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Post by Sam Tyler on Dec 23, 2016 0:53:10 GMT
Thought Donna Summer's State of Independence was excellent. Remember the first time I heard it, I had to visit a client in Warrington one day in late 82, and borrowed one of the firm's company pool cars, a V reg'd dark blue Mark 5 Cortina. I came back to Manchester on the A50, via Lymm and this came on the radio. Happy days! Donna Summer's "State of Independence" is an amazing record, particularly in it's full 12" single format. What's also amazing is the list of backing singers, which include Lionel Richie, Dionne Warwick, Michael Jackson, Christopher Cross, Kenny Loggins and Stevie Wonder. State Of Independence is a fantastic track that I never tire of. In my opinion Donna Summer was a brilliant artist with some brilliant tracks to her credit and although I'm never keen on cover versions of other artists' work I must say that I prefer her versions of "Could It Be Magic" over Barry Manilow's. Sam.
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Cartman
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Post by Cartman on Dec 23, 2016 9:20:01 GMT
Sounds good Cartman. BTW did you ever do Rafters, Pips, Twisted Wheel and others in around Manc at all? They must've had some good stuff on there around 76 to 83. Hi Dirty, went to Pips, Cellar Vie, The Valley Lodge, Tiffanys at around that time. The Twisted Wheel I think was a bit before my time, started work, in Manchester in the summer of 78, so most of my clubbing and discos were the last couple of years of the 70s and the first bit of the 80s.
Remember the dance floors with the coloured squares like on Saturday Night Fever, and me trying (and failing) to dance like Travolta!
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Post by Windy Miller on Dec 23, 2016 10:41:35 GMT
18 November 1982: Presenter – David Jensen: Broadcast BBC Four 23/12/2016 (Thanks to POPSCENE for the running order)
(32) MODERN ROMANCE – Best Years Of Our Lives (6) DARYL HALL & JOHN OATES – Maneater (video) (9) THE HUMAN LEAGUE – Mirror Man (13) DURAN DURAN – Rio (3) TEARS FOR FEARS – Mad World ® (12) BLANCMANGE – Living On The Ceiling (24) RENÉE & RENATO – Save Your Love (video) (10) WHAM! – Young Guns (Go For It) ® (1) EDDY GRANT – I Don’t Wanna Dance (video) (and credits)
2 December 1982: Presenters – Peter Powell, Gary Davies, Janice Long & Pat Sharp: Broadcast BBC Four 23/12/2016 (Thanks to POPSCENE for the running order)
(35) KEVIN ROWLAND & DEXY’S MIDNIGHT RUNNERS – Let’s Get This Straight (From The Start) (2) THE HUMAN LEAGUE – Mirror Man ® (34) WHITESNAKE – Here I Go Again (37) BUCKS FIZZ – If You Can’t Stand The Heat (17) MADNESS – Our House (video) (18) MODERN ROMANCE – Best Years Of Our Lives (10) DURAN DURAN – Rio (video) (1) THE JAM – Beat Surrender (3) WHAM! – Young Guns (Go For It) (crowd dancing and credits)
A Top Of The Pops Double Bill tonight, with the early show going out at 7.00pm. It features a song that originally included the lyric, “Up the bloody tree”. What's wrong with that you may say, but Auntie Beeb had palpitations over it, insisting a rewrite to a more family friendly "Up the cuckoo tree". We also see The Human League at long last, and Wham’s debut is repeated so we, in 2016, can live it for the first time.
The second TOTPS has a multitude of presenters. The BBC’s found some money to better fund Radio 1, the net result being no more Radio 2 programmes sharing the 275 and 285 frequencies (although Radio 1 still only got limited access to the FM wave band). The additional Radio 1 output required an increase in the number of DJ staff, and the new presenters are presented to us on tonight’s show.
Also, it’s a big “thank you for the music” and farewell to The Jam who are at #1 for the fourth and final time, having had 18 consecutive Top 40 singles since their debut in 1977.
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Cartman
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Post by Cartman on Dec 23, 2016 11:41:29 GMT
The only one from those two playlists I really didn't like was Renee and Renato. Even the Duran Duran and Bucks Fizz ones were listenable to
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Post by Steve Austin on Dec 23, 2016 15:21:00 GMT
Cuckoo typical!! The one song out of both programmes that I really like has been mucked about with Oh well, I'l still give it a watch but may have to get some batteries for the remote on stand by as it's a bit of a ffd fest for me. The good thing is that there's always loads about at Xmas, if not I'll nick some from Electronic Mastermind Thanks for putting these reviews together for the past 12 months Windy, no small undertaking but very much appreciated and missed when you have other commitments such as changing the old millstone Happy Christmas to you and all at Trumpton.
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Post by Windy Miller on Dec 23, 2016 20:02:47 GMT
Thanks for putting these reviews together for the past 12 months Windy, no small undertaking but very much appreciated and missed when you have other commitments such as changing the old millstone Happy Christmas to you and all at Trumpton. Thanks for the thanks Steve. It’s been an absolute pleasure doing these little previews for each TOTPs episode, and if they make the programmes that bit more enjoyable, so much the better.
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Post by Dirty Epic on Dec 24, 2016 16:08:42 GMT
Thanks for putting these reviews together for the past 12 months Windy, no small undertaking but very much appreciated and missed when you have other commitments such as changing the old millstone Happy Christmas to you and all at Trumpton. Thanks for the thanks Steve. It’s been an absolute pleasure doing these little previews for each TOTPs episode, and if they make the programmes that bit more enjoyable, so much the better. Here here thanks for all your hard work on the TOTP write ups much appreciated mate.
