Black Lace (yes, the Agadoo people) with their Eurovision entry. It didn’t win. What would we have thought then if we were told this would be nowhere near their worst song?

 

I liked Mary-Ann and was surprised when it stalled at No.42. Should have been a Top 10 hit. Came 7th in Eurovision.

 

Lead singer was Alan Barton from my home town of Barnsley, who later joined Smokie when Chris Norman left. Alan died aged 42 from his injuries in a road accident. :(

Edited March 20, 201411 yr by Common Sense

Yeah, Alan Barton and Colin Gibb were very recognisable even back then - I was wondering if Barton had found work as a Rod Stewart impersonator.

 

Loved Herbie Hancock with his "futuristic" vocoder and keyboard round the neck like a man selling ice cream in a theatre.

I liked Mary-Ann and was surprised when it stalled at No.42. Should have been a Top 10 hit. Came 7th in Eurovision.

 

Lead singer was Alan Barton from my home town of Barnsley, who later joined Smokie when Chris Norman left. Alan died aged 42 from his injuries in a road accident. :(

 

 

I'd never heard Mary Ann before, but whilst watching the show I was thinking this sound very much like Smokie, without knowing that barton had later joined Smokie!

 

Agadoo was very much a big departure from their early material then, unfortunatley not for the better..

Edited March 21, 201411 yr by fiesta

Another good show for me, the quality of the music has been much better than most of the previous shows.

 

Bristol Stomp was a big American hit for The Dovells in 1961, the band included Len Barry of 123 fame.

Pop Quiz Question this week. Sex Pistols were on with a Eddie Cochran song, so which successful songwriter links both Eddie Cochran and Phil Everly?

I don't know but I need to know the answer! Was it Boudleau Bryant?

 

I don't know but I need to know the answer! Was it Boudleau Bryant?

 

Good guess, but not correct I'm afraid. The correct answer was Sharon Sheeley the writer of Somthin Else, the connection because she was Eddie Cochrans girlfriend and also briefly went out with Phil Everly aswell.

 

Admittedly it was a bit hard that one.

Edited March 23, 201411 yr by fiesta

Chic over the chart. Somewhat yawn-inducing.

 

On to Racey. Let’s hope things improve.

 

Still hoping things will improve but in the meantime we get the Three Degrees. Produced by Giorgio Moroder apparently showing that even the best producers can make mistakes.

 

Rocky Sharpe and the Replays next. Pretty poor but still an improvement on the show so far. This is not turning into a vintage week.

 

Legs & Co dancing to Neil Diamond. Not his best but still OK.

 

A totally forgotten Dana song to follow. The attempted comeback after 2 1/2 years away was not a big hit.

 

Still having hits at the end of the decade, it’s Showaddywaddy sounding just like most of their other hits.

 

Oh good grief, it’s Sister Sledge. This really is proving to be a wasted half an hour I won’t ever get back.

 

A band called Kandidate next. This soporific rubbish somehow reached number twelve.

 

Another airing for Black Lace’s Eurovision entry.

 

And we get to Gloria Gaynor at number one. Perhaps there will be something good over the credits. Please. Pretty please.

 

Or perhaps not. It’s The Jacksons but, thankfully, not for long. I’m sure next week’s show will be better.

Not the greatest episode, no...!

 

Racey apparently outselling all those classic early 70's RAK records - outrageous! Just shows how high sales were then. Some Girls, it appears, do, and the lead singer certainly looks up to Legs & co.

 

I loved The Runner, still do, and of course Sister "Niles" Sledge, though the video is outrageously out of tune.

 

Rocky Sharpe showing why performing live with the TOTP orchestra is not always a good thing. Dana? Yes, well, something's cooking, family values and other unwelcome views. Running for office in one country while a citizen of a new one, presumably being a good example of all kinds of everything.

 

Kandidate sounding heavily drugged, thankfully Phil Fearon managed to drag himself loose and have a bit more life in the 80's.

 

Black Lace? My money's on Hallelujah, just as it was on the night in Eurovision! :lol:

Edited March 27, 201411 yr by popchartfreak

I was tempted to watch it on iPlayer as I was out when it was on - but, when I saw the line-up, nah........!

I was tempted to watch it on iPlayer as I was out when it was on - but, when I saw the line-up, nah........!

