Hopelessly devoted to you - Olivia Newton-John

Unlike almost everyone in my class, I was not a fan of the movie 'Grease' when it was released back in 1978. I hated John Travolta and the rather overly dramatic number 1 hits 'Greased lightning', 'You're the one that I want' and 'Summer nights'. However, when Olivia Newton-John's single 'Hopelessly devoted to you' was released, I had to relent a little. I liked the melody a lot, and even if I couldn't understand the lyric (I was eight years old, mind you) I knew this was a pretty powerful lovesong.

The single reached number 1 in the Dutch Top 40, number 2 in the UK singles chart and number 3 in the US Billboard Hot 100.

My collection: 7" single no. 710
Found: All that music, Leiden, December 30, 1988
Cost: 3 guilders
Tracks: 'Hopelessly devoted to you' / 'Love is a many splendored thing (instrumental)'

Once in your life - Sam Brown

'Once in your life' was the fourth single taken from Sam Brown's 1990 album 'April moon'. It was released in Europe only, as far as I know. Despite a colourful music video and an equally colourful sleeve, the single was not successful in the charts.

The B-side, 'So far so good' was a mainly instrumental track, and one of many bonus tracks included on Sam Brown's cd-singles circa 1990.

My collection: 7" single no. 1256
Found: Melody Maker, Den Haag, July 5, 1990
Cost: 6 guilders
Tracks: 'Once in your life' / 'So far so good'

Clocks - Coldplay

I found this white label 12" single during a holiday in London. With no description of the tracks, I decided to give it a spin on the record players that were available in the shop, and decided within a minute that I wanted to have this. Three remixes of the Coldplay track 'Clocks'... it was simply too interesting.

Of course, these tracks were also available online as MP3's, but nothing beats the original - especially when it's on vinyl. The downside of these white labels is that there is no track listing. So I still have no clue what track 1 is.

My collection: 12" single no. 519
Found: HMV, London, 2003
Cost: 8 pounds
Tracks: 'Clocks (remix)', 'Clocks (Royksopp remix)' / 'Clocks (Cosmos remix)'

Ride like the wind / Sailing - Christopher Cross

'Ride like the wind' was Christopher Cross's debut single in 1980. It was a track on his self-titled debut album and featured backing vocals by Michael McDonald. Christopher Cross dedicated this song to Lowell George, formerly of the band Little Feat, who died in 1979. The single reached number 69 in the UK singles chart.

On this German 'oldies' single, it is coupled with 'Sailing', a later single by Christopher Cross which is described here.

My collection: 7" single no. 2568
Found: November 26, 1995
Cost: 2 guilders
Tracks: 'Ride like the wind' / 'Sailing'

Stop that train - Clint Eastwood and General Saint

Clint Eastwood and General Saint hail from Jamaica and recorded reggae music during the early Eighties. 'Stop that train' was their only significant international success, peaking at number 3 in the Dutch Top 40 in early 1984.

The single was taken from their 1983 album of the same name.

My collection: 7" single no. 1839
Found: Record fair, Utrecht, January 23, 1993
Cost: 2 guilders
Tracks: 'Stop that train' / 'Monkey man'

Sans logique - Mylene Farmer

The lyric of Mylene Farmer's 1989 single 'Sans logique' deals with a kind of schizophrenia or dissociative identity disorder, which lives in the protagonist and makes her a killer. Very literary, the song uses obsolete words from the language of the 18th century. The calculating Marquise de Mertreuil (a character in the French epistolary novel 'Les liaisons dangereuses'), as angelic as diabolical according to her own interests, seems to be evoked in the lyrics.

The song actually had to be recorded twice, because the first time, there was a technical problem. The sentence 'this is a blank formatted diskette' which is heard in the introduction of the song refers to this problem and has been maintained to keep the memory of this technical malfunction.
The B-side, 'Dernier sourire' is a previously unreleased song about the death of a relative. 'Sans logique' reached number 10 in the French chart.

My collection: 7" single no. 2219
Found: Record fair, Amsterdam, October 17, 1994
Cost: 10 guilders
Tracks: 'Sans logique' / 'Dernier sourire'

Thieves in the temple - Prince

'Thieves in the temple' was the last song to be recorded from Prince's 1990 soundtrack album 'Graffiti bridge'. The song sounds rather different than other Prince tracks, including Middle Eastern melodies, a synth bass and syncopated drum machines. Prince also sampled a harmonica solo from a recording by the Chambers Brothers.

When released as a single, the track reached number 6 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, number 7 in the UK singles chart and number 5 in the Dutch Top 40. Still, it's not one of Prince's most memorable track. Even Puck, who is a huge Prince fan, didn't remember the melody of this track recently.

My collection: 7" single no. 2514
Found: Record Exchange, London, October 30, 1995
Cost: 60p
Tracks: 'Thieves in the temple' / 'Thieves in the temple (part 2)'