Jed has a little surprise waiting for for his mate Howard......
22/09/83 (Simon Bates & Mike Read)
Howard Jones – “New Song” (44)
A chaintastic start to this week's show, and the first of six top ten hits for Howard, New Song peaking at number 3.
David Bowie – “Modern Love” (8) (video)
Looking very yellow here with a serious moonlight performance of what would soon become his third top two hit from his number one album Let's Dance.
Hot Chocolate – “Tears On The Telephone” (41)
The band's penultimate hit, not including various re-releases over the years, and it peaked at number 37.
Toyah – “Rebel Run” (29) (video)
Peaked at number 24, but edited out of tonight's 7.30 slot.
The Alarm – “68 Guns” (50)
Their first and biggest hit, peaking at number 17. But also edited out of the early showing.
Nick Heyward – “Blue Hat For A Blue Day” (45)
A third top 20 hit from his North of a Miracle album, peaking at number 14. But also edited out of the 7.30 showing.
Status Quo – “Ol’ Rag Blues” (9) (video)
Now at its peak.
Soft Cell – “Soul Inside” (21)
Quite a manic and hair raising performance and Soul Inside went up five more places.
Heaven 17 – “Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry” (17) (video)
At its peak.
Culture Club – “Karma Chameleon” (1)
The first of six weeks at number one for the biggest selling single of 1983, shifting 1.3 million copies.
Hot Streak – “Body Work” (26) (audience dancing/credits)
Their only hit which peaked at number 19.
Next up should be September 29th, but DLT was one of the hosts. So BBC4 will move on to October 6th 1983 instead.
Hot Chocolate - gradually coming to the end of their song catalogue with little left in the tank, as this one got no higher than No.37, and probably their worst result for a single since their debut in 1970.
ReplyDeleteHeaven 17 - stuck at 17 this week but worthy enough to get their video shown. I liked how they could still depict a nurse as a white minidressed bird.
I think everyone who saw it remembers Jed as much as they do Howard Jones, with his dynamic performance of mental chains-throwing off. He must have been absolutely exhausted. Howard's idiosyncratic way with a lyric, challenging preconceived ideas and all, made for an intellectualised but oddly jolly hit.
ReplyDeleteDame David continued his run of successes from the Let's Dance album, and Modern Love has to be the best of them for me, in fact it might be his best single of the 80s. Just a fantastic pop song, though the video's pretty dull.
The inspiration had clearly run out for Hot Chocolate, this was very ordinary compared to their hits, and the telephone business was such a cliché. Buzby said "Make someone happy with a phone call", not miserable!
Toyah on skates! No, it's not a new swear to go with Christ on a bike, it was her video for a typically emphatic but not exactly tuneful bit of post-punk pop. Methinks she saw Tron and wanted a go herself.
THE ALARM, so called because their yelling would wake anybody up, and that's way too much product in their crowning glories, but what a good time barnstormer of a song, a call to arms that you would join and only later ask what we were supposed to be doing there.
Dialling back the energy levels considerably, Nick Heyward's low key charmer has an interesting, almost stop-start quality, and his trademark cheerful through the melancholy stylings. Don't know about best dressed, though, that suit jacket is clearly too big for him.
Status Quo, proving they have a sense of humour with their video by joking that women like their music. Go on, Francis and Rick, pull the other one! Ha, ha!
Soft Cell apparently watched The Alarm and thought, well we can outdo that, hence this histrionic performance for a frantic but none too memorable song. Nice to see a return to the 70s cameraman mowing down the audience ways.
Heaven 17, ah, it makes sense when you see the video, doesn't it? Brightens up what seems self-serious on record with some imaginative renderings. Particularly liked the to-do list.
Sigh, OK, I'll watch Karma Chameleon again. It is a finely crafted pop song, I can't deny that, but man is it ever overplayed, even now, that video too. This is the studio performance where George had borrowed Ben Thomas's hat from kids' show Pie in the Sky. Oh, yeah, I can go obscure as you like.
