Rock around the clock - Telex

Marc Moulin, Dan Lacksman and Michel Moers formed the Belgian synthpop group in 1978. Their debut single was a stripped-down synthesized cover of 'Twist à St. Tropez' by Les Chats Sauvages. They followed this up with 'Rock around the clock', which would become their only hit in the UK. It reached number 34 in that country in the Summer of 1979.

Like Kraftwerk, Telex built their music entirely from electronic instruments, and the sounds of the two groups have a certain similarity. However, unlike Kraftwerk's studied irony, Telex favour a more joyously irreverent humour.

My collection: 7" single no. 3112

Found: Big Company records, London, May 13, 1999

Cost: 1 pound

Tracks: 'Rock around the clock' / 'Moskow Diskow'

Download: here

Happy ever after - Julia Fordham

I heard 'Happy ever after' for the first time on a compilation cd. At first I figured I owned the track, but a true vinyl collector is never happy until he owns the original single too. And so when I found the single, I bought it.

Julia Fordham was born in Portsmouth, England on August 10, 1962. In 1988, she released her debut album, simply titled 'Julia Fordham'. The single 'Happy ever after' introduced her as a singer with considerable vocal range. It reached number 27 in the UK singles chart. 'Happy ever after' was re-recorded and re-released in 1998, but that version didn't chart.

My collection: 7" single no. 2073

Found: Record fair, Amsterdam, February 19, 1994

Cost: 2 guilders

Tracks: 'Happy ever after' / 'My lover's keeper'

Download: cd-single 'Happy ever after', including both tracks

The nameless one - Wendy James

After Transvision Vamp disbanded, Wendy James set out to start a solo career. She wrote a letter to Elvis Costello asking for his guidance. In response Costello wrote a full album's worth of material for her. These songs became the tracks on her 1993 solo album 'Now ain't the time for your tears'. The album entered at number 43 in the UK Albums chart - and then disappeared again. The single did slightly better, peaking at number 34 in the Singles chart.

It's great to hear this single even now. The vocals are slightly over the top, but they sizzle with venom and a touch of hysteria that is always apparent in miss James's vocals.

My collection: 7" single no. 1869

Found: Record fair, Amsterdam, March 27, 1993

Cost: 10 guilders

Tracks: 'The nameless one' / 'I just don't want it anymore'

Download: cd-single 'The nameless one', including both tracks (password: pwemb.blogspot.com )

Fantasy Island - Tight Fit

In 1981, record producer Ken Gold came up with the idea to record a single made up of a medley of 60s songs, following in the footsteps of Starsound and their Stars on 45 singles. He put together a group of session singers and released 'Back to the 60s' under the title Tight Fit. The song reached number 4 in the UK Singles chart. 'Back to the 60s Part 2' was released soon after and also hit the UK top 40.

Later in the year record producer Tim Friese-Greene recorded the song 'The lion sleeps tonight' with another group of session singers. The song was released in early 1982, again by Tight Fit. It caught a lot of attention and so a group was formed to front it. Dancer, singer and male model Steve Grant was teamed up with female singers Denise Gyngell and Julie Harris. The song reached number 1 in the UK for three weeks and the line-up were catapulted into sudden and unexpected stardom. Satisfied that this line-up could actually sing in their own right, Friese-Greene produced their next single, 'Fantasy Island', a cover of the song which had been a hit for the Millionaires earlier that year. While not charting in the Netherlands, it did become a hit in the UK and reached number 5.

My collection: 7" single no. 3359

Found: Record fair, Utrecht, 2002

Cost: 1 euro

Tracks: 'Fantasy Island' / 'Saturday heartbreak'

Download: here

Free - Deniece Williams

Born as June Deniece Chandler, Deniece Williams debuted in the Seventies when she performed backing vocals for Stevie Wonder, together with Minnie Riperton and Syreeta Wright. In 1976, she signed to Columbia Records and recorded her debut album 'This is Niecy'.

The first single from this album was 'Free'. It reached number 25 in the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, and in the UK it topped the chart for two weeks. I got to know the song because of a compilation cd and eventually when I came across the single, I bought it.

My collection: 7" single no. 3343

Found: Record fair, Amsterdam, 2001

Cost: 1 guilder

Tracks: 'Free' / 'Cause you love me baby'

Download: Album 'This is Niecy', including both tracks

A girl called Johnny - The Waterboys

'A girl called Johnny' was released in March 1983, as the first single from the album 'The Waterboys'. The song was a tribute to Patti Smith. It reached number 80 in the UK singles chart.

I bought the single during an outdoor music festival. It turned out to be an Italian pressing. Always nice to buy foreign pressings, because they seem more worthwhile to me.

My collection: 7" single no. 1458

Found: Parkpop, Den Haag, June 27, 1991

Cost: 2 guilders

Tracks: 'A girl called Johnny' / 'The late train to heaven'

Download: here

Je suis venue te dire que je m'en vais - Jo Lemaire + Flouze

Jo Lemaire was born on January 5, 1956 in Gembloux, Namur (Belgium). She debuted in the late Seventies with her musical group, Jo Lemaire + Flouze. When they released the synthpop track 'Je suis venue te dire que je m'en vais', a moody uptempo track, they became instantly wellknown in Europe and Canada. A year later, in 1982, the group separated, and Lemaire divorced Philippe Depireux, a fellow former bandmember. She moved to Bilzen with her new partler, Fa Vanham, and started a solo career.

'Je suis venue te dire que je m'en vais' is still one of the great synthpop classics and personally it's one of my all-time favourites.

My collection: 7" single no. 667

Found: Disco Market, Den Haag, 1988

Cost: 1 guilder

Tracks: 'Je suis venue te dire que je m'en vais' / 'Escape'

Download: Album 'Pigmy world', including both tracks