Ah well, they still cut out the part where DLT mentions Elvis' death and played a video of "Loving You" on the late show.
It would have taken less than 5 minutes to keep it in. Can't really understand that...but hey ho!
Stayed up late hoping to see the Elvis tribute but it was cut again.
I did watch the episode originally.
Hi Earl,
Do you mean on original transmission in 1977? If so, it's a long shot, but do you remember what clip they showed of "Loving You"? Was it from the movie? Just curious about the clearance issue.
Still no reason not to have DLT acknowledging his death as was shown in the 1977 build up documentary at the end of last year.
YES it was - I've got the 7" to prove it. The B side was "Edge of the Universe", also from the "Main Course" album. The third single from the album was "Fanny (Be Tender With My Love)"
Perhaps it was on import? I have a biography that states that the song was never an official Bee Gees release in the UK itself. The song being from 1975. I can only accept what I read. Also checking myself and it never troubled the top 100 which for a Bee Gees UK release would be unthinkable.
Note: Wikipedia does infact seem to contradict all this though. It shows the song and positions it reached in other countries, but does not mention it either being released, or not being released in the UK in 1975. However, it states that unlike the Candi Staton version that was a hit in the UK in 1977, the Bee Gees version may have suffered from the "slow paced middle eight" which may have contributed to its failure in the UK. All very interesting, and I find that excuse for failure to make even a top hundred placing rather lame.
Perhaps due to its UK failure they subsequently tried to re-write their own history of the song?
Hi Earl,
Do you mean on original transmission in 1977? If so, it's a long shot, but do you remember what clip they showed of "Loving You"? Was it from the movie? Just curious about the clearance issue.
Still no reason not to have DLT acknowledging his death as was shown in the 1977 build up documentary at the end of last year.
So what does tonight prove? That they are still editing these shows about. After all the Gary Glitter nonsense, and even Jonathan King, I thought these shows were meant to be left un-touched, and not re-writing history. What history to omit! The mentioning of the totally unexpected and young death of The King himself, Elvis. Darnell mentioned it might be an un-clearable clip, but I'm not sure I understand how that could be any kind of issue. Very disappointed by it.
Finger's crossed darnall. I'd remembered Berri having a Top 10 hit in the mid 90's with Sunshine After The Rain". I'd no idea that Elkie did it first back in '77!
I knew the song, but couldn't remember who by, so I googled it, which reminded me it was Berri.
Turns out Elkie wasn't the first person to record the song, it was first recorded by it's writer, Ellie Greenwich in1969.
Aah, these last few weeks have taken me right back to summer holiday '77 in North Wales. The first thing I'd describe as a holiday romance! - with Tracey from Queensferry; spending rainy days in the caravan reading Spike Milligan's war memoirs and sunny days on the beach with the craze of the year, the stunt kite (I did a great kite-dance routine whenever "I Feel Love" came on the radio); the holiday camp disco which played Candi Staton a lot and where my blue T-shirt embarrassingly became luminous under the lighting!
We were back home by the time of Elvis's death - was anyone else watching News at Ten when Reggie Bosanquet announced the death only to retract the story a minute later? The whole thing didn't make sense to me - the words "Elvis" and "dead" didn't seem to go together.
Very good show this week with Elkie, Carly, Candi, the Jam and above all Mink DeVille - rushed out and bought that one...
I'm glad you remember that clip from "The Story Of 1977". I thought I'd dreamt it!!
I rewatched it the other day they showed DLT announcing the death elvis and they then showed a clip of his furneral accompanied by a snipet of loving you
The BBC has announced the death of long-time TOTP producer Michael Hurll.He was 75.He produced the show from 1980-87 and was also responsible for many other successful light entertainment programmes including The Two Ronnies. He devised the British Comedy Awards for ITV. He had been suffering from Parkinson's.
Hey, if you like that vein of humour you will love this. Quite often people die in bathrooms and that's because, during the onset of a heart attack, many people feel the need to empty their bowels. Usually, though, this detail is omitted because it preserves the dignity of the deceased. The rotten spoilsports!
