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Post by martycee on Sept 8, 2011 2:12:59 GMT
Hi everyone,
Just stumbled on this site as I was looking up references to my old band 5000 Volts. I was the bass player in the outfit and the one on the left in the photo of the candidates for dismissal that Simon has suggested amusingly. His comment about 3 lead singers in 12 months though is precisely the terminal problem we had as a band. When myself, Kevin (drums) and Mike (Keys) joined the band and made it a full line up it was already too late to reclaim some credibility as a 'real' band, which we indeed were at that stage.
Because of contractual commitments from her solo career, Tina could no longer appear with 5000 Volts which is when Luan Peters pitched up. Trouble was Luan couldn't sing! The other guy playing guitar on the ‘I'm On Fire’ videos was the record producer. Pressure built rapidly to settle the band as a unit and that's when the three of us came in. Tina was allowed to perform on stage as 5000 Volts but not on TV and was with us until the eve of a big tour of Germany when she suddenly announced she was leaving to work entirely solo. 'I Love To Love' was storming up the charts, which gave her the impetus to split with us.
Bereft of a lead singer and in shock at her sudden departure we almost disintegrated there and then but were persuaded to stay together and find a replacement for Tina which we duly did the following year. Enter Linda Kelly who unfortunately also had a passing resemblance to Luan Peters, which confused even more people. Nevertheless we headed for the studio and recorded new songs of which Dr. Kiss Kiss was a part. Linda also replaced Tina's voice on the album versions of all the previous singles - another bad error of judgement. Further confusion reigned since Linda sounded nothing like Tina.
The damage that so many different faces (and sometimes voices) did to us was immeasurable. It fed the accusation that we were a dummy band backed up by studio musicians as so many were in those days. In fact the band now had genuine top drawer session players and all the playing you hear was performed by us. Keyboardist Mike even wrote some of the orchestral arrangements, which were stunning and all of us contributed songs to the album and 'B' sides.
But we were doomed and as soon as Dr Kiss Kiss was history and we searched for more hits the industry had all but turned its back on us. It was difficult even to tour Europe after the debacle of the wrecked German tour and our name was mud with many European promoters. We managed a sizeable hit abroad in 1977 with 'Walking On A Love Cloud' that was universally ignored in the UK and other follow up attempts failed too. We formally disbanded in 1980.
The experience pretty much killed my interest in being in a band. I went back to my career as a session musician where I remain to this day, having run up a massive CV of recording and touring with some amazing artists some of whom were my heroes. I am able to look back fondly at distance to those heady days of TOTP every week. Sadly I only found out recently that Linda passed away in 1998. I've yet to find out why but assume cancer. She would only have been 51 years old.
Thanks for your interest everyone. I hope I've filled in a gap or two. All the best to you all
Martin Cohen.
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Post by Ray Langstone (was saintsray) on Sept 8, 2011 7:30:40 GMT
Martin, thank you for taking the time to post, and being informative.
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Post by Rich Cornock on Sept 8, 2011 8:19:43 GMT
thanks for the info Martin. i don't suppose you have old recordings of TOTP etc lurking your attic?
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Post by Simon B Kelly on Sept 8, 2011 12:45:15 GMT
A fascinating post, Martin. Thank you for telling us the real story behind 5000 Volts. It appears that 5 of the 6 TOTP shows that 5000 Volts were featured in still exist in the BBC archives. The only one missing is the 18 Sep 1975 presented by Noel Edmonds. Was this a repeat of your performance two weeks earlier or did you make a second appearance to promote "I'm On Fire"? Ironically, only 5 of the 13 TOTP shows from 1976 that featured Tina Charles are still archived (plus a further 7 from 1977/1978). They wiped all 3 shows where she was top of the charts! Most bizarre was her appearance on the Xmas show where she stands for 3 minutes in a narrow walkway above an empty studio: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ip0ZEv6eiis What was going on there?
