Friday 13 April 2012

TOTP 31/3/77 (tx 12/4/12): and they said it would never happen

Oh, quickly before we start - Monday sees the start of an all-new (and just nineteen years after the first series) ten part run of Sounds Of The Seventies at 10pm, including that Jean Genie.

This was David Hamilton's final Pops - he upgraded from Radio 1 to Radio 2 in November and with him only having done the show thirteen times and Kid's introduction proving successful I imagine the thought was someone had to give way. Don't ask Diddy why, his Killing Of Georgie Fame anecdote suggests he still thinks his last show was six months earlier. But that's not the reason, tempting as it is, why this week in particular has attracted so much attention. Nobody really knows whether it's true BBC4 were going to skip this show for playback quality reasons - the initial schedules missed it out, but then initial schedules did that twice in 1976/2011. This is one of four shows, the others from before the BBC4 run started, that were wiped but recovered in 2009 from Diddy's personal collection, taped to Philips N1500. Essentially it's given the show a visual Instagram filter, the slightly off-perfect look of an old video recording but on proper telly, adding a whole new layer of nostalgia.

Also adding a layer of nostalgia, Diddy's choice of a red zip-up top. Leather or tracksuit. Can't tell. And with one last facile punching of the air at the very end of his intro link we're away.

Blue – I’m Gonna Capture Your Heart
Obviously not *that* Bl...what a pointless statement that is. Actually, yes, despite none of their members being born this early it's that same Blue scratching an AM radio MOR itch before they turned into a boy band. Happy? It turns out the pianist with the unnerving grin is the singer, and he's clearly been at the forefront of some band squabbling as he has the overhead lights all on him and the guitarist, singer of prominent backing vocals and wearer of a tie over a lime green shirt is at the far end of the stage in near complete shade for a line or two. Later on, finding himself in profile close-up, he starts miming out of the side of his mouth before reverting to attempting to sing while broadly smiling, walking a thin line between jovial and threatening. As was common the drummer is at the front despite looking like he failed the 10cc auditions and is wearing a poor Hawaiian shirt.

Billy Ocean – Red Light Spells Danger
"A red light, and the man who's really switched it on!" The key difference in fashion waywardness between Billy and any old Amoo is Ocean liked an outfit that was predominantly one colour and looked stylish in all the right lines and ways but coupled with something horribly clashing visible underneath. This week the smart buttoned up suit is crimson, the shirt is lemon and the cuffs folded back well over the jacket sleeves could easily act as emergency buoyancy aids.

David Soul – Going In With My Eyes Open
Diddy, flanked by two girls one of whom was surely a teenage Tilda Swinton, introduces Legs & "Company" in a comedy northern accent. Well, last chance and all that. Nobody's quite sure what to do with this so it ends up a mish-mash all round, long fluffy ballet skirts matched with criss-crossed straps for bras, ballet's graceful movements followed by the usual running round in a circle. Luckily things get more interesting for them in the coming weeks. The odd flicker and audio warp reminds us Mrs Hamilton must have been sitting directly in front of the set, fingers poised over the tracking buttons. Let's think of her this long week.

David Dundas – Another Funny Honeymoon
Ah, the long cruel winter of the one hit wonder (this did actually make the top 30, just, but do you remember it?) Doing away with his trusty piano he seems really quite unsure what to do, opening with some jigging-cum-jogging on the spot. It doesn't help that the orchestra have interpreted the recorded version's mixed down wah-wah rhythm guitar as a prominent chicken-squawk and removed most of the jug band bits copied off In The Summertime and The Pushbike Song, but Dundas could have done his bit by singing in the same octave as usual rather than a slightly deeper timbre. His backdrop reminds us that The Sky At Night was on last week.

