Rovers return - Korgis

After 'Everybody's got to learn sometime' and 'If it's alright with you baby', I was totally surprised by the next Korgis single, 'Rovers return'. It was an instrumental piece with just a few dogs barking during it. I'm not exactly a dog lover, but the melody was strong enough to keep me hooked. It was the kind of synthpop I absolutely loved back in 1980 - and kept loving ever since. 

Through the years I've bought my fair share of 'Rovers return' singles: the original Dutch version, a French version and this version which features two singles on one disc. The latest addition is the original UK pressing, which is a double A-side with 'Wish you a merry Christmas'. It's a bit early for that. 

My collection: 7" single no. 8262
Found: De Waterput, Bergen op Zoom, 6 March 2026
Tracks: 'Rovers return' / 'Wish you a merry Christmas' 

The harder they come - Joe Jackson Band

'The harder they come' was originally written and recorded by Jimmy Cliff, who released it as a single in 1972. It was written for the movie of the same name. 

In 1980 Joe Jackson and his band recorded a cover version of the song. The single was not a hit in the UK, but reached number 35 in the Dutch Top 40. I remember the song from long ago and so I decided to buy the single when I came across a copy recently. 

My collection: 7" single no. 8261
Found: De Waterput, Bergen op Zoom, 6 March 2026
Tracks: 'The harder they come' / 'Out of style', 'Tilt' 

Won't you hold my hand now - King

The sleeve of this 7" single is similar to the American 12" single in my collection, but with green lettering instead of red. The B-side features a track that doesn't appear on that 12" single. 

The single made less of an impression than the biggest hit the band ever had, the ubiquitous 'Love and pride'. Ironically, the last single by King I bought - just last year - was also 'Won't you hold my hand now', but that was the 1985 re-release.

My collection: 7" single no. 8259
Found: Discogs.com, received 3 March 2026
Tracks: 'Won't you hold my hand now' / 'Endlessly' 

I could be happy - Altered Images

Clare Grogan was just seventeen years old when she started Altered Images with her bandmates Gerard "Caesar" McInulty (guitar), Michael "Tich" Anderson (drums), Tony McDaid (guitar), and Johnny McElhone (bass guitar). Two years later they had a big hit in the UK with the first single from their second album Pinky Blue. 

'I could be happy' is a song that always cheers you up with its bright sound and cheerful singing. This picture disc was released at the time to boost sales of the single, which ended up peaking at number 7 in the UK singles chart. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7944
Found: Discogs.com, received 25 March 2026
Tracks: 'I could be happy' / 'Insects' 

Visions in blue - Ultravox

The discovery of several picture discs of Ultravox singles has triggered a new obsession: trying to catch them all. And I've been rather successful recently. A recent acquisition was this picture disc of 'Visions in blue', a song I first discovered when I bought the greatest hits collection LP four decades ago, imaginatively titled The Collection.

This picture disc simply recreates the sleeve of the single and is perhaps a superfluous addition to my collection, but anyway, I think it's worth it.

My collection: 7" single no. 7943
Found: Discogs.com, received 18 March 2026
Tracks: 'Visions in blue' / 'Break your back' 

Heart of the country - Ultravox

Ultravox released one of the best deluxe editions of any album ever when they released Lament last year, and also The Collection. It remains one of my favourite bands from the Eighties, even if I didn't really enjoy all their albums equally. The singles were almost always ace.

'Heart of the country' is the one that got away. As far as I know it was released in Germany only, and I discovered this one last year when checking out their discography. I never knew this was a single release! Only one copy was on offer online, and I bought it. Even in Germany, this single didn't make the chart, and so it remains the most obscure Ure-era Ultravox single!

My collection: 7" single no. 7937
Found: Discogs.com, received 17 February 2026
Tracks: 'Heart of the country' / 'Man of two worlds'

Find the time - Five Star

The British quintet Five Star lost one of their members last year, when Stedman passed away on 10 March. You would think that this fact would get more attention than it did, because Five Star were absolutely on top of the charts in the Eighties. It just proves that fame can be ever so fickle.

'Find the time' was one of the band's finest singles, and it was released on a picture disc. It was on my want list for some time, because it looks quite stunning, both when you're playing it and when you're just looking at it. It's the fine art of creating great artwork, and the British band was quite good at it! 

My collection: 7" single no. 7936
Found: Discogs.com, received 17 February 2026
Tracks: 'Find the time' / 'Sky'

Leaving - Fra Lippo Lippi

This arty cover hides an Italian magazine that was released in 1985, featuring articles about Catherine Deneuve, Tove Jansson and Yoko Ono. It also includes a 7" single with two tracks: 'Leaving' by Fra Lippo Lippi and 'Suite maniacal' by Minox. 

