Bring me to life (Synthesis) - Evanescence

Evanescence's exercise of fusing their hardrock tracks with a symphonic orchestra on the album 'Synthesis' has created one of the best albums of recent years, in my opinion. This picture disc single was released in a limited edition of 499 copies (one might wonder where number 500 went), distributed with the German rock magazine Sonic Seducer.

When I ordered that magazine last year it came with a cd-single, but for some reason the online shop recently carried a version that also included this picture disc 7". Oh well, I had to buy it - albeit grudgingly.

My collection: 7" single no. 6309
Found: Sonic Seducer webshop, received July 29, 2020
Cost: 10 euro
Tracks: 'Bring me to life (Synthesis)' / 'Bring me to life (Synthesis) (instrumental)'

You'll always find me in the kitchen at parties - Jona Lewie

During holidays I make a point of visiting local record shops, which this year was a bit of a challenge since the small town of Dahn in Germany didn't have any and I only had a few hours to visit the inner city of Worms, where one record shop was located. But I did get there, so I had a chance to check it out.

Unfortunately the shop only had one box of 7" singles, and they were all Record Store Day releases too. You know, Record Store Day is the annual event that causes record companies to release horribly expensive items that are unavailable to the real fans of artists who are then forced to buy the items at inflated prices via Ebay. What's left in shops are usually the discs that only a few people are after. And so it was in this case. However, I did find one copy of this single, pressed on green vinyl for Record Store Day 2016. It is a re-edition of Jona Lewie's single from 1980. Interestingly, the B-side of this edition is 'Hallelujah Europa', which was released as a single in 1978.

My collection: 7" single no. 6307
Found: Heaven Records, Worms (Germany)
Cost: 5 euro
Tracks: 'You'll always find me in the kitches at parties' / 'Hallelujah Europa'

Five miles out - Mike Oldfield

You might wonder why I bought this single, when I've already got a copy of Mike Oldfield's Five miles out. The answer is quite simple: this is a picture disc - and picture discs are always great to have, especially when they come quite cheap. In this case, I ordered it together with a couple of cd's.

Musically, this is a confusing piece, and certainly not 'hit material', although it did reach number 43 in the UK singles chart and number 42 in the German singles chart.


My collection: 7" single no. 6306
Found: Discogs.com, received July 15, 2020
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'Five miles out' / 'Live punkadiddle'

Your friend - George McCurn

George McCurn was born on January 21, 1920 in Chicago. He was a bass singer who started off singing gospel and switched to pop in the Sixties. He had a hit in 1963 with 'I'm just a country boy'. His album 'Country boy goes to town' followed soon after. In 1964, he released this single, 'Your friend', a song written by Marty Wilde. That song was also recorded by Mal Ryder & The Spirits, The Nightriders and The Roemans the same year, so quite who came first is now unknown.

McCurn's version is by far the most accomplished one, with the beautiful vocals and the laidback musical backing.

McCurn died in Los Angeles in September 1985, aged 65.

My collection: 7" single no. 6305
Found: Discogs.com, received July 13, 2020
Cost: 5 euro
Tracks: 'Your friend' / 'While the bloom is on the rose'

Anouschka - Inge Brück

Inge Brück was born on October 12, 1936 in Mannheim (Germany). She represented Germany during the Eurovision Song Contest in 1967 with 'Anouschka', which was chosen internally. She finished in joint eighth place in a field of 17 competitors.

Following her Eurovision appearance, Brück decided to concentrate on acting, and in 1970 she starred in a 13-part series for ZDF called 'Miss Molly Mill' in which she played the title role, a cleaning lady-cum-amateur detective, which was a ratings hit and regularly drew audiences of over 20 million. Since the 1970s, Brück has concentrated on performing songs with religious content. Along with fellow Eurovision veterans Katja Ebstein and Peter Horton, she is a member of the initiative 'Künstler für Christus' (Artists For Christ). Another victim of religious delusionalism then.

