08/11/2014

Top of the Pops 1979 11.10.79



Reviewed by Chris Arnsby
Andy Peebles, "Good evening and welcome to another edition of Top of the Pops and let's straight away have a look at this week's brand new top thirty."
Chart music: Al Hudson & The Partners, You Can Do It.
The Dooleys: The Chosen Few [16]. Who, what, why, when? Four questions which need answering. Who liked The Dooleys enough to keep buying their records? What were they thinking? Why did this keep happening? When will The Dooleys stop appearing on Top of the Pops. This must be their last performance... right? RIGHT?


The Headboys: The Shape Of Things To Come [52]. Vision Mixer Angela Wilson is bored, like Ming The Merciless in Flash Gordon. However instead of tormenting The Dooleys with earthquakes and typhoons and hot hail she plays with the buttons on her control board. She's found the dial to alter the colour balance and drains all the blue from The Headboys. They spend the duration of their performance looking a very sickly yellow.
The record company furniture was very unusual

Michael Jackson:  Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough [4]. No set for Legs & Co. Just a white void. This must be where Stephen Gallagher got the idea for the Doctor Who story Warrior's Gate.

Chic:  My Forbidden Lover [51]. *looks at title* Okay Chic, I'm giving you one warning. Don't try rhyming lover with other. *opening couplet: my forbidden lover/I don't want no other* That's it. I'm out of here.

Dr. Hook:  When You’re In Love With A Beautiful Woman [26]. The song that launched a thousand innuendos. When you're in love with a beautiful woman, it's hard. Is it? I thought it was just the cut of those trousers.

Viola Wills: Gonna Get Along Without You Now [47]. Something about Viola Wills' fixed grin and hip swaying dance reminds me of Raffaella Carra who was on Top of the Pops last year [ie, 1978] with her song Do It Do It Again. Gonna Get Along Without You Now doesn't compare to the earlier song, unfortunately.

Charlie Daniels Band: The Devil Went Down To Georgia [27]. Very sportsman like behaviour from Old Hob when he loses to Johnny. The Father of Lies hands over the promised golden fiddle rather than saying something like, "ha ha, the contest was a bluff. You've committed the sin of vanity and now your soul is mine. Psyche!" The concert crowd in this promo film roars with approval on the line, "I done told you once, you son of a bitch, I'm the best that's ever been." They're obviously big fans of casual swearing.

Errol Dunkley: O.K. Fred [23]. What is a yaga yaga? Top marks to Errol Dunkley for using the phrase "bully for you." You can't beat a bit of bully.

Cats UK: Luton Airport [54]. Uh-oh. The camera pulls back from Errol Dunkley's stage and Andy Peebles is revealed wearing a straw boater hat at a jaunty angle. Hilarious items of clothing are one of the seven warning signs of an incoming novelty song. Sure enough the next words out of Andy Peeble's mouth are, "and now for something very silly." Luton Airport suffers from the curse of most novelty songs. It's not catchy enough to be a pop song, and not funny enough to be a comedy song.

Dave Edmunds:  Queen Of Hearts [18]. Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds just seem to be alternating songs through 1979. Nick Lowe got the last one, Cruel To Be Kind, so now Dave Edmunds gets this one.

Dana: I Can’t Get Over Getting Over You [NEW]. Dana does the 1930s, but her audition for Pennies From Heaven is at least a year too late.

Number 1: The Police, Message In A Bottle. Still at number one, and still on film.

Closing titles: Fleetwood Mac, Tusk [30]. The follow up single to I Am The Walrus. (John: Reputed to be the most expensive made at that point, the album `Tusk` was the follow up to the hugely successful `Rumours`. This single version of the title track was recorded live at a football stadium with a real marching band on hand as you can see in the promo video Nobody really knows what the song is about but you can all join in and shout "Tusk!" is you want.)

Performance of the week. Errol Dunkley: O.K. Fred

Tusk!

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