'Lolly lolly' was the second single released from Wendy & Lisa's second album 'Fruit at the bottom' (1989). The single was remixed by their former employer Prince, who made the track sound bouncier and funkier than on the album.
Despite his efforts, the single was only a minor hit in the UK, peaking at number 64. However, in the Netherlands 'Lolly lolly' shot to number 8.
My collection: 7" single no. 936 Found: Free Record Shop, Den Haag, July 7, 1989 Cost: 6 guilders Tracks: 'Lolly lolly' / 'Hip hop love'
Back in 1984, while I was constantly watching television to see music videos, I got to know the duo Naked Eyes thanks to their video of '(What) In the name of love'. They were unknown in the Netherlands, but in the UK - where Music Box was based - they already had one hit under their belt with 'Always something there to remind me'.
It took me years to find this single, but I finally did in 1995. What a relief! It was not a hit for Naked Eyes, even though the music video was a regular on television in the summer of 1984.
My collection: 7" single no. 2431 Found: August 19, 1995 Cost: 2 guilders Tracks: '(What) In the name of love' / 'Two heads together'
Yazoo released their second album 'You and me both' in 1982, and 'The other side of love' was the first single taken from that album. It was an uptempo song with a strong synth hook. Alison Moyet's soulful vocals completed the package.
While the album reached the top of the UK albums chart, the single stalled just outside the top 10, peaking at number 13. It's an energetic sort of song that has stood the test of time.
My collection: 7" single no. 177 Found: Disco Market, Den Haag, 1982 Cost: 3,5 guilders Tracks: 'The other side of love' / 'Ode to boy'
Duran Duran was chosen to do the theme song of the 1984 James Bond movie 'A view to a kill' after bassist John Taylor (a lifelong Bond fan) approached producer Cubby Broccoli at a party and asked: 'When are you going to get someone decent to do one of your theme songs?'. As a result, the band was introduced to Bond composer John Barry. Simon le Bon comments: 'He didn't really come up with any of the basic musical ideas. He heard what we came up with and he put them into an order. And that's why it happened so quickly because he was able to separate the good ideas from the bad ones, and he arranged them.'
The song was completed in April, and was released worldwide in May 1984. It was the last track that the original five members of Duran Duran recorded together until their reunion sixteen years later, in 2001.
My collection: 7" single no. 1866 Found: Disco Market, Den Haag, February 13, 1993 Cost: 1 guilder Tracks: 'A view to a kill' / 'A view to a kill (That fatal kiss)'
In 1993, Kim Appleby released her second solo album 'Breakaway'. The album was preceded by this single, 'Light of the world'. With the material co-written with her sister Mel Appleby all used up, she turned to new co-writers Davidge and Slateford to make this track. You would think that such an uplifting song housed in a sexy sleeve like this one would have been a big hit.
But these were strange times; people were still listening to tuneless, depressing 'grunge rock' and dance was not as en vogue as it was before. Hence, 'Light of the world' stalled at number 41 in the UK singles chart and did not chart in other territories.
My collection: 7" single no. 2001 Found: London, October 18, 1993 Cost: 2 pounds Tracks: 'Light of the world' / 'Don't worry'
According to Australian music critic Molly Meldrum the lyric of Madonna's 'The power of goodbye' was written about Madonna's ex-husband Sean Penn. The track was released as a single in the fall of 1998. The single reached number 6 in the UK and the Netherlands, but stalled at number 11 in the US Billboard Hot 100.
'The power of goodbye' was taken from Madonna's 1998 album 'Ray of light', the best work of her career. After this single, her singles would slowly fall back to the mediocre material she's issuing these days.
My collection: 7" single no. 3046 Found: Record fair, Rotterdam, December 23, 1998 Cost: 10 guilders Tracks: 'The power of goodbye' / 'Mer girl'
Nicky Ryan enters the dark castle, a gloomy place where few people ever dare to enter. 'Enya? Enya? Where are you?' A dark rumbling comes from afar, a cough, a rattle, and then a deep, dark voice sounds from across the hall. -'Who the hell is that?' 'It's Nicky. Enya? I've got a request...' - 'Go away, I want to sleep', comes the answer, and another coughing fit ensues. 'But I got a call from the record company. They want you to record some vocals for this movie soundtrack.' - 'Vocals? Are you mad?', rumbles the voice. 'Do you think I still have that same voice I had ten years ago? Now where did I keep my fags and my whiskey...' 'Enya, please. We could make a good deal of money on this.' - 'But I can't, I just can't. Listen to me, man! You really think I could pull it off with this? I sound like Tom Waits or Marianne Faithfull...' Nicky sighs. The darkness of the castle makes him depressed. 'Maybe you're right... But if we slow down the music, perhaps...? ' A silence. Then: 'How much money are we talking about?'
