Missed the early show but will definitely record the late one, especially now I know Sylvester will be on.
These old TOTP shows are like coming across an old photo album, they take you back in time and you remember everything you were doing at that time. sigh!
BIB: 'Walk On By' was originally the A-side of a free limited edition white vinyl single that came with early copies of the Black And White album.
Having bought it, I must confess I felt rather cheated that the track was issued as a single, rather than remain the collector's item it was originally made out to be.
Isn't it disappointing how few No1 single acts actually appear in the TOTP studio. This is noticeable since the run of John & Olivia (9 weeks) followed by The Commodores to come (5 weeks) then John & Olivia again (7 weeks), a total of 21 weeks between June & November 1978 with no No1 appearance by the act, except I believe for the single solitary week that 10cc grab in September with Dreadlock Holiday? But did they actually perform the hit on TOTP when it was actually No1 that week?
BIBs - contrary to what the Popscene website suggests it would appear that 10cc may only have performed 'Dreadlock Holiday' once in the TOTP studio and this clip was still being repeated 5 weeks later when the song reached No. 1 ?
Class from Stranglers, 10CC and Justin Hayward tonight with the rest on the right side of ok but no better.
The chorus on that New Seekers song reminds me of the Andrew Lloyd Webber song from Cats that was used as the theme to the 1982 World's Cub by the BBC:D
OMG OMG. A mini interview with the legend that was Sylvester, who looked pretty miffed that he had not been able to do his classic song on the show. But this was a little gem, which is one of the prime reasons for watching this excellent repeat series.
Sylvester was the first American openly gay pop star. coming from the Castro gay district in San Francisco to score a series of huge and memorable disco/dance classics, of which Mighty Real is probably the greatest.
In 1988 when I visited San Francisco the papers were full of their now-forgotten star as having contracted AIDS from which he died shortly afterwards. Ten years is a long time. But Sylvester was a real hero is San Francisco.
I had to laugh when I saw Noel interviewing Sylvester, and was watching him very carefully. Why? Well I am an avid watcher of Noel on Deal Or No Deal also, and only last week I posted a comment on that programmes thread about my perception of Noel's attitude to gay people and comments he makes which could be construed as homophobic. I also made a comment that I thought he was uncomfortable talking and being around gay men. For anyone who does not watch that show, there is this thing called the 1p kiss, and when two men happen to have to kiss now and again he often makes "ugh" kind of insinuations. So seeing Noel's last regular TOTP and his interview with the very much gay Sylvester pop up just before the end was a gem.
Why also does Noel continue to insist on calling Legs & Co, Legs & Company? Nobody else did.
Robbie, I actually love that version of Walk On By from The Stranglers and have got a 7 minute long version on iPod. Very surprised it was not more popular on here.
About to catch up with the late extended edition to refresh my memory of the rest!
Well done Gulftastic. I'd have been disappointed if nobody had used this pun!
Shame the track was cut off brutally before it's natural ending. When I was 15 I utterly detested Hello, really hated the song massively. Yet, now I utterly adore it. Both tracks are the equal of each other I think. I recall my mother humming Three Times A Lady an awful lot during the 1978 school summer holidays!
No current case with Mr Townsend. And he was cleared.
The point is not meant to be about Townshend as such, as I do not have a problem with his appearance whatsoever. But I am pointing out the inconsistency, no more.
However, your other points are not accurate. He was not cleared at all. He was given a police caution.
OMG OMG. A mini interview with the legend that was Sylvester, who looked pretty miffed that he had not been able to do his classic song on the show. But this was a little gem, which is one of the prime reasons for watching this excellent repeat series.
Sylvester was the first American openly gay pop star. coming from the Castro gay district in San Francisco to score a series of huge and memorable disco/dance classics, of which Mighty Real is probably the greatest.
In 1988 when I visited San Francisco the papers were full of their now-forgotten star as having contracted AIDS from which he died shortly afterwards. Ten years is a long time. But Sylvester was a real hero is San Francisco.
Mind you though, if he had performed it in the studio would he have been 'Pearsoned'?
Maybe he heard about the 'quality' of the orchestra & thought 'Naaah'!
It's been good to see these tidybeard shows from 1976 to 1978 ,noel for some reason wouldnt let UK Gold air his shows and it's been good fun to see the shows for the first time since broadcast and cringe at his awful puns and dodgy links now lets hope all this DLT nonsense can be sorted out soon
Well done Gulftastic. I'd have been disappointed if nobody had used this pun!
You're very welcome RT.
I still think 'Hello' is pony, but I liked it when I was at school because we all used to laugh when we changed the lyrics to 'Are you somewhere feeling lonely, or is lonely feeling you?'. It was funny when we were 14.
I still think 'Hello' is pony, but I liked it when I was at school because we all used to laugh when we changed the lyrics to 'Are you somewhere feeling lonely, or is lonely feeling you?'. It was funny when we were 14.