Lynsey De Paul & Mike Moran – Rock Bottom
Now, it's Diddy's last TOTP, surely there's some sort of running motif with his presenting that they could squeeze one more out of... and sure enough two girls turn up wearing T-shirts which appear to depict a stylised drawing of Arnold and a radio dial and the legend underneath 'thanks to the TONY BLACKBURN SHOW'. So yes of course they're the Tony Blackburn fan club who've "just had their annual meeting in the phone box round the corner", introducing "Tony's theme song". Never fails us, Diddy. Then they join him in pointing off into the imagined stage distance! At this point Diddy became self-aware and had to go. De Paul and Moran's Eurovision song was last time performed back to back. This week a neat overhead shot revealed the two grand pianos almost slotting into Tetris-like place with the players facing each other, De Paul reading her 'ROCK BOTTOM' headlined newspaper. She's working confused gesticulations with which to start too, as the director hurredly switches between a camera behind both protagonists. De Paul then throws the paper over her shoulder only for it to apologetically fall right behind her, something that she apparently finds so hilarious she nearly corpses through her next two lines. Retake, surely? Meanwhile whatever the crowd are dancing to has a progressively faster pace. Two of them occasionally wave Union Jack flags. Two of them. Put the effort in, floor manager.

Berni Flint – I Don’t Want To Put A Hold On You
"...apart from the half nelson" Diddy appends, demonstrating one on himself somehow. Repeat.

The Stylistics – 7000 Dollars And You
"Looking good" Diddy makes sure to appraise, even though they look like snooker players and are completely aesthetically wrongly arranged, the two much taller members, one of whom is singing lead, to the right with the two shortarses immediately to their right, meaning they're the ones in the middle. It looks about as just-wrong as the film, actually, as their moves aren't quite drilled into dead-on choreography and Russell Thompkins Jr, for it is he, looks like he's wearing false eyebrows to go with his tight perm and, perhaps not unconnctedly, more often than not looks startled. At least they're all standing up this time.

Bonnie Tyler – More Than A Lover
"That cheeky girl, I'll give her three weeks to change her mind!" Is that an offer of no-strings sex, Diddy? Wow. Maybe that's why it was his last one. The picture quality, while giving parts of the show a not unattractive Vaseline lens smeared effect, really comes into its mushy own here as Tyler is surrounded by very bright red and green spotlights that cast flares on the camera, which combined with the set's homage to the Warner Bros Looney Tunes logo, the back of which seems to be both reflective and made out of black bin bags, give it the effect of the set of a mooted knockoff German disco programme called something like Club Disco 77. Meanwhile a very young looking Bonnie emotes gravelly, unconcerned by it all. Afterwards Diddy has a guest, a deeply bearded and confused looking Mike Nesmith, promoting his "great single" Rio. Diddy asks him what it's about. "Hollywood movies" is Mike's quite direct answer, upon which apparently he "went bananas". Diddy, evidently not having been listening to that answer: "Have you ever been there?" Nesmith: "To bananas or Hollywood movies?" Diddy: "No, have you ever been to Rio?" Nesmith: "Oh, er, yeah...no, I never have, except in Hollywood movies". They could have carried on like that all night.

Abba – Knowing Me Knowing You
...except there's a number one to introduce. "Do you know what it is?" "Yes." Pause. "What is it?" "It's a song by Abba." "What's it called?" "I haven't a clue". As I say, this was the last Top Of The Pops Diddy ever did, and probably the last Nesmith ever did come to that. Off into the glaring in the snow, Elvis' Moody Blue plays us out, and in between the two Diddy waves us goodbye with a bellowed "BYE-BYE!" And don't forget to pull the tab out.

31 comments:

Steve Does Top of the Pops said...

I do feel this week's show was a comedown after the much more entertaining show of a couple of weeks ago.

Apart from ABBA, for me the highlight was Bonnie Tyler doing a song I'd never heard before. I didn't think it was great but it was still better than most of the other strangely forgettable tracks on display.

Angelo said...

Wow last nights show could only have been more nostalgic had it been recorded using Betamax! Loved all those tracking lines - it was like peering into somebody elses world - just a fantastic piece of history all round.

Was hoping Mike Nesmith would be performing his song, rather than just the quick interview.

I actually saw him do Rio live in 1996 in Sheffield. It was on the Monkees 30th anniversay tour, and as part of the show they each did a solo spot, with Mike doing Rio. I've always liked that song - quite an advanced video for its time too if I remember rightly.

THX said...

