Tell me when - Human League

Released on December 26, 1994, 'Tell me when' was the first single by Human League in four years. A lot had changed in the record industry: gone were most of the vinyl singles in favour of cd-singles. Until recently I didn't even know a vinyl single of this track existed. It became the Human League's most commercially successful single in nine years and reintroduced the band to many of the British general public. 'Tell me when' received considerable radio promotion in advance of its late 1994 UK release, hitting the airwaves at a time when many people started to get Christmas song fatigue.

The single peaked at number 6 in the UK singles chart and even made it into the US Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 31. The album from which this single was taken, 'Octopus', peaked at number 6 in the UK albums chart.

My collection: 7" single no. 6149
Found: Discogs.com, received July 29, 2019
Cost: 3 pounds
Tracks: 'Tell me when (7" edit)' / 'Tell me when (Mix 1)'

Do I dream - Maxi

Maxi was the stage name of Irene McCoubrey, born February 23, 1950. In the late 1960s Maxi teamed up with Barbara Dixon and Adele King to form Maxi, Dick and Twink. The trio toured Ireland, the UK and Canada and recorded two singles. They also worked a session singers in Motown studios in Detroit, Michigan, before disbanding. Following this she pursued a career with Danny Doyle and Music Box before going solo. She represented Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1973 singing 'Do I Dream', finishing tenth in a field of 17 competitors.
 
In the late 1970s, Maxi became part of another all-girl trio Sheeba, with Marion Fossett and Frances Campbell. The group represented Ireland in the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest with the song 'Horoscopes'. Maxi embarked on a career in broadcasting with the Irish national broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). Working mainly on radio, she also took on some television work including a quiz show, presenting Ireland's lottery and fronting the Miss Ireland contest. In 1987 Maxi presented the national final for Eurovision alongside Marty Whelan.

My collection: 7" single no. 6148
Found: Discogs.com, received July 29, 2019
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'Do I dream' / 'Here today and gone tomorrow'

DJ - David Bowie

Just days after buying the 'Space oddity' box set, I found this picture disc of DJ in Parlophone's series of '40th anniversary' discs. I bought the 'Boys keep swinging' picture disc a few weeks ago in Antwerpen, so it's nice to have found this one in Paris. Like the one before, it is quite an expensive acquisition, but online prices have not been any lower.

What's most interesting about this disc - to me at least - is not the A-side, but the B-side, because it contains a version of 'Boys keep swinging' that was performed in a television show in 1979. Why Parlophone decided to include this instead of the original B-side 'Repetition' is therefore obvious to me.

Note: now that picosong has ceased existing I will have to link to other online files to offer sound and sometimes vision with the tracks that are on my singles. In this case, it's extra interesting because you get to see the full TV performance along with the sound that's on the single. Obviously the single fades out until 2'33.  

My collection: 7" single no. 6147
Found: Fnac, Paris, July 28, 2019
Cost: 14 euro (!)
Tracks: 'DJ (2017 Tony Visconti mix - single edit)' / 'Boys keep swinging (Kenny Everett Video Show version)'

Space oddity - David Bowie

It's hard to believe that it's already been 3½ years since David Bowie died. Since then, a shedload of new releases has seen the light of day. It's becoming more obvious every month that the record company and the rights holders are making the most of the neverending lust for new product that seems to exist.

Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the moon landing which made 'Space oddity' such a big hit, Parlophone has now released a boxed set of two singles with two versions of 'Space oddity' and its B-side, 'Wild eyed boy from freecloud': the original mono versions and new 2019 mixes by Tony Visconti. The box comes with a poster, an insert detailing all the credits for the tracks and some background information and a photo card - plus of course both the singles in different picture sleeves. I used an official packshot for this post, because the glossy box can not be scanned properly!

My collection: 7" single no. 6146
Found: Gilbert Joseph, Paris, July 24, 2019
Tracks: 'Space oddity (original mono single edit)' / 'Wild eyed boy from freecloud (original mono single version)' // 'Space oddity (2019 mix - single edit)' / 'Wild eyed boy from freecloud (2019 mix - single version)'

Hélène - Julien Clerc

'Hélène' is the Eighties summer hit you may have missed if you weren't living in France or the Netherlands at the time. It was Julien Clerc's last hit in the Netherlands, peaking at number 5 in the Dutch Top 40 in the summer of 1987.

Clerc was best known for his Seventies hits 'Venise' and 'This melody' and this summery song with the mock-'Lion sleeps tonight' rhythm was a bit of a diversion in style for him. I didn't like the song very much back then, but these days it sounds fresh and much better than most music that is released these days...

My collection: 7" single no. 6145
Found: Gilbert Joseph, Paris, July 24, 2019
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Hélène' / 'Avoir 15 ans'

Hijo de la luna (Dis-moi lune d'argent) - Mecano

When I saw this single, I had to look twice. Although the title 'Hijo de la luna' is featured prominently on the sleeve, the French subtitle is less so. And what did it mean - a French version of the song, or just a translation for the French who don't speak many languages other than French? It turned out to be the former, as made more obvious on the back of the sleeve, where lyrics for the French and Spanish versions appeared.

The Spanish band Mecano have always recorded their songs in multiple languages - and I have the single 'Une femme avec une femme' to prove it. That one was released in 1990, this one a year later - three years after 'Hijo de la luna' was recorded and one year after it was a hit in most of Europe.

My collection: 7" single no. 6144
Found: Gilbert Joseph, Paris, July 24, 2019
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Hijo de la luna (Dis-moi lune d'argent)' / 'Hijo de la luna'

Shang shang a lang - Sylvie Vartan

During what was probably the hottest week of this year, I was on holiday in Paris with the family. And like every year there wasn't a lot of time to scour the record shops. However, last Wednesday, as the temperature was rising near 40 degrees Celsius, they went back to the apartment during the afternoon and I suddenly had a few hours on my own. Much to my dismay I found that Parisian record shops are a weird thing: they are either on holiday or unwelcoming to guests. The two shops that were open were 'Musiques Musiques' (but the owner turned me away for no apparent reason) and 'Monster Melodies' (which had closed their upper floor where the vinyl was stacked up high).

And so I had only one address left: Gilbert Joseph, a large store for second hand books, films and comics as well as records. Their second hand singles were quite interesting, I found. My first find was an old Sylvie Vartan single. 'Shang shang a lang' was written by Marty Wilde and Peter Shelley. I was so familiar with the sleeve of this single that I thought I already had it, but it turns out I didn't. It was very nice to scoop up this disc.

My collection: 7" single no. 6143
Found: Gilbert Joseph, Paris, July 24, 2019
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Shang shang a lang' / 'Toi mon aventure'