Top Of The Pops 1978 - BBC4

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  • tortfeasortortfeasor Posts: 7,000
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    Rich Tea. wrote: »
    Thank your lucky stars that we live in the download era now then, because you definitely would not have been able to pop down to Woollies or wherever and get yourself a vinyl copy years later would you! :p

    Talking "Lucky Stars" there is a later in 1978 guilty pleasure record by Dean Friedman that I must get too, that went top 3...

    As for iTunes, I am continually surprised at how many decent sized UK hit singles they do not appear to have, considering the boast about millions of tracks. A lot of the ones I have been unable to find have been relatively recent, 1980's hits that went Top 20, or even 10.

    I think back to the amount of time and money I spent getting hold of 'oldies' that seldom appeared on compilations before the download era and count my blessings; it is comparatively better nowadays to get hold of songs. I had to get a local independent record shop to order a Beggars Banquet Punk Singles Collection compilation about 15 years ago now (eeeek) to get hold of what I think is a fantastic track from 1979 by The Doll called 'Desire Me.' You can download it on Amazon now for 4% of the total price I paid to get hold of the CD I mentioned and within seconds: I seem to remember I had to wait 6 weeks for the CD to arrive. HMV and Virgin couldn't order it for me for some reason!

    However, you make a very good point about the limitations of iTunes. One of my friends was complaining that they couldn't get hold of a track that made the top 20 but wasn't on iTunes. Typically I've forgotten which track she was after but I do remember I found out that it was available to download from Amazon! Speaking of which, I seem to recall a song you and I exchanged posts on from 1983 - 'It's Over' by the Funk Masters - and I would not be at all surprised if that's an example of a track that isn't on iTunes.

    I like 'Lucky Stars' by Dean Friedman too though I think we're in a minority of people who will admit to it! Every other person I've spoken to who was around at the time or knows the song absolutely loathes it!:o
  • The GathererThe Gatherer Posts: 2,723
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    Frood wrote: »
    Repetitive, cookie cutter garbage.

    Absolute nonsense. Classic pop music.
  • Tele_addictTele_addict Posts: 1,113
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    Absolute nonsense. Classic pop music.

    I have to agree with you, that SAW made better pop music than anything nowadays. Some of their songs were a bit hit and miss but you have to give them credit for making classic songs for Donna Summer, Bananarama, Jason Donovan and Kylie Minogue. They did have talent for writing catchy tunes, however what I don't like about them is that it paved the way for boybands and rubbish manufactured pop that has dominated the charts ever since.
  • tortfeasortortfeasor Posts: 7,000
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    BIB - I looked this up on Amazon; is the 'Metal Guru' clip on this tape the colourful performance from the wiped 11 May 1972 edition of TOTP which I rediscovered on YouTube just last night (see link below)?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADx4qZ73jiA

    I believe the only clip of 'Metal Guru' left in the BBC archive is from the 28 December 1972 show, as featured in the recent 'Ultimate Number 1s at the BBC' compilation on BBC Four.

    Hi faversham saint. Apologies for not replying to your post sooner. Well, do you know I was surprised to see the clip that you've rediscovered! I can confirm that the one in your Youtube link IS the performance that's on the Ultimate Collection VHS. It is a good performance. When I bought that video, I was expecting to see the clip that had been shown on TOTP 2 a few times, which is the other clip you've mentioned, from the excellent 28th December 1972 show. I was surprised to see what you've said is the May 11th performance on the Ultimate Collection video because I was aware that lots of 1960s and 1970s TOTP episodes had been wiped, hence why it tended to be the same few clips of T. Rex, The Sweet etc. that cropped up on TOTP 2.

    It also might interest you to know that the clip of 'Get it On' included on the Ultimate Collection video is another that you don't see that often. Instead of the familiar clip with Elton John on piano from the 27-12-1971, it's a rather fun clip with girls on motorbikes and Marc wearing a Rupert the Bear t-shirt:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW5en7HXB38
  • TUCTUC Posts: 5,105
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    JEFF62 wrote: »
    Interesting post and I can relate to this. I was also born in 1962 and can remember doing mock exams in January 1978. I do look back at this year with affection. I think it is one of the best years for pop music ever. Really looking forward to going through the year with the TOTP repeats.

    I have a really good pop trivia memory so knew the answer to the question What was the only Christmas number one still at the top in February. It was I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston.

