Truly one of the most immaculate TOTP appearances
No wonder Mark Fisher, aged 14, was halted in his bones, chilled in his marrow *
Appearances like these are one of the reasons why the late 80s UK Hit Parade felt so disappointing - such a fall from Associates, Japan, et al
The whole episode is a good one
Imagination - their best song maybe, although the video is corny
The Gary Numan track funnily enough is from when he starts copying Japan - the fretless Karn-atic bass. A decent effort although nothing tops the Replicas / Pleasure Principle era material.
Visage's equal-first best tune (alongside "Fade To Grey") "The Damned Don't Cry" (is the video inspired by the Visconti movie?). Although a clothes horses, Steve Strange's voice is pretty good at the ashen Bowie-Low thing.
Even the one from Classic Nouveau - godawful group, I thought at the time - is quite diverting. Those strange drums.
Tight Fit is good honest British tack.
The only real slop is the Leo Sayer tune.
And then the incongruity of Derek and the Dominoes's "Layla" getting a dance routine from one of Zoo, a flashback to a completely different rock zeitgeist.
A funny moment in the early '80s where singles of classic rock were reissued for reasons unknown and became hits - Black Sabbath "Paranoid", Lynyrd Skynyrd "Freebird"
But Japan cut through it all with the astonishing stillness and gravity of Sylvian's performance
* my response to Mark's paean to Japan / The Tin Drum / "Ghosts" is in some ways the seed, or a seed, of Shock and Awe
