BONEY M - “Rivers Of Babylon”
I didn’t know about genre in 1978 but that didn’t mean I couldn’t recognise it, and this fitted into a very particular and not wholly liked one: music you might sing in school assembly. I didn’t need to have read a single Psalm to know that somehow this fitted next to “When I Needed A Neighbour” and “Kum-By-Ya” and “The Ink Is Black” - i.e. “earnest singalong” not “fun singalong” like the soon-to-be-A-side “Brown Girl In The Ring” (which I did like).
And for all that I find this pretty enjoyable I’d still make that distinction, putting “Rivers” into the less fun side of Boney M, certainly compared to almost anything else on Nightflight To Venus - the space disco title track, the gonzo history of “Rasputin”, their finger-poppin’ covers of Roger Miller and Neil Young. “Rivers Of Babylon” slides down easily but lacks the immense entertainment value of the group at their best. From the intro in, though, there’s a sense of comfort and dignity to it carried over from its religious and reggae roots - it’s proof, at least, of Frank Farian’s apparent conviction that everything could be usefully discofied. Why be like Tony Manero and turn dancing into your religion, when actual religion could be as danceable as anything else?
(And this, incidentally, is why I was wrong about “Rivers” at the time and never did sing it that I can recall - its trace lyrical religiosity would have scared off my primary school pop pickers. Animals going in two by two - yeah, no problem, but all this Babylon and Zion stuff was best left well alone.) 5
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Erithian on August 11th, 2008
Thinking back to the all-time top 100 show they did on Channel 4 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the UK singles chart (as mentioned by Tom in the “Mississippi” thread). Of the top 100 best-selling singles of all time in the UK, the years with the most entries on the list are 1984 and 1997 with seven each - i.e the two biggest charity singles ever plus six others. 1984’s entries are placed at 2, 7, 13, 22, 26, 34 and 92 while 1997’s are at number 1, 15, 17, 28, 42, 60 and 85.
However, the 12-month period beginning with the arrival of “Rivers of Babylon” at number one eclipses them both. 8 of the next 14 number ones, indeed 7 of the next 11, made the all-time top 100 sellers. No bunny-baiting names, but they are placed 5, 6, 10, 21, 33, 50, 53 and 87. In other words, we’re entering one of the big three sales spikes in the history of the UK chart. And it’s the period of unrest and the Winter of Discontent as well. Wonder what the connection was, besides two major cultural phenomena (Boney M and Grease mania)?
mike on August 11th, 2008
One possible contributory factor: the twin forces of new wave and disco had revitalised the concept of the single, and so a lot of creative energy was being focussed on the singles market. From where I was sitting, the singles chart certainly started to feel more important again during 1978, in a way that it hadn’t since the death of glam in 1974. Radio One was also riding the crest of a wave, its confidence possibly boosted by its move to a stronger frequency (from 247 to 275/285).
Waldo on August 11th, 2008
The downside to the Radio One frequency change was the jingle that the jocks made to advertise it:
“Two seven five and two eight five,
Two seven five and two eight five,
We’re on a new…wave…band,
(We’re still the best in the land)
We’re on a new…wave…band…”
This was crap in the first place. Made worse, I feel, by DLT’s low-pitched growls. They should have hired Neil Sedaka again, a true Waldo hate figure.
DJ Punctum on August 11th, 2008
OK, let’s rise to the bait: what has poor innocent Neil Sedaka - whose seventies comeback owed much to his 1973 backing band being, essentially, 10cc - ever done to you Waldo?
I don’t remember those R1 jingles at all and it’s probably a good thing; the hazard of getting them all off the peg from whatever company in Texas (?) did them is still evident from time to time, particularly the recent Radio 2 one for two chaps named “Mork Redd-Klaff” and “Stoo-irt Micownay” which was quickly withdrawn after fervent protests from the two broadcasters in question.
mike on August 11th, 2008
Oh, but the “New Wave Band” (geddit?!) jingle was a special home-grown affair. I have a hunch that Peter Powell was its creative mastermind. It was even released as a single…
DJ Punctum on August 11th, 2008
I remember the “punk” jingle for top Tory poptimist Mike Read, viz. “Mike Read, Mike Read, 275 an’ 285″ which he was still playing in 1985…
Mark G on August 11th, 2008
Ha!
I have the complete long version of that!
