There's not much to write about the Moody Blues' 'Nights in white satin' that hasn't already been written about hundreds or thousands of times. The single reached number 19 in the UK singles chart in 1967, number 2 in the Dutch Top 40 in 1968 and number 2 in the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1972. The single was re-released in the UK that same year, and reached number 9 on that occasion.
But the real surprise on this disc - and we know record collecting is full of surprises - is the B-side. 'Cities' is a bit of a doomy look on cities, where 'rivers are sewers' and 'flowers don't grow'. I never heard this track before buying this single, and so it is a real discovery.
My collection: 7" single no. 5455 Found: unknown Tracks: 'Nights in white satin' / 'Cities'
'Comé-comédie' ('Come-Comedy') was the French entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1972, performed by Betty Mars.
The song was performed second on the night. At the close of voting, it had received 81 points, placing 11th in a field of 18 contestants.
The song is a moderately up-tempo number, with Mars singing about the joy which will come when she and her lover say that they love each other. Mars also recorded the song in German, under the title 'Komödiant der Liebe' ('Comedian of love').
My collection: 7" single no. 5613 Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, August 10, 2014 Cost: 1 euro Tracks: 'Comé-comédie' / 'Mon café russe'
"(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang" is a song written and
performed by British synthpop band Heaven 17. It reached number 45 in the
UK singles chart in 1981, despite being banned by the BBC. It was also a minor dance
hit in the US.
The song was written by members Martyn Ware, Ian Craig Marsh and Glenn
Gregory and included on their 1981 debut album 'Penthouse and
Pavement'
In the lyrics fascism and racism are described in an ironic fashion,
using the lexicon of funk music. The lyrics of the song also reference
the UK and US political leaders of the time, Prime Minister Margaret
Thatcher and President Ronald Reagan, respectively, and include
denunciations of both racism and fascism. The song was
banned by the BBC due to concerns by Radio 1's legal department that it
libeled President Reagan.
My collection: 7" single no. 5402 Found: unknown Tracks: '(We don't need this) Fascist groove thang' / 'The decline of the west'
The Belgian band 'De Strangers' (introduced in an earlier post here) delivered possibly the strangest single of their lengthy career with this 'Al da d'Haar... krijde cadeau'. It rougly translates into 'You get all that hair as a gift' and it is a cover of the 1983 Eurovision Song Contest winner 'Si la vie est cadeau', performed by Corinne Hermes.
And, as if that year's Belgian entry wasn't already weird enough (the legendary 'Rendez-vous' by Pas de deux), they included a cover entitled 'Parlez-vous' on the B-side. Amazingly, this single did not get into the Belgian chart.
My collection: 7" single no. 5616 Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, August 10, 2014 Cost: 1 euro Tracks: 'Al da d'haar... krijde cadeau' / 'Parlez-vous'
'Tug of war' is the title track from Paul McCartney’s 1982 album.
Rolling Stone described the song as McCartney's equivalent to John Lennon's 'Imagine'. The song has a clear division between the verses featuring sad lyrics about the struggle to survive, the necessity of conflict (pushing and pulling) and the hopeful refrain, in which McCartney looks for a future where these struggles are no longer necessary.
The lyrics are seen as describing his complex relationship with Lennon, who was killed two years prior.
The single reached number 53 in both the UK singles chart and the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, It failed to chart everywhere else.
My collection: 7" single no. 5437 Found: unknown Tracks: 'Tug of war' / 'Get it' (duet with Carl Perkins)
Somehow, the music press and media were taking guitar bands from Seattle very seriously at the beginning of the Nineties. The previous obsession with drugs-fuelled dance music was forgotten, everyone suddenly had to listen to screaming bipolar maniacs who'd just come from rehearsal studios without ever seriously studying things like melody or lyrics.
It was refreshing, therefore, that 'Weird Al' Yankovic came with his parody on Nirvana's 'Smells like teen spirit'. Entitled 'Smells like Nirvana', it pokes fun at the socalled 'grunge' band from Seattle and their largely atrocious music. The single reached number 35 in the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, number 48 in Canada, number 38 in Sweden, number 24 in Australia and a rather surprising number 4 in New Zealand!
My collection: 7" single no. 5417 Found: unknown Tracks: 'Smells like Nirvana' / 'Waffle king'
'Always on the run' was the first single released from Lenny Kravitz's 1991 album 'Mama said'. by Lenny Kravitz. It features a contribution from former Guns N' Roses guitarist, Slash. Slash had written the music for the song with the original intention of releasing it on a Guns N' Roses studio album but since former drummer Steven Adler had difficulty playing the song, he saved it for this eventual collaboration with Kravitz.