Some oddly ungraceful (non-graceful? Disgraceful?) moves from Legs & Co considering their floaty attire, but at least Gill was back (with big hair).

Did anyone else listen to the lyrics of the Stylistics song? Not exactly romantic, were they? Basically, "If I win the lottery, I'm off!"

Why did Bonnie pull an apologetic expression before the last chorus of her tune? It was like she was saying, yeah, I could do better or something.

Great to see Mike Nesmith, he was always my favourite Monkee, though it's a pity he didn't perform Rio or pronounce Rio de Janeiro, just to see if he did so like the woman does on the record, i.e. weirdly.

Bye Diddy, and thanks for the video...

Dyonn said...

you can see why they didn't bother keeping this one!

The Stylistics looked embarrassed to be there.

The Abba video was the only bit that looked in normal quality (because it's in poor quality anyway, if you see what I mean)

Great song of course, makes up for the rest of the show's music (although that's not why we watch it, of course)

Bobby Morrow said...

I can almost hear Gilbert O' Sullivan saying 'Yeah, it's not so easy to keep coming up with the hits, is it?!' to his poor doppelganger David Dundas. What a dire effort that Honeymoon song was (and no, I don't remember it at all) admittedly not helped by the in-house band's treatment. I trust we never see Mr D again?

Not a fan of Legs & Co but even I pitied them having to shuffle their way through Going In With My Legs Open (as it was wittily known at school), surely the dirgiest DS ever got. Bring on Silver Lady and the even more chipper It Sure Brings Out The Love In Your Eyes (from 1978)

That had to be one of the last Stylistics hits? Really scraping the barrel, that one. I think the 2 'tall ones' were on a platform as I remember the one at the other end with the huge afro being the tallest.

Nice to see Lynsey and Mike having a giggle throughout Rock Bottom. She wouldn't have been laughing if she'd known it would be her last hit!

Anonymous said...

This episode was particularly notable for the way which, after 25 minutes of music varying between the laid-back and the tepid, KMKY gets you at the end with a punch straight to the gut thanks to more emotional content than the entire rest of the show put together.

Arthur Nibble said...

So, a fond farewell to Diddy, who was at his most pointiest in this edition. Had he stayed on the show, he’d have looked horribly outdated by the thrusting young bucks on the horizon, but I’d have preferred one or two other presenters to disappear into the sunset instead of him. Besides, Diddy’s done his bit to fill a few holes in the archive listings, so fair play to him. Apart from the Ready Brek soft focus glow and the odd muffled bit of sound and scrapey picture glitch, I enjoyed this bit of video treasure.

I must be getting old and letting my guard down, ‘cause I thought I used to hate that Blue song and I actually quite enjoyed it. One of the very few acts apart from Elton and Kiki to have a hit on the Rocket label.

“Red Light For Danger”? Poor show, Diddy, get the name right. Billy’s costume looked like it had three vast open-neck collars and its colour scheme made me hungry for rhubarb and custard. Another imperial performance by our Bill, surely the most consistent high-level performer we’ve seen thus far.

She’s back! Why were Legs & Co dancing in a large serrated flan dish? Very swish and balletic, especially Patti’s “I’m the lead and I’ll prove it” triple spin, and loved the “eyes open” gesture. Much better than the song – pure mush. Had our Soul been in the studio to sing this, half the audience would have dozed off.

David Dundas standing up! No piano! Half his shirt collar up, half down, no doubt trying to start a zesty new trend. A pouting, semi-jogging gauntlet thrown down to Leo Sayer, Shame the song was a very close relative of “Jeans On” even down to the ‘ch ch ahhs’ but, with the millions he made from the Channel 4 theme, I bet Dave wasn’t fussed over a brief chart career.

Lynsey and Mike had trouble getting through that song without dissolving into a fit of giggles. Facing each other this time and in dress-down gear to blend in with the kids, surely those pianos took up over half the audience space.

Why was Berni’s song called “I don’t Want To put A Hold On You” when he sings “no hold” instead all the way through? Still, pleasant enough, and lovely prominent afuché in the mix (for the non-musos out there, that’s a maraccas-type instrument, basically threaded beads over a cylinder of corrugated metal on a stick – I should get out more).

