One of the more pleasing by products of reviewing all of these TOTP repeats is that I get to reminisce about what I was doing back then. OK most of it is pretty dull and of no significance nor entertainment to anyone but myself but there are some that can be a shared experience. TV shows that I was watching at the time for example. Four days prior to the broadcast of this particular TOTP, a new US TV series premiered (that’s what we say now isn’t it? I’d have said started back in 1992) that was a brilliantly quirky comedy drama that pulled myself and my wife in hook, line and sinker. Anyone else remember Northern Exposure on Channel 4?
It was a fish out of water tale of newly qualified NY doctor Joel Fleischman being assigned as GP to the tiny town of Cicely to repay the state of Alaska for underwriting his medical education. There he struggles to adapt to his new surroundings as he encounters some marvellously eccentric characters like his receptionist Marilyn Whirlwind, aspiring movie director Ed Chigliak and millionaire business man Maurice Minnifield. It seemed ground breaking at the time and yet you hardly hear it mentioned these days and I have not seen it repeated since its original run from 1992 to 1995.
It also had an interesting soundtrack which I bought my wife for her birthday including tracks by Etta James, Booker T And The MGs and Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Well that’s enough TV nostalgia. Back to the music and proving that grunge wasn’t the only musical movement going on in the 90s, here are one of the major players in the acid jazz genre. Now I thought that The Brand New Heavies were indeed ‘brand new’ bursting into the charts with their “Dream Come True” single. However, it turned out that they’d actually been in existence since the mid 80s and released the track “Got To Give” on the Cooltempo label. As the clock clicked over into the new decade, they signed to the Acid Jazz label and released “Dream Come True” but not the version we saw on this TOTP. No, the original release featured a completely different singer called Jaye Ella-Ruth. It failed to chart and Jaye was destined to become the Pete Best of the acid jazz scene, being replaced by N’dea Davenport. A re-recorded version of the track featuring N’dea was put back out and bingo! A No 24 chart hit and a slot on TOTP. This would be the first of twenty-five Top 40 hits and two Top 5 albums during the 90s.
I wasn’t a convert to acid jazz I have to say though my wife was quite into it buying two consecutive Brand New Heavies album releases. What exactly was acid jazz though? According to Wikipedia it combined funk, soul, hip hop, jazz and disco and was characterised by danceable grooves and long, repetitive compositions. What?! What sort of description is that?! Maybe a list of its exponents might help. Well, there were BNH label mates Corduroy, Mother Earth and James Taylor Quartet whilst over on Talkin’ Loud the roster of acts included Galliano, Incognito and Young Disciples. Does that make things clearer? I’m not sure. It must have been a broad church because acts like Jamiroquai, Stereo MCS and Us3 are also mentioned under the same umbrella. I think I’ll just use Brand New Heavies as my default definition of acid jazz. Seems easier.
The ‘year zero’ revamp had gone against the show’s history and ditched a Top 40 rundown in favour of a brief run through of just the Top 10 but there’s a change to that this week in the form of scrolling graphics across the bottom of the screen detailing that week’s new chart entries. What was the point of that? Was it some lip service response to negative viewer feedback? Never mind not hearing the tracks, we don’t don’t even get the title of the hit, just the name of the artist and a chart number. Utterly pointless. It’s like travelling all the way to the Grand Canyon and not being able to see the view because of fog. Actually, I know people that happened to. Can you imagine the disappointment?
Now I thought the pronunciation of the next artist’s name was not up for debate. Everybody said Rozalla as Ro-zar-la but Tony Dortie goes for a different approach with Ro-za-la. It reminded me of my late father-in-law who insisted on referring to Paul Gascogne as Gar-za rather than Gaz-za. Anyway, however you pronounced it, the “Everybody’s Free (To Feel Good)” hitmaker was back with her latest single “Are You Ready To Fly”. Now she’s certainly not the first artist to stick to a winning formula but this really was just a rehash of her biggest hit just as her second single “Faith (In The Power Of Love)” had been. Talk about playing it safe. A hat trick of hits that were all basically the same song! Bah!
“Are You Ready To Fly” peaked at No 14.
It’s time for the weekly TOTP Macaulay Culkin spot! Well, at least it feels like he’s in permanent residence on the show at least. He’s on our screens again due to his featuring in the video for “My Girl” by The Temptations which has been re-released due to the film of the same name he’s starring in.
I never caught that flick and indeed, don’t think I’d ever seen any of the Home Alone films all the way through until the Xmas just gone when my son wanted to watch them. Consequently, I never understood what all the fuss was about Culkin. He just seemed really, really annoying. His brother Kieran on the other hand is currently flooring everyone with his character Roman Roy in HBO sensation Succession. Oh oh! I’ve strayed back in the world of TV drama but to be fair, I have nothing else left to say about The Temptations anyway. Job done.
