The second of eight missing shows from this run would have gone here, and as well as depriving Tony Blackburn of his repeat fee this is what we're missing out on.
The Equals – Funky Like A Train
But a train isn't funky. (Though this is a title that has left me spending the last five minutes going "there is nothing you can name that isn't funky like a traaaaaaaain..." to myself. Yeah, I know.) It does include a train impression, though. Like the New Seekers in a way, the Equals were very much yesterday's band by this point, Baby Come Back ten years past. I don't even know if that's Eddy Grant leading - he's credited withn production and writing but every other source says he left the group in 1976. No, it didn't chart, but it's great rare groove funk and it would have been great to see how this was presented.
Dr Hook – A Little Bit More
Woodland, multilayered beard, affectionate chest stroking, you know the drill.
Starland Vocal Band – Afternoon Delight
"And here's some people that are certainly an afternoon delight, Ruby Flipper!" Really can't imagine what sort of routine they could all have got out of this soft rock, even if it did come with none too subtle allusions that must have got Flick sweating profusely.
Status Quo – Mystery Song
Rick's chest, Francis' blow-wave, Alan Lancaster's posing, you know the drill.
Guys'n'Dolls – If Only For The Good Times
You know how I said this episode had been wiped?
Maybe it's from one of the band's private collection, there's certainly enough of them. David Van Day and Thereza Bazar, the future Dollar, are in there, as is Bruce Forsyth's daughter. For such an auspicious occasion that wedding cake tier stage has been built right up to almost vertigo inducing levels. Maybe someone gets thrown off it after the edit point.
The Chi-Lites – You Don’t Have To Go
Oddly, that link is to a near future TOTP where a video of 1940s cartoon clips, as was de rigeur around that time, was presented as this song's video, but in this week they were in the studio, it says here.
Jimmy James and the Vagabonds – Now Is The Time
Eye-popping from Jimmy, wide collared red shirts and grey blazers for the Vagabonds, anti-revolutionist zeal, you know the drill.
Tavares – Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel
The video, though you sort of know what the video of a 1970s dancing soul collective would look like by now.
The Bee Gees – You Should Be Dancing
This one exists as well, as it's a Ruby Flipper performance that was repeated two weeks later. Spoiler alert: no TOCG! (A NOCG, perhaps) But loads of Floyd!
James & Bobby Purify – Morning Glory
Ver Flipper do this one too in two weeks' time, TOTP having shown the video this week. Lots of videos this week. As I say, the music industry was on holiday.
Cliff Richard – I Can’t Ask For Anything More Than You
But Cliff never takes a holiday! Having been buoyed by Devil Woman's success he somewhat ill advisedly decides to sing half of this one in falsetto, maybe because his producer suggested it was the way to make him into a new disco star and/or maybe because he's really easily led.
Elton John & Kiki Dee – Don’t Go Breaking My Heart
Pink overalls, smug expressions, awkward dancing together, you know the drill. Credits spotlight on Lou Rawls, y'all, and You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine.
22 comments:
i do actually remember watching the equals doing "funky like a train" back then - one to add to bobby's "top of the flops" CD, although unlike the rest it's actually pretty good... as for cliff, had a listen to that and he's not exactly giving barry gibb sleepness nights with that dodgy falsetto is he?
on a more serious/inquisitive note: do the DJ presenters of these shows really get some kind of payment whenever they're repeated? if so, do the performers as well? also, does anyone featured have any right to veto the repeat if they don't want it shown again for any reason? (according to this blog that's what noel edmunds apparently once did)...
and whilst we're on the subject, other than the beeb employing incompetent oafs because they were flesh and blood, can anyone explain why some shows from this year are still available and others aren't? and why is it only certain individual episodes are missing rather than a whole bunch?
'Incompetent oafs' is probably as close as we'll get to a full explanation. And yes, it is certain episodes - from the start of November it runs exists-wiped-wiped-exists-wiped-exists-wiped-exists-exists (Christmas).
I imagine whoever is due repeat fees must get them, and obviously royalties for the artists. It's said, though other may know more, that when UK Gold ran repeats in the early to mid 90s Noel refused to let his shows appear, and when the first week off of this run happened everyone assumed he'd exerted his rights as it was his first of the run up next.
Afternoon Delight and Morning Glory in the same show - disgusting! (c Mary Whitehouse circa 1976)
Do we get Afternoon Delight again? I know it wasn't a very big hit so I'm not getting my hopes up.
