I Fall For You
22/11/84 (John Peel & Tommy Vance)
Nick Heyward – “Warning Sign” (34)
Getting this live edition underway is Nick Heyward performing what would become his final top 30 hit when it reached number 25.
Chicago – “Hard Habit To Break” (8) (video)
At its peak and edited out of tonight's 7.30 broadcast.
The Kane Gang – “Respect Yourself” (38)
Peaked at number 21. And also edited out of tonight's 7.30 showing.
The Human League – “Louise” (26) (video)
It's a busy time for Phil in the charts at the moment, this third and final single from their top three album Hysteria made it to number 13.
Billy Ocean – “Caribbean Queen” (6)
A second bout of dad dancing from Billy but the song was stuck at number 6.
Murray Head – “One Night In Bangkok” (27)
It's always brave and admirable when somebody performs a live vocal in the studio, especially on a live show, though this seemed somewhat shaky in places, and although the verses were live, the chorus was mimed! But this first song from the Tim Rice/Abba boys musical Chess peaked at number 12.
Shakin’ Stevens – “Teardrops” (24)
Talking of shaky .... here he was with yet another top ten hit, peaking at number 5.
Chaka Khan – “I Feel For You” (1) (video)
Third and final week at the top.
Limahl – “Never Ending Story” (4) (audience dancing/credits)
At its peak.
Before his performance on tonight’s #TOTP, watch @NickHeyward on Pop Quiz in 1984 and see if you can beat him to the answer. pic.twitter.com/7Ffd0G3Xos— BBC Four (@BBCFOUR) November 9, 2017
Nick Heyward does Pop Quiz
It's November 29th next.
It was both the last show to be hosted by tommy Vance and it was the Kane gangs nick heywards and Murray heads last appearances on the show
ReplyDeleteTommy becomes the final victim of the Michael Grade-instigated TOTP purge, and it's a real shame as he is at his enthusiastic best here and also seems to work better with Peel than on their previous show together. You get the impression that Tommy was never seen as a perfect fit for TOTP, as throughout his time he would present regularly for a while and then disappear for long periods, but I will miss him. JP himself is in good sardonic form, and seems to be enjoying himself more than on some recent shows.
ReplyDeleteNick Heyward reaches the end of the chart line, but this little-known effort was quite a respectable way to bow out, mixing funk, rock, soul and even some semi-rapping to decent effect - the backing singers also looked very smart. If I had a criticism it would be that it sounds a bit anonymous, as if it could have been recorded by a number of different artists, with Nick mislaying his own distinctive voice somewhat. The Kane Gang return with their own backing singer in tow, plus a couple of extra musicians. A good, muscular version of The Staple Singers classic, but in truth it doesn't add much to the original.
A forgotten little gem from the League next, a pleasing story-song which doesn't falter even when Phil goes into distinctly unromantic talkie mode! Nice atmospheric b/w video too, though some of the action doesn't seem to bear much relation to the lyrics. Billy is back in the same suit and with the same dreadful dancing as previously, though this performance is chiefly notable for the mysterious red smear on one of the camera lenses, which reappears when Murray Head takes the stage. One Night in Bangkok is to my mind the lesser of the two big singles from Chess - the chorus is quite catchy, but the spoken verses get on my nerves. Murray - an old mucker of Tim Rice's from Jesus Christ Superstar days - is oddly static for most of this performance, the exception being when he briefly wanders over to join his much more enthusiastic backing singers.
Another single wheezes its way off the Shaky production line, and to ring the changes he's wearing a sparkly black jacket on this occasion. Otherwise it is very much business as usual, albeit at the slower end of his musical spectrum. The only real thing of note about this song is that in places it sounds suspiciously similar to Paul and Paula's sugary 60s hit Hey Paula. The Neverending Story makes for an atmospheric playout, though the mood is hilariously interrupted by the mulleted and ponchoed cheerleader falling off his podium almost as soon as he starts dancing...
