American English - Wax

After the success of 'Building a bridge to your heart', Wax released the title track of their second album 'American English' as the second single from that album. While the single was just as upbeat and a little more dynamic than the previous one, it did not make a dent in the charts anywhere.

I don't even remember how I got to hear this track, but I do know I liked it so much that I bought it quickly.

My collection: 7" single no. 582

Found: Disco Market, Den Haag, February 1, 1988

Cost: 2 guilders

Tracks: 'American English' / 'Marie Claire'

Spark - Tori Amos

While all the singles from Tori Amos' 1996 album 'Boys for Pele' were not released on 7" vinyl, I was very surprised to find this 7" single in 1998. 'Spark' was the first single taken from Tori Amos' fourth solo album 'From the choirgirl hotel'. The single was also released on cd-single and a promotional 12" single in America, which is where this single also was made.

'Spark' reached number 16 in the UK singles chart and number 49 in Australia.

My collection: 7" single no. 3013

Found: Record fair, August 29, 1998

Cost: 10 guilders

Tracks: 'Spark' / 'Purple people'

Fleurs du mal - Stephanie

While elsewhere in Europe the single 'Live your life' was released, French-speaking countries preferred the track 'Fleurs du mal' as a single. It was a hit in France, peaking at number 16.

Meanwhile, the album 'Besoin' sold more than 2,5 million copies. That same year, Stephanie released the single 'Young ones everywhere' to benefit UNICEF.

My collection: 7" single no. 3772

Found: eBay.fr, received June 17, 2009

Cost: 3 euro

Tracks: 'Fleurs du mal' / 'Rendez-vous'

Un premier amour - Isabelle Aubret

Isabelle Aubret was born as Thérèse Coquerelle on July 27, 1938 in Lille, France. Before starting a career in music, she won the French national gymnastics championship in 1952. Ten years later, she represented France during the Eurovision Song Contest, singing 'Un premier amour'. With sixteen countries participating, she was the one who won the competition with 26 points. The runner-up only had 13 points, so it was a convincing win.

When I decided I wanted to have all the winning songs of Eurovision as a single, the early years were of course the hardest to find. I'm still searching for 'Refrain' (1956) for instance....

My collection: 7" single no. 3771

Found: eBay.fr, received June 17, 2009

Cost: 3 euro

Tracks: 'Un premier amour', 'La-bas' / 'Petit bonhomme', 'Ces deux la'

Mamma mia - Abba

While never released as a single in their native Sweden, Abba's 'Mamma Mia' (1975) was the band's first song to make a breakthrough in Australia, even reaching number one for no less than 10 weeks. At the time, it was rumoured that every third citizen of the country owned an Abba record.

It was almost entirely due to this overwhelming success that the single was subsequently released in the UK and other territories. It took the single nearly two months after it was released to top the UK charts. "Mamma Mia" also reached No.1 in Ireland, Switzerland and West Germany. In 1999 the musical 'Mamma Mia', featuring songs by Abba opened in London's West End. Since then, production has spread to many other countries, with over 1500 performances on Broadway alone.

My collection: 7" single no. 2724

Found: Record fair, September 2, 1996

Cost: 2 guilders

Tracks: 'Mamma mia' / 'Intermezzo no. 1'

All for a reason - Alessi

'All for a reason' sounds a bit like a telephone conversation set to music - although you can only hear one side of the conversation and the other one hanging up at some point. Besides this technical innovation, the rest of the song sounds a lot like other Alessi songs: in other words, laidback Seventies fare.

In the Netherlands, this was the Alessi brothers' second and last hit, peaking at number 22. The track was taken from the album of the same name, which reached number 27 in the albums chart.

My collection: 7" single no. 683

Found: All that music, Leiden, 1988

Cost: 2 guilders

Tracks: 'All for a reason' / 'Make it last'

Libertine - Mylene Farmer

Although the music video of 'Libertine' cannot be found on YouTube, I'm certain there is one. It was one of the videos that made me interested in the Canadian-born singer in the first place. When she had a hit in the Netherlands with 'Désenchantée', I started buying her records and I was glad to find 'Libertine' quite quickly.

I have no record of its chart position of France, but I am pretty sure that this one was her first big hit there. After this, her superstar status continued to rise.

My collection: 7" single no. 1900

Found: Record fair, Amsterdam, May 2, 1993

Cost: 10 guilders

Tracks: 'Libertine' / 'Greta'