The video appeared later on... but that show's been wiped as well.
I actually remember that Guys'n'Dolls one! Lead singer Dominic Grant exuding the confidence of one who knows he has the best hair in the band. Even at the expense of the missus, the aforementioned Julie Forsyth. And this is obviously a serious contender for the mythical CD.
I remember Cliff announcing his foray into the dark waters of falsetto. His producer, Bruce Welch, suggested he try it for this track from his 'comeback' LP, 'I'm Nearly Famous'. Damn you, Bruce! It is something Cliff has come to use pretty much ever since.
Not too heartbroken about the rest. 'Afternoon Delight' was a US #1, but didn't fare so well here. I, an innocent youth at the time, quite liked the tune not realising, ala Dr Hook, what it was about. I'm more ashamed of liking it.
Don't remember the Equals track at all. It didn't make much impression on me this time, but they never do! The bastards sneak up on you and you find yourself belting out 'Drag Queen Rider', or whatever it was called in actual public.
I think the Bee Gees song was a decent sized hit in the UK, but like so many has become terribly over-familiar with time. And, of course, it was in THAT film. I always quite liked the Gees, but this one never really did it for me.
Looking forward to Thursday's show though I see 'Dr Kiss Kiss' and 'In Stinking Zaire' are on again. According to what Simon has previously said, it should be the last time for the former...
According to the info I have, the Chi-Lites were on video this week, though of course it's hard to know for sure. Hopefully the Equals performance will turn up at some point though I dread to think how 'funky' it would have sounded once the orchestra got their hands on it!
I have to say, I already knew from other sources that we lose out on 'Afternoon Delight' (and Mud's 'Lean On Me' for that matter) due to the number of wiped shows in late '76, and I'm disappointed we miss out on the gentle multi-vocal ode to slap and tickle. I seem to recall smoothie actor Gerald Harper (imagine a 1970's Nigel Havers) having a Sunday show back in the day on Capital Radio where he always started "Welcome to my Sunday affair", gave out champagne and roses to feigning female song requesters, and (apparently) had 'Afternoon Banging' as his theme tune. Fluff Freeman he wasn't!
Me again. 'Sensational' scampi-in-a-basket-cabaret-dinner stuff from Guys and Dolls. Not surprised the song stiffed, more surprised to look back at that innocent-looking bunch and realise David and Thereze were indulging in afternoon delight at the time!
further to my comment on "incompetent oafs", the following tale is satire but may be uncomfortably close to the truth...
deep in the bowels of bbc television centre sometime in the not-so-distant past, a youth spends his days minding (and watching) the old totp tapes whilst sipping endless cups of tea and munching away on his packed lunch, thinking "this job my uncle's got me is a real cushy number"... then one day his uncle (who hates pop music) comes along and tells him "we need half-a-dozen of those crappy old pop tapes to record some new stuff on - sort some out and i'll pick them up later"... so the youth goes through them and thinks "oh yes i liked that band on that episode so i'll keep this one", and "the show before that was complete shit so that can go", and so on...
Cripes! Further research on Guys 'n' Dolls shows that Dominic and Julie got married and had a son called, inventively, Dominic (a real hair dynasty there, then) and Martine married their record producer. That left poor old Paul on his own, no doubt compiling the diary he’d been keeping since 1960 (you can just imagine it…”July 20th, 1976 – everyone else getting afternoon delight…where’s that Rubik cube gone?”
I can't believe we've had ten comments so far without this, so I'll say it. Starland Vocal Band?!? They suck!
As some old gag about elderly strippers probably goes, it's the wrinkles that fascinate. The Equals, for instance; not discounting the opening sound FX (obviously someone puffing & blowing through a cardboard tube), this is indeed rare groove at £20, and certainly at least Oddie-worthy in the funk stakes.
I must concur with Mr. Williams insofar as that Simpsons gag is pretty much my sum-total of knowledge about the charming Starlanders, as it draws a blank on my mental jukebox at the moment (probably a good thing, but we'll wait & see). Oh, and my own Simpsons reference to the Yah-Hoo! Recovering Alcoholic Band last time as regards Billie Jo Spears is obviously one only I remember, too ('twas in 'Colonel Homer').
This Top of the Flops notion is a wonderful idea - maybe RPM or Repertoire, or one of those labels could make it happen? There's always Spotify or the YouTube playlist 'til then. Which of course segues into the Guys 'n' Dolls - total nonsense, but with a lovely spirit, which is all you can reasonably ask for, really.
