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Topic: Top of the Pops on BBC Four - Thread Two.

Started by Dr Rock, August 26, 2018, 02:21:41 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

daf

15 December 1988: Presenters: Gary Davies & Mark Goodier

(22) BON JOVI – Born To Be My Baby
Goo-Goo, Goo-Goo Barbajagal
(13) PETULA CLARK – Downtown '88
Chip Supper at the Boozer to a Disco Beat
(10) U2 – Angel Of Harlem (video)
Bon Jazzy
(15) NEW ORDER – Fine Time
Singing those samples "Live", is he?
- - - - - - - - - - - - (breakers) - - - - - - - - - - - -
(23) THE FOUR TOPS – Loco In Acapulco
(28) KIM WILDE – Four Letter Word
(29) LONDONBEAT – 9 AM (The Comfort Zone)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(4) ERASURE – Stop
King Dong



(6) INNER CITY – Good Life
Uptown Top Dancing
(1) CLIFF RICHARD – Mistletoe & Wine (video)
Mince Pious
(25) A-HA – You Are The One (video / credits)
"The Cake Sketch"

Norton Canes

Quote from: Norton Canes on December 09, 2019, 11:20:44 AM
It's not good, although there are three of the year's best songs together in the Breakers

- - - - - - - - - - - - (breakers) - - - - - - - - - - - -
(24) PETULA CLARK – Downtown '88
(23) NEW ORDER – Fine Time
(22) INNER CITY – Good Life
(7) ERASURE – Stop
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

All of which graduated to full studio formances in the same show (and Pet)


Norton Canes


buzby

Quote from: daf on December 14, 2019, 11:53:13 AM
15 December 1988: Presenters: Gary Davies & Mark Goodier

(22) BON JOVI – Born To Be My Baby
Fuck OFF
Quote
(13) PETULA CLARK – Downtown '88
Jesus Christ she's dreadful!
Quote
(10) U2 – Angel Of Harlem (video)
FUCK OFFFF
Quote
(15) NEW ORDER – Fine Time
Singing those samples "Live", is he?
Sumner is singing the 'choruses' live, but he's miming to the 'dirty old man' lines. He did sing them in the studio (and they were then but through an Eventide Harmonizer to pitch them down. He was far too embarrassed to sing them live, so the vocals were sampled off the multitrack into their Akai S900 and played back via the sequencer on their Apple Mac (which can be seen lurking at the rear of the stage). Part of this process meant the the end of the 'I've met a lot of cool chicks' line got time-compressed after it was sampled to make it fit to the end of a bar .

This was the lead single from their forthcoming album  Technique, which they had spent 7 months working on (the album was supposed to be released in time for Christmas, but inevitably with Factory and Peter Saville being involved the release was delayed until the end of January 1989). They had started recording at Mediterranean Studios in Ibiza at Hook's suggestion (to get away from 'dark and horrible' London studios), but the temptations of the island proved too much and most of the time was spent partying (with the Mondays occasionally visiting to top up the supply of drugs), writing off hire cars and trashing the studio by inviting coachloads of holidaymakers back for afterparties. They eventually left the island after 4 months with little more than some rough demos and drum tracks completed (most of which were recorded, the multitracks fed through a Syco PSP trigger-to-MIDI interface and resequenced in MasterTracks Pro on their new Apple Mac, and then used to trigger live drum samples on an Apple II running the Greengate sampler, as Morris had a back injury), and then spent 3 months in Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios near Bath turning these into finished tracks.

Fine Time originated in Ibiza when after a night at Amnesia Sumner decided they should write a track inspired by Donna Summer/Giorgio Moroder electronic disco. He even recorded an 'erotic' vocal for it in tribute to Summer, but the next morning once everyone had sobered up it got laughed out of the studio as it sounded "like I was stuck on the toilet with constipation" so it was abandoned (though some of the grunting and groaning from the multitrack would reappear on the Fine Line 'dub' mix from the B-side off the 12" single and Steve 'Silk' Hurley's Silk mixfrom the remix 12"). At the time they left Ibiza the demo was still known as 'The Balearic One' (most of the working titles were of the form 'The xxxx One').

