1965: "He was talking to Elvis yesterday" Jimmy drops in of Herman's Hermits like it's no big thing. Preferential meeting treatment has clearly annoyed the rest of the band as they've not only isolated Peter Noone but are getting people to push him further away from them and their little podiums. Savile's dancing style hadn't quite achieved full eccentricity yet.
1976: Jesse Green has a full cast of characters accompanying him, including a disco flautist and a drummer not touching his kit at all. "I love doors!" is DLT's less than promising opening gambit for Ruby Flipper's interpretation of Wings, an arrival and departure frenzy involving violent shaking, vigorous campness and Patti arse-waggling.
1982: A bit of retro class... is what Modern Romance were aiming at, but sailor hats, neckerchiefs and string vests are style reminiscent of no era. That doesn't look a very stable microphone. Speaking of wearers of hats commonly found around the shore, Nick Heyward has to wait around for a bit before Haircut 100 kick in. His guitar has grown a tail, look. Or stolen one off a raccoon. Rarely under-theatricised, Captain Sensible literally extends the stage's boundary while Dolly Mixture demonstrate the unique three-people-to-a-keyboard arrangement and the Disney corporation wait for their image rights income. From Wot! to What - they don't just throw these shows together. Soft Cell, and Marc should have left that jumper or whatever it is in the dressing room rather than have it uselessly tied around his waist. For all his occasional future 80s hits and strong image Thomas Dolby only ever made one studio visit but it's typically quixotic, stuck in a wind tunnel with only a small keyboard, a low grade computer, a couple of syn-drums and a smoke machine set too high to work with.
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