A LOST Top of the Pops clip featuring glam rockers The Sweet has surfaced on video sharing website YouTube.
The band’s first of two Top of the Pops performances of hit single ‘Action’, which reached #15 in the UK charts, comes from the 10th July, 1975 edition – which is officially missing from the BBC archives.
It was uploaded to YouTube by music collector Phil Moss, who announced the find over at the Missing Episodes forum.
The rare footage was originally recorded off-air by The Sweet’s lead singer Brian Connolly using early VCR the Phillips N1500. It was part of a tape featuring band performances culled from shows between 1974-5.
Being an old domestic recording, the clip suffers from occasional vertical jitter, drop outs, colour loss and top screen tearing, but is still watchable and could be improved with restoration.
In a 1974 magazine article Brian discussed his new VCR, which cost him £1,000 (approximately £5, 570 in today’s money) and the novelty of video tapes (£18 each, the equivalent of £150 today).
He said at the time: “I’ve got this fantastic machine. It’s like a T.V. tape recorder. You can record any programme you like, then you’ve got it as long as you want.
“I’ve got a few Top of the Pops shows recorded. They should be fun to look back on in a few years time.”
Sadly, it seems those complete shows were discarded at some point but at least rock fans can once again get to see some vintage Sweet ‘Action’.
- For more information on pop stars and VCRs, check out this informative thread from the Missing Episodes forum.
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