Nice guitar on Warning Sign too, maybe when he sings the words 'warning sign' there's that Nick drawl (if that's the right word).
DeleteI love One Night in Bangkok, I didn't like I Know Him So Well that much at the time, in retrospect there is decent craft to it, though Heaven Help My Heart flows better for me (though it didn't even reach the chart 100). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_EN7EXllUk For me one of the very best ballads of 84.
Actually it's more before that with Nick, where he says 'everytime, feel the sign', I think there's still distinctive touches to his vocal at times anyway.
DeleteThere are places in the song where the vocal is distinctively Nick, but there aren't many.
DeleteYou were getting close to what I was thinking about the Shakin Steven's song (what happened to Shakey Shakerson, long gone from these blogs?). The sound on Shakin Stevens was akin to Happy Days, where I suddenly thought of Fonzie, Richie and Chachi when I heard this. It seems that Shakin Stevens was still obsessed with 1950s rock 'n' roll, jukebox sound and the Amercian romantic bubble of the era, now 30 years later in the 80s.
DeleteIt was certainly a fine slow dancing record, and pity that they did not include the studio audience members engaging in some slow dancing in the background of the performance, as they had allowed on TOTP in the 1981-1983 more romantic part of the decade.
Oh, and that studio audience male regular on the payouts who this week fell off the podium at the start of the playout, is really beginning to get on my nerves, and we seem to have lost the regular blonde lady that appeared most weeks on the playout from early 1983 to Oct 1984. Not seen her seen the first October edition of TOTP. Please come back!
Nick Heyward back for the final time before obscurity knocked (though he's certainly made a comeback to the limelight recently), I really like this, it deserved to do better with its funk groove and classy production. Exactly what the backing singer in the talky bits is on about is anyone's guess. Nice "stroking the dog" dance move from Nick.
ReplyDeleteChicago with one of those 80s addiction-based tunes, there was a lot of it about as the cocaine boom took hold on the industry. Also a lot of electric piano in MOR.
The Kane Gang, well, it's not that they cover Respect Yourself badly, it's more that they didn't need to do it at all. Was that PP Arnold as the backing singer? Looked like her, apologies if she wasn't.
I agree with Peelie, or at least agree Louise was the best single off this album, it burbles along with regretful lyrics and gets stuck in your head. Also, the video is quite amusing, especially the image of floating down the canal on top of a car. Wouldn't those books get wet in the rain, though? And that's no way to park a bus.
Billy Ocean and his triple-lunged vocals, more or less the same as before, including the bit where he struts his stuff to the audience's evident delight.
Murray Head, now I absolutely loved this at the time, listened to it over and over, but what I thought of this can't be arsed performance I can't recall. Hastings?! It is quite entertaining, maybe for the wrong reasons, but this is an occasion where TOTP should have gone for the video. Also, a show with everything but Yul Brynner would be a nightmare to orchestrate, and presumably the only audience member would be Yul Brynner because everything else would be included in the show, including Yul's clothes, so he would basically be floating in space naked watching everything in the universe dancing for his pleasure. I assume Chess wasn't like that? Anyone see it?
Shakin' Stevens with a song that's either a cover of an early 60s hit that wasn't a hit over here, or is a very adept pastiche. Even though it wasn't 1962 anymore, this did very well for Shaky, presumably thanks to the grans buying it.
I'm normally averse to records putting their own cheering on them in an "I'm great, me" type way, but I'll allow it with Chaka Khan and company, a great number one.
Yes, as noted, the best thing about the play out song was the ponchoed berk toppling off his podium. It's what we've been waiting for these past few months!
Bye Tommy, a safe pair of hands (and a safe set of vocal chords), definitely one of the better presenters.
"Teardrops" was a very adept pastiche written by Shaky himself, and featured That Hank Marvin Out Of The Shadows on guitar.
DeleteWow, I loved this tune from The Kang Gang at the time, not knowing that there was an original by The Staples Singers in the 50s/60s. In any case, I think The Kane Gang with Martin Brummer's fine vocals made it the best version to this day, when you consider that Bruce Willis charted with his version in 1987, and then M People in 1993.