It's an odd package, but the Fra Lippo Lippi track is what made me buy this one online. I was intrigued enough to want to have it, although in the end 'Leaving' is just an outtake from the album Songs which I already own. But still, it's a beautiful little package that hides its own mysteries. Why was this made? What target audience did this have? Why would Italians listen to Norwegian music? Many questions without answers.

My collection: 7" single no. 7935
Found: Discogs.com, received 17 February 2026
Tracks: 'Leaving' (Fra Lippo Lippi) / 'Suite maniacal' (Minox)
 

Hounds of love - Kate Bush

It's very odd that I only found out about this single a few months ago. It's a US pressing of 'Hounds of love', featuring an 'extended version' on the B-side. That extended version is exclusive to this single and is basically a repeat of 40 seconds somewhere in the middle of the track. I doubt Kate was involved in this version, probably someone at the American record company thought this was a good idea.

It took me a while to find a copy that struck a balance between looking good, playing well and being not too horribly expensive. But I did it, and it is now mine. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7927
Found: Discogs.com, received 2 February 2026
Tracks: 'Hounds of love' / 'Hounds of love (extended version)' 

Dr. Mabuse / Duel - Propaganda

The magazine Electronic Sounds did it again! They released their latest issue with a cover story on Propaganda and included a clear vinyl 7" single with it. When this issue was announced I read something about a 'David Kosten mix', so I ordered it right away.

It turns out that David Kosten was the one who reconstructed the album A Secret Wish from the original master tapes. So these mixes are not remixes, but just reconstructions of the original versions. In that sense, this single doesn't contain anything unique.

My collection: 7" single no. 7924
Found: Electronic Sounds website, received 22 January 2026
Tracks: 'Dr. Mabuse - The first life (David Kosten mix)' / 'Duel (David Kosten mix)' 

Prisoner of love - Miami Sound Machine

'Prisoner of Love' was the second single released by the American band Miami Sound Machine on their first English language album, and eighth overall, Eyes of Innocence. The song was written by the band's drummer Enrique "Kiki" Garcia. 

The single was released worldwide following the release of the album with great expectations. The lead single, 'Dr. Beat', also written by Enrique Garcia, had moderate success, also in Europe. 'Prisoner of Love' was unable to follow the success, debuting on the UK singles chart at only number 98 and failing to chart elsewhere. The single was only released in Europe, Australia and Japan.

My collection: 7" single no. 7923
Found: Record Palace, Amsterdam, 18 January 2026
Tracks: 'Prisoner of love' / 'Toda tuya' 

Japanese lovesong - Ten Sharp

I always thought Ten Sharp's 'Japanese lovesong' was the weakest track they released in the mid-Eighties. Still, I bought the 7" single in 2009, and now here's the 12" single.

I was quite surprised at the extended mix included on this disc. It runs just over ten minutes and contains a great little jam right in the middle of the track. It's a big improvement on the mediocre single version. 

My collection: 12" single [unnumbered]
Found: Record Palace, Amsterdam, 18 January 2026
Tracks: 'Japanese lovesong (extended dance mix)' / 'Goin' on' 

Windpower - Thomas Dolby

I bought the 7" single of 'Windpower' almost twenty years ago. No wonder that the sleeve of this 12" single looked familiar, but I quickly realized that I'd never heard an extended version of the track.

The single was taken from Dolby's debut album The golden age of wireless (1982) and released on 26 July 1982.  

My collection: 12" single [unnumbered]
Found: Record Palace, Amsterdam, 18 January 2026
Tracks: 'Windpower (high power extended play)' / 'Flying North (High Altitude extended play)' 

Love is the art - Living in a box

'Love is the art' was the fourth single from Living in a box's eponymous debut album. It was the least successful of the four, reaching number 45 in the UK singles chart. 

I was lucky to find a copy of the UK pressing of the single, among many German and Dutch pressings of different singles from different artists, so I don't really know how this dealer got this particular item. But that's the fun part of record fairs: finding singles you weren't particularly looking for, but get to buy them just the same.

My collection: 7" single no. 7917
Found: Record fair, Amsterdam, 18 January 2026
Tracks: 'Love is the art' / 'Love is the art (instrumental)' 

Under attack - Abba

Just before the end of this year I succeeded in putting all the Abba singles I didn't post on this blog yet, although I've had them in my collection for quite some time. And the last one to post is also the last single they ever released - or so we thought - in 1982. 

