The Comedy of Errors: The Grid - Figure of Eight [Grid Tribal Trance mix] (13 June 1992)

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When Peel returned to host an edition of Top of the Pops in early 1982, after an absence of 14 years, one of the acts he introduced that night were synthpop duo, Soft Cell in a video of Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.  I turned 6 in 1982 and started watching Top of the Pops around the time Peel hosted it.  Bands like Soft Cell loom large in my consciousness when I recall early experiences of watching the programme. I just remember a swathe of duos featuring a singer and a taciturn bloke standing over a synthesiser.  Soft Cell were the first that I recall in a lineage that stretched over the next 5 years and incorporated the likes of Yazoo, Blancmange, Erasure and Pet Shop Boys.  They all produced wonderful pop music, though stylistically they were following the lead of Sparks in having a quirky, personable singer matched with a seemingly dour musician.  The sexual politics within those groups flew over my pre-pubescent head and while I have no doubt that Messrs.Almond, Bell and Tennant helped generations of teenagers to realise who they were, my attention was always fixed on those behind them, the impassive likes of Vince Clarke, Chris Lowe and in the case of Soft Cell, David Ball.  I found them fascinating, in their different ways, all cocooned behind their keyboard stands,  looking like hod carriers behind ballet dancers.

10 years on from Top of the Pops, Ball had left Soft Cell far behind and was now ensconced in the world of dance music as one half of The Grid with Richard Norris.  Although operating in a different milieu to that which he had done in Soft Cell, Ball with Norris, still had the hitmaker’s touch.  Although it would be another 2 years before The Grid had a big hit with Swamp Thing, their earlier work was a staple at the lower end of the charts.  Figure of Eight just managed to break into the Top 50 UK Singles chart.  It’s very much a product of it time in places with all those processed saxes honking away throughout, but in typical Grid style there’s some more eclectic sounds - in this instance scat singing - which help to break up any sense of predictability.  The Grid’s own Tribal Trance mix, as played by Peel on this show, does an even better job of dispelling the essential Hitman and Her vibe of the mellower radio edit and making the track into something more of an event.  That ascending opening minute producing more atmosphere than all the other mixes, including a whole 12-inches worth by Todd Terry, put together.  Though I did enjoy the Tee’s Ultra Mix, which is included below.



Videos courtesy of Bondandgoed and waddleofwigan.