Stylistics – looking good?! I thought they needed Billy’s tailor, as the suits were the same colour as the song – dull as ditch water. Russell Thompkins Jr.'s facial expressions reminded me of Orville for some reason. Unusual arm movements in the instrumental break, similar to the “phwooar” gesture when you see a comely maiden. Talking of which…

Glad we finally got to see this song. Now I remember it! At this stage Bonnie was a subtle mix of slightly raunchy girl next door with an alluring smile but beginning to develop that sandpaper touch to her vocals.

Bizarre interview with Mike Nesmith! Had he been eating some magic bananas beforehand? Surely someone could have prompted Mike with the title of Abba’s single. I wasn’t sure it was Abba at first, though. Why were they wearing blue outfits and furs? I though their outfit was green and white tops and white dungarees for this hit...Ooops, sorry!

So, as Diddy leaves us for the last time with a wave, not a point, and having had his last gentle dig at Tone earlier on (we'll miss their banter, honest), I get the impression the director was more of a “Moody Blue” fan than he was of “Sound And Vision”. I don’t see the point – do you see what I’ve done there?

PS - I know we should really keep things retro, but shall we start a Facebook campaign to get the Toppotron back on?

Neil Barker said...

I must be the only person on here to remember that David Dundas song. I even got my parents to buy me the single! And "Rock Bottom"! Within six months I was a Boomtown Rats fan though.

Simon said...

THX: I meant to mention Bonnie's briefly pulled face. To me it resembled "arsed that bit up, didn't I? As long as they don't notice...."

Julie Joanne Bevan said...

Bonnie's song that week was her second British Top 40 hit, "More Than A Lover", which peaked at No.27 here but was a bigger hit in Europe and South Africa. It was a healthy pointer to the direction her career would take in later years.

The Stylistics' '7000 Dollars And You' was tuneful enough, but sounded half-finished; their writers Hugo and Luigi appeared to have run out of ideas by this time.

Lord Dundas (who is the son of the 3rd Marquess of Zetland) made some fine recordings after 'Jeans On', but his style was too MOR for the rock scene. He wisely chose to concentrate on what has been a highly successful career in film and TV scoring.

Patti Hammond of Legs & Co was undoubtedly the most accomplished dancer in the troupe; she used to be a classical ballerina.

Dyonn said...

Bonnie had "Lost in France" as well, which we saw on the pops last year

Chris Barratt said...

I think the fact that this show was a wiped recovery made it more interesting and watchable than it would have been otherwise - many thinks to the Beeb for listening to a minority of trainspotters and showing a domestic recording - there are another half a dozen show in this state found in the past couple of years, including a complete edition from 1969 presented by the immortal Fluff Freeman and all would be welcome additions to the BBC4 cannon.
Back to this show - almost late 1976-esque in it's dreariness.. Blue were alright, Billy Ocean in Motion - well it was the best thing he eevr did, TOTP orchestra or not.. I like Going In With My Eyes Open but the Legs & Co routine was devoid of inspiration and ended before the sweet middle-eight which is probably the best part of the record. Rock Bottom was a good laugh - and the tracking lines on there also added to the appeal somehow. Orville Thompkins & his Stylistics really went from the sublime to the ridiculous after Funky Weekend in early 76, all of their singles were execrable after that point.
The show ended on a high with Knowing Me Knowing You and Moody Blue, and that Mike Nesmith "interview" was a great way for Diddy to sign off his TOTP stint!

Steve Morgan said...