Lastly, a very repetitive dance tune, a hint of where the genre was heading, but no matter, for the Chinese girl is back and prominently featured in the crowd - she even gets another close-up!
I remember that Late Late Breakfast Show Paris to London excursion with Leo versus Glenn, it used to be on YouTube as well. Can't recall who won, mind you.
Me two for Modern Love as Bowie's best single from the Let's Dance Album, simply because Let's Dance is too repetitive in verse, and Modern Love is a lot broader in verse and appeal.
DeleteThe Toyah video used similar background green swirling smoke effect as ELO's 1981 video for Ticket To The Moon. Where did this effect originate from I wonder? A sort of original Dr Who intro in colourised form?
I suspect that Late Late Breakfast Show plug was put in because it was another Michael Hurll production. I notice they also plugged the start of the second series of Saturday Superstore, which was due to begin on my fourth birthday...
DeleteDory if you think Let's Dance is too repetitive NEVER ever play the 12 inch version, you'll hate it. I remember dancing with some friends to that in a club at the time and feeling worn out and decidedly agitated afterwards,
DeleteThanks, I don't intend to.
DeleteDory, the smoky light effect came in around the late 70s/early 80s when laser light was being used a lot, but it was overused and got old very fast, hence you don't see it now. Think the first place I saw it was in Sheila B. Devotion's Spacer video.
DeleteOh yes THX, I forgot about Sheila B which was probably the best of the three music videos using it, i.e., Sheila B - Spacer (1980), ELO - Ticket To The Moon (1981), and now Toyah - Rebel Run (1983). But wasn't it first used in the 70s in the black & white Dr Who episodes in the famous intro start of each episode?:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inBxTQwJ4dQ
The link shows it first in the Tom Baker episode intros at 1:44-1:48, and then the same effect was re-introduced in 2010 in the Matt Smith episode intros at 7:00-7:35 of the link.
I believe the effect used in 1970s Doctor Who was a camera technique called slit scan, the same as was used most famously in the "Stargate" sequence of 2001: A Space Odyssey. So no lasers involved.
DeleteDory, as a Doctor Who fan, trust me - it is not the same effect used in any of the title sequences, though it is similar.
DeleteHere's another video that I think it featured in - 'Sat In Your Lap' by Kate Bush.
Brilliant Noax, that makes four music videos using this amazing swirling effect, all in green. I've seen this Kate Bush video a number of times, but overlooked the background effect, due to being fixated on Kate Bush looking so young and trim in that shiny white dress. I think she was only about 22 years old in that video, but yes, very good use in 1980 of the Sheila B. video effect, and before ELO and Toyah used it for their videos in 1981 and 1983 respectively. Anyone know of any other videos with this swirling effect?
DeleteSpeaking of Doctor Who and slit-scan, I do believe the same effect was used for the "tunnel" in which the TV cathode ray tube gyrates in the 1983-86 TOTP titles.
DeleteI quite like a Mexican version of Karma Chameleon from 1984, it works quite well with the language and has some minor differences here and there while keeping faithful to the song.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BCqDtrp5Ow
I thought it was going to be George singing in Ppanish but sadly it was a cover version.
DeleteHoward Jones opens with his 'Solsbury Hill' soundalike, which would be the first of 10 Top 40 entries in his homeland, and the first of 9 in the US. Along with Simply Red, Madonna and Enya, he was crucial to the revival in Warner Music's fortunes, particularly in Britain and Europe, during the mid-80s.
ReplyDeleteIn the early 70s there was the half-South Walian, half-Scouse Badfinger; in the early 80s, the half-North Walian, half-Mancunian Alarm. The latter outfit, with its powerful new wave sound, earned the seal of approval from Freddie Mercury, no less - and got to support Queen on several stadium dates as part of the 'Magic Tour'.
