Top of the Pops 30 June & 7 July 1988

 

Reviewed by Chris Arnsby. Peter Powell: [Tight close up of Peter Powell's head, the picture slowly widens through the  introduction] “Good evening everybody! And welcome to this special summer live edition of Top of the Pops! It was Gary's idea that I should wear the shorts! So blame him! It's his fault!”

Gary Davies: “Ha ha ha. Nothing to do with me. It is supposed to be summer. Hello and welcome to the show, in the studio tonight we have Matt Bianco, we have T'Pau, but first we start off with the lady who's in the middle of a UK tour. She's at number eighteen with Maybe We Should Call It A Day. Here's Hazel Dean.”

 [18] HAZELL DEAN maybe we should call it a day. Hope you like DJ's knees because we're going to see more of them tonight. It's a bit of a running gag. Well, they reference it twice more and forget about it.  Hazell Dean is doing her best and she gets the crowd nicely worked up but this is the most generic pop song I've heard since Sinitta's last one.

 

[15] BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: tougher than the rest. “Live! On film!” according to Peter Powell. It looks like video to me Pete.

TOP 40 FROM 40 TO 31. More knee hilarity heading into the first bit of the charts. I had to look at it so I've sent John a screen grab, however, if he's feeling merciful it may not be included. (John- It would never get past the imaginary moderators I like to think are checking every post) “Oi stop looking at our knees,” ad-libs Gary off of a cue card.

[10] TRACY CHAPMAN: fast car. Another video? We're eight minutes into this episode and I don't think I've hit 200 words yet.

[14] MATT BIANCO: don't blame it on that girl. Matt's mislaid his hat from last time, 16/06/1988. He's also dialled back the Joe 90 dancing. Plus, he's remembered to check where the camera is before he drops into his hurdle split. It's very impressive and well worth the wait. He does it twice.

All this aside. The real interest is the addition to the scenery. An enormous rack of white and red neon tubes has been put stage right. It towers over everyone. Is it a rental or a new piece of kit? It looks fragile and if it's the property of Paul Ciani then I hope he gets the scenery shifters to treat it with care when they put it in storage.

Paul Ciani inherited Top of the Pops not long after Michael Hurll had the sets redesigned (goes away and checks). The new sets were delivered on 19/11/1987 and Paul Ciani got his first credit on 07/01/1988. It's possible he doesn't much like them and this is a prelude to him making some changes. I hope not, I think they're great and I'm a real admirer of the way a simple change of studio lighting can make them look completely different.

TOP 40 FROM 30 TO 11

[7] SALT 'N' PEPA: push it. Another video? Was everyone away this week? 

[17] T'PAU: i will be with you. T'Pau are free and luckily they've got a new song out. This is the third one. The one that crops up on Absolute 80s and makes people ask “is this T'Pau?” “Have you noticed that as the nights get longer, so do Carol Decker's dresses?” asks Gary Davies. Now, did Gary Davies actually mean to ask “have you noticed that as the days get longer, so do Carol Decker's dresses?”

To be fair, Gary Davies is technically correct. His remark was made 10 days past the 1988 summer solstice and the nights are now longer; imperceptibly longer. It's possible Gary Davies is a fervent sun observer. He might even be a heliolater.

[2] FAT BOYS/CHUBBY CHECKER: the twist. Video? Again. How jejune. Followed by a knees comment from Peter Powell.

TOP 10.

[1] BROS: i owe you nothing. A repeat, from 16/06/1988.

[11] GLEN MEDEIROS: nothing's gonna change my love for you. “Next week on Top of the Pops it's Simon Mayo and Janice Long,” says Gary. “Next week sees the start of the summer season of the Roadshow! And you're doing it!” adds Peter Powell. “That right. Northern Ireland. See you on Monday.” Gary will be showing you how to observe the sun by making a pinhole camera, and don't forget to bring your sextant. 
Glen Medeiros is on video.

PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK: What a week. Five videos, one repeat and only three studio performances. Matt Bianco, Don't Blame It On The Girl. At least the scenery was interesting.

07/07/1988
Simon Mayo: “Well hello there. Welcome to Top of the Pops. On the pictures tonight, in the flesh, Glenn Medeiros, Everything But The Girl, and a warm return to Janice Long. Yes.”

Janice Long: “Thank you. Thrilled to bits to be back. We've got a great show. Did he mention Eight Wonder? Down here we've got The Communards, they're at number twenty this week, There's More To Love. So, Richard hit the keyboards. Get ready Jimmy.”