This limited edition 7" single pack features a hand written lyric sheet (well, Lenny's handwriting printed on a piece of paper, that is), a postcard and a European Tour Map. It didn't help sales in the UK: the single only reached number 41 in the singles chart.
My collection: 7" single no. 5434 Found: unknown Tracks: 'Always on the run' / 'Always on the run (instrumental)'
'Just nu!' ('Right now!') was the Swedish entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1980, performed by Tomas Ledin.
The song talks about a man tired of the monotonous life in the city, in that moment he wants to live his life, he wants to feel the air in his lungs and perhaps to travel to Paris. During the performance at Eurovision, the cable was accidentally plugged out of Tomas
Ledin's microphone. He was able to plug it in again, just in time before the start of
the second verse.
The song was performed 8th on the night. At the close of voting, it had received 47 points, placing 10th in a field of 19 competitors.
My collection: 7" single no. 5587 Found: KEG Records, Sweden, received August 1, 2014 Cost: 2 euro Tracks: 'Just nu!' / 'Det är säkert värt ett försök'
'Is this love' was originally released by Bob Marley on his 1978 album 'Kaya'. The song became one of the best known Marley songs and the studio version was part of the compilation 'Legend'. It peaked at number 9 in the UK charts upon its release in 1978.
This single was released a year later, featuring the live version taken from the album 'Babylon by bus', recorded in Paris in 1978.
My collection: 7" single no. 5454
Found: unknown
Tracks: 'Is this love [live]' / 'Kinky reggae [live]'
I got to know The Doors thanks to a TV documentary by Dutch broadcaster Veronica in the mid-Eighties. I missed the band when they were around due to being born in 1970, but the age of 15 is a great time to get in touch with the moody ramblings of Jim Morrison, I guess.
And so I hope that many more youngsters were around in 1991 when the movie 'The Doors', starring Val Kilmer, was released in cinemas worldwide. Oliver Stone directed this movie loosely based on Morrison's life and career, and although I have virtually no recollection of that movie, the music of course stood up firmly. The record company even released this single to coincide with the cinema release. 'Break on through' is nice enough, but one of my favourite Doors-tracks graces the B-side: 'Love street', taken from their most engaging album 'Waiting for the sun'.
My collection: 7" single no. 5387 Found: unknown Tracks: 'Break on through' / 'Love street'
'Come to my aid' was released as the second single from their debut album 'Picture book'. Five singles were taken from the album, of which this one was the least successful one, peaking at number 66 in the UK singles chart. It did manage to reach number 11 in Italy and number 24 in New Zealand as well, but in other countries, this single did not chart.
According to Wikipedia, 'Picture book' was included in Robert Dimery's '1001 Albums you must hear before you die'. I wouldn't go quite that far, personally, but the singles from this album are nice enough.
My collection: 7" single no. 5444 Found: unknown Tracks: 'Come to my aid' / 'Valentine'
I'm not exactly thrilled when I buy a damaged 7" single (the pronged center is missing) without a picture sleeve (although this single was not released in a picture sleeve, apparently). However, in this case, the single was very cheap, and so I just decided to order it along with a couple of other discs that were, fortunately, in better shape. Sometimes collecting records is just about the music contained on the disc...
So what is this? The English version of Gigliola Cinquetti's 1974 Eurovision entry, 'Si'. Entitled 'Go (before you break my heart)'. This version actually got to number 8 in the UK singles chart, which is a remarkable achievement for any non-winning song from the Contest.
My collection: 7" single no. 5599 Found: Discogs.com, received August 5, 2014 Cost: 40 pence Tracks: 'Go (before you break my heart)' / 'Si'
'Dressed for success' was released on June 28, 1988 as the third single from the Swedish pop duo Roxette's 1988 album 'Look Sharp!'. Originally, 'Dressed for success' was their first Swedish single to promote that album in 1988. It was re-released after 'The look' had become a worldwide hit.
The recording of the song was marked by a dispute between the band members but this apparently contributed to the strength of Marie's performance. According to her: "I was so mad when I did it. Everything about that session went wrong, we argued about the arrangement, we changed the key, I was dead tired of the song when I went in to do a guide vocal. Did it in one blast and suddenly realized, "hmm... this is it"."
My collection: 7" single no. 5465 Found: unknown Tracks: 'Dressed for success' / 'The voice'
When you talk about limited edition singles, the poster sleeve is another nice giveaway used by record companies to boost sales. Grace Jones is probably the most unlikely poster girl around. The photograph on the cover of this single is replicated as a 21" x 14" poster inside, and although it is a provocative pose, I wouldn't exactly choose this as a decoration on my wall.
