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Post by Gene Hunt on Jul 8, 2016 16:30:37 GMT
Well, I'll go against the grain here and shout out for Chris Cross & George Benson (as well as Kraftwerk of course)
Thanks for posting Windy.
Gene.
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Post by Steve Austin on Jul 9, 2016 13:12:20 GMT
What a difference a week makes. The episode from 11-02-82 was great, hardly had to touch the ffd button at all!! With the exception of Modern Romance, Adam Gurvitz & Haircut 100 each tune was a belter. Look forward to Windy Miller review.
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Post by Frank Spencer on Jul 15, 2016 11:09:44 GMT
Yes, I too loved the way John Peel handled himself on the show, a real breath of fresh air and a wonderfully amusing contrast to all the dolly birds & hunks hanging around dancing out of their skins smiling inanely ! I agree the Soft Cell hit was a great song, but not served with a great video, however I was mesmerized by AC/DC, not my kind of music at all, but if the guy playing guitar topless (Angus Young I think ?) has been carrying on like that all through their gigs of the last 30+ years he must be in some dreadful sort of physical state by now !!! Meanwhile onto Tommy vance's show from 11/2/82 and what a strong line up it was - just about every song was one that those of us who were there in 1982 will remember note for note. Highlights for me ? Fun Boy Three's Terry Hall being so disjointed from the rest of the two groups that he was almost in the next studio ... the "rap" on "Queen Of The Rapping Scene" so bad it was great ! (And the bored accordion player too ...) ... and the J Geils Band's fabulously un-PC video for "Centrefold". Enjoyed almost all of this one , one way or another !
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Post by Windy Miller on Jul 15, 2016 11:37:11 GMT
18 February 1982: Presenter – Mike Read: Broadcast BBC Four 15/07/2016 (Thanks to POPSCENE for the running order) (26) MADNESS – Cardiac Arrest (14) GEORGE BENSON – Never Give Up On A Good Thing (video) (42) UB40 – I Won’t Close My Eyes (52) ABC – Poison Arrow (28) THE JETS – Love Makes The World Go Round ® (47) ROBERT PALMER – Some Guys Have All The Luck (6) TIGHT FIT – The Lion Sleeps Tonight (24) TONI BASIL – Mickey (1) THE JAM – Precious (1) THE JAM – Town Called Malice (and credits) A recent TOTPs was hosted by David Jensen who apologised for an absent Mike Read. No need for substitutes this week however as we have the real Mike Read, and we can debate if that’s a good thing or not later. The show is unmissable for Jam fans who play twice, which is an extremely rare occurrence on TOTPs. With Madness, George Benson, UB40, ABC, Robert Palmer and Toni Basil also on the show, it looks unmissable for everyone else too. Pop music or BBC Proms not your thing? Then it’s Sky Arts at 9.00pm for Trailblazers of Gothic Rock. Everything from The Cure to Nine Inch Nails
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Post by Dirty Epic on Jul 18, 2016 13:19:15 GMT
Another good review too Windy.
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Post by Frank Spencer on Jul 20, 2016 21:38:59 GMT
I watched and analyzed the latest episode this afternoon - plenty of minor trivial talking points to get stuck into here ! What was going on with the sax player in Madness trying to get undressed in the middle of the opening song ? I guess they didn't get their tag the "Nutty Boys" for nothing ! George Benson's "Never Give Up On A Good Thing" is something of an 80s pop-soul anthem for us DJ types, but the video ... ? Why on earth was he simply pictured singing on an empty train ? The brief scenery shots were pretty enough but it all had nothing to do with the song ! Probably not the first and definitely not the last time we can say that about an 80s promo vid ... UB40 - dull as dishwater ; ABC - Aaaah ! The famous gold lame suit appears ! Jets - again ? Really ? And then Robert Palmer ... a talented singer who had a good career for sure, but watching him performing "Some Guys Have All The Luck" highlighted what a weird version of this song it was as I think (to his credit) he tried to pull it off live, complete with the sudden switches from screechingly high to gritty low voice parts and all the odd electronic style mumblings along the way. Bet it was hot in that tight leather jacket/top too ... Mike Read is OK in my book, but we all know he fancied himself as a singer a bit, but the sung intro to Tight Fit was well over the border from "cool" - yeugh ! Thought the lead "singer" looked like he could be Christiano Ronaldo's uncle too ! As a choreographer herself Toni Basil put in a good shift doing "Mickey" including a little routine with actor Craig Fairbrass who, as was highlighted in "The Story of 1982", was a regular glamour dancer on the show. And the icing on the cake, The Jam performing both sides of their No:1 double A-side "Town Called Malice" which we all know very well and "Precious" which hardly ever got any airplay and has a very similar rhythmic feel to Pigbag's "Papa's Got A Brand New Pigbag" especially the bassline, the Piggies making the top 40 just a few weeks later as I am sure we will see soon for comparison... So, can anyone else come up with another group / singer who performed two different songs on the same TOTP ? I can feel a quiz question that needs writing coming on ... Time for a lie down now and a rub down with an old copy of Record Mirror ...
