18 March 1982: Presenters – Richard Skinner & Steve Wright: Broadcast BBC Four 04/08/2016 (Thanks to POPSCENE for the running order)
(36) CLASSIX NOUVEAUX – Is It A Dream WATCH
(6) ABC – Poison Arrow (video)
(35) LEO SAYER – Have You Ever Been In Love
(8) IMAGINATION – Just An Illusion (video)
(16) DEREK & THE DOMINOES – Layla (Zoo)
(2) GOOMBAY DANCE BAND – Seven Tears
(42) JAPAN – Ghosts WATCH
(21) GARY NUMAN – Music For Chameleons WATCH
(23) VISAGE – The Damned Don’t Cry (video)
(1) TIGHT FIT – The Lion Sleeps Tonight
(30) KOOL & THE GANG – Take My Heart (You Can Have It If You Want It)
Top Of The Pops takes a break for a couple of weeks after this episode to make way for the BBC’s Olympic coverage.
It takes two DJs to present this edition, almost a full year before dual DJ presenters becomes the TOTPs norm. Steve Wright has been absent for a while, and that’s probably because he’s busy spinning records on his afternoon Radio 1 show while rehearsals are taking place at TV Centre. Richard Skinner is the one to watch tonight though, and what about those jersey he’s wearing ???
When X-Ray Spex split, the remaining band members placed an ad in Melody Maker for a new lead singer, and it was answered by Sal Solo. Classix Nouveaux was formed, and their first album, released in 1981, bubbled under the charts. Their second album, La vérité was more successful. The single “Is It A Dream” brought the band their only real UK chart success peaking at #11. Success didn’t last, the third album was unsuccessful commercially, and the band split in 1985. Sal Solo is now heavily involved in Catholicism and has released several Christian-oriented albums.
They’ve not been on TOTPs for a couple of weeks, but Zoo (did you miss them?) are back, all be it in a limited number. Maureen acts as the dance crew's sole representative to perform a routine to the rock classic, “Layla”, a record that was originally released in 1971. A record from 1971 means it has depth, substance, and meaning, and “Layla” definitely has more than most, so bear with me….
It all started in the late 1960’s when Eric Clapton first set eyes on George Harrison’s wife, Pattie Boyd – it was love at first sight. Being a musician, Clapton put his feelings into music, relating it to the story of Layla and Majnun by the 12th-century Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi – the story of a moon princess who was married off by her father to a man she didn't love, resulting in Majnun's madness. The story struck a chord with Clapton who originally wrote the song as a ballad, but his composing partner, Duane Allman, had come up with
The Riff that turned the balled into the rock anthem we know so well.
The second movement of “Layla”, the piano part, was composed by band member Jim Gordon (or more accurately Gordon nicked it from his then girlfriend Rita Coolidge). It was recorded a week after the first part, with Gordon on piano, Clapton on acoustic guitar and Allman doing the slidey bottlenecked guitar bits. The two parts were then put together for the album, and Layla was complete.
When the song was originally released in 1971, it flopped. An edited and shortened re-release in 1972 was more successful. This re-issue, with the piano coda restored, climbed to #4 in the charts.
Allman died in a motorcycle accident in October 1971. Jim Gordon suffered from mental health issues which ruined his career. In 1973 he brutally murdered his mother using a claw hammer.
What about the Clapton, Boyd, Harrison Love Triangle? Boyd divorced Harrison in 1977 and married Clapton in 1979 during a concert stop in Tucson, Arizona. Harrison was not bitter about the divorce and attended Clapton's wedding party with Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney. During their relationship, Clapton wrote another love ballad for Pattie called "Wonderful Tonight" (1977). Clapton and Boyd divorced in 1988 after several years of separation.
Another 7” with similar passion and deep meaning lyrics is “Ghosts” by Japan. This autobiographical haunting ballad was Japan’s biggest hit, and it will fly up to #16 in next week chart following this performance. Sadly, not enough to stop the band from splitting, but the single retains a legacy and was even featured in episode 6 of the BBC series
Ashes to Ashes. The band’s atmospheric performance on TOTPs demonstrates a side to Michael Hurl that, when he puts his mind to something, gives his direction a subtlety we seldom see in the programme’s new age.
A record that’s seldom played by anyone on the radio these days is “The Dammed Don’t Cry” by Visage. Train spotters on the forum may recognize Tenterden station on the The Kent & East Sussex Railway which was the location for filming the video. Extra points to anyone who can identify the locomotive.
Meanwhile, on a tiny island, 7,800 miles away from BBC Television Centre, a scrap metal dealer raises the Argentine flag on South Georgia, Falkland Islands. Tomorrow, a small number of Argentinian soldiers will land on the island, in preparation to a full invasion of all the islands …..