Showaddywaddy

[Jan Kosinski]

Need more details about this video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFtbGMojTHQ
I have all Supersonic episodes, all details about episodes but there is nothing about Showaddywaddy song "King Of The Jive".
But this video is really from Supersonic. Who can help me?

[Ray Langstone (was saintsray)]

This may not help much, if at all, but I thought the least I could do was reply....

ITV have a great deal of Supersonic; the trouble is that there were re-edits of the show beginning from Series 1 of the show - and these more commonly occurred with the repackaged 'Supersonic Saturday Scene'.
The actual documentation of what was shown and what exists is amiss for many episodes.
The ITV Regions were left to their own devices as to when to show Supersonic (which I think was a reason that the show lasted for such a short time, personally....)

Dates seem to be wrong in places, performances repeated or missed.... the ITV Archive is mostly very very good, but if I had to pick a weak spot, Supersonic would be it.

The 13/09/1975 episode that ITV have doesn't contain ANY SWW.

The one from two weeks later does, but not this song.

I can only deduce that some of the tapes that ITV ended up with were abridged edits, that may have come back from ITV Regions at a later date, because ITV don't seem to have this performance at all.

I will try and speak with my SWW expert friend and my Supersonic-knowledgeable mate in due course.

I am sorry there is so much guesswork involved in my answer.

[Jan Kosinski]

Thank you Ray.
Certainly, if I have the details of the September 13 episode, it wasn't there.
Anyway, there is also the song "Heartbeat" from the same performance.
But it was similar with the German program Musikladen.
There were also various versions shown, and in addition there are a lot of recordings that have never been published, but recorded for Musikladen, because I have a lot of these rare videos.
Hence the question that maybe these 2 Showaddywaddy videos were prepared for the September 13, 1975 episode, but were not aired?
Of course, if you find out more, it will be nice to read the information you have obtained on this topic.
Thank you for "now".

[petercheck]

Apr 16, 2022 13:50:42 GMT Jan Kosinski said:

Thank you Ray.
Certainly, if I have the details of the September 13 episode, it wasn't there.
Anyway, there is also the song "Heartbeat" from the same performance.
But it was similar with the German program Musikladen.
There were also various versions shown, and in addition there are a lot of recordings that have never been published, but recorded for Musikladen, because I have a lot of these rare videos.
Hence the question that maybe these 2 Showaddywaddy videos were prepared for the September 13, 1975 episode, but were not aired?
Of course, if you find out more, it will be nice to read the information you have obtained on this topic.
Thank you for "now".

'Musikladen' is a different situation, in that many outtakes not originally broadcast still survive.

These Showaddywaddy songs from 'Supersonic' were almost certainly broadcast and taped off-air in 1975. I'm told that a band member had a machine, and this is also why several otherwise "lost" 1975-1977 TOTP Showaddywaddy performances survive.

[Ray Langstone (was saintsray)]

It seems - and I am STILL waiting confirmation of this - that different edits were prepared for editions of Supersonic, and in some cases ITV have only one of the edits.

I am surmising that the edits occurred for different regional showings and repeats - yes, Supersonic was occasionally repeated in some areas during the 70s; I am not talking about the later Granada Plus showings or anything else here.

I can confirm that at least one SWW member had a Philips N1500, because a few of the TOTP recordings on youtube came from these, as did some other stuff such as Pop at the Mill and Swap Shop.
I'd previously ignored the off-air SWW Supersonic recordings as I'd assumed ITV had archived them, wrongly as it turned out.

My Supersonic expert is doing some further checks in the next week and I'll report back if there are new developments.

At the moment, it is looking like these SWW performances are wiped.

[Ray Langstone (was saintsray)]

.... further news just in.
Although ITV have the 13/09/1975 edition without SWW; the BFI have a quad tape that MAY contain those two performances.

We're still checking on that, and this may take some days....

Interesting thing about both SWW clips from the 13/09/1975 edition though....

Heartbeat:- www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsutSAYTrGI Live vocals, and.... you know Romeo sings 'Heartburn' (!) at one point....
King of the Jive:- www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFtbGMojTHQ There is a cock-up in vision mixing at one point as the camera cuts back to Mike Mansfield, around the 19 second mark.

[Jan Kosinski]

Thank You once more Ray, good work. For sure you're right from these different versions of episodes because I had myself the same episode in different version, the same date, transfer from old VHS tapes.
In one the same episode there was 1 or 2 different bands.
Anyway, it's a pity that these 2 videos are not available in better quality.