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Del Boy
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Post by Del Boy on Jul 23, 2016 10:31:17 GMT
Just had a TOTP fest to catch up with four episodes. The last couple of editions have been great. The 18th February one in particular was a good one indeed. Great to see The Jam play the rarest of things on TOTP a double slot for their Double A side Town Called Malice - Precious During the performance of Precious Paul Weller gets the hump with the fake mic and decides it was getting too much camera time. He gives it an exit stage right Trying to find a list of double performances and failing i found this from 2002 on the BBC site: Will Young's record company has confirmed it pulled him from a live Top of the Pops appearance after the show banned him from singing both tracks of his double A-side single. The BMG label banned Young from appearing on the BBC One chart show after producers refused to let him perform both Anything Is Possible and Evergreen on Friday.Good on TOTP for not allowing that odious twat Cowell and the awful Will Young to dictate to them. Other enjoyable performances recently have been XTC, Madness, Toni Basil (twice) , Bow Wow Wow , Stranglers and Kraftwerk. The bad have been The Jets, Modern Romance and the totally turd effort by Adam Gurvitz. .. Oh and Tommy Vance's orrible Jumper
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Post by Windy Miller on Jul 23, 2016 19:08:59 GMT
Mike Read is OK in my book, but we all know he fancied himself as a singer a bit, but the sung intro to Tight Fit was well over the border from "cool" - yeugh ! Thought the lead "singer" looked like he could be Christiano Ronaldo's uncle too ! Tight Fit's lead "singer" is not quite as fit today however :-
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Post by Frank Spencer on Jul 24, 2016 9:10:19 GMT
I see we skipped a DLT hosted episode of TOTP recently, didn't miss much looking at the running order of "Popscene" with most of the tracks being repeated performances or previously shown videos plus artists returning to the studio to do a song for the second time, but you might want to take a look at this clip on You Tube of The Associates doing "Party Fears Too" from that show. I could never understand how they got away with making that record with the vocals so out of key with the rest of the music, even allowing for "artistic licence" ... but the big talking point here is seeing Billy MacKenzie doing a Frank Spencer impression ! Actually, seeing what other guys have done on here I might change my forum name to that soon ... ;-) The following posts regarding Retroneils name change can be seen here >>Name changescheers ' delboy
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Post by Frank Spencer on Jul 24, 2016 9:42:47 GMT
David "Kid" Jensen's apparently "live" episode on 4th March 1982 didn't look particularly exciting on paper, but there were a couple of moments to highlight. Zoo dancing to "Deutscher Girls" by Adam & The Ants, a re-release by his former record label hoping to cash in on his new fame, was plain embarrassing with about eight pretty girls dressed up in cliched Bavarian lederhosen, hats and braces and slapping their thighs at regular intervals ! It was fun in the mid 70s when Pans People / Legs & Co did that sort of thing, but I thought the show had moved on from performances like that more towards bizarre costumes, sexy pouting and gymnastics (still silly, but more 80s !) And the super-imposed "whops" and "handclaps" to "liven up" what was no doubt perceived as a dull tune by someone now famous that needed playing. were very awkward. Car-crash TV - watched it all the way through of course !! Tight Fit's performance of their now Number One hit also kept my attention all the way through as did ABC's "Poison Arrow" - in fact I watched that one TWICE as it said on the info on my Sky Planner that it was "with Anne Dudley" (from Art Of Noise) and was intrigued as I didn't recall any female part in the song and couldn't see any girl on stage with them. She did work on the song according to internet investigations, but couldn't see her on TOTP - or did I blink at the wrong times ?! Toni Basil and Imagination also gave it their all in their performances as you'd expect and the video for Abba's "Head Over Heels" was also an eye opener with Anni-Frid and Bjorn trying their hands at "acting" and the vid having more of a "modern" 80s feel to it, but for me Abba love them as I do, were always a 70s group and the signs were clearly here that the end was nigh ... Can't stop ... I gotta feed them chickens ! Oooooh ... one of them has done a whoopsy !
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