Shooting star - Dollar

David van Day and Thereza Bazar formed Dollar in 1977 after leaving the group they joined at 17. At first, only Van Day quit the band to embark on a solo career, while Bazar could continue with Guys n' Dolls to earn a living for them both. The group's management were unhappy with the situation and sacked Bazar with the reasoning that a six-piece group consisting of three couples would now look odd with five members.

As Dollar, they released their debut single 'Shooting star' in late 1978. After a slow climb, it managed to reach number 14 in the UK singles chart.

My collection: 7" single no. 4606
Found: Velvet Vinyl Outlet, Leiden, February 26, 2010
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Shooting star' / 'Talking about love'

A bridge of love - Joy Fleming

Although this single was released in 1975, it still sounds rather modern. But that's only because Joy Fleming uses the same repulsive singing techniques people like Mariah Carey and Leona Lewis still employ these days: singing like there's a kidney stone in your gut.

'Ein Lied kann eine Brücke sein' (this single contains both the English and German versions) was the German entry for the 1975 Eurovision Song Contest. The song finished 17th in a field of 19 competitors. Despite this disappointing result, Fleming returned to the German national final three times: in 1986, 2001 and 2002. None of these resulted in a comeback on the international Eurovision stage.

My collection: 7" single no. 4601
Found: Velvet Vinyl Outlet, Leiden, February 26, 2010
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'A bridge of love' / 'Ein Lied kann eine Brücke sein'

Dream, dream - Luv'

The second single by the Dutch girl trio Luv' was not able to reach the Dutch Top 40. I was about nine years old when I heard the track (two years after its release) and even back then I concluded that the song was too 'sad' to be a hit. The fortunes of Luv' changed when they started recording consistently happy music.

That's not to say 'Dream, dream' is a bad pop song: it's got a great melody and the lyric, while still full of platitudes, is quite interesting. Finding a copy of this single is quite hard: I think there weren't that much to begin with and these days they don't pop up very often.

My collection: 7" single no. 4579
Found: Velvet Vinyl Outlet, Leiden, February 26, 2010
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Dream, dream' / 'Hang on'

Let's go crazy - Prince and the Revolution

A request by one of the readers of this blog: 'Let's go crazy' as released in 1985 as a single from Price's hugely successful album 'Purple rain'. I bought this single although I was never too wild about this track 25 years ago. Now I quite like it, I have to admit.

When 'Let's go crazy' was released as a single, it was edited from the album version. It was a number 1 hit in the USA, peaking at number 18 in the Dutch Top 40 and number 7 in the UK singles chart.

My collection: 7" single no. 4603
Found: Velvet Vinyl Outlet, Leiden, February 26, 2010
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Let's go crazy' / 'Take me with u'

Englishman in New York (Ben Liebrand mix) - Sting

'Englishman in New York' was originally a track on Sting's second album 'Nothing like the sun'. When it was released as a single from that album in 1988, it was moderately successful.

In 1990, just prior to the release of his third studio album The Soul Cages, Sting's record label licensed Dutch DJ and producer Ben Liebrand to remix the track and subsequently release it as a single. The remix played around with the introduction and some of the instrumentation, but the essence of the song remained the same. The new version was more successful, reaching number 15 in the UK singles chart in mid-1990.

My collection: 7" single no. 4600
Found: Velvet Vinyl Outlet, Leiden, February 26, 2010
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Englishman in New York (Ben Liebrand mix)' / 'If you love somebody set them free'

There's a brand new world - Five Star

It's interesting how Five Star went from supergroup to virtually unknown during the first five years of their career. While their first few albums were immensely popular, the album 'Rock the world', released in 1988, was ignored by the record-buying audience.

Still, the first two singles from the album, 'Another weekend' and 'Rock my world' reached the top 40 in the UK. It was this third single, 'There's a brand new world', that stalled at number 61, making this the first single since 1985's 'R.S.V.P.' not to reach the UK top 40.

My collection: 7" single no. 4592
Found: Velvet Vinyl Outlet, Leiden, February 26, 2010
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'There's a brand new world' / 'U'

Dust in the wind - Kansas

The American progressive rock band Kansas was formed in 1970 by Dave Hope, Phil Ehart, Kerry Livgren, Lynn Meredith, Don Montre, Dan Wright and Larry Baker. They released their self-titled debut album in 1974, From then on, they released an album every year, until 1978's 'Point of know return' came out. This album featured the track 'Dust in the wind'.

'Dust in the wind' was released as a single. Written by Kerry Livgren, it was one of the band's first acoustic tracks with a slow melody and melancholy lyrics. It was their only single to reach the top 10 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at number 6. It was also their only hit in the Netherlands, peaking at number 19.

My collection: 7" single no. 4593
Found: Velvet Vinyl Outlet, Leiden, February 26, 2010
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Dust in the wind' / 'Paradox'