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

[buzby]

That wasn't Bobby on drums, was it?

According to wikipedia, by 1987 one of the Gillespie replacements John Moore had moved to rhythm guitar (he must have a sicknote, because he's not on the clip, is he?), and James Pinker drumming. He's doing a passable impression of the Kill All Hippies hitmaker, whoever he is.

Bobby was gone, man by then. According to the April Skies fansite, despite the fact that most of the tracks were recorded and played live with a drum machine and John Moore had moved to second guitar, he still mimed playing the drums on promo and TV appreances until the release of Sidewalking in 1988 when he left the band.

[Egyptian Feast]

That wasn't Bobby on drums, was it?

According to wikipedia, by 1987 one of the Gillespie replacements John Moore had moved to rhythm guitar (he must have a sicknote, because he's not on the clip, is he?), and James Pinker drumming. He's doing a passable impression of the Kill All Hippies hitmaker, whoever he is.

I was trying to figure out if the drummer was John Moore the other night, as I'm a fan of his recent solo albums. It did look like him in the close-ups, but I could be completely wrong...

[daf]

Just found a much better quality copy of the last show (7 May)  :
https://wetransfer.com/downloads/c1b59f0f6e049ad46b08d52840d03eb120190223193753/bbeaad

[daf]

14 May 1987: Presenter: Gary Davies (1,213^th Show Special!!)

(18) JOHNNY HATES JAZZ – Shattered Dreams
Mikey Loves Beatle Bass
(11) THE CULT – Lil' Devil (video)
Little Plum
(22) EUROPE – Carrie (video)
Feel my Poodle Pain
(4) LABI SIFFRE – (Something Inside) So Strong
(That Bead of Sweat's) So Long
- - - - - - - - - - - - (breakers) - - - - - - - - - - - -
(21) WET WET WET – Wishing I Was Lucky
(13) CAMEO – Back & Forth
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(3) TOM JONES – A Boy From Nowhere
UUUUUUUURTH
(1) STARSHIP – Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now (video)
Jefferson Fleapit



(24) ZODIAC MINDWARP & THE LOVE REACTION – Prime Mover (video / credits)
The Rockin' Hitlers

[buzby]

7 May 1987: Presenter: Mike Smith

(6) LIVING IN A BOX – Living In A Box

Same old, same old - they may as well have shown the VT of their last performance as it's identical. The only difference is in Marcus Vere's synth rig - the top shelf of the stand is now a Casio CZ1 (with the DX7 and jupiter 8 underneath as before). The strange thing is that they have gaffa taped over the logos on the back of all the synths (bar the CZ1 for some strange reason) - we haven's seen that for a long time. I guess they were finally concerned about all that free advertising the almost-obsolete Emulator II and DX7 have had over the years.

(13) FLEETWOOD MAC – Big Love (video)

I absolutely love this song, and got Tango In The Night on the strength of it and Little Lies (don't think I listened to any of the other tracks more than once though). I love Richard Dashut & Buckingham's arrangement and production of it - that mix of guitar, synths and samples (it was recorded using the inevitable DX7, which Christine McVie plays in the video, and Lindsay Buckingham's Fairlight IIx to do the vocal samples).

The video is great too, basically a load of long tracking shots composited together, including the transitions via video shown live on monitors and then filmed. iI was directed by Daniel Kleinman (who also did Thomas Dolby's Hyperactive, Dress You Up for Madonna and went on to direct most of the Bond opening titles from Goldeneye onwards). They presumably had to get a model in for Buckingham to interact with, as by that time he and Nicks weren't exactly on speaking terms (it must have been great for her to have to stand there during the video shoot, listening to a song slagging her off over and over again).

Some snippets of an unused Nicks vocal track actually appear briefly on the extremely shite extended 12" mix by Arthur Baker (very much an example of the 'throw a load of samples and italo piano at it' mid-80s remix fad). Buckingham removed most of her vocals from most of the album as she was apparently off her face for most of the sessions.

(23) DEPECHE MODE – Strangelove

What Norton said - the single mix is far better than the more dirge-like version on the album. Twin Emulator II attack (with no gaffa tape over the logos!) and Gore is getting back into his guitar ready for Personal Jesus. Fletcher is being a useless tool as usual - even though it's mimed, you can see Wilder is actually still playing the bass and melody parts on his keyboard. At least Alan gets a good proportion of camera time on this one, and isn't hidden off to one side or the back of the stage.

