Boom bang-a-bang - Heidi Brühl

After covering the song 'La la la' in 1968, Heidi Brühl continued the next year with another winning Eurovision song: her version of 'Boom bang-a-bang'. The song was given a German lyric by Elisabeth Bertram née Merkels, also known as Lilibert.Heidi Brühl, of course, appeared in Eurovision herself in 1963 with the song 'Marcel'. 

In 1970, Brühl moved to the United States where she appeared in Las Vegas and in episodes of such television series as Columbo. She returned to Germany to play in two further Immenhof sequels in 1973–1974, The Twins from Immenhof and Spring in Immenhof. Brühl and Halsey divorced in 1976, and she returned to live in Germany the following year. She did dubbing work on films such as 'The NeverEnding Story' and 'Look Who's Talking Too', and her last roles were in television serials such as Ein Fall für zwei and Praxis Bülowbogen. She died of breast cancer in Starnberg on 8 June 1991, aged 49.

My collection: 7" single no. 6544
Found: Marktplaats.nl, received 30 November 2021
Cost: €1
Tracks: 'Boom bang-a-bang' / 'Der Himmel weint Freudentranen'

Veronica vrij - Ben Cramer

This single is an interesting one. I think I saw it many times without realizing that the B-side, 'Aan het mooie Noordzeestrand', is actually a version of 'De oude muzikant', the song with which Ben Cramer represented the Netherlands at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1973.

Perhaps it's no surprise, then, that this single was released in the same year. The single actually appeared in the Dutch Top 40 while 'De oude muzikant' was still descending the same chart. The song was based on the 'Song of Olympia', written by Hans Blum, who incidentally took part as a songwriter and conductor in the Eurovision Song Contest on four occasions between 1965 and 1986.

Veronica, of course, was a pirate radio station, broadcasting from the North Sea and being rather successful with it among young listeners. The station was led by Rob Out and Bull Verweij, who appear on this sleeve alongside Ben Cramer. 'Veronica vrij' was released in time for a rally in The Hague, which was due to take place on 18 April 1973. The Dutch government was drawing up anti-pirate legislation, which would make Radio Veronica illegal and would force them off air. Cramer was perfect for the single: his emotion-laden, slightly bombastic performance, perfectly appealed to the sentiments of young people that Veronica should always exist. The benefit of hindsight tells us that the broadcast of 31 August 1974 should perhaps really have been the last, but the broadcaster re-emerged before the end of 1975 and made great programmes for about 15 years or so. After this, the name was used and misused by various owners. These days, Veronica still exists in name but it can't compare to the free-spirited broadcaster it once was.

My collection: 7" single no. 6543
Found: Marktplaats.nl, received 30 November 2021
Cost: €1
Tracks: 'Veronica vrij' / 'Aan het mooie Noordzeestrand'

Spaar al jou kusjes - Peter Silver

Peter Silver may have been a minor player in the Dutch music scene, since he never had any hits, but he still managed to release a dozen singles between 1982 and 1992. One of them was a cover version of a Eurovision song: 'Spaar al jou kusjes' was a Dutch-language version of 'Save your kisses for me', made famous by Brotherhood of Man.

I can't help thinking this might have been successful in certain circles in the Netherlands if it had been released in 1976 instead of 1987. And one more thing I noticed was the spelling error in the title: in Dutch it should be 'jouw kusjes' instead of 'jou kusjes'. But I doubt the fans of Peter Silver would know the difference.

My collection: 7" single no. 6542
Found: Marktplaats.nl, received 30 November 2021
Cost: €1
Tracks: 'Spaar al jou kusjes' / 'Met een beetje liefde om jou heen'

La la la - Claire Lepage

Claire Lepage is a popular singer of the late Sixties. She was born in Lachute (Canada) on 9 November 1945.

This single by her presents two versions of the song 'La la la', the song that won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1968. This single does not have a picture sleeve, and unfortunately the record company also went missing. The good news is: there was no picture sleeve for this release, and this is actually the Canadian pressing.

My collection: 7" single no. 6541
Found: Marktplaats.nl, received 30 November 2021
Cost: €1
Tracks: 'La la la (He gives me love)' / 'La la la (Version Française)' 

Uno per tutte - Marino Marini e il suo quartetto

Here's another version of 'Uno per tutte', the song that was performed by Emilio Pericoli at the 1963 Eurovision Song Contest when he represented Italy. This version is performed by Marino Marini, an Italian musician who achieved international success in the 1950s and 1960s. 