Nick Heyward's 'Blue Hat For A Blue Day' was maligned by the press at the time, one teen magazine citing cornflake packets as his main lyrical inspiration! He may not be Tolstoy, but that was an unfair comparison. Nick's solo success would be all too brief, but 'North of a Miracle' - the album from which this single is taken - is one of the forgotten gems of the era. Former Sutherland Brothers & Quiver guitarist Tim Renwick provides mandolin on 'Blue Hat', while Royal Academy piano graduate Danny Schogger tentatively squeezes the piano accordion - a role that cried out for Benny Gallagher.
Both Toyah and Soft Cell were finished as major chart forces by this time, their post-punk styles having been rendered unfashionable by the rise of more universally appealing outfits such as Culture Club, Spandau Ballet and Wham! Also, as Dory points out above, it was almost the end of the chart line for Hot Chocolate - but 'Tears On The Telephone' was a reasonable, if unspectacular, pop-soul offering.
Must admit I've never really seen the comparison to Solsbury Hill, but I like both songs.
DeleteI haven't thought of Hot Chocolate as a soul act for some time, their later offerings sound too poppy and cheesy to be credible.
Deletetotp 29 September 1983 (thanks to Neil) is here: https://we.tl/wGWdxtC5jO
ReplyDeleteNice one :-)
DeleteMike Read, hiding behind shades, appears none too thrilled at the start to have Master Bates as co-host, though they do make a conspicuous effort to be chummy towards the end. Mike provides his normal informative chart stats during his links, and Bates is Bates, mercifully without any interviews or time checks on this occasion - I assume this show wasn't a live one.
ReplyDeleteA lot of songs outside the Top 40 this week, but bizarrely no room for Paul Young, despite the fact that he had climbed to number 4! Howard Jones is the first of the non-mugshot artists, and he makes the most of his opportunity with this memorable performance. I'm sure Jed's antics stuck in the mind of the viewers more than Howard himself, despite his somewhat punchable face, but the catchiness of the song can't be denied. A rather unimaginative video from Bowie to follow, though I like the backing singers in their natty boating jackets. This may just be the most mainstream single he ever released, but it's a top-notch pop song and I agree that it is the best single from Let's Dance (I'd still pick Ashes to Ashes as the peak of his 80s output, though).
The rest of the show, alas, doesn't quite live up to this strong start. Tears on the Telephone is a strictly by-the-numbers effort from Hot Chocolate, though Errol's stripy trousers at least ensure there is something memorable about the performance. Toyah then proves that her sound and image have not really moved on at all since 1981. As THX says, she had clearly been watching Tron before making this video, but it's all rather underwhelming and her "rebel" schtick is more laughable than ever.
God knows how long it took the members of The Alarm to get their hair right each day, but it certainly gave them a distinct look! They were also distinctly lucky to get on the show given their lowly chart placing, but this is an amiable enough slice of rabble-rousing punk-pop which seems to pick up where Tenpole Tudor left off. Nick Heyward then turns up dressed as a country squire, with no backing band on this occasion. Once again, I have to agree with THX that the suit jacket is too big for him, but it's a pleasant enough song which sounds very like Nick's Haircut 100 work - not sure about the slow bit in the middle, though.
Compared to some of the more sophisticated videos we have seen on the show recently, this Quo effort seems very cheap, crude and dated, though some might say that makes it a perfect match for the music they were now putting out! Soft Cell were now very much on the slide, and this would be their penultimate hit before they split early in 1984. It's an energetic performance, and Dave's hair almost rivals The Alarm's as something to behold, but the song is an overproduced, noisy mess signifying that their best days were behind them.
The Heaven 17 video is another one that looks rather cheap, but there are some enjoyable effects and I liked the homage to The Numskulls, the strip from The Beezer about the little people who live in and run a man's body. George celebrates reaching the top by wearing a giant pie on his head, while his bandmates dress up as American footballers - is that because they had just come back from the States? The audience then work their bodies to this rather forgettable dance track to finish off.
I thought the Hot Streak playout was very good, and got the audience really enjoying it. I think it was the start of the streetdancing phonemenon, according to the videos on Utube for it. There was about a minute more of it on the late night repeat, and like the song title, the was definitely a lot of 'body work' from the studio audience.