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Post by Ray Langstone (was saintsray) on Sept 8, 2011 16:19:50 GMT
Appears to be a repeat, that one. Info from Pete Seaton's Poptastic:-
""TOP OF THE POPS 04/09/75 (Full edition exists) © Introduced by Jimmy Savile 5000 Volts - I’m on fire (Studio) Leo Sayer - Moonlighting (Studio) Showaddywaddy - Heartbeat (Studio) Dan McCafferty - Out of time (Studio) KC & The Sunshine Band - That’s the way I like it (Promo) Al Matthews - Fool (Studio) Glitter Band - Love in the sun (Studio) Jonathan King - Una paloma blanca (Studio) Procol Harum - Pandora’s box (Studio) Mike Batt - Summertime city (Studio/Pan’s People) Rod Stewart - Sailing (Promo) Crispy & Company - Brazil (Credits) (Credits)>> Introduced by Jimmy Savile, ‘Top Thirty” specially prepared for the BBC and Record and Music Week by the British Market Research Bureau, Musical Director - Johnny Pearson, Musical Associate - Derek Warne, Vocal Backing - The Ladybirds, Pans People - Babs, Cherry, Dee Dee, Ruth, Sue, Choreography - Flick Colby, Costume - Richard Winter, Lighting - Don Babbage, Sound - Keith Gunn, Design - Eric Walmsley, Assistant Producer - Stanley Appel, Produced by Robin Nash""
""TOP OF THE POPS 18/09/75 ® Introduced by Noel Edmonds Desmond Dekker - Sing a little song (Studio) Mud - L, L, L, Lucy (Studio) Procol Harum - Pandoras box (Studio) Cliff Richard - Honky tonk angel (Studio) 5000 Volts - I’m on fire (Studio) Rpt Johnny Nash - Let’s be friends (Studio) Bad Company - Feel like making love (Studio) Goodies - Nappy love (Studio) Mac & Katie Kissoon - Like a butterfly (Studio) Candlewick Green - Last bus home (Studio) Mike Batt - Summertime city (Disc) Rod Stewart - Sailing (Promo) (Credits) >> Musical Director - Johnny Pearson, Choreography - Flick Colby, Sound - Laurie Taylor, Assistant Producer - Stanley Appel, Produced by Robin Nash""
I think the director was probably trying to think of new ideas!
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Post by martycee on Sept 9, 2011 0:32:33 GMT
Hi again everyone,
Just got in from Torquay to where I'm currently commuting from my Somerset home to my current engagement on the touring theatre show 'Grease'
Have logged on on to find your responses to my post.Thanks for the interest.
Forgive my poor recollection of TOTP after 35 years. What I always remembered from that time was that we recorded four separate shows while Dr. Kiss Kiss was moving up. I do have some footage of one that might not appear in the BBC4 series but was part of the TOTP2 series. I should say at this point that I haven't seen all the BBC4 shows yet. They are sitting on the hard drive of my Sky box. The one I'm thinking of is where I'm not wearing specs and my hair is a shorter. Also as Linda finishes her verse there's a dissolve into a full close up on my face as we sing the chorus.
If and when I get a moment to see them I will let you know if it's there. We shot a studio bound music video of Dr. K.K. with director Mike Mansfield but I've no idea if that was ever broadcast.
Can I also say at this point that I never promoted 'I'm On Fire' in the UK so can't shed any light on those appearances. I joined the band along with Kevin and Mike shortly after the single had left the UK charts. The line-up you see prior to Dr. K.K. is Martin Jay the guitarist who remained, Tony Eyers the producer and writer of "I'm On Fire' (and Dr. K.K.), either Tina Charles or Luan Peters singing and a miming drummer friend of ours from the days when we were all in the same dance hall band called 'Northern Lights'. It was precisely because Tina, Martin Jay, Kevin and myself all were in that band that Martin and Tina invited Kevin and I to join. We tried various keyboardists until we found the brilliant Australian, Mike Nelson.
If you really want a clear example of why we were not taken seriously as a real outfit because of the multitude of different faces calling themselves 5000 Volts, have a look on Facebook and you will find a 5000 Volts page there with a bunch of pictures that explains the confusion perfectly. It seems that no two pictures have the same faces in them!
Finally I realise that this discussion relates to the broadcasting of episodes of TOTP as an historical archive, so I won't distract you gentlemen from your very interesting exchanges with my nostalgic musings. If I have any useful knowledge of the broadcasts at the time you are welcome to it but it would seem from what I've read that you know far more about the scheduling than I could ever remember, not forgetting that we were at the time rushed off our feet with a major chart hit on our hands.
Kindest regards once more,
Martin Cohen.
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Post by martycee on Sept 9, 2011 0:57:35 GMT
......PS.........