 Marini's recordings in the late 1950s and early 1960s included covers of Domenico Modugno's 'Volare' and 'Ciao ciao bambina' and Rocco Granata's 'Marina'. He retired from performing in 1966 but continued to compose. He died in March 1997.

My collection: 7" single no. 6540
Found: Marktplaats.nl, received 30 November 2021
Cost: €2
Tracks: 'Uno per tutte' / 'Non costa niente'

Em Aranjuez come tue amor - Amalia Rodrigues

Amália da Piedade Rebordão Rodrigues GCSE, GCIH (23 July 1920 – 6 October 1999), better known as Amália Rodrigues  was a Portuguese fadista (fado singer) and actress. Known as the 'Rainha do Fado' ("Queen of Fado"), Rodrigues was instrumental in popularising fado worldwide and travelled internationally throughout her career. Amália remains the best-selling Portuguese artist in history.

This single presents two rather impressive songs: a track derived of the 'Concerto de Aranjuez' and a cover version of 'La, la, la', the song with which Massiel won the 1968 Eurovision Song Contest for Spain. I bought the single for the B-side, but if I'm honest, the A-side was actually better!

My collection: 7" single no. 6539
Found: Marktplaats.nl, received 30 November 2021
Cost: €1
Tracks: 'Em Aranjuez come tue amor' / 'La, la, la'

Speeldoos - Sandy Fort

Sandy Fort was born as Jopie Sandifort in Rotterdam in 1931. She was part of the duo Sandy & Max, who released a version of 'Moon river' in 1962. Sandy subsequently released a few singles as a solo artist, of which this 'Speeldoos' was the last one, in 1963.

'Speeldoos' was originally performed by Annie Palmen, who represented the Netherlands at the Eurovision Song Contest with this song. Sandy Fort's version was quickly released to profit from the national sentiments surrounding Eurovision, however these sentiments disappeared when the song got zero points from the international juries.

My collection: 7" single no. 6538
Found: Marktplaats.nl, received 30 November 2021
Cost: €1
Tracks: 'Speeldoos' / 'Stel je toch 'es voor'

Dio come ti amo - José Guardiola

José Guardiola was born on 22 October 1930 in Barcelona. He performed and recorded mostly Spanish versions of foreign songs and reached his maximum fame in Spain and Latin America in the early 1960s with versions of songs like 'Sixteen tons', 'Mack the knife' and 'Ya Mustafa'. He also represented Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 1963. 

Three years later he released this single, featuring a cover version of Domenico Modugno's 'Dio come ti amo'. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6536
Found: Marktplaats.nl, received 30 November 2021
Cost: €1
Tracks: 'Dio come ti amo' / 'La vida es asi'

La, la, la -Gitte Hænning

Gitte Hænning is no stranger to the Eurovision Song Contest: she represented Germany in 1973 with the song 'Junger Tag'. She also attempted to represent her own country Denmark in 1962 with 'Jeg snakker med mig selv', but was disqualified because the composer, Sejr Volmer-Sørensen, had whistled the song in the canteen of the Danish Broadcasting Corporation.

Inbetween, she released this single. It features not one, but two cover versions: both from the 1968 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. The A-side features the winning song, 'La, la, la', while she also covers Cliff Richard's song 'Congratulations', which controversially ended up in second place. The Danish lyrics of 'Ønsk mig tillykke' were provided by Thøger Olesen.

My collection: 7" single no. 6535
Found: Marktplaats.nl, received 30 November 2021
Cost: €1
Tracks: 'La, la, la' / 'Ønsk mig tillykke'

Waarom toch, waarom - Dick Rienstra

Dick Rienstra (Assen, 1941 – 2021) was a Dutch singer and actor. He began his musical career in a local group, The Double S Combo, where he sang and played guitar, clarinet, and saxophone. In 1960 he debuted on the radio, and in 1962 on the TV, in a talent show. He moved to Amsterdam in 1963 and got a job in a musical comedy production as a singer and an actor in skits and revues. He was a contender in the preliminaries for the Eurovision Song Contest in 1977, and after that performed in the theater and in minor roles on television. 

This single features his cover version of Udo Jürgens' 1964 Eurovision entry 'Warum nur, warum' with Dutch lyrics.