The Late night version had The Who about here which seemed better than half the songs they did show.
it would have been far and away the best song. It is one of the best songs by a classic group. This would have made the episode the roll's royce of TOTP 1978's.:)
Might be something to do with the use of the F word, which was silenced in the late show, but still obvious!
To be honest, The Who's clip on the late edition was one of those extremely poor quality clips, like with Foreigner last week, and A Taste Of Honey the week before. It was probably better to show an actual decent quality in house TOTP performance than just a promo, regardless of song quality. That's my take on it.
Mr Big (those who we saw with Romeo in early 1977) were also shown on the late edition, in the studio, with a reasonable track I thought, called Senora, which totally bombed and they broke up immediately afterwards I think. They were down to just a duo in the studio, yet I'm sure there were more members last year on their big hit.
This DLT nonsense is affecting other things as well.
I like the song Howzat by Sherbet. There was a TOTP video posted that I often used to watch, it was a live performance by them and was really good. The intro was by DLT joking around with a banana. I can no longer find that video, It must have been removed.
For those on here who now wish to listen to this weeks TOTP 1978 edition this coming Sunday, 20th August, 1978 on the Radio 1 Chart Show, well you can do so!
Scroll down close to the bottom, to the Radio 1 link, which is under the heading UK BBC 50's - 80's, and then scroll through the list of downloadable / playable shows and the Top 20 as broadcast by Simon Bates on that date (20th August 1978) is available, kicking off with The Who at No20.
I'm sorry I have not been able to provide a direct link to the actual show from the website, I have tried, not sure how to, but for anyone interested I know you'll find it easy enough. I've downloaded the show onto my iPod and it's a good Top 20 to do so with.
To be honest, The Who's clip on the late edition was one of those extremely poor quality clips, like with Foreigner last week, and A Taste Of Honey the week before. It was probably better to show an actual decent quality in house TOTP performance than just a promo, regardless of song quality. That's my take on it.
Mr Big (those who we saw with Romeo in early 1977) were also shown on the late edition, in the studio, with a reasonable track I thought, called Senora, which totally bombed and they broke up immediately afterwards I think. They were down to just a duo in the studio, yet I'm sure there were more members last year on their big hit.
Like City Boy, like Child, Mr. Big were around for a little while before having the hit. I do remember Mr. Big about 1974 having a Luxembourg track called I'm All Right or something like that.:)
I remember there being a lead singer called Dicken. They deserved more success, but by 1978, well, the New Wave was upon us.:)
Weakest show seen in a while (not helped by that dreadful 10cc song). And then the wtf moment of seeing Sylvester in studio, but no Mighty Real playout? :mad:
The Cerrone song though did remind me of the Goldfrapp connection
I must admit, I don't watch these often - I'm more into the 80s and watch a lot of shows from the Yellow Pearl era on YouTube.
So I was surprised how pedestian and slow the show was, it didn't feel anything like the Top of the Pops I recognise. From being 7 or 8 years old, Top of the Pops felt like a big pop party with balloons and flag waving. Holly Johnson's Two Tribes epics are among my earliest memories.
These 1978 shows are okay, but there's something stilted about them to me. I'm sure though that I once saw a 1973 edition repeated, with people like Slade and Alvin Stadust on, that was a lot noisier and livelier and more like the 80s shows, so perhaps it's just the eras.
I love the 80s TOTPs too, as that is more my era, though I do think the party atmosphere was a bit OTT at times. It's certainly better than seeing someone performing and the audience looking totally distinterested, though. If I'd have been lucky enough to be an audience member I'm sure I'd have tried to make some sort of effort to move to all the acts that were on, even if I didn't like the song. I have discovered some great music through watching these repeats, though.
I wonder if Steve Wright, or whoever chooses the music for his show, was watching TOTP last night as he just played Supernature.
One of the oddest things last night was Noel's reference to Afghanistan (when he could actually say it at the second attempt!). What did any of us know about Afghanistan before 1980?
I liked the Stranglers' version of Walk On By. Don't remember that Darts song at all.
Also strange that Sylvester pops up in the studio at the end, talking about his latest hit. Obviously the ideal moment to play out with....City Boy!
Comments
These old TOTP shows are like coming across an old photo album, they take you back in time and you remember everything you were doing at that time. sigh!
Hall & Oates achieved six No. 1 hits on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 between 1977 and 1983.
Farrah Fawcett-Majors would have been proud of that barnet.
... at least the B-sides were different.
BIBs - contrary to what the Popscene website suggests it would appear that 10cc may only have performed 'Dreadlock Holiday' once in the TOTP studio and this clip was still being repeated 5 weeks later when the song reached No. 1 ?