'Under attack' was recorded for an album that never came, but it did end up in the compilation album The Singles - The first ten years. Different countries had different sleeves for this one. The most colourful one came from Germany. I bought it during my final visit to All That Music in Leiden in 2010. At the time the shop was closing down, and I was lucky enough to buy 52 singles during their final sale.

The French edition followed more recently, in 2022. I bought it online as part of a package that included some Eurovision singles. You would never guess it, but the seller was French.

My collection: 7" single no. 4687 / no. 6764
Found: All that music, Leiden, 13 March 2010 / Discogs.com, received 13 August 2022 
Tracks: 'Under attack' / 'You owe me one'

The day before you came - Abba

For those who knew Abba mainly for their upbeat songs like 'Waterloo', 'Dancing queen' and 'Mamma mia', it would have been a shock to hear 'The day before you came' for the first time. The moody, wistful track took most people offguard and because of the fact that the Seventies had turned into the Eighties, the overpowering popularity of Abba was starting to crumble. 

Still, 'The day before you came' is an epic track, and stands apart as one of my most favourite songs of the quartet. It is strange that I never bothered to buy other pressings of the single than the one I bought in 1982, but this year I corrected that by buying the UK edition of the single. The front cover isn't different this time, although the back cover definitely is - it says 'Taken from the double LP/Cassette ABBA - The Singles AVAILABLE SOON' under the same photograph that was used at the front. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7837
Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, 30 October 2025
Tracks: 'The day before you came' / 'Cassandra' 

One of us - Abba

In the UK, 'One of us' was released as a regular 7" single and as a picture disc. Although the picture disc of 'One of us' in the UK featured the men of Abba on the A-side, the front sleeve of the regular edition showed Frida and Agnetha. 

Whereas the sleeve used in most countries repeated the album cover photo, Epic Records wanted a different image for the British release and used separate photos of the group members together with a large ABBA logo. The photos were actually out-of-date, as Frida was depicted still with her frizzy perm, while Björn was beardless. 

It's worth listening to the B-side of this single, as it includes a spoken count-in (in Swedish) from Benny. This count-in appeared on the British and South African releases, but not internationally. The master tapes supplied to Epic contained the error, but were not picked up in time, and so appeared on the single release. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7181
Found: Discogs.com, received 17 April 2024
Tracks: 'One of us' / 'Should I laugh or cry' 

Super trouper - Abba

The single 'Super trouper' was featured on this blog a long time ago. It was the Dutch pressing, with I think the most perfect cover. The photograph wasn't obscured by any record company logo. 

In the case of the German and Austrian versions, the cover only differs because of that record company logo. You can compare them here. 

I bought the German version a long time ago at a record fair, when I had just bought the cd-singles box set, and decided I wanted to have their 7" counterparts (as the cd-single sleeves were all based on the German 7" single sleeves). 

The Austrian version joined my collection a few years later, during a visit to Vienna. I took the opportunity to buy a few Austrian pressings of Abba singles, because at the time I didn't have any Austrian 7" singles in my collection! 

My collection: 7" single no. 4318 / no. 5862
Found: Record fair, Utrecht, 21 November 2009 / Teuchtler, Vienna, 25 September 2017
Tracks: 'Super trouper' / 'The piper'

Tell me tomorrow - Princess

When I bought the pink vinyl version of 'Tell me tomorrow' online from a Danish dealer, he also had the blue vinyl version on offer. It was only logical that I would buy that one too, because it would only leave the white vinyl version for me to find. 

Next year the white vinyl version will undoubtedly arrive too, and that will complete the quartet. That's something to look forward to in 2026, I guess.

My collection: 7" single no. 7893
Found: Discogs.com, received 28 November 2025
Tracks: 'Tell me tomorrow' / 'Say I'm your number one (original demo)' 

Tell me tomorrow - Princess

When I bought 'Tell me tomorrow' on yellow vinyl last month, I announced that the song would likely be featured a few more times on this blog, because the single was released in multiple colours of vinyl.

So here we are, with the pink vinyl edition of 'Tell me tomorrow'. While I found the yellow vinyl version at a record fair, I ordered this version online, just because I could. It was part of a larger order which included seven singles and a cd. The dealer was based in Denmark, which makes it rather surprising that he had this UK pressing of the single on offer.

My collection: 7" single no. 7892
Found: Discogs.com, received 28 November 2025
Tracks: 'Tell me tomorrow' / 'Say I'm your number one (original demo)'