My collection: 7" single no. 6302
Found: Discogs.com, received June 27, 2020
Cost: 5 euro
Tracks: 'Anouschka' / 'In dieser Welt'

I don't know why I love you (but I love you) - B.E.F. featuring Green Gartside

Martyn Ware and Ian Craig-Marsh from Heaven 17 didn't have enough work on their hands, so they devoted part of their time to the 'side project' British Electric Foundation, a.k.a. B.E.F. As B.E.F. they released - so far - three albums called 'Music of quality and distinction', on which they recorded cover versions of wellknown songs using the vocals of various guest performers.

This single takes two tracks from the second volume of these albums, with guest vocalists Green Gartside (core member of Scritti Politti) and Billy Preston. They perform songs originally recorded by Stevie Wonder and The Beatles respectively. Purists will hate these versions, but I find them very enjoyable indeed.

My collection: 7" single no. 6300
Found: Discogs.com, received June 27, 2020
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'I don't know why I love you (but I love you)' (feat. Green Gartside) / 'In my life' (feat. Billy Preston)

Tubular bells - Plutonic

'Tubular bells' remains Mike Oldfield's best known piece of work, even if it was the first album he ever recorded. Since its release, many people have gone into the studio to replicate his piece. There are orchestral versions, pieces for classical guitars and of course techno versions.

Plutonic recorded this techno version of 'Tubular bells' in 1990. It is fairly repetitive, and a good indication of where music was heading at the time. Constructed entirely on synths and sequencers, some would argue that musicality was nowhere to be seen. Still, the track does have a nice groove and uses the best known theme from Oldfield's original. I would rate this version as 'average'.

My collection: 7" single no. 6301
Found: Discogs.com, received June 27, 2020
Cost: 1,5 euro
Tracks: 'Tubular bells' / 'Amen'

Red hot - Robert Gordon with Link Wray

Rock 'n' roll can be exciting, as I found out quite early on, when I got the album The best of the top 40 of the year in the summer of 1979. One of the tracks on the album was Robert Gordon's 'Red hot', a track that packs a lot of punch in under three minutes. The track was taken from Robert Gordon's debut album together with legendary guitarist Link Wray and featured cover versions of various rock 'n' roll songs.

'Red hot' was originally performed by Billy Lee Riley. Robert Gordon & Link Wray's version became a big hit in the Netherlands in March 1978, peaking at number 7. Finding this single was quite a surprise, I can't remember ever seeing this one before although it isn't exactly rare.

My collection: 7" single no. 6299
Found: Kringloop, Den Haag, June 14, 2020
Cost: 0,5 euro
Tracks: 'Red hot' / 'Sweet surrender'

Marianne - Sergio Endrigo

Sergio Endrigo was born in Pola, Istria (Italy) on June 15, 1933 and started his career in music in the early 1960's. After releasing a few albums he won the San Remo Music Festival in 1968 with the song 'Canzone per te'. In the same year, he represented Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest with this beautiful song: 'Marianne'.

You can easily call it a scandal that the contest was won that year by the banal song 'La la la' and this song, beautifully composed and performed by Endrigo, ended up in tenth place. But Eurovision wouldn't be alive today without a scandal or two.

My collection: 7" single no. 6298
Found: Discogs.com, received June 12, 2020
Cost: 3 euro
Tracks: 'Marianne' / 'Il dolce paese'

Experience - Diana Ross

Released in 1985, 'Experience' was a single by Diana Ross that went by almost unnoticed, even if the song was written by the Bee Gees and remixed by François Kevorkian - big names. The track was not released as a single in the USA, but even where it was released, it didn't manage to get to the top 10. Ireland was the most generous, with its highest chart placing at no. 14, but in Australia and the UK  the single finished at number 64 and 47 respectively.

That's not to say it's a bad track: I actually quite enjoy this. It's the B-side that seems to be a throwaway track, although even that one appears, like the A-side, on the album 'Eaten Alive'.

My collection: 7" single no. 6297
Found: Plato, Leiden, June 30, 2020
Cost: 0,5 euro
Tracks: 'Experience' / 'Oh teacher'

A la folie ou pas du tout - Serge & Christine Ghisoland

Serge & Christine Ghisoland (both born in 1946) are a singing duo and married couple from Mouscron, Belgium, best known for their participation in the 1972 Eurovision Song Contest. With their song 'A la folie ou pas du tout' ('Madly, or not at all'), they only managed to reach 17th place in a field of 18 competitors, ahead only of the Maltese entry.

