Hopefully this is a better quality version of the previous upload of that show. (I'd had to convert an AVI file to something my Mac would handle and lost quality in the process)
Magic times eh. people born later could never understand what it was like to have all the hopes, great music, beauty, clothes and lifestyles of those days. We could all walk out of one job and straight into another and there was no constant feed of bad news stressing us out.
@@karlbarlow "No constant feed of bad news stressing us out"??? The 1970s has just called in and asked to have a brief word with you about strikes, weak governments and waiting the best part of 50 years before you get a phone installed in your own house.
I used to watch this as a teenager and remembered the theme tune and graphics before watching it again here. For some reason, I haven’t got any enthusiasm for today’s equivalent programmes!
I seem to remember Mickie Most being feared and hated, but he produced so much good music...what a real talent he was. Simon Cowell plays the same part, but Most had talent.
Good to see a demonstration of how the entertainment industry , clubs , tv , the circuits used to work if nothing else as many performers had to work very hard to even get an appearance on TV . Unlike the contrived nonsense that the public see now.
They're amateurs/semi pros from clubland & takes guts on TV first time, so respect on that, you don't get TV entertainment no more apart from sarcasm social media-land & pop music has all dried up to over produced mush. This is fun & truthful.
I was 18 the year this was broadcast, a time when there was still a modicum of innocence and naivety in our society and ‘acts’ had to do their apprenticeships in pubs and clubs..the unfiltered nature of those times gave us a far wider variety of sounds and styles than is remotely possible today were we are basically force fed what the industry wants us to ingest, Happy days warts an all’ 😎
That's the 70s, we had flares, wide lapels jackets, wide collars, kipper ties & big shoe (men) heels. It was awful & I cringe, the music & football was ace tho unlike now.
Jeez, I was 24 when we performed on that show. Popular music has changed so much, but you're right though. There's loads of great music still being made if you look for it on Spotify and whatever. Don't just rely on the radio.
Can't understand why Mickie said the music was amatuerish , when it was obvious the first act were miming to a backing track . Where were the brass and stings ??
@@darenwilliams5858 Hi Darren, we were all offered the services of the Johnny Patrick Big Band, who were set up in the studio next door. We had to provide a tape of our song 6 weeks beforehand to give their arranger time to work out the parts. All the orchestra had a live feed from our studio on headphones, but we could only monitor them through a crappy pair of speakers in front of us. Jack Parnell said our timing was a little bit shaky. The truth was that we were speeding up throughout our song and the band's conductor was hastily chopping out sections of his arrangement cos they couldn't keep up. It would have been better if our drummer could have had a pair of headphones to hear them better.
@@karlbarlow H i Karl, Imforgetting that this was the 70s and the tech isn't what it was today . I was actually defending you when you're musicianship was brought into question because with no . headphones in in ear monitors , i couldn't see how you'd be playing to a backing track ( which i have to admit , i do in the live band i play in ) . I didn't realize that you had a live band playing along side you , in the next room . Taking all that into account , i do think that the comments were a little unfair and the timing issues would not have been picked up by the avarage man in the audience . On the whole , i think you all did a really good job
@@darenwilliams5858 Thanks for saying that Daren. At the time I thought Mickie Most was harsh, but over the years, I've come to agree with him. I think the big mistake that we made, was to slip the floor manager a tenner in order to bring our amps closer to us so that we could hear them better - not thinking that we'd have been better off if we hadn't. It is a shame though as the band actually lost work thanks to that appearance and we split up at the end of that month.
Takes me back. Derek Hobson a consummate professional and Mickie Most, loved the theme tune. Love to know what the panel were paid! Thanks for posting.
@@stevelyons3347 Derek Hobson had been presenting the regional daily news programme, "ATV Today" for several years and was well-known to Midlands' viewers. He was very professional and humorous and popular. Chris Tarrant was also on the team to give readers an idea of how ATV was probably the best, most professional yet informal ITV region. Midlanders were extremely lucky 😉
'I like my Maori's a little darker.' 'They are warm, smiley, happy people. I can't understand why they killed Captain Cook.' The 1970s were frigging awesome.
