Michael Penn was born on August 1, 1958. His brother is the actor Sean Penn, who was married to Madonna for some time. 'No myth' was his debut single, released in late 1989. It became his first and only top 40 hit in the US Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 13. The single did not chart in Europe.
After only a few solo albums, Penn moved into movie scores, recording music for movies like 'Boogie nights' (1997) and 'The last kiss' (2006).
My collection: 7" single no. 1453 Found: All that music, Leiden, June 18, 1991 Cost: 3 guilders Tracks: 'No myth' / 'Big house'
Mike & the Mechanics released 'The living years' as the second single from their album of the same name. According to Mike Rutherford, 'The lyrics were written by B.A. Robertson and the song is about something he went through. He lost his Dad and it's about the lack of communication between him and his father before he died. There's also the irony of him having a baby just after losing his father. I had exactly the same thing happen to me at the same time, so it meant a lot to me too.'
The single reached number 1 in Canada and the USA and peaked at number 2 in the UK singles chart. In the Netherlands, it reached number 20.
My collection: 7" single no. 725 Found: Free Record Shop, Den Haag, January 28, 1989 Cost: 6 guilders Tracks: 'The living years' / 'Too many friends'
'More than I can say' was written by Sonny Curtis and Jerry Allison, who recorded it with their bad The Crickets in 1959 soon after Buddy Holly, whose backing band they were originally, died. The single was released in 1960 and became a hit for them.
Leo Sayer recorded his cover version of the song in 1980. Sayer commented later that while he was looking for an 'oldie' to record for his album 'Living in a fantasy', he saw a TV commercial for a greatest hits collection by Bobby Vee (who recorded a cover version of the song in 1961) and chose the song on the spot: 'We went into a record store that afternoon, bought the record and had the song recorded that night'. It turned out to be a good choice: the single reached number 2 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and the UK singles chart, and also peaked at number 6 in the Dutch Top 40.
My collection: 7" single no. 1151 Found: Disco Market, Den Haag, January 19, 1990 Cost: 1 guilder Tracks: 'More than I can say' / 'Only fooling'
'Hiroshima' was originally recorded by the band Wishful Thinking. Sandra recorded her cover version as a track on her fourth album 'Paintings in yellow'. It was released as its first single in 1989.
Sandra's version reached number 4 in three different countries: Germany, Israel and Switzerland. Additionally, it peaked at number 16 in the French singles chart.
My collection: 7" single no. 2095 Found: Record fair, April 16, 1994 Cost: 2 guilders Tracks: 'Hiroshima' / 'La vista de luna'
The lyrics of 'Lords of the new church' are not primarily religious. Tasmin Archer commented about the song: 'It's about the modern breed of politicians and it was written in the very early Nineties even before things became has bad as they are now.'
The song was released as the third single from Archer's debut album 'Great expectations'. Released in May 1993, it did not perform as well as previous releases from Archer. Although it debuted inside the UK top 40 unlike previous releases, it stalled at number 26 and completely dropped off of the charts three weeks later.
My collection: 7" single no. 2388 Found: Newcastle, July 5, 1995 Cost: 2 pounds Tracks: 'Lords of the new church' / 'Hero'
Personally I was never too fond of this Abba track. The most amusing thing about it was the title. The song was written by band members Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus and their manager Stig Anderson.
The song's release came shortly after their previous single, 'So long', performed disappointingly in terms of charts and sales. (Although the B-side of 'I do, I do, I do, I do, I do' was 'Rock me' in most cases, this Dutch pressing has 'So long' as the B-side.) After the success of 'Waterloo', Abba were having difficulty establishing themselves as an act with longevity. 'I do, I do, I do, I do, I do' became a significant improvement on the international charts. It peaked at number 3 in the Dutch Top 40 and topped the charts in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Switzerland.
My collection: 7" single no. 1862 Found: All that music, Leiden, January 30, 1993 Cost: 2 guilders Tracks: 'I do, I do, I do, I do, I do' / 'So long'
Most people in the Netherlands remember the song 'België' ('Belgium') by het Goede Doel. The song asks that eternal question: 'Where can I go? / I can't go to Germany / They are so stern / Where can I go? / I can't go to China / They act so scary there'. An English version actually exists, it was released as 'Luxembourg' in 1984. However, that one lost a lot of its edge in translation.
'België' was the band's biggest hit, peaking at number 4 in the Dutch Top 40. The track was also quite lengthy, clocking in at 6'20.
My collection: 7" single no. 3766 Found: Marktplaats.nl, received June 3, 2009 Cost: 1 euro Tracks: 'België' / 'Vechten'
I think 'Is it a crime' is Sade's 'Bohemian rhapsody', in that it features a few different pieces of music, once loud, then more intimate. The dynamic range of this song is quite unbelievable, although the style is unmistakably Sade.