DeleteAnd yes, I think that was PP Arnold as the backing singer with The Kane Gang, making the entire sound a lot more soul-based than The Staples Singers original, which is what I think The Kane Gang were looking to achieve here. It could also have been the lead singer on Rose Royce when you see the video of Wishing On A Star (1978) or Is It Love You're After (1979).
The superb disco lights and colour-mixing of the studio lights surrounding The Kane Gang's stage was probably the finest I have ever seen on TOTP, and probably where TOTP had finally found its best disco lighting all these years, now in late 1984.
the original version of "respect yourself" actually came out as late as 1971 (i had it down as mid-to-late 60's before i looked it up)
Deletealso: according to wiki m people never did a version of "respect yourself" (although strangely enough they did a cover of the 80's soul/club hit by dennis edwards called "don't look any further"... as did the kane gang!). perhaps mercifully i don't remember bruce willis having a go at it, but others who have done recordings apparently include robert palmer and joe cocker...
Yeah Wilberforce, I got it mixed up with Don't Look Any Further, which was covered by both The Kane Gang and M People. The song Respect Yourself was covered only by The Kane Gang (1984) and Bruce Willis (1987).
Deletehosts: how ironic that this one is presented by two of the most committed jocks when it comes to "credible" music (be it punk/indie or hard rock/metal) yet (despite tommy's assertion that "it's gonna be a real blisterer") the insipid musical fare presented is anything but, and perhaps the worst episode we've seen so far. with regard to my own situation, i'm reminded of when mark hughes had signed up for barcelona around this time but agreed to stay with man utd until the end of the season, and his manager (big ron - am i allowed to mention him?) saying how it was obvious his heart was no longer in playing for them - with only a few weeks to go before my previously-announced "retirement" i have to say i'm starting to feel likewise, and perhaps for the first time ever looking at this line-up i felt reviewing it was a real chore when my time could be spent doing better things...
ReplyDeletenick hayward: did someone let off some fireworks just before nick started? i was never impressed with any of his solo stuff, and only had a dim memory of the chorus of this one. however a listen reveals it's actually a bit better than than i recall and probably his classiest effort (although in his case it was too little too late). the modulation up a semitone into said chorus (and back down again for the next verse) doesn't quite work for me though. is nick putting on a tribute by getting his own set of identically-dressed "shapethrowers" (a la drifters, stylistics, detroit spinners et al, who had pretty much become extinct after their 70's heyday) on stage with him? he's even got one actually singing whilst the others dance! oh dear, if you'll exscuse the indulgence there's a "warning sign" of what's to come with some dreadful rapping in the middle (however to be frank it sounded more like jive to me, although i don't claim to be an expert in this area)
kane gang: soul music with a strong gospel element about it has me running for the hills, whether it's sung by african-americans or white imitators. so i shan't be reminding myself of this
human league: martin rushent had long-since jumped off the sinking ship by this time, and by now jo callis had followed him. so no wonder this was so dire. another case of how the mighty have fallen
murray head: couldn't benny & bjorn come up with a melody for the verses? or maybe murray just couldn't sing. more forgettable rubbish
shakin' stevens: plodding on relentlessly with yet another "smash" that no one will remember one iota of now - probably even if they listen to it again now, which won't be the case in my case
Yes indeed, the more solemn style now apparent in Phil Oakey's singing style on this new single, was perhaps apparent in certain visuals within the video: The Routemaster London bus careering out of control at the start of the video, the boat sinking in the canal which looked like Little Venice or Camden Lock, the boat librarian occupation, the video in black&white, and Phil wearing a learned gentleman's blazer. But what was the story about, and who was Louise in the video?
DeleteIt was certainly a strange single to release and not in the thread of The Human League that we had been accustomed to in the 1981-1983 years which was so distinctive at the time and made us sit up. How the mighty have fallen indeed Wilberforce, and sorry to see The Human League drift away like this (excuse the pun).