That Chi-Lites track is a great one, and one that I couldn't remember; the cartoon, for the sake of accuracy, is 'Page Miss Glory' - believe it or not, one of Tex Avery's first as a director, at Warner's in 1936. It must be on YT, but I'll save it 'til we see it on the repeat.
Assuming that 'Heaven Must be Missing an Angel' is re-appearing, I'll hold back on that 'un, too, likewise the Flip's Bee Gees boogaloo, which'll doubtless be a treat. The Purifys' version of 'Morning Glory' is a classic, but I shall restrain myself from splurging too much about it now, 'cause its author, Mac Gayden, is one of my father's specialist subjects, so I'll check the details with him again first. OK?
That Cliff was far better than I was expecting, mind - having never much cared for 'Devil Woman', his disco excursion, complete with Barry Gibb impersonation, I actually found rather pleasant! Which either means I'm going soft, or, far more likely, that I've rambled too much as usual. So I'll stop.
But not before a brief word about those incompetent oafs - I mean, BBC archivists. Without wanting to sound wishy-washy, the problems in keeping & storing those tapes are legion: they were roughly the size & shape of your average laptop, and before the Beeb - and indeed every other telly company in the world - thought about looking after them, they would just keep selected editions of 'important' or repeat-worthy stuff. Hence state occasions (royal funerals, Parliamentary happenings and so on) were always higher up on the agenda than our precious LE shows. We can moan, but the important thing is that we do at least have a pretty good record of Pops as it stood in '76, without which we wouldn't all be here now. I theng yow, and goodnight! x
It's funny how there were still missing totp eps in 1976/77. Perhaps because it had more editions than a programme like Dr Who which has all the original episodes broadcast since around 1974.
Monty Python was lucky to retain all of its episodes and in colour from 1969. One of the archivists must have liked them!
arthur - unless the "spare prick at a wedding" member of guys & dolls (unsurprisingly the one with the bubble perm) had somehow stepped into a time vortex he couldn't have amused himself with a rubik's cube as it hadn't yet been invented... maybe he'd have to make do with some clackers instead? (amazingly i couldn't find any reference to these in the retro-bible tv cream...)
Oops, timewarp on my behalf. Maybe he could have invented the Rubik cube in his spare time!
As for prospective labels for the mythical 'Top of the Flops' album, maybe Cherry Red would be another candidate?
I was thinking Cherry Red myself. They have many offshoots including the aptly named 7ts label. Perusing this website I see they have many interesting items including Slik's sole album which features a host of bonus tracks including, yes, 'The Kid's A Punk'!
if anyone's really serious about putting together a "top of the flops" cd, maybe they could get in touch with the guilty pleasures people...?
Just slung together a list of everything that's been on the repeats so far by an artist who never made the top 30:
Tarney & Spencer – I’m Your Man Rock ‘N’ Roll
Laurie Andrew & Zero – I’ll Never Love Anyone Anymore
Heavy Metal Kids – She’s No Angel
The Surprise Sisters – Got To Get You Into My Life
Champs Boys – Tubular Bells
Sunfighter – Drag Race Queen
Glamourpuss – Superman
The Chanter Sisters – Sideshow
A bit short for this compilation, not to mention missing some favourites - Sheer Elegance, Harpo, and by dint of one week at number 30 Flintlock. (I wonder what hitherto little remembered track has actually provoked the most comment and attention web-wide as a result of these repeats? Look for what track Andrew Collins picked out for a 6 Music deputisation on 6th July)
Arthur -
If it's 1976, then it has to be the skateboard, surely?
Hmmm, not sure, although Paul wouldn't need a helmet with all that frizzy hair.
Gutted to have missed Afternoon Delight ~ had been looking forward to that one all year
Been hunting for this episode for years as I was in the audience bopping away, and wanted to use it to prove to my kids that I did have life in me once!! I can tell anyone that's interested that the Chi-lites did not appear in person, it was the cartoon.... as for Cliff, due to some pretty dire miming he had to do a couple of restarts.... I can barely see myself in the Ruby Flipper/You should be dancing/BeeGees video that is available due to it being shown 2 weeks later. I remember being gutted that it was Tony Blackburn presenting as I was so in love with Peter Powell at the time... if anyone hears of this re-appearing anywhere I would love to know
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