    I was also born in 1962! Looks like being 16 is a key age for remembering TOTP performances!
  • TUCTUC Posts: 5,105
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    tortfeasor wrote: »

    I like 'Lucky Stars' by Dean Friedman too though I think we're in a minority of people who will admit to it! Every other person I've spoken to who was around at the time or knows the song absolutely loathes it!:o
    I like Lucky Stars too although I think 'Ariel', his earlier, smaller hit is a much better song and well worth a listen.
  • mesonychidmesonychid Posts: 708
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    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rbvqe5wMbtQ

    woman of mine by dean friedman also from 1978 is a dreat song as well .
  • AZZURRI 06AZZURRI 06 Posts: 11,173
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    TUC wrote: »
    I like Lucky Stars too although I think 'Ariel', his earlier, smaller hit is a much better song and well worth a listen.

    Lydia is a beautiful song.
  • Rich Tea.Rich Tea. Posts: 22,048
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    tortfeasor wrote: »
    I think back to the amount of time and money I spent getting hold of 'oldies' that seldom appeared on compilations before the download era and count my blessings; it is comparatively better nowadays to get hold of songs. I had to get a local independent record shop to order a Beggars Banquet Punk Singles Collection compilation about 15 years ago now (eeeek) to get hold of what I think is a fantastic track from 1979 by The Doll called 'Desire Me.' You can download it on Amazon now for 4% of the total price I paid to get hold of the CD I mentioned and within seconds: I seem to remember I had to wait 6 weeks for the CD to arrive. HMV and Virgin couldn't order it for me for some reason!

    However, you make a very good point about the limitations of iTunes. One of my friends was complaining that they couldn't get hold of a track that made the top 20 but wasn't on iTunes. Typically I've forgotten which track she was after but I do remember I found out that it was available to download from Amazon! Speaking of which, I seem to recall a song you and I exchanged posts on from 1983 - 'It's Over' by the Funk Masters - and I would not be at all surprised if that's an example of a track that isn't on iTunes.

    I like 'Lucky Stars' by Dean Friedman too though I think we're in a minority of people who will admit to it! Every other person I've spoken to who was around at the time or knows the song absolutely loathes it!:o

    4 years ago when I got into digital music for the first time, and got the whole stuff set up, including an iTunes account, I think 3 out of the first 5 singles I tried to get from iTunes were un-available, and even worse was that with another I mistakenly downloaded an inferior later re-recording that was not flagged up clearly as being so. It left me somewhat crestfallen as I'd been expecting this bottomless sweet jar of everything I ever wanted to get hold of. Infact i was quite annoyed after all the hype I'd heard of millions of tracks, amongst which there have been roughly 20,000 hit UK singles in 60 years?

    You are right, one of those tracks was the sublime Funkmasters, It's Over which was a No7 hit in 1983, so hardly obscure! Others were The Mobiles, Drowning in Berlin which was yet another Top 10 hit from the year before, and my personal favourite version of What Becomes Of the Broken Hearted by Dave Stewart & Colin Blunstone which made No13 in 1981, none of which is obscure in my opinion. I know there are likely a dozen others I have tried and not found in the same vein, but cannot recall right now. I did get the tunes the "freebie" route in the end due to lack of success via iTunes. My requests fell on deaf ears, as you can message them about tracks not available.

    I wasn't expecting to get Gordon Giltrap's Heartsong last week after seeing it on TOTP, but managed to. I even managed to get that obscure instrumental yesterday that was kindly revealed to me, by Alan Parson's Project called Sirius. I half expected not to get that when I took a look!

    I bet every single bleedin' PWL track is on iTunes, but let's not forget this is actually 1978, not 1988 thank God! ;)



    By the way, a message to Ursula and The Gatherer. I was hovering over the keyboard going to warn you Ursula of the spark you would un-leash in The Gatherer with your comments about you know what, but decided against it. He sure bit just like I thought. :p

    The Gatherer, can I call you Pete? :D
    I've got some positive things to say to you about your bugbear. I believe Hazell Dean's 1984 track Whatever I Do (Wherever I Go) was produced by him/them. I have it myself!
    I also watched a TV show last week, think it was BBC4, in which I thought his model train railway at his home was fantastic. You are never too old for a decent train set. :)
  • UrsulaUUrsulaU Posts: 7,239
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    Rich Tea. wrote: »
    I
    By the way, a message to Ursula and The Gatherer. I was hovering over the keyboard going to warn you Ursula of the spark you would un-leash in The Gatherer with your comments about you know what, but decided against it. He sure bit just like I thought. :p

    . I believe Hazell Dean's 1984 track Whatever I Do (Wherever I Go) was produced by him/them. I have it myself!
    )

    Ha! - And I have Dead or Alive's You Spin Me Round - also a SAW song!! - But a good one for a change! :)
  • The GathererThe Gatherer Posts: 2,723
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    Rich Tea. wrote: »
    4 years ago when I got into digital music for the first time, and got the whole stuff set up, including an iTunes account, I think 3 out of the first 5 singles I tried to get from iTunes were un-available, and even worse was that with another I mistakenly downloaded an inferior later re-recording that was not flagged up clearly as being so. It left me somewhat crestfallen as I'd been expecting this bottomless sweet jar of everything I ever wanted to get hold of. Infact i was quite annoyed after all the hype I'd heard of millions of tracks, amongst which there have been roughly 20,000 hit UK singles in 60 years?

