Wednesday 18 July 2012

TOTP 23/6/77 (tx 18/7/12): I knew Irresistible Dennis when he used to rock and roll

We're now into a run of half hour originals from now til the end of August '77, bar a couple that are slightly longer. The reason? A re-run of Max Bygraves Says I Want To Tell You A Story. Next week's was 25 minutes in its original form, which would have to lead to a hell of an extended outro.

If you've got time you want to kill this week, look through the catalogue for the auction of Jimmy's personal belongings taking place in Leeds at the end of the month, including the Jim'll Fix It magic chair, the pottery likeness of himself wearing a kaftan and the mounted Brazil nut presented to him by a patient at Broadmoor. His turn at hosting this week, which he commemorates with a none more timely (for 2012) Union Flag embroidered tracksuit top, alongside the flags of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Not a cross of St George? Consistency, please.

Dave Edmunds – I Knew The Bride
Rockpile, really, so on bass and songwriting a man deeply embedded in punk already, Nick Lowe, makes his Pops bow. It's still the shaggy/Shaggy-from-Scooby Doo-haired Edmunds front and centre, or in this case front and above, the camera shooting right up his nose for the vast majority of the song. Few cutaways, little relief. Barely a sight of Billy 'not that one' Bremner's cowboy hat. By the end Lowe, presumably thinking he's more than likely off camera, has stopped playing with his left hand, only picking up a chord shape with the very last note. "Got my feet tapping down here" Jimmy exudes as much as he's capable of.

Tony Etoria – I Can Prove It
Long time since we've seen Jimmy dancing. Having pretty much used his guitar as decoration alone last time he was on, Etoria has abandoned it this time, meaning with no other idea of what to do he starts with his hands on his hips. He's also tightened his afro especially, which doesn't quite gel with his yellow neckerchief and extravagantly patterend shirt, like you'd find in the tiling of a kitchen at the time. A little wink on "ain't no way I can treat you like a queen" is surely transmitting mixed messages. As Etoria exhibits a kind of running action from the elbows when not singing the camera trolley goes on another maiming spree. One woman is visually manhandled out of the way by her partner, another in a 1930s errand boy's cloth cap checks on his friends' safety before realising he himself is in the firing line. People are, perhaps wisely, leaving the stage well before the end. "Yowee!" is Jimmy's appraisal.

Gary Glitter – A Little Boogie Woogie In The Back Of My Mind
ALRIGHT, SHUT UP NOW. Even if the song's not there he's far more like his old self then when we last saw him, big collar up and pomade alive, charging down the tiered stage, playing it right down the lens, overactive limbs a-flailing as lyric sign language that actually makes no sense against the lyrics, miming appallingly. But it's not the same, chiefly because where the Glitter Band used to be are an aged band of sessioneers, perhaps even plucked from the orchestra's numbers. The drummer, and there is only one, is clearly in his fifties and grins throughout as if to say, not unreasonably, that however he got to this stage in his life he's going to be on telly so he's enjoying it. This time when the camera makes its way through them young people merely turn and walk the other way, no matter how much the girl right at the front grins at them. And away from our prime-time pop sight Glitter goes for more than four years.

Carole Bayer Sager – You’re Moving Out Today
"I think we'll show some of the interesting people in town tonight" is Jimmy's cover for a third showing of this, not that any of whatever that means actually appears. Still we don't know what her ex could possibly do with bread.

Brotherhood Of Man – Angelo
You know how sometimes like minds seem to gravitate towards each other?



Obviously he's not a sailor, so indeed he's "a magic disc jockey of one of the more colourful varities", one who delivers the title in comedy falsetto. You'd think a DJ would want more of a plug than that, even someone like him. Especially someone like him. The blonde is blonder and flickier, the dark-haired one is more rouge tinted, but the two blokes have guitars rather than one being on piano so THEY'RE OBVIOUSLY NOTHING LIKE ANY OTHER BAND, ALRIGHT? Something no other band definitely did is their special move for the song, namely raising their left arm, first outwards, then backwards, to each chorus piano riff. It adds a certain flourish, if perhaps not as much as they expect.

