Who Did It Better? Videotheque

Who Did It Better?

Videotheque

Today's edition of Who Did It Better? deals with a song which almost went unheard, only to be resurrected by a UK pop duo riding a new wave of popularity thanks to that song's writer. In addition, we learn why a promising, video pioneering 1980's group's life got cut short due to a bit of miscommunication. 

Videotheque is a song written by Simon Darlow and producer/arranger Trevor Horn in 1981.

It was originally slated for The Buggles (of Video Killed The Radio Star fame) second album. It was a group Horn was a member of at the time. However, the song failed to make it beyond the demo phase and remained in a vault until 2010. 

The Buggles second album, Adventures In Modern Recording, would suffer all due to a bit of a misunderstanding. You see, group member Geoff Downes had been recruited to work with the rock supergroup Asia (Heat Of The Moment). Based on something a music critic wrote about The Buggles breaking up due to Downes' other commitment, the record company, Island Records, erroneously - without checking with Downes - assumed it was true, dropped them from their roster and pushed the group and their second album off on their French subsidiary Carrere Records. This resulted in a lot less promotion work to sell the album, so, unsurprisingly, it ended up coming nowhere near the success of their debut. Then - due to the lack of interest and sales - the group did, indeed, break up. 

But The Buggles misfortune would prove to be another struggling pop duo's good fortune. 

Carrere Records just happened to also be Dollar's old label. In early 1980, with four Top 20 UK hits under their belt, Dollar (David Van Day and Thereza Bazar) left Carrere Records for what they hoped were the greener pastures at WEA Records. And based on the  previous success of the group-penned Love's Gotta A Hold On Me, the duo decided to write all their own material for their WEA debut. Well, their confidence proved unfounded; featuring an edgier, more rock-oriented sound, the album failed to catch fire.

Dollar member, Thereza Bazar then asked producer Trevor Horn, whom she had met back in the days when she was part of the pop group Guys n' Dolls, to bring a bit of his magic and help reverse the group's career trajectory. The combination clicked and Dollar experienced a renaissance. Their four Horn-produced hits, from 1981-1982, mark the zenith of the duo's careers. Both Mirror, Mirror and Give Me Back My Heart landed in the UK's Top Ten. For the third single, Horn decided to dust off Videotheque, and sure enough - it was  a hit, spending ten weeks on the UK charts and peaking at #17. It also managed the same feat in Ireland. In the end, Videotheque and a fourth song, Hand Held In Black And White, managed to make the Top 20.

But then there was a shift in the winds...

A third album, 1982's The Dollar Album was set to be recorded, however, by that time, Horn had become an in-demand producer, working with other established acts such as ABC, The Art Of Noise, and Yes and he no longer had time to devote to the duo. In light of that they soldiered on without him, writing and producing the rest of the material themselves. 

To learn more about what became of Dollar visit: Wonderland Burlesque's Down The Rabbit Hole: Dollar

As for Videotheque...

Fastforward to 2010, The Buggles were reissuing their ill-fated second album, Adventures In Modern Recording. In order to create more interest, they decided to include tracks which originally failed to make the final cut. Included? The demo version of Videotheque featuring keyboardist/guitarist Simon Darlow with Horn on vocals!  

And that's the whole story.

Now? On to the competition!

The Song: Videotheque

The Competitors: Dollar vs. The Buggles

Videotheque - Dollar

Videotheque - The Buggles

Dollar

Thick and dramatic production - would we expect any less of Trevor Horn?

You may remember him as the man responsible for the Yes song Owner Of A Lonely Heart and Relax by Frankie Goes To Hollywood.

Everything in a Trevor Horn production is larger than life... which means there's a lot of competition. Still, he creates earworms unlike any other. 

The set up is all part of the pageantry. Things settle down just enough for us to hear the singers entering. Bazar and Van Day sound great together. Granted, that's a lot of studio wizardry at play, especially when it comes to Bazar's vocals. Lighter than air, they need to be multi-tracked to add up to something. No shame in that. They sound great.

My, those vocals are sure treated, to the point where they sound as electronic as everything else. It's a bit excessive, but then excess... that's Horn's bread and butter.

The chorus is rather catchy. It's certainly of its time; bombast and posturing making up for an absence of substance.

I love that rolling synth following the chorus. So fat and fun. Followed by a C-section comprised of various cascading scales and a bit of Bazar's robotic vamping. 

I'm absolutely loving this. Had this come on at a club, I would have been the first one out there posing and throwing dramatic looks. I used to live for this kind of musical drama.

It certainly does get messy as we move to the play out... hard to discern who and what. Air? Who needs air? We have banks and banks of interesting sounds.

Oh, listen to the harpies sing!

What little personality that exists in this environment is provided by the production histrionics brought to the table by Horn. Van Day and Bazar acquit themselves quite well, and its nice to see Bazar utilized so much, but, let's face it... they are mere cogs in the machine, this would pretty much sound the same with any number of similar singers.

Still, in a vintage way, it has its charms. 

I'm not immune to a bit of musical drama, no matter how noisy.

The Buggles

Another big intro. That one synth seems a bit flatfooted, though. It does sound cleaner that Dollar's version. 

I like the depth of the production. And the relative cleanliness. I'm not sure Horn is much of a singer. It's like he's singing a foreign language. And it also is getting a bit 'chipmunk' like. 

Still, I am getting more of a sense of the composition. So, that's good. In Dollar's version there's so much going on - swooshing and flying through - here, it's nice to hear the words.

Well, this is just a demo. And nowhere is it more apparent than on that chorus. When it comes to the chorus, Dollar is a lot more successful selling it. 

This is fun. It's a little too Jamacian steelpan for me. 

Second chorus is much more effective with that counter melody.

Oh, it goes off the wall when it comes to the C-section. Never expected that. It strikes me as a bit silly.

But then I like the jetstream synth stuff that follows. 

And, again, that this is just a demo becomes apparent on that final chorus. It's simply not fleshed out enough. Though... it does possess some charm. 

I hate the way he sings 'screen'. Mosquito. 

Well, that's fine. It's fun. The hooks are all there, though the production work is not. 

The Verdict

This one goes to Dollar, mainly because theirs is a finished product. 

Personally, I prefer the clean sound of The Buggles' version, but having heard all the bombastic fun to be had on the Dollar version...  why settle for less?

Is it a slight bit of pop? Yes. But sometimes those are just what is needed. All flash and imagery - Dollar's version captures everything that made the era so much damn fun. Plastic? Like Ken and Barbie... 

But I remember enjoying playing with Barbie and Ken... and in the spirit of those icons of artifice - sometimes? You just don't want to overthink it, right?

 

--- ---

And that's enough of me.

Okay, your turn. You know what to do: leave your thoughts and choice in the comments section.

That's it for now.

Until next time...

Thanks for reading... and listening!

Videotheque - Dollar