Top of the Pops 25 October 1990

 Words: Chris Arnsby

Jakki Brambles: “Hello, good evening, and welcome along to Top of the Pops the nation's top music TV show and you can hear us loud and proud in stereo on Radio 1FM. Our first artist this evening broke rehearsals with the reformed Go-Go's especially to join us here tonight. Please will you welcome at number fourteen Belinda Carlisle.

 [14] BELINDA CARLISLE: (We Want) The Same Thing. There's a moment when it looks like Stanley Appel has pulled off a sneaky edit into a pre-recorded performance. The Main Stage behind Jakki Brambles is in darkness and, just as the lights begin to flash, the caption appears in a way that obscures the bottom of the picture where the artists would be. This is followed by an abrupt cut to a close up of the drummer. All this made me suspect I'd just watched an extremely cunning piece of editorial slight of hand. I hadn't, as the end of performance pull-back revealed.

What's going on with the Crows Nest this week? It's empty again and the colour screen has been put behind it. It's the inconsistency I can't stand. (John- Think how the Crows feel)

[3] RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS: Unchained Melody. Not promo VT. It's a 1965 clip from NBC's The Andy Williams Show. Originally shown on BBC1 on Friday 23/09/1966*. Since September 1990, Top of the Pops has used three clips of varying vintage; this, the 1982 footage of Steve Miller, and the 1977 (ish) footage of Bobby Vinton.

*An evening when apparently everybody at BBC1 fancied an early night and went home leaving the video running**. Prime time is a block of US television programmes from 8pm to 10.15pm; Green Acres, followed by part 1 of a Dr. Kildare story (then a 15 minute news bulletin), then part 2 of Dr. Kildare, and then The Andy Williams Show. I'll be watching Public Eye on Associated Rediffusion.

** Alright, they probably left the telecine running.

CHARTS: 40 TO 31

[22] PUBLIC IMAGE LTD: Don't Ask Me. Promo VT.

[8] BERLIN: Take My Breath Away. Promo VT. “this bunch are back.” Yes, back in the charts following ITV's premiere of Top Gun on 06/10/1990 at the surprisingly late time of 9.20pm.

[26] THE SOUP DRAGONS: Mother Universe. Promo VT.

CHARTS: 30 to 11

[35] JASON DONOVAN: I'm Doing Fine. The sixties are back, baby. First there was Belinda Carlisle with her beehive hairdo and preppy housemaid-style dress. Now here's Jason Donovan with “his tribute to the Beatles” and desperate frugging.

What is Jason Donovan wearing? I think it's a horrid pair of black trousers with a gold-rope motif. He is also wearing a baggy black shirt which wouldn't be a problem except the trousers have an incredibly tight and high waistband, which extends to somewhere in the terra incognita south of the nipples but north of the belly button. The result is, the fabric of the shirt drapes down around Jason Donovan's midriff and gives him the body shape of a fungoid from Doctor Who.

[23] PAUL SIMON: The Obvious Child. Promo VT.

BREAKERS:

[32] GEORGE MICHAEL: Waiting For That Day. Actual moving images of George Michael, not the dreary collection of stills Top of the Pops assembled for the brief clip of Waiting For That Day used in the Top 5 Albums: August, 04/10/1990. Has CBS records persuaded George to make a video? No. This footage comes from The South Bank Show, broadcast Sunday 02/09/1990. You can see the relevant clip at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ss-QlLzv0k0

BBC Television gets an “Our thanks to” credit at the end of the programme because it uses Top of the Pops footage from 04/11/1982. I wonder if that's where Stanley Appel got the idea to request this clip. Thanks to mumu03 for alerting me to all this footage swapping

[33] ELTON JOHN: You Gotta Love Someone

[29] PAUL McCARTNEY: Birthday. Promo VT.

TOP 10

[1] THE BEAUTIFUL SOUTH: A Little Time. This performance feels a little off. As with their appearance on the 11/10/1990 edition, Dave Hemingway and Briana Corrigan are placed at an angle to each other so a single camera can see one person full face and the other more in profile. This really worked last time because it allowed the song to almost be shot as a drama, with one person talking and then the other. Why doesn't it work so well here?

There's a couple of things which I think affect the performance. First, Dave Hemingway and Briana Corrigan have been given handheld microphones rather than static ones on a stand which alters the way the pair move.

In the first performance Briana Corrigan doesn't know what to do with her hands so she clasps them in front of her. She looks tense and nervous. Dave Hemingway slouches and shuffles, and he's wearing a jacket with sleeves that are too long, and he looks uncomfortable. The pair look like a couple having a row. In performance two, they look like a pair of singers having a lovely time.*

Also, in performance two, Dave Hemingway and Briana Corrigan are much closer together and, because they are freed of the tyranny of having to stand still, they can move and react to the camera and Dave Hemingway keeps getting in Briana Corrigan's light; his shadow keeps moving across her face. It sounds like nitpicking but its a good demonstration of how a few small changes can affect the overall mood of a performance.

It's a shame. The lighting in performance two, apart from the shadows, is much richer. The tones and contrast are better and the colours are more vibrant. Performance one looks washed out because there is more smoke in the studio and it refracts the bright white light.

Having said how much better the lighting is second time round, also watch the end of the performance. There's a cross fade to a long shot of the studio, with the stage in the background framed by black. Chris Kempton fades up the main studio lights and Jakki Brambles materialises out of the darkness. It looks great.

* Which they are, obviously. They are at Number One and deserve to enjoy themselves.

[31] ROXETTE: Dressed For Success. Promo VT. Simon Mayo next week.

Something I've previously missed. Stanley Appel occasionally allows whoever is steering the Quantel box to play around with his caption. This week it shrinks, floats to the top of the screen, drops down on one side like a badly attached shelf, and then tumbles down off the screen.
I pride myself on making sure these articles neurotically chronicle any small change in production so let's go back to Stanley Appels' first show of this block and see what his caption did.
27/09/1990: The caption is rotated through 90 degrees so the right hand side sits at the top of the screen and the caption is vertical on the left side of the picture. It then wobbles a bit and falls straight down.
04/10/1990: The caption stretches horizontally and is squeezed off the bottom of the screen. This is a fairly standard effect, also used on Paul Ciani's caption, 20/09/1990.
11/10/1990: The caption jerks off the bottom of the screen as if someone were manually cranking a lever.
18/10/1990: The caption is stretched vertically and zoomed off the top of the screen.

 Countdown to Year Zero revamp: 49

Performance of the week: Belinda Carlise, (We Want) The Same Thing.