May 27, 20169 yr Author ELO at their best were great, but unfortunately some of their 80s stuff was rather formulaic. It's good to see them getting proper credit now.
May 27, 20169 yr I'd only discovered The Creatures last year, which is strange as they had quite a few top 40 hits and I'm quite partial to a bit of Siouxie & The Banshees, but my favourite moment from them has to be "Miss The Girl". The marimba is a much maligned instrument in popular music. AMom_uQrVK8 Is it just me, or does their drummer reminds anyone of Flash Gordon?
May 27, 20169 yr BBC4 schedule update: 9th June - 3rd Dec 81 (Kid Jensen) 10th June - 17th Dec 81 (Simon Bates) 16th June - 24th Dec 81 (Kid Jensen) 17th June - 31st Dec 81 (Mike Read) (7.30-8.00pm) 17th June - The Story of 1982 (10.00pm - 11.00pm) 17th June - Big Hits 1982 (11.00pm - 12.00pm) No Christmas Day 1981 because it features The Radio 1 DJs inclu Savile and DLT It has previously been on UK Gold
May 28, 20169 yr I could never understand Julio Iglesias reaching No.1. Yes it's a good tune but I wouldn't buy a song where I could only understand one line. Actually prefer the follow-up, Yours.
June 1, 20169 yr BBC4 schedule update: 9th June - 3rd Dec 81 (Kid Jensen) 10th June - 17th Dec 81 (Simon Bates) 16th June - 24th Dec 81 (Kid Jensen) 17th June - 31st Dec 81 (Mike Read) (7.30-8.00pm) 17th June - The Story of 1982 (10.00pm - 11.00pm) 17th June - Big Hits 1982 (11.00pm - 12.00pm) No Christmas Day 1981 because it features The Radio 1 DJs inclu Savile and DLT It has previously been on UK Gold Fantastic to see the Story of 1982 being shown as well - looking forward!!
June 2, 20169 yr Author Here we go again with an episode from November 1981, hosted by Steve Wright. I think they are trying to create some sort of party atmosphere. We start with another airing for Modern Romance. I’m sure things will improve. Oh dear, they’ve got a moose. No sign of an aye-aye though. Here's one... I didn’t say they’d improve immediately. Here’s Julio Iglesias with another repeat. Oh gawd, he’s turned up in the studio. Things have improved now. It’s The Pretenders with a song written by Ray Davies. The ABC repeat has been cut. Diana Ross with her version of an old song. The Specials are no more, so we get an offshoot in the form of Fun Boy Three. Wonderful stuff. First part of the chat next with a very garish colour scheme. It’s that Trevor Walters bloke again. A slightly different - but still garish - colour scheme for the next bit of the chart. A return to the sleep theme with Soft Cell. A more subtle colour scheme for the top ten rundown which ends with a brilliant number one from Queen & David Bowie. Sadly Zoo are here to spoil it. The Jets have survived the cut this time. After all, they couldn’t really axe the credits.
June 2, 20169 yr Author The Kinks never recorded I Go To Sleep, but here's a demo of the song by Ray Davies G8pkG9cyBsc
June 2, 20169 yr I think it's more of a European wail, Ay-Ay-Ay-Ay-Ay, and we should all feel sorry for the moosey :lol: Love The Pretenders, still sad to think the boys on either side of Chrissie didn't have that long to live after this performance. Diana ruined a 50's doo wop classic, and this marked the moment I went off her after a fairly loyal 15 years of mostly love. The Specials were fab, Trev cool, Soft Cell not up to Tainted Love standard (though not a lot is), and a brilliant Bowie/Queen instant hit that was cruelly bumped off the top pretty quickly 2 weeks later by crooning Julio. I never forgave him for that. Ice Ice Baby...!
June 2, 20169 yr Author One of my earliest gigs was The Pretenders at the Poole Arts Centre (as it was then). I was never a fan of Diana Ross (or Dross as I knew her). Soft Cell were great though.
June 2, 20169 yr I see the studio has its change and I assume we have seen the last of the dancing girls? The scene is set for George Michael and Boy George the way the studio is now - very mid 80s all of a sudden!
