Not only do I have the 12" single of 'Say hello wave goodbye', I've also got the 7" single. The single basically cuts the extended version of the 12" single into two parts, in which the first part becomes the instrumental version on the B-side, the second part is the single version on the A-side.
Soft Cell reached third place in the UK singles chart with this, one of their most acclaimed tracks in their career. It was covered by English singer David Gray in 1999.
My collection: 7" single no. 1929 Found: June 27, 1993 Cost: 2 guilders Tracks: 'Say hello wave goodbye' / 'Say hello wave goodbye (instrumental)'
'Evening falls' was the second single taken from Enya's breakthrough second album 'Watermark'. It was a typically silent song like she would record many times after this album and single. While her previous single 'Orinoco flow' was a number one hit in the UK, this one was less successful, peaking at number 20 only.
The B-side was a Gaelic version of the Christmas traditional 'Silent night' entitled 'Oiche Chiún', an apparent misspelling of 'Oiche Chiúin'.
My collection: 7" single no. 751 Found: Free Record Shop, Den Haag, February 17, 1989 Cost: 4 guilders Tracks: 'Evening falls' / 'Oiche Chiún'
Mylene Farmer was born on September 12, 1961 in Pierrefonds, Quebec, Canada, a suburb of Montreal. Her parents moved from France in the late Fifties as Farmer's father pursued an engineering contract on a dam. Her family returned to France when she was eight, settling in the Parisian suburb of Ville d'Avray. In 1984, Farmer met Laurent Boutonnat, a young film student, when she replied to a newspaper ad for an actress for a small film he was working on. Farmer and Boutonnat became friends and forged a creative partnership, writing and producing the music.
Boutonnat and a young songwriter named Jérôme Dahan wrote Farmer's first hit, 'Maman a tort', which was released to much success in March 1984. The video cost the modest sum of 5000 Francs but caused a stir in the music world. Boutonnat cast Farmer as a provocative Lolita figure, an image cultivated in her early days, especially on her debut album 'Cendres de lune', which was released in April 1986.
When I collected Mylene Farmer, starting in the early Nineties, these early singles already cost a fortune. I was quite happy to shell out a much larger sum for this single, bought from a dealer who apparently did not know he could easily fetch four times as much for it.
My collection: 7" single no. 2873 Found: Record fair, Utrecht, 1997 Cost: 20 guilders Tracks: 'Maman a tort' / 'Maman a tort (instrumental)'
The Fixx were formed in 1980 in London by college friends Cy Curnin and Adam Woods, originally under the name The Portraits. The pair placed an ad for additional members. As a result, Jamie West-Oram, Rupert Greenall and Charlie Barret joined, and the band changed their name to The Fixx.
Their most successful release was the 1983 single 'One thing leads to another', which reached number 4 in the US Billboard Hot 100. In Europe, the single did not cause such a stir. It was released as a limited edition double single in the UK. The second disc included two earlier singles, which were minor successes in the UK in 1982.
My collection: 7" single no. 2614 Found: Record fair, Den Haag, February 10, 1996 Cost: 4 guilders Tracks: 'One thing leads to another' / 'Inspiration' // 'Red skies' / 'Stand or fall'
The central theme of the song 'Vriendschap' ('Friendship') is made clear by the first sentence of the refrain: 'Eenmaal trek je de conclusie / Vriendschap is een illusie' ('Once you'll draw the conclusion / Friendship is an illusion'). This single by the Dutch band Het Goede Doel was one I played a lot after I was unsuccessful in conquering the heart of a female friend I had in highschool. She not only told me she wasn't interested in any romantic relationship, she also kept her distance for months. What a great friend she was.
The single was released in January 1983 and reached the number 4 position in the Dutch Top 40, just like their previous release, 'België'.
My collection: 7" single no. 3764 Found: Marktplaats.nl, received June 3, 2009
Cost: 1 euro Tracks: 'Vriendschap' / 'Anders dan iedereen'
Geier Sturzflug was formed by Friedel Geratsch, Werner Borowski, Uwe Kellerhoff, Michael Volkmann and Klaus Fiehe in 1979. They were one of the bands from the German New Wave genre, which took Germany by storm in the early Eighties.
Their single 'Bruttosozialprodukt' was the only one to find success in other non-German-speaking countries. It reached number 22 in the Dutch Top 40 in the summer of 1983.
My collection: 7" single no. 3308 Found: Disco Market, Den Haag, February 24, 2001 Cost: 1 guilders Tracks: 'Bruttosozialprodukt' / 'Früher oder später'
'Somewhere only we know' was the first single from Keane's debut album 'Hopes and fears'. The first demo was composed by Tim Rice-Oxley circa 2001. Rice-Oxley composed this song out of hammering with the piano and based on David Bowie's song 'Heroes'. It was first played on the guitar, just before Dominic Scott left the band, and recorded as a demo the same year with a Yamaha CP70 instead of the guitar.
Keane recorded the final version in 2003 at the Helioscentric Studios, Rye, East Sussex for the album. This song was the first Keane item released on vinyl format. The records were numbered and limited to 5000 copies, only sold in the UK. My copy is number 2135. The single peaked at number 3 in the UK and number 15 in the Netherlands.
My collection: 7" single no. 3798 Found: eBay.co.uk, received June 24, 2009 Cost: 5 pounds Tracks: 'Somewhere only we know' / 'Snowed under'
Not only do I have the 12" single of 'Say hello wave goodbye', I've also got the 7" single. The single basically cuts the extended version of the 12" single into two parts, in which the first part becomes the instrumental version on the B-side, the second part is the single version on the A-side.