Although they released a few more singles between 1970 and 1972, there is little information available on the couple after their Eurovision appearance. Serge Ghisoland is believed to have worked for many years with Belgian record label, Elver. He was also a music teacher in several schools in the Mouscron/Comines region of Belgium.

My collection: 7" single no. 6296
Found: Discogs.com, received May 30, 2020
Cost: 3 euro
Tracks: 'A la folie ou pas du tout' / 'Femme'

Rhapsody in blue - Leonard Bernstein

As you can gather from this blog, my collection focuses on pop music, but I do enjoy a bit of classical music now and then. Whether George Gershwin's compositions are actually classical music is another debate, because his work borders on the modern and has even been turned into pop songs by the likes of Kate Bush and Fun Boy Three.

Anyway, whatever: this single was interesting enough to warrant a place in my collection. It's an outtake from an album that presents 'Rhapsody in blue' and 'An American in Paris', released in 1959 by Philips in the Netherlands. This single cuts 'Rhapsody in blue' in two and presents the two parts on a 7" single, to be played on 33 rpm, in order to offer the full 16 minute work.

My collection: 7" single no. 6294
Found: Plato, Leiden, May 30, 2020
Cost: 0,5 euro
Tracks: 'Rhapsody in blue (part 1)' / 'Rhapsody in blue (part 2)'

I've found love (now that I have found you) - Love & kisses

I'm not really sure if a sleeve like the one shown here would be well received nowadays, with all the #metoo scandals we have been witnessing over the past few years. But back in 1977, this wasn't a problem. Love & Kisses was a disco group assembled by European producer Alec Costandinos, using a variety of male/female singers. Costandinos was born Alexandre Kouyoumdjiam in Cairo, Egypt, in 1944 to an Armenian father and a Greek mother.

The debut album consisted of just two songs: 'Accidental lover' and 'I've found love (now that I've found you)'. This single contains the same two tracks, but obviously in edited form, because the LP presented versions that exceeded 15 minutes.The single reached number 12 in the Dutch Top 40.

My collection: 7" single no. 6293
Found: Plato, Leiden, May 30, 2020
Cost: 0,5 euro
Tracks: 'I've found love (now that I've found you)' / 'Accidental lover'

Since you've gone - The Wilde Three

The previous two entries on this blog came with the big one: this single. I have been hunting for the two Wilde Three singles for decades now, but they are very rare and so I haven't been able to get them - until now. 'Since you've gone' was the first release by the Wilde Three, the group formed by Marty Wilde after his solo career didn't go as well as before. Figuring that there was a trend for harmony groups, he enlisted his wife Joyce and a young unknown singer called Justin Hayward to record a handful of tracks. This single shows exactly what they were made of: two great songs written by Marty (using his pseudonym Frere Manston) and performed with passion by three excellent singers.

The single didn't chart, and Justin soon parted ways again. However, it was Marty who encouraged him to write his own song material. Without him, the world might never have heard songs like 'Nights in white satin', for that was a song penned by Hayward just two years later.

Meanwhile, this single sits proudly in my record collection now. And if anyone can find the other one, 'I cried', I will gladly pay. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6292
Found: Discogs.com, received May 29, 2020
Cost: enough
Tracks: 'Since you've gone' / 'Just as long'

He's misstra know it all - Stevie Wonder

Stevie Wonder has a lot of big hits on his name, but sometimes even Stevie Wonder released unsuccessful singles. 'He's misstra know it all' was one of them. It was taken from his album 'Innervisions' as the fifth single, but only managed to chart in New Zealand and the UK, peaking at number 18 and number 10 respectively.

While scouring through a list of singles sold by an online dealer I came across this title and heard the song for the very first time. It was immediately catchy to my ears, which made me wonder why the single wasn't more successful in other territories. But it's nice to discover something new sometimes - even if it's almost 50 years old.

My collection: 7" single no. 6291
Found: Discogs.com, received May 29, 2020
Cost: 1 pound
Tracks: 'He's misstra know it all' / 'You can't judge a book by its cover'

Dizzy - Tommy Roe

American singer-songwriter Tommy Roe was born on May 9, 1942 started his career in the USA, but moved to the UK after a successful tour with Roy Orbison in that country. In 1964, Roe recorded 'Diane From Manchester Square' about a girl who worked at EMI House, when it was based in London's Manchester Square. Sales of this single in the UK were poor, and it failed to chart.

