'Top of the Pops' sets - 1970
Dedicated to Jez, who may find the backgrounds useful. You never know, we might be able to identify some Pan's People routines in this series of threads.
To begin with, three colour photographs of performances that, as far as I know, only survive as black-and-white telerecordings. I've provided links to the YouTube videos so you can compare.
The Temptations singing I Can't Get Next to You on the 15th January edition:
Are they (l-r) Melvin Franklin, Otis Williams, Paul Williams and Dennis Edwards?
Open in another window to compare the images:
The Temptations - I Can't Get Next to You
Peak Position: #13
Repeated a week later, in the show where Pan's People danced to Wedding Bell Blues
An alternate shot of Family Dogg to the more familiar version I have posted elsewhere.
I think this is from the 16th April edition, on which they sang When Tomorrow Comes:
L-R - Pam 'Zooey' Quinn?, Irene Sheer?, Steve Rowland, Albert Hamoomd, Mike Hazelwood
Unfortunately, the record didn't chart and, worse than that, the performance is lost.
More about the group here:
Family Dogg - Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia
Soon, I hope to start a thread for lost episodes from 1970, in the style of those I created for Lift Off (with Ayshea), again with links to records performed on the shows but with the added bonus of pictures like these.
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Thanks cornershop ,these are
Thanks cornershop ,these are really fantastic clear colour pictures from totp 1970 ,you really are brilliant at finding these rare pics and info ,thank you so much
Thanks cornershop ,these are
Thanks cornershop ,these are really fantastic clear colour pictures from totp 1970 ,you really are brilliant at finding these rare pics and info ,thank you so much
Assuming that they were shot
Assuming that they were shot using 35mm film, then the video equivalent of that aperture would render even greater PQ than we currently with HDTV, now if only video technology, about 40 years ago was as advanced as it is today, you'd have seen some amazingly vivid footage of Pan's People, it would've seemed like you could just reach out towards your TV's, & pull the girls out.
Hence all of these old movies shot using 35mm film, can be broadcast in high definition, sometimes decades before modern HD filming!
Justin
Vanity Fare
The Vanity fare performance included in the 5/2/70 show is actually a repeat from 18/12/69. If the bods could extract the colour from the b&w film recording, as illustrated with Doctor Who, Are You being Served? etc, then I think this would be only the 4th colour TOTP performance that exists from the 60s.
Re:35mm, the images are much more likely from medium format roll film with the negative measuring 6x6cm. So about 4 times the area of 35mm! So super HD !
HD would be possible on PP's Juicy Lucy and Herman's Hermits '70 films.
Really shouldn't all the TOTP
Really shouldn't all the TOTP/Pan's People performances be in colour from 1970?.The only reason,I think,that they seem to exist in black & white is because either they were transferred onto b&w negative film for export or they were recorded on video-machines attached to black & white televisions?.there could be a variety of reasons but colour had arrived at BBC-1 by November 1969 & the various TV manufacturers & retail outlets: Decca,Fergusson.Radio Rentals etc. were all desperate to plug 'Colour TV' so the pressure was on the BBC to make as many programmes 'in colour' as possible to be displayed on colour tv's in British showrooms.It appears that TOTP was one of the 1st shows to go colour (bizarrely 'The Black & White Minstrel Show' was the other) & exactly at the same time,fortunately,that Pan's People became a regular TOTP fixture:January 1970.
Yes they should, as the first
Yes they should, as the first official colour episode was 20/11/69. The existing Jan/Feb 1970 shows are indeed on black & white film but retain colour information that could be decoded. I wish someone would fund it.
'Top of the Pops', 26th February 1970 - In Colour
Thank you for your replies - and corrections. I've now removed the Vanity Fare part of the opening post but hope to restore it if and when I can find enough stills for a 1969 sets thread.
The 26th February edition is only available in black-and-white. Unhappily for me, the YouTube version of Pan's People's routine for Temma Harbour is of miserable quality but some of the other clips from this episode still make for good viewing, despite losing their original colour.
Pickettywitch made their debut with one of the great Pop songs, That Same Old Feeling:
Chris Warren and Polly Brown
The laughing child is visible right at the start:
Pickettywitch - That Same Old Feeling
Peak Position: #5
Dave Dee's only solo hit was a minor one:
Who's the mystery guitarist?
