Long before Mia Martini participated in the Eurovision Song Contest with the beautifully depressing 'Rapsodia' (1992), she appeared in 1977 with 'Libera'. At the time, she was arguably Italy's most successful and celebrated female artist, having had a number of hits since 1971. At the close of voting, 'Libera' had received 33 points, placing it 13th in a field of 18 competitors.
Martini recorded five versions of the song; the original ballad version, the disco version, the Spanish 'Libre', the French 'Libre comme une femme' and the English 'Freedom is today', the latter three all with the up-tempo arrangement.
My collection: 7" single no. 5627 Found: Fun Records, Berlin, received August 29, 2014 Cost: 2 euro Tracks: 'Libera' / 'Sognare è vita'
The 'oldies single' was an attractive way to get old songs into your singles collection, back in the Seventies and Eighties. Warner Bros. had an attractive series of such singles, one of which you can see here. The sleeve was always the same: a small photo in the middle and a large logo above, inside a 'jukebox style' sleeve design.
This single presents the 1968 hit single 'Hello I love you' and the 1971 hit single 'Love her madly', both by The Doors. Of course, both these songs are picked rather randomly, although obviously both have been big hits for the band.
My collection: 7" single no. 5390 Found: unknown Tracks: 'Hello I love you' / 'Love her madly'
The singles Honey and Summer (The first time) were reason enough to become curious about Bobby Goldsboro's further output, but his singles are pretty hard to find. When I came across this one, I simply thought it was a good way to hear more from the man.
'Hello summertime' lacks the melancholy atmosphere of the two titles mentioned above, but does offer a rather upbeat melody and carefree lyrics instead. The B-side is even better, because on there, the melancholy feeling is back... just slightly.
My collection: 7" single no. 5398 Found: unknown Tracks: 'Hello summertime' / 'And then there was Gina'
Long before Enya died and her subsequent albums were created by producers in a studio, reusing her vocals time and again, she recorded a self-titled debut album. The album was used as the soundtrack to the BBC documentary series 'The Celts'. The album includes only a portion of the music Enya composed for the documentary series.
Hard to believe, but this single taken from the album sounds rather original. It actually sounds like Enya sang the words herself instead of being pieced together from previously sung vocals. However, the single did not chart. Her next single, 'Orinoco flow' would become a worldwide hit and would later turn out to be the first version of all her subsequent singles.
My collection: 7" single no. 5670
Found: Record fair, Utrecht, November 23, 2014
Cost: 0,5 euro
Tracks: 'I want tomorrow' / 'The Celts'
What you find here is the original UK version, featuring 'Play to win' and the instrumental (dub) version 'Play' on the B-side. That B-side is a treat for those who like this quirky electronic track, because it gives you the opportunity to check out all the intricate instrumentation behind a rather flippant and funky track.
My collection: 7" single no. 5400 Found: Record Exchange, London Cost: 10p Tracks: 'Play to win' / 'Play'
Attentive readers of this blog will have seen many entries about Depeche Mode, but one thing was still missing: the band's debut single. I never got round to buying a copy, didn't even know it was missing from my collection in fact. However, I have finally rectified this shortcoming.
Released on February 20, 1981, 'Dreaming of me' only reached number 57 in the UK singles chart and was subsequently not included on the band's debut album 'Speak and spell'. Exactly 30 years after 'Dreaming of me' was first released in the UK, a fan action tried to push the track back into the charts by
way of (legal) online downloads. The action failed except in Germany, where the
track entered the singles charts for the very first time at number 45
giving the band its 47th chart entry.
My collection: 7" single no. 5667
Found: Record fair, Utrecht, November 23, 2014
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'Dreaming of me' / 'Ice machine'
Kraftwerk are pioneers of techno pop, and have been responsible for some of the most astonishing records of the Seventies. It's remarkable that they were able to produce music that sounds timeless even now, mostly thanks to the technology that has become mainstream now, but was quite difficult and expensive back then.
The hyphenated title of the album 'Radio-activity' (1976) displays Kraftwerk's typical deadpan humour, being a pun on the twin themes of the songs, half being about radioactivity and the other half about activity on the radio.
More word plays are evident in the track listing: "Radio Stars", which
as a title could refer to pop stars, but upon listening is revealed to
be about quasars and pulsars. The title track was issued as a single and reached number 7 in France and number 31 in Italy - but failed to chart everywhere else.
My collection: 7" single no. 5433 Found: unknown Tracks: 'Radio-activity' / 'Antenna'
