Top Of The Pops

[BrainDamageII]

Brian you will pleased to know that the performance of Rock and Roll Part 2 wasn't wiped and is here on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nras3c8r45k

Yes, that's from a TOTP special, the very first time it was on I seem to remember Ed Stewart saying "this is what colour televesion was for", might be a slight mis quote as it was 40 years ago and sometimes I don't remember what I did 40 minutes ago but it was something like that. Anyway cheers Graham.

[Blondini]

I'm glad Glitter was shown, history should not be erased.

No, but that song should!

How true, shame his 1st performance of Rock and Roll Part 2 isn't shown (if it hasn't been wiped) it was what TOTP was all about at the time.

On Glitter's TOTP performance of it takes all night long.. Having watched it yesterday It was a live performance of the song and so sounded awful compared with the highly polished version. So I hope you were not judging the song on the TOTP performance of it.

I was judging the song which was so bad i don't want to hear a polished version. You can't polish a turd.

[CZB]

The same track that was missed from the shortened programme of a fortnight ago disappeared again tonight.....






27-1-77: Presenter: Tony Blackburn

(38) THE BROTHERS – Sing Me
(4) DAVID PARTON – Isn’t She Lovely
(23) THE EAGLES – New Kid In Town (danced to by Legs & Co)
(3) BARRY BIGGS – Sideshow
(9) STATUS QUO – Wild Side Of Life (video)
(NEW) MR. BIG – Romeo
(2) JULIE COVINGTON – Don’t Cry For Me Argentina (video)
(NEW) ANDY FAIRWEATHER-LOW – Be-Bop ‘N’ Holler
(28) THE MOMENTS – Jack In The Box (video)
(49) THE NEW SEEKERS – I Wanna Go Back
(1) DAVID SOUL – Don’t Give Up On Us (video)
(10) ROSE ROYCE – Car Wash (and credits)




.....and if, as I suspect, it's the same interminably dull "video" (more like a slide show) as previously, it's no great loss! However, it should be there in the full-length late-night repeats.

Tony Blackburn predicted that another track from the current top five would soon go to number one - wrong again.....

[Blondini]

^He was also wrong about not having a new single from The New Seekers for a while. The previous single (by a new line-up after the group had disbanded two years before) had got to 44 in August 76 (he must have not been aware/ forgot).

[Graham76man]

The Brothers I think won a talent show on TV was it Opportunity Knocks?
Mr Big hail from Oxford, the lead singer has the looks and voice of Rod Stewart, but the single was very much based on Bohemian Rhapsody. It wasn't a live performance.

Andy had some massive hits in the 60's as part of Amen Corner. That single will miss the top 50!

Has everyone noticed this year TOTP started to use the big video screen with the studio audince dancing in front. They used this week for the Moments record, a really great pop track

David Soul according to an advert in Billboard (29 Jan 77) -see Google Books- had sold over 500K in the UK.

[Robbie]

I couldn't fully remember which talent show The Brothers had won but Opportunity Knocks sounds about right. Another winner of Opportunity Knocks will be on TOTP in the next few months. Unless I'm imagining it, I'm sure Berni Flint won for several weeks in a row... in fact didn't he hold the record for winning the most weeks in a row?

[Graham76man]

I couldn't fully remember which talent show The Brothers had won but Opportunity Knocks sounds about right. Another winner of Opportunity Knocks will be on TOTP in the next few months. Unless I'm imagining it, I'm sure Berni Flint won for several weeks in a row... in fact didn't he hold the record for winning the most weeks in a row?

Yes Berni did win it, not certain on how many times though.

By the way everyone if you can check out the Wild Cherry record Baby don't you know it was the follow up to Play That Funky Music, and it was released in January of 77, but in didn't enter the BBC top 50. It's one of those records that should have been in the top 50

[Blondini]

Andy had some massive hits in the 60's as part of Amen Corner. That single will miss the top 50!

He was recently co-vocalist (uncredited) on Kate Bush's single Wild Man. He has since dropped the hyphen in his second/ third name.

[CZB]

A couple of performances from near the beginning of this week's repeat were edited out of the shortened version airing at the moment.....




3-2-77: Presenter: David Jensen

(12) THIN LIZZY – Don’t Believe A Word
(26) GARY GLITTER – It Takes All Night Long
(6) BONEY M – Daddy Cool
(5) LEO SAYER – When I Need You
(14) HAROLD MELVIN & THE BLUENOTES – Don’t Leave Me This Way (danced to by Legs & Co)
(27) BOZ SCAGGS – What Can I Say (video)
(NEW) THE REAL THING – You’ll Never Know What You’re Missing
(28) SILVER CONVENTION – Everybody’s Talkin’ ‘Bout Love
(NEW) THE RUBETTES – Baby I Know
(1) DAVID SOUL – Don’t Give Up On Us (video)
(19) HEATWAVE – Boogie Nights (and credits)




.....but not necessarily what might have been expected to be saved for the full-length late night version!

