Swell - Salt Tank

A little sigh comes over my lips every time I hear about new work by Tori Amos these days. As far as I'm concerned, she did her best work in the Nineties and then for some reason the fire went out and she started doing rehashes of her old work or uninspired semi-classical ditties. I would do anything for concert tickets back in the Nineties, whereas now I simply do not care.

Back in the Nineties, many exciting things happened. Not only did Tori release her quintessential albums 'Little Earthquakes', 'Under the pink' and 'From the choirgirl hotel', but she also worked with remixers like BT for more dance-oriented tracks. This remix by Salt Tank was another interesting one: 'Eugina' features her vocals, although in this case it was a random sample. This 12" single set was part of a bigger order online, and I bought it for old times sake. I have to say these tracks puzzle me and I'm not sure if I'll play them a lot.

Who do you hear in the tracks 'Eden' and 'Orinoco', on the other hand? Well, it's Kate Bush. And she is still the Goddess she's always been of course.

My collection: 12" single [unnumbered]
Found: Discogs.com, received 2016
Cost: 2 pounds
Tracks: 'Eden' / 'Flammable' // 'Eugina (Pacific rage)', 'Orinoco' / 'Origin of species', 'Astral'

Love will keep us together - Captain & Tennille

Two years ago, Kim Wilde released a cover version of Captain & Tennille's 'Love will keep us together' on a compilation album of Eighties artists covering Seventies tracks. Out of all the tracks on that compilation, this was the only song I didn't know - which surprised me because I always think I have a rather complete knowledge of pop music from the mid-Seventies onwards. Released in 1975, 'Love will keep us together' didn't become a hit in the Netherlands, which could explain this gap in my memory.

I figured I would buy this single when I came across it cheaply, and last Friday, I did. Just to add to my collection of 'songs covered by Kim Wilde' - one of my many subcollections.

My collection: 7" single no. 5852
Found: Velvet Vinyl Outlet, Leiden, July 14, 2017
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Love will keep us together' / 'Gentle stranger'

I can't stay away from you - Viola Wills

Released in 1981, 'I can't stay away from you' was an ill-fated single for Viola Wills. Best known for her disco hits 'Gonna get along without you now' and 'If you could read my mind', this song was simply too middle of the road for the disco generation, which had probably moved on anyway.

I actually bought this single for the B-side: a cover version of one of the most beautiful songs ever recorded: Chicago's 'If you leave me now'. Unfortunately, this disco version also disappoints. Still, sometimes curiousity has to win and it's a nice enough single to add to my collection. Although Viola continued to record albums and singles until well into the Nineties, she did not have another hit.

My collection: 7" single no. 5854
Found: Velvet Vinyl Outlet, Leiden, July 14, 2017
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'I can't stay away from you'/ 'If you leave me now'

When day is done - Marty Wilde

I guess I'm not giving away a big secret when I say that Marty Wilde is a big fan of Elvis Presley. Out of all of his recordings, I find it's most evident in this recording: 'When day is done', released as a single in 1964.

The song was originally written in 1924 by Austrian composer Robert Katscher as 'Madonna, du bist schöner als der Sonnenschein'. It was translated into English by Buddy DeSylva and released as 'When day is done' in 1926. The earliest recordings were made by Art Kahn, Harry Archer and his Orchestra and Nat Shilkret. Later the song was covered by artists such as George Benson, Bing Crosby, Al Jolson and indeed Marty Wilde. His version didn't become a hit, although listening to this I can't imagine why not. Simply beautiful!

My collection: 7" single no. 5844
Found: Discogs.com, received June 25, 2017
Cost: 3 pounds
Tracks: 'When day is done' / 'I can't help the way that I feel'

Jesamine - Jason Chase

Some singles are mysterious. This single by Jason Chase is a good example. Released in 1968 on the Atco label in the USA, it features two cover versions: the A-side is a version of Marty Wilde and Jack Gellar's 'Jesamine' (made famous by the Casuals), and the B-side is a version of Leonard Cohen's 'Suzanne'.

But who is Jason Chase? Other than the fact that he sings both these tracks and has also produced them, there is no information anywhere about this man. I'd be interested to find out more, but for now, he remains a total mystery.

My collection: 7" single no. 5849
Found: Discogs.com, received July 12, 2017
Cost: $3
Tracks: 'Jesamine' / 'Suzanne'

Wrong - Everything but the girl

Just like Walking wounded and Single, 'Wrong' was released as a jukebox-only 7" single. I only found out about this quite recently, and this prompted me to get hold of these singles as quickly as possible. Thanks to the internet, it isn't so hard to find rare singles these days, although obviously it depends on how much you'd like to spend on them.

I do have to wonder why record companies in 1996 felt it wasn't necessary to release vinyl singles commercially anymore. They were obviously being made, so why not make them available to the general public? But then, the workings of the record industry have baffled me ever since those days anyway.

My collection: 7" single no. 5843
Found: Discogs.com, received June 1, 2017
Cost: 3 pounds
Tracks: 'Wrong (Todd Terry remix edit)' / 'Wrong (Deep Dish remix edit)'

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'