Knowing me, knowing you - Abba

One of Abba's most touching songs (in my opinion) is 'Knowing me, knowing you', with its feeling of impending heartbreak and loss. I bought the single 41 year ago, on the original Dutch pressing. With a renewed interest in Abba in recent years I have started collecting sleeve variants like this one here: the French record company used the same photograph but did a different layout.

So where does this end? There are obviously many sleeve variants around the world, but for me the investment needs to be limited. However even with that, it looks like I will be posting my 100th Abba single on this blog pretty soon.

My collection: 7" single no. 7686
Found: Record fair, Rotterdam, 15 June 2025
Tracks: 'Knowing me, knowing you' / 'Happy Hawaii' 

Closer RSD mixes - Kim Wilde

Although I have a lot of Kim Wilde records, I haven't put them all up on this blog - something that I will have to rectify one day. Meanhwile I might as well post her most recent offering. It's a unique item, because it's the only 10" single she ever released.

'Closer RSD mixes' was released earlier this year on the occasion of - you would never guess it - Record Store Day (hence the title). The sleeve isn't the most imaginative, but the disc certainly is: it's clear vinyl with red splatters. And then there's the tracks: two remixes each of the two singles that were released off Kim's album Closer. It looks like there won't be a third single, so this disc kindof wraps up the whole Closer campaign. Fortunately Kim is still touring: she will be all over Europe this year.

My collection: 10" single [unnumbered]
Found: Cherry Red website, April 2025
Tracks: 'Trail of destruction (Project K remix)', 'Trail of destruction (Pensacola Mist remix)' / 'Midnight train (Chrisarama remix)', 'Midnight train (Rayne Reznor remix)' 

Amiga Quartett - Münchener Freiheit

The German band Münchener Freiheit actually achieved some success internationally as Freiheit, with hits like 'Keeping the dream alive', 'Baby it's you' and 'Play it cool'. All three are represented here, but in their original German versions ('So lang' man Träume noch leben kann', 'Tausendmal du' and 'Herz aus Glas' respectively). The only song that didn't get an English translation as far as I know was 'Ohne Dich', but that one became a hit for Dutch singer Erik Mesie, who translated the song into Dutch as 'Zonder jou'. 

This is another attractive Amiga Quartett EP featuring four hit songs. I can only assume that the songs were received favourably in the Eastern part of Germany at the time as well.

My collection: 7" single no. 7703
Found: Discogs.com, received 5 July 2025
Tracks: 'So lang' man Träume noch leben kann', 'Herz aus Glas' /  'Ohne dich (schlaf' ich heut' nacht nich ein)', 'Tausendmal du'

Hooray! Hooray! It's a holi-holiday - Boney M

When I bought a bunch of Amiga Quartett EP's online recently, I also spotted this single by Boney M and because of its low price I decided to buy this one from that seller as well. It's, after all, another GDR release of the band, with a different sleeve. No photograph, unfortunately, just some titles. Which makes it unique, I guess.

'Hooray! Hooray! It's a holi-holiday' was your typical summery anthem for the year 1978, created by Frank Farian and Fred Jay. It was an adaptation of the song 'Polly Wolly Doodle', an American minstrel song that became a popular children's song. The single was a top 5 hit all over Europe and topped the chart in the Netherlands.

My collection: 7" single no. 7702
Found: Discogs.com, received 5 July 2025
Tracks:  'Hooray! Hooray! It's a holi-holiday' / 'Ribbons of blue'

People need love - Björn & Benny with Frieda & Anna

Although I bought the recent picture disc edition of 'People need love', I didn't own an original pressing of that single yet, and that, of course, needed some correction. I was lucky to find this French pressing with an original sleeve for a reasonable price, because lest we forget, this single is already 53 years old! 

