The evil of the unions: remember those absurd mimes on TOTP?

From the biography of Johnny Pearson

In 1966 the all-powerful Musicians’ Union had banned pop stars from
miming to their records. This meant that artists either had to
pre-record their numbers especially or perform live with the Top Of The
Pops Orchestra, an assembly of jobbing musicians more accustomed to
easy-listening arrangements for crooners like Matt Monro and Des O’Connor.

As disorganised pop stars often arrived at the studio on the day with no
band parts at all, Pearson and the orchestra frequently had to improvise
backing tracks. Inevitably the session men, almost all middle-aged,
often struggled with the enormous range of rock and pop tunes with which
they were presented. A gentle ballad by Val Doonican was one thing; a
funky disco track by Tina Charles quite another.

Even a middle-of-the-road artist like Cliff Richard had his doubts about
the band’s inner grooviness, and ability to “get it on”. “They had no
feel for the tracks,” he complained. “You could tell they didn’t even
like rock and roll.”

Another problem for Pearson was that, on the conductor’s rostrum, he had
to contend with the extensive and rigidly-enforced provisions of the
union’s rule book. In rehearsal, if a tea break was due, the orchestra
would break off in the middle of a song and walk out, leaving American
funk and soul superstars scratching their heads.

****

I was employed for 35 weeks. That was it. I was made to join a union. I
was so glad when I became self-employed and thus represented myself,
instead of having some useless union gob****e to pretend to do it.

Bill

Yes, well it all seems so quaint now. However ther is still a bit of a
tyrany in the actors union lovvy.

Brian

--
Brian Gaff....Note, this account does not accept Bcc: email.
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email:
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________


"Bill Wright" wrote in message
...
From the biography of Johnny Pearson

In 1966 the all-powerful Musicians’ Union had banned pop stars from miming
to their records. This meant that artists either had to pre-record their
numbers especially or perform live with the Top Of The Pops Orchestra, an
assembly of jobbing musicians more accustomed to easy-listening
arrangements for crooners like Matt Monro and Des O’Connor.

As disorganised pop stars often arrived at the studio on the day with no
band parts at all, Pearson and the orchestra frequently had to improvise
backing tracks. Inevitably the session men, almost all middle-aged, often
struggled with the enormous range of rock and pop tunes with which they
were presented. A gentle ballad by Val Doonican was one thing; a funky
disco track by Tina Charles quite another.

Even a middle-of-the-road artist like Cliff Richard had his doubts about
the band’s inner grooviness, and ability to “get it on”. “They had no feel
for the tracks,” he complained. “You could tell they didn’t even like rock
and roll.”

Another problem for Pearson was that, on the conductor’s rostrum, he had
to contend with the extensive and rigidly-enforced provisions of the union’s
rule book. In rehearsal, if a tea break was due, the orchestra would break
off in the middle of a song and walk out, leaving American funk and soul
superstars scratching their heads.

****

I was employed for 35 weeks. That was it. I was made to join a union. I
was so glad when I became self-employed and thus represented myself,
instead of having some useless union gob****e to pretend to do it.

Bill

On 28/02/2013 04:09, Bill Wright wrote:
From the biography of Johnny Pearson

In 1966 the all-powerful Musicians’ Union had banned pop stars from
miming to their records. This meant that artists either had to
pre-record their numbers especially or perform live with the Top Of The
Pops Orchestra, an assembly of jobbing musicians more accustomed to
easy-listening arrangements for crooners like Matt Monro and Des O’Connor.



if you watch the top of the pops repeats on bbc 4 at the moment from
1978 it's still going on - althea and donna had a real ordeal singing
'uptown top ranking' while the totp orchestra tried to sound like a
reggae band, brotherhood of man didn't fare much better.


--
Gareth.
That fly.... Is your magic wand.

Of course miming is now called lip syncing. I know they had a lot of
problems with acoustics at the superbowl recently resulting in having to let
some artists mime, erm I mean, well you know. Not that it matters to me but
I'd be a bit miffed if I went there to see a star and they sang nowt.
I was indeed a bit put out when dragged along by my mother to the Black and
White minstral show to find that except for the soloists, the rest was from
tape and mimed.

Brian

--
Brian Gaff....Note, this account does not accept Bcc: email.
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email:
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________


"the dog from that film you saw" wrote in
message ...
On 28/02/2013 04:09, Bill Wright wrote:
From the biography of Johnny Pearson

In 1966 the all-powerful Musicians’ Union had banned pop stars from
miming to their records. This meant that artists either had to
pre-record their numbers especially or perform live with the Top Of The
Pops Orchestra, an assembly of jobbing musicians more accustomed to
easy-listening arrangements for crooners like Matt Monro and Des O’Connor.



if you watch the top of the pops repeats on bbc 4 at the moment from 1978
it's still going on - althea and donna had a real ordeal singing 'uptown
top ranking' while the totp orchestra tried to sound like a reggae band,
brotherhood of man didn't fare much better.


--
Gareth.
That fly.... Is your magic wand.

In article ,
Bill Wright wrote:
I was employed for 35 weeks. That was it. I was made to join a union. I
was so glad when I became self-employed and thus represented myself,
instead of having some useless union gob****e to pretend to do it.

"can't work as part of a team"

--
*Time is fun when you're having flies... Kermit

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
Brian Gaff wrote:
Of course miming is now called lip syncing. I know they had a lot of
problems with acoustics at the superbowl recently resulting in having to
let some artists mime, erm I mean, well you know. Not that it matters to
me but I'd be a bit miffed if I went there to see a star and they sang
nowt. I was indeed a bit put out when dragged along by my mother to the
Black and White minstral show to find that except for the soloists, the
rest was from tape and mimed.

It sort of depends what you want from TV. Pop radio with pictures - or an
impression of what the talent would be like at a live gig.
Of course with the various boy bands etc it doesn't much matter with their
following being rather more interested in seeing than hearing them perform.

--
*Friends help you move. Real friends help you move bodies.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Bill Wright wrote:
I was employed for 35 weeks. That was it. I was made to join a union. I
was so glad when I became self-employed and thus represented myself,
instead of having some useless union gob****e to pretend to do it.

"can't work as part of a team"

Yes. I'm a leader; you're a follower.

Bill

In article ,
Bill Wright wrote:
Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Bill Wright wrote:
I was employed for 35 weeks. That was it. I was made to join a union. I
was so glad when I became self-employed and thus represented myself,
instead of having some useless union gob****e to pretend to do it.

"can't work as part of a team"

Yes. I'm a leader; you're a follower.

Does anyone ever need to follow your white van?

--
*Why is a boxing ring square?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

Yes. I'm a leader; you're a follower.

Does anyone ever need to follow your white van?

Yes, usually other white vans driven by younger and more tempestuous men
than myself. I confuse other road users utterly by driving my white van
like a limousine.

Bill

On 2013-02-28, Martin wrote:
On Thu, 28 Feb 2013 13:48:50 +0000, Bill Wright
wrote:

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Bill Wright wrote:
I was employed for 35 weeks. That was it. I was made to join a union. I
was so glad when I became self-employed and thus represented myself,
instead of having some useless union gob****e to pretend to do it.

"can't work as part of a team"

Yes. I'm a leader; you're a follower.

Your a loner.

Your grammar is terrible.

--
David Taylor