Still, many dads, mums, wives and husbands are discovered dead or dying in the bathroom. Isn't it all absolutely hilarious? :rolleyes:
Perhaps it was on import? I have a biography that states that the song was never an official Bee Gees release in the UK itself. The song being from 1975. I can only accept what I read. Also checking myself and it never troubled the top 100 which for a Bee Gees UK release would be unthinkable.
Note: Wikipedia does infact seem to contradict all this though. It shows the song and positions it reached in other countries, but does not mention it either being released, or not being released in the UK in 1975. However, it states that unlike the Candi Staton version that was a hit in the UK in 1977, the Bee Gees version may have suffered from the "slow paced middle eight" which may have contributed to its failure in the UK. All very interesting, and I find that excuse for failure to make even a top hundred placing rather lame.
Perhaps due to its UK failure they subsequently tried to re-write their own history of the song?
Not so the bit in bold - the Bee Gees did not have many hits at all in the first half of the 70s, "Run to Me" in 1972 being the only big hit I can think of off hand. I think your last sentence must be correct, as it was definitely a UK single and not an import. It was played in discos and on the radio. Also, it is not very likely that they would not release a follow up to their hugely successful comeback single "Jive Talkin'". It seems that at the time the Bee Gees were still out of fashion and the public regarded "Jive Talkin'" as a one off and largely ignored the follow up. Furthermore, this pattern was repeated to a similar extent when "ESP" was pretty much a flop follow up to the Number 1 "You Win Again".
It appears so. They could have easily dropped the Floaters.
Which, ironically, is what Elvis was trying to do when he died.
Hey, if you like that vein of humour you will love this. Quite often people die in bathrooms and that's because, during the onset of a heart attack, many people feel the need to empty their bowels. Usually, though, this detail is omitted because it preserves the dignity of the deceased. The rotten spoilsports!
Still, many dads, mums, wives and husbands are discovered dead or dying in the bathroom. Isn't it all absolutely hilarious? :rolleyes:
Indeed it is. Have you never heard of gallows humour? :rolleyes: I think people would have a bit more sympathy for Elvis if he had even tried to control his diet.
If there's a problem showing Elvis, what are they gonna do when he reaches number one with Way Down??
they Got Legs and co to dance,and according to popscene one week they used a combination of pIcs and shots of the studio audience dancing (that episode was the last wiped show )
What's clever is how Paul sets the track to a happy go lucky melody with such dark lyrics and great play on words. "I liked the idea now I'm not so Keyne"
His political songwriting was fantastic in this period.
yes that's a brilliant final line to the song. Btw, my favourite singer came from Dundee, Billy MacKenzie rip. I met some of his family many years ago
Not so the bit in bold - the Bee Gees did not have many hits at all in the first half of the 70s, "Run to Me" in 1972 being the only big hit I can think of off hand. I think your last sentence must be correct, as it was definitely a UK single and not an import. It was played in discos and on the radio. Also, it is not very likely that they would not release a follow up to their hugely successful comeback single "Jive Talkin'". It seems that at the time the Bee Gees were still out of fashion and the public regarded "Jive Talkin'" as a one off and largely ignored the follow up. Furthermore, this pattern was repeated to a similar extent when "ESP" was pretty much a flop follow up to the Number 1 "You Win Again".
'Nights On Broadway' by the Bee Gees narrowly missed the top 50. It made the Breakers Chart which was a list of records "bubbling under" the main chart. The Breakers Chart was published in both Music Week and Record Mirror but was ignored by the people who did the Guinness Book Of British Hit Singles so the chart tends to be overlooked.
It's chart run in the Breakers Chart was: (16)-5-9-7-7-(17)-OUT. Its first appearance was on 25 October 1975 and its catalogue number is listed as RSO 2090 171. The two positions in brackets are taken from a longer list of Breakers which weren't awarded a position but which were listed in sales order - only the top 10 was given an official number.
yes that's a brilliant final line to the song. Btw, my favourite singer came from Dundee, Billy MacKenzie rip. I met some of his family many years ago
Hi
I was watching bbc breakfast before leaving for work this morning and they were trailing that Andy Taylor of Duran Duran was going to be on. They did a quick montage of Duran clips and I'm sure that Billy McKenzie was singing in the group !,
I've never noticed before so I'm not sure if it's a well used clip
It still does not make any sense to me how this track only crept to No32 in the charts in late 1982, it's almost 30 years to the week since its release. After all, they had yet another No1 album in November that year, with The First Ten Years, which I got that very Christmas. So what is the reason this song stalled so badly? There has got to be some kind of explanation for it, because it was another classic big hit that somehow wasn't.
