Meanwhile, here's someone's stream of consciousness version of Pops recappage.
Noel this week, before a chart the captions for which have turned an uncomfortable mushy peas green. Barry Biggs is still in the top ten.
Heatwave – Boogie Nights
Lots of videos this week but none with a more forceful setting than this. Heatwave are in virtual silhouette at the front, some neon pink lines behind, and every so often a set of full beam lights dazzle everything in their path as the two singers sway in a fashion that suggests meaningfulness. Eventually the lighting change reveals a band costume of black jumpsuits with some sort of yellow 'sun rays' motif around the wide collar and belt. On the energetic frontmen it works a treat. On the '70s British detective series criminal of the week' keyboard player and the well built, defiantly English session drummer, less so. Midway through the clip gets the Toppotron™ treatment, excitingly this week at a slight angle to the shot, the proleteriat in at least one Panama hat and who knows how much poor knitwear shuffling before their telescreen. Noel calls it "a somewhat melodic way to get proceedings underway" as if it's MOR pop, while not for the last time this week the applause at the end is overlaid by a medium-sized youthful sounding cheer. One or the other, come on.
The Racing Cars – They Shoot Horses Don't They?
"One of the songs that is particularly beautiful at the moment" is Noel's take on a ballad that takes the average RPM down hugely, before offering a blacksmith-based pun that does nobody any good. Once you've got over how alarmingly singer Morty looks like Bill Bailey with short dark hair and Simon Pegg's eyes it's notable how carefully it treads the line between anthemic and catatonic, never one thing nor the other. At the end the guitarist starts kissing/biting the neck of his instrument, possibly just because he can.
The Real Thing – You’ll Never Know What You’re Missing
And out of the tombola this time comes Eddie in the hat to go with his wedding suit from last time and a jacket that looks like it's made out of his dining room carpet, a white jacket with velvet pantaloons and the other two looking like they were rushed on stage in what they arrived in, including dungarees. Had they still not learned from the Americans about coding their gear? There's an acoustic guitar restored to the lineup too.
Mary McGregor – Torn Between Two Lovers
"She doesn't know whether to marry McTavish or marry McGregor". No. Serious, Noel, no. The video is a series of shots of tight close-ups of McGregor's face, but she still feels it necessary to hold a mike throughout. These were the early days of promo shoots, maybe some still needed the crutch.
Electric Light Orchestra – Rockaria
And another video, a full ELO onstage extravaganza in which the track's opera singer starts high up in a false castle and a quartered screen reveals Jeff's gang going at it ten to the dozen. Duelling cellists drag their instruments at right angles around the stage.
Barbara Dickson – Another Suitcase In Another Hall
Before Barbara can get underway Noel wants to introduce us to some people, Andrew Lloyd Webber looking about twenty while simultaneously not actually looking young at all and Tim Rice looking like a provincial PE teacher. Noel starts with a very strangely worded question: "Everyone says to me you've got so many hits on that LP, so many hits behind Evita, is that true?" Lloyd Webber, understandably confused, points out the first single was a number one and they've released the second. "I think we like this one at the moment best" Rice offers when asked which his favourite is, which is handy. It turns out to be both Noel's record of the week and his prediction for a number one, so its chances are sunk well before it can ever begin. Dickson looks very stern in her knockoff Laura Ashley, choker and ostentatiously huge flower in hair. To add artistic merit there's a shot from the far side of a harp being played by a disembodied hand. At the end a man in a bobble hat looks nonplussed.
Earth Wind & Fire – Saturday Nite
As ever, Noel's off on his own logic perambulation: "The next introduction sounds a bit like the sort of insurance company you'd need cover from if you were going to walk round a volcano". Having given Legs & Co mini-tunics that make no attempt to cover the underwear Flick seems to have set them on autopilot and let them go on the standard uptempo move set. Gill's trying, though, if the addition of what seems to be a Chaplin sped-up shuffle qualifies by itself as trying to add something new. It's not impressing the audience surrounding the dancefloor, who spent three minutes listening to disco, watching professional dancers and don't move a muscle throughout. Some men at the back stand with their arms tightly folded, women at the front look like they're being forced to be there. Is this Legs & Co's first time in front of a live audience on the regular show? They really needed to involve the crowd more, unless Flick's still reeling from the Ruby Flipper reproach - they did crowd participation a few times - and vowed not to go that far again.