(19) SPEAR OF DESTINY – Never Take Me Alive

The band were pretty much just Kirk Brandon and a load of session musicians by now, following the departure of his fellow ex-Theatre Of Hate bandmate Stan Stammers after their last album. It features ex-Ant Marco Pirroni on guitar and Level 42 saxophonist Gary Barnacle's brothers Pete (drums) and Steve (doing a decent impression of Pino Palldino's fretless bass tone). Volker Janssen on keyboards brings the first appearance of the Eumlator II's successor, the E-Mu Emax

As for the song itself, it's a bit of a lumpen mess made up of bits that don't really fit together, especially where it descends into sampled symphonic goth bombast at the end. Brandon's voice is really annoying too.

(22) SLY & ROBBIE – Boops (Here To Go)

Another cracker. Shinehead wasn't available to mime his verses, so they got Asher Senator in. Sly has the de rigueur Simmons kit, Robbie had a classic Steinberger L2 bass, The keyboard player has a Casio AZ-1 midi controller (with the logo taped over). The big question is: Is that Ken Campbell miming to the Howard Cosell impersonation at the start? Whoever it was, he was reprising his role from the video, directed by Bruno Tilley

[Sebastian Cobb]

I love Sky & Robbie and Rhythm Killers is a great album.

Tango in The Night is an odd one, that is obviously overproduced, and can be divided into parts that are amazing (little lies) and parts that are cringeworthy (family man), I wasn't a good fan of Big Love (loved Seven Wonders though).

[Satchmo Distel]

Isn't 14/5/87 one of the Chartmusic episodes? I recall them doing Johnny Hates Jizz

[daf]

21 May 1987: Presenters: Simon Bates & Peter Powell (Stereo Shambles Special!!)

(6) MARILLION – Incommunicado
Innaudibilado
(14) WET WET WET – Wishing I Was Lucky
Smuggy McSmugface
(11) CAMEO – Back & Forth
He's got a Red Box . .  and he's gonna use it!!
- - - - - - - - - - - - (breakers) - - - - - - - - - - - -
(26) DONNA ALLEN – Serious
(25) JOHNNY LOGAN – Hold Me Now
(23) BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN – Born To Run
(18) TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR FC / CHAS & DAVE – Hot Shot Tottenham
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(10) WHITNEY HOUSTON – I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)
Houston, we have a Hit Song!



(1) STARSHIP – Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now (video)
They're Crazy! (. . but what do I know?)
(9) FLEETWOOD MAC – Big Love (video / credits)
Pull out! . . . Pull out! . . Pull out! . . and . .
(wait for it!)
. . . . SPRROiiiiiiiiiNNNG!!

[DrGreggles]

21 May 1987: Presenters: Simon Bates

NINETEEN EIGHTY FUCKING SEVEN!!!

[buzby]

14 May 1987: Presenter: Gary Davies (1,213^th Show Special!!)

I almost fee like Peter Saville when he was asked to design a sleeve for the awful John Robie-produced single version of Sub-Culture with this episode. What a shitshow.

(18) JOHNNY HATES JAZZ – Shattered Dreams

Insipid sophitsti-soul. These were one of my sister's new chart interests around this time (you can probably guess the other one). Probably the most interesting thing about them is the amount of connections in their backstory which goes to show it's not what you know, it's who. You can look them up in wikipedia for that though. After it's debut last week, the E-Mu Emax returns.

(11) THE CULT – Lil' Devil (video)

Goths go Cock Rock

(22) EUROPE – Carrie (video)

Stereotypical Poodle Rock ballad.

(4) LABI SIFFRE – (Something Inside) So Strong

On look, a Yamaha CP70 - we've not seen one of them for a while.

(3) TOM JONES – A Boy From Nowhere

It's and MOR as they come and purely for the mums & dads, but you can't deny Jones The Voice has got a cracking set of pipes.

(24) ZODIAC MINDWARP & THE LOVE REACTION – Prime Mover (video / credits)
The Rockin' Hitlers

Drummond and Cauty's mate Mark Manning (Jimmy was actually an original member of Love Reaction whiel he was in Brilliant). Manning, like Neil Tennant, was an ex-journo (designer and art editor on Flexipop and Metal Fury) who saw the people coming in for interviews and photoshoots and fancied having a got at it himself, though with his tongue very firmly in his cheek. However, not being known for their ability to spot a joke, the metal community (particularly in the US) embraced them (The Darkness basically followed their template years later).

