My apologies for a long absence. But here’s treat that’s dragged me out of my inactivity to share with you. Through the generosity of an anonymous donor, I have four 1981 live-on-stage performances from Legs & Co.
Here they dance to Led Zeppelin’s classic “Whole Lotta Love”. Seasoned seventies Top of the Pops viewers will perhaps be more familiar with the big-band version by CCS, used as the TOTP them tune for many years.
This is clearly a documentary recording of a live performance, not a video shot, so the production is lit for the audience, not the cameras. So we have to make some allowances for the frequent blackouts, and ocaisionl murky over saturation of the colour. I’d guess, given the slight shifts in lighting and ambience between different camera angles, that this is perhaps a combined edit from more than one performance. Though not optimal, it’s still a great privilege to be able to see this historic material, and I’m grateful to those who preserved and restored it.
But it’s a spirited performance nonetheless, particularly during the long free-form freakout section in the middle.
One thing that puzzled me at first were the holstered cannisters, one on each hip, that the girls are wearing. I guess they’re some kind of silly-string aerosol, as they seem to be using them to spray at the audience in tha last few seconds, but the lighting combined with the vintage Dr. Who style video feedback FX being overlaid makes it difficult to make out what’s going on.
Many thanks to my anonymous contributor for this fantastic find.
Please stay tuned for the next three parts, coming soon…
NB: The donor has asked me not to make download links available.
Please don’t distribute this clip elsewhere.