Exclusively on this blog: the original version of 'Book of days', as recorded in Enya's dark castle.
My collection: 7" single no.1731 (pictured above) Found: Virgin Megastore, London, October 17, 1992 Cost: 1 pound Tracks: 'Book of days' / 'As baile'
My collection: 7" single no. 2239 (pictured below) Found: Record fair, February 18, 1995 Cost: 3 guilders Tracks: 'Book of days' / 'On your shore'
After UB40 scored a massive hit with 'I got you babe' (a duet with Chrissie Hynde from the Pretenders), they released a song that I thought was about a thousand times better than that piece of outdated drivel. 'Don't break my heart' was composed by the band, as opposed to the aforementioned cover version.
They managed to reach number 3 in the UK singles chart with this, plus number 13 in the Dutch Top 40.
My collection: 7" single no. 349 Found: 1985 Cost: 6 guilders Tracks: 'Don't break my heart' / 'Mek ya rok'
I don't know whether it was such a wise move for Technotronic to release a Megamix as a single in the summer of 1990, within months of their breakthrough. If anythnig, it showed how monotonous and interchangeable their track were. 'Pump up the jam', 'Get up' and 'This beat is Technotronic' are all here in the mix, and it's amazing how well they fit together. Or, rather, it's not amazing, it's rather obvious.
This megamix was put together by The Unity Mixers, a.k.a. Patrick Samoy and Luc Rigaux. The single peaked at number 6 in the UK, number 9 in Germany and number 26 in the Netherlands.
My collection: 7" single no. 1260 Found: Melody Maker, Den Haag, July 12, 1990 Cost: 6 guilders Tracks: 'Megamix' / 'Raw update (remix)'
'Every little kiss' was released as the second single from Bruce Hornsby and the Range's 1986 album 'The way it is'. The single reached number14 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 32 in the Dutch Top 40, but didn't chart in the UK.
The B-side of this single was produced by Huey Lewis, who had a successful career in pop himself in the first half of the Eighties.
My collection: 7" single no. 2403 Found: Rotterdam, July 1995 Cost: 1 guilder Tracks: 'Every little kiss' / 'The river runs low'
'Hand on your heart' was released as the first single from Kylie Minogue's second album, 'Enjoy yourself'. It was another track written and produced by Stock, Aitken & Waterman, so nothing really had changed: Kylie was still making radiofriendly commercial pop without pretences.
The single became her third number 1 hit in the UK, while it reached number 4 in Australia and number 19 in the Dutch Top 40.
My collection: 7" single no. 3324 Found: Record fair, Utrecht, March 24, 2001 Cost: 1 guilder Tracks: 'Hand on your heart' / 'Just wanna love you'
In 2000, Roxanne Wilde (Kim Wilde's sister), Morgan Quaintance, Joe Holweger and Tom Hanna signed to Polydor records as Dimestars. They tried to forge a career for themselves, starting off with the single 'Solo so long'. It was released as a cd-single and cassette single, and this 12" single, the only vinyl release by Dimestars as far as I know.
'Solo so long' did not chart. The follow-up single 'My superstar', released in 2001, did. Their album 'Living for the weekend' was pressed and distributed as a promotional disc, but never got a commercial release in the end. Dimestars toured with Kylie Minogue in 2001, but split up after their career didn't take off. Right now, Roxanne Wilde is one of Kylie's backing singers during her current world tour.
My collection: 12" single no. 513 Found: HMV, London, 2000 Cost: 5 pounds Tracks: 'Solo so long (Cut la Roc remix)' / 'Solo so long (radio edit)'
In October 1981, after a year's absence from the charts, Earth and Fire released their single 'Dream'. It was the first single from their as-yet-untitled new album. When it was released, it was called 'Andromeda girl'. Two further singles, 'Tell me why' and 'Love is an ocean' were released from that album, but neither reached the Dutch Top 40.
Thus, this single was the only successful release, peaking at number 27 in November 1981. The B-side 'Jerney's day off' sounds like an original title for the instrumental version of 'Dream', but instead it is an original instrumental track.
My collection: 7" single no. 1384 Found: All that music, Leiden, February 22, 1991 Cost: 2 guilders Tracks: 'Dream' / 'Jerney's day off'
With the benefit of hindsight, I think you can conclude that the lack of success for Kajagoogoo can be explained by their inconsistence in sound. After the hard rock sound of 'Big apple', they suddenly presented 'The lion's mouth', a brass-driven affair.
The single reached number 25 in the UK singles chart but failed to chart in many European countries. 25 years later, this track still sounds pretty fresh.
