In 1981, the Dutch band Urban Heroes record and release their second album: 'The age of Urban Heroes'. The track 'Habadaba riwikidi' is released as a single and reaches number 21 in the Dutch Top 40. It remains their biggest hit.
In 1979, Gerry Rafferty had to come up with a follow-up to his very successful debut solo album 'City to city' (1978), which featured his best known hit 'Baker Street'. The result was 'Night owl', released in June 1979.
Hot Chocolate's 1976 single 'Man to man' was remarkable for its lyric: it's about a man who confronts the new lover of his wife and mother of their two children, asking him to 'love her' and 'love our children too'. It's a remarkable thing to do, especially for men at that time.
Patty Pravo was born on April 9, 1948 in Venice, Italy as Nicoletta Strambelli. She studied at the conservatory institute of Benedetto Marcello. At the age of fifteen, she left home to live in London and then Rome where she began her career singing in the Piper Club. In 1966 she made her first single, 'Ragazzo triste' ('Sad Boy'), an Italian version of the song 'But you're mine' by Sonny & Cher.
One of the synthpop bands of the early Eighties was Heaven 17, formed by Glenn Gregory, Ian Craig-Marsh and Martyn Ware, after the latter two had left Human League.
The song 'Just one cornetto' started out as an adaptation of the Italian traditional 'O sole mio' in this television advert. It was slightly rewritten and recorded by the Brighton retro/busker band Pookiesnackenburger, released as a single on Stiff records in 1982.
Contrary to all the R&B and hiphop dross they make today, black artists used to actually come up with good songs every once in a while, back in the Eighties. Alexander O'Neal's 'Criticize' is a good example: a catchy tune with aggressively delivered vocals. The track was produced by Jellybean, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, which makes it sound almost like a Janet Jackson track.
After their second single 'Fred Astaire' reached number 18 in the Dutch Top 40, attention for the Dutch synthpop group Mo was growing. They do a tour around the country, with mixes responses from the audience.
The impact of the fall of the Berlin wall was so big, that even Austria delivered a song about the subject on the 1990 Eurovision Song Contest. The song was performed by Simone Stelzer, who was born on October 1, 1969 in Vienna.
The Nolans released their album 'Making waves' in 1980. While it only peaked at number 11 in the albums chart, it had the longest chart run of their career, spanning 33 weeks. Four singles were taken from the album, of which 'Attention to me' was the best known.
Not to be confused with the 1975 track by Fleetwood Mac, 'Landslide' was written by Olivia Newton-John's producer John Farrar for her 1981 album 'Physical'. It was released as the third single from the album in early 1982.
Dutch broadcaster Veronica had some success in the late Eighties with the weekly drama 'Spijkerhoek'. The story focused on two families with children in their late puberty. The son of one family was a biker and the daughter of the other family wanted to make it big in the music scene. Actress Mary-Lou van Steenis played Patty, who got to record a song called 'Wonderful'. It's no surprise that this song was released as a single to promote the television series even further. It turned out to be a hit, too, peaking at number 2 in the Dutch Top 40.
My brother mentioned last week that he was looking for this song. The title and performer stuck in my head for some reason, and when I went shopping the next day, imagine my surprise when I came across this single. I figured I could take it with me. If I didn't like it at least he would have an addition to his collection. As it turns out, I like the track a lot - bad luck for him.
Every now and again, one has to take into account all the strong points of a particular single. As you can see on this sleeve, this single by the Dutch band the Tamara's has at least two strong points. I became interested enough anyway to find out what this single was all about.
Trevor Horn must be one of the most impressive producers out there, as he's been responsible for so many great records. I am certainly not the only person to think this, since when he produced Godley & Creme's 1985 single 'Cry', it was played to death on radio and television at the time. So much so, that I became sick of the track altogether. Now, 25 years later, I finally brought myself to the point where I could buy and listen to it again.
After the breakup of his band Bread, David Gates recorded a solo album entitled 'First', which in my book is definitely a classic album. I never really knew how many singles were taken from that album, but I came across another one, and despite the state it was in, I knew I had to have it.
In 1984, Audrey Landers recorded 'Mi Amor' as a duet with Camilo Sesto. He was born on September 16, 1946 as Camilo Blanes Cortés and became a prominent performer of Spanish pop music in the Seventies and Eighties.
Over the past year, I have made an effort in completing some artist discographies. One of those artists was the British band the Korgis. They have released many singles in the first half of the Eighties, and most of them turn up in second hand shops for really good prices.
'Sound and vision' was recorded by David Bowie on his 1977 album 'Low'. The track features a lengthy introduction with guitar and synthesizer, followed by withdrawn lyrics, inspired by the cocaine-fueled paranoia the singer had lived in while residing in Los Angeles. In keeping with the minimalist approach of Low, Visconti and Bowie originally recorded the track as an instrumental, bar the backing vocal (performed by Visconti’s wife, Mary Hopkin). Bowie then recorded his vocal after the rest of the band had left the studio, before trimming verses off the lyric.
Tony Sherman's version of 'Dancing in the dark' was released in 1983, shortly after Kim Wilde's version. The song was unsuccessful in both versions, but Tony Sherman's version was only released in the Netherlands.