Sunday 18 December 2011

The disappeared: 16/12/76

Evidently the last missing show of the year, and with only four to come in 1977 we're slowly reaching a point of kept stock. As the show before the show before the big end of year roundup it's a mix of stuff we're seeing a lot and the odd underdog for filler, all barely capably helmed by DLT.

Smokie – Living Next Door To Alice
Even starts with a song that started the show two weeks earlier. Too many BBC repeats at Christmas!

Tina Charles – Dr Love
Mud – Lean On Me
See what I mean? As you may note, this has missed out on all three showings.

Jesse Green – Flip
Ah, our old friend of too many appearances for a single that peaked at 17. On this one he ditches the flautist and lets his funk rhythm guitar rip. We can but hope for synchronised stepping.

The Stylistics – You'll Never Get To Heaven
Sounds a bit like Walk On By, doesn't it? Actually released everywhere but the UK in 1973, this is Legs & Co's contribution, involving a lot of chiffon, I imagine.

10cc – The Things We Do For Love
They were having some time off the TOTP studio - they'd been in at the start of the year with Art For Art's Sake but wouldn't revisit until Dreadlock Holiday in 1978 - so this was the video, perhaps the same live clip source as when I'm Mandy Fly Me charted. That's not the video in the link, I doubt, but I like the way the secondary director misses all the important close-ups.

Johnny Mathis – When A Child Is Born (Soleado)
He's coming...

Chris Hill – Bionic Santa
Now then. This video I want to see, and also don't. Chris Hill was a popular soul DJ who at Christmas 1975 had a number ten hit with Renta Santa, in the style of the 1950s comedy records where a narrator conversed amusingly with clips of songs with apposite lyrics, kind of one step down from the Barron Knights. This was the follow-up and also reached number ten. Very much in our interests, too, as it features clips of Here I Go Again and Dr Kiss Kiss.

Showaddywaddy – Under The Moon Of Love
Once more with the quick change artistry. There was a new performance taped for the festive show, you may be relieved to know.

8 comments:

wilberforce said...

purely by coincidence i was watching a DVD of the TOTP disco special last night, and discovered that the showaddywaddy quick-change routine was not unique to them - the gibson brothers did a similar thing on "cuba", where the singer was filmed alternatively on congas and drums whilst the other 2 guys had the same instruments as before...

Noax said...

Hmmm...not much I'd like to see here given that Simon said that we will see Dr.Love eventually, and that the 10cc one is only a video.

I too wouldn't mind seeing the Chris Hill effort though, as I remember my old radio colleagues saying that both his songs were ace. I'm willing to bet that they weren't really though...

What I would like to know is if DLT is having a Christmas banquet. Actually, I'm lying - I couldn't care less!

Peter Benchley said...

Bionic Santa sounds like it was "inspired" by the success of Dickie Goodman's Mr Jaws, which was a novelty hit in America the year before but I don't think was released in the UK.

Goodman made a career out of these records, you can get about a hundred of them on a compilation CD.

Steve Williams said...

And if we want to compile a complete list of performances filmed twice than interspersed with each other, Bill Wyman's performance of Je Suis Un Rock Star (a song I've always secretly liked) swaps between shots of Bill on bass and Bill on keyboards. And the rest of the band playing the same instruments, but on the opposite side of the stage.

Mikey said...

No, the Showaddywaddy performance on this show was not the quick change version. I have a copy of it. Dave Bartram is wearing a red suit throughout, Romeo has a yellow one and all the band are wearing a different colour, but they don't change at all during the song. As he introduces the song, DLT holds a "fabulous gold record here and it's well-deserved" for the band with "the number one sound to take us out tonight".

Arthur Nibble said...

Mikey, just a cheeky query, but you haven't got any more of that edition of TOTP, have you? According to a couple of other TOTP shrine sites, that Showaddywaddy clip's the only existing part of the show. If not, does anyone know how that one song survived the episode cull?

Mikey said...

Arthur Nibble, no I don't have the rest - I got the Showaddywaddy clip from YT - but I don't think it's still there.

It's clearly a home taping as the quality is not good, especially during DLT's link.

PreciousBox27 said...

16/12/76 exists in private hands on 1/2" tape in the PVL, see
http://www.privatevideolibrary.co.uk/libcat.html

A shame the BBC didn't come up with a deal to borrow the tape for broadcast a few weeks ago :-(

Steve