Then came the final volume of
Top of the Pops for 1976 and, once again, the overall lack of character that scarred that year echoed from the grooves with heart-sagging familiarity. When
Rod Stewart's assault on
the Beatles' "Get Back" is the hardest-hitting thing in sight, when
Leo Sayer's "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" is considered a worthy successor to "Moonlighting," when
Mud could turn down a song the caliber of "Under the Moon of Love" in favor of a lukewarm flap through "Lean on Me...," you sit through the album that recaptures the age and the fast-percolating advent of punk rock doesn't only seem inevitable, it becomes essential as well. In any event, it would be another few months before any punk record impacted hard enough to cause a blip on the
Top of the Pops radar. But the gusto and attention to detail with which the team attacks
Queen's "Somebody to Love" and
ELO's "Livin' Thing" suggests that they were ready for a change of pace as well -- how long, after all, can anyone make a living churning out note-perfect versions of the soulless pap then wobbling around the Top 40 listings? Still, they grit their teeth and do their best. A note-perfect cover of
Showaddywaddy's own eventual version of the discarded "Under the Moon of Love" has a warm, elderly rockabilly-flavored appeal, while "Lost in France" reminds listeners of a time when
Bonnie Tyler could sing without sounding like a tart
Rod Stewart. But the
Leo Sayer cover sounds even more like a poor man's
Bee Gees than the original, and
ABBA's "Money Money Money" -- never one of their greatest songs, no matter how well it lived up to its title -- simply sounds brassy. There's also a horrendous version of
the Stylistics' already disappointing rendition of "You'll Never Get to Heaven If You Break My Heart," which is salvaged only by wondering whether one could get away with such a sentiment in today's more PC world. Emotional blackmail is an ugly enough crime to begin with. Dragging religion into it only compounds the sin. ~ Dave Thompson