Comments on: BROTHERHOOD OF MAN – “Figaro”

By: brian

brian — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 00:26:58 +0000

how can anyone not like figaro? It was a hard core classic.

By: Malice Cooper

Malice Cooper — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 13:39:16 +0000

To compare them to Abba is insulting. The only time they nearly managed it was on “lightning flash” which resembled a “Not the Nine O Clock News” parody of “super trooper”.
“Oh boy” and “Angelo” were great pop singles. This is just dreadful summertime pop that you would normally condemn as fit, only for holiday makers in Marbella.

By: Mark G

Mark G — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 15:52:47 +0000

yeah, can see that…

still..

By: DJ Punctum

DJ Punctum — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 15:47:27 +0000

I quite liked it at the time ‘cos it reminded me of the Archies.

By: Mark G

Mark G — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 15:40:32 +0000

“You chose me, and I chose you, we’re the chosen few”

With logic like that, …..

nah, one for the useless hit list.

By: DJ Punctum

DJ Punctum — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 14:35:01 +0000

“The Chosen Few” and “Love Patrol” in that order.

By: Mark G

Mark G — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 14:15:16 +0000

Wanted by The Dooleys

Funny, my memory had it they continued to have hits with this new formation, but one hit by the bloke again, one minor hit I can’t recall but suspect was a girlduo one, then it was all over…

By: Waldo

Waldo — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 11:19:15 +0000

# 47 wichita lineman – Marcello’s right. Not this one.

And another vote for “The Groove Line”.

By: DJ Punctum

DJ Punctum — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 12:15:49 +0000

Yes, “The Groove Line” is a work of art as far as I’m concerned, especially its long, elegant and oddly elegiac fadeout…curiously, I don’t think Rod Temperton ever had a UK number one single as a songwriter (though am certain he must have done) but plenty of time and opportunity for proper assessment of that later on…

By: Lena

Lena — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 11:38:39 +0000

I’m finding it hard to write about the one song on the charts at this time that I love so much that when it comes on the radio even now I yelp and run and turn it up!

In short, “The Groove Line” by Heatwave (didn’t even make the top 10, alas) is like a vast door opening. The cymbals; the Kraftwerk-like wuh-wuh-wuh noise that comes from God knows where (I can’t figure out what instrument it is, must be a synth but which one?); minimalistic guitar; bass that seems bigger and richer than it has any right to be. All this and harmonies and rhythms and an amiable groove and I cannot help but think one Mr. Jones heard this and he couldn’t resist wanting to dance…and after dancing make a very important phone call. I swear I can hear ABC and Human League in this song as well, though maybe that’s because they are equally irresistable for me…

By: DJ Punctum

DJ Punctum — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 08:00:22 +0000

#53: not to mention, a bit further down the chart, “What Do I Get?” and “Shot By Both Sides”…

By: Tom

Tom — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 17:31:17 +0000

That promised Luv' post in full

By: intothefireuk

intothefireuk — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 15:58:53 +0000

It’s February, it’s 1978, you are listening to the no.1 single – is it ‘Native New Yorker’, ‘Mr Blue Sky’, ‘Lovely Day’, ‘Jamming’, ‘Wishing On A Star’, ‘Love Is Like Oxygen’, ‘Loves Unkind’ or even ‘Stayin Alive’ ?? Eh ?? No it’s this, intro sounds like ‘it’s a knockout’, God awful mid fecking winter holiday hit. I fear there will never be an ABBA style re-appraisal for the BoM.

By: Billy Smart

Billy Smart — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 14:51:57 +0000

Best ever post-ABBA 2M 2F pop group: Propaganda!

By: Tom

Tom — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 13:44:36 +0000

re. #48 and modern ABBA-a-likes: aside from a five-piece who are under Bunny Embargo, there’s of course Sweden’s own A-Teens, who vastly improved on their inglorious covers act beginnings with some excellent pop singles (“Upside Down”) and I believe Scooch followed the 2M2F formula – a modern day Brotherhood of Man, except for coming last in Eurovision not first.