I really, really enjoyed this show, whether it was due to the nature of its recording I don't know, but I thought it was good show at a pivotal point in music history what with Punk still hovering in the Top of the Pops wings.
The Blue track I loved at the time, and I thought it was a good opener.
Billy Ocean's single is excellent, one of his best, I bought that one and help push it to number two, you can always rely on Ocean for a top performance, despite his fashion sense.
The Legs weren't that good this week were they, all that running around in circles in chiffon, nothing special really was it, and Soul's absence didn't really help the single's chart performance.
Neil Barker, you're not the only one who remembers that Dundas song, I think the reason it didn't really gel with the public was its similarity to his previous biggie, and this one didn't have the backing of a clothing giant to help it along, but it's one I looked for when making my own personal seventies comps.
I love Lynsey DePaul, I've got so many personal memories of her earlier seventies singles Sugar Me and All Night, to have her represent the UK in Eurovison that year was great if ultimately a disappointing result, Rock Bottom? Well not quite but a credible effort nonetheless.
Berni Flint, well not a bad debut single, it gets to number three and I quite liked it but I never liked tv talent shows and the fact he came from Opp Knocks made/makes me dislike this kind of success. My sister has his album on cassette, I remember her buying it from the bargain bin in Woollies, says a lot really doesn't it! (It's murder to listen to by the way, little wonder the follow up single, Southern Comfort only got to 48, I think you'd need a little drink to get through it)
I could post ad nauseum on The Stylisics, I bought all of their albums between 1971 and '77 and they were mostly lovely soulful albums. By this time in their career they were well past their soulful best, I'm not sure what direction writer/producers Hugo and Luigi had planned for them, but 1977's Sun and Soul album certainly wasn't their best what with "novelty" singles $7000 Dollars and You and a cover of Trini Lopez' Shame and Scandal in the Family they really had no chance of any more big hits.
Great also to see Bonnie Tyler perform More Than A Lover, the only surviving BBC clip of the track?? A minor hit I know, her best is still to come, but good to see nevertheless, and yet another I have many personal memories of.
Like The Stylistics I could post ad nauseum about ABBA who I love so much, but their success is legendary so no elaboration from me is neccessary.
Finally I'd like to thank David Hamilton for keeping this otherwise missing edition of Top of the Pops, all kudos to BBC 4 for bowing down to pressure and showing it despite its non broadcastable quality, as has already been stated it proved a mighty nostalgic kick watching it, not just because it was a seventies show, but also because we all recorded shows like this with VHS tracking lines, high colour and blurred picture, and mostly because this is what we loved doing and still love seeing.

wilberforce said...

i never noticed any of the glitches in the broadcast quality, but then again i always record the show at high speed on videotape that has already been used a hundred times before which probably explains why (i shall have to record tonight's repeat and watch it again just to see the tracking lines!)

as simon points out, blue are a case of more than one chart act of the same name - a friend and i had an email competition a while back coming up with such cases (i get out even less than arthur!) and off the top of my head the ones i remember are nirvana, kenny, nicole, and space - can anyone else name any more without recourse to the guinness book of hit singles?
i seem to remember the 70's blue making a rather pathetic attempt to sue the boyband for use of "their" name (as if anybody's going to get the two confused), and fat reg was roped into the case as some kind of witness as he had actually had involvement with both acts concerned...

the dark-haired member of the tony blackburn fan club was a real stunner - and she knew it! much better looking than the british female singers on the show (or in the charts for that manner)... of course if diddy had really wanted to twist the knife with that gag he would have used it with "tilda swinton" and her other obviously less-glamourous chum, but perhaps that would have been a bit too cruel...?

whatever i thought of this week's show i add my thanks to diddy for bailing the beeb out of their self-made mess (even if he probably only recorded them for egotistical reasons), and have thought of the following: if there are any more blank weeks in the future thanks to tapes being wiped, why don't they show one still in the archives that was recorded before this series started? i'm sure i'm not the only one who would love to see the shows with the likes of "blockbuster" and "tiger feet" on in their entirety?

Vintage Reading said...

"key difference in fashion waywardness between Billy and any old Amoo..." Ha! Enjoyed this week's show. Billy Ocean always great, always like the sad falsetto vocal from The Stylistics singer and I like Abba's darker songs. Must've been difficult to sing when all their marriages were breaking up.

Elsterpie said...