The music, fortunately, is for listening, and listening well. Both 'Pull up to the bumper' and 'La vie en rose' have been big hits for Grace Jones in 1981 and 1977 respectively, and this package sought to capitalize on the big success of 'Slave to the rhythm' in 1985. The strategy worked: this single got to number 12, which was the exact same peak position as 'Slave to the rhythm' a few months earlier.
My collection: 7" single no. 5407 Found: unknown Tracks: 'Pull up to the bumper' / 'La vie en rose'
Although my latest visit to London was a bit of a disappointment with respect to record hunting, I still managed to get hold of one double single. Ahh, the double single... it's a feast to behold. Often these were housed in luxury gatefold sleeves, with extra artwork and, if you were very lucky, even a booklet.
This double single is less lavish: it's a regular sleeve with two discs crammed in, and a rather blunt sticker on the front. Still, the sticker served its purpose, otherwise I would not have noted the remix version of 'Favourite shirts' enclosed in this package - and that's why I bought it. Quite a good deal actually: disc one isn't half bad.
My collection: 7" single no. 5644 Found: Alan's Records, London, September 9, 2014 Cost: 1 pound Tracks: 'Laura' / 'Over the weekend (part one)' // 'Favourite shirts (remix)' / 'Calling captain autumn (remix)'
I have quite an interesting Jeff Wayne collection, consisting basically of two singles: 'The eve of the war' and 'Forever autumn'. I am adding yet another one to it with today's entry. This is the Spanish version. As you can see, the song is titled 'La vespera de la guerra', and although a Spanish translation of Jeff Wayne's concept album 'War of the world' exists, this is just the regular English version. And the original version at that, with Chris Thompson doing vocal duties.
As you can see, the picture used here was also used for the 1989 re-release of Forever autumn. The picture was not used on other European versions of Eve of the war, as you can see in this example. This is what makes collecting vinyl so interesting: there are always new surprises around the corner.
My collection: 7" single no. 5413 Found: unknown Tracks: 'The eve of the war' / 'The red weed'
The Strangers are a Belgian band, hailing from Antwerp. They became famous for singing satirical lyrics on wellknown hits. The band was formed on May 8, 1952 by Gust Torfs, Alex Boeye, Pol Ballansee and John Dewilde. In the early days they would perform in standard Dutch, but they soon moved to performing in Antwerp dialect.
Some of their hits were derived from Eurovision hits, and I recently managed to buy several of those... in Antwerp, of course. The first of these is 1976's 'Naa moette traawe', a version of Eurovision winner Brotherhood of Man's 'Save your kisses for me'. The B-side was their version of that year's runner-up 'Un deux troi' by Catherine Ferry. This single reached number 17 in the Belgian singles chart.
My collection: 7" single no. 5615 Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerp, August 10, 2014 Cost: 1 euro Tracks: 'Naa moette traawe' / 'Een twee drij'
'Keep it comin' love' is the quintessential disco song, recorded in 1977 by KC and the Sunshine Band. It appeared on their 1977 album 'Part 3'. The song, like its predecessor 'That's the way (I like it)', became widely successful due to its sexual double entendres.
The single peaked at number 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and reached number 1 in Canada.It was also a top 10 hit in most of Europe, but amazingly only got to number 31 in the UK singles chart.
My collection: 7" single no. 5426 Found: unknown Tracks: 'Keep it comin' love' / 'Baby I love you'
I featured Stool Pigeon five years ago on this very blog, but the version featured here actually predates that one. That one was a remix of this one. What's more, this single also features another hit, 'I'm a wonderful thing, baby'. The former reached number 7 in the UK singles chart, whereas the latter got to number 4.
This copy was actually in very bad shape when I got it, with dirty stains on the vinyl. Cleaned it up with some dishwashing liquid, and the result is a pretty clean piece of vinyl.
My collection: 7" single no. 5473 Found: unknown Tracks: 'Stool pigeon' / 'I'm a wonderful thing baby'
'Sing children sing' was originally released in 1971 as on Lesley Duncan's album of the same name. The song was re-recorded in 1979 by Lesley Duncan with Pete Townsend,
Phil Lynott, Madelaine Bell, Joe Brown, Vicky Brown, Paddy Bush and
Kate Bush as a charity single, with all proceeds going towards the
United Nations' International Year Of The Child, helping children in
need.
I recently bought this single, realising that although my collection of Kate Bush singles is becoming rather complete, this guest spot was still missing - although I do have a recording of this track on a CD somewhere. Time to get it, and so now I have it.
My collection: 7" single no. 5651 Found: eBay.co.uk, received October 18, 2014 Cost: 4 pounds Tracks: 'Sing children sing' / 'Rainbow games'