After returning to the UK and moving into Real World, the song was reworked into it's eventual final form with the more toned down 'dirty old man' vocal. It got it's title courtesy of Morris - while in Bath, his car had been towed away for being illegally parked, and to remind himself to go and pay the fine he wrote 'FINE TIME' on a piece of notepaper, which later he thought would make a good title. As well as the Fine Line dub mix for the 12", the other B side was an instrumental piece called Don't Do It, which is actually one of my favourite New Order tracks. It clearly originated as an idea for a soundtrack piece, and as such includes vocal and sound effect samples from the BBC's 1987 adaptation of Alan Ayckbourn's play Way Upstream (and a backwards-masked sample from The Exorcist right at the end).

The sleeve for the single was produced by Peter Saville and photographer Trevor Key, and was a photograph of a tray of drug capsules taken using the 'Dichromat' process developed by Key that he had first used on the leaves for True Faith and the flowers for the inner sleeves of Substance. This was reflected in the 3D capsule that bounces around the screen in the promo video (featured in the previous week's Breakers), which superficially used a Christmas theme to tie into the timing of the release (though nothing else in it makes a jot of sense).

for this performance we get the aforementioned Mac running Master Tracks Pro behind Steve, who has a very basic kit but is mostly triggering sampled drum hits from a Roland Octapad. Gillian is playing the lead melody on their new and rarely-seen Emulator III (still persevering with their loyalty to E-Mu products, despite them being made basically obsolete by the increasing capability of Akai's rackmount samplers). Hook stands motionless with his hands in his pockets for most of the proceedings, in protest at their pursuit of sequenced dance music. When he finally pulls his bass round it's an odd  (for him) Yamaha BB5000 5-string bass (he also has his old-school mobile phone on top of his amp rack). Bernard is debuting his simian E'd up dancing style, picked up from a summer hanging round with Bex. He also get the lyrics wrong, as usual.
Quote
(4) ERASURE – Stop
This is ace. The director does forget the freeze-frame on a couple of the 'Stop!'s though. Vince raids his collection and delivers a lovely Roland SH-101 complete with the Mod Grip accessory. It's only just occurred to me that Vince may have been doing a bit of thievery here - the FM Brass riff in the chorus seems to have been inspired by Taffy's I Love My Radio, and the chiming riff in the verses is a lift from The Crystals' And Then He Kissed Me.
Quote
(6) INNER CITY – Good Life
We get Yamaha KX5 and Casio AZ-1 keytars and a Casio VZ-1 keyboard, but no Ensoniq Mirage or Yamaha DX100 that the track was built with - it's that Lately Bass/Solid Bass preset off the Yamaha again (also used for the chords by being sampled into the Mirage, just like Big Fun), and the 'Oh' vocal sample is from the Mirage's preset disks.

The Culture Bunker

I may be in a minority, but for me 'Fine Time' was always the weak link on the album. They should have led with what would become the follow-up single.

non capisco

Quote from: buzby on December 17, 2019, 09:25:09 PM
Bernard is debuting his simian E'd up dancing style

Great moment where they go for a shot of Gillian's fingers playing the keyboard riff and then Bernard's bobbing arse hoves into view stage right. Hooky looks about as happy to be there as Eric B and Rakim did the other month when they had to mime to a remix they'd barely heard.

buzby

Quote from: The Culture Bunker on December 17, 2019, 10:13:48 PM
I may be in a minority, but for me 'Fine Time' was always the weak link on the album. They should have led with what would become the follow-up single.
They didn't want to release Round & Round as a single - Tony Wilson wanted it to be the follow-up (possibly not picking up the vibes that it was indirectly about the souring relationship between him and Bernard), but the band and Gretton wanted Vanishing Point (which is an immense track) as the second single. Wilson made a bet with Gretton that if it was released and didn't get into the Top 5 he would resign, which was immortalised as FAC 253. We can leave the result until we get to it....