 [20] THE COMMUNARDS: there's more to love. Janice Long. It's been a long (ho-ho!) time since we've seen her, 03/12/1987 was her last turn on the hosting roster. I think she's been away on maternity leave and it's good to have her back. Her enthusiasm and tipsy-auntie persona can do a lot to lift any edition of Top of the Pops. We could have used her last week.

Meanwhile The Communards appear on a stage where two dry ice machines have been set to 10,000rpm. The white stuff waterfalls down the back of the stage and blankets the floor. Jimmy has unwisely decided to wear a white shirt and white trousers combination which could potentially leave him looking like a floating head and belt against the pale background. Fortunately Rod Litherland, Lighting, has used lurid yellow lights to colour the dry ice as it fountains forth and this provides sufficient contrast for Jimmy Somerville to be properly visible.

[16] MAC BAND FEATURING McCAMPELL BROTHERS: roses are red. Or “Roses For You,” according to Simon Mayo. He's standing on one of the studio scaffolding bridges and he's been given a bouquet of roses to toss over the side. I hope they didn't land on someone. The lengthily named Mac Band Etc are on video.

TOP 40 FROM 40 TO 31. More roses fun. Janice takes one from Simon and unwisely puts in her mouth. Janice, I think that's been on the studio floor.

[23] EVERYTHING BUT THE GIRL: i don't want to talk about it. A nice enough song but alas I am distracted by how much the guitarist looks like young Stuart Lee.

“We'll have the top ten in a moment,” says tipsy-auntie Janice. Yes. In about twenty minutes, as usual. I guess twenty minutes can be described as a moment.

BREAKERS: [34 DEBBIE GIBSON foolish beat]; [33 MAGNUM it must have been love]; [21 ERIC B & RAKIM follow the leader]; [28 NATALIE COLE everlasting].

24 INXS: never tear us apart. On video.

TOP 40 FROM 30 TO 11

[22] EIGHTH WONDER: cross my heart. Patsy Kensit appeared solo on Top of the Pops, twice, to perform I'm Not Scared. Mike Smith, 31/03/1988, felt the need to explain the rest of the band were “in Italy,” a suspiciously vague excuse which left me speculating that the rest of Eight Wonder didn't really exist. Well, here they are. Allegedly. I smell a conspiracy.

Paul Ciani's thing is also back. The enormous top heavy rack of neon tubes. The (so-called) keyboard player is happy to stand right in its massive shadow. I'd want reassurance it had been firmly bolted to the floor before I did that. 

TOP 10.

[1] GLEN MEDEIROS: nothing's gonna change my love for you. Rod Litherland has arranged a series of white spots pointing up into the studio smoke so Glenn appears to perform in a mini cathedral of light. It's a striking effect and looks pretty good.

Last week, Glenn was just Glenn. This week the BBC caption graciously gives Glenn back his extra N.

Meanwhile, behind Glenn, a line of audiennce members sway genntly from side to side. It's nnot clear if they're doinng this volunntarily or at the orders of Floor Mannager Quenntinn Mannn. Either way, they are nnot doing a good job. Some go left while others go right. Some wave their arms and some donn't. Boredom rapidly sets inn and order has completely brokenn downn by the ennd of the performannce.

[32] TRANSVISION VAMP: i want your love. Before we say goodnight. It is, apparently, Glenn Medeiros' eighteenth birthday. Kim Wilde walks in holding a cake. Why Kim Wilde? Who knows. Maybe she made the cake. The whole encounter takes barely ten seconds. There's just enough time for Kim to walk on screen, give Glenn a peck on the cheek, and hand over the cake; and for Glenn to gaze uncertainly at said cake.

There are no candles on the cake. Glenn's Donny Osmond-esque hairdo would go up like the Hindenburg. Is this another Paul Ciani format change? Will everyone get cake from now on?

Simon Bates and Bruno Brookes and cake next week.

 PERFORMANCE OF THE W- No. Wait. At the end of Transvision Vamp's video the screen fades to black but my downloaded copy of the show still has two and a half minutes to run. There's a flash of static and then...It's... Morten Harket? Surprise A-ha! The best kind of A-ha. But excitement turns to disappointment. This is not new, unbroadcast A-ha. It's their 1987 performance of Manhattan Skyline, edited on to the end of this show for some reason.

PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK: A-Ha, Manhattan Skyline. [sticks out tongue]. I don't care. It's by far the best song tonight.