Dave Dee - My Woman's Man
#42
Malcolm Roberts, who once starred in Coronation Street, with his latest release:
Malcolm Roberts - We Can Make It Girl
Didn't Chart
Malcolm's Wikipedia profile
The Cuff Links' follow-up to Tracy was also successful, When Julie Comes Around (#10):
There's that "laughing child" again. This exists but doesn't appear to be on YouTube.
The Cuff Links' Wikipedia profile
Thank you very much
Thank you very much cornershop for posting yet more rare pics from totp in 1970
Same set, different episodes?
Hopefully, all this information is correct ...
We've seen Dave Dee. Here are his former bandmates
performing Festival on the 19th November 1970 show:
Triple misfortune: Lost, Didn't Chart, and the record isn't on YouTube.
That mysterious face reappears in this still as well. Is he a Rock star?
Popscene's date for Shirley Bassey's performance is 3rd December:
Shirley Bassey - The Fool on the Hill
Only made #48 in the charts, surprisingly.
Here's a coincidence. Both artists were on the 16th July 1970 episode.
The photos can't be from that because Shirley's appearance survives:
Shirley Bassey - Something
#4
I didn't know that existed until now and am very grateful that it does.
Something
The performance of "Something" only exists because it was screened in ZDF's "disco" in 1971, and ZDF kept all the tapes.
Excellent photos!
The face looks a bit like
The face looks a bit like Gilbert O'Sullivan to me.
Big hair too early for Gilbert
Yes, I should have pointed out that Something was another precious clip from Disco, thankfully preserved by ZDF. A more considerate broadcaster than the BBC, who even wiped some of their period dramas.
Gilbert O'Sullivan occured to me too but this is 1970, when he had short hair and wore a flat cap. This may very well have been on the set of his debut performance, 26th November 1970 (inbetween the two episodes featured in my last post, oddly enough).
Not sure if this is a Top of the Pops set now. What do you think, Jez?:
I think that's lost as well but we have the consolation of this great performance:
Gilbert O'Sullivan - Nothing Rhymed (#8)
Is that from The Music of ... (1972)?
:
It's That Man Again
The as-yet unidentified "Rock star" returns to haunt us ...
The newly-christened Peter Noone and Herman's Hermits singing Lady Barbara:
Their last hit together, peaking at No. 13. Popscene have this as 26th November.
Sue & Sunny performing Ain't That Tellin' You People (from 3rd December?):
Didn't Chart
Sue (Glover) and Sunny (Leslie) were the original girls in Brotherhood of Man:
Brotherhood of Man - United We Stand (TOTP 1-29-1970)_HQ
#10
Sue and Sunny - Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia
These photos are a really
These photos are a really good find cornershop ,many rare photos from totp here that i havent seen before ,thank you
Marmalade performing on 'Top of the Pops'
My pleasure, Jez.
Especially for Scrooge, a still of Marmalade on what I think is the 9th July 1970 TOTP:
If I'm right then they are singing Rainbow, which made #3. Lovely song.
Alternate versions:
Miming to the record on It's Lulu, 25th July 1970.
A Live performance on Showcase, 'Summer 1970'.
Different tambourine players! In the first video (and photograph) it's Graham Knight.
The first time I heard the song was when they sang it on Channel 4's Unforgettable.
Marmalade Outside the BBC
Does anything exist of Marmalade on TOTP outside the BBC?
There are some nice TOTP photos, as always, this time of Marmalade, Pickettywitch and Mr Bloe. :)
Claire
Rainbow
Thanks again for this excellent picture, Cornershop!
How did you know the first youtube video was from It's Lulu (plus the date)?
There is also a kind of promo video for that song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeMS8SuHPs0
Marmalade on 'It's Lulu'
One of the YouTube posters asked if that was the show and another confirmed. The group's IMDb profile states they appeared on the third episode, broadcast 25th July 1970.
Out of curiosity I've just looked at the Evening Times for that day and found this:
LULU MEETS HER OLD PALS
It's another old pals' get-together for Lulu to-night when she has the Marmalade on her B.B.C.1 show. When she was singing with the Luvvers in the clubs in Glasgow, the boys - as Dean Ford and the Gaylords - were also playing around town at places like the old Dennistoun Palais.
Since then, everybody has struck gold. Lulu has hit international stardom, the Marmalade have made a mint with their records; so much so that they're contemplating giving up public appearances in Britain.
With Dudley Moore and Mama Cass on the show too, it looks like being a big night. I hope we don't get exchanges of hullawreer repartee from Lulu and the lads.