A wise decision :lol:

Its bad when Racey was the best thing on. Apparently Mike Chapman wrote Some Girls for Blondie, as he was working with them at the time on Parallel Lines. I wonder how their career would have panned out if they had recorded it..

Its bad when Racey was the best thing on. Apparently Mike Chapman wrote Some Girls for Blondie, as he was working with them at the time on Parallel Lines. I wonder how their career would have panned out if they had recorded it..

 

that would have enormously improved the song, I'd say, a la Hanging On The Telephone and speeded up, but the lyrics would have been enough to get vetoed by Debbie Harry, I'd guess...!

Personal taste an' all, but not one of my favourite shows this week, and for some reason it brought to mind the "nostalgia" lyrics in the Baz Lurhrmann song, Sunscreen.

I did like the Three Degrees song though.

 

Noticed a Kate Bush song in the countdown, suspect this would be "Wow". Was hoping she would be on this week, but wasn't. The other disappointment for me regards Kate Bush, is, no luck at getting a ticket for her concerts later this year. I was tbh taken aback at the ticket price I saw of over *£400, but even that, it now seems wasn't available at the time I looked, and I wouldn't pay that, even if I am a big fan of hers.

I've only ever seen Zero 7 in concert, off topic I know, sorry.

 

*Looks like that included more than just the ticket for that price!

Edited March 28, 201411 yr by house.martin

performances from M, Squeeze, the Members, the Jacksons, Milk and Honey & Gali Atari and the Jam. With dance sequences by Legs & Co.

 

Looks like an improvement this week. Cool For Cats by Squeeze I'm assuming.

After last week’s terrible show there has to be an improvement this week. Doesn’t there? Fingers crossed.

 

Yes, it’s better already. Silly Thing may not be the Pistols at their best but it still beats anything from last week.

 

M are the first act to appear. I absolutely loathed Pop Muzik at the time. Actually it’s OK now.

 

Village People with some more campery.

 

Squeeze next - Yeah! I think we have this week’s winners of the least convincing mimers award.

 

And this week Legs & Co get to dance to Sultans Of Swing. Good grief. I suppose that makes them the Sultanas Of Swing.

 

The Members with their second and final hit. Not a patch on Sound Of The Suburbs.

 

The Jacksons in their spangly suits.

 

And now we have the 1979 Eurovision winners. Not Black Lace (there’s a surprise) but Milk And Honey from Israel. Hmm.

 

Oh look, Sultans Of Swing, Cool For Cats and totp are all trending.

 

Anyway we go from Milk and Honey to The Jam. That’s more like it. Paul Weller modelling the haircut he was to keep for eternity. Possibly for a bet.

 

And Gloria Gaynor is number one for a final week.

 

Finally Siouxsie and the Banshees to play us out. Thankfully it was indeed a massive improvement on last week’s horror show.

 

great episode! Nothing sounds dated, The Jam still rockin', Squeeze still cool, Village People still annoyingly catchy, Milk & Honey one of the best eurovision winners (albeit old-fashioned singalong), M well ahead of the times and a great pop music toon that came back agin in the 80's when it fit in nicely. The Members, I have to observe, sounding much better with the also rather ahead of it's time deceptively jolly reggae slagging off of rich bankers. I mean that in the rhyming slang sense. I agreed with the sentiments then, I do still B-)

 

The jacksons preparing for MJ's departure, Dire Straits not yet yawnsome, Gloria swanning-some, and Siouxsie proving not no one-hit novelty wonder. Yay!

Posted this elsewhere, but there's no reason members here should miss these few words of wisdom!

 

The Village People with their first hit had managed to pull the wool over the eyes over much of the USA, as regards the sexuality of the band and it's associations with gay culture. However "In The Navy" pushed a bit too far and it became obvious! Shortly after this the USA would turn away from anything Disco. Nevertheless it wasn't only the anti-gay and Christian lobby that went off the band. Gay activists themselves didn't like the stereotypes being presented by the band. The band responded with less gay songs - such as Can't Stop The Music, which was also an attack on counter disco culture of the USA, but it was too late. In The Navy did go on to inspire producer Ian Levine, together with FGTH Relax, he put the two together and created the sound of High Energy which was a hit for Evelyn Thomas.

The band itself was formed by French producer Jacques Morali, from an assortment of actors, dancers and session singers.

