After the success of Soulsister's single 'The way to your heart', the previous single 'Like a mountain' was re-released in a remixed version. It was a small success in Belgium, but in other countries, this single did not follow in the footsteps of 'The way to your heart'.
'Black Betty' is a 20th century African-American work song often credited to Huddie 'Lead Belly' Ledbetter as the author, though the earliest recordings are not by him. Some sources claim it is one of Lead Belly's many adaptations of earlier folk material; in this case an 18th century marching cadence about a flint-lock rifle.
The Australian band Midnight Oil specialises in songs with lots of socially conscious and political comments. 'The dead heart' refers to early white settlement in Australia, from the perspective of the Aborigines who had laid claim to the land prior to the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788. The song also gives a mention to the industrialisation of Australia with the words 'Mining companies, pastoral companies, uranium companies, collected companies / Got more right than people / Got more say than people'.
The Time Bandits scored another hit in the Netherlands with the single 'Endless road' in the summer of 1985. Having had a successful run of hits since the early Eighties, it was not much of a surprise that this one reached number 16 in the Dutch Top 40.
'Mindworks' was released as the fourth single from Sam Brown's 1990 album 'April moon'. In the UK, a strictly limited edition featured a pop-up gatefold sleeve, with part of the lyric of the song and Sam Brown's head popping out.
I've never actually seen a dove cry, but I guess that's a poetic license the Purple Majesty took on himself in this song. Prince wrote and composed the tracks after all the other tracks on the album 'Purple rain' (which was also the soundtrack to the movie of the same name) were complete. In addition to vocals, he also played all instruments on the track. Remarkably, there is no bass line in the track. Prince has said that there originally was a bass line, but decided that the song was too conventional with it.
Following up the massive hit 'Walk like an Egyptian' was quite a chore for the Bangles, as they didn't have a lot of these unusual tracks on their album 'Different light'. In the end, the record company opted for 'Walking down your street', in a slightly remixed version when compared to the album version. In the UK, they released the single in a limited edition double pack with 'Walk like an Egyptian' as the free second single.
'Just an illusion' was written by Leee John and Ashley Ingram from the band Imagination, together with their producers Steve Jolley and Tony Swain. The smooth soul sound of the track appealed to a lot of listeners.
Bread broke up in 1974 and lead singer David Gates launched a solo career, as well as Jimmy Griffin. The band come back together in 1976 when their record label expressed interest in another album. David Gates, Jimmy Griffin, Mike Botts and Larry Knechtel returned to the studio that year and recorded the album 'Lost without your love', which was released in January 1977.
The sisters Alie and Doetie de Vries, calling themselves Alice May and Caren Wood, started singing at a very early age. The joined the Karina's in 1974, moving on to the country group Colt 45 in 1976 and in 1977 forming the duo The Lady Pop's. In 1978 they decided to continue as Maywood.
Julian Lennon sounds a lot like his famous father on this 1991 single, 'Saltwater'.The song combines subtle melodies with a lyric full of environmentally conscious themes such as pollution and poverty. The many marvels and feats of human civilization are in sharp contrast with the way we handle our planet. The track features George Harrison on lead guitar.
'What is love?' was Howard Jones' second single, released in November 1983. It reached number 2 in the UK singles chart. What's more, the single was his international breakthrough. It became a hit in various European countries and peaked at number 33 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart during the summer of 1984.
Although Mai Tai made a name for themselves with dance hits like 'Body and soul' and 'History', they tried their luck in 1985 with the ballad 'Am I losing you forever'. Contrary to most Dutch productions, this track had an international sound: it might as well have been sung by an American soul trio.
'Wow' was released as the second single from Kate Bush's second album 'Lionheart'. The single featured an edited version of the song, although it is not actually labelled as such: the first 12 seconds of synthesizer chords were removed from the track.
Phil Collins was playing around with a drum machine when he started saying the chorus of 'One more night'. He later recalled that 'the rest of the song was written very quickly'.
Chris Rea wrote the song 'Josephine' for his daughter of the same name. It was included on his 1985 album 'Shamrock diaries'. (He would pay the same compliment to his youngest daughter Julia on the 1993 album 'Espresso logic'.)
Fish left Marillion in 1988, leaving the band with a big hole in their line-up. This hole was filled when they recruited Steve Hogarth, former keyboardist and sometime vocalist of The Europeans. The band had already recorded some demos for what was to become 'Seasons end', Marillion's fifth album. With Fish - who had written most of the lyrics for the four previous albums - gone, Hogarth set about writing new lyrics for the songs that had been demoed. The album was eventually released in 1989.
Even for foreigners the Dutch single 'Ongelofelijk' ('Unbelievable') is easy to follow: the only lyric in the song is the title plus the phrase 'Het gaat maar door' ('It just goes on'). Makes no sense to you? Well, most Dutch people didn't understand this either, which is why it didn't reach the chart. Personally, I am rather fond of such nonsensical tracks.
The second single from the Pretenders' second album 'Pretenders II' was the dynamic 'Message of love'. It was another UK success for the band, as it peaked at number 11 in the UK singles chart. They also managed to reach number 16 in the Australian singles chart.
The Netherlands organised the 1980 Eurovision Song Contest, stepping in for Israel, which had won the Contest twice in a row but were unable to do this in 1980 because of the fact that it was held at a national holiday. The Dutch used the same setup they had used in 1976, after Teach-In had won the 1975 Eurovision Song Contest.