The Stranglers – Go Buddy Go
Jimmy introduces us to a hangdog middle aged man who is apparently "the world famous Irresistible Dennis". This seems to come as a surprise to him, but he does waggle his eyebrows in a quite funny way. That may be his secret. He seems less sure about the third showing of this. If only someone had found a way to edit Blue's piano from out the back of the stage, or advised Hugh Cornwell not to wear something that looks like an apron. As we cut back to Jimmy people are actually dancing to it at last. "It's a good night tonight, as it happens. Heh heh heh" is Jimmy's tart comment.

Johnny Nash – That Woman
About quartering the BPM at a stroke, Nash has the afro thing right, matching it with muted greens and cool soul. Not that it's having the same effect on everyone, one hirsute youngster turned away from the stage until the shot changes and his friend, presumably watching the monitor, has to literally point him towards Nash. Others are clearly also waiting for a signal to turn away when safe. Neither does it help that when on the second chorus we get a shot from behind Nash the girl front and centre of the audience is extravagantly chewing gum and holding a conversation while the man next to her stares off into space at a 90 degree angle to the stage. All the while Nash continues pledging his love, oblivious as he should be.

Alessi – Oh Lori
No link, strangely, and this is Legs & Co's song for the week even though the twins were in the studio just a couple of weeks ago. They're either dressed in 1930s wedding dresses or as toilet roll holders, bonnets and off the shoulder flouncily tiered dresses the attire. Inside some sort of cage of glittery decorations it's all very lovely and cosy in a one for the caring mums/daughters way. Is that what we're here for? You decide.

Paul Nicholas – Heaven On The 7th Floor
"Wowee!" Jimmy exclaims while his shoulder is being assailed by a toy Paddington Bear. Paul abandoned the hat and cane. They must have turned out to be the lucky charms as this ended his chart career - and began/ended it in America, where it somehow reached number six despite sharing its production values with his previous hits. Maybe it's because he keeps referring to an elevator. It's that transatlantic touch. Having realised Paul can't come up with anything himself for the instrumental bits a close-up of a man playing a harmonica solo is overlaid as Nicholas waves his arms about and does some frantic hopping from foot to foot, knowing that he is somehow perhaps the only one he can get a TOTP audience moving. Jimmy meanwhile has Peter Frampton with him, shirt open to the waist, grin plastered on. As befits the traditional uncomfortable chat shot the interview lasts one question - "where've you been living?" - before Jimmy waves a picture we can barely see for both being out of frame or reflecting studio lights. Luckily he does know what the number one is, unlike some. Jimmy makes a joke about making him work hard. Then he makes it again.

The Jacksons – Show You The Way To Go
Oddly, despite having been in the studio not so long ago this isn't a repeat of that but a clip from their TV series, the second series of which had run on CBS in the first three months of 1977. As soon as Michael picks up the mike the screaming takes over the soundtrack almost completely, even though there only appear to be three people going mad on camera. More notably, the mass frantic applause we hear is from somewhere else entirely, as well as seemingly dipping in and out at virtual random, and it's not visually happening when we get a shot of the whole studio audience, some of whom are standing up waving their arms about but none of whom seem to be cheering or whooping all that hard. I sense skulduggery. Jimmy has "the Bournemouth raver", who seems to be a girl completely unphased by anything, to one side and another girl held in a tight headlock to his other. As T-Connection's Jamiroquai-must-have-been-listening Do What You Wanna Do soundtracks the credits her expression gradually changes from televisual experience enjoyment to panic for her health.

53 comments:

THX said...

Gary "Up The" Glitter looked like he was dancing in a cockney knees up, and it was a worrying moment when I realised I knew that song from the Shakin' Stevens cover version.

Who was the poet who wrote the one with the punchline about the girl he wanted to get off with singing Angelo because she thought it was by ABBA? Was it Attila the Stockbroker, or someone like him?

Johnny Nash being very presumptuous with those lyrics. Did the object of his affections know about his plans for her?

Legs & Co dancing to Alessi was a bit disappointing, not because it was the sort of thing your sister would like, but because you would expect Flick to choreograph elaborate mimes around truck driving.

Paul Nicholas: where Aerosmith got the idea for Love in an Elevator perhaps?

I remember watching episodes of that Jacksons TV show on summer holiday TV where it was thrown in to fill up a cheap space in the 1980s morning schedules. The afros were a talking point amongst my friends.

Arthur Nibble said...