Leo Sayer – When I Need You
"Two weeks at number one, it's got to stay there even longer". It did! Noel got a chart prediction right! Stopped clock and all that. Leo, the very definition of 'always available', gets all sort of multiplication camera tricks, but more telling is his standing before a catatonically swaying audience with his hands in his pockets again. It doesn't mean casuality by itself, Leo. Before cueing up Bowie's Sound And Vision to play under the credits - and at this stage of 1977 aren't we all waiting for certain gifts of sound and vision? - Noel promises Leo will be joining "the Swap Shop supergroup this coming Saturday". And yes, this was a thing - the show put together an actual supergroup which recorded covers of Roll Over Beethoven and Bo Diddley under Mickie Most's production. Leo sang, with backing from John Miles, Suzi Quatro, Kenney Jones of the Faces and... John Christie! 1977 was going to be marvellous for him after all.
And yes, he still had that smug face he pulls. Via this set of Swap Shop Book 1978 scans, which also features actual slides used in the chart rundown
EDIT NEWS: videos by Bryan Ferry (This Is Tomorrow) and Boston (More Than A Feeling, which you'd have thought would have been more of a pull than Rockaria)
45 comments:
Dear oh dear, the studio audience wouldn’t have needed Horlicks after that show. Pity anyone turning up hoping for a bop, finding themselves snoozing to one slow live act after another with not a medium pacer among them. The musical equivalent of watching Geoff Boycott and Chris Tavare open the batting for England.
For my money, the slowest and most boring show of the run so far. We peaked too early with the Toppotron (TM) on first, Heatwave’s singers doing a prototype Chicken Tonight dance, one of them wearing a Joan Collins style headpiece, and Super Mario on drums.
Then come Racing Carszzzzzz – I suppose if you’re going to have one hit, make it (seem like) a long one. Curiously excited audience participation to this song. I thought Morty had a touch of Steve Ovett about him.
No Bryan Ferry (one of the faster numbers in the initial running order), so straight to...that’s not an explorer’s hat – but what an outfit! Strange they mimed to the record when Chris gave such a great live performance last time. Couldn’t see part of the screen due to the blurred fingers thrashing that guitar!
Mary McGregor doesn’t look the strumpet sort at all, so this soporific effort jarred. I reckon she’d have more trouble deciding between breakfast cereals. Those lyrics – let me hold you close and tell you I’ve been cheating on you. Hmmm, subtle!
ELO were much more like it. My second fave of theirs after “Living Thing”. Loved the cellist playing his instrument like a guitar near the end. I though he was going to do a Pete Townshend!
Suddenly someone leaves a tap on, as two drips appear in the studio. Loads and loads of hits in ‘Evita’, eh? Another great chart forecast by Noel, but at least Barbara did the song justice. Great set of pipes that gal’s got. Almost as good as that bobble hat at the end.
Right, let’s settle down for the best song of the evening, the one I’ve waited for...no no NO! We missed Boston’s first appearance due to wiping, now this. At least we get one more chance to see it, but I’m fed up with the watershed wait. Maybe if Boz Scaggs had guested on “More Than A Feeling” they’d have shown it?
Had they run out of 2p’s for the meter? I think Legs & Co were on but the lighting was way too dark to see them properly. The audience were sure engrossed in this performance! So, EW&F get plays on consecutive weeks for a new entry and climber with no studio appearance – surely some record?
Okay, Noel, we already know it was a record of the week of yours, but stop bigging it up. It just reminds me how many lemons you’ve predicted so far! Leo looked much smarter tonight, but somebody please sew up his coat pockets. At least he got more animated by the end, but scant consolation for the audience who must have been reaching for the Prozac (or Top Deck) by this stage.
To cap a hugely disappointing evening, a brief snippet of the sublime “Sound And Vision” (one for the Popscene folk's archives, as well as an amendment to the first two songs’ running order on their database), smothered in canned applause and cut before the lyrics kick in. Blue, blue!