'Is it a crime' was the second single from Sade's 1985 album 'Promise'. It wasn't a big hit, peaking at number 49 in the UK singles chart and number 32 in the Dutch Top 40. The highest placing was in Ireland, where it reached number 21.
My collection: 7" single no. 364 Found: Free Record Shop, Den Haag, 1986 Cost: 6 guilders Tracks: 'Is it a crime' / 'Punch drunk'
'Money love' was the first single from Neneh Cherry's second album 'Homebrew'. Both the single and the album disappointed in commercial terms: after the multimillonselling 'Raw like Sushi', everyone involved expected more of the chart performance of both.
The single reached number 23 in the UK singles chart and number 22 in the Dutch Top 40. I bought the single at discount price after it left the chart.
My collection: 7" single no. 1788 Found: Melody Maker, Den Haag, Nvoember 14, 1992 Cost: 4 guilders Tracks: 'Money love' / 'Twisted'
'A hard rain's a gonna fall' was originally written by Bob Dylan in the summer of 1962. He recorded it in December of that year for his second album 'The freewheelin' Bob Dylan'. Some people have suggested that the refrain of the song refers to nuclear fallout, however Dylan disputes that this was a specific reference. Dylan responded to this in 1963: 'No, it's not [about] atomic rain, it's just a hard rain. It isn't the fallout rain. I mean some sort of end that's just gotta happen... In the last verse, when I say, 'the pellets of poison are flooding the waters', that means all the lies that people get told on their radios and in their newspapers.'
Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians recorded a cover version of the song in 1989 for the soundtrack of the Oliver Stone movie 'Born on the fourth of July'. Their version was released as a single, which did not chart in Europe.
My collection: 7" single no. 1194 Found: Melody Maker, Den Haag, March 14, 1990 Cost: 6 guilders Tracks: 'A hard rain's a gonna fall' / 'The early days, Massapequa, 1957' (John Williams)
Purists will probably hate me for writing this, but I think this is what John Lennon might have sounded like if he'd still lived in the Eighties. I remember being thrown when I first heard this song. Julian Lennon, the son of John Lennon and his first wife Cynthia, debuted in 1984 with the album 'Valotte', with 'Too late for goodbyes' being his debut single. The harmonica in this song was played by Jean 'Toots' Thielemans.
The single peaked at number 6 in the US Billboard Hot 100 and the UK singles chart, reaching number 10 in the Dutch Top 40.
My collection: 7" single no. 1679 Found: Parkpop, Den Haag, June 28, 1992 Cost: 2 guilders Tracks: 'Too late for goodbyes' / 'Well I don't know'
The J. Geils Band found commercial success in 1981 when they released the album 'Freeze frame'. The biggest hit from that album was the single 'Centerfold', but the title track, released as the next single, was also a success.
'Freeze frame' reached number 27 in the UK singles chart and number 5 in the Dutch Top 40.
My collection: 7" single no. 2757 Found: House of Rhythm, London, October 29, 1996 Cost: 20p Tracks: 'Freeze Frame' / 'Rage in the cage'
The Stranglers released the album 'Aural sculpture' in 1984. It was recorded in Brussels with Laurie Latham and the band producing. The biggest hit from the album was 'Skin deep', released as its first single.
'Skin deep' reached number 11 in Australia and Ireland, number 15 in the UK and number 27 in the Dutch Top 40.
My collection: 7" single no. 1809 Found: Record fair, Amsterdam, January 9, 1993 Cost: 1 guilder Tracks: 'Skin deep' / 'Here & there'
After Ten Sharp had a big hit with 'You', they released a mini-album in the Netherlands entitled 'Under the water-line'. From this mini-album, which featured 7 tracks, they released a second single, 'Ain't my beating heart'. It sounded like 'You' in a number of ways, in the sense that it was keyboard-driven and it featured the same sound overall. It was a minor success in the Netherlands, peaking at number 32 in the Dutch Top 40.
This single surprised me a couple of times. First when I went to London in 1992, a year after the release of the single, and found the UK version of this single. It was actually made in Holland, but the sleeve was very different from the European one: much simpler and without a photograph of the band. (The sleeve is pictured above.)
Then, in 1997, I found the European version of 'Ain't my beating heart' - but with a bonus single containing an acoustic version of 'You'. I am sure I never saw this limited edition in Dutch shops, so I guess it was released in other countries.
My collection: 7" single no. 1742 Found: Virgin Megastore, London, October 19, 1992 Cost: 1 pound Tracks: 'Ain't my beating heart' / 'Who needs women'
My collection: 7" single no. 2804 Found: Record fair, Amsterdam, January 4, 1997 Cost: 2 guilders Tracks: 'Ain't my beating heart' / 'Who needs women' // 'You (acoustic version)'
Peter Gabriel released his debut solo single in 1977, after leaving the band Genesis, of which he had been the lead singer since its inception. Gabriel actually wrote the song to explain his reasons for leaving the band. The single reached number number 13 in the UK and number 11 in the Dutch Top 40.
