Top of the Pops Day-before-Christmas-Eve Special, 23 December 1975: Pan’s People dance to Barbados by Typically Tropical.
Pan’s People in a typical wintery landscape, complete with snowman and TV studio fake snow, shivering in their big fur coats as they try to keep warm. But how will they represent the tropical beaches, sunshine and heat that the song portrays so vividly? What surprising technique will they use to represent the hot summer sun of Barbados?
TOTP November 13 1975: Pan’s People dance to Rod Stewart’s This Ole Heart of Mine.
From the old blog, Tuesday, 25 December 2012:
Happy Christmas everybody. Here’s another new-to-this-site clip from that “BBC Demonstration tape”: Pan’s People on Top of the Pops dancing to Rod Stewart’s hit version of the Isley Brother’s This Ole Heart of Mine. No words of mine can do justice to the fabulous seventies-ishness of these outfits, so I won’t even try. Feast your eyes!
I was getting round to finding the original TOTP transmission date, but Vintagevideos beat me to it: November 13 1975 (many thanks).
Thanks are due once again to the late Grant Watkins, who compiled the original tape, which was a mixture of music and comedy clips, hence the brief insert of Robert Robinson behaving rather unusually. And thanks again to the anonymous donor.
4 comments:
Alex said…
Have had hardly the time to get over the shock of yesterday’s find, to now have this gem resurface. An extra bonus Christmas present. Thanks.
25 December 2012 09:37
VintageVideos said…
Wow! What a year this has been, and what a spectacular way to let it end. Two rare Pan’s People finds in a row!
This must be from TOTP 13/11/1975, one of the otherwise “dark” TOTP periods. Those dresses are of course well-known to Pan’s People fans, watch them play “Streaker” here:http://www.panspeople.com/?q=node/528
But until now, I didn’t know there was also a routine to it!
Thanks to the donor and thanks to you YMG for posting this.
25 December 2012 11:00PattiforPM said…
Wow this is stunning. YMG, two new Pans routines in two days, what about this old heart of MINE! Lovely to see the Dance which goes with these outfits after all this time. Thankyou so much generous donor (how about that handle and a Santa avatar on the blog sir?)
25 December 2012 13:47
Andee Bee said…
my upping to the channel has gone overtime, fantastic stuff….
TOTP 16 October 1975: Rehearsal footage of Pan’s People dancing to Elton John’s Island Girl.
Dubbed Sound version:
Original rehearsal footage:
From the old blog, Friday, 12 August 2011:
Katy miss queenie requested this routine a while ago: I didn’t have it, but beautifulbabs pointed me to this YouTube video, which I think was uploaded by our good friends over at panspeople.com. It’s a recording of a TOTP rehearsal (PP appear around the 3:57 mark), and while it’s fascinating stuff, the performance itself is hampered by audio from the studio gallery drowning out ole’ Reg Dwight.
So at katy miss queenie’s suggestion, I’ve dubbed audio from the original record, to get a better idea of the performance. That’s meant a further slight degradation of video quality, which wasn’t to great to start with, but it seems like the best we can get. Unless of course, someone out there has a better quality version.
comments:
PattiforPM said…
Excellent work YMG. I thought only HLPR could do this kind of clever stuff around here. Can’t believe the actual performance was any better except for the colours.
12 August 2011 22:18
Suefan said…
Yes well done YMG, much better without the PA chatter. Always the gent P4pm but it looks a little rough around the edges to me. Some of those girls at the back of the class aren’t paying proper attention and mistress Flick will be on their case if they are not careful!
12 August 2011 22:29
mojo2007 said…
Could we also have the original sounds, so I can try out what the various instruction mean. thank you
16 August 2011 21:58
Top of the Pops, April 1st 1976: Pan’s People dance to Hank Mizell’s Jungle Rock.
One of the rare few songs that both Pan’s People and Legs & Co. have danced to, this performance is much more substantial than Legs & Co’s loose festive reprise in the Christmas episode later that year. Some neat choreography here, and the on-safari victorian explorer outfits are pretty cute. Some nice dancing from the animals too.
Top of the Pops, 25 march 1976: Pan’s People dance to The Beatles’ Yesterday.
From the old blog, Friday, 26 August 2011:
Yet another generous contribution from PattiforPM: here are Pan’s People dancing to the Fab Four’s Yesterday, part of the great Beatles reissued-singles chart onslaught of 1976.
