Watching Telly in 1981

Here is the lastest chapter in my autobiographical-memoirs blog. To read the full story click above left on Autobiography.

Watching TV in 1981.
Scrolling around youtube the other day (writing in 2025) I came across a video from over half a century ago, which sort of featured me, but also didn’t. This brought back to me a rather sad and slightly silly story from my early years in London.
It was in 1980 that the keyboards player from my old college band got in touch to say the pop group he was now rehearsing with were making a record, and asking me to be part of the “horn section”, I was to play alto sax in a section of three , alongside trumpet and trombone, and was also asked to play a soprano sax solo on one song.
The money was quite good, the studio was serious, and the job went off quite well. I never quite worked out if they were self-financing or if they had some record company backing, but some months later they had an LP on Beggars Banquet Records and a single in the charts that was doing quite well.
There was also talk of touring, so I was sort of expecting a call to do some gigs since the only “soloist” from the horn section had been me. The call never came, and when I phoned my old college chum to ask about this, he seemed a bit embarrassed just saying “we thought you wouldn’t have been interested.” Of course, I had no right to expect anything- I had done a job and been paid for it. But at that point in my career, when I was just starting to get a few studio sessions, being on tour with a group that had a single in the charts would have been healthy boost to what we would now call my “profile,” It seems they had got in another guy, probably a friend of one of the band, to do the tour, and maybe even to become a fixed member of the band.
So, I was a but pissed off, but never mind.
The LP was selling quite well, although it was often being offered at a discount, and it became clear that Beggars Banquet were using it as what was called a “loss leader” (an item offered for sale at a reduced price that is intended to “lead” to the subsequent sale of other services or items. Thankyou Wikipedia.)
Still, they were everywhere, and a second single was soon released – And it was going to be the song with my soprano sax solo!
Although I was quite proud of the solo when I left it in the studio, (I have some discomfort listening to it now), when I finally heard it on the LP I was very disappointed. They had simply left off any hint of reverb. Dry as a bone! When I asked my keyboard playing friend what had happened, he said “ Well you know, it’s all down to the sound technician; some can get a good reverb and some can’t” I don’t think I’ve ever heard such a load of bollocks! This was, in a way, proof that the album had been self-produced, possibly cutting some corners.
My first big solo on a pop song was totally without effects.
So it was, that one evening I was sitting in my rented home In Highgate, London N6 ,watching Top Of The Pops, and, they came on doing the song, and there was this idiot miming my solo!
This was 1981, and there were very different attitudes to playback compared with today. Top of The Pops had an interesting set-up that had been negotiated between BBC and The MU (Musicians’ Union). There were strict rules saying you couldn’t just go on TV and mime your record. So, what happened was the group would go in to the BBC studios and “record” a version of the tune, which they would then mime to that evening on the programme. What they actually did was go into the studio with the master tapes from the record , do a very slight, almost undetectable remix, while everyone sat around, and then everyone pretended this was a new studio version.
But, in this case, my solo, which was , I think we can say, a feature of the piece, was being mimed by someone who didn’t do it. This was not just an anonymous horn section playing some riffs, this was my personal contribution as an “artist” . So I was very pissed off.
Still sitting in front of the television I called up my local Musician’s Union rep. He was a rather pleasant but oldish sort of guy, who just said something like “ Ahh, yes all sorts of things can happen these days, you know. What a funny World!” This didn’t satisfy me, so I called the Union man above him – a sort of regional officer, and he was immediately interested. My art had been appropriated improperly, and this was against the rules. He said he would get onto it.
A few days passed by, and the news was that the band were on tour somewhere in England, and when the union had asked them they had insisted that the sax solo on Top of The Pops had been played by their group member, who I seem to remember was called George.
A few more days passed, and I got a call from the Union telling me that they had asked George to come to London and play the same solo to them. He had refused, and I was going to receive compensation.
A cheque for something like £500 pounds turned up, which was quite a lot in 1981, and I certainly needed it, since I was busy getting married to the wrong person and had a lot of bills to pay.
When the band came back on TOTP to do the song for a second time (having paid up) there was no pretence any more with the solo. You can see here they are obviously miming and even making a point of it. The sax player doesn’t even bother to move his fingers.