My collection: 7" single no. 6534
Found: Marktplaats.nl, received 30 November 2021
Cost: €1
Tracks: 'Waarom toch, waarom' / 'Adios my darling'

Dikke Lou - De strangers

The 1984 Eurovision winners the Herreys delivered the nonsensical song 'Diggi loo diggi ley' and somehow went away as the winners of that edition. This wasn't the only time in the Eighties and Nineties that the international juries had taken leave of their senses.

Anyway, in Dutch the song would be paraphrased in a variety of naughty ways, but the Belgian Strangers kept it relatively clean, by singing about 'Dikke Lou' ('Fat Lou'). It is only one of their many Eurovision cover versions - and my collection of these is growing every time I visit Belgium.

My collection: 7" single no. 6519
Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, 25 November 2021
Cost: €1
Tracks: 'Dikke Lou' / 'De zonnebank'

Rock bottom - Brothers of the world

If you didn't want to fork out 10,000 Italian lira (or whatever the price of a vinyl single was at that time) for the original version of 'Rock bottom' by Lynsey de Paul and Mike Moran, you could always buy the cheaper version by the Brothers of the world in Italy. At least, I think this must have been a cheaper single, because it was performed by uncredited studio musicians. 

The Brothers of the world struck the previous year with a version of 'Save your kisses for me', and this was their second and last single. Both singles were only released in Italy.

My collection: 7" single no. 6533
Found: Marktplaats.nl, received 30 November 2021
Cost: €1
Tracks: 'Rock bottom' / 'A little bit more'

Oui oui oui oui - Les Djinns

This EP actually features four different songs, but it is their cover of 'Oui, oui, oui, oui' (originally performed by Jean Philippe) that caused this particular purchase. Upon playing the entire EP, I had to conclude that I wouldn't probably listen to all the other tracks much. 

Les Djinns were a French choir with a distinctive singing style, composed of sixty girls between the ages of nine and eighteen years, conducted by Paul Bonneau. In 1959, the French government organized a 'Master School' for the instruction of girls in musical subjects in order to ensure a supply of performance talent for the country's radio and television industry. The Master School set a course of study where the girls followed a curriculum of standard academic subjects in the morning hours, then musical courses in the afternoons consisting of scales, vocal techniques, harmony and choral vocalizing. Upon graduation, each girl was accepted into Les Djinns. Within six weeks of the group's founding, Les Djinns were awarded the Grand Prix of the Academy of Records in France, and their popularity began to proliferate with stage appearances in France and tours in other European countries. Eventually, a total of 88 tunes were recorded, including a Christmas album and an album of American favorites sung in French, and released on the ABC-Paramount label. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6532
Found: Marktplaats.nl, received 30 November 2021
Cost: €1
Tracks: 'Une rose rouge', 'Oui, oui, oui, oui' / 'Balade Irlandaise', 'L'ames des poètes'

Een beetje - John de Mol

The Dutch national final for the Eurovision Song Contest 1959 took place on 17 February of that year in Hilversum. It was a complicated affiar: seven different songs were performed by two artists each. Previous winner Corry Brokken was one of the performing artists, as well as Greetje Kauffeld, who would go on to represent the Netherlands in 1961. 

The winning song was, of course, ''n Beetje', in the version of Teddy Scholten. She would also go on to win the Eurovision Song Contest in Cannes on 11 March. However, 'Een beetje' was also performed by John de Mol, who as a singer released several singles between 1958 and 1961. This single was a recording of his version of the song.

After his music career, De Mol founded the Conamus Foundation in 1962 to represent the interests of other Dutch artists. In 1964 he started working as a sales representative for music publisher Strengholt. In 1987 he founded the Academy for Light Music in his position as director of Conamus. In the early 1970s, De Mol was director of the offshore radio station Radio North Sea International (RNI). He was also the father of John and Linda de Mol, who would plague Dutch TV until this day.

My collection: 7" single no. 6531
Found: Marktplaats.nl, received 30 November 2021
Cost: €1
Tracks: 'Een beetje' / 'Luna napoletana'

Some people - Paul Young

'Some people' was the second single taken from Paul Young's third solo album 'Between two fires'. The album and this single had a sound that was a bit more America-oriented. None of the singles taken from this album would reach the UK Top 40; 'Some people' peaked at number 56.

