TOTP 1979 last night

[drakula63]

Did anyone notice the veritable plethora of Shads and Shads associates on Top of the Pops 1979 last night?

B A Robertson, singing 'Knocked it off', was backed on the programme by Alan Jones, Graham Jarvis, Terry Britten and Adrian Lee.

[Derek Mowbray]

I did not see this edition but there was one a few weeks ago from 1979 and I was trying to figure out if the singers and musicians were playing live or miming to previous recorded backing tracks. Musical direction was by Johnny Pearson and backing vocals by The Maggie Stredder Singers so I don`t think they mimed to records.

[drakula63]

I think miming was a pretty regular occurrence on Top of the Pops - pretty much the norm.

I understand that sometimes the band would mime to a specially recorded track, recorded for the programme. Sometimes I think the lead vocals may have been sung live.

[RayL]

I understand that sometimes the band would mime to a specially recorded track, recorded for the programme.

That was the official line. To satisfy the Musicians Union, a recording studio would be booked and the band would go through the motions of making a backing track. The MU rep would look in, then be taken out to lunch by the band's manager. The 'new tape' (a rough recording) would then be quietly substituted by the original (which might have taken many hours of studio time to prepare) and everyone was happy.

For some numbers (particularly with solo singers) Johnny Pearson's TOTP band would be used. If you've seen the name 'Derek Warne' on the credits as 'Musical Associate', his job was to make the arrangements for the band to play. The band (all top session musicians) would come in for the morning long enough to look over the arrangements, then put in a dep for the rehearsals while they did sessions in central London during the day. Come the evening, they would return to Television Centre and play the show straight off the sheets - they were that good.
Ray

[anniv 63]

Noticed recently on You Tube, a clip of the Dave Clark Five "playing" Glad All Over on the Ed Sullivan Show
Unfortunately they have a backing track malfunction for the first twenty seconds, then restart with a look
from all members that they are not to happy being rumbled!!!
From Tottenham Sound to L A Sound!!!

Mike

[drakula63]

Thanks Ray. Very revealing.

[Iain Purdon]

Ray is quite right. The MU, slogan "Keep Music Live", did not support programmes using records and used to negotiate agreements with the broadcasters imposing severe restrictions on how much commercially recorded music could be used on air. In the case of TOTP and Radio 1, groups used to re-record their songs for broadcast, in R1's case for extra airplay. It's true that occasional "mistakes" were made with the tapes and the actual record escaped onto the air. However that was exceptional. Usually the re-records were broadcast. I remember some of them

Incidentally one spin-off of this restriction was a thriving "library music" industry: music that was not commercially released, and therefore not part of the deal, but made specifically for use in radio, TV and films. As many of us here know, Brian Bennett and Alan Hawkshaw are two big names in this world.

[RayL]

For TOTP, the real artists often did not turn up until the final run in the late afternoon. To give the cameras something to look at during rehearsals, there were a regular crew of 'stand-ins' who took the place of the band or singer. They weren't required to play or sing but they were given hired instruments to hold while the song was played over the PA. In this way the director could rehearse the camera moves and the presenter links.

Come the evening recording, many of these same blokes were used as 'bouncers' to move the crowds around. The TOTP audience was actually quite small, but by moving the people from stage to stage so there was always a good crowd in front of the cameras, it was possible to give the impression that the studio was full of dancers.

A Chapman Nike camera crane with a full crew of driver, two or three arm swingers, cameraman and cable basher was a formidable weapon when tracking across the studio, especially when the move also involved the arm descending. In addition to the Nike there was the smaller Mole Crane and the Heron crane which, with its four wheel steering, had the unnerving ability to move suddenly sideways. Add to this the standard camera pedestals and the studio floor was often full of fast-moving machinery. To avoid audience casualties, the 'bouncers' would anticipate the camera moves and haul the dancers out of the way (with very little ceremony) to give the cameras a clear run.
Ray

[Iain Purdon]

I never went to the TOTP studio but we did get a school trip to the Ready Steady Go studio (Rediffusion, Wembley). It was minute. We all stood backs to the wall during rehearsals while Millie pranced round the studio singing loudly to a tape of My Boy Lollipop. She passed so close to me that a bit of spray landed on my face. Needless to say, I didn't wash for a week!

[GoldenStreet]

I never went to the TOTP studio but we did get a school trip to the Ready Steady Go studio (Rediffusion, Wembley). It was minute. We all stood backs to the wall during rehearsals while Millie pranced round the studio singing loudly to a tape of My Boy Lollipop. She passed so close to me that a bit of spray landed on my face. Needless to say, I didn't wash for a week!

The original RSG studio in Kingsway (opposite Bush House) was even smaller, by all accounts!

Bill