The chorus on that New Seekers song reminds me of the Andrew Lloyd Webber song from Cats that was used as the theme to the 1982 World's Cub by the BBC:D
I had to laugh when I saw Noel interviewing Sylvester, and was watching him very carefully. Why? Well I am an avid watcher of Noel on Deal Or No Deal also, and only last week I posted a comment on that programmes thread about my perception of Noel's attitude to gay people and comments he makes which could be construed as homophobic. I also made a comment that I thought he was uncomfortable talking and being around gay men. For anyone who does not watch that show, there is this thing called the 1p kiss, and when two men happen to have to kiss now and again he often makes "ugh" kind of insinuations. So seeing Noel's last regular TOTP and his interview with the very much gay Sylvester pop up just before the end was a gem.
Why also does Noel continue to insist on calling Legs & Co, Legs & Company? Nobody else did.
Robbie, I actually love that version of Walk On By from The Stranglers and have got a 7 minute long version on iPod. Very surprised it was not more popular on here.
About to catch up with the late extended edition to refresh my memory of the rest!
Well done Gulftastic. I'd have been disappointed if nobody had used this pun!
Shame the track was cut off brutally before it's natural ending. When I was 15 I utterly detested Hello, really hated the song massively. Yet, now I utterly adore it. Both tracks are the equal of each other I think. I recall my mother humming Three Times A Lady an awful lot during the 1978 school summer holidays!
I'll just leave that thought hanging there....... :rolleyes:
No current case with Mr Townsend. And he was cleared.
The point is not meant to be about Townshend as such, as I do not have a problem with his appearance whatsoever. But I am pointing out the inconsistency, no more.
However, your other points are not accurate. He was not cleared at all. He was given a police caution.
Mind you though, if he had performed it in the studio would he have been 'Pearsoned'?
Maybe he heard about the 'quality' of the orchestra & thought 'Naaah'!
You're very welcome RT.
I still think 'Hello' is pony, but I liked it when I was at school because we all used to laugh when we changed the lyrics to 'Are you somewhere feeling lonely, or is lonely feeling you?'. It was funny when we were 14.
The Late night version had The Who about here which seemed better than half the songs they did show.
You have just fashioned a nightmare in my mid that I am so glad we never had to experience in reality ... :eek::eek::eek:;)
I think that's quite funny now ...
Might be something to do with the use of the F word, which was silenced in the late show, but still obvious!
it would have been far and away the best song. It is one of the best songs by a classic group. This would have made the episode the roll's royce of TOTP 1978's.:)
I am mightily peeved I missed it.:eek:
To be honest, The Who's clip on the late edition was one of those extremely poor quality clips, like with Foreigner last week, and A Taste Of Honey the week before. It was probably better to show an actual decent quality in house TOTP performance than just a promo, regardless of song quality. That's my take on it.
Mr Big (those who we saw with Romeo in early 1977) were also shown on the late edition, in the studio, with a reasonable track I thought, called Senora, which totally bombed and they broke up immediately afterwards I think. They were down to just a duo in the studio, yet I'm sure there were more members last year on their big hit.
I like the song Howzat by Sherbet. There was a TOTP video posted that I often used to watch, it was a live performance by them and was really good. The intro was by DLT joking around with a banana. I can no longer find that video, It must have been removed.
www.azanorak.com/
Scroll down close to the bottom, to the Radio 1 link, which is under the heading UK BBC 50's - 80's, and then scroll through the list of downloadable / playable shows and the Top 20 as broadcast by Simon Bates on that date (20th August 1978) is available, kicking off with The Who at No20.
I'm sorry I have not been able to provide a direct link to the actual show from the website, I have tried, not sure how to, but for anyone interested I know you'll find it easy enough. I've downloaded the show onto my iPod and it's a good Top 20 to do so with.
Like City Boy, like Child, Mr. Big were around for a little while before having the hit. I do remember Mr. Big about 1974 having a Luxembourg track called I'm All Right or something like that.:)
I remember there being a lead singer called Dicken. They deserved more success, but by 1978, well, the New Wave was upon us.:)
The Cerrone song though did remind me of the Goldfrapp connection
Thank Goodness we were spared that. My memories of Mighty Real are left untampered with.:eek:
So I was surprised how pedestian and slow the show was, it didn't feel anything like the Top of the Pops I recognise. From being 7 or 8 years old, Top of the Pops felt like a big pop party with balloons and flag waving. Holly Johnson's Two Tribes epics are among my earliest memories.
These 1978 shows are okay, but there's something stilted about them to me. I'm sure though that I once saw a 1973 edition repeated, with people like Slade and Alvin Stadust on, that was a lot noisier and livelier and more like the 80s shows, so perhaps it's just the eras.
I wonder if Steve Wright, or whoever chooses the music for his show, was watching TOTP last night as he just played Supernature.
One of the oddest things last night was Noel's reference to Afghanistan (when he could actually say it at the second attempt!). What did any of us know about Afghanistan before 1980?
I liked the Stranglers' version of Walk On By. Don't remember that Darts song at all.
Also strange that Sylvester pops up in the studio at the end, talking about his latest hit. Obviously the ideal moment to play out with....City Boy!