[drykid]

Originally Posted by alcockell

One suggestion on Twitter was that it was obscuring a DOG.

It seems from checking youtube for the original that it's a (somewhat sped-up) clock:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIGTTuryc1Q

Obviously to fit in with the "five minutes" concept. Why the BBC took offence at it is anyone's guess.

EDIT: hah beaten to it, right down to the comment about the pointlessness of the tampering

[UrsulaU]

Tonight's show could've been from the Royal Variety show!! - Two 60's comebacks and Three Eurovision entries!!

[Frood]

Originally Posted by UrsulaU

Tonight's show could've been from the Royal Variety show!! - Two 60's comebacks and Three Eurovision entries!!

All it needed was Little and Large and a host murdering a song or too and it would have been some typical Saturday evening fare beloved of those who forget how awful that was

[UrsulaU]

Originally Posted by Frood

All it needed was Little and Large and a host murdering a song or too and it would have been some typical Saturday evening fare beloved of those who forget how awful that was

Peter Powell does a good job murdering the links!!

[Frood]

Originally Posted by UrsulaU

Peter Powell does a good job murdering the links!!

Yeah, he'd do that.......

[Tele_addict]

Hi everyone, not a bad show, but a bit hit and miss in parts. I like the way they don't just repeat old performances now like they would have done a year ago, they get the act back to perform it again, like Yellow Dog and BHOM. Looks like they cut LINDA RONSTADT – Blue Bayou from the early showing. Best songs were Abba Take A Chance On Me, ELO Mr Blue Sky and Yellow Dog One More Night, one of those songs that has been forgotton for years but is brilliant. Thats what's great about these repeats, unearthing forgotton classics that you thought you would never hear again! Nice to see Dusty Springfield but this wasn't one of her best. Her next comeback is better when she duets with the Pet Shop Boys. Looking forward to a better show next week, and the first performance of Kate Bush!!

[1fab]

Peter Powell and his dimples - wonder what he's doing these days...

I can't even remember that Lulu track, though I watched TOTP all the time back then. It was a rip-off of 'Best of My Love' by The Emotions.

BOM - just wrong.

[chemical2009b]

I thought this week's show was a landmark one, the studio starting to look electrifying, an all time anthem from ELO and The Stranglers performing the most new wave I've seen yet on the repeats all making the TOTP orchestra and 'variety' acts starting to sound dated from this point onwards and with Kate Bush and Magazine debuting next week alongside Blondie the week after which we'll not get to see, we have reached a golden era in TOTP.

[footygirl]

Well I have just watched it on I player and BoM - who the heck persuaded them that was a good look

The guys looked like characters from a US cop show
Nicki looked like Rhona Cameron - and Sandra looked like a cross between Suzi Quatro and Liza Goddard

Spoiler

Still they are booted off the top spot next week - by Abba themselves

[mal2pool]

I always loved that Lulu track. Three songs on tonights show that should have been hits. David Castle, Dusty and Lulu.

[UrsulaU]

Originally Posted by chemical2009b

I thought this week's show was a landmark one, the studio starting to look electrifying, an all time anthem from ELO and The Stranglers performing the most new wave I've seen yet on the repeats all making the TOTP orchestra and 'variety' acts starting to sound dated from this point onwards and with Kate Bush and Magazine debuting next week alongside Blondie the week after which we'll not get to see, we have reached a golden era in TOTP.

Exactly! - This is the 1978, I remember!!

[Robbie01]

My thoughts on the songs / performances

(21) GORDON GILTRAP – Heartsong (and charts)

Pleasant enough instrumental

(15) TONIGHT – Drummer Man

I did like this song back then.

(8) BACCARA – Sorry I’m A Lady

Whereas I didn't like this one at all back then, or even now. I did like the dark haired one though...

(NEW) DAVID CASTLE – Ten To Eight

I remember this song from back then and actually quite liked it but the performance on TOTP didn't sound that good. It was just outside the top 50 at the time, in the Breakers chart where it stayed for a third and final week the following week.

(2) ABBA – Take A Chance On Me (danced to by Legs & Co)

I can't remember this Legs & Co performance but I enjoyed it! I've never been a fan of the song though.

(16) ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA – Mr. Blue Sky (video)

One of the defining songs of 1978 and one which never seemed to be off the radio. Excellent song.

(NEW) LULU – Your Love Is Everywhere

Dreadful and as has been posted, it sounded a bit like a (very poor) copy of 'Best Of My Love'.

(26) YELLOW DOG – Just One More Night

The only one I owned at the time. Good piece of nonsensical fun.

(35) LINDA RONSTADT – Blue Bayou (live clip)

Will we see this on the late night repeat? I have a feeling we may have to wait until the early hours of Sunday morning as that is the only showing that runs beyond half an hour.

(NEW) DUSTY SPRINGFIELD – A Love Like Yours

She still had an excellent voice but it sounded like something she would have released a few years earlier. It almost made the top 50, being another song that made the Breakers Chart.

(22) THE STRANGLERS – Five Minutes (video)

My favourite song from tonight's programme. I love the intro, especially when the bass kicks in. I'm surprised TOTP aired this song given the nature of the lyrics. The lyrics were written by Jean Jacques Burnel and were based around a tragic event that happened to a female flatmate of his in mid 1977.

(1) BROTHERHOOD OF MAN – Figaro

Probably the worst number 1 of 1978. The second worst of the year, by Brian & Michael, was in the Breakers Chart this week in 1978 and was a mere two weeks away from entering the top 50 and being featured on TOTP in that same week. Which we won't get to see though as it's the DLT hosted edition that has been mentioned a few times recently.

