A festa da vida - Carlos Mendes

Carlos Eduardo Teixeira Mendes was born on May 23, 1947 in Lisbon. He started his singing career in the 1960's, representing Portugal at the Eurovision Song Contest on two occasions: in 1968 and 1972.This single, 'A festa da vida' is the 1972 entry. 

'A festa da vida' ('The party of life') is a ballad, with Mendes singing that the world needs to view life as a party in order to dismiss the negativity of the world. Although Portugal hadn't been particularly successful at Eurovision in previous years, this song reached 7th place at the close of voting, making it the country's highest placing at the time. Of course, it wouldn't be until a few years ago that Portugal actually won Eurovision. But when they did, they did it with a song that became an instant classic. This song is not an instant classic, but enjoyable all the same.

My collection: 7" single no. 6315
Found: Discogs.com, received August 8, 2020
Cost: 5 euro
Tracks: 'A festa da vida' / 'Glow worm'

Jealous of youth - The The

There's a special place in my record collection for The The, one of those British bands that managed to 'get to me' at a very early age. Their versions of 'Uncertain smile' grabbed me from the first time I heard them, and I have collected their albums and singles ever since. 

For a long time I thought that their later singles were never issued on vinyl, because record companies were very busy phasing out the format in the early 1990's. And so, here I am, almost three decades after its release, finding a copy of the Spanish promotional 7" single of 'Jealous of youth', one of the songs that became part of the soundtrack of my life back in 1991. It's a one-sided promo, so no B-side on this one.

My collection: 7" single no. 6314
Found: Discogs.com, received August 8, 2020
Cost: 4 euro
Tracks: 'Jealous of youth'

Mothers little soldier - Fra Lippo Lippi

Just like 'Love is a lonely harbour', 'Mothers little soldier' is a single taken from Fra Lippo Lippi's 1989 album 'The colour album'. Adding this one to my collection means that I'll only need 'Count on me' to make the set complete - but I am waiting until the price of that one comes down.

Although the melody of this song is as strong as anything they've release, the single didn't manage to chart in Europe. Perhaps it did in Norway, but I couldn't find any chart data from that country.

My collection: 7" single no. 6313
Found: Discogs.com, received July 31, 2020
Cost: 4 euro
Tracks: 'Mothers little soldier' / 'Under the same sun'

Marianne - Cliff Richard

I do read the comments on this blog, although there aren't that many. My recent entry about Sergio Endrigo's 'Marianne' caused a friendly reader to let me know that Cliff Richard, who also took part in the 1968 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, actually covered this song. I really didn't know that! But when I found out, I thought it would be great to actually own a copy of that version, since I also collect Eurovision cover versions (well, within some reason - I don't actually need 100 versions of 'Volare' to be honest).

I think it's suitable that I found an Italian copy of the single. The great thing about Cliff Richard's version is that it is translated into English, and my English is a lot better than my Italian. The single actually was a hit in several countries, peaking at number 22 in the UK and number 15 in Ireland.

My collection: 7" single no. 6312
Found: Discogs.com, received July 31, 2020
Cost: 3 euro
Tracks: 'Marianne' / 'Mister Nice'

Mothers talk - Tears for fears

This single by Tears for fears is an interesting one: it was released in April 1986 in the USA, after the 'Songs from the big chair' campaign had already ended in the rest of the world. I never knew that the so-called 'US remix' of 'Mothers talk' had actually been a single, but here you go. Although labeled as a "remix", this version of the song is actually a complete re-recording, done by the band after their 'Big Chair' tour had ended. It was mixed by the award-winning producer Bob Clearmountain, who would go on to mix the band's next album with them.

The single managed to peak at number 27 on the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. The sleeve is almost identical to a UK 12" single from 1984.

My collection: 7" single no. 6310
Found: Discogs.com, received July 27, 2020
Cost: $3
Tracks: 'Mothers talk' / 'Sea song'

Never as good as the first time - Sade

I could buy a lot of singles by Sade just for the artwork. There have been a lot of different sleeves in different territories, and they usually look stunning, because their frontwoman is rather photogenic. Still, I haven't actively collected their singles, buying them is often just a case of adding them to a stack of singles I'm buying from a dealer at a record fair, or in this case, an online order.

'Never as good as the first time' came in this great sleeve in America. I was actually buying a rare promotional cd by Happy Rhodes - you won't find her in this blog because she never released any 7" singles unfortunately - but the same dealer had a few rather interesting singles to go with it. The sleeve is very different from this one and this one, and so I decided to get it without much doubt.

My collection: 7" single no. 6311
Found: Discogs.com, received July 27, 2020
Cost: $2
Tracks: 'Never as good as the first time (remix edit)' / 'Keep hanging on (live instrumental)'

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'