I may have touched on this before but here is my take on it. As I have said previously I worked in a chart return store for the British Market Research Bureau (BMRB). Our panel number was 483 out of 750. Hardly anyone was aware that this single was coming out, even on the week that it was released. Usually CBS would have done a big pre sell of an Abba track but there was nothing for this single. The week that it was released we did not have the single in until Thursday of that week, and it was actually bought in by the CBS rep. What that means is that four days sales that week were missed, and that meant a lower chart placing. I remember this clearly because CBS had different singles priority acts at this time in 1982. For example, Wham! had already had Wham Rap released and it had flopped. Moreover, Young Guns which was just outside the Top 40 around the week of the Abba single release, http://chartarchive.org/r/10018 (check stats here) had itself just gone down the chart http://chartarchive.org/r/10015 (check stats here). CBS were desparate to get it into the Top 40 and were pulling out all the stops by giving away loads of singles and twelve inch versions of Wham! to sell at cheaper prices, and to display prominently, in the chart return stores, in order to try to get Wham! into the 40. These tactics did work, especially if they asked you to play the track in store more as well. We were shifting many copies of that track over the coming days as this was a large chaim store that I was working in, and I did all the singles buying. Young Guns went back up the chart the following week and then into the Top 40, and was a big hit after a TOTP appearence. It was the same with Paul Young who they were also trying to break, and who had had Iron Out The Rough Spots that had flopped as well. Of course his success was to come mid 83 onwards.
There was also the issue of a lot of new acts around at this time as well, including Culture Club and this may have added to the fact that the public interest in Abba was starting to wane. And of course the single was radically different to what they had done before. It is an excellent track but I think there were a number of factors that conspired to hinder the track's success. I think the overall factor though was that CBS UK just were not that fired up with Abba at this time. You have to remember that Abba were one of many acts that CBS were handling and new signings such as Wham! were priorities. As well as that they had all the CBS / Columbia American acts that were popular too, as well as licencing for labels such as Prelude that included things like Sharon Redd, etc. A lack of singles promotion did have a massive effect on the success or failure of acts, and I have previously mentioned how CBS would used tactics to get singles in the charts such as deleting them for a few weeks to build demand, such as in the case of Dead Or Alive's 'You Spin Me Round'. I also think of acts such as Nena who really should have had more success following her 99 Red Ballons number 1. She released a few great tracks that failed due to no promotion at all, including this from 1985. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emI9vZUcjlw .But then again CBS UK would look at some acts and not bother at all with them. I wondered sometimes why they bothered releasing them at all, as they would just give out many singles in a red plastic bag weekly. You knew that mostly these were tracks released for contractual reasons only.
I hope that a closer look at the statistics I have linked to will help to give a clearer picture of the way the charts, singles and their failure or success often came about.
^^ Thanks beacon. I find these posts fascinating. Makes you realise how manipulated popular music really is and always has been. Some folk seem to think Simon Cowell invented the practice!
Beacon, your contributions are always great, and I cannot ask for a better explanation than the one you have given. Thanks very much for the time and effort with that post.
You mentioned that the Abba single didn't arrive in shops until Thursday, missing 4 days of potential sales, thus leading to a lower chart placing in the following weeks chart, which clearly seems obvious. However, in the next sales week it would have the full time available during the entire week, so one would imagine that say it entered low at No32, due to just a couple of days sales, then the following week it should have been set for a highest climber kind of jump, something like 32 to 11, or something similar. But it never happened.