My collection: 7" single no. 3078 Found: Beanos, East Croydon, London, May 10, 1999 Cost: 2 pounds Tracks: 'The lion's mouth' / 'The garden (instrumental)'
'Once upon a long ago' was recorded as a new track for Paul McCartney's 1987 compilation album 'All the best!'. The track was produced by Phil Ramone and mixed by George Martin. Personally, I think it's one of McCartney's most accomplished tracks, not least because of the moving violin solo by Nigel Kennedy.
The single reached number 10 in the UK singles chart, McCartney's last top 10 hit in the UK. It did slightly better in the Netherlands, peaking at number 6. The single was not released in the USA.
My collection: 7" single no. 2199 Found: Record fair, Rotterdam, October 8, 1994 Cost: 3 guilders Tracks: 'Once upon a long ago' / 'Back on my feet'
'Kiss them for me' was written by Siouxsie & the Banshees and produced by Stephen Hague. It was released in 1991 as the first single from the band's tenth studio album 'Superstition'. The song presented a change in musical direction for Siouxsie & the Banshees — adopting a much more straightforward pop-oriented feel than previous tracks, due in large part to Hague's production work.
The single became their biggest hit in the USA, peaking at number 23 in the US Billboard Hot 100. In the UK, the single reached number 32.
My collection: 7" single no. 1539 Found: Record fair, October 27, 1991 Cost: 7 guilders Tracks: 'Kiss them for me' / 'Return'
'Brood en spelen' ('Bread and games') was an unsuccessful single release from het Goede Doel's 1984 album 'Tempo Doeloe'. The story behind this one was an unfortunate one: the band made a deal with successful Dutch DJ Frits Spits to give him the premiere of this single on the radio. Then the record company suddenly released a different track from the album without the band knowing, and the DJ as a result refused to play their singles at all. Furthermore, Dutch language music was losing its popularity in the Netherlands as a result of the most popular band, Doe Maar, breaking up.
The B-side of this single is a German version of the band's song 'Alleen' ('Alone'). The band recorded a whole album's worth of German material, but when it was released in January 1985, the German record company decided not to promote it. The band was in a bit of trouble.
My collection: 7"single no. 3765 Found: Marktplaat.nl. received June 3, 2009 Cost: 1 euro Tracks: 'Brood en spelen' / 'Allein'
Keane's song 'A bad dream' was partially based on the poem 'An Irish Airman foresees his death' by W.B. Yeats. Tim Rice-Oxley explains: 'We wanted to get a balance between a kinda dream sequence. It starts very quietly, and I love the idea of being in a plane, like a Spitfire or something, being so high up in the sky that you can't hear the guns below you and so on. And it's almost got a serene silence which is what this Yeats poem seemed to really express. The song starts very quietly, but it gets huge and angry as it goes on... The big distorted washy piano sound in the middle is a pretty vast sound and it's I guess an attempt to express all that anger bursting out.'
The track was released as the sixth and final single from Keane's album 'Under the iron sea' in January 2007. Although it became Keane's first single to fail to reach the UK Top 20, it peaked at number 23 in the UK singles chart.
My collection: 7" single no. 3491 Found: eBay.co.uk, received December 20, 2008 Cost: 3 pounds Tracks: 'A bad dream' / 'She sells sanctuary'
Jim Diamond was born on September 28, 1953 in Glasgow, Scotland. His big break came in 1982 as part of the band Ph.D. After this band folded, Diamond went solo. He recorded the sloppy ballad 'I should have known better', which became a UK number 1, and also reached number 3 in the Dutch Top 40.
When 'I should have known better' reached number 1 in the UK, Band Aid just released their charity single 'Do they know it's Christmas?'. He requested publicly that people not buy his single, but instead buy that single.
My collection: 7" single no. 251 Found: Wouters, Den Haag, December 1984 Cost: 6 guilders Tracks: 'I should have known better' / 'Impossible dream'
'Valotte' was the title track of Julian Lennon's debut album. It was written by Lennon, Justin Clayton and Carlton Morales and recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The first line of the chorus, 'Sitting on a pebble by the river playing guitar', was written by Lennon, inspired by the Tennessee River in Muscle Shoals.
The track was released as a single in December 1984. It reached number 9 in the US Billboard Hot 100, but was significantly less successful in the UK, where it only reached number 55. This single was released with a limited edition poster sleeve in the UK.
My collection: 7" single no. 2202 Found: Record fair, Rotterdam, October 8, 1994 Cost: 3 guilders Tracks: 'Valotte' / 'Let me be'
'Lolly lolly' was the second single released from Wendy & Lisa's second album 'Fruit at the bottom' (1989). The single was remixed by their former employer Prince, who made the track sound bouncier and funkier than on the album.