Comments:
Some Guy said…
Thanks P4PM, another late PP treat, dont remember this dance first time round. Like the imaginative choreography with the large circular steps and love Cherrys dead pan stare at 1.17 also. All super stuff.
27 August 2011 08:39Suefan said…
Like Ryan I like the choreography; the costumes, now that’s another matter.
27 August 2011 15:14PattiforPM said…
I too love Cherry’s commanding performance here. The costumes are a little strange, perhaps biblical grass skirts but I’m not sure. Where’s Ms Emmapeelpants our resident fashionista when we need her?
29 August 2011 01:57
Top Of The Pops 26 February 1976:
Pan’s People dance to ‘Funky Weekend’ The Stylistics
Thanks to SuPaLu for the youtube post.
Top of the Pops, 12 February 1976: Pan’s People dance to Rodrigo’s Guitar Concerto De Aranjuez (Theme From 2nd Movement) by Manuel & the Music of the Mountains.
Let’s listen in on the TOTP production meeting for that week… in my imagination:
BBC Bloke 1: Okay, ELO, Guys & Dolls, Slik… we’ve got all the bands booked: what about the Pan’s People Number?
BBC Bloke 2: Well “Low Rider” by War is up to Number 15: that’s a great, funky danceable number: the Osibisa song “Sunshine Day” has a good groove.
BBC Bloke 3: And Slade’s “Let’s Call it Quits” is a new entry: Pan’s People always do well with a bit of raunchy Rock’n’Roll…
BBC Bloke 1: Yes, they all sound great. But wait a minute: isn’t this the week Lesley Judd is joining them for a feature? We can’t do anything too suggestive if it’s going out on Blue Peter too.
BBC Bloke 2: Damn! I forgot about that: Okay, what about the boring classical guitar thing? It’s dead unsexy. We can put them in smocky ethnic outfits with big dresses.
BBC Bloke 1: Okay, that’ll do nicely.
From the old blog, Friday, 19 August 2011
Here’s Blue Peter’s Lesley Judd making a special guest appearance with Pan’s People, for a Blue Peter feature, dancing to Rodrigo’s Guitar Concerto by Manuel & His Music of the Moutains. Another gift from PattiforPM: many thanks.
Comments:
carl said…
another fantastic upload. cheers
19 August 2011 20:53Some Guy said…
…the wonderful Sue…
20 August 2011 06:37Suefan said…
And such a sexy senorita too – too much vino El YMG! Another great dance routine from Flick and the girls. Great stuff.
20 August 2011 08:44mojo2007 said…
a real rare one. lovely.
20 August 2011 21:15PattiforPM said…
I love this one too. Smooth action and would have looked good on location at Machu Picchu.
23 August 2011 14:33
Top of the Pops, 22 January 1976:
Pan’s People dancing to Paul Davidson’ Midnight Rider.
Pan’s People wearing spangly midriff-baring showgirl/cowgirl outfits, dancing to Paul Davidson’s reggae cover version of the Allman Brothers’ Midnight Rider.
I’m sure I have to thank someone generous for sending me this rare gem of a clip: unfortunately I can’t remember who. Please get in touch, and I’ll give you a credit.
Top of the Pops, 8 January 1976:
Pan’s People dance to Itchycoo Park by The Small Faces.
Late period Pan’s People relive the sixties dancing to a Small Faces classic, around a giant mushroom, wearing groovy crocheted shawls. Topped and tailed with Noel Edmonds demonstrating that he truly was the TOTP Bad Pun Champion.
Thanks top Andeebee for the YouTube post (and to Vintage Video who supplied him with the clip).
Top of the Pops, 1 January 1976: Pan’s People dance to Mike Oldfield’s In Dulce Jubilo
A suitably folksy routine, since this Mike Oldfield number is a traditional folk tune electrified. Plenty of gusto.
Lots of forum regulars have help this site out, with contributions of rare video, cash, and their erudite knowledge.
So many thanks to my generous benefactors:
...amongst others.
And a particular thank you must go to Ryan, who has single-handedly kept the forum alive, building a community of enthusiasts and supporting this site.
Video for the Top 20 Pan's People Routines Forum Choice was broken: now it's fixed.
My old One for the Dads blog was shut down by the Kopyright Kops. So here's a new one. Still showing performances from Legs & Co., Pan's People and Ruby Flipper, amongst others. But no more downloads. Sorry.
A TOTP rarity.