Maybe we should start a campaign to right this wrong! This year's anti-X factor record to prevent another years rigged festive chart topper should therefore be The Day Before You Came by Abba. Not only would it give them the sizable hit this song deserves, rather late in the day, but also the Christmas No1 single that they never had, and narrowly missed out on a couple of times.
Comments
It would have taken less than 5 minutes to keep it in. Can't really understand that...but hey ho!
I'm glad you remember that clip from "The Story Of 1977". I thought I'd dreamt it!!
I did watch the episode originally.
Hi Earl,
Do you mean on original transmission in 1977? If so, it's a long shot, but do you remember what clip they showed of "Loving You"? Was it from the movie? Just curious about the clearance issue.
Still no reason not to have DLT acknowledging his death as was shown in the 1977 build up documentary at the end of last year.
Perhaps it was on import? I have a biography that states that the song was never an official Bee Gees release in the UK itself. The song being from 1975. I can only accept what I read. Also checking myself and it never troubled the top 100 which for a Bee Gees UK release would be unthinkable.
Note: Wikipedia does infact seem to contradict all this though. It shows the song and positions it reached in other countries, but does not mention it either being released, or not being released in the UK in 1975. However, it states that unlike the Candi Staton version that was a hit in the UK in 1977, the Bee Gees version may have suffered from the "slow paced middle eight" which may have contributed to its failure in the UK. All very interesting, and I find that excuse for failure to make even a top hundred placing rather lame.
Perhaps due to its UK failure they subsequently tried to re-write their own history of the song?
So what does tonight prove? That they are still editing these shows about. After all the Gary Glitter nonsense, and even Jonathan King, I thought these shows were meant to be left un-touched, and not re-writing history. What history to omit! The mentioning of the totally unexpected and young death of The King himself, Elvis. Darnell mentioned it might be an un-clearable clip, but I'm not sure I understand how that could be any kind of issue. Very disappointed by it.
I knew the song, but couldn't remember who by, so I googled it, which reminded me it was Berri.
Turns out Elkie wasn't the first person to record the song, it was first recorded by it's writer, Ellie Greenwich in1969.
We were back home by the time of Elvis's death - was anyone else watching News at Ten when Reggie Bosanquet announced the death only to retract the story a minute later? The whole thing didn't make sense to me - the words "Elvis" and "dead" didn't seem to go together.
Very good show this week with Elkie, Carly, Candi, the Jam and above all Mink DeVille - rushed out and bought that one...
I seem to recall them restricting use of footage when the songs were rereleased in the 2000's!
Didnt TOTP at one point have to use an Elvis tribute act for one performance?
It appears so. They could have easily dropped the Floaters.
Which, ironically, is what Elvis was trying to do when he died.
Hey, if you like that vein of humour you will love this. Quite often people die in bathrooms and that's because, during the onset of a heart attack, many people feel the need to empty their bowels. Usually, though, this detail is omitted because it preserves the dignity of the deceased. The rotten spoilsports!
Still, many dads, mums, wives and husbands are discovered dead or dying in the bathroom. Isn't it all absolutely hilarious? :rolleyes:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mbpointsofview/NF1951566?thread=8381052&skip=50
Not so the bit in bold - the Bee Gees did not have many hits at all in the first half of the 70s, "Run to Me" in 1972 being the only big hit I can think of off hand. I think your last sentence must be correct, as it was definitely a UK single and not an import. It was played in discos and on the radio. Also, it is not very likely that they would not release a follow up to their hugely successful comeback single "Jive Talkin'". It seems that at the time the Bee Gees were still out of fashion and the public regarded "Jive Talkin'" as a one off and largely ignored the follow up. Furthermore, this pattern was repeated to a similar extent when "ESP" was pretty much a flop follow up to the Number 1 "You Win Again".
Indeed it is. Have you never heard of gallows humour? :rolleyes: I think people would have a bit more sympathy for Elvis if he had even tried to control his diet.
yes that's a brilliant final line to the song. Btw, my favourite singer came from Dundee, Billy MacKenzie rip. I met some of his family many years ago
It's chart run in the Breakers Chart was: (16)-5-9-7-7-(17)-OUT. Its first appearance was on 25 October 1975 and its catalogue number is listed as RSO 2090 171. The two positions in brackets are taken from a longer list of Breakers which weren't awarded a position but which were listed in sales order - only the top 10 was given an official number.
