Words: Chris
Arnsby
Mark Goodier: “Hello. Welcome to a special Easter-stylee Top of the Pops.”
Andy Crane: “A
lot of girls on the show tonight. Live in the studio there's Kim Wilde, also
Alyson Williams and Lisa Stansfield with Cold Cut.”
Mark Goodier:
“Of course. And you get them all in FM stereo on Radio 1.”
Andy Crane:
“But first...”
Mark Goodier:
“...The Reynolds Girls.”
Andy Crane:
“I'd Rather Jack.”
Speaking of
Easter, Mark Goodier unironically describes tonight's show as “Easter-stylee.”
He must be hunted down and neutered for the good of the species. I don't know
if it was Mark Goodier's thing* to refer stuff as BLANK-stylee, but it's
driving me nuts trying to remember what I associate this with. I've got a vague
memory of a song lyric which goes “something something dance hall-stylee
something,” but I don't want these write ups to turn into middle-aged man
noodles about half remembered things from 40 years ago so I'll just stop this
sentence here**.
Assume
everything I said about the Reynolds Girls last time, 09/03/1989, still
applies. They're still doing their dance routine. It looks a little more
polished because they've had a couple more weeks of practice. I'm still
fascinated by how poorly served the pair are by the direction. Paul Ciani seems
determined to avoid using close ups and instead prefers to keep the pair in the
middle distance as much as possible. The audience get better close ups than the
Reynolds Girls. Is he sabotaging them? It seems more likely that he watched the
Reynolds Girls cheesy routine in rehearsals and realised it would be next to
impossible to get any decent close ups with them constantly bobbing around, and
didn't bother. Or, maybe he really likes Fleetwood Mac?
(John- Fascinated by the awfulness of this song and it's message I wondered what else lies in the Reynolds Girls' oeuvre and whether other 70s music legends were given short shrift. Turns out there is only one other single called suitably enough `Get Real` which they made after falling out with Stock Aitken Waterman . According to all known sources as of 2022 "their whereabouts remain unknown". So if you spot a Reynolds Girl please ring the helpline.)
For further Reynolds Girls intrigue check out this 2021 Classic Pop Magazine article
[18] ALYSON WILLIAMS: sleep talk. The Crow's Nest has been decorated with Pikachu-yellow Easter bunnies. Lovely. We've had heart-shaped balloons for Valentine's Day. Now rabbits. I hope this set decorating trend continues into the rest of the year.
Alyson Williams
pulls off a couple of pretty impressive microphone height kicks. She's not
someone to mess with.
CHARTS FROM
40 TO 31.
[3] DONNA
SUMMER: this time i know it's for real. On video.
[24] COLDCUT
FEATURING LISA STANSFIELD: people hold on. Paul Ciani's found a new camera angle on Mark Goodier for
the introduction; looking up from the studio floor through the rails of one of
the studio bridges.
Yazz has moved
on so here's Coldcut's next star. Lisa Stansfield's career got very big very
quickly and it's odd to see her playing second fiddle to a guy who's treating a
synthesiser as a percussion instrument and a guitarist in a silly hat.
BREAKERS:
[34] PAT
& MICK: ii haven't stopped dancing yet
[29]
ROACHFORD: family man
[33]
BANGLES: eternal flame
[35] KYM
MAZELLE: got to get you back
[32] KIM
WILDE: love in the natural way. I
think this might be Kim Wilde's last appearance on Top of the Pops. Not
a bad run from 26/02/1981 when she first performed Kids In America.
CHARTS FROM
30 TO 11
[4] PAULA
ABDUL: straight up. A
repeat of the performance from 09/03/1989. “You really should see this again,”
says Mark Goodier in an unusual acknowledgement of footage reuse by Top of
the Pops. Then again, it would be difficult to pretend this was new given
the performance includes Lenny Henry wandering into a panning shot, in his
distinctive red nose jacket.
TOP 10:
[1] MADONNA:
like a prayer. First
week at number one, second week of use for the BBC's carefully edited two
minute version of the video.
[27] BOBBY
BROWN: don't be cruel. Gary
Davies and Bruno Brookes next week. “But finally a man on this evening's show,”
says Andy Crane. Yes, the first man on tonight's show except for both of
Coldcut, Pat and Mick, Roachford, Lenny Henry (and about a third of Nicky
Campbell) and indeed Andy Crane. And Mark Goodier.
** I just
looked up the definition of middle-aged in the faint hope that I didn't fall
into that category. Boy, do I. I also note Wikipedia's charming sentence “this
phase of life is marked by gradual physical, cognitive, and social decline in
individuals as they age.” Thanks Wikipedia. Now where are my keys? Why don't
pubs have horse brasses any more? Where are my keys?
Slight spoilers, but Kim Wilde does appear just a few more times on TOTP after this - again at the end of 1989 for a reprise performance of 'You Keep Me Hanging On' as part of a one-off 80s review edition (which besides her + Erasure is so mind-bogglingly subpar in its choice of studio acts I'd be kind of amazed if you even bother with it), and then on a couple further occasions in 1992 and 1993 each to perform her admittedly pretty forgettable final top 40 hits.
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