“Hi, this is Chris Sievey of the Freshies, and you’re listening to Mike Read…”
(music continues, the instrumental version of “Megastore”, with the new lyric)
(Which then cuts to the acapella coda)
Needless to say, the last bit was looped and played twice only…
mike on August 11th, 2008
And who could forget Charlie Dore’s personalised “Pilot of the Airwaves” jingles? (“DJ Andy Peebles, here is my request…”)
DJ Punctum on August 11th, 2008
Radio 1 certainly couldn’t forget it, despite its lowly chart position.
Ah yes, DJ Me Andy Peebles, as in “hello, it’s me Andy Peebles, I often wonder how hard the unemployed really try to find work…”
Waldo on August 11th, 2008
#54 - NS is a syruppy, smug, girly, tosser and “Laughter In The Rain” is the product of the fucking Devil.
Are we clear?
Mark G on August 11th, 2008
Is Neil Sedaka the most gay hetero married bloke?
DJ Punctum on August 11th, 2008
No we’re not clear and that level of rudeness is inappropriate for this board.
Waldo on August 12th, 2008
# 62 - “No we’re not clear and that level of rudeness is inappropriate for this board”.
You ARE an odd fellow, Marcello. Full of surprises.
DJ Punctum on August 12th, 2008
“I’ll BREAK you, DJ Punctum!”
“Yeeeeeessss…” (in proto-Paxman voice)
Waldo on August 12th, 2008
Waldo (cowering): “Don’t…(snot-filled sob)… REPORT me…!”
DJP (too smug by half but obviously an idiot because he misses a great chance to escape): “I don’t intend to… You are going to report… YOURSELF!”
DJ Punctum on August 12th, 2008
Not the only chance he got to skedaddle either: why doesn’t he just go off in the helicopter with Andre van Wotsit at the end of “It’s Your Funeral” or quietly charter one while the mob’s chasing John Sharp at the end of “Change Of Mind”?
Waldo on August 12th, 2008
Absolutely right. Number Six was a fuckwit. He could indeed have scuttled off with Andre but perhaps a bitter and beaten Derren Nesbit would have blown the copter up. “A Change Of Mind”, though, could have had a most pleasant ending for our hero, simply making a bolt for it as the villagers steamed after “unmutual” John Sharpe and grabbing luscious dream-girl Angela on the way, hypnotised, we remember, to obey his every command. Instead he just hides in a bush. This boy’s a fool!
Mark G on August 12th, 2008
Bear in mind, number two is ‘only’ the ‘captain’. He is not actually in control. Security would stop him/them.
rosie on August 12th, 2008
#63: Oh, well bowled Waldo!
Waldo on August 12th, 2008
# 68 - Actually He WAS in control. True, there was a “supervisor” but as was demonstrated in “Hammer Into Anvil”, he and his staff were entirely answerable to Number Two and indeed fearful of him. The supervisor was actually relieved of his duties in this episode. It is unlikely that any of these underlings would have done anything without going through their boss first. Naturally this is just my own interpretation. With such a loopy (though brilliant) series there are more questions than answers. And the more I find out, the less I know. Yeah, the more I find out, the less I know.
Waldo on August 12th, 2008
# 69 - Steady, Rosie!
DJ Punctum on August 12th, 2008
Did you know about the Patrick Cargill Sings Father Dear Father album?
Waldo on August 12th, 2008
No.
“Did you know about it, Thorpe?”
DJ Punctum on August 12th, 2008
“Tell me more, tell me more.”
wichita lineman on August 12th, 2008
Re 60-61: When Sounds Of The Sixties was presented by former pop stars in the mid 80s, between the Keith Fordyce and Brian Matthew eras, the dj had to play two of their own hits. Neil Sedaka played four of his own hits because he liked them so very much. He introduced one with something along the lines of “When I wrote this, I knew at once it was an all-time classic, a standard to match the best works of Rodgers and Hart…”
The song was Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen, which doesn’t even match the worst works of Martin and Coulter.
Dave Berry, on the other hand, opened his Sounds Of The Sixties with White Light White Heat.
Waldo on August 12th, 2008
Marcello, Bun thinks that’s disharmonious. Go to the podium and confess. HE’LL tell you whay to say…
DJP: “He’s right of course…Quite right…I’m inadequate…INADEQUATE!…”
Continued in 1967.
Waldo on August 12th, 2008
# 75 - Indeed, yes, Lino. “Self-absorbed” could safely be added to my list of why I detest Sedaka:
“You’ve turned into the cheesiest twat I’ve ever see-en,
So far up yourself, you queen!”
DJ Punctum on August 12th, 2008
He turned you down, right?