I wrote quite a lot about Julia Fordham when she was a Breaker the other week as I wasn’t expecting her to actually make it into the TOTP studio but here she is meaning I’ve gone too early – damn it! OK, well you can’t fault her live vocal here as she sings “Love Moves (In Mysterious Ways)”. Faultless. However, I have to say that it’s a bit of a dirge ain’t it? I mean, the backing singers can’t even be arsed to get off their stools at the back of the stage and do all their vocals while remaining seated. Julia could have taught them a thing or two about the art of the backing singer on TOTP from her days as a Wilsation supporting the beehived one herself Mari Wilson. Much more fun.
To be fair to Julia, she didn’t write the song so I don’t think I’m really dissing her by lamenting its soporific sound. It did manage to rise to No 19 in the charts. Not bad but it was a far cry from presenter Mark Franklin’s prediction that it would go Top 10.
Oh come on! This was a video ‘exclusive’ just last week wasn’t it and it’s on again already?! I talk of course of Bryan Adams and his single “Thought I’d Died And Gone To Heaven”. This was the fourth of six singles released from his “Waking up The Neighbours” album and the only one (apart from “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You” obviously) to make the UK Top 10. After his 16 week run at No 1 the previous year, did his record label A&M really think that amount of Adams material being foisted upon the public was justified? Had they never heard of the expression ‘less is more’?! Apparently not as the next release from Bry was 1993’s 14 track Greatest Hits package “So Far So Good”. Curiously, “Thought I’d Died And Gone To Heaven” wasn’t included on it but then, like Julia Fordham’s before him, the song was a bit of a duffer.
Talking of curious things, what a curiosity this next song was! Now I’m not being wise after the event but I genuinely did know the original 1983 single that this track was based around. “It’s A Fine Day” by Jane was an otherworldly sounding indie chart hit (it didn’t make the mainstream Top 40) and was basically an a capella delivery of a poem written by eccentric Manchester poet and musician Edward Barton. How did I know it? I’m not sure. I got my new music solely from Radio 1 back in 1983 so I must have heard it on there but who would have been playing it? Surely not the likes of Steve Wright? Peter Powell maybe? Or possibly the much missed Janice Long? Well, I heard it via someone and whilst I was never so avant garde at that age to buy it, its hypnotic weirdness was intriguing.
Fast forward nine years and probably not having given it a thought once in the intervening years, suddenly everyone was talking about it, or rather Opus III’s danceified version of it. Yes, inevitably, as it was the early 90s after all, somebody got hold of that 1983 leftfield outlier track, added a dance beat to it and shoved it out to the rave masses for consumption. Was nothing sacred? On reflection it puts me in mind of the film Reality Bites and the scene where Winona Ryder’s character has her documentary about her friends that she has spent so long crafting to portray them with integrity turned into some nasty, commercialised media soundbite by opportunistic new boyfriend Ben Stiller for his MTV-like cable channel. All of her original film’s soul is ripped out and replaced with flavour of the month bullshit designed to appeal to those riding the current zeitgeist.
So it was with Opus III though hats off to vocalist Kirsty Hawkshaw for her memorable delivery of the track. She struck a startling sight with her Mohawk hair topped off with…well whatever that was adorning her forehead. The touch of genius though was to get her to perform whilst rotating those…were they stress balls?… in her right hand giving the whole thing a mystical look which I guess was some sort of homage to the original track’s ethereal nature. I wasn’t a fan but at least it stood out against the rest of the dance anthems of the time peaking at No 5.
Oh do one Hucknall won’t you?! Simply Red again?! It was impossible to avoid the ginger one in 1991/92. His “Stars” album topped the best seller chart for both those years and daytime radio was all over him. “For Your Babies” was the third of five singles released from the album. That means just two more singles to go (and associated TOTP appearances) and we’ll be free of Mick for years as Simply Red won’t have any new material out until 1995. Come on! We can do this!
One of the more memorable songs of 1992 next and certainly the most relentlessly cheery. As Mark Franklin advises us, “I Love Your Smile” by Shanice came out the year before but nobody noticed (I didn’t). However, a remix by producer de jour Drizabone initiated another shot at the charts and this time it hit gold going all the way to No 2 in the UK Top 40. I’m not sure how different the versions were. Hang on. I’ll check…
*checks out Spotify*
Well, unless I haven’t actually been listening to the ‘91 original then I can’t hear too much difference. The album version does have a rap in it which the single version doesn’t but the song’s whole charm is that almost scat like ‘de de de de, do do do’ hook which dominates both the original and the remix.
“I Love Your Smile“ was manna from heaven for mainstream daytime radio, perfect for trying to put a lift in the listener’s day and a spring in their step. There was an album it came from called “Inner Child” but none of the other singles taken from it came anywhere near the Top 40. Was “I Love Your Smile” just too hard to follow up? Was it so perfectly radio shaped that any attempt to repeat the trick was doomed to fail?