I've tried (with some difficulty) to look past the green velvet jacket, medallions, strange Hawaiian harmonising, dodgy Irish joke and 'Toured all over South Africa'. What I do know about New Faces (and what made it unique) is that all the acts who appeared on it had already paid their dues as professionals in front of the paying public. I remember a former contestant telling me you couldn't get a look-in unless you had an Equity or MU card and this means that it wasn't an amateur talent show, it was a place where professional acts tried to launch themselves to the next level. So anyone who thinks Mickey Most is being a bit harsh should know that he was probably (then) the most consistently successful record producer and hitmaker in history offering advice to people serious about entertainment as a career. Set against this, Jack Parnell (like Joe Loss) was a bandleader still making big bucks long after the big band era had gone. So I was intrigued to see him say that playing with a capo 'wasn't real guitar playing' and Most trying his best to sound polite in disagreeing with him.
Thanks for that comment, what you say is true. We were all in either Equity or the MU. It is odd that Jack Parnell had shown his ignorance there, considering he was a bandleader.
@@johno4521This show opened the door for shows like that. Though this wasn't the first, Hughie Green had Opportunity Knocks and there was even the Carrol Levis Show before that.
Suzi Quatro's producer as well, indeed a legend! I feel lucky to have Mickie Most, Suzi Quatro, and Alan Price's autographs. Rock on New Faces = i remember it well! (i was 8 in 1976)
You're not on your own, there's millions of us. I miss Saturday night entertainment rounded off with footy, oops sorry gals, from Two Ronnie's to Paul Daniels, magic..
My hair was on end watching this I had forgotten this program I was 11 years old when it was aired haaar yes the 70's when everything seemed less complicated than today.
@@Lee_1971 Oh right, I didn't know you could do that. I thought they were a really good band. It's a pity the judges were against bands that week. I hope you're all doing well.
@@karlbarlow Thanks for your wishes. Unfortunately my uncle passed away in 2011, at age 58. They were competent enough, but maybe a bit too 'safe', nothing strikingly different about them, and lacked the, (to use a familiar phrase) X-factor.
Stand up comedy is so hard to do well and hit the mark. Thats why Manning, Miller, Carson, Goodwin et.al. are rightly revered as kings of a very difficult trade.
I was in the audience on one New Faces show during September 1977. Among the panelists was Shaw "Keep em Peeled" Taylor. There was and I use the word with caution a comedian who was so bad he at one point in his act pleaded with the audience to laugh at one of his lousy gags. He knew he was lousy and cut his spot short by singing Isnt She Lovely. No one of note won that particular show. Clive James was a notorious panel member in the early days of New Faces and was pretty vile to the performers.
The Ad break saved that comedian! - judge "I'm sure he's going to be very big" nope, he wasn't, the sex jokes were embarrassing & I'm a former soldier in the 70s. Sack the panel!
It was a bit soul destroying to take that kind of criticism so publicly back then, but it was what all of us who didn't have the money for promotion had to endure to get some TV exposure.
@@karlbarlow Even back then it was all about ratings. Half of those judges should have been up in bed in a retirement home not insulting contestants to the back teeth. That Benny Hill sketch where he ripped the piss out of them was spot on.
Ha ha ha ha, that was the fashion of the day. They were called Kipper Ties. If you asked for one in a Birmingham boutique, the shop assistant would usually smile and ask "Do you want milk and sugar in that?"
Does anyone remember that other old duffer called Clifford Davies and Tony Hatch (who was nicknamed 'The Hatchet Man'), who made Simon Cowell look like a marshmallow?
I do. I remember Tony Hatch was a songwriter along with his wife Jackie Trent. I think his comments were just nasty. Nina Muskov (I think I got that right) modelled herself on him in the later series. Nothing like being a bad-ass to make you famous. Nobody had heard of her before that series.
Very enjoyable episode. I watched New Faces regularly. No nastiness from the panel, nor excessive egos on show. Much prefer this to the similar shows on TV now. I'm still searching for the '73 episode when Ken Worthington 'TV's Mr Clarinet Man' came last and got blasted by the panel lol.