According to Wikipedia (the font of all knowledge) Louise was played by vocalist Susan Sulley.
DeleteWell it was lovely to hear Limahl’s ‘Never ending story’ throughout this in all the breaks and then finish off with a dance out to it. I can’t get enough of this at the moment!
ReplyDeleteNick Hayward – Warning Sign - …of no more hits to come? Not quite in the same class as his early hits for me.
Chicago – Hard habit to break – JP cannot disguise his hatred for this but it’s definitely in my top 10 for 1984.
Kane Gang – Respect yourself – FF
Human League – Louise – I think this was supposed to be about the two people from ‘Don’t you want me’ meeting up years later. Anyway, the Routemaster featured (RM1740) was once painted all over for ‘Danone’ yogurts and later in life ended up in Uruguay!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/128088688@N06/23097957829/in/photolist-r8AXEf-kUcp9p-8CNLan-aEeZbH-pC8e78-DVu1jG-nbhG9c-dnvKXW-aQX9bD-qtbJUY-rqbeuX-oTjBis-gc3ijT-gc2XQf-WT1Rvb-aTb4MR-aTb4hg-Bc659e-F48B9U-oogMd6
Billy Ocean – Caribbean Queen – That dancing really makes it doesn’t it?
Murray Head – One Night in Bangkok – Wasn’t he good? Murray did well to pull this off. This song reminds me of a hot summer trip to Boulogne in 1985 in the days when you had to get the Ferry and a backstreet bar I went in had this playing on the jukebox.
Shakin’ Stevens – Teardrops – None on the dancefloor here as far as I can see. Nice bit of guitar work from invisible Hank Marvin!
Chaka Khan – I feel for you – Getting a bit tired of this video now. I suppose when the shows were a week apart it wasn’t so bad but with the batched repeats it feels like too much of a good thing.
Sad to see Tommy exit. He sometimes stood in for Nicky Horne on the Capital Radio ‘Mummies Chart show’ in the late 70s. If anyone didn’t catch the Queen ‘News of the World’ documentary shown on BBC4 on Friday 03/11 it’s worth a watch. Nicky hated Queen at this point in time and when NOTW was voted into the chart by listeners he repeatedly chose (for me) the worst track ‘Get down, make love’. Tommy, however, treated us to some of the better tracks when he hosted the show.
Actually I wonder if Peel would have liked this from Chicago? It's just sublime and the comments from various folks are spot on...
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKvNoC0SRoY
Chicago with Hard Habit To Break is not only one of my favourites of theirs and of 1984, but also of the entire 80s. It epitomises the American romantic sound, the meaningful bond between man and woman, and uses lyrics that could not be more complimentary to the opposite sex, such as "being without you takes a lot of getting used to" and "I'm addicted to you babe" and "you're a hard habit to break".
DeleteThe two best parts of the video was the rare sharing of the screen by Cetera and his co-lead singer, Cetera taking the left side of the screen to make way for his colleague to share the limelight on the vocals. The other bit was the feature girl at the end of the video twiddling her thumbs, trying to choose between three hard habits to break, i.e., smoking, drinking, or her boyfriend. Difficult decisions, eh?
With this now at its peak of No.8, we say goodbye once again to a classic 80s American sound that knocks socks of Chaka Khan's American sound at No.1 this week. But Chicago are not done yet, as there will be more follow-ups in 1985, with Peter Cetera taking centre stage once again, and where he was most comfortable.
Dory - Chicago did register a minor hit with their next single 'You're the inspiration'; the third taken from '17'. I believe that this was shunned by TOTP sadly, but over the pond it matched 'Hard habit to break' reaching no3. The final single was one of the best tracks from '17' - 'Along comes a Woman' but unfortunately someone decided to remix it and it's not an improvement at all, and the single didn't trouble the scorers.
DeleteAll the videos are on YT to enjoy (including the first single' Stay the Night') which features dramatic car and motorcycle chases.