I was watching bbc breakfast before leaving for work this morning and they were trailing that Andy Taylor of Duran Duran was going to be on. They did a quick montage of Duran clips and I'm sure that Billy McKenzie was singing in the group !,
I've never noticed before so I'm not sure if it's a well used clip
Anyone else see to confirm ?
I may have touched on this before but here is my take on it. As I have said previously I worked in a chart return store for the British Market Research Bureau (BMRB). Our panel number was 483 out of 750. Hardly anyone was aware that this single was coming out, even on the week that it was released. Usually CBS would have done a big pre sell of an Abba track but there was nothing for this single. The week that it was released we did not have the single in until Thursday of that week, and it was actually bought in by the CBS rep. What that means is that four days sales that week were missed, and that meant a lower chart placing. I remember this clearly because CBS had different singles priority acts at this time in 1982. For example, Wham! had already had Wham Rap released and it had flopped. Moreover, Young Guns which was just outside the Top 40 around the week of the Abba single release, http://chartarchive.org/r/10018 (check stats here) had itself just gone down the chart http://chartarchive.org/r/10015 (check stats here). CBS were desparate to get it into the Top 40 and were pulling out all the stops by giving away loads of singles and twelve inch versions of Wham! to sell at cheaper prices, and to display prominently, in the chart return stores, in order to try to get Wham! into the 40. These tactics did work, especially if they asked you to play the track in store more as well. We were shifting many copies of that track over the coming days as this was a large chaim store that I was working in, and I did all the singles buying. Young Guns went back up the chart the following week and then into the Top 40, and was a big hit after a TOTP appearence. It was the same with Paul Young who they were also trying to break, and who had had Iron Out The Rough Spots that had flopped as well. Of course his success was to come mid 83 onwards.
There was also the issue of a lot of new acts around at this time as well, including Culture Club and this may have added to the fact that the public interest in Abba was starting to wane. And of course the single was radically different to what they had done before. It is an excellent track but I think there were a number of factors that conspired to hinder the track's success. I think the overall factor though was that CBS UK just were not that fired up with Abba at this time. You have to remember that Abba were one of many acts that CBS were handling and new signings such as Wham! were priorities. As well as that they had all the CBS / Columbia American acts that were popular too, as well as licencing for labels such as Prelude that included things like Sharon Redd, etc. A lack of singles promotion did have a massive effect on the success or failure of acts, and I have previously mentioned how CBS would used tactics to get singles in the charts such as deleting them for a few weeks to build demand, such as in the case of Dead Or Alive's 'You Spin Me Round'. I also think of acts such as Nena who really should have had more success following her 99 Red Ballons number 1. She released a few great tracks that failed due to no promotion at all, including this from 1985. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emI9vZUcjlw .But then again CBS UK would look at some acts and not bother at all with them. I wondered sometimes why they bothered releasing them at all, as they would just give out many singles in a red plastic bag weekly. You knew that mostly these were tracks released for contractual reasons only.
I do remember a couple of acts that CBS really spent loads of money on but which failed to catch the public's imagination though. These included Belataine Fire and Freur http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NviEZ0hCS3A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pnQfPOFNLI
I hope that a closer look at the statistics I have linked to will help to give a clearer picture of the way the charts, singles and their failure or success often came about.
You mentioned that the Abba single didn't arrive in shops until Thursday, missing 4 days of potential sales, thus leading to a lower chart placing in the following weeks chart, which clearly seems obvious. However, in the next sales week it would have the full time available during the entire week, so one would imagine that say it entered low at No32, due to just a couple of days sales, then the following week it should have been set for a highest climber kind of jump, something like 32 to 11, or something similar. But it never happened.
Maybe we should start a campaign to right this wrong! This year's anti-X factor record to prevent another years rigged festive chart topper should therefore be The Day Before You Came by Abba. Not only would it give them the sizable hit this song deserves, rather late in the day, but also the Christmas No1 single that they never had, and narrowly missed out on a couple of times.