Look and learn, Kid – there was something for everyone this week, not last. Black mark for Jim’ll’s shirt – no English flag, so a real fashion faux pas. By the way, why is our Olympics team GB, not UK, or GB and NI? I could never understand that. Anyway, notable Welsh representation in acts 1, 2 and 5 and a fine edition too – I enjoyed nine of the eleven songs.

Dave Edmunds' Rockpile was the missing link between the 'Waddy and punk – proper musicians playing proper rock and roll at punk speed, and I thought Nick Lowe looked cool. Probably the best start song thus far along with Can. Talking of which, also back after a five-week gap...

Good to see Tony ditched his guitar, but what a tartan testcard of a shirt. Tony gave a really assured performance. For some reason, facially he reminded me of John Inman. Does anyone know where I can obtain the backing singers’ lyrics? I’d love to know what they are.

Why was Gary not dressed in a dinner jacket like his band? Why were they all so far away from him on the stage? Did they know something we didn’t? Was that drummer Roger De Courcey? Can I admit I enjoyed this number 31 peaker? Enough questions already.

Another awkward half-screen before Olive Oyl, then a psychedelic ginger moustachioed Orville, then - ah, Fernando! Glad we’re in a purple patch of BoM as I always fancied Nicky the brunette. Mind you, seems they ran out of lyrics after two minutes and just repeated the chorus ad infinitum.

Irresistible Dennis was no Gorgeous George, that’s for sure. A second repeat of those 'wild beatings' (seems Jim’ll can’t say punk either) with Dave Greenfield in his boiler suit – surely a menacing protoype for Howard Jones? Talking of people in green...

Johnny Nash was yet another serial TOTP flop performer – in fact, he never made the top 40 again and had to wait until October 1985 for his next chart single position. One of the most boring songs in the re-run (I actually thought at one stage “What would Steve make of this?”) but at least Johnny showed Delegation and Archie and the lads how to wear green, and Legs & Co were swaying in appreciation in the background.

Ah, Legs & Co, making candy floss look sexy. Refreshing dinner jazz (hmm, niiiice) coupled with lavish costumes and a sumptuous routine, but...if Alessi were in the studio recently, why didn’t they record this at the same time? Actually, I’m glad they didn’t, I was in the pink (Well, Patti and co. were, actually, but you get my drift).

So, the swansong for Paul Nick – no bowler or cane or mention of reggae, grandma or the captain, so no wonder this only made number 40. Actually, hold that – good to hear Paul sing a song with a storey (boom boom tish) and, despite the failed attempt at audience participation, this was easily his best single. Fickle public.

So where was Peter Frampton when “Show Me The Way” was in the charts? I make him the third act on A&M to have had a pre-number one chat so far. That Jacksons clip certainly wasn’t from “TOTP” – all that screaming? Do you think MJ meant to spin the other / wrong way in the instrumental? He needs to work on that otherwise he’ll never make a dancer.

Frustrated by the canned applause smothering the drum intro to T-Connection, but a fine slab of the song aired. Maybe the best fadeout track of the re-run so far for me. Fine edition - to think roughly this time last year it was Glamourpuss.

Now, I must get my body clock sorted out – I keep thinking it’s Thursday!

Arthur Nibble (again) said...

Was Leeds United the best served football team for soundalike musicians? There were Mick Jones and Billy Bremner, after all.

Simon said...

Well spotted with Legs & Co in the background of Nash, Arthur - in fact a couple of them appear to have worked up a dance to it before abruptly returning to their starting positions.

crowdmember said...

Alessi song my guilty pleasure. Loved that sone since it came out and hunted a few years try to get it on a cd compilation.

Anonymous said...

And Allan Clarke

Steve Does Top of the Pops said...

I do feel that was my favourite edition of the show in ages. Bearing in mind some of the acts that were on, that probably doesn't reflect too well on either my musical tastes or my judgement but I don't care. I'm too old to have to worry about being cool.

Simon said...

Incidentally, there was a proper video for You're Moving Out Today. I don't know what all the fuss about Bohemian Rhapsody is.

Bamaboogiewoogie said...

Simon you've had me in stitches again. I so wish I had discovered this blog last year.

Note they're still using black and white photos in the rundown (and even sepia - are Alessi that old?).

What was that odd noise Jimmy made when he back-announced Rockpile? It sounded like he was doing an impersonation of a baby seal.