Just seen it (I think) on YouTube. It's the TOTP broadcast from 19th August 1976 with Dave Lee Travis. I assume it'll be amongst the BBC4 crop???
That completes the four we recorded. You can tell from the different outfits we're wearing.
Cheers,
Martin.
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Post by Simon B Kelly on Sept 9, 2011 8:51:35 GMT
The DLT show should be on your Sky HDD, Martin, as it was shown last week. I trust you're recording the late-night repeat edition and not the 7.30 edit as they missed out your performance the week before. Here are snapshots of your 4 different performances of Dr Kiss Kiss: I notice Kevin and Mike didn't appear in the third performance (5th August 1976) The only other 5000 Volts appearance on TOTP was the Luan Peters performance from September 1975 which was repeated on UK Gold during the nineties, but, as you said, that was a different line-up: www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrSReUAB8rQHere are the photos used for the chart rundown (1975 and 1976): Martin Jay, ?, Luan Peters, Tony Ayers | Martin Jay, Martin Cohen, Linda Kelly, Kevin Wells, Mike Nelson Can anyone name the other member in the first photo?
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Post by martycee on Sept 9, 2011 23:03:15 GMT
Hi once again,
His name is Roger Odell. He was hired to play (mime) drums and make up the numbers for the TV shows but was never formally a 5000 Volts member. He was a colleague who used to play with us occasionally during our dance hall days.
Roger went on to be a permanent member of the band Shakatak who became very successful in the '80s.
Cheers,
Martin.
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Post by Simon B Kelly on Sept 11, 2011 22:34:29 GMT
Roger went on to be a permanent member of the band Shakatak who became very successful in the '80s. Thanks, Martin. I thought I recognized him from somewhere. He was the drummer who would always stand up for part of the performance when they were on TOTP. Pretty impossible to operate the hi-hat and bass drum pedals from a standing position, but I guess it doesn't matter when you're only miming: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfUS_R48LrA
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Post by Simon Taylor on Sept 15, 2011 18:51:39 GMT
Just a random moan/sound off. Been waiting to see that performance of Can's 'I Want More' on TOTP and tonight we've finally reached that episode. So for the 7.30pm edit they cut the Can studio performance yet they broadcast some naff old animated cartoon 'video' for the Chi-Lites. I mean, whats that about??? I know, I know, it'll be in the late night repeat but that doesn't make any sense to me. Anyway, rant over
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2011 20:46:26 GMT
I was a bit surprised about that as well, even more when they were showing both of Ruby Flippers performances (even three if you count "Aria"). Can really was the highlight of the original show (well I am from Germany so it's obvious I'd say that ;D).
They also left out the Stylistics' promo for "16 Bars" and edited Acker Bilk's "Aria" to about half of its original length.
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Post by Jeff Leach on Sept 15, 2011 23:44:31 GMT
Just watching the extended edition and I think so far it's been one of the most interesting so far - The Can tune that several people have mentioned was one of in my those songs that has been hovering in the back of my head for the last 30 odd years, the Manfred Mann track performance also excellent.
It's certainly causing me to re-assess the period.
I have noticed the great video quality, particularly in comparison with the 90's show - hope those don't degrade any further (or is it just that the clips they generally show are several gens from the master)
Long may the re-runs continue...
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Post by johnhall on Sept 19, 2011 20:39:44 GMT
I couldn't agree more I've been waiting for Can too as by the sound of it many other people on here and other sites - and as arguably one of the most influential groups to ever feature on the show how clueless can the people in charge of these re-runs be to cut them out and leave Robin Sarstedt in. I was actually dumbfounded by this it really beggars belief.
As you said it made the longer cut but this edition is the one that most people see and the one on Iplayer so I don't know what they're playing at.
Anyway having had that little rant I thought it was still probably the best of the re-runs so far.
PS surely the quality of some of the music week by week (and in the charts but not shown) compares favourably with any other time and gives the lie to the idea that 1975/1976 was a bad time for music. I'm still waiting for someone to write a decent book destroying that 'punk was necessary' myth once and for all. Nice little earner for someone there...
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Post by nicadare on Sept 19, 2011 21:22:30 GMT
There was good music around in 1975/1976, sadly the TOTP performances (particular 1976) were ruined by the awful live audio.
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