This affair - Maisonettes

Lol Mason formed the Maisonettes in the early Eighties with Mark Tibenham and Nick Parry. They recorded a demo of the song 'Heartache Avenue', which was discovered by David Virr in a pile of demo tapes in his office. He decided to release it on his own label, entitled Ready, steady, go!. To fill out the band, two teenage models, Denise Ward and Elaine Williams were recruited as backing vocalists.

'Heartache Avenue' became a big hit in several countries, but irritated the hell out of me. I was more impressed by the later single release, 'This affair'. A beautiful ballad, which appeared regularly on a local radio station. It was not a hit, the band would never even have a hit again.

My collection: 7" single no. 869

Found: All that music, Leiden, June 2, 1989

Cost: 2 guilders

Tracks: 'This affair' / 'Say it again'

West end girls - Pet Shop Boys

In 1984, the Pet Shop Boys recorded three songs with producer Bobby Orlando, at Unique Studios in New York. 'West end girls' was one of them. Tennant and Chris Lowe devised an arrangement involving what Tennant calls 'Barry White chords' and a drum part lifted from Michael Jackson's 'Billie Jean'. Orlando was thrilled by the song's production; his idea was to make a rap record in a British accent.

In April 1984, this original version of 'West end girls' was released, becoming a club hit in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and a minor dance hit in Belgium and France, but was only available in the United Kingdom as a 12" import. The song would be a worldwide hit a year later, when the Pet Shop Boys signed to EMI records and re-recorded the track.

My collection: 7" single no. 502

Found: Den Haag, 1986

Cost: 3 guilders

Tracks: 'West end girls' / 'Pet shop boys'

Tu te reconnaitras - Anne Marie David

Anne Marie David was born on May 23, 1952 in Arles, France. She moved to Paris when she was eighteen to get involved in musical theatre. In 1972, she was cast in the role of Mary Magdalene in the French version of 'Jesus Christ superstar'. A year later, she was selected to represent the country Luxembourg with the song 'Tu te reconnaitras'.

The 1973 edition of the Contest was a threeway battle between three legendary songs: 'Power to all our friends' by Cliff Richard (representing the UK), 'Eres tu' by Mocedades (representing Spain) and Anne Marie David's song, which was the one that won the Contest in the end. Anne Marie David secured a second successive triumph for Luxembourg. The single was bought for me by Puck, helping me to complete my collection of winning Eurovision Song Contest songs.

My collection: 7" single no. 3703

Found: May 5, 2009

Cost: -

Tracks: 'Tu te reconnaitras' / 'Au bout du monde'

Mothers talk - Tears for fears

After their debut album 'The hurting' had been a reasonable success, Tears for fears had to come up with a follow-up. The new album - which would be 'Songs from the big chair', released in 1985 - was preceded by the single 'Mothers talk'. Roland Orzabal commented: 'The song stems from two ideas. One is something that mothers say to their children about pulling faces. They say the child will stay like that when the wind changes. The other idea is inspired by the anti-nuclear cartoon book 'When the wind blows' by Raymond Briggs.

The single version was different from the album version (and shorter, too) and did not appear on cd as far as I know. 'Mothers talk' reached number 14 in the UK singles chart, which was good. But more successful singles were on the way...

My collection: 7" single no. 644

Found: Brussels, August 2, 1988

Cost: 120 Belgian Francs

Tracks: 'Mothers talk' / 'Empire building'

New song (live) - Howard Jones

Howard Jones was not unlike other popular artists in the Eighties, in that he had a fanclub. The difference to many other artists was that the fanclub was run by his parents. In the pre-internet age, fans had to be informed with newsletters and fanclub magazines that were usually released a few times a year.

The fun thing about the Howard Jones fanclub was that they also released a few exclusive singles. Although I was never a fanclub member, I did get a chance to order these singles at some point. I had internet access for about two years when I ordered these three exclusive singles from the fanclub in one go. This is single number one, with live versions from 'New song' and 'Don't always look at the rain', recorded live at High Wycombe Town Hall on December 22, 1983.

My collection: 7" single no. 2791

Found: Howard Jones fanclub, received November 28, 1996

Cost: 3 pounds

Tracks: 'New song (live)' / 'Don't always look at the rain (live)'

Silent all these years - Tori Amos

The last single release in the UK from Tori Amos' debut album was a re-release of 'Silent all these years'. There was a special limited edition cd-single with added new B-side tracks such as 'Song for Eric' and 'Ode to the banana king'.

The 7" vinyl single was also different. While the original release of 'Silent all these years' featured 'Me and a gun' on the B-side, but this time around the B-side contained Tori's cover version of Nirvana's 'Smells like teen spirit'. The original track was a grunge rock type song - as you probably well know - but Tori's cover turned it into a beautiful ballad. It's a shame that her 2001 album of covers, 'Strange little girls', didn't have a similar quality to it.

My collection: 7" single no. 1725

Found: Tower Records, London, October 17, 1992

Cost: 2 pounds

Tracks: 'Silent all these years' / 'Smells like teen spirit'

Poison arrow - ABC

ABC's second single 'Poison arrow' defined the glamorous, baroque sound that would make their debut album 'Lexicon of love' (1982) such a classic album. Written by the band and produced by Trevor Horn, the single peaked at number 6 in the UK and number 13 in the Netherlands.

The B-side is an alternate version of 'Poison arrow'. According to the sleeve notes by Martin Fry on the back of this sleeve, it is 'the result of a late night spent with my producer Trevor Horn and piano accompanist'.

My collection: 7" single no. 1716

Found: Record fair, Amsterdam, September 19, 1992

Cost: 3,5 guilders

Tracks: 'Poison arrow' / 'Theme from 'Man trap''