Look forward to 'Glory of love'!
I regularly look out for Chicago videos on iTunes, and the only one from this album available to purchase on iTunes is in fact You're The Inspiration from 1985, where Cetera dons a Grease-style high school jacket when singing about his love. I'm still eagerly waiting for iTunes to release Hard Habit To Break and Hard To Say I'm Sorry. Now that would be some video collection!
Deleteoh dear, it's a dory and sct chicago love-in! by the way sct i think peelie would have rather had ate his own vomit then admit to liking a tune of theirs (whilst i think all their 80's singles are absolute drivel, i'm happy to say that i have always loved "if you leave me now")
DeleteLouise was better than I expected, it's got an easygoing feel compared to some of their earlier hits. The chorus didn't start off great but that last line gave it a needed perk up. Definitely preferable to me than The Lebanon which did nothing for me.
ReplyDeleteI did check if the Shaky song was a cover after I heard it and being not so impressed. Not one of his better original efforts. I'm not sure exactly why, maybe it just didn't feel like he put much heart into it.
I much prefer the earlier Kane Gang song. Though this did feel like it had more heart to it than Shaky and it's well produced, so I didn't mind it, it was decent still.
British music in this period reworked the US 60s/70s soul influence in all kinds of ways, George Michael at the time said they took those influences and sold them back to America updated. Here it doesn't feel like the music has probably been transformed as much as in some other instances.
Murray Head does a great vocal, the phrasing and energy is as important as melody and the arrangement is great. While I love melody there can be more to music than that. The same with Penny Lover recently as well, I think it's one of Lionel Richie's best vocals (apparently he wrote that with his wife at the time).
I remember mostly the fantastic famous classical intro to Murray Head's One Night In Bangkok, which was completely and shockingly omitted in this TOTP studio appearance, where they went straight into the lyrics with no intro.
DeleteEven then, we see Murray Head completely static at the start, and fluffing his lines very nervously, as though he had never sung on stage before, which was probably the case, and I agree with THX that the video should have been shown, especially to admire the musical talent on the classical ntro before the lyrics set in:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgc_LRjlbTU
Murray looked more "can't be arsed" than nervous to me! He has an extensive stage career, I believe, though is best known for his role as Peter Finch's toy boy in Sunday Bloody Sunday.
DeleteI wonder why most of the presenters on TOTP make such a big thing of introducing the charts and the chart rundown, as though every week it is chore for them? This week Peel and Vance say "oh, suppose we must then". Good Lord, they could show more enthusiasm when being in front of 9 million or so viewers, which most ordinary people would never get to do!
ReplyDeleteMy favourite Nick Heyward song of the year is Love All Day (though I didn't know it at the time), but Warning Sign isn't that far behind, some great things like the shouts that lead to the guitar solo.
ReplyDeleteThe Murray Head song has some nice invention in it, like the surprising 'Wait a minute!' it might startle you the first time you hear it. The video is definitely one of the best of the year, with a seedy steamy atmosphere quite appropriate.
The Murray Head video with lots of chessboard themes, will be main feature on the 6th Dec show with Mike Smith and Gary Davies presenting.
DeleteNick Heyward - Definitely the best of his post-83 singles, though there's almost too much going on. I think it could lose the guitar, especially the solo which sounds out of place.
ReplyDeleteThe Kane Gang - I'm not sure why, but I've never been keen on this song, whoever's singing it. Bruce Willis's version is clearly the worst, but it's interesting that his backing is very similar to this arrangement. The backing vocalist here is indeed PP Arnold, and given Tommy Vance's penchant for giving out a few trivial nuggets, it's a surprise he doesn't mention her.
The Human League - A nice song, if not up there with their very best. So many questions regarding the video though - what does the coastguard (presumably?) make of Phil babbling on the intercom? Why is the boat full of books? Why do they then put loads of them in the back of the bus? Why top and tail in the bath with your clothes on?
