Old TOTP (BBC4)

God, it hard to find anything to say about stuff like Taffy and Vesta Williams - so much of what's on these programmes suffers from that thin 80's sound - early digital synths and drum machines with no punch, horrid gated snares...very few songs could actually break through that sound and still feel worth having. There's something overly stylized about the whole period - big diamante earrings and broaches, oversized jackets, weird looking instruments...yuk.

Case in point - Westworld. "Sonic Boom Boy" is a decent song but it's a rockabilly take-off so it needs real bass and drums. Instead it's all synthesised and programmed, the guitars sound really flimsy and the vocal has had a bucket of reverb and delay added to disguise the fact that she's a bit wonky. All the things that could have made it really work have either been removed or smoothed over. The result is a good tune rendered unlistenable and dated pretty much from the second it was released. A doggone shame.
 
The fact that all these early 60's soul records were charting so well acts as a perverse indicator of how vapid the contemporary music scene really was.
 
..and then "Male Stripper" comes on! :D

Bizarre in a way that this was such a big hit but club culture was really crossing over by this time and the gays could always make a hit when they wanted to. Gary Davis goes "well, i';s different", thus confirming himself a twat.
 
Oh fuck off Clapton. Once a cunt, always a cunt. He got a sympathy vote for a few years after his wee boy died but I still hate him. How come he's still alive when you think of who we've lost? At least his Xmas album sold the back end of fuck all last year hahahahahahahahahaha.
 
They had Gary Davies doing much too much with the 'Party! Party! Party!' vibes on the Thursday episode this week.
 
If ever there was an episode to miss it was that one, although I enjoyed Tom Jones.

Her from Starship has a touch of the Kim Woodburn's about her now...

b9ac9fdf14e2201bfd240a9568e3495c.jpg
 
She must be about 90

She was no spring chicken THEN and had taken FAR TOO MANY DRUGS
 
Right, gonna endure an episode or two before I watch that Soft Cell doc.

The Christians. They were bewilderingly popular for a bit. Sounds a bit too slick and 80's today.
 
Vince Clarke would have been a great comedian - his ability to keep a completely dour expression at all times would have been a tremendous asset. (NB - one of Erasure's lesser tunes here, not digging the faux-ethnic bit in the middle)
 
Al Jarreau appeared to have Giant Haystacks on bass. Just had to Google to see if Jarreau was still alive. He isn't.
 
Oh fuck me, Bruce Willis's musical career. Again, bewilderingly huge. I watched Moonlighting without fail so I was partly responsible but I never bought any of his records. Fairly amazed MeToo hasn't come for Willis yet to be honest.
 
The Mission were, in their way, fabulous - they knew it was overblown and enjoyed it but they were also sufficiently serious about what they were doing so as not to descend into full pomp rawk cliche. They made better records than this tho' - reeks of 4th single off the album (and I think it was).
 
octophone said:
Vince Clarke would have been a great comedian - his ability to keep a completely dour expression at all times would have been a tremendous asset. (NB - one of Erasure's lesser tunes here, not digging the faux-ethnic bit in the middle)
Click to expand...

I like his suspended keyboard on the 2nd appearance. Again, it's quite funny and Clarke does nothing to acknowledge the magical floating synthesiser.
 
You wonder what the TOTP crowd made of the Pogues and the Dubliners - there's about 14 old blokes on stage doing a folk song and they've come to see Curiosity Killed The Cat. Quite fun, all in.
 
The only really entertaining thing about Fine Young Cannibals was Andy Cox and David Steele's bendy-limbed dancing. With Steele behind a keyboard, we're only getting half the fun. Plus, rotten version of a great song.
 
The "crowd" scene on Ferry Aid is quite the state, eh?

I had totally forgotten Kate Bush was on the record as well.
 
octophone said:
The only really entertaining thing about Fine Young Cannibals was Andy Cox and David Steele's bendy-limbed dancing. With Steele behind a keyboard, we're only getting half the fun. Plus, rotten version of a great song.
Click to expand...

Ah, they've learned from their mistake - they're both wiggling like they're trying not to shit their pants this time. Still shit. Do they not go away for a couple of years now or something? When's "She Drives Me Crazy", that was ace.
 
Ag said:
It's good to be reminded of David Bowie being terrible.
Click to expand...

Awful record. He knew he'd blown it as well and harboured a desire to completely re-record it. His guitarist on the following tour, Reeves Gabrels, convinced him that it was better to keep going forward and make his next album. Which was Tin Machine. Your mileage may vary etc...

(Bowie compilations traditionally skip this album, using a much later reworking of "Time Will Crawl" if anything. His wish was honoured posthumously, with the album being completely retooled for last year's "Loving The Alien" box set)
 
I maintain that "Wanted Dead Or Alive" is one of the 5 worst records ever made by anyone ever. Absolute shite on toast.
 
I know it was 1987 but why did we send a mid-range hairdresser to Eurovision? If you'd put a gun to my head and said "sing it, tubby", I'd have been dead and buried.
 
I still don't know HOW that TOM JONES number happened

But that's why I love him, he knows it's a LOAD OF OLD SHIT and HE DOESN'T CARE
 
Shirley said:
I still don't know HOW that TOM JONES number happened

But that's why I love him, he knows it's a LOAD OF OLD SHIT and HE DOESN'T CARE
Click to expand...

The title was oddly prophetic because it really did come right out of nowhere and it was massive. I *think* his next move was that version of "Kiss" with the Art Of Noise which was wasn't quite as huge but nonetheless a proper hit.
 
I note he hadn't had a hit for a decade prior to this one. Did the hits dry up or was he inactive?
 
It appears for most of the 1980s he was doing country music for an American audience.
 
Ag said:
I note he hadn't had a hit for a decade prior to this one. Did the hits dry up or was he inactive?
Click to expand...

He went Country for a while, so I don't think he was aiming at UK success - although I'm not sure if he managed it in the US, either.
 
He could always draw a crowd in the States, 3/4000 a night, something he couldn't do in the UK for a while post-punk.
 
He really does have a very impressive career. He has bonafide hits from the mid 1960s until the mid 2000s, which few others can claim, in terms of sheer longevity.
 
I don't think I knew that Elvira, Mistress of the Dark lost her virginity to Tom Jones :o

Or that he was supposedly SO WELL ENDOWED she needed MEDICAL ATTENTION afterwards :D :D :D
 
I thought it was well known that Jones The Voice had a schlong like draught excluder.
 
I was more impressed by Elvira than his cock, to be honest.
 
Oh wow a Jonathan Ross reference. Has he really been famous for over 30 years?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)
Back
Top Bottom