Dr. Mabuse - Propaganda

As you may have gathered from today's entires, I am cleaning up my 12" singles collection. Or rather, I'm going through them to see whether there's any stuff I haven't yet digitised. I was pleased to see that there's not a whole lot of work left to do, although there have been some surprising omissions. For instance, I haven't posted any of my Propaganda 12" singles!

I only have three of them, but they're the classics: taken from their debut album, both the songs and their respective 12" singles have been exciting. To begin with, there's 'Dr. Mabuse': a song that was transformed into a 10 minute epic, backed with an impressive cover version of Lou Reed's 'Femme fatale'. Time to rectify the situation. 'Duel' and 'Machinery' are due to follow soon, of course!

My collection: 12" single [unnumbered]
Found: unknown
Price: unknown
Tracks: 'Das Testament des Mabuse' / 'Femme fatale (The woman with the orchid)', '(The ninth life of) Dr. Mabuse'

Let me go - Wendy Wu

On the back cover of this 12" single it is announced: 'produced by Tony Mansfield'. For those in the know, this is a recommendation. For Tony Mansfield was also the backbone of New Musik, he produced A-ha's debut, as well as producing acts like Captain Sensible and Naked Eyes.

Wendy Wu's career was more short-lived: she released just three singles, of which 'Let me go' was the last one. However, on those singles she worked with Graham Gouldman, Gary Barnacle and Tony Mansfield respectively. After these singles flopped she went on to work with Visage's Steve Strange in the band Strange Cruise.

My collection: 12" single [unnumbered]
Found: Plaatboef, Den Haag, 201X
Cost: 0,5 euro
Tracks: 'Let me go (long version)' / 'Love tonight'

Invincible - Pat Benatar

Pat Benatar had her biggest success with 'Love is a battlefield', but after that single a few more slightly successful titles followed. One of them was 'Invincible', a song taken from the soundtrack of 'The legend of Billie Jean'.

I owned the single since it came out, but I never bought the 12" single at the time. I bought it a couple of years ago and then it again disappeared anonymously in my collection. It's a shame, because this is a really decent extended version of that track.

My collection: 12" single [unnumbered]
Found: Kringloop Den Haag, 2014
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Invincible (extended version)' / 'Invincible (instrumental)', 'Heartbreaker'

Come summer - Fra Lippo Lippi

The sleeve of Fra Lippo Lippi's 'Come summer' is one of the most beautiful sleeve designs ever. Made by StyleForEveryMood in Stockholm, it looks deceptively simple: just a beautiful image with the lyric of the song printed over it. Sometimes you wonder how people come up with something like this.

The song, of course, is no less beautiful. Taken from the band's album 'Songs', it followed 'Shouldn't have to be like that' but didn't achieve the same amount of international success. It's strange, because it is the better of the two songs. Even three decades ago, people didn't recognise a hit when it was slammed in their face.

My collection: 12" single [unnumbered]
Found: Den Haag, 1993
Cost: unknown
Tracks: 'Come summer (extended, remixed)' / 'Come summer', 'Even tall trees bend (original version)'

Live it up - Time Bandits

This copy of the 12" single of Time Bandits' debut single 'Live it up' was not in a very good shape when I bought it. My needle kept sliding off the record after playing a few seconds, barricades by clouds of dust. Fortunately, it was nothing that a good cleaning session couldn't fix.

There were actually two 12" singles of 'Live it up' back in 1981: a version with a remix of over 7 minutes, and this one, which just contains the album version of the track. The single version was shorter by a minute or so, so this could still be considered an 'extended' version, but I guess some fans felt disappointed back then after hearing this one...

My collection: 12" single [unnumbered]
Found: Velvet Vinyl Outlet, Leiden, July 14, 2017
Cost: 2,5 euro
Tracks: 'Live it up' / 'Juvenile acquaintance'

I'm lovin' it - Justin Timberlake

This is a mysterious 12" single. Released unofficially, it is supposed to contain two remixes by the Trouser Enthusiasts, but it sounds rather different than their other work. There are no credits on the label, so it is hard to find out.

Justin Timberlake released 'I'm lovin' it' in 2003, after he was paid $6 million to sing a jingle for McDonald's. The Neptunes produced a song based on this jingle, and this was released in November 2003. The single became a number 1 hit in the Wallonian part of Belgium and reached number 13 in the Netherlands. It did not chart in the UK or USA.

My collection: 12" single [unnumbered]
Found: Discogs.com, January 2016
Cost: 2 pounds
Tracks: 'I'm lovin' it' / 'I'm dubin' it'

Hey, hey - Gershon Kingsley and the Moog

Gershon Kingsley of course gave the world Popcorn, he did release some more music. This single is an example. Also made on the famous Moog synthesizer, 'Hey, hey' is a nice but forgettable piece of instrumental music.

The B-side is a poppy Moog version of Beethoven's 'Fur Elise', although for some reason Beethoven does not get composer credits (Kingsley does) and the track is called 'For Alisse Beethoven'. Interestingly, a different single with a different sleeve also exists: with the A-side on the B-side and vice versa. It wasn't always easy to decide which track would do best. (In this case, neither did chart.)

My collection: 7" single no. 5849
Found: Velvet Vinyl Outlet, Leiden, July 14, 2017
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Hey, hey' / 'For Alisse Beethoven'