DeleteI don't recall this track at all, but it does grow on me the more I hear it, and seems to make the perfect playout track, if not Zoo taking it on.
But alas this was the only appearance of it on TOTP during its chart run, as it went up to No.19 the following week, but fell back to No.21 the week after, and did not qualify for another TOTP appearance. So it is a case of hello and goodbye to Hot streak on this very episode of TOTP.
the writer of "body work" had a hot streak of his own in that he also co-composed madonna's breakthrough tune and big hit "holiday"
DeleteBloody hell, the Numskulls strip in The Beezer, I remember that!
DeleteI have one particular
recollection, but I can't remember if it was an actual Numskulls strip or the specific answer to a reader's question: "why do we have dreams?" The answer was that at night the little men who operate your brain pull down the blind over the eyes (cartoon eyes being very close together of course) and then project movies onto it for their evening's entertainment!
I definitely remember the Numskulls pulling down their man's eyelids as if they were blinds, but can't say I have any recollection of them watching films on them!
Deletehosts: the only justified reason for mr read to wear shades indoors is surely so that slimy appears to him merely as a blur?
ReplyDeletehoward jones: a plain jane (or john in his case, as that was his actual given name - i think i'd rather be known as that than his middle name howard!) pushing thirty by the time he got a record deal, and his multi-coloured woolly jumper and plantpot haircut can't hide that. and even sidekick jed has trouble in doing so, despite doing his best to give a visual image to howard's catchphrase "throw off you mental chains" by failing to throw off physical ones. i seem to remember this insipid tune getting compared rather closely to peter gabriel's "solsbury hill"
bowie: presumably this footage was culled from the stupidly-named "glass spider" tour? i don't know if it's deliberate or not, but the dame's hair looks a rather peculiar shade of blond here. musically it's another case of how the mighty have fallen
hot chocolate: was this their last hurrah? if so then a pretty unmemorable one. unlike errol's strides
toyah: after a year or so out of the spotlight (during which time she no doubt failed to sleep at night) the talented ms wilcox (that is talented as in making a little go a long way) has one more stab at this pop music lark before realising that other avenues of entertainment (such as doing a 10-second voiceover for "the tellytubbies") served as more fertile mediums to keep herself in the public eye. there's no sign of her band in this video, nor even much of her underneath what looks like an american football helmet. like the last single that was a minor hit, i had no recollection of it a few seconds after i heard it. which is quite a relief actually
alarm: somebody watching this said they sounded like the clash, which reminded me that they copped some flack for being clash copyists at the time. i think the clash themselves are crap, so this lot have got no chance as far as i'm concerned. all i can say otherwise is: if they put an ad for a new member in the classifieds, would it read "slapheads need not apply"?
nick heyward: he was always lyrically inane, but now he's musically banal as well
quo: who was the richard burton alike in the video? and why was he there?
soft cell: even though everything was presumably generated by synths, this sounds like a hard rock band to me. what with that and marc shouting himslef hoarse to be heard above the din this is awful. truly awful
hot streak: at last, some quality music on the show! i remember at this time i had just moved into a new residence and was listening to the top 30 chart rundown on the radio, and they played not one but two amazing post-disco tracks that were at the bottom end of it - this and "what i got is what you need" by unique. i loved this track so much i remember actually going out from time to time to a trendy wine bar where i always hoped it would get a play among all the lesser similar fare (shannon springs to mind) being played there!
Great shout about that Unique track! A classic slice of early 80s groove. Sampled by 808 State on their track Ancodia I believe.
Deletei'm pleased my tip is appreciated, however not so pleased to read it's been sampled (but rather tragically, what hasn't been these days?)
Deleteif you like that, then i think you'll like this (that came out on the same label) too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8t40G-aWCM
I just HAD to go and find the Alarm performance on YouTube - it's a 20th Century Relic all-time fave (haven't had one of those for a while)! It has to be said, however, that the opinion was formed by listening to the record on the radio, not seeing the haircuts on TV...