    You are right, one of those tracks was the sublime Funkmasters, It's Over which was a No7 hit in 1983, so hardly obscure! Others were The Mobiles, Drowning in Berlin which was yet another Top 10 hit from the year before, and my personal favourite version of What Becomes Of the Broken Hearted by Dave Stewart & Colin Blunstone which made No13 in 1981, none of which is obscure in my opinion. I know there are likely a dozen others I have tried and not found in the same vein, but cannot recall right now. I did get the tunes the "freebie" route in the end due to lack of success via iTunes. My requests fell on deaf ears, as you can message them about tracks not available.

    I wasn't expecting to get Gordon Giltrap's Heartsong last week after seeing it on TOTP, but managed to. I even managed to get that obscure instrumental yesterday that was kindly revealed to me, by Alan Parson's Project called Sirius. I half expected not to get that when I took a look!

    I bet every single bleedin' PWL track is on iTunes, but let's not forget this is actually 1978, not 1988 thank God! ;)



    By the way, a message to Ursula and The Gatherer. I was hovering over the keyboard going to warn you Ursula of the spark you would un-leash in The Gatherer with your comments about you know what, but decided against it. He sure bit just like I thought. :p

    The Gatherer, can I call you Pete? :D
    I've got some positive things to say to you about your bugbear. I believe Hazell Dean's 1984 track Whatever I Do (Wherever I Go) was produced by him/them. I have it myself!
    I also watched a TV show last week, think it was BBC4, in which I thought his model train railway at his home was fantastic. You are never too old for a decent train set. :)

    It's not my bugbear - I am not the one who constantly raises this topic on a thread that has nothing to do with it. All I do is correct the inaccuracies that you and others post. But I am glad to see that you like at least one SAW track, even if it is difficult to take seriously someone who thinks that a bland cover version of a Jimmy Ruffin classic is superior to the original!
  • Rich Tea.Rich Tea. Posts: 22,048
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    It's not my bugbear - I am not the one who constantly raises this topic on a thread that has nothing to do with it. All I do is correct the inaccuracies that you and others post. But I am glad to see that you like at least one SAW track, even if it is difficult to take seriously someone who thinks that a bland cover version of a Jimmy Ruffin classic is superior to the original!


    You seem to take things far too seriously, and personally for some reason. I raised nothing on the new thread regards PWL, just responded to what was written, and actually made some positive comments in that direction, to pacify you.

    Did I say that the 1981 version of What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted was "superior" to the original? No. I said it was my own personal favourite, which is not the same thing, and the reason for it being so is that it was a hit when I lost my first grandparent after a long cancer battle at a young age, when I myself was just shy of 12, and I associate it with that time. At that time the original was not known to me anyway. So that experience colours my view.

    I'm not sure why you find it difficult to take seriously anybody who dis-agrees with you, especially regards music.

    Chill out Pete! :):D
  • mrbernaymrbernay Posts: 145,819
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    Evening all. Bump for tonight's show ;-)
  • ServalanServalan Posts: 10,167
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    BIB - Even if the older shows from the early 60s were in the archive many would feature Savile and therefore wouldn't be broadcast. :mad:

    A few years ago Jarvis Cocker presented a programme on Channel 4 (as far as I recall) titled 'The Ultimate TV Pop Show' during which he interviewed a BBC employee who had taken the initiative of copying isolated TOTP performances from the master tapes before they were wiped. Had it not been for him most of the 1960s clips shown on TOTP2 etc. would never have survived (which could possibly explain why they often look grainy - i.e. because they are copies - not the original masters). With the exception of two complete shows (Boxing Day 1967 and 15 February 1968) the BBC would to all intents and purposes have purged the entire sixties TOTP archive. :eek:

    Several classic TOTP performances from the early 70s glam rock period only exist because they were licensed to the German ZDF channel. These include two by Slade (Gudbuy T'Jane & Cum On Feel The Noize); three by The Sweet (Poppa Joe, Little Willy & Wigwam Bam) and (I think possibly) seven by T. Rex (Hot Love, Get It On, Telegram Sam, Metal Guru (see post #907 above), Children of the Revolution, Solid Gold Easy Action & Twentieth Century Boy) all of which were originally wiped by the BBC. :(

    I wonder why the BBC have never bought these clips back from ZDF in order to show them on TOTP2. :confused:

    BIB - it may be because ZDF interspersed the TOTP footage with shots of their own music show's audience ...