Was it just me or did the unnamed stripey-shirt DJ look like Nigel Planer in one of his many incarnations?

And Tony Etoria, thanks for reminding me he had been on before, I had completely forgotten. Which shows how memorable his performance was. Do you think he ever got his teeth fixed?

I must admit the Gary Glitter song was a lot better than I remembered it (and I even liked the last one). BTW I recently read Tony Blackburn's autobiography and his solution to the 'Glitter problem' is to get other people to record his songs, then it's okay to play 'em! Did anyone else notice those two big guys stage left of Gary when the camera panned round. Who were they? His management team, bouncers?

And Angelo. I always think of Tom Farrell singing this in Gimme Gimme Gimme. Aren't the lad's backing vocals deep

And Simon you beat me to it with the Jamiroquai reference. Jay Kay's vocal style was always being compared to Stevie Wonder but there's a lot of T-Connection in there as well.

Arthur Nibble said...

Talking of Jamiroquai, I dare you to YouTube "The Very Best Of Jazz Club" which shows The Fast Show's wonderful pastiche of the genre, the last artist on the clip being a mickey-take named Jeremy Kwee!

Bamaboogiewoogie said...

That video of Carol Bayer Sager is pretty bad. She keeps doing that nervous nodding head thing that Victoria Wood always did when she sung her 'funny' songs.

Fourth time on this thread already, sorry...... said...

Aha! I've discovered why "Heaven On The 7th Floor" was a big hit Stateside. Paul used the bowler over the pond!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Lpd8Y3WTz4

Steve Morgan said...

That Carole Bayer Sager video looks like someone doing club Karaoke. Loved her "cottage by the sea" motion.

Steve Williams said...

Of course if you want to own Jim's flag top, it's in the auction. I've got my eye on that Broadmoor-branded jumper, I wonder if he ever wore that on the show. Well done to Jim for being the only person ever to say "Yowee!" outside The Beano.

The subtitles for this show transcribed Tony Etoria's backing vocals, unlike his last appearance, which is good because I think they're the best bit of the song. The most interesting thing about Johnny Nash was the close-up shot of the bulldog clip holding the set together. I couldn't keep my eyes of Glitter's drummer, he was having a whale of a time.

For all Pops had trouble with punk they certainly embraced The Stranglers with some gusto, it must be one of the most repeated clips of the run along with Carole Bayer Sager. I think only Nice and Slow has been repeated more often, and we missed two of them.

The canned cheering on the Jacksons video was, as mentioned, all over the shop, it wasn't played when he started singing - a la Stars In Their Eyes - but it was every time he so much as stepped forwards. There seemed to be some cheering during the Peter Frampton video ages before it was faded up so I wonder if they started it but it broke down, hence Jim's rather elongated conversation with Peter Frampton.

Arthur Nibble said...

Bamaboogiewoogie, you won't have remembered Tony Etoria if you just stick to the 7.30 shows, as Tony's first turn (where he appeared to wear a guitar as a very large necklace, so little did he use it) was chopped post-watershed.

To think, if GG's single had crept one place further up the chart to number 30, we may have had a reprieve of the best drummer and wedding reception band the show's ever had.

As Simon pointed out, about this time GG's star waned badly and he released several flops, including one in December 1977 called "I Dare You To Lay One On Me". Given what we know now, there would have been plenty of offers.

jazzy_andy said...

Has there ever been a better week for Wales on TOTP? The show opens with two Cardiff boys in the shape of Dave Edmunds and Tony Etoria then later we have Nicky from Brotherhood of Man. And with Jim's jacket featuring our national flag this truly was the origins of Cool Cymru, ond yw hi?

jazzy_andy said...

Indeed that song sparked off the whole Guilty Pleasures phenom when Terry Hall confessed to Sean Rowley of BBC Radio London it was an all time favourite of his. PS My baby daughter loves TOTP's kaleidoscopic closing titles!

One Below Ten said...

In response to Arthur Nibble's

Was Leeds United the best served football team for soundalike musicians? There were Mick Jones and Billy Bremner, after all.

I'd say, conversely, that the major punk bands were also a goldmine for footballing namesakes. As well as the Clash's Mick Jones, there were

Paul Cook (Pistols + Wolves, Burnley etc)
Steve Jones (Pistols + West Ham)
Paul Weller (Jam + Burnley)
Richard Jobson (Skids + Leeds, Oldham)

and probably more besides.