On the other side of this 'Old gold' re-release single is the 1980 single 'Games without frontiers'. This track features Kate Bush on backing vocals: she sings 'Jeux sans frontières' (It took me some years to find that out...). The lyric of the song is a critique of nationalism and war, which the song portrays as essentially childish. This single was Gabriel's second hit, peaking at number 4 in the UK singles chart.
My collection: 7" single no. 1022 Found: London, October 17, 1989 Cost: 50p Tracks: 'Solsbury hill' / 'Games without frontiers'
In 1990, Sam Brown released her second album 'April moon'. The album was introduced with the single 'With a little love', a nice pop song that achieved some chart success in the UK (number 23), Germany (number 52) and Australia (number 89).
The single was released in a limited edition box set, featuring a badge and four postcards. When I saw this box set in my favourite record shop at the time, I immediately claimed it. They didn't know the price yet, so I had to come back a week later to have it. It was a long week...
My collection: 7" single no. 1177 Found: Melody Maker, Den Haag, March 17, 1990 Cost: 10 guilders Tracks: 'With a little love' / 'Window people'
Vanessa Paradis released the second single from her third album in January 1993. Like its predecessor 'Be my baby', 'Sunday Mondays' was a track with a very retro feel. No wonder, since the entire album was produced by Lenny Kravitz, the king of retro. The single was a minor success, reaching number 41 in France, number 49 in the UK and number 28 in the Netherlands.
As far as I know, there were no further releases by Paradis on the 7" vinyl format.
My collection: 7" single no. 2356 Found: HMV, London, June 28, 1995 Cost: 1 pound Tracks: 'Sunday Mondays' / 'I'm waiting for the man'
'Lovely day' was already a wellknown song in the Eighties in its original version, recorded by Bill Withers in 1977. For a long time, Withers held the record for the longest held note in the history of pop, for he sings one note towards the end of the song for 18 seconds. The record was only broken in 2000, when A-ha recorded 'Summer moved on', in which lead singer Morten Harkets holds a note for 20 seconds.
Anyway - when Dutch DJ and remixer Ben Liebrand made his 'Sunshine mix' of 'Lovely day', it became an even bigger hit than the original in the Netherlands. Where the song reached number 24 in 1977, in 1988 it reached number 4. In the UK, this remix reached the same position, although in 1977 the original made number 7 there.
My collection: 7" single no. 669 Found: Free Record Shop, Den Haag, October 22, 1988 Cost: 6 guilders Tracks: 'Lovely day (Sunshine mix)' / 'Lovely day'
I can't help it, but I am still suspicious when I listen to any song by Amy Grant. Since she started out as a Christian music performer, I'm always afraid she is secretly trying to brainwash the listener (in this case, me) and getting them to convert to the Christian faith. Take the lyric of 'Every heartbeat' for instance: 'No exception to this rule / I’m simple but I’m no fool / I’ve got a witness happy to say / Every hour, every day'. A witness? What witness? You don't mean God, do you? 'Every heartbeat bears your name / Loud and clear they stake my claim / My red blood runs true blue / And every heartbeat belongs to you'. There she goes again... She's talking about God, isn't she?
Well, maybe I'm paranoid and it's really just a nice little lovesong. That's what I prefer to believe anyway. The single peaked at number 25 in the UK singles chart.
My collection: 7" single no. 2179 Found: House of Rhythm, London, September 27, 1994 Cost: 20p Tracks: 'Every heartbeat (7" Heart and soul mix)' / 'Every heartbeat (7" Body and soul mix)'
With 'Sentinel', Mike Oldfield introduced his album 'Tubular bells II' to the world. The single was a remixed version of a track on the album, produced by Trevor Horn, Mike Oldfield and Tom Newman. It was the most successful single from the album, peaking at number 10 in the UK singles chart.
A remix cd-single appeared at the same time as this vinyl single, featuring three spacey versions of 'Sentinel' by the Orb. I didn't know this cd-single existed until very recently - so I bought it on eBay. That's how it goes these days - for this 7" single I had to fly to London. (Well, not only for this single, but you know what I mean.)
My collection: 7" single no. 1775 Found: Virgin Megastore, London, October 21, 1992 Cost: 2 pounds Tracks: 'Sentinel (Single restructure)' / 'Early stages'
Michael Penn was born on August 1, 1958. His brother is the actor Sean Penn, who was married to Madonna for some time. 'No myth' was his debut single, released in late 1989. It became his first and only top 40 hit in the US Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 13. The single did not chart in Europe.
