You don't die from love - Stephanie

Princess Stephanie from Monaco appeared on this blog before with singles from her debut album, released in 1986. It was a rather successful album in some parts of Europe, so she went about recording a follow-up. Unfortunately, that took such a long time that the music scene had totally changed in the mean time.

That self-titled second album was finally released in 1991, with the lead single 'Winds of chance' failing to reach the charts. This single, 'You don't die from love' was the second and last single to be released by Stephanie. She did appear on Michael Jackson as the mystery voice on 'In the closet', but after that, her music career was over and done.

My collection: 7" single no. 5848
Found: Discogs.com, received May 2, 2016
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'You don't die from love' / 'Good dreams'

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Song of love - Thomas Forstner

On the day of the dramatic outcome of the British referendum about the EU and proof that democracy does not always work well, I thought it would be nice to write about something else the Brits are really good at: Eurovision. In fact, they are so good at it that they haven't reached the top 10 in that competition for over a decade now (except in 2009, when they made number 5 just for once).

Even Austria has done much better in recent years, winning in 2014 and reaching the top 10 once as well. And in 1989, they did pretty well too: Thomas Forstner's 'Nur ein Lied' made it to number 5. Such was the success that he even recorded an English version of that song. 'Song of love' was released as a separate single, but this didn't become a hit outside of Austria.

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My collection: 7" single no. 5846
Found: Discogs.com, received May 2, 2016
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'Song of love' / 'Song of love (instrumental)'

Layla - Habibi

Habibi represented Israel during the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest with the song 'Layla'. The band consisted of: Shlomit Aharon, Kikki Rothstein, Yuval Dor and Ami Mendelman. They had originally been offered the song 'Hallelujah' in 1978, but they turned it down. That song was performed by Milk and Honey, and famously won the contest in 1979.

'Layla' fared less well, with just 56 points placing seventh in a field of twenty competitors. They released one more album in 1982 (which included their Eurovision song) before disbanding.

My collection: 7" single no. 5845
Found: Discogs.com, received May 2, 2016
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'Layla (English version)' / 'Layla (Hebrew version)'

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Radio's on - Promises

I remember the song 'Radio's on' by Promises best for a home-made remix of Queen's 'Radio gaga' which was played on Dutch radio in 1984. The intro consisted of several radio-inspired song snippets, seemingly played while someone was dialing the radio.

The song was never a hit, unlike Baby it's you, which I bought in 1989. Yep, 27 years apart - that surely must be some kind of record, right?

My collection: 7" single no. 5843
Found: Record fair, Utrecht, April 17, 2016
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Radio's on' / 'Toby jug'

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Tonight - The Look

Just like I am the beat, The Look's 'Tonight' is a song I know well from my childhood. Finding the single has proved a little more difficult, because I haven't seen it through the years between then and now. And it's quite amusing to note that I bought the other single in 1995 and this one just 21 years later...

I don't really know why I remember the song that well, since it wasn't a hit - neither in the UK nor in the Netherlands.

My collection: 7" single no. 5842
Found: Record fair, Utrecht, April 17, 2016
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Tonight' / 'Three steps away'

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Genghis Khan - Dschinghis Khan

Such was the success of the song 'Dschinghis Khan' at the 1979 Eurovision Song Contest, that the German band decided to also record an English version of their song. 'Genghis Khan' was released in Germany - as this German pressing proves - but there were also singles made in the UK, Italy, France, Spain and, yes, even Australia and Brazil.

Whether the track was a hit in any of these territories, I don't know. I am however glad to have found a copy of this single, because the English lyrics betray even more clearly what the song is about.

My collection: 7" single no. 5856
Found: Moses Records, Vienna, June 3, 2016
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Genghis Khan' / 'Desert land'

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Love goes up and down - Errol Brown

Although 2016 has confronted us with morality in a big way - with David Bowie, Prince and several other big names in music departing - last year was no small matter either. In February Visage's face Steve Strange passed away, and in May we lost Errol Brown, the frontman of Hot Chocolate.

It's easy to forget that beside his 18 years with that band, he also released a handful of solo releases in the late Eighties. 'Love goes up and down' was his fourth solo effort, which only got to number 89 in the UK singles chart. If you listen to the song here, you'll hopefully agree that the song was very much underrated.

My collection: 7" single no. 5853
Found: Moses Records, Vienna
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Love goes up and down' / 'Thank you'

Listen to the song