Not sure if there ever was a Richard Hell or Sid Vicious plying his trade at the highest level though.

Simon Jenkins said...

The Frampton interview seemed a bit jerky - it suddenly jumped to Jimmy holding up a 7". Was something cut? Seemed liked it.

Angelo said...

Bamaboogiewoogie ~ yes the DJ reminded me instantly of Nigel Planer!

I remember GG doing A Little Boogie Woogie on TOTP but I was sure he was in a silver catsuit - does he appear again with this song or is it just my memory playing yet more 1977 tricks on me?

Sometimes I watch these repeats and wonder if I ever really did watch TOTP at all back then.

wilberforce said...

interesting to see that jimmy savile's knick-knacks are coming up for auction (well spotted simon!) - hopefully all the proceeds are going to charidee... lots of casualwear, awards and bling going, but sadly no sign of the duchess's wardrobe! i'd love to bid on one of jim's tracksuits as i'm planning to do a "tribute" to him at an upcoming school reunion, but i think the prices fetched will be well out of my league... as a related matter of interest, when alma cogan died prematurely and her stage outfits were put up for auction, they were all eagerly snapped-up by drag queens...

bamaboogiewoogie (were you a big fan of cleveland eaton?): i also thought the orange-haired weirdo looked like a nigel planer "comedy" character...

and i too was of the belief that "oh lori" was the track that kicked-off the whole "guilty pleaures" thing (although it may have been "mr blue sky") - anyway, it wouldn't surprise me if it gets played to death on "smooth fm" these days...

i'm sure t-connection's "do what you wanna do" had the distinction of being the first commercially-released 12" single (in this country, anyway). forget the edited-down 7" single with the so-so verses and choruses - the bit most people were interested in (especially at discos) was the extended percussive breakdown with frantic bongo action that eventually built up to a massive climax - i lost buckets of sweat boogieing on down to that!

Simon said...

I don't think that precise top is in the auction, is it? There is a flag-quartered tracksuit top lot but that features the green flag rather than the Red Hand version Jimmy had on.

Arthur Nibble said...

Angelo (running away together...), this was the only GG TOTP 'Boogie' performance, so I reckon he must have been peddling the song in a silver outfit on one of those ITV regional pop shows, most likely "Supersonic".

Bamaboogiewoogie said...

wilberforce — yes I was a fan of the Cleveland Eaton single in 1978. I was an avid follower of the charts and often bought the singles that hovered round the lower echelons of the top 50 and discovered a lot of weird stuff that way.

Incidentally when does the TOTP chart rundown extend to the Top 40?.

I thought the UK's first 12 inch single was The Armada Orchestra Breakaway in 1976.

Arthur Nibble - I checked my recording of 19 May 1977 and I did have the full version but still don't remember seeing Tony Etoria, must have been asleep (that's what I get for staying up late to watch).

I can't believe that Paul Nicholas' Heaven On The 7th Floor got the number 6 in the US charts but The Jacksons' Show You The Way To Go only got to number 28 there. His later single On The Strip made number 67 there as well but bombed here. I remember that at the age of 14 in 1977 I hated Paul Nicholas with a vengeance, probably because he looks like he's playing at being a pop star (which he was), and he had the the hots for himself.

Bamaboogiewoogie said...

Arthur Nibble GG never performed A Little Boogie Woogie on Supersonic as that show had ended in April 1977 (he last appeared on the Supersonic Christmas show in 1976). Could it have been Get It Together with Roy North?

Steve Williams said...

So, those Tony Etoria backing vocals in "full"...

If you see enough
Will you breathe enough
Are you high enough
In the sky above
Are you sad enough
Are you glad enough (I think, there was no subtitle for that)
Are you in despair
Have you had enough

That's as much as they bothered with. No wonder they didn't bother at all last time.

Incidentally they didn't go up to the Top 40 until 1984.

80sBlokeInThe70s said...

Bang on about T-Connection - it was still played as an oldie at weekenders/alldayers right up till the mid-80s and the break always went off big time.

I believe the 12" of "Daddy Cool" by Boney M from late 1976 predates the T-Connection 12" and I've read on another blog that the 12" of the Who's reissued "Substitute" trumps them all(discogs backs this up) although it's not exactly an extended mix so not really what we're talking about I suppose.