Murray Head - Surprised to see so many here thinking this was a great performance. He missed his cue at the start, fluffed the words in the first couple of verses and forgot (or couldn't be arsed) to mime the choruses until the very end! A shame because I love the song. You can see the resemblance to brother Anthony when you see him side on.
Shaky - Typical fare i.e. nothing to get excited about.
Shame the toppling mullet man at the end didn't start a domino effect and take loads of the other preening professional dancing pricks with him!
i never realised murray was the brother of anthony "gold blend man" head - for some strange reason i had it in my head (sorry - that was unintentional) that murray was a kiwi!
DeleteWhat makes the Kane Gang's version unique is the superb use of PP Arnold sprucing up the main chorus, which the likes of The Staples Singers and Bruce Willis did not do at all, so I would make an exception for the Kane Gang Noax.
DeleteWe'll hear Anthony's backing vocals for Red Box fairly soon, though I don't know if he appeared on TOTP with the band.
DeleteDory - I think I'd agree with you that the Kane Gane version is probably the best, PP Arnold certainly gives it more class than it may otherwise have. Still not that keen on the song though!
i couldn't see any reference to anthony head's work with red box on discogs, but it appears he has actually dabbled in music to a fair extent ever since the mid-70's. and i've also discovered that his (and murray's) mum is still alive at nearly 100 years old!
DeleteBye, Tommy. Thanks for being authoritative and playing to your strengths, and for telling us way back that an arrow pointing upwards in the rundown means the single’s climbing. And we’re still stuck with that cock Wright.
ReplyDeleteIt’s the disco young Nigel Farage! A real change of image and stage poise, sadly too late for Nick’s chart career, and a song which reminded me occasionally of “Searching” by Change, despite an unusual amalgam of guitar solos and slappable shaky head rap.
It’s the Kane Gang, at 8 past 7 according to the ceiling clock above Martin. This was a bit too thin and white boy soul for my liking but a decent effort anyway.
Sorry to barge in (see what I did there?) but did anyone else notice Phil’s canal transport was named both “Louise” and “The Louise”? Very mellow tune for the League, this. Oo, Joanne in a swimsuit.
Shame they didn’t put Billy Ocean on a round trampoline instead of that podium for more vibrant effect.
It’s Dick, erm, Murray Head with a half-Abba musical rap and doing a reasonable job despite the fits and starts, though his mimed chorus at the end looked daft. I was more taken by those backing singers myself.
Shaky with his bi-monthly hit which doesn’t last long in the memory. Shame he wasn’t on a week later - I’d have liked to see his take on the “Feed The World” T-shirt.
Nice barb near the end by Peelie translated as “Tom’s off to do a show in my old Thursday night slot”. As for the podium dancer – HAHAHAHAHA! Real shame he didn’t treat us to the full Del Boy pratfall.
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Blimey, we haven't had any spam for AGES! If they had ringtones featuring The Dooleys, Dollar and The Surprise Sisters then I might have been interested.
Deletehmmmm... i'm seriously tempted by that raggaeton lento (remix) ringtone. if only i had a mobile phone!
DeleteHi everyone. Can anybody help me regarding the incident at the end of the show? The girl he was dancing with looks familiar. Was she a page 3 model maybe and can anyone remember her having a brief appearance in a sit com? She had only 2 words, the first beginning with 'p' and the other word 'off'. Or have I got the wrong girl altogether?
ReplyDeleteThe podium girl in question is indeed gorgeous page 3 girl Julie Evans, and she's one of quite a few page 3 girls on the show recently: Susie Silvey is on very regularly at the moment (featured very prominently on the show before this one), and I've also noticed Corinne Russell and Gina Keer quite a bit as well.
DeleteI have no idea of the sitcom you're referring to, but Julie was in episode 3 of 'Hot Metal' (a sitcom set in a tabloid newspaper office) in which she plays a topless model jiggling about on cue while the editor points at her with a stick and delivers a lecture to a group of very bored looking shareholders taking notes...