Crystal wave - Beloved

A 8'54 version of 'Crystal wave' appears on the Beloved's 1996 album 'X', but this 12" single, released that same year, features a longer version. Adding a further three minutes or so, it resembles the album version but adds more beats and sounds. It is a rather anonymous dance track with no vocals or lyrics. Despite this 'hard' sound, I do like the track but I could understand if anyone didn't. After all, this is the kind of stuff that is played (loudly) in clubs and usually combined with a heavy dose of pills or other weird drugs. Usually I'm not into this kind of stuff, but I just can't resist any Beloved track.

The other side of this 12" is empty. So you only get one track, but at least it's a long one.

My collection: 12" single [unnumbered]
Found: Discogs.com, received August 2016
Cost: 2 pounds
Tracks: 'Crystal wave'

Hand me down love - Mike Huff

It is safe to assume that Mike Huff is a South African singer, since nothing can be found online about this performer. All I could find out is that he released two singles on the South African Satbel label: 'I can't wait to dream' and this single, 'Hand me down love' - both in 1976.

The B-side of this single is what got my attention: it's a cover version of the song 'Come back and love me' - and that, of course, was released in 1975 by Shannon. And Shannon was the nickname of Marty Wilde, who hoped to have a chart success with that song. A very obscure cover version of that song, then, ordered directly from South Africa. It was send to me on July 2, and it arrived.... today. You'd think that even the mail could be faster in this day and age, but no.

My collection: 7" single no. 5913
Found: Discogs, received August 10, 2018
Cost: $4
Tracks: 'Hand me down love' / 'Come back and love me'

Any trick - Breathe

Breathe also released 'Any trick' from their debut album. It was remixed by Mike Ging and dubbed the 'Like a monkey radio mix'. The remix didn't help the fortunes of this single release: it did not trouble the UK charts.

If you dislike the sleek, polished sound of Breathe, you should check out the B-side of this single: it's a great dub mix that was not originally an album track. The 2013 re-release of Breathe's debut album 'All that jazz' does include the track - but then, that double CD edition collects virtually everything that was released by the band at that time.

My collection: 7" single no. 5912
Found: 2017
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Any trick (Like a monkey radio mix)' / 'Make it funky'

Jonah - Breathe

Another release from Breathe's debut album was this single, 'Jonah'. Originally released as the band's third single, it didn't do much in the charts. After the impressive chart success of 'Hands to heaven', this single was re-released in a new poster sleeve. The record company probably hoped the song would do better the second time around.

Well, it did, sort of. This time the single reached number 60 in the UK singles chart. That was still not a great success, but history would prove that it was the fourth best chart placing in the UK for them. Later singles 'How can I fall' and 'Don't tell me lies' (another re-release) reached number 48 and 45 respectively.

My collection: 7" single no. 5911
Found: 2017
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Jonah' / 'Liberties of love'

Hits EP - Clive Allen Orchestra & Singers

Another Hits EP by the Clive Allen Orchestra & Singers, and another Marty Wilde composition on this one: Lulu's 'I'm a tiger'. Perhaps the most extraordinary track on this EP is 'Lily the pink', a track originally performed by the UK comedy group The Scaffold. It is a modernisation of an older folk song titled 'The Ballad of Lydia Pinkham'. The lyrics celebrate the 'medicinal compound' invented by Lily the Pink, and chronicle the "efficacious" cures it has brought about, such as inducing morbid obesity to cure a weak appetite, or bringing about a sex change as a remedy for freckles.

Among the covers on this EP are also 'This old heart of mine', a hit for the Isley Brothers and 'Elenore', originally by the Turtles.

My collection: 7" single no. 5876
Found: Discogs.com, received November 8, 2017
Cost: 2 pounds
Tracks: 'This old heart of mine', 'Elenore', 'If I knew then what I know now' / 'Mexico', 'I'm a tiger', 'Lily the pink'

Hits EP - Clive Allan Orchestra & Singers

Back in the 1960s, it was a profitable business to release 'Hits EP's' performed by anonymous performers. Singles were selling fast but with six hits on them instead of just one, people tended to choose these EP's over normal singles. It was way before hits compilations like 'Now this is music' flooded the music shops.

The Clive Allan Orchestra & Singers were successful performers on such EP's. They released quite a few of them, and this is an example. Why I bought this EP? Obviously for the cover version of Status Quo's 'Ice in the sun', a song penned by Marty Wilde. But the cover versions of 'Light my fire' and 'With a little help from my friends' are nice bonuses.

My collection: 7" single no. 5875
Found: Discogs.com, received November 8, 2017
Cost: 2 pounds
Tracks: 'A day without love', 'Ice in the sun', 'Light my fire' / 'Wreck of the Antoinette', 'M'lady', 'With a little help from my friends'

Lisa Mona Lisa - Wilfried

I got to know Austrian singer Wilfried pretty early on, because of a holiday in Austria in 1980. The sleeve of his album hung prominently in a shop window in the centre of Vienna, and since my brother was also named Wilfried at the time, 9-year-old me suddenly had this vision of a pop star sibling. It wasn't to be.

In 1988 Wilfried appeared in my life once again, this time representing Austria at the Eurovision Song Contest with the song 'Lisa Mona Lisa'. He ended up in last place with zero points. None of the other countries wanted to award points to a country that had recently elected Kurt Waldheim - a man with a shady past during World War II - as its president. Although one could argue that Wilfried's voice problems could also have been cause of this bad result.

My collection: 7" single no. 5909
Found: Discogs.com, received July 18, 2018
Cost: 3 euro
Tracks: 'Lisa Mona Lisa' / 'Lisa Mona Lisa (French version)'