In the 1970s we took our pop music on the telly wherever we could get it, be it via groups appearing in guest slots on 'The Basil Brush Show', 'Crackerjack' (all together, Crackerjack!), 'Magpie' or any one of a handful of other tea-time TV favourites. Meanwhile, producing 8 series between November 1969 and December 1974, 'Lift Off With Ayshea' was a long running example of a purely pop music show, broadcasting a total of 144 episodes. Tragically, today only 3 of those 144 episodes survive in the ITV archives.
The host, Ayshea Brough, herself an
accomplished pop singer, introduced us to
everyone who was anyone during those pivotal
years, including The Sweet, David Bowie,
T.Rex, Slade and Roy Wood, in both his Move
and Wizzard guises. A firm friendship appears
to have developed between Brough and Wood during this time,
with Ayshea featuring on a number of
Wizzard's Top of the Pops appearances. Roy
repaid the compliment by writing and
producing a single, 'Farewell', for Ayshea in
1973. It's a fantastically bonkers,
everything-thrown-in-bar-the-kitchen-sink
production, sounding exactly like a
contemporary Wizzard number with Wood's
vocals lifted out and Ayshea's dropped in.(I'm a Wizzard fan, but no completest. Is there a Roy Wood voiced version of 'Farewell' out there? If there is, I'd love to hear it.)
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