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Post by Portland Road on Nov 5, 2022 5:19:45 GMT
Thank you to jno for alerting me to the above documentary movie about Colin Hay. It details his early life, moving with his family from west Scotland to Australia, forming Men At Work, their (all too brief) period of global success, and then Colin's life thereafter, where he has a low-key, but happy career in just being himself. I do think that Men At Work did not gain the lasting success they deserved. Emerging in 1980-81, they were contemporaries of e.g. U2, Simple Minds, Depeche Mode and UB40 and were justified in having similar chart longevity. Maybe in being Australian it went against them, in the sense that non-UK/US music was seen as less-important at that time? Also, the first album from 1981 finally gained global recognition at the time the second album was being released, hence there was (to quote the song title) an 'Overkill', and this was followed by the general move-away from guitar-based chart hits. So by 1985, Men At Work were old-hat . To be fair, most acts whose music was New Wave-derived were in the same boat by then, with mainly those embracing goth as a sound and fashion movement still having some success (The Cure, Siouxsie, The Damned etc).
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Post by Portland Road on Oct 21, 2022 22:03:03 GMT
In his early days he often appeared with the 'Comic Strip' actors in their various projects, though he was to that genre what David Bowie was to 'glam rock' - a part of it, but much, much more as well.
R.I.P. Robbie Coltrane.
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Post by Portland Road on Oct 13, 2022 20:57:25 GMT
The classic Thames ident had a lifespan of around twenty years I believe, which was longer than its comparators like ATV and LWT.
It is so engrained as part of the classic TV era that subsequent idents, whether Thames or Carlton do not resonate.
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Post by Portland Road on Oct 6, 2022 5:55:28 GMT
Odd that ITV4 repeats to this start with the old Thames fanfare and ident. This had been retired a good three years earlier. Did it always have the Thames ident & fanfare on this episode - was it there as part of the 'nostalgia feel'?
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Post by Portland Road on Oct 1, 2022 5:13:30 GMT
'Gangsta's Paradise' was certainly one of the hits of its period, giving the Blur-Oasis axis a run for its money.
Sampling/remakes didn't always work, but this was an inventive re-working of a good Stevie Wonder song.
R.I.P. Coolio.
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Post by Portland Road on Oct 1, 2022 5:08:31 GMT
That's an interesting version jno, a bit less commercial pop than the hit single version, and in a reggae-style similar to The Police in the early-80s.
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Post by Portland Road on Sept 17, 2022 3:43:59 GMT
The AWP actors generally weren't known prior to AWP - Sweeney/Pros/Minder was slightly earlier than them.
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Post by Portland Road on Sept 9, 2022 5:33:36 GMT
A great monarch and a nice lady.
R.I.P. Your Majesty.
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Post by Portland Road on Sept 9, 2022 5:30:59 GMT
Yes, I am similarly indecisive about 'Be Good Johnny' and 'Overkill'.
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Post by Portland Road on Aug 22, 2022 7:48:55 GMT
I was under the impression he was the brother of Lee Montague, but this appears not to be the case.
'Butterflies' was a rather good sitcom, without being spectacular, and Bruce was one of a great cast.
R.I.P. Bruce Montague.
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Post by Portland Road on Aug 18, 2022 8:18:21 GMT
She outlived Sid for so long.
R.I.P. Valerie James.
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Post by Portland Road on Aug 10, 2022 6:30:07 GMT
Olivia had several strands to her career, appealing to UK, Australian and north American fans who each could call her their own.
One of my favourite songs of hers is 'A Little More Love', which seemed a very contemporary pop-rock song for its period (late-70s), amidst the 'Grease' songs which were everywhere.
R.I.P. Olivia.
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Post by Portland Road on Aug 4, 2022 22:55:46 GMT
It is surprising he didn't turn up in 'Minder', especially in the mid-80s when such as Graham Stark and Lionel Jeffries appeared.
I can also imagine him being in 'The Sweeney', given that e.g. Alfred Marks, Roy Kinnear and Bill Maynard had prominent guest roles.
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Post by Portland Road on Jul 30, 2022 6:42:48 GMT
I am very sad to hear of the passing of Bernard, which has, quite rightly, received much attention and all of it favourable to him.
Like e.g. Ronnie Barker, David Jason, Roy Kinnear, Harry H. Corbett or Derek Fowlds, he could play southerners or northerners convincingly, whether comic or straight. Indeed, I was vaguely under the impression he was a Londoner, but he was born in Oldham, Lancashire.
And while we perhaps remember him most for innocent comedy and childrens TV, he could play straight parts in a no-nonsense style, e.g. in the Hitchcock movie 'Frenzy' (1972).
He was often in the early 60s Rogers-Thomas comedies, without becoming an ongoing Carry On team member - this may have been a wise move, as it prevented type-casting.