[Robbie]

Yup, BBC4 played Gary Glitter's awful song. Good to see that the BBC have developed some balls though and are now playing his music in what is considered prime time TV.

[Blondini]

^What he said.

[Robbie]

There's no TOTP this week and the next episode that should be shown has been deleted from the BBC archives but it is available as an audio recording and has been uploaded at youtube. It is split across three videos and we'll all just have to imagine Legs & Co's performance to "Boogie Nights"...

Julie Covington makes an appearance in the TOTP studio, she's interviewed by DLT and among other things she explains why she's not actually performed her single on TOTP.

Thursday February 10 1977

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcHm8w6DMLY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUzfhApGVzA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmCkQQ4e6m8

and thanks to Popscene...

10-2-77: Presenter: Dave Lee Travis (Wiped)

(NEW) SAILOR – One Drink Too Many *
(29) THE DETROIT SPINNERS – Wake Up Susan
(NEW) KIKI DEE – First Thing In The Morning
(23) BOSTON – More Than A Feeling (video)
(NEW) BROTHERHOOD OF MAN – Oh Boy (The Mood I’m In)
(21) BRYAN FERRY – This Is Tomorrow (video)
(33) THE RACING CARS – The Shoot Horses Don’t They?
(16) HEATWAVE – Boogie Nights (danced to by Legs & Co)
(NEW) JOHNNY NASH – Birds Of A Feather
(1) JULIE COVINGTON – Don’t Cry For Me Argentina (video) (and credits)

* although this show is wiped, this performance still exists

--------------------------------

The Sailor performance exists in a poor quality black and white clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-2aW4WEHSQ

[Blondini]

^So we will never see the Covington "video" on these reruns (not the 7:30/ iPlayer ones).

As it drops from the top next week.

And no other clip of that Nash flop on YouTube.

[Robbie]

I can't even recall the Johnny Nash song and I knew most of the songs that TOTP played as new singles from back then, including the singles that flopped. It seems like TOTP had a few connections with labels and the labels could get their singles played on the programme.

I still love "Don't Cry For Me Argentina", it's in my top 20 singles of all time. I owned the record back in the day, My mum bought it for me for getting a good school report back in February 1977. A good education does work sometimes!

[Graham76man]

I can't even recall the Johnny Nash song and I knew most of the songs that TOTP played as new singles from back then, including the singles that flopped. It seems like TOTP had a few connections with labels and the labels could get their singles played on the programme.

Of course the singles didn't really flop in the sense they didn't make the top 40. They flopped because the BMRB chart was being so heavily fiddled that records selling small amounts were filling up the 50 to 30 postions; records such as Brick, Al Stewart and Brass Construction. For some reason or other these sold well in the 250 chart shops, while the overall sellers from TOTP would have been in the top 40's of those not on the panel of shops.
It's common sense really why were some many artists trying to get on the show, if your record went down the chart 5 to 10 places after being on And I have been comparing TOTP performances and chart positions since these shows started and that's what many records do...go down the chart... when they should go up

[Robbie]

Graham, I wanted "Year Of The Cat" by Al Stewart to go top 30. It's one of my favourite songs and I bought it back in the day. It peaked at #31 and just couldn't get inside the top 30. I doubt it was being hyped! Though if it was, RCA did a poor job of hyping it...

[Graham76man]

Graham, I wanted "Year Of The Cat" by Al Stewart to go top 30. It's one of my favourite songs and I bought it back in the day. It peaked at #31 and just couldn't get inside the top 30. I doubt it was being hyped! Though if it was, RCA did a poor job of hyping it...

It wasn't hyped in the form of no legit sales as such, indeed the problem was such records were often poorly distributed except when it came to the chart shops. As a result they had little backbone or ground surport to sell well. It wasn't on TOTP, but I have seen him performing it on the Old Grey Whistle Test, perhaps why it didn't sell was due to it's poor appeal to the mainstream "pop" market, as OGWT wasn't interested in that at all. Had it be shown on TOTP it would have made the 30!
Don't forget too that the week after a record made the top 50 it would generally sell all over the country. As most record shops laid out the top 50 for casual customers to buy. Infact the only top BMRB top 50 record for Jan 1977 that wouldn't sell was the Bar Kays-Shake your rump... That would not enter the Real Chart 100, even though the bottom slot (100) was around 5K sales!

