Ah, this was overdue proper canonisation. The loose theme behind this third special gap-filling week of Canons is awkwardly stranded between the novelty theme and the let's-do-the-show-right-here thematic that lies behind this entire series. Basically, it's people who may never have expected to appear on Top Of The Pops and now they're there were going to make something of it for themselves. The omega of this is surely Otway's first of three appearances, one in which the audience are the very definition of not being able to turn away.
The second appearance involved Elton John confusing himself, more Otway perambulation and a not unreasonably swelling audience. Twenty five years later he got to confuse Richard Blackwood, which is never a bad (or difficult) thing.
8 comments:
Was it on OGWT when John tried to jump over or across some speakers, landed very awkwardly and said 'Ow' before continuing the song?
can't claim to be a big fan of the man, but i was once persuaded to see him at some dive in brentford in the 80's, where i remember him being a human "drum machine" via having electronic triggers placed all over his body, and spinning about wildly on top of a huge speaker stack (it was fortunate that punters standing nearby reacted quickly enough to stop it toppling over - not that john cared, he just carried on regardless)...
i also remember the competition where the lucky chap (can't imagine otway appealling to the ladies very much) who bought the solitary copy of one of his singles without the vocals on had john turn up in person at home to sing along with it... and wasn't the last hit due to a deliberate ploy/strategy by his fan club to exploit the fact that by that time you get in the charts with hardly any sales?
Arthur: yes, and here it is, with the fall at 3:43. Lesser men would have re-recorded that.
wilberforce: well, to an extent on the latter, in that it was a concerted fanbase effort to get him a second chart hit that caught fire with a wider record buying public. Pre-downloads too, impressively.
I'd never seen or heard Bunsen Burner before - weirdly mesmerising, and a great performance from Aylesbury's finest (if you discount Marillion). If only Ricky Gervais had mugged this instead of Disco Inferno for that classic 'dance' routine in 'The Office'.....
The whole of that Elton John episode is very strange, because as we're seeing the format of the show at that time meant the host couldn't stamp any personality on it whatsoever, as Elton doesn't here, he just introduces it much like David Hamilton would, and they never had a guest presenter for any other episode in the entire seventies.
Both the performances are ace, though, I love how he can't find his place on the guitar on the first one, while I think the second one's better because of the pointless whizzy effects to make it look less like a mad man shouting, the bit where Wild Willy pushes John towards the mike because he's forgotten to sing and The Emotions on the next stage wondering what the hell's going on.
Of course they always said that Polydor signed John because they thought he was a punk, rather than just demented.
another mildly otway-related recollection has resurfaced...
when his ex-partner in crime wild willy barrett put out a solo album, it was issued in wooden sleeves, i think individually hand-crafted by willy himself - in the unlikely event you owned a copy, then of course you would have to file* it away next to the album (can't remember by who) that had a sleeve made of sandpaper...
*unintentional pun!
The sandpaper sleeve would have been the Durutti Column, coincidentally enough mentioned in the most recent Alternative Canon.
Watching 'Bunsen Burner' again (and again... damn you, Simon!), what strikes me most is John Otway's almost child-like demonstration of sheer joy at the end. He probably never thought he'd get a chance on prime time telly again, and he took it superbly.
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