Drummon's old mate David Balfe signed them to his Food Records and put out their debut single Wild Childand album high Priest Of Love, which got major labels interested and they signed to Mercury. Balfe and Drummond their produced their second album Tattooed Beat Messiah, from which this was the second single. Drummond also produced the Automatic Cannibal remix on the limited edition 12", which sounds very similar to the early JAMs records (he might have even used their same Greengate DS3 sampler on it).

They were booked to tour the US supporting Alice Cooper , third on the bill below Guns & Roses but after a few shows got bumped up as they were were coming over with the audiences so well. It was during this tour that Penelope Spheeris was filming recent (spam) feature The Decline Of Western Civilisation Part II, which led to a couple of Love Reaction appearing in a performance alongside Alice Cooper, Axl Rose and Slash.

This was their only Top 40 entry, and Manning would later be better known for the books he co-authored wih Drummond, and for being the MC at 2K's Fuck The Millennium performance at The Barbican.

The video features the band crashing through the wall of a convent school, riding in a WWII-era International M6 Half-Track (if Lemmy was involved he probably would have made them use a Hanomag Sd.Kfz. 251 to complete the SS vibe)

[George White]

The Boy from Nowhere is pure package holiday pop.It even sounds like the theme to Duty Free.

[buzby]

The Boy from Nowhere is pure package holiday pop.It even sounds like the theme to Duty Free.

It was from the score of glam masterminds Mike Leander and Eddie Seago's musical Matador, loosely based on the story of the 1960s matador Manuel 'El Cordobés' Benitez Perez. He had followed Lloyd Webber's model of recording an album first (with Tom Jones on vocals, like Steve Harley did for Phantom Of The Opera) to get money and interest from investors to put on the musical.

Like Harley, Jones wanted to star in the musical and gave up his Vegas residency to to so, but they couldn't get enough investment. Leander did eventually get it off the ground and it opened nn August 1991 (with John Barrowman taking Jones' role opposite Stephanie Powers) it closed after 3 months.

[Chriddof]

21 May 1987: Presenters: Simon Bates & Peter Powell (Stereo Shambles Special!!)

Yeah, what's up with the sound? Sounds all thin and odd somehow, and it suddenly lurches into equally thin stereo for about five seconds as Wet Wet Wet start up. I know Nicam Stereo was starting to be tested out around this time, what with Edge Of Darkness in '86 being the first pre-recorded programme the Beeb made with an entirely stereo soundtrack.

Got a kick to see The Fall mentioned in the chart, even if they are going down. I always like it when you catch a glimpse of a relatively obscure "alternative" (for the want of a better umbrella term) group pop up in the countdowns.

Re: Zodiac Mindwarp -

The video features the band crashing through the wall of a convent school, riding in a WWII-era International M6 Half-Track (if Lemmy was involved he probably would have made them use a Hanomag Sd.Kfz. 251 to complete the SS vibe)

I could have sworn I read somewhere that Ade Edmonson directed that video.

[Norton Canes]

The video features the band crashing through the wall of a convent school, riding in a WWII-era International M6 Half-Track (if Lemmy was involved he probably would have made them use a Hanomag Sd.Kfz. 251 to complete the SS vibe)

If only Ade had thought for a moment he could've used an M6 tractor or prime mover.

[Gulftastic]

Clare 'Kim Tate' King dancing in the ZM video and Marti Pellow and the Wets in the breakers  mèan that two Emmerdale actors appeared in the same episode on Thursday.

[daf]

Yeah, what's up with the sound? Sounds all thin and odd somehow,

The Marillion audio sounded like that problem the Doctor Who Blu ray* had - one of the channels was inverted and cancelled the other out - selecting the left/right channels separately on my remote fixed the sound  - I think it may have been an experiment in fake stereo - or more likely a mistake - as the sound is pretty much OK for the rest of the show (barring a slight phasing 'whoosh' here and there, and the doubled voices on the links around the charts / breakers)

I think I read somewhere that this might have been a sort of an in-studio practice run in preparation for the USA shows that will be starting soon (which were in stereo) - with no intention that people in 1987 would be hearing this in stereo - as people's mono tellies would be mixing it down? . . . hopefully buzby will be able to shed some light on this!)