In a review for Rolling Stone magazine, Laura Fissinger wrote about the album: "Through the first few listens, the album seems muted and reticent, a bashful mishmash of pop riffs and references. But after those initial plays, 'Between Two Fires' takes on remarkable colours, as if its ten tracks were strips of film coming to life in a photographer's darkroom. The record finally reveals itself to be a detailed portrait of the problems human beings have with sharing things – whether it's a whole planet or just a queen-size bed." Quite.

My collection: 7" single no. 6528
Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, 25 November 2021
Cost: €2
Tracks: 'Some people' / 'A matter of fact'

San Remo festival - Robertino

Robertino Loreti was born in Rome on 22 October 1947. As a child he sang in restaurants and in the early Sixties he was discovered by Danish TV producer Volmer Sørensen. Because of this the artist had the opportunity to become one of Italy's best known boy singers.In 1963 he released this EP, performing several songs from the San Remo festival from that year.

The most interesting track on this EP for me is his cover version of 'Uno per tutte'. The song was written by Tony Renis, Mogol and Alberto Testa. It was first performed by Renis and Emilio Pericoli during the Sanremo Music Festival in February 1963, where they performed two different versions of the song, placing first in the competition. The song was then chosen to represent Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 1963, where it was performed by Pericoli. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6522
Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, 25 November 2021
Cost: €2
Tracks: 'Uno per tutte', 'Giovane giovane' / 'Non costa niente', 'Occhi neri e cielo blu'

Every time you go away - Paul Young

'Every time you go away' is probably my least favourite Paul Young song. Not because it's particularly bad, but because I have heard it so many times back in the day - and it doesn't really excite me. On the other hand, I am glad that I finally bought this single, because I discovered a song I've  never heard before: 'This means anything' doesn't appear on the accompanying album 'The secret of association', but it is a great little track. 

Meanwhile, 'Every time you go away' was one of Paul's most successful singles, peaking at number 4 in the UK singles chart and even reaching the top spot in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. Considering it was his only top 10 hit over there (with the exception of 'Oh Girl', which reached number 8), that is a mean feat.

My collection: 7" single no. 6527
Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, 25 November 2021
Cost: €1
Tracks: 'Every time you go away' / 'This means anything'

(We don't need this) Fascist groove thang (Rapino Brothers remixes) - Heaven 17

I tend to think that the Nineties were the turning point for pop music. All the creativity of the Eighties seemed to have evaporated and made way for soulless dance music. Oddly enough, a lot of those Eighties acts disappeared or suffered from the tests of time. Record companies often felt it was a good idea to release remix versions of those songs that were popular a decade earlier.

'(We don't need this) Fascist Groove Thang' was a big hit for Heaven 17 in the UK in 1981. In 1993, the track was remixed by the Rapino Brothers, but unfortunately all the freshness and originality of the original version was not found in this new version. Still, it scraped to number 40 in the UK singles chart. Ironically, this was five places higher than the original's peak position. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6526
Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, 25 November 2021
Cost: €1
Tracks: '(We don't need this) Fascist groove thang (Rapino edit)' / '(We don't need this) Fascist groove thang (Democratic edit)'

Vivre, vivre heisst leben - Carole Vinci

Carole Vinci initially wanted to be a sports teacher. At the end of 1977 she was approached to participate in the Swiss preselection for the Eurovision Song Contest. With the song 'Vivre' she won the final, which allowed her to represent Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978, which was held in Paris. After her participation, she would soon disappear into anonymity again.

However, she also recorded her Eurovision song in German, and that version appears on this sought after single. You'd have a hard time finding a copy online for less than €10, and so finding this copy for a much more attractive price made my heart jump.

My collection: 7" single no. 6520
Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, 25 November 2021
Cost: €2
Tracks: 'Vivre, vivre heisst leben' / 'Leiden und trotzdem lachen' 

You'll always be a friend - Hot Chocolate

Hot Chocolate's career really took off with the song 'Emma' in 1974 - their first international hit. But before that, the band already had a string of hits in the UK. However, they were all non-album singles and nowadays pretty hard to find.

'You'll always be a friend' was released in 1972 and reached number 23 in the UK singles chart. The single was released in a RAK Records company sleeve, like all those early singles. Although it has to be noted that in some other territories - Italy and Germany - the record company gave the single an illustrated sleeve.

My collection: 7" single no. 6524
Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, 25 November 2021
Cost: €1
Tracks: 'You'll always be a friend' / 'Go go girl'