Colour Me Pop

Colour Me Pop
Genre Music
Directed by Steve Turner
Country of origin United Kingdom
No. of seasons 1
No. of episodes 53
Production company(s) BBC
Broadcast
Original channel BBC 2
Picture format PAL
Audio format Monaural
Original run 14 June 1968 – 30 August 1969

Colour Me Pop was a British music TV programme broadcast on BBC2 from 1968-1969. It was a spin-off from the BBC 2 arts magazine show Late Night Line-Up. Designed to celebrate the new introduction of colour to British television,[1] it was directed by Steve Turner, and showcased half-hour sets by pop and rock groups of the period. The programme was a pioneering precursor to the better remembered BBC music programme The Old Grey Whistle Test (1971–87). Unlike its successor, most of the editions of Colour Me Pop are lost.[2]

Complete list of performances

17 May 1968 Katch 22,
14 June 1968 Manfred Mann
21 June 1968 The Small Faces
28 June 1968 Eclection
12 July 1968 Salena Jones with The Brian Lemon Trio
19 July 1968 Fleetwood Mac
26 July 1968 The Kinks
9 August 1968 The Peddlers
16 August 1968 The Tremeloes
23 August 1968 Barry Noble
30 August 1968 Spooky Tooth
7 September 1968 The Hollies
14 September 1968 The Moody Blues
21 September 1968 Unit 4 + 2
28 September 1968 David Ackles
5 October 1968 O'Haras Playboys
12 October 1968 Honeybus, Clodagh Rodgers
2 November 1968 Eclection, Spooky Tooth, Jethro Tull
9 November 1968 Foggy Dew-O, Lew Prinz And The Bedrocks
16 November 1968 The Nice
23 November 1968 The Alan Price Set, Julie Driscoll and The Brian Auger Trinity
30 November 1968 Giles, Giles and Fripp
7 December 1968 Timebox
14 December 1968 Love Sculpture
21 December 1968 Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band
4 January 1969 The Move
11 January 1969 Sons And Lovers
16 January 1969 The Pop Tops
25 January 1969 The Toast
1 February 1969 Chicken Shack
6 February 1969 Bobby Hanna And The Art Movement
15 February 1969 The Equals, Barbara Ruskin
22 February 1969 The Marmalade
1 March 1969 Ten Years After
8 March 1969 World of Oz
15 March 1969 Caravan
22 March 1969 Harmony Grass
12 April 1969 Free
19 April 1969 Jimmy Campbell, Sweet Thursday
26 April 1969 Elastic Band
10 May 1969 Family
17 May 1969 Cats Eyes
31 May 1969 Group Therapy
7 June 1969 Lions Of Judea[2]
14 June 1969 Strawbs (who also invited David Bowie along to perform mime to one track Poor Jimmy Wilson, with his producer Tony Visconti[3]
5 July 1969 Trapeze (at Laf)[4]
12 July 1969 Copperfield
26 July 1969 Orange Bicycle
2 August 1969 The Love Affair, Philip Goodhand-Tait
9 August 1969 Gene Pitney, Mike Cotton Sound
30 August 1969 The Fortunes
---.---.--- Chambers Brothers[2]

Surviving material from the show

Currently only the editions featuring The Small Faces, The Moody Blues, The Move and Trapeze are held in the BBC archive, as well as the episode featuring The Chambers Brothers that was never broadcast. In addition, three songs from the Bonzo Dog Band edition survive (one in unbroadcastable quality), plus film inserts from the Clodagh Rodgers/Honeybus edition, and the trailer for the Salena Jones show.[5][6]

Other material that is known to exist outside the BBC is as follows: A black and white copy of the Nice edition is known to be at large on the collectors circuit. There exists a b/w French TV-shot promo film for The Hollies "Listen to Me" that was filmed during their Colour Me Pop recording. Off-monitor screenshots from the Giles Giles and Fripp, Timebox and Toast editions survive in private hands (though in 2009 Timebox drummer John Halsey cast doubt on the Timebox screenshots, stating they were from another show).[2] The soundtracks to the Giles Giles and Fripp, Hollies, Caravan, Fleetwood Mac, Barry Noble, Ten Years After, Family, Bonzo Dog Band, Kinks and David Ackles editions are also known to survive.[7]

Videos identified as being taken from the programme can be seen on the YouTube website, including recordings of Bonzo Dog Band, Frank Zappa and The Mothers Of Invention, The Nice, The Moody Blues, The Move, and The Small Faces.[8]

References

  1. ↑ Kitching, Ian. "Bonzo Dog Band - Radio, TV, Films, etc.". The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band site. Retrieved 29 February 2008.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "complete list of bands who did "Colour Me Pop"?". Missing Episodes. Retrieved 29 February 2008. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  3. ↑ "15th June 1969". The Marquee Club. Retrieved 29 February 2008. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  4. ↑ Farley, Keith. "You'd See His Hand Come Up Over The Piano And Take A Drink. Continued". Retrieved 16 February 2010.
  5. ↑ "Film & TV Database". British Film Institute. Retrieved 29 February 2008. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  6. ↑ "FZ Videography 1965-69". Information Is Not Knowledge. Retrieved 29 February 2008. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  7. ↑ "Ronnie Lane on TOTP". The Mausoleum Club. Retrieved 29 February 2008. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  8. ↑ "YouTube search results "colour me pop"". Retrieved 23 March 2011. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)

External links