Björn & Benny with Frieda & Anna, as they were called then, were at the start of their career which would turn out to be stellar, but at this point they were still recording slightly folky tunes. At the time of the single's release, the Ring Ring album had not been planned, since there was no intention to form a permanent group. However, the song was included on the album the following year. The single became a hit in Sweden (although there wasn't yet any official national chart to prove this) and even made an appearance in the American Cashbox chart (peaking at number 114) and the American Record World chart (peaking at number 117). According to ABBA's manager Stig Anderson, could have been a much bigger American hit, if not for the limited distribution resources of the label that was unable to meet the demand from retailers and radio programmers.

My collection: 7" single no. 7687
Found: Record fair, Rotterdam, 15 June 2025
Tracks: 'People need love' / 'Merry-go-round' 

Amiga Quartett - Fine Young Cannibals

Another Amiga Quartett EP and this time it's the Fine Young Cannibals with a selection of their biggest hits. It's a nice quartet this time, consisting of four singles that were taken from the album The Raw & the Cooked from 1989. 

In 1990 the last Quartetts were released, since West and East Germany ended the 'iron curtain' era and the state-run record company from the Eastern part, Amiga, ceased to exist. The last interesting EP - for me at least - was the next one, by the Bangles. But I bought that one last year. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7700
Found: Discogs.com, received 5 July 2025
Tracks: 'She drives me crazy', 'I'm not satisfied' / 'Ever fallen in love', 'Good thing' 

Arrival - Solar Explosion

It's quite amazing that even an instrumental track by Abba inspired other acts to record their own versions of it. Before Mike Oldfield had a go at it, the German outfit Solar Explosion recorded a version. The track was arranged by Peter Wagner and produced by Kurt Vethake and Rainer Etzrodt. Wagner and Vethake were also responsible for composing the B-side, 'Silver clouds'. 

It's a cute little single and I would never have known about it if I didn't routinely go through my Discogs purchases searching for 'Ulvaeus' every once in a while. It's great that Discogs makes composers and producers searchable throughout their marketplace.

My collection: 7" single no. 7698
Found: Discogs.com, received 5 July 2025
Tracks: 'Arrival' / 'Silver clouds' 

Amiga Quartett - Boney M

Is Boney M still Boney M without Bobby Farrell? I've always had my doubts. He was sacked from the group by the end of 1981, and the band soldiered on with Reggie Tsiboe, a Ghanaian-British singer who previously was a member of the group Sugarcane, who had a hit in 1978 with 'Montego Bay'. 

'Kalimba de luna', released in 1984 is a decent track and pretty well performed too. Still, with this single and the tracks that appear on this Amiga Quartett EP the group failed to attract as many record buyers as before. By 1986, the band fell apart. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7701
Found: Discogs.com, received 5 July 2025
Tracks: 'Kalimba de luna', 'Felicidad' / 'My Chérie Amour', 'Consuela Biaz' 

Irgendwie, irgendwo, irgendwann - Nena

My little subcollection of Amiga Quartett EP's continues with this release of Nena's hit singles from 1984. The title track, 'Irgendwie, irgendwo, irgendwann' may sound more familiar than most tracks on this one, becuase it also became a hit in English as 'Anyplace, anywhere, anytime' as a duet with Kim Wilde in 2003. 

The four other tracks were all released separately as singles in the West, but in the German Democratic Republic this EP would have to do. It's a great selection, actually, because these Quartett's often also included B-sides or album tracks. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7699
Found: Discogs.com, received 5 July 2025
Tracks:  'Irgendwie, irgendwo, irgendwann', '? (Fragezeichen)' / 'Rette mich', 'Lass mich dein Pirat sein'

Love is blue - Vicky Leandros

I have my share of copies of Vicky Leandros's 1967 Eurovision entry for Luxembourg: in French (two, no, three different copies), German, and English. But there are actually two different versions of the song in English, and this is the other one. 

'Love is blue' has the same lyrics as 'Colours of love', but the musical accompaniment is quite different. You can hear it during the first verse already: 'Colours of love' features a piano accompaniment which is absent on 'Love is blue'. 