 

Featured on the longer version...

Billy Idol (of Generation X) who's real name was William Broad, was an English Literature student at Sussex University when Punk started. One of the novels he studied was a Douglas Coupland book called Generation X. The Film and novel references continued with that single. The title also happens to be a Russ Myer film, many of his films being famous for women with big breasts. Valley of The Dolls, I believe being one of them.

 

Jools Holland again appears smoking a cigar on the Squeeze track. Even on the video's the band did he smokes the cigar! The two girls reminded me of Sharron and Tracy from Birds of A Feather!

 

The Jam made it's mark on Paul Weller's school, quite literally! The word could be seen carved in school desks all over the place! Paul says the name came from Jam sessions he used to do with lads at school and saying that to his mother! But when you consider that the bands Bread and Marmalade were big at that time, it doesn't take much to put Jam in-between them!

By 1975 they had been working the club circuit and one such club performance saw the wife of one of the chaps from EMI put them in touch with her husband at EMI. However it all came to nothing. It wasn't till the Sex Pistols broke when the record company A&R people became interested in this type of band. Chris Parry of Polydor was after the Clash, but CBS offered them a better deal. So Chris went with the Jam.

Paul clearly used to much polish on his mirror in that song Strange Town, for he sings " I look in the mirror and what do I see? A great big layer of Mr Sheen starring back at me".

Posted this elsewhere, but there's no reason members here should miss these few words of wisdom!

 

The Village People with their first hit had managed to pull the wool over the eyes over much of the USA, as regards the sexuality of the band and it's associations with gay culture. However "In The Navy" pushed a bit too far and it became obvious! Shortly after this the USA would turn away from anything Disco. Nevertheless it wasn't only the anti-gay and Christian lobby that went off the band. Gay activists themselves didn't like the stereotypes being presented by the band. The band responded with less gay songs - such as Can't Stop The Music, which was also an attack on counter disco culture of the USA, but it was too late. In The Navy did go on to inspire producer Ian Levine, together with FGTH Relax, he put the two together and created the sound of High Energy which was a hit for Evelyn Thomas.

The band itself was formed by French producer Jacques Morali, from an assortment of actors, dancers and session singers.

 

Featured on the longer version...

Billy Idol (of Generation X) who's real name was William Broad, was an English Literature student at Sussex University when Punk started. One of the novels he studied was a Douglas Coupland book called Generation X. The Film and novel references continued with that single. The title also happens to be a Russ Myer film, many of his films being famous for women with big breasts. Valley of The Dolls, I believe being one of them.

 

Jools Holland again appears smoking a cigar on the Squeeze track. Even on the video's the band did he smokes the cigar! The two girls reminded me of Sharron and Tracy from Birds of A Feather!

 

The Jam made it's mark on Paul Weller's school, quite literally! The word could be seen carved in school desks all over the place! Paul says the name came from Jam sessions he used to do with lads at school and saying that to his mother! But when you consider that the bands Bread and Marmalade were big at that time, it doesn't take much to put Jam in-between them!

By 1975 they had been working the club circuit and one such club performance saw the wife of one of the chaps from EMI put them in touch with her husband at EMI. However it all came to nothing. It wasn't till the Sex Pistols broke when the record company A&R people became interested in this type of band. Chris Parry of Polydor was after the Clash, but CBS offered them a better deal. So Chris went with the Jam.

Paul clearly used to much polish on his mirror in that song Strange Town, for he sings " I look in the mirror and what do I see? A great big layer of Mr Sheen starring back at me".

Marmalade were at their peak in the late 60s and early 70s so I'm not convinced that The Jam - formed in the mid 70s - owed their name to that band.

 

Ah, Russ Meyer - bad cinema at its best. It's 'Beyond the Valley of the Dolls' you're thinking of - almost certainly his most watchable film where there is an actual story and not just the aforementioned women with big breasts running rampant around the American countryside.

We were spared Gali Atari - another Israeli act, who were on my tv listings to appear on the show. Overall good show. Sound Of The 70's straight after was good to. Basil Brush was on Yay. Boom Boom!

Edited April 4, 201411 yr by fiesta

I like the Eurovision winner Hallelujah and bought it at the time. Not so keen now though!

Edited April 4, 201411 yr by Common Sense