I didn't think there to be a great deal of substance to many of those songs from the first show (18/11), but it was an episode that managed to remain on a pretty consistent level of enjoyment throughout.

The one surprising thing i have found with watching those old episodes, is how much i have enjoyed Modern Romance second time around, compared with the first. However, watching this show i sort of now know why i wasn't so keen on them first time round, and that is because i was associating them with Michael Mullins on vocals, and not Geoffrey Deane, who had left some time during 82, who i think had a far more distinctive voice. This new post Geoffrey Deane release, for me, lacks the distinction of those previous singles, but it is an effective feel good track nonetheless.

Duran Duran's 'Rio' is a good track, and is especially memorable for its distinctive bass line. I am not sure as a single release it works quite as well as their previous hits from 82, ''Hungry Like The Wolf'', and ''Save A Prayer'', which i think slightly catch the ear of the listeners more intently, but it is definitely a very well crafted number. I believe despite some mightily impressive chart placings for the group though 83 and 84, for me, they had slightly lost the knack of writing such great tunes as this one.

The Human League's ''Mirror Man'' was a disappointment i felt, when i first heard the song, after their absence from the charts for almost a year. I can remember a sense of anticipation from many, for their fresh material, and a wait that seemed like an eternity, which of course compared with these days, hardly seems like any time at all. ''Mirror Man'' actually isn't such a bad track, but it wasn't a truly standout single release, either. I felt at the time that if this was truly representative of the very best they could do, then i would have been very surprised if their success would have remained on their 81 level too far into the future.

Renee and Renato's ''Save Your Love'' isn't such a bad track, and its novelty value made it quite a fitting No 1 at Christmas. Renato actually sang in a restaurant in walking distance from where i used to live, so he was very much a local celebrity. Unfortunately, i never went to visit his restaurant at the time to hear him sing live.

Tears For Fears ''Mad World'' was perhaps my standout track, although i don't mind Blancmange ''Living On A Ceiling''. Wham's ''Young Guns'' was a fine debut from them too, although it perhaps doesn't correspond to my personal taste particularly well. Hall And Oats ''Maneater'', i perhaps like the least of the bunch.

A very watchable episode, mind!

7/10

I didn't care for Lionel Richie's ''Truly'', either. I really don't mind some of Lionel's ballads with The Commodores, like ''Three Times A Lady'' and ''Still'', but i can't stand ''Truly'' because it just seems so soppy and over emotive (and ultimately insincere).

The lows like Supertramp and Lionel, seem greater to me in this episode, than the previous one, but the highs seem more significant, too. A Flock Of Seagulls ''Wishing'', and especially Culture Club's ''Time (Clock Of The Heart)'' stand out a mile, and Yazoo's ''The Other Side Of Love'' and Musical Youth's ''Youth Of Today'' appear fairly impressive too. I would agree that ''The Other Side Of Love'' appears less catchy than Yazoo's previous singles, yet it does have a very good feel to it. That is pretty true too, of the Musical Youth track. Both Musical Youth and Culture Club wasted no time in following up on those big number ones.

Ultravox's ''Hymn'' i like marginally more than ''Reap The Wild Wind'', but it doesn't do a lot for me. True, the video doesn't especially compliment the song as well as it might, either. I have to confess that Talk Talk are beginning to grate on me a little. That may have something to do with me finding Mark Hollis' voice rather monotonous.

7/10

Guess they didn't want to show the same thing twice in an hour heh

Sung by a fat man with the initial R

Sung by a fat man with the initial R?

I don't hate it, its been years since I have heard it anyway so a few plays will be tolerable.

Is it really just about someone avoiding their wife /Girlfriend by sitting on a Sea raft?

Sexual Healing actually.

She's had a good radio career, still on Radio 2 after 30 odd years.

Gary Davies from Manchester, Janice Long from Liverpool; were regional accents not allowed on the BBC in the 80s? Did BBC employees have to attend elocution lessons?

I think that rather than releasing Rio as a single, they should have released Last Chance on the Stairway (album track).

Is the blonde from Renee & Renato male or female.....?

I thought they looked tired, maybe they were jet-lagged, or had just been partying too much......

I wasn't aware that the earlier hobo version as opposed to the later drifter version of Here I go again by Whitesnake had charted.

I was wondering why she seemed to be hiding her face from us.

Instead of just showing random episodes from one year with some songs no one remembers why not do compilations of 70s or 80s clips from the show.

Haven't that already when it was called Top Of the Pops 2?

incidentally there is a new TOTP2 Christmas tonight

Two editions in one night is a bit much for me, so will have to comment on the second one post Christmas. The first one was one of the first I recorded off UK Gold though, because its on a video tape somewhere I haven't seen it for ages. Well John Peel claimed it was the best line up for a while and he was certainly right as far as I'm concerned. A nine out of ten from me which I think is my highest score for a 1982 edition.

Getting the party started in great style, Modern Romance and Best Years of Our Lives. Definitely their best or at least most memorable song. They look more of a Smash Hits pin up band with Michael J Mullins on lead vocals.

Not sure if the Maneater performance on the "Smith'd" show was a studio one or from another TV show but its a shame we don't get that and get the video instead. Still its better than not seeing/hearing it at all. Such a great tune and how many times has that bassline been sampled! Shame they didn't have more success in the UK.