"Hullawreer" must be a Glasgow expression. Just Googled it and found nothing.
Les Dawson and The Douglas Squires Dozen [Dougie Squires Dancers] were also on that show, which only survives as a black-and-white copy (originally made on colour videotape).
Driving Instructor
My wife tells me that she was taught to drive by the drummer from Marmalade, in Cheltenham, back in the 1990s. If it was Alan Whitehead, then this must have been an extra job in addition to managing other artists. I'll check with her if she remembers the name of her instructor.
Marmalade's Ob-la-di-Ob-la-da was Number 1 on the day I was born. But I never liked that song, one of Paul McCartney's worst in my view.
Clear as Mud ... or Marmalade
I've lost the 'plot' myself with these sets, Scrooge. With you it's the 'green and red stripes' from January (and February!) 1971.
In my case it's those 'overhead squares' (don't know what else to call 'em), as seen in this 1970 still of Mr. Bloe performing Groovin' with Mr. Bloe. which may be from the 28th May show:
Nice to see The Cage again! Not so pleased about the Overhead Squares ...
I hadn't give them much thought but naturally assumed they were a 1971 feature of the set, believing this Marmalade appearance to be the 11th March episode. But at the Sets thread for that year you thought it could be 1970.
The Hexagons are very much associated with 1971 but that Mr. Bloe performance has thrown a 'spanner in the works' by including The Cage and the squares. Furthermore, I'm also having doubts that this appalling picture of Pan's People is a 1971 routine. Do you think this is more likely to be 1970 as well?:
I think they are (left to right) Dee Dee, Babs (obscured), Andrea, Louise and Ruth.
Does anyone know for definite the year of this unknown routine, based on the set?
With the appearance of the
With the appearance of the squares in that Mr Bloe photo, it's making me think this Pans routine is earlier than I originally thought and could well be from 1970. If only these photographs had accurate dates associated with them (even a definite year would be something) then we'd be laughing wouldn't we!
You're bang on about the line-up in that one.
Clues to March/April 1970 routine?
Very sure now that this often seen photo dates from March-April 1970:
(With help) Left to right - Ruth, Andi & Dee Dee,
while hidden behind Louise are Babs and Flick.
The set looks identical to the one Radha Krishna Temple performed on:
But was this the 19th March or 9th April edition (info from Popscene)?
A review of the record in the Daily Mirror's music column, 7th March:
SHORT SHORTS
Govinda (Apple) - Traditional Indian music is traditional George Harrison in these times. Nevertheless, it's Radha Krishna Temple religiously finding a hit spot.
On the same page is that bizarre interview with Flick Colby and James Ramble
This should provide further evidence that the top picture is likely to be March or April:
Marsha Hunt with her version of Simon & Garfunkel's Keep the Customer Satisfied*
Transmitted 26th March 1970. Maybe that's the same show as the unknown routine?
*Added Bonus:
A great performance from Marsha on Beat Club here.
As always, brilliant photos, Cornershop :)
Is this first photo a publicity shot for Spirit In The Sky?
Pan's People are wearing identical costumes, so I'm presuming this from 2/4/70;
Were the same sets used for more than one week in a row?:
Claire
So the 'unknown routine' is
So the 'unknown routine' is either: Rag Mama Rag - The Band. Spirit in the Sky -Norman Greenbaum .Farewell Is a Lonely Sound' - Jimmy Ruffin, or 'Never Had A Dream Come True' - Stevie Wonder.
By process of elimination....which one?......btw excellent joining of the jigsaw pieces together Cornershop15. The Saturday 7th March Daily Mirror page of Mr. & Mrs. Ramble - is spectacular.
Maybe earlier?
Alternatively, that Pan's People routine may have been in February:
Jimmy Ruffin with Farewell Is a Lonely Sound on the 19th February show?
Even earlier than that is John Lennon's first performance of Instant Karma.
A good shot of the studio at the very end, but it's made the girls' routine more difficult to identify now.
Original Spirit??
Well I'll put a tenner each way on this being the original "Spirit in the Sky".
Sets table?
All these different pictures, sets & dates is getting confusing isn't it, so I wondered if some sort of table would help. I've quickly drawn one (so may not be fully accurate!) to give a flavour but obviously there's a lot more to add. It would probably be better as an html webpage too for easier updating, but that's beyond me.
That's a great idea, pp4ever
That's a great idea, pp4ever - it does make things much easier to visualise.