- - - - - - - - - - - - -
*(Tom Baker season 12 - 'Sontaran Experiment' episode 1)

[the hum]

21 May 1987: Presenters: Simon Bates & Peter Powell (Stereo Shambles Special!!)

(6) MARILLION – Incommunicado
Innaudibilado

Was this their last TOTP appearance with Fish? A quick YouTube search suggests so (they did though appear on The Roxy with "Sugar Mice" and "Warm Wet Circles").

[buzby]

Yeah, what's up with the sound? Sounds all thin and odd somehow, and it suddenly lurches into equally thin stereo for about five seconds as Wet Wet Wet start up. I know Nicam Stereo was starting to be tested out around this time, what with Edge Of Darkness in '86 being the first pre-recorded programme the Beeb made with an entirely stereo soundtrack.

The Marillion audio sounded like that problem the Doctor Who Blu ray* had - one of the channels was inverted and cancelled the other out - selecting the left/right channels separately on my remote fixed the sound  - I think it may have been an experiment in fake stereo - or more likely a mistake - as the sound is pretty much OK for the rest of the show (barring a slight phasing 'whoosh' here and there, and the doubled voices on the links around the charts / breakers)

I think I read somewhere that this might have been a sort of an in-studio practice run in preparation for the USA shows that will be starting soon (which were in stereo) - with no intention that people in 1987 would be hearing this in stereo - as people's mono tellies would be mixing it down? . . . hopefully buzby will be able to shed some light on this!)

I covered the stereo recoding situation when we last had one with dodgy sound in December - they had been recording the studio sound in Mid/Side stereo since at least 1984 (M/S Stereo made it very easy to convert to Mono for broadcast pre-NICAM).

The messed-up sound on this episode seems to be a mixing error in the gallery during the recording, specifically not enough of the foldback feed for the playbacks is being mixed directly into the audio, so you are mostly getting the very thin sound of the foldback via the studio ambience mics. The fuck-up is very evident in Powell's link for Wet Wet Wet - his mic is turned up so you get both the direct feed in the centre and his feed coming though the studio speakers in via the ambience mics, giving a 'wide' stereo image. However just before he finishes they cut his direct feed off and all we get is him via the studio ambience in the right channel, and the floor manager cueing the band in the left channel before the band starts.

They seem to have sorted it out for the chart rundown onwards, but then fuck up at the end of Cameo by having too much crowd noise through the ambience and not enough Powell/Bates at the start of the link for the Breakers. They must have realised this but just too late, as the ambience gets cut off completely at the end of Bates' intro for Sybil. Then at the end of Whitney's performance we get that 'Macca at the Olympics' delayed double tracking on their link again just like that previous episode, which was most likely due to the audio being misrouted (possibly due to the VT recording monitor feedback being left open on the desk).

It was the same sound mixer as the previous week (Keith Mayes) in the credits, so maybe he was just off the boil this week, or he didn't have his usual assistants.

[buzby]

If only Ade had thought for a moment he could've used an M6 tractor or prime mover.

An error on my part - after watching it again. it's got a conventional rear axle rather than tracked bogies, which means it was a White M3 Scout Car (which the Half Track was developed from - the front half is the same). As you say, Edmonsdon could have used a German Sd.Kfz. 9 'Famo' heavy half track, Diamond T M19 , Paccar M25 or Thorneycroft Antar tank transporters to keep in the 'Prime Mover' theme (though they would have been a bit more of a problem manoeuvring in the studio).

[daf]

28 May 1987: Presenter: Mike Smith (Bondage Special!!)

(13) THE HOUSEMARTINS – Five Get Over Excited
Banana Shaped Song (Mike is Leo, and he is hill-arious)
(16) BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN – Born To Run (live)
The False Teeth Sketch
(7) MIRAGE – Jack Mix II
Stars on 45 : The Next Generation
(15) DONNA ALLEN – Serious
Suspended by Gaffa 


https://www.flickr.com/photos/51106326@N00/sets/72157664691641865

- - - - - - - - - - - - (breakers) - - - - - - - - - - - -
(27) PEPSI & SHIRLIE – Goodbye Stranger
(26) GARY MOORE – Friday On My Mind
(23) ERASURE – Victim Of Love (Montreux clip)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(3) JOHNNY LOGAN – Hold Me Now
Logan's Run (. . . of Euro-Toppers continues)
(1) STARSHIP – Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now (video)
Truncated Key-change Solo
(5) JOHNNY HATES JAZZ – Shattered Dreams (video / credits)
Lovely Shining Hair

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
https://wetransfer.com/downloads/63c92f94c901ee45d1e48e4444f5bf2220190302105356/d512d2

[Norton Canes]

One for the TOTP version of '0bvious things you've only just realised' - the 'professional' studio dancers (and the recruited show-offs) have all gone, haven't they. About the same time as the end credits dancing, I guess.