JesusAndYourBush

Quote from: daf on December 14, 2019, 11:53:13 AM
(15) NEW ORDER – Fine Time

Ah!! That's the one with the robot voice crowbarred into the middle of the song saying "S&M S&M S&M S&M" that I was trying to identify four years ago.

gilbertharding

I have greatly enjoyed watching Tiffany's career replayed at double time, I must say. I missed most of it at the time, obviously...

Her breakthrough, with the quite good pop song I Think We're Alone Now (and no-one notice her backing band of superannuated, pony-tailed dad rockers)... who clearly influenced the choice to stink out I Saw Him Standing There... by which time it was BLINDINGLY apparent she couldn't dance, or sing really... which is why it was cruel, frankly, to make her stand on a TotP stage alone to sing Radio Romance (her last UK single, apparently).

She *really* couldn't dance.

buzby

Quote from: JesusAndYourBush on December 18, 2019, 02:11:45 AM
Ah!! That's the one with the robot voice crowbarred into the middle of the song saying "S&M S&M S&M S&M" that I was trying to identify four years ago.
It's saying "The past doesn't matter", btw.

madhair60

Dangerous question: is anyone archiving these TOTP replays? I would love to be able to just get all of the 80s in one massive fell download or something.

buzby

Quote from: gilbertharding on December 18, 2019, 10:57:43 AM
I have greatly enjoyed watching Tiffany's career replayed at double time, I must say. I missed most of it at the time, obviously...

Her breakthrough, with the quite good pop song I Think We're Alone Now (and no-one notice her backing band of superannuated, pony-tailed dad rockers)... who clearly influenced the choice to stink out I Saw Him Standing There... by which time it was BLINDINGLY apparent she couldn't dance, or sing really... which is why it was cruel, frankly, to make her stand on a TotP stage alone to sing Radio Romance (her last UK single, apparently).

She *really* couldn't dance.
Tiffany's songs were chosen by her manager and producer George Tobin. She had signed a recording contract with him when she was 12, giving him total control over her career. She had initially been discovered by songwriter Hoyt Axton and his mother Mae (the co-writer of Heartbreak Hotel) when she was 10, singing in Southern California;s country & western clubs. She had been taken to Tobin's studio complex in Hollywood to record demos, and he decided to sign her and market her as a teen idol.

The video for I Him Standing There was shot at the World's Valentine Heartbeat Party concert at DisneyWorld in February 1988, which was the fist time she had performed with a full band (prior to that on her mall concert tour she had only used backing tapes). The keyboard player in her band was the ex-Motown songwriter, arranger and session musician John Duarte. He had been brought in by Tobin as arranger and keyboard player.for her debut album (they apparently recorded 50 songs in the process ,but still somehow managed to include that dreadful Beatles cover). Radio Romance was co-written by Duarte.

daf

Quote from: madhair60 on December 18, 2019, 03:37:10 PM
Dangerous question: is anyone archiving these TOTP replays? I would love to be able to just get all of the 80s in one massive fell download or something.

Here you go - fill your boots!

https://mega.nz/#F!h0snQACa!uiNNqosfbdrfzODHsE1clw

(at a quick glance, I think it contains pretty much every existing show since 1967!!)

non capisco


Bobby Treetops

Quote from: daf on December 19, 2019, 12:36:51 PM
Here you go - fill your boots!

https://mega.nz/#F!h0snQACa!uiNNqosfbdrfzODHsE1clw

(at a quick glance, I think it contains pretty much every existing show since 1967!!)

Wow! Cheers for posting.

kaprisky

Just going back to that INXS talk from a few pages back, Richard Lowenstein's film Mystify: Michael Hutchence is going to be on BBC2 on Sat 28th December, followed by an edited version (it says here) of Live Baby Live, so you can recall what they were like somewhere near their commercial peak. Wembley Stadium, 1991, 70,000 fans.

non capisco

I watched that Hutchence doc on a plane last week, it's really good. Due to that Goldie Lookin' Chain song I'd misremembered that he died having a stranglewank gone wrong but the reality is a lot more deep seeded and tragic.