Initially I bought this single because I didn't have this sleeve - which is quite pretty - but in doing so I actually found a different version of this Eurovision classic. And that's always a treat. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7690
Found: Record fair, Rotterdam, 15 June 2025 
Tracks: 'Love is blue' / 'Dance with me until tomorrow'

Mamma Mia - Abba

The fourth and final picture disc to be released recently off the album Abba from 1975 is 'Mamma Mia'. Coincidence: my mum was also called Mia, and so this song became a bit of an injoke when I was young. ('Here she goed again'). 

This is actually my fourth copy of the song, having bought the Dutch single, the German single (not on this blog!) and the GDR single over the past few decades. I doubt this will end here, because I'm still after a few variants!

My collection: 7" single no. 7683
Found: Platenzaak.nl, received 14 June 2025
Tracks: 'Mamma Mia' / 'Intermezzo no. 1'

Cliff (No. 2) - Cliff Richard

I actually bought this single a few months ago but it needed a bit of cleaning in order to make it playable. And then I forgot to put it on this blog! Fortunately it is still in my collection, so it randomly pops up now. 

It's 'Cliff (No. 2)', an EP that was released back in 1959. It features five tracks with his backing band The Drifters, plus one track by the Drifters on their own. The most interesting ones for me were the Richie Valens track 'Donna', which is a track that was also recorded by Marty Wilde, and 'Move it', a song Cliff performed on the UK radio a few years ago together with Kim Wilde. It's a piece of music history!

My collection: 7" single no. 7568
Found: Record fair, Amsterdam, 19 January 2025
Tracks: 'Donna', 'Move it', 'Ready Teddy' / 'Too much', 'Don't bug me baby', 'Driftin''

S.O.S. - Abba

Of the four picture discs that were released recently to celebrate the 50th birthday of Abba's self-titled album from 1975, only 'S.O.S.' features a photograph in black and white. It's a shame really because picture discs should really be in colour, always. On top of that, 'S.O.S.' is actually the best song of the four, so it's a bit weird to make it seem like it wasn't important. Because it was. 

The song started a run of 18 consecutive top 10 hits for Abba in the UK, peaking at number 6. It was also a number 2 hit in the Netherlands. Both John Lennon and Pete Townshend stated that it was one of their favourite pop records. In my opinion, 'S.O.S.' is the absolute highlight of Abba's current 'Voyage' shows in London. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7682
Found: Platenzaak.nl, received 14 June 2025
Tracks: 'S.O.S.' / 'Man in the middle' 

Hooked on you - Bread

I bought a few Bread singles recently, and that's because for some reason I keep bumping into them. The soft rock stylings of this band never disappoint, even with songs I'm not that familiar with. And they had some classy sleeves too!

'Hooked on you' was written and composed by David Gates. It was the second single released from Bread's 1977 album Lost Without Your Love, and became their final charting hit, reaching number 60 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 48 in Canada.

My collection: 7" single no. 7697
Found: Record fair, Rotterdam, 15 June 2025
Tracks: 'Hooked on you' / 'Fly away' 

Julie - Arne Jansen & les Cigales

Back in the summer of 1983, 'Julie' by Daniel was the summer hit of the year. The Yugoslavian entry for that year's Eurovision Song Contest made it to fourth place on the scoreboard and subsequently became a big hit in several European countries.

And at the time there were plenty artists who thought they could profit from the song's success as well. Enter Arne Jansen, a moderately successful Dutch singer, who with his support group Les Cigales recorded a version of the song in Dutch. The lyrics were provided by record company mogul Johnny Hoes, who conveniently also ran Arne Jansen's record company Telstar. A hit was born: this version of 'Julie' made it to number 28 in the Dutch Top 40.