As Tony Dortie says at the song’s end, Shanice was a Motown artist but he uses that reference to name check another Motown act that he tips for the top – Boyz II Men. He was certainly better at chart predictions than his mate Mark Franklin.
It’s those pesky Breakers next which make loads of work for me out of minimal screen time. I’m really starting to hate this feature. I wouldn’t mind but the TOTP producers’ choices for inclusion in it don’t stack up. Many of them are never seen/heard on the show again presumably because their subsequent chart placings didn’t justify further appearances. By logical extension they can’t have been much of a ‘happening tune’ (their words not mine) in the first place.
Exhibit 1 m’lud. “Steel Bars” by Michael Bolton. This was the fifth and final single from his “Time, Love & Tenderness” album and was co-written by Bob Dylan. This unlikely collaboration stinks of cynicism to me. Was this purely about the money for Dylan? Was his own stuff not selling too well at this point so he teamed up with an artist who was shifting millions of units? I mean, the song is pretty cruddy and surely not one that Bob would be that proud of. Look at this lyric for example:
Steel bars wrapped all around me, I’ve been your prisoner since the day you found me
What a stinker! So much of a stinker in fact that this was one of those Breakers that never made it back onto the show. And rightly so.
So what were Madness doing back in the charts? Their cover of Labbi Siffre’s “It Must Be Love” had been a No 4 hit in 1981 so why it’s reappearance in 1992? Well, it was to promote a Greatest Hits album of course. “Divine Madness” was that album and a very successful one, going to the very top of the charts. The huge public reaction to the album convinced the band to reform for a live gig promoted as Madstock. The decibels and vibrations at that gig were so loud that they caused nearby tower blocks to shake.
Of the 42 Madness singles, this one has stood the test of time better than most I would suggest. Not because it’s their best track (to my ears there are loads more worthy of that accolade) but something about it still resonates to the point that it must be one of their most played on the radio. Back in 1992, it was a welcome distraction to all those dance anthems. Talking of which…
…it’s another one of those ubiquitous dance anthems (and also one of those Breakers we never saw again). N-Joi had already had one major hit with ‘91’s reissue of…erm…”Anthem” but they were back for more in ‘92 with “Live In Manchester (Parts 1 + 2)”. Yeah, sorry but this is all bells and whistles rave nonsense and did nothing for me then or now. Horrid. Wikipedia tells me that one of N-Joi’s members was called Mark Franklin. Hang on a minute. Surely not?
No it can’t be that Mark Franklin as he says of the Breakers that his money is in Michael Bolton and not N-Joi. Mark Franklin showing off his chart prediction skills there again. Here’s the chart peaks of those Breakers:
- Madness: No 6
- N-Joi: No 12
- Bollers : No 17
And so to the new No 1 and it was a song that would be one of the biggest sellers off the year. “Stay” was of course written for Shakespear’s Sister by Siobahn Fahey’s then husband Dave Stewart of Eurythmics. Want to hear his version. No? Tough. Here it is…
Quite different really. More of a gospel track than the haunting and haunted goth spectacle that was Shakespear’s Sister’s version. It’s worth checking out “The Dave Stewart Songbook” album. Some interesting stuff on there. I especially liked his original of “Ordinary Miracle”. Vastly superior to the version by Sarah McLachlan (there’s that surname again) that was used in the film Charlotte’s Web.
We’ve got weeks of “Stay” at No 1 so that’ll do (as the farmer said in that other famous pig flick Babe) for now apart from adding that it’s still hard to watch this performance and not be bowled over by the difference in vocal quality between Marcella Detroit and Siobahn Fahey.
| Order of appearance | Artist | Title | Did I buy it? |
| 1 | The Brand New Heavies | Dream Come True | No but my wife had the album |
| 2 | Rozalla | Are You Ready To Fly | I wasn’t, no |
| 3 | The Temptations | My Girl | Nah |
| 4 | Julia Fordham | Love Moves (In Mysterious Ways) | Nope |
| 5 | Bryan Adams | Thought I’d Died And Gone To Heaven | I did not |
| 6 | Opus III | It’s A Fine Day | No – give the original any day |
| 7 | Simply Red | For Your Babies | Never! |
| 8 | Shanice | I Love Your Smile | Just too perky for me |
| 9 | Michael Bolton | Steel Bars | See 7 above |
| 10 | Madness | It Must Be Love | No but I have that Divine Madness Best Of |
| 11 | N-Joi | Live In Manchester (Parts 1 + 2) | On yer bike! |
| 12 | Shakespear’s Sister | Stay | No |
Disclaimer
I make no claim to the rights of this show and all ownership and contents including logos and graphics belongs totally to the BBC or copyright holder(s).
All opinions on the music and artists featured are my own. Sorry if you don’t agree
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0013mbs/top-of-the-pops-20021992
TOTP Rewind - the 90s 