Level 42 members Gary Husband and Mark King wrote 'Tracie' and recorded it on their 1988 studio album 'Staring at the sun'.
For a little while in the Eighties, the Dutch group 'Toontje Lager' were very hot. After the very successful albums 'Erop of eronder' (1982) and 'Stiekem dansen' (1983) the band suddenly failed to attract lots of attention. Their singles flopped and they didn't even record an album anymore.
Attentive readers of this blog will recall I posted a 1989 remix of M's 'Popmuzik' on this blog back in August 2009. I bought that one in the UK. It appears that the Netherlands also released a remix of 'Popmuzik' that same year, except this one was made by Ben Liebrand, the Dutch DJ who had become a household name during the Eighties.
I think 'Someone somewhere (in summertime)' is my favourite Simple Minds song of all times. Still, it took me this long to find a copy of the single. Fortunately, it is a UK pressing so that's made it worthwhile waiting.
The British doo-wop revival band Darts were very successful in the Seventies. The eight piece band had three successive number 2 hits in the UK singles chart with covers of early U.S. rock and roll and R&B songs.
'Love games' was the first single taken from Level 42's debut album and their first chart success. This 12" single features the full length version of the track, which is over seven minutes long.
The British band King were very successful in the UK in 1984, and so it didn't take long for the record company to realise that they could also have a shot at launching the band in the USA. That's where this 12" single was made, and this copy was released for promotion as a gold stamp on the back of the sleeve proves.
I have a copy of the single by K-Ram called 'Menage a trois'. Some time after buying the single I found this 12" single and I decided I wanted to hear the remix - especially since I could buy the 12" single for a low price.
Japan member Mick Karn released his solo single 'Sensitive' in 1982. On the track, he collaborated with Ricky Wilde, who had just had his production debut on his sister's debut album 'Kim Wilde' in 1981. Ricky produced the track and also performed guitar and keyboards on it.
Tori Amos has made some beautiful music during the Nineties, but her career took a bizarre turn in 1996 when her record company thought it would be a great idea to remix her songs from the album 'Boys for Pele'. The remix of 'Professional widow' sounded nothing like the original and was a random collection of noises put together by one Armand van Helden, but it gave her a number 1 hit in the UK.
Probably the biggest asset of the British band The Mission is that sometimes they used the angelic voice of Julianne Regan from All about Eve for their backing vocals. They did this, for instance, on their 1987 single 'Severina'. It was great that this 12" remix of 'Severina' highlights her voice even more.
In 1981, Kim Wilde debuted with the single 'Kids in America'. It was a big hit all over Europe, but in the USA it took almost a year for it to be released. When it was released, it did reach the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at number 25.
The fourth single from Frank Boeijen's debut solo album 'Wilde bloemen' ('Wild flowers') was the track 'Onschuld' ('Innocence'). It was re-recorded in June 1992, which didn't help its chart performance incidentally: like the other three singles from the album, it didn't chart in the Netherlands.
To this day, I am still mystified as to why the Banderas only ever recorded one album. Their music was accessible, the voice of Caroline Buckley sounded a lot like Madonna's - except better - and their album 'Ripe' was one of the best records of 1991 - in my opinion of course.
Not only did Billy Ocean record different versions of his song 'Caribbean queen', entitled 'African queen' and 'European queen', but there were also different edits of those songs. This single of 'European queen' features an edit which is shorter by 30 seconds when compared to the album version, but also an instrumental version which is actually longer than the album version! It's only 10 seconds longer, but still...
'Caribbean queen' was recorded by Billy Ocean in 1984 with Robert John 'Mutt' Lange co-writing and producing the track. The single reached number 6 in the UK singles chart, number 2 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 15 in the Dutch Top 40.
Following on from their hugely successful 1984 album 'Into the gap', the Thompson Twins experienced some troubles with their follow-up, 'Here's to future days' (1985). Frontman Tom Bailey was diagnosed with nervous exhaustion just before the release of the album and holding off on its release eventually led to reconsideration of the whole project. After Bailey's recovery, they re-recorded the album with producer Nile Rodgers taking over from Alex Sadkin.
Kirsty MacColl wrote and recorded 'They don't know' in 1979. It was a popular song on the radio in the UK, but a strike at her distributors prevented the single from being shipped and promoted properly, preventing release of the single. The song was not included on any album, but later appeared on a compilation album 'Galore' (amongst others).
The second single release by the Dutch band Time Bandits was not as succesful as their debut. Whereas 'Live it up' soared to number 9 in the Dutch Top 40, this single did not chart.
'Ordinary lives' was released in early 1989 as the first single from the Bee Gees' sixteenth studio album 'One'. Following the premature death of their younger brother Andy Gibb in 1988, the Bee Gees dedicated this song and their new album to him.