ReplyDeleteSpot the edit right at the end? No mention of the number one and obviously a comment on DLT doing next weeks show!
ReplyDeleteI did spot it but this is nothing new, cos every week this seems to happen where BBC4 edit out any mention of DJs yewtreed or ones that they do not like, i.e., JS, DLT, JK
DeleteWhile I never bought the Howard Jones song I liked it a lot. Not sure if everyone got the mental chains symbolism that Howard's mime mate was trying to show, maybe they thought it was an escapology act gone wrong. Top tune though but I was never sure about the line "bend your brain", surely "unbending" would be more appropriate.
ReplyDeleteModern Love was probably my favourite of the three 1983 Bowie singles but I never cared much for the "live" video. Never got why the backing vocalists are dressed as Oxford Graduates or Wimbledon umpires.
These later Hot Chocolate hits are okay but they lack the punch of the 1970s singles. I think at the time mentally I switched off when I heard certain artists who to me were un-cool at the time and HC were certainly one of those acts.
Very average fare from Toyah. Dreadful title. Rebel Run sounds like a cage for maverick guinea pigs. And what the hell is she wearing on her head? It looks like a tryout for Hannibal Lecter's mask (if only it could stop her singing). I remember when I worked at Our price records around this time and one of Toyah's albums (Warrior Rock) had the same catalogue number as a Mickey Dread dun reggae album and it was very easy to grab the wrong one off the shelf and put it in the Toyah sleeve when someone bought a copy. I remember one Toyah fan who returned a copy and had it replaced only for the same thing to happen again before we realised why it had happened. I wonder if he got into dub reggae by accident that way?
Never really cared much for the Alarm's music but this is a decent song with a good chorus. The lead singer looks like someone's dad close up (it's the eyebrows) and keeps panning the audience as if he was worried that they might run away. They're having a good time though aren't they and I like the way they've used up a whole tub of hair gel between them in order to all achieve that "just got frit" look.
Nick Hayward seems to shed musicians every time he appears and is now on his todd. Bless. A good song though sung in his usual Kermit frog voice. Not too sure about his corduroy jacket though, a bit too country squire for me,
While I liked all the early Soft Cell releases the last album and this single didn't hold the same appeal for me. A bit too rough-and-ready and shouty. And clearly rock influenced rather than soul which was never a good idea. Marc Almond went on to make some superb solo singles and albums though.
Then the brill Heaven 17 video which I remember well and it took a couple of viewings to realise that we are seeing inside Glen's head. I remember it particularly because I bought my first video recorder at this time and stated saving clips of my favorite pop acts from music shows and this was the first TOTP I recorded clips from that way. The acts I recorded were Heaven 17, Culture Club and Soft Cell. I still have the tape somewhere.
The Top Ten and numero uno with Culture Club and George in his top hat. I recall one woman coming into the record shop I worked in and asking for Karma Cham-a-lon. We tried not to laugh.
Playout with Hot Streak which I have vague memories of from the time but like a lot of these songs it's very easy to get one confused with the other.
bama your comment about toyah fans getting a reggae album with the same serial number by mistake reminds me of an early 80's savage pencil comic strip (that was a regular feature of "sounds" music weekly) whereby a lazy jam fan sends his mother out to buy their latest album "sound affects", and she gets a bbc sound effects album instead. the fan then plays it and is rather bemused, before assuming the modfather must be going through his "experimental phase"!
DeleteRebel Run sounds like a ZX Spectrum game. Appropriately, the video looks like one too.
DeleteA mostly good show blighted by the tragedy of being hosted by double cheese in the shape of Bates and Read. Why does Mike keep holding the mic out to us as if we're expected to speak? Why can't they find a picture of Unique? None of these questions and less answered below...