Probably just as well that HTML doesn't lend itself very well to the degree of layout positional accuracy required for such as thing, but I could experiment with a table and colour in the cells.
Would you or anyone else be up to editing it as required (I can show you how)? Let me try to see if it works first...
TOTP Set Table test
(You can format for equal column width, but I've been lazy so far and not bothered)
That looks just the job! :-)
That looks just the job! :-) If the top row of cells under the headings could accomodate thumbnails of the correct size (let me know the dimensions!) that would provide further identification as some of the headings are a bit ambiguous. It will obviously extend sideways quite a bit as we add other observations. Is that OK? Thanks.
Yes, we could stick in
Yes, we could stick in thumbnails (try 250 pixels square) - I can scale down as required.
I can also set each column to equal width.
As you say, it will extend in both directions. If we start a new topic based on this it will spread into the right hand column and be obscured, so maybe it might be better to create this as a separate file, which can be embedded or linked to. That could make it easier to edit, as anyone could download and edit. I'll have a think about it.
How far do we need to go with this? To 1976 when the wiped routines become much fewer? I wonder how many sets we'll need to incorporate?
I suppose to be fully comprehensive, we need to be able to do it by 'quarters' of a month to indicate weeks (doing a cell per week would create a file too long, unless we do it by year, instead of creating a single huge table/file).
I think as the 70s progressed
I think as the 70s progressed the sets became less stylistic and the more footage that exists makes it easier anyway. So I see it mainly to encompass the years when there's more stills than footage, so probably to 1974 at the latest?
I agree a clickable image/file that opens in a new window would be best as it is likely to get a reasonable size.
In theory, you'd need more 'resolution' than a block per month but in practice it's difficult to pinpoint changes down to a particular week. The cage came into being on 22/1/70 but that's one of the few examples of a known week.
I was thinking an Excel
I was thinking an Excel spreadsheet might do the job but then I thought if we do a table per year, the sets should be manageable, and this would have the advantage of allowing a link placed in cells to each of the images Cornershop has produced, as examples.
Perhaps Cornershop would be happy for this to be placed in the first post of his TOTP sets topics?
Although there aren't many images, it's probably worth extending back into the 60s too, so if an undated image appears, some idea of the time might be inferred.
I can experiment with both approaches and see what it looks like!
TOTP Sets
pp4ever's kindly suplpied me with set thumbnails which I'll incorporate into a table when I get a chance.
October 1970 clue
That's a good way of doing it. Thank you. I am very much out of my depth with the subject of 'Top of the Pops sets', certainly what to call the various designs.
My intention was to see if the backgrounds could help us identify the dates but they are interesting to look at in their own right and deserve to be acknowleged with threads like this.
What I'm really hoping for is to reconstruct as many lost or incomplete episodes as I can and give an idea of what they were like by adding links to the songs, as I've done with Lift Off (with Ayshea). But I want to be certain of the dates and hope to find more pictures.
I spend so much time looking at stills of wiped performances that I forget about the surviving clips sometimes. Here's one from Popscene's list for 15th October 1970 that, until last night, passed me by:
Horace Faith - Black Pearl (crowd dancing - along with Tony Blackburn)
After 30 seconds, I spotted a design that features in this still of.The Tremeloes:
You may have noticed the large rose in that video too.
This must surely be their appearance on the previous week's show (8th October), singing Me and My Life. I hope to be proved right when we get to see the recently discovered 3rd September performance.
The existing footage of Me
The existing footage of Me and My Life has the band in a different orientation to this photograph, for example the piano is on the left and at right angles.
The Tremeloes - Me And My Life
Hi Cornershop
I can confirm that 3/9/70 and 8/10/70 are two different TOTP performances of the same song, as the sets are different.
I've compared the clip with the photo and I think the guitarist seen on both is "Chip" (Len) Hawkes. If it is, he's wearing a light red shirt on 3/9/70 and a beige shirt on 8/10/70:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mr8reKUVXUA&feature=player_detailpage#t=8s
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq85/cornershop15/Singers%20and%20Mus...
Claire
I think that's the idea,
I think that's the idea, Cornershop. Maybe you've a better memory for the sets, having done the research, but a graphic might be a handy aid in identifiying the dates, so when you come across an undated photo with such and such a set, you can look at the chart and say, that must be in this date range, to help narrow things down.
Pickettywitch mystery
I'd be a lot happier if we knew the correct terms for these designs. Others to take note of are Eyes, Butterflies, hanging circles with stars and the painted lady with the flowing hair (an October 1970 trademark I think).