Jack Parnell comes across as clueless in his analyses. Calling Flamenco guitar 29:13 ‘not real guitar playing’ and then taking about 49:29 ‘instruments not being quite right’. Mickie Most on the other hand was brilliant and insightful in most of his criticism. Great upload
Thanks, I agree with your opinion of Jack Parnell. He just rode on the back of his old man, Val Parnell. Had his own orchestra at one time, but I guess in name only. I can't imagine he arranged any of the music for it. He had been a talented pit drummer though.
I knew that Derek Hobson did a great line in ties according to the DVD that I have about the story of ATV Today. This was something that a former colleague of his who was also an original judge on NF, Chris Tarrant, said on the DVD. These days it's all progressive now, and it's the opposite to what Mickie said about one of the acts, the O'Sullivan Brothers. The judges' scoring system so like the format of Strictly.
I was really lucky; a lot of years ago I spotted the performance of the first group in the show - Five A Side. The son of the drummer had put it up having seen a documentary featuring the Maori group. He'd found that the show's producer Albert Stephenson had a collection of broadcast tapes and wrote to him, asking if he could send him a copy of the show. Albert did so and I was able to get a DVD copy from the drummer's son. This was about 12 years ago and the likelihood is that Albert has now passed on. It's possible that whoever inherited Albert's estate has more of the broadcast tapes, but it would take some detective work to find them.
@@karlbarlow Thank you for you reply I'm looking for a copy of the show where my father performed a song with his band, but I have no idea of who I should contact to get a copy of it. Who do you think I should contact to get it ?
@@pascaldherbecourt6277 There's a website dedicated to the show: newfacesatv.info Also I was told that Bob Monkhouse had preserved a collection of the shows, but I Donn't know how you would contact him. There's also information somewhere on the IMDB website: www.imdb.com As I said I was very lucky to come across this video. I wish you the very best of luck in finding your father's show. What was his name and the name of the group? Even a Google search might turn up a mention of him on someone's website or archive.
@@glendarlow I'm afraid not Glen. I only got this one by contacting the son of one of the members of 5 A Side. You may be lucky if you can find a way to apply to the estate of the programme's Birmingham producer Albert Stevenson.
I’m sure Reece Shearsmith used John Smith as the basis for one of his Civic characters in Royston Vasey; his glottal stops are spot on. If he prefers his Maoris’ colour to be darker then he could’ve emigrated and ingratiated himself on them on their own soil. The overall show was gauged to Clubland and therefore the spontaneity and vivaciousness of many of the performers and performances has been purposefully ironed out, to serve their professional aims. The mid-70’s stage costume style based on some kind Vegas jump-suit with platform shoes n flares seems so dated, glam rock, trickle-down gone mad. Having a big band backing was more for the judges than the audience, one which the producers should take the blame. 6 months to a year to rehearse a sub-5 minutes routine is a joke, the bands not hitting the mark for this main event is feint and damning praise. The comedian who won this episode was maybe a bit of light relief for the judges from vocal acts and perhaps made his almost 15 minutes of fame moment due that huge contrast.
My god, there was so much rubbish on that! So many of the music acts seemed so old hat even back then. Mum used to watch it and I'd go off to my room until something decent came on telly.
I was a teenager in the 70s and watched this show every week. Oh, the 70s - flared and bell-bottom jeans/trousers, huge neckties, platform shoes, big hair and of course there was the opening of discotheques - unforgettable!😀😁🤣😎😋🙄😛!!
I'm afraid not. I was lucky to get this one episode, thanks to the son of one of the lads in the first group 5 A Side. They'd approached Albert Stevenson the producer of the show and he let them have a broadcast copy of the it. I doubt that Albert is still alive, but his heirs might have access to whatever collection of shows he may have kept.
Sorry Erin, it's not Jigsaw, on this show it was a band called Five A Side that did a cover of Jigsaw's song Sky High, and that was in the UK charts at the time. Sorry for any confusion.
Hi, I don't suppose anyone out there has a recording of when Campbell & Reid performed on this show? They were a country music duo. My dad was one of them.
