Pages

30/06/2024

Top of the Pops 22 June 1989

 

Words: Chris Arnsby

Simon Mayo: “Hi. Good evening. Welcome to Top of the Pops, on BBC1.”
Gary Davies: “And also on Radio 1FM in stereo. An action-packed programme tonight. In the studio we have the Bangles.”
Simon Mayo: “And Clannad.”
Gary Davies: “And D Mob.”
Simon Mayo: “And Beautiful South.”
Gary Davies: “But first to get us underway. Here's Living In A Box.”
Simon Mayo: “Number thirty seven. This is Gatecrashing.”
Gary Davies: “Woo!”

 


[37] LIVING IN A BOX: gatecrashing. Top of the Pops throws a lot of resources at Gatecrashing.

Dickie Higham, Lighting, has stuck strobe strips to the back of the main stage. They look like electrical charges zipping around the set.

Meanwhile, Vision Mixer Heather Gilder and Adam McInnes, on Video Effects, throw the full suite of Quantel effects on to the performance. There's the spinning wipe; a 360 flip of the picture which transitions into; a three column split, with the output of a different camera in each column; then a complicated wipe which involves rotating the three column split screen and spinning it around, this then transitions back into a full screen picture (sorry, that's just an assembly of words. I'm pretty sure it in no way conveys what appears on screen. Just imagine complicated geometry); then a one third/two third split screen; and a few more spinning wipes.

Never in the history of the programme has so much effect been applied to such an unremarkable song.

[20] GLADYS KNIGHT: licence to kill. Promo VT.

CHARTS FROM 40 TO 31

[5] U2: all i want is you. Promo VT.



[26] BANGLES: be with you. “Here are the Bangles,” says Gary Davies and then he points. Presumably he's pointing back in time to the studio session for 08/06/1989 because that's where this performance originates.

Drummer Debbi Peterson gets to sing this one, so her drum kit is set up much more prominently than usual and it's raised on a rostra which brings Debbi, when seated, up to the same height as the standing Bangles.

[21] CLANNAD WITH BONO: in a lifetime. Promo VT? No. After a few seconds the picture cuts to Clannad in studio. Then when Bono starts yodelling away the picture cuts back to the video because Bono is a lazy lazy man who can't be bothered with coming to the Top of the Pops studio. It looks for a moment like this will be the template. A game of tennis bouncing between Clannad, studio, and Bono, video. But then Bono starts “harmonizing” with Moya Brennan and it gets too difficult to cut between the two and maintain the Bono/Moya rally.

Ignore all that. Look at Dickie Higham's Lighting. It's all shadow and silhouette. He's placed three key lights around the stage and put the rest of the stage into shadow, at least as much shadow as the cameras can cope with. Moya Brennan is lit through the strings of a harp which casts shadows on her face. When she stands in the right place her face is in shadow and her eyes are illuminated. The effect is very much like the sort of thing Jerry Finnerman used to do on Star Trek. It looks lovely.



The video is in faux-widescreen and cutting between that and the studio should mean the picture awkwardly flicks between 4:3 and fake 16:9. Kudos to Heather Gilder. She applies the same fake widescreen effect to the studio pictures. Then, at the end, she very slowly expands the top and bottom of the picture so there's no jump on the cut back to Gary Davies and Simon Mayo.

CHARTS FROM 30 TO 11

[3] PRINCE: batdance. Promo VT.

[11] D. MOB featuring L.R.S.: it is time to get funky. BBC VT. A repeat from the 08/06/1989 edition.

[8] THE BEAUTIFUL SOUTH: More BBC VT: Another repeat from 08/06/1989 but this time the group are captioned with the definitive article; last time they were just BEAUTIFUL SOUTH.

TOP 10

[1]  SOUL II SOUL featuring CARON WHEELER: back to life. Promo VT. On the 08/06/1989 (that show, again) Caron Wheeler didn't get a “featuring” credit, she wasn't mentioned at all.

[24] PLACIDO DOMINGO & JENNIFER RUSH: till i loved you. “Next week on Top of the Pops, it's Anthea Turner.” Anthea Turner and... and someone else, right? Right?”

 Performance of the week: Clanand (try and ignore Bono), In a Lifetime.

 

No comments:

Post a Comment