Toto's debut single was the 1978 track 'Hold the line', taken from their self-titled debut album. The song peaked at number 5 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, number 14 in the UK singles chart and number 25 in the Dutch Top 40.
My copy of the single is a bit tattered and torn, and comes in a standard Columbia sleeve. Although I have seen copies with a picture sleeve later on, I never felt the desire to replace the original copy I bought - even though the song is one of my favourite rock tracks ever.
My collection: 7" single no. 298 Found: Den Haag, 1985 Cost: 1 guilder Tracks: 'Hold the line' / 'Takin' it back'
Del Amitri formed in Glasgow in 1980. The band consisted of Currie, Iain Harvie, Bryan Tolland and Paul Tyagi. The 1989 album 'Waking hours' proved to be their international breakthrough, containing their biggest hit, 'Nothing ever happens', which reached number 11 in the UK singles chart in January 1990.
The song deals with the banality of everyday life, with the refrain 'and we'll all be lonely tonight and lonely tomorrow'. The song includes a startling penultimate line, 'they'll burn down the synagogues at six o'clock and we'll all go along like before', an apparent reference to the lack of popular opposition to Kristallnacht.
My collection: 7" single no. 1175 Found: Melody Maker, Den Haag, February 17, 1990 Cost: 6,5 guilders Tracks: 'Nothing ever happens' / 'No holding on'
'De vuile zeeballade' ('The ballad of the dirty sea') is a parody of the Dutch song 'De zuiderzeeballade' ('The ballad of the Zuiderzee'). The original song was an ode to the Zuiderzee, a lake in the Netherlands. The parody was all about environmental waste and people dumping oil and nuclear waste into the sea.
The real treat on this single, which didn't reach the Dutch charts, is the B-side. 'Broodje pindakaas' ('Peanut butter sandwich') is a parody of the Beatles' 'All you need is love'. The song starts with the immortal line 'I got fired last week / and that's a bit inconvenient', only to continue later on with 'the mice gnaw on my toes when I sleep / I'm so hungry'. The single was taken from Rubberen Robbie's self-titled debut album, which also didn't reach the Dutch albums chart. Still, it is a cult classic.
My collection: 7" single no. 106 Found: Disco Market, Den Haag, 1982 Cost: 1 guilder Tracks: 'De vuile zeeballade' / 'Broodje pindakaas'
'Look out, there's a bonsai tree on your head!', that's what I always think when I see this sleeve. Why some artists choose to look so strange from time to time is beyond me. Besides all that, 'Together again' is actually quite a serious song. It was a tribute from Janet to friends who had recently passed from AIDS, as stated on album booklet of her 1997 album 'The velvet rope'. Originally written as a ballad, the track was re-arranged as a dance song.
Released as the second single from the album, 'Together again' reached number 1 in the US Billboard Hot 100 and the Dutch Top 40, peaking at number 4 in the UK singles chart. This 7" single was made in the USA, and is as far as I know the only 7" release worldwide.
My collection: 7" single no. 2984 Found: Record fair, Amsterdam, 1998 Cost: 10 guilders Tracks: 'Together again' / 'Got 'til it's gone (Ummah Jay Dee's Revenge mix)'
Clannad consists of siblings Máire and Ciarán Brennan and their twin uncles Noel and Pádraig Duggan. They started making music together in 1970, initially having only some success in Ireland, where the band was based. In 1981, the other sibling Enya left the band to pursue a successful, if somewhat monotonous solo career.
A year later, Clannad recorded the song that would launch their international career: 'Theme from Harry's Game', and the accompanying album 'Magical ring'. The album was on the UK album charts for over six months, earning the group their first gold record award. The single 'I see red' was released as the follow-up to 'Harry's Game', but this single, although it was an appealing song as well, did not chart.
My collection: 7" single no. 2661 Found: Beanos, East Croydon, London, June 30, 1996 Cost: 1,5 pounds Tracks: 'I see red' / 'Tá 'mé mo shui'
The innovative music video for the Cars' 'You might think' is what prompted me to remember this song for years until I finally bought it in 1989, five years after its release. It was a single from their fifth studio album 'Heartbeat City', produced by Mutt Lange and the Cars. The music video was one of the first videos to use computerized effects. The video features band leader Ric Ocasek and model Susan Gallagher in a series of encounters. Ocasek appears in her bathroom mirror, in her mouth, as a fly, and as the Robot Monster, among other incarnations.
The single reached number 7 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 8 in Canada. In the UK, however, the single only reached number 88.
My collection: 7" single no. 741 Found: All that music, Leiden, February 9, 1989 Cost: 2 guilders Tracks: 'You might think' / 'Heartbeat City'
'Wuthering heights' was Kate Bush's debut single, released in January 1978. She'd written the song in 1976, aged just 18. The song came to her after watching the last ten minutes of the 1970 film version based on the book by Emily Brontë on television. Lyrically, 'Wuthering heights' uses several quotations from Catherine Earnshaw, most notably in the chorus - 'Let me in! I'm so cold!' - as well as in the verses, with Catherine's confession to her servant of 'bad dreams in the night.; It is sung from Catherine's point of view, as she pleads at Heathcliff's window to be allowed in. This romantic scene takes a sinister turn if one considers the events of the book, as Catherine may well be a ghost, calling Heathcliff to join her in death.
The guitar solo at the end of the song is played by Ian Bairnson, best known for his work with Alan Parsons. It is often mistakenly said that David Gilmour played the solo. It is placed rather unobtrusively in the mix, something engineer Jon Kelly now regrets.
When presented with the material for Kate Bush's debut album 'The kick inside', record company EMI originally wanted to release 'James and the cold gun' as its first single. Kate was determined that 'Wuthering heights' would be the better choice, and she didn't relent until the record company finally gave in. Originally, the single would have been released in November 1977, but when Kate Bush didn't approve of the single's artwork, the single was withdrawn and the release was put back until January 1978.
The single became a huge success, peaking at number 1 in the charts in the UK, Australia, Belgium, Italy, France, Ireland and New Zealand. It reached number 4 in the Dutch Top 40. It was a phenomenal start of a career that fortunately continues to this day - although the gaps between albums have been increasingly hard to bear.
As an avid fan of Kate Bush, I ended up owning several copies of 'Wuthering heights'.The first copy I bought was a sleeveless one for 2 guilders, which is not the most beautiful item of my collection, so it is not shown here. A few years later, I bought a Belgian copy in Brussels. Then a few years after that I found a flawless copy from the UK in a standard EMI sleeve. Since it was made in 1977, it must have been one of the earliest copies of this single. Then I found a Dutch copy, with a sleeve printed in only a few colours. And finally, in 1992, I found a Spanish copy with a totally different sleeve. The classic Gered Mankowitz photograph was a good reason to buy that copy.
My collection: 7" single no. 210 (2) / no 210 (3) / no. 210 (4) / no. 1710 Found: Brussels, 1990 / Record fair, 1994 / Record fair, 1994 / Bea Records, September 19, 1992 Cost: 30 Francs / 5 guilders / 5 guilders / 12,5 guilders Tracks: 'Wuthering heights' / 'Kite'
Toto's debut single was the 1978 track 'Hold the line', taken from their self-titled debut album. The song peaked at number 5 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, number 14 in the UK singles chart and number 25 in the Dutch Top 40.
