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

14.06.68 Manfred Mann
21.06.68 The Small Faces
28.06.68 Eclection
12.07.68 Salena Jones with The Brian Lemon Trio
19.07.68 Fleetwood Mac
26.07.68 The Kinks
09.08.68 The Peddlers
16.08.68 The Tremeloes
23.08.68 Barry Noble
30.08.68 Spooky Tooth
07.09.68 The Hollies
14.09.68 The Moody Blues
21.09.68 Unit 4 + 2
28.09.68 David Ackles
05.10.68 O'Haras Playboys
12.10.68 Honeybus, Clodagh Rodgers
23.10.68 The Mothers of Invention
02.11.68 Eclection, Spooky Tooth, Jethro Tull
09.11.68 Foggy Dew-O, Lew Prinz And The Bedrocks
16.11.68 The Nice
23.11.68 The Alan Price Set, Julie Driscoll and The Brian Auger Trinity
30.11.68 Giles, Giles and Fripp
07.12.68 Timebox
14.12.68 Love Sculpture
21.12.68 Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band
04.01.69 The Move
11.01.69 Sons And Lovers
16.01.69 The Pop Tops
25.01.69 The Toast
01.02.69 Chicken Shack
06.02.69 Bobby Manna And The Art Movement
15.02.69 The Equals, Barbara Ruskin
22.02.69 The Marmalade
01.03.69 Ten Years After
08.03.69 World of Oz
15.03.69 Caravan
22.03.69 Harmony Grass
12.04.69 Free
19.04.69 Jimmy Campbell, Sweet Thursday
26.04.69 Elastic Band
10.05.69 Family
17.05.69 Cats Eyes
31.05.69 Group Therapy
07.06.69 Lions Of Judea^[2]
14.06.69 Strawbs (who also invited David Bowie along to perform mime to one track Poor Jimmy Wilson, with his producer Tony Visconti^[3]
05.07.69 Trapeze (at Laf)^[4]
12.07.69 Copperfield
26.07.69 Orange Bicycle
02.08.69 The Love Affair, Philip Goodhand-Tait
09.08.69 Gene Pitney, Mike Cotton Sound
30.08.69 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, 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 Doo Dah 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. http://www.iankitching.me.uk/music/bonzos/other.html. Retrieved 2008-02-29. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d} "complete list of bands who did "Colour Me Pop"?". Missing Episodes. http://missingepisodes.proboards20.com/index.cgi?board=totp&action=display&thread=1121089490. Retrieved 2008-02-29. 
3. ^ "15th June 1969". The Marquee Club. http://www.themarqueeclub.net/15-june-1969-the-strawbs. Retrieved 2008-02-29. 
4. ^ Farley, Keith. "You'd See His Hand Come Up Over The Piano And Take A Drink. Continued". http://www.localhistory.scit.wlv.ac.uk/articles/InBetweenTimes/Page8d.htm. Retrieved 16 February 2010. 
5. ^ "Film & TV Database". British Film Institute. http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/search.php?needle=COLOUR+ME+POP&category=Everything&catSubmit.x=32&catSubmit.y=20&catSubmit=GO&searchField=title. Retrieved 2008-02-29. 
6. ^ "FZ Videography 1965-69". Information Is Not Knowledge. http://globalia.net/donlope/fz/videography/1965-69.html. Retrieved 2008-02-29. 
7. ^ "Ronnie Lane on TOTP". The Mausoleum Club. http://www.the-mausoleum-club.org.uk/xmb/viewthread.php?tid=11249. Retrieved 2008-02-29. ^{[dead link]}
8. ^ "YouTube search results "colour me pop"". http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%22colour+me+pop%22&aq=f. Retrieved 2011-03-23. 

External links

• Colour Me Pop at IMDB
• Colour Me Pop: The Small Faces/The Move DVD: Critic's Review
• The Toast on their appearance on the show (With the sole surviving off-screen photo)
• Article with transcript of The Bonzo Dog Band appearance
• The Mothers of Invention's performance on the show