Alessi - Oh Lori- absolute classic and the idea that anyone thinks Terry Hall's opinions on music are in any way important is one of the reasons why I fail to see how anyone whose mental development didn't stop at about 15 wouldn't find the whole concept of "Guilty Pleasures" a complete embarrassment.

What with Alessi (also played as an oldie on the London jazz-funk pirates) T-Connection and Tony Etoria (covered in the mid-80s by Phil Fearon)this show would have resonated big time in the mid-80s.
And to top it all people on here talking about 'Bama Boogie Woogie'!

I thought Jimmy Saville did pretty well tonight and unlike a lot of the wooden presentations we've had to endure actually made things vaguely entertaining.

And a half a hour show so I don't feel I've missed out on anything watching it on iplayer too.

Noax said...

A bit of a weird show this (not just because of Jim'll) and not much that I really enjoyed.

No-one's mentioned it, but did I see 'Elton John & Kiki Dee' in the rundown? That's not right, is it? Either that, or I'm now dreaming chart rundowns (quite possible)

Dave Edmunds and his Pile Of Rocks - Not a bad start, though for real quality Dave you can't beat his two 1979 hits.

I could have done without the low camera shots though. Had one of the cameramen fallen over (perhaps pushed over by the audience getting their own back) and been unable to recover?

Tony Etoria - First lookalike. A big hello to Richard Ayoade.

Gary Glitter - It's almost like the sound mixer predicted the potential outrage, so low were Gary's vocals. I loved the backing band, though Shaky's version of this is miles better.

Brotherhood of Man - First of all, Jim's 'young friend' : well, where to start. Lookalike No.2 he most certainly is, everyone's beaten me to that. What I can't decide is whether I like his top, hair, or jewellery best. Jewellery I think, as they look like a set of mini pan pipes.

As for ver Man, I quite like this song. And yes, we all know that they're a bit like ABBA but this song doesn't REALLY sound like Fernando does it? I don't think it does. All they nicked was the Spanish name idea. I fancied the blonde one when I was little.

I shall skip past Dennis, irresistable though he clearly is, and move onto...

Johnny Nash - No, not much to say here. Like visual AND audio mogadon.

Alessi - Obviously the ladies have shown too much flesh lately judging by these horrible mumsy outfits. And I was looking forward to seeing the slightly creepy brothers and their sweaters as well.

Paul Nicholas - Not sure what the outfit's supposed to be. Some oriental thing maybe? Bit late for kung fu Paul, or maybe he was going for the Hai Karate ad deal.

Lookalike No.3's here! Hi, Justin Hawkins! Oh, it's Peter Frampton. Which would have been much more exciting had they put FRAMPTON in massive letters at the back of the set. Did Jim have a picture in his hand or a 7"? Looked like the latter to me, but he didn't plug anything.

So The Jacksons then, which I'm still not that bothered about, and T-Connection, which is pretty cool I must admit.

I'm off to browse the catalogue of Jim's gear now. For those who want to bid on the brazil nut, I can safely say I won't be pushing the price up on that.

Arthur Nibble said...

Noax, you didn't dream seeing Elton and Kiki in the chart rundown. I thought it might have been a sudden blip for "Heart" but, having done a quick bit of research, it turns out the chart placing was for a split single which I never realised was the case - "Bite Your Lip" by Elton on one side, and "Chicago" by Kiki on the other. Blink and you miss it, though - four weeks in the top 50 and this solitary week in the top 30.

Simon said...

I nearly mentioned this, but no, there was a second Elt'n'Kiki single, Bite Your Lip, which peaked at 28.

In light of what was around him I did think it prurient not to mention immediately how much, even more than usual, BoM's Lee Sheriden looked like Chris Langham...

Steve Morgan said...

As Arthur Nibble says, the Elt n Kiki single was a double a side, with Elt on one side, Bite Your Lip, and Kiki on the other with Chicago, a solo track from her then current album, Cage The Songbird.
Lip came from Elt's album Blue Moves, the single here was a Tom Moulton re-mix of the track, beefing it up with a disco groove which became one of the most repetative Elton tracks ever, so much so that when David Hamilton chose it as a record of the week he had a competition to see how many times Elt repeated the phrase "bite your lip"
Check out the single version if you can find it anywhere.

THX said...

