Real love - Beatles

A year after releasing 'Free as a bird', Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr completed a second unfinished recording by John Lennon. They added new vocal and instrumental tracks to strengthen the original sound from John's cassette. The single was released to promote part two in the three part 'Beatles Anthology' cd set.

The B-side was a live recording of 'Baby's in black'. You can hear the screaming audience, proof that Beatlemania was really as loud and strange as it was often made out to be.

My collection: 7" single no. 2635

Found: April 13, 1996

Cost: 8 guilders

Tracks: 'Real love' / 'Baby's in black (live)'

Download: here

The part of me that needs you most - Exile

The tracks on Exile's 1979 album 'All there is' were recorded with a distinct disco beat. 'The part of me that needs you most' was taken from this album, and according to Wikipedia, the single did particularly well in Europe. Well, parts of Europe then, because it flopped in the UK and the Netherlands.

I'd never even heard this track when I bought the single. And I only bought the single because I enjoyed their previous releases so much. This track, by comparison, is a disappointment. What's interesting about 'Let's do it again', the B-side track, is that it sounds very similar to John Lodge's 'Street cafe', released a year later.

My collection: 7" single no. 3278

Found: Record fair, November 11, 2000

Cost: 1 guilder

Tracks: 'The part of me that needs you most' / 'Let's do it again'

Download: here

Reunited - Peaches and Herb

The original Peaches & Herb consisted of Herb Fame and Francine 'Peaches' Hurd Barker. Herb has been part of the duo ever since its original creation in 1967, but after Francine, several different women have taken on the 'role' of Peaches. Initially the duo wasn't successful, to the point where they both retired from the music scene in 1970. In 1976, Herb decided to return to music and enlisted the help of Van McCoy to find a new 'Peaches'. Linda Greene was found, and thus started the most successful incarnation of the duo.

Their first album together, produced by McCoy, generated no hits, but after switching labels and recording the album '2 hot', they had a massive number 1 hit in America with 'Reunited'. It also reached number 1 in the Netherlands, and it peaked at number 4 in the UK. Unable to repeat the success of 2 Hot with their subsequent albums, Greene and Fame decided to retire their partnership in 1983. Two more incarnations followed, but without big commercial success.

My collection: 7" single no. 12

Found: London, 1979

Cost: 10p

Tracks: 'Reunited' / 'Easy as pie'

Download: Album '2 hot', including both tracks

Everyday is like Sunday - Morrissey

'Everyday is like Sunday' was the second single taken from Morrissey's debut solo album 'Viva hate'. The previous single, 'Suedehead', reached number 5 in the UK singles chart, and this one did almost just as well, peaking at number 9. In the Netherlands, both singles didn't make the Top 40.

Morrissey has been quoted as saying that there is 'something strangely depressing about a seaside town out-of-season'. Chrissie Hynde from the Pretenders has showered praise on this song, saying 'the lyric to 'Everyday is like Sunday' is, to me, a masterful piece of prose'.

My collection: 7" single no. 801

Found: Disco Market, Den Haag, April 21, 1989

Cost: 2 guilders

Tracks: 'Everyday is like Sunday' / 'Disappointed'

Download: cd-single 'Everyday is like Sunday', including both tracks

Innocence - Deborah Blando

In 1992, Deborah Blando suddenly appeared on the pop scene with the song 'Innocence'. Born in Italy but raised in Brazil, Blando released her debut album at the age of eleven, entitled 'Giovanna – Alegria da Gente', containing Italian songs. In her teens, Deborah joined the Brazilian theater company Os Menestréis, which has revealed many promising singers in Brazil, and started touring the country acting and singing in their musicals.

In 1989 she met producer David Wolff who, impressed by her musical talent, invited her to record an album in English. In 1991, 'A different story' was released. The first single, 'Boy (Why do you wanna make me blue?)' hit American dance charts and was featured in a worldwide TV ad for Diet Coke. The English version of the ballad 'Innocence', written by Deborah herself when she was 18, was a hit around the world, although in the Netherlands it sunk without a trace. I saw the video on television once. On this occasion Blando was presented as 'the new Madonna'. I was sceptical, but liked the song - and so I bought it.

My collection: 7" single no. 1622

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

Cost: 3,5 guilders

Tracks: 'Innocence (edit)' / 'Innocence (instrumental)'

Download: here

Turn the beat around - Vicki Sue Robinson

'Turn the beat around' is a disco song written by Gerald Jackson and Peter Jackson and made popular by Vicki Sue Robinson in 1976. It appeared on her debut album 'Never gonna let you go', and was released as a single. In the USA, the song went number 10 on the Billboard pop charts. In the Netherlands, it reached number 12 in the Dutch Top 40. The song was covered by Gloria Estefan in 1994.

Vicki Sue Robinson continued to make records until 1984. After that, she worked as a session singer for artists like Cher, Michael Bolton, Cyndi Lauper and others. She was also the voice behind the Jem animation series in the Eighties.

My collection: 7" single no. 3483

Found: Empire Records, Den Haag, December 11, 2008

Cost: 0,5 euro

Tracks: 'Turn the beat around' / 'Lack of respect'

Download: here

In a minor key - Tim Finn

This is the first double single that I can remember, and it is quite possibly the first double single released on the European continent. After his big success in Europe with 'Fraction too much friction', Tim Finn released the beautiful ballad 'In a minor key' as the second single from his debut solo album 'Escapade'. This double single was widely available in the Netherlands, but it flopped all the same. The interest for Tim Finn has disappeared as quickly as it had come.

My collection: 7" single no. 1213

Found: Record fair, Den Haag, April 22, 1990

Cost: 5 guilders

Tracks: 'In a minor key' / 'Not for nothing' // 'Fraction too much friction (live)' / 'Below the belt (live)'

Download: here