(24) RICH KIDS – Rich Kids (and credits)

I didn't mind this one but much preferred their third single release and the title track of their only album 'Ghosts Of Princes In Towers' which was released in summer 1978. Topically, the song references the two young princes Richard III had imprisoned in the Tower Of London and who vanished, presumed murdered, and who are said to haunt the Tower.

[TUC]

Originally Posted by Robbie01

There's an onscreen timer counting up from 00:00 to 05:00, which was part of the video. I'm not sure why the BBC would want to obscure it as it ties in with the title of the song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIGTTuryc1Q

Still not clear though whether the obscuring of the timer had been newly added by the BBC or its on the episode itself from when they first showed the video back in 1978?

[Robbie01]

Originally Posted by TUC

Still not clear though whether the obscuring of the timer had been newly added by the BBC or its on the episode itself from when they first showed the video back in 1978?

I've just watched a clip of the song as it appeared in this episode of TOTP shown on UK Gold in the 90s and it's on there. If you watch at the start you will see the same effect that obscures the timer first appears as Peter Powell introduces the track and then at the end it expands back out again - someone at the BBC at the time must have been getting experimental!

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

[jjne]

Modern techniques would never have resulted in the vision mixer briefly missing his target at the start, and having to shuffle it over to the right either! Clearly done linearly, which immediately dates it to the 70s.

[TUC]

So it then leaves a greater mystery as to just why it was obscured back in 1978?

[kwynne42]

Originally Posted by alcockell

One suggestion on Twitter was that it was obscuring a DOG.

Oh God... Primark Abba again..

They actually switched places to normal, although the weird looking one on the left is still thankfully out there.

[kwynne42]

This episode must of been cut to shreds as the late night version on Saturday (sunday Actually) is 45 mins long.

Some might ask if they can do that with normal ep why can't they just cut out the sex perverts from presenting other eps.

[Erithian]

Strange thing about Lulu being, as Ursula put it, a 60s comeback. Those of us who were the ideal age for TOTP in 1978 were born in the early 60s, so her earliest hits were "prehistory" for us - but she was only 15 when she had her first hit, and in 1978 she was only 29! - younger than Jeff Lynne, younger than all of Abba except Agnetha, just a year older than most of Brotherhood of Man and half of the Stranglers (and a lot younger than their drummer!).

An equivalent would be someone who had their first hit at an unusually young age 14 years ago in 1999 - say, Britney Spears. Imagine Britney making a comeback with a substandard dance record now... oh.

[Robert Williams]

Originally Posted by kwynne42

This episode must of been cut to shreds as the late night version on Saturday (sunday Actually) is 45 mins long.

The Saturday night repeat is in a 35 minute slot (12.45-1.20am) which sometimes happens for 30 minute shows late at night; there is a further repeat the same night at 3.20-3.50am.

On 9th February 1978 the programme was in a 30 minute slot (7.10-7.40).

[darnall42]

Originally Posted by kwynne42

This episode must of been cut to shreds as the late night version on Saturday (sunday Actually) is 45 mins long.

Some might ask if they can do that with normal ep why can't they just cut out the sex perverts from presenting other eps.

Actually it's listed at 35 minutes,it'll be the same show as Thursday with 5 minutes of BBC promos stuck on the end.it was always a 30 minute episode

[Tele_addict]

Why did they cut Linda Ronstadt - Blue Bayou? There was no suggestion from the links that it had been cut so perhaps it was never on. Maybe a mistake made by Popscene?

[Servalan]

Originally Posted by Tele_addict

Why did they cut Linda Ronstadt - Blue Bayou? There was no suggestion from the links that it had been cut so perhaps it was never on. Maybe a mistake made by Popscene?

I was surprised to see that listed in the first place, because - I think I'm correct in saying - I recall TOTP having a policy of non-Top 30 singles only featuring if the artists made a studio appearance ... which I don't think Ronstadt ever did in the 70s.

WEA were desperate to break her in the UK, but never did - their marketing attempt on this occasion being to issue 'Blue Bayou' as a 12-inch single ... on blue vinyl.

[Servalan]

Originally Posted by SgtRock

At the time, Ultravox were probably listening to the Rich Kids and thinking "what a load of rubbish"...

At the time, Ultravox were moving towards a much more synthesiser-dominated sound, recording their third album with Kraftwerk associate Conny Plank in Germany. By the end of 1978, they had been dropped by their record company - but, in hindsight, and rather like Japan, they were ahead of their time.

[Servalan]

Originally Posted by Robbie01

(NEW) DUSTY SPRINGFIELD – A Love Like Yours

She still had an excellent voice but it sounded like something she would have released a few years earlier. It almost made the top 50, being another song that made the Breakers Chart.

'A Love Like Yours' was the lead single from Dusty's comeback album, It Begins Again ..., produced by Roy Thomas Baker - the man who produced 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. And no, I haven't invented that ...

Originally Posted by Robbie01

(24) RICH KIDS – Rich Kids (and credits)

I didn't mind this one but much preferred their third single release and the title track of their only album 'Ghosts Of Princes In Towers' which was released in summer 1978. Topically, the song references the two young princes Richard III had imprisoned in the Tower Of London and who vanished, presumed murdered, and who are said to haunt the Tower.

I agree that 'Ghosts Of Princes In Towers' is a much stronger song - but, unfortunately, the production on that track and its parent album (by Mick Ronson) sold short its potential ... and, in any case, the group was on the point of splitting by then - something EMI must have been aware of when they decided not to bother promoting either the album or the single.