Can I also thank daf once again for that link to a download repository for seemingly every bloody Top Of The Pops episode still in existence. Finally getting to watch 1980 in total is quite the early Christmas present.

the

Quote from: daf on December 19, 2019, 12:36:51 PMHere you go - fill your boots!

https://mega.nz/#F!h0snQACa!uiNNqosfbdrfzODHsE1clw

(at a quick glance, I think it contains pretty much every existing show since 1967!!)

Thanks for this - although not to denigrate it at all, the archive goes pretty sparse after 1988.

Jockice

Right, I've just watched the Christmas one from 88. All well and good except that at one point (between Wet Wet Wet and The Hollies) where Bruno Brookes is standing with a band and introduces them. I vaguely recognise them but didn't catch the name. It sounded like Brief but I recall no band of that name.

So who the fuck are they? I want, nay demand, to know.

buzby

Quote from: Jockice on December 20, 2019, 09:29:32 PM
Right, I've just watched the Christmas one from 88. All well and good except that at one point (between Wet Wet Wet and The Hollies) where Bruno Brookes is standing with a band and introduces them. I vaguely recognise them but didn't catch the name. It sounded like Brief but I recall no band of that name.

So who the fuck are they? I want, nay demand, to know.

If was Breathe, who had their one UK Top 40 hit Hands To Heaven in April that year.

The reason Brookes mentioned about them being in the UK for Christmas was because they were doing a lot better in the US than they were here. As to why they were in the studio when they didn't have a Number 1, their current single How Can i Fall had been a  #3 hit in the US and was hovering outside the Top 40 at this time, so I reckon they had been brought in to record a playback for inclusion in the next episode, but as it turned out the single dropped from #48 to #52 by the next chart, so it would not have been used.

The Timelords performance with G. Glitter was edited out from between Yazz and the Bros/Glenn Medeiros etc. montage)

Jockice

Quote from: buzby on December 20, 2019, 10:13:21 PM
If was Breathe, who had their one UK Top 40 hit Hands To Heaven in April that year.

The reason Brookes mentioned about them being in the UK for Christmas was because they were doing a lot better in the US than they were here. As to why they were in the studio when they didn't have a Number 1, their current single How Can i Fall had been a  #3 hit in the US and was hovering outside the Top 40 at this time, so I reckon they had been brought in to record a playback for inclusion in the next episode, but as it turned out the single dropped from #48 to #52 by the next chart, so it would not have been used.

The Timelords performance with G. Glitter was edited out from between Yazz and the Bros/Glenn Medeiros etc. montage)

Thanks Buzby. I knew you'd know. And the reason I recognised them is that I'd seen them live that year supporting Belinda Carlisle at Manchester Apollo.

The Culture Bunker

Have to say I had never heard of Breath - while this may not be surprising given they had only one top 40 hit here, I was a tad shocked to find out they hit the US top 10 three (three!) times. With no desire to find out, and judging by the picture above, I'm guessing they were some kind of Johnny Hates Jazz/Curiosity Killed the Cat-esque outfit. But, fuck me, how did they end up scoring so huge in the States?

buzby

Quote from: The Culture Bunker on December 20, 2019, 10:55:15 PM
Have to say I had never heard of Breath - while this may not be surprising given they had only one top 40 hit here, I was a tad shocked to find out they hit the US top 10 three (three!) times. With no desire to find out, and judging by the picture above, I'm guessing they were some kind of Johnny Hates Jazz/Curiosity Killed the Cat-esque outfit. But, fuck me, how did they end up scoring so huge in the States?
The TOTP episode they were on was only shown a couple of months ago:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQ_q_ZptzUU
It was 'adult contemporary' soft blue-eyed soul. The follow-up that never breached the Top 40 here was more of the same. I guess the US (and US Radio in particular, as airplay is a major contributor to US charts) were more susceptible to this kind of dreck.

DrGreggles

I remember Breathe!
The phrase "waistcoat cunts" was coined for them*.