Can't believe after the Human League spent nearly all of 1981 being Yewtreed they then cut them from the early edition Mirror Man is slowly becoming my fave of their hits and it did deserve to be no. 1 rather than the Jam, though I'm jumping ahead. I'm not sure if it was common knowledge at the time that the song was about Adam Ant.

Having seen Duran Duran's Rio video more times than I care to remember, although not on these repeats as yet, I'm so glad they performed it live in the studio. They all seemed to be really enjoying themselves and the sax player was really giving it some.

While it was only right they repeated the studio performance of Mad World, I did miss Roland's mad dancing in the video!

Glad we get to see the "Smith'd" performance of Living On The Ceiling by Blancmange. Fantastic song and I the "cuckoo tree" line change always makes me laugh. I love the enthusiasm of the Indian man playing the bongos!

Now to the moment that I know everyone has been waiting for since the 1982 repeats began - Renee and Renato's Save Your Love! Someone should've told John that Hilary (Renee) isn't in the video. I genuinely don't get the hate for this. Okay its old fashioned and not one for "the kids" but its hardly in the class of irritating novelty songs. Anyway, I just cannot help but sing along to Renee's part when I hear this and love the video which Kenny Everett parodied wonderfully.

I would've thought Wham! would've been desperate to get back into the studio for another crack at Young Guns so I'm puzzled as to why its a repeat. Perhaps they were that pleased with it and didn't think they'd be able to match it. Excellent choreography though the mimed talky bit with Andrew and Shirley is really cringey. I bet people thought they were American at first.

EddY Grant still not wanting to dance at no. 1 and still not wanting to come into the TOTP studio. This will have been the third of four showings of the video, although it does seem like more. Nothing against the song but, as I keep saying, you'd have thought they might have knocked up a Zoo routine as a change. If anyone hadn't seen the vid by now, hard luck!

I remember anticipating this performance as their final single.

The first shock was Paul sans guitar.
The second shock was Bruce miming to Paul's lyrics.
The third shock was "who the hell is that girl singing backing vocals?"

Paul looking like he really couldn't be arsed during the performance.
Not really their finest hour song wise.
The b side "shopping" was quite good though.

Just rewatched the first of last night's shows - a very strong edition.

Seems that we could replace "Fairbrass watch" with "Roland watch" now. No less than 5 Jupiter 8's on stage in this one. The Human League had two, Nick Rhodes had one, Blancmange had one and Tears For Fears had one and a bonus point for a band member named Roland too.

I think "Rio" might be my favourite of the three Duran singles this year - the way they add a variation to the tune in each of the three verses keeps it going along nicely.

Am I only the only one who thinks "cuckoo tree" actually sounds better than "bloody tree" in the context of "Living On The Ceiling"?

Having seen the lyrics of "Mirror Man" on the subtitles, I wouldn't have guessed it was supposed to be about Adam Ant if I hadn't been told. Given that Adam wrote plenty of songs about himself, was it really necessary for the League (and Captain Sensible!) to write songs about him as well??

"Save Your Love" still passes me by as completely as it did back in the day.

George Michael seems to be doing live choreography on Andrew Ridgley - pretty much dragging him across the stage and pointing where to go!

Fed up with Eddy Grant now, and especially the video.

Most people really don't care about the details of the lyrics. More important to people tends to be how they serve the music and how the performance puts expression into the song.

I'm surprised at some not thinking much of Mirror Man or It's Raining Again, those are the kind of big choruses that the charts tend to be about.

On Michael Jackson, maybe he sold more later in the 80s in the UK as the British chart scene may not have been as strong. I remember when all the hype was around how much his videos cost (as in bigger is supposedly better) and I really couldn't care less.

Davies looked pretty wooden in his snow jacket standing next to Peter Powell. pity he didn't keep that persona on radio one as he thought he was worse than shite as a DJ

Yeah but apart from the xmas ones and the odd special TOTP2 just showed random clips with no theme.

A series with compilations dedicated to the 70s then 80s then 90s would be good.

Jackson changed the lyrical emphasis of his songs too, to more social and personal concerns when he began writing more of his own material. Alongside this change came a much harder edged vocal. In a sense, one could argue he became a more complete artist, when his songs became more specifically about his own personal feelings etc. However, i think that in singing in a much harder edged way, he lost some of his previous vocal charisma, which was initially what contributed to making him so wonderful, in the eyes of many. "Man In The Mirror" was a good song (not written by him on this occasion) but i would have preferred to have heard Jackson sing that song in the pre 'Thriller' era, when his voice was a little more subtle. "Billie Jean" is one of the few later tracks that contains the element of being autobiographcal, but still just managing to maintain his former vocal greatness, although his voice was a little deeper and harder edged.

The best thing about the Renee & Renato video (apart from the way the woman is always hidden because she's an imposter for the real female singer) is the 'Romeo & Juliet' balcony scene where Renato barely throws the rose more than a few inches above him and yet Renato manages to catch it anyway in a badly edited sequence.

This scene is wonderfully pastiched by Kenny Everett where he throws loads of roses that Renato is unable to catch because she can't reach them.