Shows id like to see.
1)The one with Tony Burrows on three times (edison lighthouse , the pipkins and the white plains)
2) any with steve harley utterly out of tune on come up and see me
3) ones with ballroom blitz , tiger feet, didnt know i loved u til i saw you rocknroll etc (cos on you tube you only get tribute bands, people talking about it or crap live versions on german tv.....look up les gray for some horrors (rip)
4 ) ones with ashton gardner and dyke on, or lt pigeon as i always had the impression that totp was much more exciting until 73/early 74......(punk improved it and there was a period in the mid 80s where it livened up)

Noax said...

The problem with coming to these late in recent weeks is that everyone's beaten me to the comments that I wanted to make. For example, like Arthur, I noticed the 'giant flan dish' during Legs & Co.

Firstly, and this bears repeating I think, kudos to the Beeb for actually showing this, especially given that they've made excuses in the past for not showing items as they weren't 'broadcast quality'.
After all of 2 seconds adjusting to how the picture looked, the next shock - OC Smith in the chart! I have absolutely no idea what that song sounds like but I know that it was nearly 10 years after his first hit!

Blue - Now, this is weird because I used to have to play this on the radio in my DJ days and remembered not liking it all yet I quite enjoyed it this time around. Maybe this lot should have done Eurovision last year instead of the other lot then.

Billy Ocean - Flawless as always. The performance that is, not the shirt.

David Soul - I'd begun to think that we weren't going to get this at all! This screams out rush release doesn't it? Insipid is the word that best describes this I think.

David Dundas - How unlikely. Two Davids with soundalike second singles on back to back. I'm going to be controversial here and say that this is the better one and that I really enjoyed it! I must confess that I wasn't even aware of its existence before this show so thanks Diddy!

Lynsey De Paul / Mike Moran - And thanks again, as without this being on his Philips Videogram we would presumably only ever have known the 'back to back' version. This one's a keeper, for the interference lines, the piano/crowd arrangement and the corpsing.

Stylistics - I'd never heard of this either (common theme this week) and I note that it was their last hit. It's not the best song ever, but quite pleasant enough I thought.

Bonnie Tyler - I had heard of this, mainly because Arthur was raving about it a few weeks back. Sorry Arthur, I'm not keen. Is it me, or is her voice already a lot raspier than on 'Lost in France'?

I genuinely didn't realise that was Mike Nesmith when he walked on though I'm not sure if that's because of the artifacts on the picture, the beard, the shirt or the fact that given past appearances it could honestly have been anybody.

So after our excellent Number One, that's it for Diddy then. I will miss the Tony Blackburn digs though I'm assuming that Tone still gives it back for a little while longer.

As for issues some other posters have mentioned :
Arthur - Should we petition for the Toppotron to come back? I think you can guess my position on that one....
Elsterpie - That show where Tony Burrows appears 3 times (was it 4 actually, with Brotherhood of Man as well?) definitely exists as I've seen most of his performancs on it, though never the Pipkins one for some reason. We may get some of the early 70s appearances that you're wishing for on the new Sounds of the Seventies show that Simon mentioned but I wouldn't hold out too much hope for Gary Glitter turning up to be honest. I expect T-Rex will be on doing 'Get It On' with a special guest on piano though - can you guess who it is? (No, not Mike Moran)

Elsterpie said...

Noax. The OC Smith somg was 'together' and it was/ is fantastic. I still have the single ( also have funny honeymoom, more than a lover as it happens, guys and gals)....
And Get it on (with reg) getting on (as no doubt maggie may with peel would) would be a shame. I want to see metal guru (plus big hat) , coz i luv you and come on feel the noize (with other big tall hat)....... And neil reid witth 'mother of mine', the osmonds with crazy horses and gerry something singing old gracie field hit

Noax said...

Well, if we're talking T Rex then 'Solid Gold Easy Action' would be nice for a change. And I could never resist 'Coz I Luv You' not least because it was the 'first dance' song at my wedding....

Neil Reid with his oddly middle aged hair though, I would gladly never see again!!

Wellieman said...

And not to feel left out, I actually bought, and still have that Blue record (...nothing to play it on, mind). Quite pleasant pop in that post-Glam, pre-Punk kind of era that the likes of Smokie, Pilot, Sailor, even Slik belong to also.