According to Popscene's profile, Pickettywitch were on Top of the Pops five times. Two of those appearances are known to have survived and can be seen on YouTube:
That Same Old Feeling (26th February 1970)
Repeated the following week, 5th March.
(It's Like a) Sad Old Kinda Movie (9th July 1970)
The group returned for a new performance of That Same Old Feeling on the 19th March and apparently sang it a third time on that year's Christmas show.
Excluding promos, their only other appearance was 19th November, for Baby I Won't Let You Down. No information on YouTube but I think this is from Disco:
Pickettywitch - Baby I Won't Let You Down
Indeed, the programme's Wikipedia page reports they sang it on the 13th March 1971.
I assume these pictures are from each of the lost Top of the Pops editions:
We've seen the Cage/Overhead Squares combination in the Mr. Bloe photo:
Would this be (It's Like a) Sad Old Kinda Movie, from a few weeks later?
Chris Warren and Polly Brown pose for the camera, but for which edition?:
The second performance of That Same Old Feeling (19th March)? Just a Feeling.
There must be a name for that backdrop, which appeared in a variety of colours.
Pretty Polly
The clarity of these old 6x6s is amazing, Cornershop - makes a welcome respite from all the fuzzy grainy old videos that are often the only survivals of some of these performances....
All I know is I think Polly left for a solo career sometime later in 1972...
[I'm almost tempted to dress up like Chris Warren and walk down the street and see what reaction I get :) ]
Sillyness
Thanks again for these super pics but I must ask a couple of questions. Firstly do we think that based on these pictures the 70s were kinder to men or women (no prize for correct answer) and secondly why is Baldrick there?
Rusty
In the eye of the beholder...
Maybe the set designers had a name? But maybe if they just progressed and never reused, that may be less likely.
It's interesting to see how we each interpret the sets: I see what pp4ever has termed 'stripes' in his list, I have always thought of as colourful heating pipes!!
Win-Pipes
I have also thought of pipes rather than stripes, and tubes too, but my initial observation was that the colours and design resemble the logo of a file sharing site I used long ago:
The best illustration of how similar they look is this Pan's People routine:
We've Only Just Begun - The Carpenters (TOTP, 14 January 1971)
Flashback!
That WinMX logo caused a real flashback for me, spent the best years of my life there so to speak, lol! Wonder how many ex-WinMX'ers are here, and if we knew each other in a 'former life'!? Anyone else been to the 'Music World' chatroom there?
Pipes...
...is a better description. I was doing things in a hurry and plonked down stripes for the time being.
WinMX memories
For a few months, I enjoyed downloading hard-to-find songs at WinMX.
I'm not sure what happened but after a while I couldn't use it anymore. Either because the site closed down or I was unable to reinstall it when something went wrong.
I've since bought a lot of the songs on CD compilations - which I prefer anyway - but among my favourite discoveries were We'll Sing in the Sunshine (written and sung by Gale Garnett), Roy Clark's version of Yesterday When I Was Young and Mercy's Love (Can Make You Happy). All American 'one hit wonders' of the 1960s.
And all of which have nothing to do with Top of the Pops or Pan's People, although I'd be interested to know if they like(d) those records. By the way, looking at the backgrounds of other pictures from 1970 it seems the routine where they're wearing the colourful bell-bottoms could be any time that year - not just March. Blast!
I think I've made a mistake with the Overhead Squares photos as well, but may have made some progress with the Pickettywitch performances ...
The last of The Cage?
Tony Blackburn and Jimmy Savile during rehearsals for one of the Christmas 1970 shows, by the look of it:
The presence of The Cage and Overhead Squares, along with Popscene's details, have made me reconsider the dates of the Mr. Bloe photo and one of those featuring Pickettywitch.
Both were guests on the Christmas Day edition and, looking at the set with the presenters, I now believe this is where both pictures are from.
Another clue to the 19th March performance of That Same Old Feeling is the cover of the single which shows Polly in the outfit she wears in the 26th February clip and Chris in that yellow top. Not far off identifying all their appearances on the show.
Tony, Jimmy, Pickettywitch & Mr Bloe
What another nice selection of TOTP photos from 1970 of these presenters and performers. :)
Claire
Alternative shot
Using the 'overhead squares' as a guide in other performances, have we narrowed the date of this one yet?
Pan's People Mystery Routine
Hi PP4ever
Which song are Pan's People dancing to in this photo?
Claire
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