[petercheck]

There are other surviving Supersonic performances missing from existing episodes: The Hollies 'Daddy Don't Mind' (alternate performance with different clothing) and 'Just One Look'. They were rebroadcast as part of the 'Twiggy's Jukebox' compilations for US TV.

[tonyrees]

To muddy the waters somewhat...

The Daily Mirror and The Record Mirror lists the following acts as appearing in this edition - Leo Sayer, The Supremes, Guys n Dolls, Showaddywaddy, Smokey.

A report in the Daily Mirror for 13/09 "SUPERSONIC has soared to success with last week's opening show. Top pop stars are asking to appear—Roger Daltrey, star
of " Tommy," among them. You can see the second edition today (London and Westward 11.5 a.m., other areas, other days). This seems silly scheduling to
me : " Supersonic " Is ideal for early Saturday night. Today's line-up includes Leo Sayer, the Supremes and Showaddywaddy."

[Ray Langstone (was saintsray)]

Apr 20, 2022 15:08:54 GMT tonyrees said:

To muddy the waters somewhat...

The Daily Mirror and The Record Mirror lists the following acts as appearing in this edition - Leo Sayer, The Supremes, Guys n Dolls, Showaddywaddy, Smokey.

A report in the Daily Mirror for 13/09 "SUPERSONIC has soared to success with last week's opening show. Top pop stars are asking to appear—Roger Daltrey, star
of " Tommy," among them. You can see the second edition today (London and Westward 11.5 a.m., other areas, other days). This seems silly scheduling to
me : " Supersonic " Is ideal for early Saturday night. Today's line-up includes Leo Sayer, the Supremes and Showaddywaddy."

I do think the bizarre scheduling of the show - even by LWT - killed it off; it was doomed from the start, sadly.

[Kev Hunter]

I don't think a Saturday morning / lunchtime slot was so bizarre, Ray.. I used to find it a really convenient time to sit down and watch it, as I didn't have to work at weekends (I was 18 at the time). I wonder why music shows were / are generally shown in the mid - late evening? Even now Later with Jools Holland occupies the same kind of slot, but what would be so wrong with a music show going on on a Sunday afternoon, for instance? There's far less 'God-bothering' on TV on a Sunday now (hallelujah!) and there are only so many antiques / cookery / property programmes to make space for. Thankfully since Sky Arts came to Freeview things have been a little better and the channel often has some good music shows - both live filmed performances and documentaries.

[petercheck]

Apr 20, 2022 16:28:04 GMT Kev Hunter said:

I don't think a Saturday morning / lunchtime slot was so bizarre, Ray.. I used to find it a really convenient time to sit down and watch it, as I didn't have to work at weekends (I was 18 at the time). I wonder why music shows were / are generally shown in the mid - late evening? Even now Later with Jools Holland occupies the same kind of slot, but what would be so wrong with a music show going on on a Sunday afternoon, for instance? There's far less 'God-bothering' on TV on a Sunday now (hallelujah!) and there are only so many antiques / cookery / property programmes to make space for. Thankfully since Sky Arts came to Freeview things have been a little better and the channel often has some good music shows - both live filmed performances and documentaries.

I think something like TOTP on Thursday evenings (between the kids programmes and the soaps) was the ideal time for people of all ages to watch it. When I was 16-18, I worked on Saturdays in a shop, then from 18-22 I changed jobs (building trade) and was generally free on Saturdays... which I'd spend up in London's West End searching in cool record shops! At later school age (11+) I'd be out cycling/exploring at weekends.

I agree that the late night OGWT/Later with JH slot wasn't ideal either.

[Kev Hunter]

Yes the late night slot for OGWT wasn't great (but then neither was the content most weeks!) and if I was really tired, I'd go to bed around 9 and my old man would wake me up again 15 minutes before the show started, and by the time it came on I was alert enough to appreciate it. I always had a reluctance to work on Saturdays (I had a reluctance to work, full stop) and unfortunately missed a chance to work in a record shop - or more specifically a record department in a big name store - as it would have meant giving up half of my weekend. These things seem so important at the time.. the folly of youth, eh?

[petercheck]

Another reason why it failed is because 1975-1977 was simply too late. Can you imagine those sets with the Glam Rock of 1972-1974?!

[Kev Hunter]

That's a good point, Peter.. seeing the Dammed on it performing "Neat Neat Neat" just made the set look even more like something from a different era. I always preferred "45" (later "Rock On With 45") anyway from 1974-75, and that occupied a similar time slot.