[Johnboy]

that Whitney Houston performance was top notch

[buzby]

21 May 1987: Presenters: Simon Bates & Peter Powell (Stereo Shambles Special!!)

Fucking hell, the Ghosts of Christmas Past return. As noted in my previous comment, the YTS trainees seem to have been let loose on the mixing desk again this week.

(6) MARILLION – Incommunicado
Innaudibilado

This sounds like it was teleported in from 1976, complete with progtastic MiniMoog widdling. Speaking of ketboards, Mark Kelly's rig also contains the first TOTP sighting of one of the DX7's late 80s replacements in the ubiquity stakes, the Roland D-50

He's obviously quite proud of it too (it is probably one of the first in the country, as it was only released this month), as it looks like he asked the cameraman to get a nice lingering shot of the front panel logo. Underneath the D-50 is a Roland RD-1000 digital piano.

(14) WET WET WET – Wishing I Was Lucky
Smuggy McSmugface

Too right daf - this was the other band alongside JHJ my sister got into at the time and I hated both of them right from the off. Pellow in particular is just asking for a bunch of fives right in the kisser.

(11) CAMEO – Back & Forth

Years later this would be cribbed by the Wu Tang Clan as the basis for Gravel Pit

(10) WHITNEY HOUSTON – I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)

This is more like it Whitney, instead of those dreary ballads from the tail end of your last album. Written and produced by the same team behind How Will I Know? , this is a bona-fide pop banger and she gets to show off her voice with this excellent live performance. The chorus would also form the basis for another of The JAMs early copyright-ignoring singles,

[Better Midlands]

This is more like it Whitney, instead of those dreary ballads from the tail end of your last album. Written and produced by the same team behind How Will I Know?

And of course, the 80stastic much sampled Boy Meets Girl - Waiting For A Star To Fall

https://youtu.be/RhxF9Qg5mOU

[Jockice]

And of course, the 80stastic much sampled Boy Meets Girl - Waiting For A Star To Fall

https://youtu.be/RhxF9Qg5mOU

I've said it before and I'll say it again, this is the most 80s single of all time. Rivalled only by this from the mid 80s - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4FtrKfZ0Lo and this from the early 80s - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-w0WulIq4tw

[Phil_A]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, this is the most 80s single of all time. Rivalled only by this from the mid 80s - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4FtrKfZ0Lo and this from the early 80s - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-w0WulIq4tw

A bold claim indeed! How about Robert Hazard "Escalator Of Life"? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rabPTpW9jGI

[Jockice]

A bold claim indeed! How about Robert Hazard "Escalator Of Life"? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rabPTpW9jGI

I preferred his brother Micky.

[buzby]

And of course, the 80stastic much sampled Boy Meets Girl - Waiting For A Star To Fall

https://youtu.be/RhxF9Qg5mOU

I generally don't mention big hits that are still in the future of the TOTP repeats chronology.

[kalowski]

Cameo are magnificent, striding forth out of George Clinton's shadow like funky behemoths.

[gilbertharding]

Marillion 'Incommunicado'

"Listen to the words, they're really clever." "Proper music" "Look, he's wearing a tie that looks like a fish! A Kipper Tie!! And his name's Fish!!!"

The whole thing stinks of Real Ale Farts. And I can't believe STILL no-one's told Fish he's going bald.

Compared and contrasted to Wet Wet Wet, who are the next band on... well, I know they're terrible too, but aren't they proper music too?

Also, what's the problem, in retrospect, with Johnny Hate's Jazz? Again, clearly the front man is a massive problem (but he has the opposite issue from Marti Pellow, having a face so indistinct it's almost offensively bland) but Shattered Dreams is a brilliant song. So is I Don't Want to be a Hero. In retrospect, obviously.