My collection: 7" single no. 7696
Found: Record fair, Rotterdam, 15 June 2025 
Tracks: 'Julie' / 'Lorelei'

It ain't easy / Give up your guns - Ritty McGarrety

You'd be forgiven if you've never heard of Ritty McGarrety - I hadn't either. It was purely by chance that I saw this single and decided to buy it, based on one of the titles on this sleeve. 'Give up your guns' was originally recorded by the Buoys, and I absolutely love that song. So I was quite curious what this person had made of it. 

It turns out that Ritty was actually named Ritty van Straalen. He was a Dutch drummer, best known for his years with the succesful Utrecht-based band, Continental Uptight Band. He released a couple of solo singles and 'Give up your guns' was one of them, scraping into the Tipparade, just outside of the Dutch Top 40. Quite why the song appears on this 'maxi single' remains unknown, although the record company probably wanted to profit from its near-hit status. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7693
Found: Record fair, Rotterdam, 15 June 2025
Tracks: 'It ain't easy' / 'Give up your guns', 'Please, look back'

Waarom - Bonnie & José

The recently deceased Ron Brandsteder introduces 'Waarom' ('Why'), a sombe lyric about people making war, not love. It seems awfully current, but this single was released 40 years ago. The song was based on the Abba song 'Move on', and Brandsteder also wrote the Dutch lyrics of this version.

Like the singles 'Cassandra' and 'Zoals vrienden doen' this single was taken from the Abba-themed album Herinnering, which was actually released on CD for the first time in 2020, as I found out when I recorded this purchase in my Discogs collection. To my surprise, the duo released two more singles from this album, although only the two previously mentioned made it into the Dutch Top 40. 'Waarom' only managed a few weeks in the Tipparade.

My collection: 7" single no. 7689
Found: Record fair, Rotterdam, 15 June 2025
Tracks: 'Waarom' / 'Ligt dat aan jou of aan mij' 

I do, I do, I do, I do, I do - Abba

After So long, this is the second picture disc released this year to be taken from the album Abba, originally released 50 years ago. It's another colourful photograph from that era, released to coincide with the re-release of the album on a 'half speed master 2LP' edition.

'I do, I do, I do, I do, I do' was recorded on 21 February 1975 at Glen Studio, and was inspired by the European schlager music of the Fifties, as well as the saxophone sound of the 1950s American orchestra leader Billy Vaughn. The single reached number 38 in the UK singles chart, number 15 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 3 in the Dutch Top 40.

My collection: 7" single no. 7681
Found: Platenzaak.nl, received 15 June 2025
Tracks: 'I do, I do, I do, I do, I do' / 'Rock me'

A little bit slower (Do it again) - Herman & Dorothy

One of the singles Ricky Wilde recorded when he was a teenager was 'Do it again, a little bit slower'. It was obviously a cover version, but I'm having a hard time finding the original. This single by Herman & Dorothy predates Ricky's version by five or six year, but it is only one version of the many released back in 1967. 

The original version was actually performed by Jon & Robin and The In Crowd; a version that will undoubtedly pop up on this blog at some point. But meanwhile, this version by Herman & Dorothy is amusing as well, especially with the ending actually slowing down. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7695
Found: Record fair, Rotterdam, 15 June 2025
Tracks: 'A little bit slower (Do it again)' / 'Charing Cross' 

High noon / Jezebel - Frankie Laine

'High Noon', also known as 'The Ballad of High Noon', was the theme song of the 1952 movie High Noon, starring Gary Cooper. In the movie the song was performed by Tex Ritter, but the American singer Frankie Laine also recorded a version of the song. It actually became the bigger hit of the two.

However, I bought this single because of the other side, an original version of the song 'Jezebel', later also recorded by Marty Wilde. In Laine's words, the song uses "flamenco rhythms to whip up an atmosphere of sexual frustration and hatred while a guy berated the woman who'd done him wrong." The song ends with Laine shouting 'Jezebel!' at the woman who has destroyed him.This is still done by Wilde during his live concerts, to great effect.

My collection: 7" single no. 7694
Found: Record fair, Rotterdam, 15 June 2025
Tracks: 'High Noon' / 'Jezebel'