[Blondini]

Have any of you got any info on this curious bit of Wiki info concerning a "banned" Macca video? http://www.ukmix.org/forums/viewtopic.p ... 58#3604358

[CZB]

There's no TOTP this week and the next episode that should be shown has been deleted from the BBC archives but it is available as an audio recording and has been uploaded at youtube.

Thursday February 10 1977

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcHm8w6DMLY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUzfhApGVzA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmCkQQ4e6m8

Thanks for those links - I listened with interest to this "lost" edition a little earlier on.

(NEW) KIKI DEE – First Thing In The Morning
(33) THE RACING CARS – The Shoot Horses Don’t They?

Less ambitious predictions from DLT than some of his others - "top five" success in the future for both of these......The Racing Cars got to number 14, Kiki Dee got to 32 !!!


Tonight's edition had one of the less frequent presenters - although I believe he was the BBC World Service chart show host for quite some time.....




17-2-77: Presenter: Paul Burnett

(NEW) SUZI QUATRO – Tear Me Apart
(8) THE MOMENTS – Jack In The Box
(12) MANHATTAN TRANSFER – Chanson D’Amour (danced to by Legs & Co)
(11) THE BROTHERS – Sing Me
(NEW) LES GRAY – A Groovy Kind Of Love
(19) BOZ SCAGGS – What Can I Say (video)
(18) THELMA HOUSTON – Don’t Leave Me This Way
(22) THE RUBETTES – Baby I Know
(16) MR. BIG – Romeo (video)
(27) TAVARES – Mighty Power Of Love (danced to by Legs & Co)
(1) LEO SAYER – When I Need You
(29) EARTH, WIND & FIRE – Saturday Nite (and credits)



Two of the more well-known tunes - although maybe not a particularly well-known version of the second one - are held back for the late night repeat. Guinness Hit Singles, in recording that this version of "A Groovy Kind Of Love" reached the dizzy heights of number 32, says "See also Mud" - so, unless there's confusion with someone else of the same name, that would seem to be a disappointingly low solo peak for someone from that group who usually went much higher in the charts.....

[Robbie]

It is indeed the same Les Gray. Although Mud were still having hits (and by then some flops too) their popularity had declined considerably by the time Les Gray left the band to go it alone and there never seemed to be that much interest in his attempt at a solo career.

[Graham76man]

The probable reason for Mud's decline is the fact that the people who wrote most of their hits were no longer doing so. They were of course Nicky Chinn - Mike Chapman, the general style of thier writing being like Suzie's featured track, which hey presto was written by them

According to the band's album, Mr Big, the drummer with the name "Dicken" wrote most of the tracks, though on Romeo he was helped out by Edward Carter the lead singer. The video is nearly a direct copy of the Queen track!
Andrew Gold, who will be in the 77 charts soon with Lonely Boy, also played the organ for them.

Now to Houston, who just in case anybody was wondering is NOT related to Whitney! I guess that it was fair that Harold Melvin had the bigger hit in the UK with it, since it was taken off his 1975 album Wake Up Everybody. The track was written by Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff, plus C Gilbert. The Harold Melvin single also credits Theodore (Teddy) Pendergrass, as well as the Bluenotes.

By the way Paul the presenter was one of the people on Convoy GB featured on last year's TOTP. Not so cool now is he

[CZB]

By the way Paul the presenter was one of the people on Convoy GB featured on last year's TOTP. Not so cool now is he

I spotted a probably quite valid comment elsewhere the other night:

I liked how Paul Burnett wasn't introduced by the continuity announcer, wasn't billed in the Radio Times and wasn't named on the EPG, so I'm assuming most people spent the entire half hour going "Who the hell is this?".

[Blondini]

I didn't recognise him! Though i knew he was on Convoy GB.

Robbie said on DS that that Suzi performance is on of only two that exist by her - the other being Can The Can from a Xmas edition - what a shame.

[Robbie]

I didn't recognise him! Though i knew he was on Convoy GB.

Robbie said on DS that that Suzi performance is on of only two that exist by her - the other being Can The Can from a Xmas edition - what a shame.

I overlooked a third, "Devil Gate Drive", from December 27, 1974. The Suzi performance shown on that edition of TOTP is a repeat of her 07/02/74 appearance and this performance was also repeated on 21/02/74 and 28/02/74, which were the two weeks the record was at number 1.

[Robbie]

Also it is only one of two (now three!) TOTP appearances that existed of her up to February 1977 - she did make two more appearances in 1977 in episodes that are in the archive as well as other appearances in the period 1978 to 1980, which also exist. But certainly for her most successful period (1973 to 1974) most of her TOTP appearances have been wiped.