There's a movie link to this week's show in that both Peter Frampton and Paul Nicholas were soon off to Hollywood to film their roles in the mega-turkey Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band. 1978 was a terrible year for Peter with that movie and his car crash scuppering his career. Paul had Just Good Friends to look forward to, though.

CrewCut said...

The male vocals on Angelo were horrid, too deep and out of tune!!!

wilberforce said...

those who've suggested otherwise to my belief that t-connection's "do what you wanna do" was the first 12" single commercially released are probably right. however, i would maintain it was almost certainly the first one where that format had a big impact on its success (having got used to the 12" in all its glory, i remember hearing the 7" on the radio 1 chart rundown and noticing that the best bit i.e. the break had been hacked out!)...

sadly the 12" format wasn't around in time for kool and the gang's "open sesame" that was released a few months earlier - it had to suffer the indignity of its dancefloor-friendly 8 minutes-plus being squashed onto a 7" 45 with a noticeable drop in sound quality!

as anyone who reads my contributions will be likely to be aware of, i was a big fan of funky disco back then and still am. however, sadly although i got off big-time on "bama boogie woogie" back then, i now think its leaping octave basslines sound a bit cheesy (a shame as the synth solos and brass & string lines are still great). i remember buying my 12" US copy at great expense from an imports soul specialist and showing it off to my equally disco-mad friend and rival-collector in the belief it would never be likely to get a UK release - when that did actually happen against my expectations, not only was it a lot cheaper (at 99p i think) than what i'd splashed out, it was also pressed in blue vinyl which intensely annoyed me as i had a thing about collecting coloured vinyl at the time (of course my mate snapped it up)!

Arthur Nibble said...

By my reckoning, "Bama Boogie Woogie" was one of only three top 40 hits on the Gull label, the others being the lower-charting version of "Fattie Bum Bum" by The Diversions...and "Barbados" by Typically Tropical! Bearing in mind Judas Priest were also on the label at one time, it can safely be said that Gull was eclectic bordering on eccentric.

THX said...

Quelle coincidence, Tony Blackburn played the Shakin' Stevens cover of A Little Boogie Woogie on Pick of the Pops today.

Was it Bruno Brookes who renamed it A Little Boogie Woogie in the Back of My Car? Might as well have been.

Noax said...

Ah, shame I missed that then, although 87's not one of my favourite years.

Thanks everyone for clearing up the Elt'n'Kiki confusion. So technically, it probably should have been 'Elton John / Kiki Dee' on the caption rather than 'Elton John & Kiki Dee'.

Mind you, given that they've had 2 goes at sourcing a picture of Rose Royce and not managed it, I suppose that's not too bad.

Tyrone Jenkins said...

With regards to Angelo Gravity's memory of Gary glitter in a silver catsuit; perhaps your memory is playing tricks and what you recall is the outfit he wore in a Pops appearence earlier in the year. For his January 1977 performance of 'It takes all night long', he wore a silver belted trenchcoat, which he removed to reveal an equally silver three-piece suit. Perhaps memory has combined this with the lurid catsuit he wore in this weeks Pops?

Tyrone Jenkins said...

Last year Paul Nicholas toured with a self-produced stage production about the Profumo affair of the early 60s. By all accounts it was rather good. It reached my local theatre, but unfortunately I was not able to attend.

Arthur Nibble said...

Re Simon's critique of GG, there was me thinking Pomade was a cheap cyder/champagne substitute until I Googled the word! It's a bit like Brylcreem!

If we're struggling for applause from the pavilion this week after a varied and entertaining show, I think we might struggle to reach double figures after the next edition - "Rotten and full of repeats" to quote our leader.

Simon said...

I think you'll find my comments have been taken out of context. (They are, however, pretty accurate. However, the week after has a fascinating opening and the one after that may be the most magnificently eclectic of the whole run so far)

wilberforce said...

arthur, i knew pomade was sonme kind of hair grease that was popular in the US in the rock n roll era, but it does sound like something english people might drink in oz...

in an effort to get us to another half century for the fourth consecutive "innings", i shall elaborate further on "bama boogie woogie" and related experiences:

1 - about 15 years ago at music college i was composing a disco pastiche and came up with a string line that was naggingly familiar, racking my brains as to where i'd heard it before without success. but after trying to jig it around without satisfaction i decided to stick with it as i thought "well, if i can't remember where it came from, i don't suppose anyone else will recognise it"... having now given "bama boogie woogie" another listen in the wake of comments made, i have discovered the riff that i ripped-off!