Needless to say I liked the Abba anthem at No1 but the rest in-between was, well, lame. The funniest bits were Lynsey de Paul almost missing her cue due to laughing and Bonnie Tyler pulling that grimace when thinking she'd cocked a line up.

Looking forward to the 70s stuff coming up too. How about some Pickettywitch, White Plains and the pre-Rubettes Baskin and Copperfield, BBC?

babblingmouth said...

I remember the Blue song well, but it doesn't actually chart for another 4 weeks. Was it already released and just took its time to get there? :)

I'm always amazed - well, that's a bit strong, maybe just slightly surprised - how successful singles groups just stop having hits. We've seen it a lot recently - Drifters, Mud, Rubettes, Stylistics... A real change in the air? Or just rubbish singles?

Oh, and this week, interestingly (well, fairly!) Mike Nesmith was higher than The Stylistics (38 and 41). And The Clash were at 46 with White Riot. Oh yes.

Thanks for everyone's comments on here _ I don't ofetn post but I read them every week, and love them :)

Tyrone Jenkins said...

The Toppotron had a previous spell on Top of The Pops in the mid-60s; for example an often broadcast piece of 1964 footage of Roy Orbison performing 'Oh, Pretty woman'. The audience can be seen dancing/shuffling to an outside Orbison performance projected from the large screen. I wonder if it was the same screen taken out of mothballs for it's occasional 1976/77 moment of fame?!

Arthur Nibble said...

Good to see some more news names on here. Don't be shy, now you've dipped your toes in the water, just dive in...no sharks here, we won't bite!

I'll admit I was in awe of some of the very early posters on the forum because they knew their onions, and it took me a few weeks to be brave enough to make a comment...and now look at me - sadly, you can't shut me up!

While I'm here, I wish they'd re-run the BBC2 "I love 1970/71 etc." series now to tie in with this sudden 40-years-ago sugar (space dust?) rush we're experiencing.

Simon said...

They are doing. Well, kind of - as part of this BBC2 Seventies series I Love 1971 is on next Saturday. Beyond that I don't know.

Steve Williams said...

Sorry I'm late. Watching this taped-off-the-telly programme on primetime BBC Television reminded me a bit of the end of Threads where everyone watches a dodgy tape of Words and Pictures as the only thing that survived The Event. Brrr.

I loved the Rock Bottom performance, Mike Moran looked a bit less like Mike Read in it this time, he looked a bit more like Eric Stewart from 10cc. It was clearer in the last performance but I dunno if anyone's noticed Mike has his own branded glasses with "MM" etched into the lenses, as they were clearly his trademark look. That would have been their big pre-Eurovision performance as it was supposed to be the following Saturday, but it was postponed because of a strike.

That was Billy Ocean's best outfit yet.

THX said...

Forgot to mention, but did anyone else notice an alarmingly audible "Krack!" when Diddy performed the half nelson on himself? Was it on the soundtrack or was he less than limber?

Arthur Nibble said...

Excellent news about "I Love 1971"! Thanks for letting us know, Simon. I didn't see anything about "I Love 1970" on BBC iPlayer but, seeing as that edition was linked by the late great Sir Jim'll, maybe the BBC were toying with the idea of a series re-run but felt it remiss to repeat the first show with a recently deceased host, even though Jim'll still appears in upcoming TOTP repeats?

eightiespopkid said...

The bbc2 website describes 'i love 1971' as episode 2 of 12, which suggests we have missed the first somewhere along the way, although I am puzzled as to how a 10 part series can now have 12 episodes?

Steve Williams said...

Presumably they're counting the two Christmas ones. I doubt we'll get the whole thing, this might be the only one. They repeated them enough in 2001 anyway.

Anonymous said...

I was somewhat disappointed that the Sounds of the Seventies, although it had "new" clips, had the same old title sequence and (amazingly) Gary Glitter-inspired theme music.

pigeon_eater said...

Lovely to read everyone's comments for last week's, I'm playing catch-up.

That Bonnie Tyler song is ace! Can't believe some posters here are a bit indifferent to it....

Wanted to ask if anyone thought that Diddy knew this was his last TOTP? There's definitely a Partridge-like sadness to his presenting here.....