Other singles were more successful, such as 'Sweet Pea' and 'Hooray for Hazel', both top 10 hits in Canada. In 1969, his song 'Dizzy' went to number 1 on the UK Singles Chart as well as Canada and the USA. It remains easily his most remembered song, and I picked up a copy of this single while buying two more online because I still remembered it despite not having heard it for decades. So that means something.

My collection: 7" single no. 6290
Found: Discogs.com, received May 29, 2020
Cost: 1 pound
Tracks: 'Dizzy' / 'The you I need'

Dancing in the city (Summer '92 remixes) - Marshall, Hain

'Who comes up with these things?' is a question I ask myself sometimes when I hear remixes of great old songs. Take for instance this 'Summer 92' take on Marshall & Hain's 'Dancing in the city'. Steve Proctor may have had a good time creating this (as evidenced on the title of the B-side: it's certainly self-indulgent but not a pleasure to listen to!) but the song suffers.

I must say that I am a fan of the British duo but these remixes don't really do them justice. One has to wonder what would have happened if they'd stayed together longer. Their music would certainly have been a joy to listen to with more eighties influences. As it stands, Kit Hain now lives in the USA and has become an author of novels, whereas Julian Marshall is a songwriter, composer, teacher, lecturer, mentor and musician.

My collection: 7" single no. 6288
Found: Discogs.com, received May 27, 2020
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'Dancing in the city (Summer '92 remix)' / 'Dancing in the city (Steve's self-indulgent trumpet mix)'

Im Wartesaal zum grossen Gluck - Walter Andreas Schwarz

German singer Walter Andreas Schwarz was born on June 2, 1913. In 1956, he was one of two performers representing Germany during the first ever Eurovision Song Contest. His placing is not known, but it is rumoured that he finished second. The song was released as a single but commercially, it was not very successful. Other notable records were not released.

Schwarz went on to become a successful author of novels and especially radio dramas. One of his last contributions was an adaption of 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' in 1990 and 1991. In 1985, he appeared – along with many other former German representatives – in the interval act of the German national final, which was a medley of all German entries until that year. For many years, he lived in London before he moved back to Germany. He died on April 1, 1992 in Heidelberg.

When you listen to this song, you can hear how different music for Eurovision Song Contests was at the time. It is one of the many attractions of getting a collection of Eurovision singles together.

My collection: 7" single no. 6287
Found: Discogs.com, received May 26, 2020
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'Im Wartesaal zum grossen Gluck' / 'Fur 300 Francs'

Love is a lonely harbour - Fra Lippo Lippi

Although most people will remember 'Shouldn't have to be like that' as Fra Lippo Lippi's only achievement, they actually released several albums and singles. Their album 'Songs' (from which 'Shouldn't have to be like that' was taken) remains their best in my opinion, but 1989's 'The colour album' is a recent discovery and can almost compete with it.

This single, 'Love is a lonely harbour' is one of the best tracks on that album. With inspiring lyrics and beautiful music it grabbed me from the first listen. It begs for an extended version, but unfortunately, that doesn't exist.

My collection: 7" single no. 6286
Found: Discogs.com, received May 23, 2020
Cost: 2 pounds
Tracks: 'Love is a lonely harbour' / 'Shouldn't have to be like that (live)'

Everyday I write the book - Elvis Costello and the Attractions

I recently re-discovered Elvis Costello's 'Everyday I write the book', a song that was regularly on TV back in 1983 and 1984, when MTV didn't yet exist in Europe and we still had the great Sky Channel and Music Box to provide us with daily doses of music videos. I was always waiting for my favourites to show up, so this video kindof got in the way of that.

I don't know, exactly, how this song suddenly crawled its way up from the dark corners of my memory, but I am glad it did. It's one of Elvis' finest pop songs. His career has taken many turns since then but the early pop stuff never loses its charm.

My collection: 7" single no. 6285
Found: Discogs.com, received May 23, 2020
Cost: 2 pounds
Tracks: 'Everyday I write the book' / 'Heathen town'