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Post by Frank Spencer on Dec 30, 2016 1:16:17 GMT
I remember at that time, I was 22, and used to go a bit to The Ritz in Manchester (mostly crashing and burning!) and used to drive, I would put the radio on for the drive back to Bury in my old Austin A40 and a lot of these songs would be on. Are you from Bury then Cartman ? My mum was born and raised there and though I am 95% Essex-boy now, I've been there many times on family visits over the years and indeed was there in October for a couple of days when she passed away. I can't share any memeories of clubs or discos, or indeed any strong musical memories connected with the town, but I do remember I was there staying at an auntie's the night Elvis Presley died in August 1977...
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Post by Frank Spencer on Dec 30, 2016 9:32:28 GMT
John Peel certainly got a top line-up of 80s names to present on 18th November 1982 - Human League, Duran Duran, Tears For Fears and Wham all with some of their very biggest hits in the studio, plus memorable tracks by Modern Romance and Blancmange (loved the way the singer Neil Arthur gave a cheeky sideways look when he had to sing "cuckoo" instead of "bloody" !) and a video by Hall & Oates. TOTP being TOTP we also had Renee & Renato on too ! But then that's why we love the show, if it had been totally "cool" every week it just wouldn't have been the same.... The Peter Powell hosted programme on 2nd December 1982 was all about the DJs for me. OK, maybe the DJs and Jay Aston ! Phwoargh ! Did she look HOT doing "If You Can't Stand The Heat" with Bucks Fizz- even 34 years on when things that looked sexy then now look a tad tame ! I got into trouble over that song at the time when I was pre-match DJ at my local football club. One week I dedicated that song to a lady who worked in the burger bar after there had been a disagreement over something or other to do with the food or the service and she sought me out afterwards and tore me off a strip - whooops !!! Also enjoyable for me on this show were the classic videos from Madness & Duran Duran plus it was nice seeing Dexys do a song that wasn't "Eileen" or "Jackie Wilson" ! But the DJs .... Peter Powell introduced three new Radio 1 DJs, each one looking varying degrees of uncomfortable in the spotlight in the big white R1 jackets. Janice Long actually spoke about her appearance on her "After Midnight" show on Radio 2 last Tuesday, which I often catch on my way home from work, saying how she hated wearing that jacket and quickly "lost" it, then was told to pay for a new one !! I once "worked with" Gary Davies one summer Friday night in 1984 after he had been on TOTP the previous evening. I was warm up DJ in a discotheque in Basildon and amongst my other duties was to do the "slow set" around midnight to give the main man "a break" (i.e. pull a chick !) and adjust the lighting effects which were all controlled from a cupboard just off the stage on which the DJ booth was siuated. Well, I was instructed to go in the cupboard and turn everything down low, just before Gary Davies came on stage as a guest, then right up to full when he was introduced, but NOT to come out until someone gave me the nod so as not to intrude on his "peformance". Yep, you guessed it, nobody ever gave me the nod so I stayed in that cupboard for the full hour and didn't dare come out till he'd clearly finished and said goodbye !!! Derrrrrrrrr .... stitched up !!!! And Pat Sharp ? Well these days he has a radio show on the same radio station as myself and follows me on a Saturday evening with "All The Hits", though again I've never met him, radio being the way it is now with technology, my show being a repeat of the Monday programme and his show being pre-recorded and syndicated ! Last but not least there was "Tracie", who had a solo career in the early 80s with hits including "Give It Some Emotion" and "The House That Jack Built" but we see this week as a backing singer with The Jam giving it some emotion on "Beat Surrender". For many years now she has been a mid morning DJ as "Tracie Young" on the local Radio Essex (formerly Chelmsford Radio and Dream 107.7) and also hosts a special 80s show on Sundays. I've met her a couple of times round and about and spoken to her on the phone a few times, lovely lady who cares passionately about music and really knows her stuff. Roll on the next shows ! .... Happy New Year everyone !
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Post by Windy Miller on Dec 30, 2016 16:46:57 GMT
9 December 1982: Presenters – Simon Bates: Broadcast BBC Four 30/12/2016 (Thanks to POPSCENE for the running order) (19) SHALAMAR – Friends (3) RENÉE & RENATO – Save Your Love (video) (13) YAZOO – The Other Side Of Love (35) SHAKIN’ STEVENS – Blue Christmas (5) CULTURE CLUB – Time (Clock Of The Heart) ® (6) LIONEL RICHIE – Truly ® (21) SOFT CELL – Where The Heart Is (22) DAVID BOWIE & BING CROSBY – Peace On Earth – Little Drummer Boy (video) (1) THE JAM – Beat Surrender ® (7) BLANCMANGE – Living On The Ceiling (crowd dancing) (and credits) It’s the final two broadcastable episodes of TOTPs from 1982, and the first show has Simon Bates making a big effort to get his facts right. With all the skipped shows we’ve had recently it feels like Shakin’ Stevens has been on every week, and he’s back again with, as Bates informs us, "A single in time for Christmas - it's an EP, not a single!". Eh? David Bowie and Bing Crosbie’s video for Peace On Earth / Little Drummer Boy was originally recorded in 1977, just a short month before Bing Crosby died of a heart attack. The cardiganed 40s crooner hosted David Bowie on his Christmas show, and the awkwardness of the event is visibly palpable. An older, crusty Crosby had no real familiarity with the younger, androgynous Bowie, and Bowie wasn’t crazy about singing The Little Drummer Boy. So, shortly before the show’s recording, a team of writers had to frantically reengineer the song, blending the traditional Christmas song with a newly-written tune called Peace on Earth. After one hour of rehearsal, the two singers recorded The Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth and made a little classic. Bing Crosby and David Bowie :-
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