Waldo on August 12th, 2008
Rumbled.
wichita lineman on August 12th, 2008
DJP, please remind us of Neil Sedaka’s TOTP appearance in the nineties. If I remember correctly - in the midst of the breakbeat-techno-pop era - wasn’t he introduced as a “very special guest”? In a horrid jumper, too? Or was I “on drugs”?
Billy Smart on August 12th, 2008
Neil Sedaka performed ‘Miracle Song’ on the Top Of The Pops transmitted on the 7th of November 1991. Also in the studio that week were; The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu, Crowded House, K Klass, Belinda Carlisle and Control. The hosts were Mark Franklin and Elayne Smith (Who? This was the heyday of anonymous presenters)
I can remember thinking that The JAMMS were one of the greatest things I’d ever seen on television that night. But more of them anon…
DJ Punctum on August 12th, 2008
Yeah, the TOTP performance of “It’s Grim Up North” was extraordinary. That and “Rhythm Is A Mystery” are two of my favourite singles of their decade, if not of all time.
SteveM on August 12th, 2008
Trying to remember if I ever saw IGUN performed in the studio or not. All I’m getting is the Jerusalem moment during the 40-11 rundown or whatever they filled a video clip with at that point. No memory of Franklin and Smith either.
Mark G on August 12th, 2008
Yeah, Bill Drummond doing the ‘recitation’ live!
The demo version had Pete Wylie doing it, and is worth tracking down.
mike on August 12th, 2008
I remember both the JAMMS and the Sedaka performances, but also have no memory of Mark Franklin and Elayne Smith!
Boney M’s TOTP performances were normally a campy old hoot, but they were comparatively sedate and dignified for “Rivers”. Or at least as dignified as you can reasonably be with half an ostrich stuck on top of your head…
Mark G on August 12th, 2008
On one of those “TV’s most thingy moments” shows, they spoke about TOTP’s “Daddy Cool” moment, as they used live vocals without realising Bobby Farrel was not actually a singer, and indeed did his part bellowing like a wounded buffalo. Aparently it was a “playground moment” as us kids all talked about it.
Actually, we were all laffing about his ‘orang-utang’ mad dancing, and didn’t notice his singing at the time.
FT's Pete Baran on August 12th, 2008
The JAMMS doing its Grim Up North on TOTP (lowish quality but you get the idea).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvDQxdv-wuE
Boney M Daddy Cool: where Bobby’s vocals are indeed a bit odd!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJ7m5vmrx10&feature=related
Billy Smart on August 12th, 2008
That performance of Daddy Cool comes from the TOTP transmitted on the 6th of January 1977. Also in the studio that week were; Sheer Elegance, Tina Charles, Smokie, Gladys Knight & The Pips, Clodagh Rogers (!) and Johnny Mathis. The host was David Jensen.
I’ve no idea what Clodagh was doing there, as she hadn’t had a hit since 1971. Still, I’m sure that her surprise appearance - performing ‘Save Me’- must have been welcomed by certain teenage Popular commentators.
Mark G on August 12th, 2008
Well, she was there because “Save Me” was indeed a hit by then.
Although Everyhit doesn’t seem to have it! Which seems wrong.
DJ Punctum on August 13th, 2008
No, it definitely wasn’t a hit.
mike on August 13th, 2008
It seems that Boney M were last spotted helping the president of Georgia adopt “a disco approach to conflict resolution”…
wichita lineman on August 13th, 2008
Clodagh’s Save Me sounds brilliant in my head, husky Anglo disco. The chorus has been embedded in my brain, every word, for 30 years and I never owned it - does that mean it’s ripe for a makeover? Kylie, maybe?
I’d have guessed it landed between 40 and 50 but don’t have a Guinness book to hand, so I bow to DJP’s finality.
Mark G on August 13th, 2008
Well, I just hauled up my Guinness book, and you’d be right to! Truly amazed, no chart position at all.
mike on August 13th, 2008
Mark G just beat me to it! Wikipedia says it got loads of airplay despite flopping, but I have no memory of it (and am now quite curious).
DJ Punctum on August 14th, 2008
I remember the record very well indeed. Much played on R2 and 208 (and Radio Clyde 261) but it didn’t chart.
DV on August 24th, 2008
this was popular at folk Mass back when I were small.
intothefireuk on September 5th, 2008
There was something not quite right about poor old Bobby. Dancing like a maniac (very badly) and so often missing his singing (miming) cues on totp. I couldn’t take Boney M seriously - Daddy Cool was ok, as was Rasputin and Nightflight To Venus (the title track) - but the rest were pretty dire - neither of these sides warranted the sale of the single so those that bought it twice ? The stupidity of the GBP beggars belief sometimes.