Rod Temperton of Heatwave - surely the most unlikely looking pop star genius of all time? I don't know how old he was then but his face looked well lived in. But still, hats off to the guy, he wrote some of the best disco songs of the pop era. (an era that came to an end in 2006 when Jimmy switched off the lights).
I remember that Swap Shop supergroup - though I only recall Leo and Suzi being in it - so interesting to see the other names involved - I probably just didn't know who the others were at the time.
I don't mind the slow songs if they have a decent tune - I really like that RAcing Cars one.
Oh yes and I've found myself these past few days humming that Rubettes song - I didn't think much of it when I first heard it a couple of weeks back (don't remember it all from the time) but its really grown on me big time - I can see why it climbed into the top ten now
Wow, what an awful episode - no wonder punk happened, and thank God it did!!
The '70s British detective series criminal of the week' keyboard player in Heatwave is none other than Rod Temperton, who not only wrote Boogie Nights but also several huge Michael Jackson songs including Thriller.
It was a relief to hear Bowie's Sound & Vision at the end after all that blandness.
Love this blog by the way - always a good read. Thanks!
A controversial opinion, but I've always hated 'They Shoot Horses, Don't They?' for two reasons, it's far far too slow and lyrically it doesn't seem to make a great deal of sense. Now, the first part can't be helped, but maybe if someone could tell me what the song is actually about it *might* possibly aid my enjoyment...
The lyrics of the song give some clues as to what it's all about. "Round and round the floor,together in time" "Just like a marathon, the belle of the ball".
It's actually based around a film of the same name, all about depression era America's obsession with dance marathons.
After weeks of almost continual, non stop dance contests one of the contestants is shot dead by the organiser, when asked by the police why he did it, his answer is, "They shoot horses don't they!"
Given the edits in this show which bogged it down to some extent, it encapsulated for me much of how I felt about the music in 1977, dull and depressing. We'd had two slow number ones in succession, then along comes The Racing Cars with their hit, Mary Mcgregor gives us an uptempo ballad all about infidelity and even ABBA come along a little later with a song about being divorced and single.
I haven't seen the unedited version yet, but I'm hoping that the addition of Bryan Ferry and Boston will give this show a beefier feel.
Well, no wonder we started with a video as everything else was so tedious, this was a dull affair, though Noel would no doubt have approved of all the MOR on show.
It must be the second Swap Shop book that includes the page of lookalikes of John Craven, one of which - alongside Mr Spock, natch, and Michael Rodd - is Rod Temperton. I live in Cleethorpes but there's no blue plaque for Rod at all, which is a bit of a shame.
I notice Leo Sayer was on the same stage as Legs and Co, but while the audience seemed to tower over Legs - clearly the amount of ballads on show had dulled the audience not just to apathy but downright hostility - Leo seemed to tower over the audience. I was going to mention the Supergroup as I forgot that book was online. A great concept, though. Good to see Noel seeing John Christie right.
On the whole, though, zzz.
Looking at that Supergroup photo, Leo Sayer was rocking the ice hockey look at the time - remember his garb from last week?
Sadly, that snippet of "Sound And Vision" could well be the best we get before the watershed. To answer my own question, it seems this song also did an EW&F - credits one edition, Legged the next - but next week's show has been wiped. The song gets one more meagre play over the credits in a few weeks.
Heatwave's drummer, Ernest 'Bilbo' Berger, is actually Czech, not British. They were one of the most talented disco bands ever; had they been based in the US rather than the UK, they would have been as respected as Earth, Wind & Fire. Keyboardist Rod Temperton, who subsequently penned hits for Michael Jackson, Michael McDonald, George Benson and many others, should have been made an OBE long ago.
Thanks for the plug, Simon. I've added a link to this site on my own blog.
PS. I agree with the consensus on here that it was a strangely dull affair.