    That's certainly the case with the clip of 'Children Of The Revolution' which features on the (excellent) T Rex On TV DVD, for which the sleeve notes explain why it's not a complete TOTP performance and why the footage exists as it does.

    I can only assume that the folk who compiled that DVD didn't find any of the other T Rex appearances sold to ZDF - maybe because ZDF is about as useless as the BBC in recognising the value of archive material?!? :(:mad::rolleyes:
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 117
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    Servalan wrote: »
    BIB - it may be because ZDF interspersed the TOTP footage with shots of their own music show's audience ...

    That's certainly the case with the clip of 'Children Of The Revolution' which features on the (excellent) T Rex On TV DVD, for which the sleeve notes explain why it's not a complete TOTP performance and why the footage exists as it does.

    I can only assume that the folk who compiled that DVD didn't find any of the other T Rex appearances sold to ZDF - maybe because ZDF is about as useless as the BBC in recognising the value of archive material?!? :(:mad::rolleyes:
    BIB - I would doubt that somehow. One only has to look at the numerous clips on You Tube still available of the "Beat Club" German TV show from the sixties. I think they were slightly more enlightened than our own short sighted telly execs that took the decision to junk so much classic archive material, particularly from TOTP but other shows as well.

    Even in the 60s and early 70s, I cannot believe that there was no way of making some sort of a copy of a show before wiping it forever.
  • Rich Tea.Rich Tea. Posts: 22,048
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    mrbernay wrote: »
    Evening all. Bump for tonight's show ;-)

    Good evening, and everyone else. Come on Highlander where have you been hiding since New Year? Hope you're okay, could do with your input again now we are back on the TOTP treadmill for 1978! ;)
  • faversham saintfaversham saint Posts: 2,535
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    tortfeasor wrote: »
    Hi faversham saint. Apologies for not replying to your post sooner. Well, do you know I was surprised to see the clip that you've rediscovered! I can confirm that the one in your Youtube link IS the performance that's on the Ultimate Collection VHS. It is a good performance. When I bought that video, I was expecting to see the clip that had been shown on TOTP 2 a few times, which is the other clip you've mentioned, from the excellent 28th December 1972 show. I was surprised to see what you've said is the May 11th performance on the Ultimate Collection video because I was aware that lots of 1960s and 1970s TOTP episodes had been wiped, hence why it tended to be the same few clips of T. Rex, The Sweet etc. that cropped up on TOTP 2.

    It also might interest you to know that the clip of 'Get it On' included on the Ultimate Collection video is another that you don't see that often. Instead of the familiar clip with Elton John on piano from the 27-12-1971, it's a rather fun clip with girls on motorbikes and Marc wearing a Rupert the Bear t-shirt:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW5en7HXB38

    Thanks for your prompt response and link. As the makers of 'T. Rex - The Ultimate Video Collection' apparently had access to the German ZDF archive for the TOTP clips of 'Metal Guru' and 'Solid Gold Easy Action' I was anticipating the clip of 'Get It On' on the tape could be from the wiped 8 July 1971 edition of TOTP (see link below):

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56HI0Luy_kQ

    According to Popscene the only surviving clip of the previous hit 'Hot Love' is from 11 March 1971 (as shown numerous times on Sounds of the Seventies, TOTP2 etc.) but the wiped second studio performance of the song from 25 March 1971 when it was at No.1 (which also features Pan's People) still exists in the ZDF archive as far as I can tell (note the tell-tale videotheque TV screens in the clip below):

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p239ACO5la0

    I imagine you probably know that Steve Currie, the bass player in all the T. Rex clips we have been discussing suffered a similar fate to Marc Bolan when he was killed in a car crash aged 33 in April 1981 (Bolan was 29 when he met his death in similar circumstances in September 1977).
  • GulftasticGulftastic Posts: 127,194
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    Evening pop-pickers.
  • Robbie01Robbie01 Posts: 10,417
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    Evening all
  • GulftasticGulftastic Posts: 127,194
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    'Climbing Everest, the Sherpa's story'

    'Day 27 - the gang of silly English blokes will not stop following me, however fast I walk....'
  • alcockellalcockell Posts: 25,160
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    HI all - here we go..
  • FroodFrood Posts: 13,180
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    Blackburn was 70 yesterday.

    Pretty moderate opener.

    Still several times better than anything SAW were to blame for though.
  • Rita's KabinRita's Kabin Posts: 36,383
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    The Imperials - Not keen on that.

    Darts - I like this! :o:o:o
  • GulftasticGulftastic Posts: 127,194
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    Yes! Darts to open.
  • BeaurepaireBeaurepaire Posts: 13,964
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    Hooray Wings are not No 1:D
This discussion has been closed.