow" The real revelation of the episode. Unpretentious, spacious, British funk, a bit more underground than Soul II Soul, and the happiness they show at being on ToTP is infectious. Not an outright classic, but I'd quite forgotten how enjoyable this was.
Madonna - "Vogue" Just think, other places had "Oh Father" as a single first. We got this.
Bruce Dickinson - "Tattooed Millionaire" Intelligent social-commentary hard rock.
A curate's egg of an edition. Tongue n Cheek the highlight for me. If they'd put on the other Unique 3 track, that too.
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vya
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Post by vya on Dec 4, 2020 22:37:20 GMT 1
3 May 1990
"Hold the" Mayo
Sinitta - "Hitchin' A Ride" Less bad in the studio than on the video, at least. She's done better.
Soul II Soul - "A Dream's A Dream" A bit of a disappointing return, to be honest. Not bad, but too subtle and just not as gripping as their previous hits.
Morrissey - "November Spawned A Monster" The wheels falling off underneath his solo career a bit. Naturally the Beeb cut it off where it starts getting more overtly disturbing and interesting.
Adventures of Stevie V - "Dirty Cash (Money Talks)" Heard it before...
Breakers: En Vogue - "Hold On": very promising, kind of an almost gospelly development of swingbeat, we can hope for great things from them, oh the harmonies. Yes; Billy Idol - "Cradle Of Love": hopelessly weak and out of date. No; Michael Bolton - "How Can We Be Lovers". Someone take out a restraining order against this man, again. Less objectionable than his last single, but what isn't?
BBG ft Dinah Taylor - "Snappiness (Sweet Inspiration)" Further proof that underground British dance music is absolutely where it's at right now. Gorgeous piano tinklings (better than Italo house offerings like so), magical bassline, lots of space, and, on this version, sweet breathy vocals. Ambient, I suppose really only Innocence have troubled the charts with records of this genre (though I hear the bloke out of Soft Cell who isn't Marc Almond is working on some stuff along these lines too). More, please.
Bruce Dickinson - "Tattooed Millionaire" Despite his absence of tattoos, essentially dissing Donald Trump in his late 80s/early 90s incarnation. Bret Easton Ellis is taking approving notes right now, maybe.
Adamski (+ Seal) - "Killer" Much better, less distractive, performance than last time, with both performers up front, and the interpretative dance bit toned down and made a bit more appropriate. Another tick on the fantastic innovative British dance music box.
Madonna - "Vogue" Nogue
Emma - "Give A Little Love Back To The World" Still not in the charts, maybe not even released yet, but the second time on TOTP. Essentially this is a school head girl lecturing all her classmates on how to be virtuous. Whitney Houston's "One Moment in Time" had been a little bit like that, too, but, well, Emma is no Whitney, and nor would Whitney have taken on this song. Yuk.
Big Boss Groove absolutely bossing it in an otherwise not much more than indifferent edition
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