Barbara Dickson was, though, the highlight for me. It's easy to forget what great delivery she had/has.
never mind an OBE, rod temperton should have been awarded a knighthood for "boogie nights" alone!
i wonder what bassist mario mantese did to offend the video director? apart from a very brief group shot at the beginning he's not featured at all - maybe he wasn't actually available for the shoot and a stand-in was used instead? if so the same thing was done by quo a few years later when their errant bassist was replaced by a dummy!
just a reminder - whoever is responsible for this ghastly new format please please PLEASE put it back the way it used to be!!!
Enjoyed Heatwave at the beginning - magical track. Their fate as a group wasn't so magical - the bass player ended up blind. mute and paralysed after being stabbed by his 'bunny boiler' girlfriend, and singer Johnnie Wilder was also left paralysed in 1979 after a tipper truck hit his car (he died in 2006)
A pity Boston was left out, mainly because not as many viewers would have noticed they had an actual caveman on drums. If only Dave Grohl had taken that route when Nirvana "covered" More Than a Feeling.
Too many slowies last night, I agree, which made ELO and their cello frenzy all the more stark (and enjoyable) by comparison. But was that lady a real opera singer?
Well, well, he's back...
No, not Noel - the mighty Toppotron!
You know, there are many things in life I should be more proud of, but seeing Simon actually using the name on the blog has made me smile a lot.
Some general observations - green for the rundown and the credits! I don't think we've seen that before.
Also, could this be the hairiest edition yet? Noel's hair is particularly luxurious, and we've got Jeff Lynne, Babs, all of Boston (with bonus porn star moustaches for most of 'em) and Leo Sayer.
Heatwave - Weirdly, I have no memory of them from the time, even though I vaguely recall other performances from this period. Let's just say, they don't look how I expected...they actually look like 3 groups merged together to me!
Good song, but their best single will be along soon.
The Racing Cars - I can't hate this song somehow, despite the fact that it's so S...L...O...W.
The Real Thing - For those 2 people left in the country who remember Bo Selecta with some fondness, whichever Amoo is singing (I'm not going through that again!) has definitely got a 'Willy Wonka Vibe' going on.
Mary MacGregor - The kind of song I used to play on student radio in an 'ironic' way but which I now realise is a bit rubbish really.
ELO - I'd bet money on that woman NOT being a proper opera singer. Although I love ELO to bits this is one that I've never been keen on - to me it just seems like a rehash of 'Roll Over Beethoven'.
Barbara Dickson - I think I mentioned a few weeks ago during the mad woman's mercifully brief reign at the top that this is actually the best song of Evita (even Madonna managed not to mess it up!) and Babs really does it justice. I did half expect Ronnie Corbett to walk on specially to introduce it though.
Earth, Wind & Fire - Was it just me, or was this Legs & Co effort an utter shambles? Not much rehearsal time this week, by the looks of it.
Leo Sayer - I was momentarily confused at the mention of the Swap Shop supergroup, forgetting that Brown Sauce hadn't yet been invented. Luckily, Penny Keith don't need me at The Manor so that's it from me until next week.
If anyone cares, the Heatwave clip was from the German show Musikladen.
does anyone know who the female keyboard player in bryan ferry's band was? my guess is ann odell of blue mink, but that really is a guess...
ELO's "rockaria!" was one of the few hits with an exclamation mark ... i know dave dee dbm&t had a penchant for that kind of thing with "okay!" and "zabadak!", but after that the trail goes cold for me - can anyone come up with any others?
oh yes, heatwave's guitarist was stabbed to death as well - no wonder rod temperton decided to pack the band in to concentrate on songwriting!
Wilberforce - the keyboardist in Bryan Ferry's band was indeed Ann Odell, formerly of Blue Mink. She's still active in the business today, as a jazz pianist.
Very dull show this week and there wasn't even any eye candy for the laydee's (like the young Boz Scaggs last week!!) Best thing about this week's episode was Bowie's Sound and Vision on the credits.
wilberforce - Songs with exclamation marks....I like a challenge.
You'd think that 'Stop' by Erasure should have one, but it doesn't. 'Drama!' does however.
As does 'Stamp!' by Healy & Amos.
Some compilations seem to think that 'Start' by The Jam has one, but the chart books say no.
I'm sure there are more.