Indeed, one thing that seems to have worked to Bernard's advantage through present-day eyes, is that he is not closely associated with sitcoms or films considered 'sexist' or 'racist'. E.g. when Una Stubbs died, the successive Alf Garnett sitcoms were whitewashed from her obituaries, even though her role in them was a central part of her career.
Bernard was rarely the star himself, though when he appeared as a guest in productions, stars with much greater magnitude were apparently in awe of him.
One series where he was the lead character was 'Cuffy' (1983), an early Central TV production which was a spin-off from 'Shillingbury Tales' (1981) one of the last ITC series.
R.I.P. Bernard Cribbins, a sad loss indeed, and I think a tribute TV programme would be justified.
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Post by Portland Road on Jul 14, 2022 4:42:43 GMT
I hadn't heard about this, he was a great presenter, and 'Nationwide' was a great programme, at its peak in the Michael Barratt period with the great theme tune & titles. R.I.P. Michael Barratt.
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Post by Portland Road on Jun 29, 2022 6:04:20 GMT
Hard to decide Sammy was doing some good contemporary music late-60s - early-70s . It sounds prime-time TV. Don's version sounds like its from a David Lynch movie.
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Post by Portland Road on Jun 17, 2022 6:00:01 GMT
Julee was quite recently seen on the Top of the Pops re-runs. I am sorry to hear of her death, and didn't think she would be as old as 65.
R.I.P. Julee Cruise.
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Post by Portland Road on May 19, 2022 22:13:05 GMT
Aphrodite's Child are under-rated in the wider scheme of things, their success being eclipsed by the later work of Demis and Vangelis.
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Post by Portland Road on May 19, 2022 21:38:32 GMT
In the earliest part of his career, Vangelis Papathanassiou was in the prog rock band Aphrodite's Child with Demis Roussos.
They did epic tracks like 'Rain and Tears' (a UK hit single in 1968) and 'The Four Horsemen' (1970). Like many of the greatest prog bands (e.g. Traffic, Family) they went their seperate ways as innocent creativity gave way to focused corporatism around 1972.
Demis of course became a housewives favourite by adopting an MOR style for his solo career, Vangelis was more experimental and continued a prog focus by working with Jon Anderson of Yes.
I am sorry to hear of his death.
R.I.P. Vangelis.
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Post by Portland Road on May 9, 2022 5:30:46 GMT
At work yesterday afternoon, Dennis's name appeared on a phone notification. I could sort of sense why this would be so. When you think about it, Dennis was one of the biggest stars in the period when TV was most watched (c. mid 70s - mid 80s). 'The Sweeney' and 'Minder' are prime reasons why people are together on this forum. He was of course known prior in films, and continued to be a TV star after his role in 'Minder' ended, which was in the same year that satellite broadcasting began to make inroads into the BBC & ITV dominance. He appeared in two major sitcoms and varied works until, after the Millenium, he began the long-running role in 'New Tricks'. This was alongside career contemporaries James Bolam and Alun Armstrong, and the series often had lead guest parts played by fellow senior actors. Dennis, 74 is way too young R.I.P. Dennis Waterman.
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Post by Portland Road on Apr 15, 2022 6:31:46 GMT
I believe after his initial 'teen idol' period was over, he decided to leave the music business.
RIP Bobby Rydell.
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Post by Portland Road on Mar 23, 2022 21:59:35 GMT
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Post by Portland Road on Mar 17, 2022 14:30:44 GMT
Yes a great actor who was always himself whether in a serious or comic part.
R.I.P. Peter Bowles.
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Post by Portland Road on Mar 17, 2022 14:27:23 GMT
Sorry to hear this - Ron came across as an ordinary bloke and was one of the understated cult actors.
R.I.P. Ron Pember.
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Post by Portland Road on Mar 9, 2022 8:04:52 GMT
R.I.P. Lynda Baron.
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Post by Portland Road on Mar 9, 2022 8:04:10 GMT
A character indeed. And only the same age as me.
R.I.P. Shane Warne.
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Post by Portland Road on Mar 9, 2022 8:01:53 GMT
Yes, I recall Veronica in ITC episodes as well, around the time of her Hammer Films appearances.
R.I.P. Veronica Carlson.
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Post by Portland Road on Mar 2, 2022 7:23:19 GMT
RIP Anna Karen.
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Post by Portland Road on Mar 2, 2022 7:18:31 GMT
Yes it was one of the most memorable episodes.
RIP Mitzi Davies.
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Post by Portland Road on Feb 23, 2022 8:12:14 GMT
Procol Harum moved from baroque pop to progressive rock as the 60s turned into the 70s, which was the normal career progression.
They did many other good tracks over a decade or so, though most singles subsequent to 'A Whiter Shade Of Pale' charted in low positions or not at all.
They had a surprise return to the UK top 20 in 1975 with 'Pandora's Box', which like AWSOP was composed by Gary and lyricist Keith Reid.
R.I.P. Gary Brooker.
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