2 - another hot import disco 45 i got at great expense from that soul specialist was "hustle bus stop" by mastermind, which i loved to death apart from the dodgy trumpet break... of course, when CBS released it in this country some time later, they did so editing out said trumpet break - and just to add insult to injury, once again my chum picked up the better UK copy cheap!

Arthur Nibble said...

Hmm...so, how many different hustles were there? I make that five so far - the Van McCoy type, Latin (Eddie Drennon, ripped off by the M&O Band), Spanish (Fatback Band), British (Hi Tension) and now Hustle Bus Stop. The shuffle franchise wasn't so successful by comparison.

wilberforce said...

for me the definition of the hustle rhythm is the use of a tom-tom on the fourth beat of the bar (as used in van's eponymous tune, hues corporation "rock the boat" and tina charles "i love to love" among others)

after van's success, i think the word "hustle" was perhaps overused and abused in disco tracks as a general incitement to "get on down", as displayed by most of those examples above that don't feature said tom-tom pattern - other offenders include the kay-gees with 2 efforts that aren't strictly-speakling hustle rhythms: "hustle with every muscle" and "tango hustle" (which isn't a tango either)...

the shuffle is actually based on triplet time in the same manner as swing rhythm, but is generally employed to much better effect in rhythm and blues (status quo were serial exponents) than disco, which was probably why there aren't any other disco tracks with that in the titles (and van's attempt to incorporate the rhythm didn't work for me either) - the only track i can think of that also features "shuffle" in its title is ashton gardner and dyke's "resurrection shuffle"...

Arthur Nibble said...

"Wall Street Shuffle " by 10cc, "Seaside Shuffle" by Terry Dactyl and the Dinosaurs, and "Harlem Shuffle" by Bob and Earl, covered by The Rolling Stones?

wilberforce said...

well done arthur - you're obviously much more of a shuffle-head than i am (although ironically none of these records actually feature the shuffle rhythm)

Noax said...

The Womble Shuffle! (Only an album track though, and not disco)

Arthur Nibble (again) said...

Having used the top of my head before, I decided to check the 45cat website, which consists of contributors' scanned labels and/or details of seven-inch singles from around the world, and there are two pages full of A-sides and B-sides with "Hustle" in the title... and six pages with "Shuffle"!

Agonisingly close to some noise from the pavilion...doesn't someone, anyone, want to chat about Paul Nicholas's farewell appearance, Dave Edmunds, BoM or THAT drummer?

Erithian said...

Was musing this morning on how far short of its model "Angelo" falls. OK, we get the relationship between the shepherd boy and the rich girl, and they went off somewhere and had a suicide pact (see kids, MOR music encourages suicides more overtly than heavy metal and nobody complains about it!) But there's little detail behind it compared to the beautiful evocative sketches of Fernando and the woman talking to him - come to think of it, we learn more about Ann and Greasy Joe in the Barron Knights version!

Disappearing from view - 10cc, the Rock Follies ladies, Frankie Miller and, after a single week, Elton b/w Kiki.

Anyway, Arthur, the bowler's running up to the crease, but if he's South African we could be introuble...

wilberforce said...

sorry, i couldn't resist once again taking the single that gets us to yet another half-century (another smattering of applause from the pavillion)...

we are the mike gattings of blog comments (he took ages to convert fifties into hundreds at test level... and we probably will too)

Jorrox said...

That version of The Bride by Rockpile was so different from Edmunds single. Much much faster, Lowe was on lead and Dave on harmonies (on the verses) and it had the ending they used when they played it live.

dunkiep said...

Cheery glitter drummer's grin & catchy guitar riff are locked in my brain! Disgusted to realise Angelo was an ode to suicide pacts. Don't think the 'man should've been grinning like that in the circumstances. Shame the Strangers couldn't play the banned A side of Peaches (surely less offensive than suicide pacts), but that B side grows on me with every play. Love the show reviews Simon, keep it up.

@jazzy_andy said...

BoM also kept their cheesy grins while singing Oh Boy (The Mood I'm In) - "the pain I feel at missing him". I suspect they were singing about a lost puppy but still, WTF?