You were so close there, Noax. You should have said "Stop!" by Sam Brown.
... and in some sources, Lennon's "Instant Karma!"
Arthur. Didnt understand your watershed remark re Boston.
Spent weeks and weeks listening to that on Gambos show as it climbed the Billboard chart 2 places at a time.
I then came across it in Bostocks manchester for 10p before it went into the UK charts. Best bargain ever? (bought it ten times since mind, on boston, bostons greatest hits, rock classics this that and the other)
Time does not improve 'They shoot horses dont they'
though. I saw them live a year later at mqnchester uni freshers ball and this was the bloody highlight. Dire
Elsterpie, what I meant was, I don't usually (get the chance to)watch the late night re-runs, so I tend to rely on the 7.30 showings, which Simon analyses for ths blog. I find it a pain in the arse that BBC iPlayer doesn't update to the 40 minute versions once they've been broadcast.
Boston were actually on TOTP three times, the final occasion coming after they'd only risen one place in the prevous fortnight. We missed the video's first showing through wiping, so I waited another fortnight for the second showing only for it to be cut from the early edition.
Has anyone mentioned Help! by The Beatles yet?
Tend to agree with most about this weeks show.... Boogie Nights was the highlight for me, followed by Babs Dickson. As mentioned previously love the Boston song too, even on the full version slot it was cut short. The rest were a little, err, lacking in pace!.
I'm enjoying reading the cross section of opinion on all the various acts. Arthur Nibble kicked off with Rockaria being ELOs second favourite track for him. For me, nah, it was the weakest track on the otherwise wonderful 'A New World Record' and definitely agree with Noax about it being Roll Over Beethoven mkII.
Oh, and respect to Rod Temperton and Steve Williams from another Meggie here! It's my party piece with my American colleagues when they ask where I'm from.... 'Oh, the same place as the guy who wrote Thriller!'
i remember around the time of "boogie nights" being a hit, blues & soul magazine ran a piece on rod temperton mentioning he originated from (the unlikely place of) scunthorpe, and the man himself got in touch to correct them that he actually came from cleethorpes, so they printed an apology to that effect in the next issue - that's how i knew rod was a "meggie"!
intrigued by this manner of referring to the locals, i looked up cleethorpes on wikipedia and discovered that not only are there several other famous ex-inhabitants of this small seaside town (posh actress patricia hodge, michele "ooh betty!" dotrice), but also rather surprisingly it is actually the home of grimsby town fc!
I liked it this week, despite all the videos. I'm glad I clicked on your meanwhile link, simon, that,s the funniest thing i've seen in ages, I didn,t notice what it really was till the top ten, i've gotten so used to light entertainment strangeness in the rundown. ...exclaimation point is on the sleeves and labels of LP and single for the Jam's Start! so I wouldn't go with the chart books on that one
having re-read some of the earlier suggestions, i've just remembered another "exclamation mark" hit myself: novelty item/one-hit-wonder napoleon XIV with "they're coming to take me away, ha-haaa!
if you think that was weird, then listen to the b-side where they've turned the tape over and recorded it playing in reverse (maybe that was where george martin got the idea for "backward cymbals"?)... and the label is printed in mirror-image as well!
Just to say, I'm not a fully-fledged Meggie, I just live in Cleethorpes. It's quite gentirified these days.
Anyway, checking Rod Temperton's Wikipedia page to see how old he was in 1977 - 29! - I'd like to point out that the sleeve of the Boogie Nights album is remarkable. How come this wasn't featured in that collection of X-rated record covers on The Joy of Disco?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_Temperton
There's another chest-fest on the cover of an album by Orleans. Not the sort of thing Toto Coelo bothered themselves with!
I think I went to Cleethorpes once. I don't remember much about it.
Anyway, another song with an exclamation mark - 'Wot!' by Captain Sensible.
And another that should have - 'Fire' by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown.
I went to Cleethorpes once, to watch Grimsby Town 0 Brentford 1 on a freezing Tuesday night in Spring 1993 - I'm also mad keen on footie and I've done all the 92 League grounds but I won't bore you with that. Anyway...