By: Tom

Tom — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 13:40:21 +0000

Typographers’ favourites Luv’ were definitely ABBA soundalikes though I don’t know if they followed the 2M2F formula. They cleaned up in some areas of the continent, acting kind of as the Coldplay to ABBA’s Radiohead, i.e. “they’ve gone all experimental so someone has to step in and play the early funny stuff”.

They were pretty good though – I may just do an MP3 post on them this afternoon.

By: DJ Punctum

DJ Punctum — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 13:17:34 +0000

#47: no, Waldo had another one in mind which we’ve yet to reach (and which similarly lowers the tone IMO but we’ll deal with that when we get there).

Re. Italians: my office please, 9 am tomorrow sharp.

By: Billy Smart

Billy Smart — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 21:43:47 +0000

Re: 46 the 2M 2F pop group appears to be a model that comes and disappears for a few years. The most glaring example of this phenomena occurring out of time that I remember was Deuce (“On The Loose!’), much heralded by Smash Hits in the spring of 1995. The kids weren’t convinced.

By: wichita lineman

wichita lineman — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 21:40:56 +0000

“I’m rather hoping now that when we get to 1978, we don’t have all this over again, along with ludicrous accusations of “racism” being levelled at people who are merely expressing an opinion with which others disagree” said Waldo in the Typically Tropical thread.

Was he referring to this grotesque Latin lothario? I’d like to think so. What next, stereotyping the Italians as overly defensive killjoys with all the entertainment value of Jack Charlton’s Middlesbrough?

By: wichita lineman

wichita lineman — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 19:51:22 +0000

It took them six whole months to come up with this ‘sequel’. Wild.

A pub conversation the other night was on whether a whole compilation could be made up of Abba-alikes from the late seventies. Angelo and Figaro obviously stake their lowly claims, then there’s the much better Wanted by The Dooleys (who, like BOM, switched from male lead to twin female lead with suspiciously ‘professional’ timing). I have a recollection of Dutch group Luv sneaking into this bag. Must be a bunch more acts across Europe doing something similar?

By: DJ Punctum

DJ Punctum — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 14:31:13 +0000

The constant (xpost) was Tony Hiller, who owned the Brotherhood of Man “brand name.”

By: mike

mike — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 14:24:37 +0000

And on the Cattini-watch front, it’s time to bid Our Clem farewell for the best part of five years, as his impressive 15-year run of placing at least Number One in the charts each year draws to a close…

By: Mark G

Mark G — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:24:32 +0000

I’d always assumed the “Brotherhood of Man” to be a dormant bandname that was reactivated for the Eurovision song comp.

But one read of Wiki has a consistent release schedule through the Deram singles all the way up through Pye and onto “kisses 4 me”…

By: wwolfe

wwolfe — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:18:59 +0000

It’s very strange to see Brotherhood of Man as a recurring chart topper here: they were a definitive one hit wonder in America, with “United We Stand.” I’d always thought they were a made-up band, a la Edison Lighthouse, but here I find them a veritable Pop Steamroller. (Well, not really, but still.)

Re: The Survey:

1. When were you born? 1959
2. What was the year you were first regularly interested in what was at #1? 1971. (I listened to casey Kaem’s “American Top 40″ every Sunday morning, even going so far as to keep track of how much each song had risen or fallen from the prior week.)
3. Do you still listen to music in the Top 40 on a regular basis (and if the answer’s “no”, when did you stop)? Yes, I do. The main difference from when I began in 1971 to now is the segregation by genre that exists now across the American commercial radio dial. Which is why I’m about to subscribe to satellite radio, where you can pick channels that mix everything together. Much more interesting and fun.

By: DJ Punctum

DJ Punctum — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 10:28:43 +0000

“Then I Changed Hands,” a former Fab 208 Powerplay.

I saw his album (also called Then I Changed Hands) on tape in a charity shop recently but alas the tape was too mangled to justify purchase.