June 3, 20169 yr Yes, Legs and Co replaced by Zoo (who would go on until 1983 apparently) in November 1981. Probably for the best - disco and body popping were all the rage and that was more important than skimpy costumes "giving Dad something to keep him happy". Ay Ay Moosey has great percussion - not the worst Modern Romance song by any means. I was also really pleased to see a conga line on TOTP. Although I hate being in conga lines, I love watching them.
June 3, 20169 yr Yeh Legs and Co were very 60s/70s style. I didnt realise they got actual dancers in thought there was an audience. I see Boy George appears dancing in one episode!
June 3, 20169 yr Author We’re on to the last week in November now, with Mike Read hosting. We start where we finished last week (aka last night) with Jets. A Mr George O’Dowd can be seen in the audience. Earth, Wind & Fire with a song that sounds pretty much like all their other songs. I wonder how much that video cost. They should’ve asked for their money back. Toyah next. She’s forgotten her microphone, but never mind. Nobody will notice. Oh, she’s going into the audience. Perhaps she’s looking for a spare mic. Cliff Richard with one of his blander songs. He had blander efforts to come. Ooh, how exciting. We get the top ten albums with Queen’s Greatest Hits at number one. Thirty-five years on, it’s still a regular presence in the top 100. Imagination have been cut. Good call there Mr Editor. Ultravox with a song that could have been a television talent show theme tune 30-odd years later, but wasn’t. Still, Midge Ure will turn up again later in a BBC4-style talent show. Normality is restored with the singles chart. Last week’s garish colour scheme seems to have been abandoned already. On to Kim Wilde. A few years earlier, she might have had to call the song Kampuchea which wouldn’t have scanned properly. More from the chart. Another contender for worst song of the week, from Kool & The Gang. The top ten rundown finishes with another week at number one for Queen & David Bowie so we go out on a high. Someone on work experience has clearly been allowed to select a few random bits of film from the archives in the absence of an official video.
June 3, 20169 yr Another good ep for me bar the jets and a lacklustre toyah. And kool n the gang. All are merely ok. Love cambodia tho and cliff does a sweet version of a 50s doowop track, in stark contrast to ms ross and her effort last night. I felt sure the boy george reference was going to lead into the voice! Perhaps a quip about him turning around for midge ure? Ah well, humour's loss :lol:
June 5, 20169 yr What's the name of the Squeeze track that was a hit at the time and played for the last few episodes!
June 5, 20169 yr Author What's the name of the Squeeze track that was a hit at the time and played for the last few episodes! Labelled With Love
June 6, 20169 yr Author It was their third (and last) top ten hit, but probably the least well-known of those three.
June 6, 20169 yr Kevin Rowland recorded a great cover version of Labelled with Love on his My Beauty album.
June 9, 20169 yr Author As we begin to get faint hints of summer in 2016, we have reached December 1981 in TOTP-land. David Jensen hosts this edition. Earlier in the day Blue Peter viewers were shown how to make a reindeer out of their Radio Times. Bad Manners start things off, demonstrating the law of diminishing returns. Ah, this is better. Time for Soft Cell. Dave Ball really going for the Ron Mael look. Status Quo have been cut. No great loss there. Duran Duran with a song I’d forgotten existed. A rundown of the US top ten has been cut. Whether he has been permanently banished remains to be seen. Diana Ross with a repeat of her Frankie Lymon cover. Only three members of Zoo turned up this week. Maybe the others took one look at the green costumes and fled, possibly muttering something about not wanting to be dressed like a Quality Street. Godley and Creme next. Shouldn’t Under Your Thumb have come after Wedding Bells? The first bit of the UK chart now. The albums chart rundown seems to have gone already. Super stuff from Fun Boy Three now. On to the next bit of the chart. At number nine, a rare sighting of Human League. Most of their 1981 performances came on Yewtreed shows. Jensen thinks this might be Christmas number one. Hmm, I wonder if he’s right. We end with the top eight rundown and an awful number one from Julio Iglesias. Back again tomorrow when it’s almost Christmas.
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