The second time - Elaine Page

A fully orchestrated song, a beautiful ballad, that's what Elaine Page's 'The second time' is. On the sleeve of the single, it is also described as the 'theme from Bilitis'. 'Bilitis' was a French movie from 1977, which portrays the sexual adventures of a young girl during summer vacation. The theme of the movie was instrumental, Elaine Page's version adds a lyric written by Tim Rice. The result is a beautiful, dreamy song.

My collection: 7" single no. 1634

Found: Disco Market, Den Haag, April 18, 1992

Cost: 1 guilder

Tracks: 'The second time' / 'The last one to leave'

Download: here

Kristallnaach - Bap

The band BAP hails from Cologne, Germany. They shocked many people by recording a song about the Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass. On a single night, November 9-10, 1938, 91 jews were murdered and 25,000-30,000 were arrested and deported to concentration camps. It was the beginning of a systematic eradication of people with jewish ancestry. The song was written, like most of BAP's material, in Kölsch, the German dialect spoken in Cologne. Songwriter Wolfgang Niedecken said in an interview that he wanted to express his astonishment at the fact that such a violent thing, directed at certain groups of people, could happen within an instant, with such venom.

It was a hit for BAP in the Netherlands, reaching number 8 in the beginning of 1983.

My collection: 7" single no. 537

Found: Parkpop, Den Haag, June 28, 1987

Cost: 3 guilders

Tracks: 'Kristallnaach' / 'Wellenreiter'

Download: Album 'Vun drinne noh drusse', including both tracks

Tell me tomorrow - Princess

Born as Desiree Heslop on November 27, 1961, the British singer Princess started her career as one of the members of the group Osibisa. Her solo debut album 'Princess' (1986) was produced by Stock, Aitken and Waterman and contained her best selling single 'Say I'm your number one'. 'Tell me tomorrow' was the fourth and final single from that debut album, and like the other singles it was a chart success in the UK for her.

The 12" single contains two mixes of the track, plus the original demo of 'Say I'm your number one'.

My collection: 12" single no. 474

Found: Record Mania, Amsterdam, December 27, 2008

Cost: 1 euro

Tracks: 'Tell me tomorrow (extended album version)' / 'Tell me tomorrow (club version)', 'Say I'm your number one (original demo)'

Download: here

Blue world - The Moody Blues

The Moody Blues were in the business forever, it seemed. I grew up with the fact that 'Nights in white satin' was an old classic song from before I was born. Still, there they were in 1983 with a new album. I was never really impressed with those old-timer songs (I grew to appreciate old recordings when I was older) but the new single 'Blue world' made a big impression on me. I couldn't understand why it didn't make the Dutch Top 40. Meanwhile, it was a modest hit in the UK, making number 35 in the singles chart.

My collection: 7" single no. 1892
Found: May 2, 1993
Cost: 2 guilders
Track: 'Blue world' / 'Going nowhere'

Black stations white stations - Martha and the Muffins

Martha and the Muffins's 1984 album 'Mystery walk' featured a sticker crediting the band as 'M + M o/k/a (once known as) Martha and The Muffins'. The album was produced with Daniel Lanois. The album gave the band - whatever they were called then - their biggest hit in years in their native Canada. 'Black Stations/White Stations' was an anti-racist anthem whose first verse took radio stations to task for refusing to play a song about mixed-race romance, a story that Martha Johnson had heard related on the radio while driving in her car.

I remember I was really intrigued by this song in 1984, especially because of the interesting video. When I bought the single years later, the song was not as special as I'd remembered.

My collection: 7" single no. 2607

Found: January 27, 1996

Cost: 5 guilders

Tracks: 'Black stations/White stations' / 'Xoa Oho'

Download: here

Crazy - Gnarls Barkley

'Crazy' by Gnarls Barkley has to be one of the biggest hits of 2006. It was a number one hit in the UK for nine weeks, until the band and their record company decided to remove the single from the stores so that people would 'remember the song fondly and not get sick of it'.

Of course in 2006 cd-singles and digital downloads were much popular than 7" vinyl singles, which is why I was pleasantly surprised to find this 7" picture disc during a visit to London's HMV store. I bought it on the spot.

My collection: 7" single no. 3437

Found: HMV, London, 2006

Cost: 2 pounds

Tracks: 'Crazy' / 'Just a thought'

Download: Album 'St. Elsewhere', including both tracks

History never repeats - Split Enz

There aren't that many records around that were laser etched. A&M Records introduced the laser etched records with Split Enz's 1980 album, 'True colours'. They hoped that laser-etching would lead to economical protection from unauthorized copying of its products. Subsequently, the singles 'I hope I never' and 'History never repeats' were also released on laser etched vinyl.

I found this single in a second hand shop and bought it, despite the fact that the previous owner had blacked out the label of the etched A-side with a black marker. It was a shame, but on the other hand, I never saw this single again, so sometimes even a damaged item is worth having. As for the music: the word Beatles-esque comes to mind.

My collection: 7" single no. 1243

Found: Den Haag, June 9, 1990

Cost: 3 guilders

Tracks: 'History never repeats' / 'What's the matter with you'

Download: Album 'History never repeats: the best of Split Enz', including both tracks