21 April 1988: Presenters: Simon Bates & Peter Powell
Fucking slow handclap from dickhead Bates at the start. Powell seems to have just arrived from Lords.
(3) S-EXPRESS – Theme From S-Express
Absolute banger even now. Yes, it's sample-based, but it's all pretty fresh sources (though after this they will also get sampled to death, much as what happened after Paid In Full and Pump Up The Volume). In the studio, Moore is rocking a Yamaha KX5, but the real interest is the Roland VP330 Vocoder/String Synth and a Linda Love has a fucking OSC OSCar!
(14) GEORGE MICHAEL – One More Try (video)
Girlfriend?!
My thoughts exactly after that comment,
daf(6) HAZELL DEAN – Who’s Leaving Who
A Hi-NRG track that's been updated with S/A/W's current arrangement and production. Needless to say ,it means it sounds just like any other current S/A/W track they were churning out.
28 April 1988: Presenters: Nicky Campbell & Gary Davies
Campbell seems to have been told to drop the 'wacky', act, thankfully. He has jumped on the wannabe yuppie bandwagon with Wright. That tie is fucking horrible, though.
(15) PAT & MICK – Let’s All Chant
I'd rather have my bollocks waxed for charity than buy this steaming turd. Fucking S/A/W again, with the already far too ubiquitous 'Mixmaster' Pete Hammond at the controls.
(14) JAMES BROWN – The Payback Mix (video)
Or the P
layback Mix, according to the titles (they had titled it correctly on the Breakers the previous week).
Released on Polydor's dance sublabel Urban to coincide with Brown being invited to accept an 'legend' award at the DMC World Mixing Championships. Coldcut were commissioned to produce it (the promo was titled 'Coldcut Meets The Godfather', but this was changed for the official release and Colccut's name was removed (I wonder if they were embarrassed by it?). An early Norman Cook remix was also commissioned (
Payback(The final Mixdown)), but was only included on the US 12" release. Like the Coldcut boys, Cook couldn't scratch ,so he got Westwood's DJ Streets Ahead in to do the turntablism on his mix.
Neither mix is anything to write home about really (though I prefer the Cook/Streets Ahead mix). Rewatching these TOTPs proves that the was an awful lot of chaff around in the wake of MARRS, Paid In Full and Beat Dis.
(12) FAIRGROUND ATTRACTION – Perfect
Two bands? Three surely? Reader and Nevin were ex-Academy Of Fine Popular Music (whose deserved to languish in obscurity with a name like that), Roy Dodds was ex-working week, and Simon Edwards was ex-Red Box.
(5) BANANARAMA – I Want You Back
It's just Love In The Third Degree again, isn't It? Same sounds, same production. I daresay more effort went into the choreography than the song itself.
(1) S-EXPRESS – Theme From S-Express
Get In! shame it's a repeat of last weeks studio performance - not available to appear when you get to Number One, Mark?
(-) SCOTT FITZGERALD – Go (+ credits)
Dreadful, proper straining-on-the-bog emoting going on from this seventies one-hit wonder. Amazingly this came second to Celine Dion in the fianl, but the UK record buying public had better taste as it stalled at #52 in the charts.