Here's my trump card!
http://www.nme.com/blog/index.php?blog=10&title=listomania_10_best_use_of_exclamation_ma&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1
Good list Arthur but I'm sure we can find more. The Fabs were serial exclaimers, with both Help! and Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite!
Hi, Arthur, the iplayer does update to the long version eventually, not sure when exactly, sometime Sunday perhaps, anyone know?
Thanks for that, seekenee! I didn't realise.
regarding the article on the "!" mark - yes, i'm always guilty of (over) using it in my comments, but a full stop always looks so lame. (see what i mean?)
frank skinner bemoaned at some length the over use of the "!" in his excellent biography a few years back (note no exclamation mark, full stop or nothing after that sentence)
regarding bare chests, i personally find musicians (or anybody) posing in that manner rather troubling, especially when they're obviously not up to it like poor old bilbo from heatwave, but maybe that's due to the old "shirts and skins" thing in PE lessons at school. herbie mann was a repeat offender, but in his case it was an extremely hairy chest (unlike his head) which really is revolting! (sorry, can't help putting "!")
Blimey, I’m late posting on these. Anyway … one thing I’m finding is that, by and large, the things I liked then I still like and so on, with one major exception: at 14 I thought Noel Edmonds was the height of sophistication, I even taped his chats with Flynn the milkman on my first cassette recorder - now his contrived intros are hugely annoying, and do you remember the one where he even crashed the vocal? Dear oh dear.
Heatwave – Having said that I have been happy to revise my thoughts on disco. Back then they were the enemy of “proper” music, and if I admitted to liking a disco record (and there were a few) it was a guilty pleasure. Now I’m happy to embrace them – except for some reason I can’t work up any affection for this. Sorry!
Racing Cars – I still love this one, although it caught the flak for the general slow pace of the show (which was unbalanced by the uptempo stuff they cut out). It’s sedate, yes, but it does have some momentum with the tastefully done drum backing. I love the circus riff dropped in after the word “carousel” too.
Real Thing – again, was never going to keep up their run.
Mary MacGregor – some interesting stuff on her on Wikipedia, not least that this was produced by Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary fame. And that she wasn’t at all fond of this song because she had no sympathy with the narrator!
ELO – I rushed out and got this single (one of 3 in this show, alongside Racing Cars and Boston). The charge of overproduction does get levelled at Jeff Lynne though, and not without justification – the “new” Beatles songs of the 90s were done no favours by his style.
Barbara Dickson – liked this at the time without being wildly excited, but she was the person of the match in the Gerry Rafferty tribute concert broadcast last week – obviously a great friend of Gerry’s and a beautiful harmony performance with his family.
EWF – not overly fond of this one either I’m afraid! Maybe it’s disco songs which are about nothing other than being at the disco?
Leo – good song well sung, if fairly bland.
Bowie – hope we’ll hear more of it next time.
Boston – fabulous stuff. Note the singer’s pioneering of the Harry Enfield Scouser look, and the bassist reminds me of none other than Derek Smalls of Spinal Tap.
Bryan Ferry – looked cool as anything, and hearing this again was probably the greatest pleasure of the whole show.
I'll chuck in Hey Ya! by Outkast
And Wake Up Boo!
Temperton must have earned a few bob if he co-wrote "Thriller" then...
And how could anyone ever forget 'And That's Before Me Tea!'?
Oh, you had?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-fPtX51u9c
There was also an American band in the 90's called !!! which they pronounced 'chk chk chk'.
By the way, well done, everyone - I believe this is easily the number of comments for a thread on this blog. Now, let's see if we can beat it for the wiped edition coming up!
I learned something from the captions for Boogie Nights on the BBC Four disco compilation last Friday (just caught up with it): the deep-voiced vocals ("Got to keep on dancin'") were by Clarke Peters, aka Lester Freamon from The Wire.
Love the way that Noel Edmunds looks up at the balcony where the maiden sings in ELO to their rock anthem Rockaria....a brilliant intro Noel!
apologies for the very late edition to this thread, but in the course of doing other things i have now stumbled across another "exclamation mark" hit: the sweet's immortal "blockbuster!"
Post a Comment