ReplyDeleteHoward Jones - Seizing his opportunity with a great performance (bar the chewing, I HATE that!) with Jed doing his act, it's no wonder this was a big hit. This was definitely talked about at school the next day. Digressing slightly, but in my radio career I only ever interviewed 2 grumpy pop starts and sadly Howard was one. In mitigation, it was an interview over the phone so it was hard to build a rapport. The Supernaturals (remember them?) had no such excuse...
David Bowie - Better than 'China Girl' but not as good as 'Let's Dance' I would say.
Hot Chocolate - Bloody awful, and why they didn't chop this from the early show I don't know.
Toyah - Of all the songs in this show, this sounds the most obviously dated. Not great.
The Alarm - Like Howard, making the most of a rare 'not in the 40' appearance. A good song with a performance that even - shock horror! - seems to get the audience quite into it.
Nick Heyward - Not as good as his previous 2 solo hits, it's alright but a little slight
Quo - Another one that should have been chopped from the early showing rather than The Alarm or Nick Heyward.
Soft Cell - It's like a relentless onslaught on the senses, this tune. But I've always really loved it for some reason. It's their best 'late period' single.
Heaven 17 - Someone needs to learn how you spell 'Snack'.
Culture Club - In my memory, it was always the video that got played. This proves otherwise!
Hot Streak - Yet another bland soul / funk thing.
Karma Chameleon while having an iconic gem of a video, was a 6-week No.1 mainly on the back of its catchy musical notes on the intro. Just yesterday at lunchtime (yes in April 2017) I was driving and had the radio on Smooth FM, and the song got played without any DJ introduction, and just hearing those first notes sent goose pimples down my spine. It is probably one of the top 5 spellbinding intros of the 80s if not of all time, that it is no wonder that it was one of the best selling singles of all time. Boy George can be very proud.
DeleteBates and Read – a very smooth duo indeed!
ReplyDeleteHoward Jones – New Song – One of those songs that did nothing for me. Howard always looked as if he’d been dragged through a field backwards but I guess that was the image! Who was the dancing topless guy in chains and face paint?
David Bowie – Modern Love – When I first saw this single advertised I assumed it was a cover of the Peter Gabriel song, but no it’s much better. Fabulous song and video gives a taste of the ‘Serious Moonlight’ Tour which I wish I’d seen. There was actually another song in the top30 at this time with the same title as a (future) Peter Gabriel song….
Hot Chocolate – Tears on the Telephone – How the mighty had fallen. On the sleeve notes for ‘The Rest of the Best of Hot Chocolate’ Errol Brown commented; “Tears on the Telephone is another of my own numbers although I don’t remember much about it apart from the fact that it peaked at no37”. Nuff said.
Toyah – Rebel Run – Very way out, and it’s a mystery how it even made the charts.
The Alarm – 68 Guns – Hmmmm…. Perhaps they should have stayed in the States. Don’t remember this at all.
Nick Hayward – Blue Hat for a Blue Day – Written by Jeff Lynne who loved the word ‘Blue’? We’ve also got ‘Blue Monday’ in the charts too! No, this is written by Nick himself who once again demonstrates that he’s no miming expert. Nice song though.
Status Quo – Ol Rag Blues – Back in the charts after 24 years? 11 months more like. What he meant to say was still sounding the same after 24 years perhaps? It’s very short isn’t it?
Soft Cell – Soul inside – Not quite in the same league as the likes of ‘Torch’…. Another one that passed me by. Why oh why didn’t they release the B Side as the A Side? An excellent cover of ‘You only live twice’ which shows off Marc’s soaring vocals to great effect. Much better than this twaddle.
Heaven 17 – Crushed by the wheels – Ughh… Eye catching video can’t disguise a weak single.
Culture Club – Karma Chameleon – In the studio finally …dressed as American Footballers…except for George! Prefer the video though.
Hot Streak – Body Work – Not one I recall at all. Won’t be rushing out to buy it! Lyrically weak too! Ideal playout music though, I’ll say that for it. Nice shots of the lighting rigs.
Surely not - Jeff Lynne writing a song for Nick Hayward? Good Lord, whatever next?
Delete