Top of the Pops 14th & 21st February 1991

 Words: Chris Arnsby

 14/02/1991

 Gary Davies: “Hello. Very good evening to you. Happy Valentine’s Day. I hope you got loads of Valentine’s Cards. Welcome to Top of the Pops. We’re in Stereo on Radio 1FM and we have five acts in the studio tonight. Now with it being the most romantic night of the year it’s only right that we start off with a little bit of devotion, here’s Nomad. MC Mikee Freedom.”

 [3] NOMAD: (I WANNA GIVE YOU) DEVOTION. Gary Davies is on a stage festooned with heart balloons. Just for a moment it appears that Top of the Pops has gone all out on Valentine’s Day decorations. Right up to the point the camera pans away and it’s clear all they’ve done is put £20 (1991 value) worth of balloons around the Neon Tube stage and stood Gary Davies in the middle of them. Cheapskates.

[6] KYLIE MINOGUE: WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO. Promo VT. Kudos to Robin Lobb (Video Effects) and Ben Fuller (Vision Mixer) for the Quantel transition into the video which bends the picture into a heart-shaped tunnel. It really is the most romantic night of the year.

CHARTS: New entries and climbers only, from 40-11.

[12] THE SOURCE featuring CANDI STATON: YOU GOT THE LOVE. Promo VT.

[16] 808 STATE: IN YER FACE. Rod Litherland has moved off Top of the Pops, probably to work on lighting Eastenders. His replacement, David Lock, has been restrained so far but really goes for it on this performance. His main innovation is two rows of white spotlights set above the stage at different angles. They can instantly snap from one row to the other, creating beams which stab down through the smoke. Angling the lights means different bits of the stage flicker from light to dark and the change is so fast it gives an almost strobe-like effect. In Yer Face is a great choice for this look. Welcome on board David.

This is also a terrifically well-directed performance. Paul Ciani gives the handheld camera operators a workout. He has them dashing around the stage at a speed which matches the pace of the music. They are working almost as hard as the drummer. The operators are instructed to run into a close up of one of the group and then whip round and run in towards someone else, and then whip back to the previous person. The effect is of continuous shots that almost seem to pogo from person to person. The camera people must be knackered and will need a rest after this.

[17] FREE: ALL RIGHT NOW. Promo film shot during the 1970 Isle of Wight concert.

[28] THE RAILWAY CHILDREN: EVERY BEAT OF THE HEART. Tonight, The Railway Children are also here.

[21] CHRIS ISAAK: BLUE HOTEL. BBC VT. Chris Isaak is on video, shot earlier. When? Well possibly the studio session for the 07/02/1991 edition. He’d been in the UK since late-January and headed off to places unknown after he appeared on The Brits 1991; broadcast Monday 11/02/1991 and recorded the previous day.

Chris Isaak was due to perform on the 21/01/1991 edition of Wogan but that show was cancelled in place of a 60 minute, Gulf War related, Six O’Clock News. Terry Wogan invited Chris Isaak back on 30/01/1991 so there were no hard feelings.

[4] PRAISE: ONLY YOU. Gary Davies is up in the Crows Nest. It’s been ages since a presenter has been up there. He’s joined by a couple of women, one of whom keeps an impressive poker face but the other can’t help smirking.

There’s an interesting camera move down from the Crows Nest to the Film Strip stage. As the camera pulls back it tracks along the rear of the stage right wall of the Main Stage. When it reaches the end it peers round to reveal Praise in the distance. This means Gary Davies wasn’t looking out into the studio. He was turned 180 degrees to face the wall behind the camera.

This is the second time the Film Strip stage has featured tonight which is unusual. There are four live studio acts and four stages, so you’d expect each stage to appear once. Instead we get Praise and Nomad on the Film Strip stage, then 808 State on the Main Stage, and finally The Railway Children on the Triangle stage. The Neon stage is only used for links. Is it under repair or would it just take too long to clear away all the balloons during the studio session?

TOP 10

[1] THE SIMPSONS: DO THE BARTMAN: Promo VT.

[24] JIMMY BARNS with INXS: GOOD TIMES: Promo VT. “Mark Goodybags” next week. Ugh.

I spotted a new job title listed in the closing credits; Caption Artist. Going back and checking, it’s been given since 10/01/1991. This week the Caption Artist is Michelle Greaves.

Countdown to Year Zero revamp: 34

Ratings: Once again, Top of the Pops is not in the Top 30 so it rated less than the 9.33 million who watched the Wednesday 9 O’Clock News.

 Performance of the week: 808 State. In Yer Face.

 21/02/1991

 Mark Goodier: “Hello. Good evening and welcome to Britain’s number one TV pop show. On BBC1 and Radio 1FM. This is Top of the Pops with all of the prime movers in the chart. And of course Britain’s number one. Let’s start with the highest climber, here’s Chris Rea. Auberge.”

 

[23] CHRIS REA: AUBERGE. This is probably pre-recorded, judging by the hard cut from Mark Goodier to Chris Rea and back again at the end of the performance. It’s unusual to put a pre-recorded song first but not unheard of, check out the Black Box repeat used at the start of the 15/11/1990 show for something similar. Standard practice for repeats or pre-precords is to drop them into the second song slot, where music videos normally go. It’s as if Top of the Pops has a style guide which insists that anything played into studio off videotape has to go at least second.

However needs must when the devil takes the hindmost, etc. The other studio acts tonight are pretty rotten and I can see why Chris Rea gets first place. Who else is going first? That bloke who’s threatening to make love in a special way? The two acts with writhing ladies? Actually… the writhing ladies…

[13] KENNY THOMAS: OUTSTANDING. Here’s Kenny Thomas. Girls, break out the Batman suit because he wants to make love to you. In a Special Way.

A thought occurs watching Mr Thomas sing. Is this just Curiosity Killed The Cat: The Next Generation?

CHARTS: New entries and climbers only, from 38-11.

[25] D.J.H featuring STEFY. Writhing lady number one.

[22] THUNDER: LOVE WALKED IN. Promo VT.

BREAKERS

[32] JULIAN COPE: BEAUTIFUL LOVE

[35]STEVIE B: BECAUSE I LOVE YOU (THE POSTMAN SONG)

[33] ROCKY V: GO FOR IT!

[28] XPANSIONS: MOVE YOUR BODY (ELEVATION). Writhing lady number two is joined by a couple of blokes who handle the leaping around duties. They do an impressive amount of body movement. At the back of the stage another bloke, who looks suspiciously like he’s wearing a red duffle coat, just stands there playing the keyboard. He’s barely moving his body at all and is clearly the weak link.

This is an unusually flat performance. All the elements are in place but somehow it never catches fire. There are too many slow sweeping crane shots which have a distancing effect. I keep thinking of last week and the brilliant handheld camera work used on 808 State. If that could have been repeated here, it might have been a whole lot more exciting.

[21] M.C. HAMMER: HERE COMES THE HAMMER. Promo VT

[4] OLETA ADAMS: GET HERE. BBC VT, repeated from 07/02/1991.

TOP 10

[1] THE SIMPSONS: DO THE BARTMAN: Promo VT.

[30] LIVING COLOUR: LOVE REARS ITS UGLY HEAD. Promo VT. Jakki Brambles next week.

 Countdown to Year Zero revamp: 33

Ratings: Once again, Top of the Pops is not in the Top 30. For the week, it rated less than the 9.02 million who watched That’s Life.

 

Performance of the week: I guess, Chris Rea, Auberge.