*and assorted snooker ne'er-do-wells

daf

22 December 1988: Presenters: Nicky Campbell & Steve Wright

(15) THE FOUR TOPS – Loco In Acapulco
Red Tops
(20) A-HA – You Are The One
Plastic Parps
(19) KIM WILDE – Four Letter Word
S-M-O-G
- - - - - - - - - - - - (breakers) - - - - - - - - - - - -
(28) SHAKIN' STEVENS – True Love
(27) FREIHEIT – Keeping The Dream Alive
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(13) NENEH CHERRY – Buffalo Stance
Bump Rock
(2) KYLIE MINOGUE & JASON DONOVAN – Especially For You
He should be so lucky!
(1) CLIFF RICHARD – Mistletoe & Wine
Happy Festivus Everyone!



(7) STATUS QUO – Burning Bridges (On & Off & On Again) (+ credits)
Little Faint Nick

daf

25 December 1988: Presenters: Bruno Brookes, Gary Davies & Anthea Turner

S-EXPRESS – Theme From S-Express
Giddy Up Rudolf!
PET SHOP BOYS – Always On My Mind
Carol from King
- - - - - - - - - - - (crackers) - - - - - - - - - - - -
BELINDA CARLISLE – Heaven Is A Place On Earth
TIFFANY – I Think We're Alone Now
KYLIE MINOGUE – I Should Be So Lucky
WHITNEY HOUSTON – One Moment In Time
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
ENYA – Orinoco Flow
The Great Escape
ASWAD – Don't Turn Around
Old, Skankin' Sense . . .
FAIRGROUND ATTRACTION – Perfect
. . . and Her
- - - - - - - - - - - (crackers) - - - - - - - - - - - -
CLIMIE FISHER – Love Changes (Everything)
BROS – When Will I Be Famous?
RICK ASTLEY – Together Forever
BOBBY MCFERRIN – Don't Worry, Be Happy
BROTHER BEYOND – The Harder I Try
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



PET SHOP BOYS – Heart
Second Helpings
YAZZ – The Only Way Is Up
New Jumper
THE TIMELORDS & GARY GLITTER – Doctorin' The Tardis
Black Magic & Brute 33
- - - - - - - - - - - (crackers) - - - - - - - - - - - -
BROS – I Owe You Nothing
GLENN MEDEIROS – Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You
PHIL COLLINS – Groovy Kind Of Love
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
ROBIN BECK – The First Time
Rockin' Robins
WET WET WET – With A Little Help From My Friends
Marti ate the Pud with Sixpence
THE HOLLIES – He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother
All Gold
CLIFF RICHARD – Mistletoe & Wine
Well ripened with a slight bitter after-taste
BROS – Silent Night (with credits)
Nuts and Crackers

kaprisky

Fri 3rd Jan, from 8:30pm:

QuoteBig Hits 1989.
A musical compilation, featuring mature rockers Tina Turner and Phil Collins, all-conquering funki dredds Soul II Soul, dance queen Paula Abdul, northern soul girl Lisa Stansfield and the stubborn indie pop of the Beautiful South. Madchester favourites Stone Roses and Happy Mondays put in an appearance, along with Stock Aitken Waterman stalwarts Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan and Sonia. Plus, Sydney Youngblood, Mike and the Mechanics, Rebel MC and Double Trouble, along with duets from strange bedfellows Marc Almond and Gene Pitney and Linda Ronstadt and Aaron Neville.

QuoteTOTP: The Story of 1989.
Margaret Thatcher's last full year as British prime minister contrasted with global political change, while in the music world Pete Waterman's final year of chart domination heralded the dawn of Madchester. Some female artists brought attitude and power to the year, while an unlikely duet between a '60s legend and an '80s icon proved a charttopper and Jive Bunny kept the less discerning happy. As far as Top of the Pops was concerned, Radio 1's old guard was stood down as a team of fresh-faced recruits helmed the show. Contributors include Jason Donovan, Lisa Stansfield, Shaun Ryder, Chris Rea, Marc Almond, Sharleen Spiteri, Jazzie B and Jenny Powell.

Any potential Yewtree/Smith problems for this run? Or do we get a full set?

daf

No banned presenters, and barring any audio problems (which hit two from 1988), we should get our first full year of shows since BBC 4 started showing it.

Are there any performances that might attract censorship or was the Timelords/Glitter one the last of this kind?