Speeldoos - Annie Palmen

Annie Palmen was born in IJmuiden on August 19, 1926. She started her career singing with dance orchestras around the city of Haarlem, then sang on various radio stations before her first hit record, 'Ik zal je nooit meer vergeten', in 1958. In 1960, Palmen took part in the Dutch Eurovision selection, as one of the artists singing 'Wat een geluk', which was eventually performed by Rudi Carrell on the international Eurovision stage.

Palmen returned in 1963 in a more straightforward procedure, performing three songs from which a professional jury would pick a winner. The song 'Geen ander' ('Nobody else') was chosen to go to the eighth Eurovision Song Contest, held in London on 23 March. Before the contest however, the lyrics to the song were completely rewritten, and it became 'Een speeldoos'. The song was not successful; it was one of four songs that received the dreaded 'nul points' in a field of sixteen competitors. Her career continued until 1972, after five years of monthly appearances in the television programme 'Mik' on Dutch TV. Palmen died in Beverwijk on 15 January 2000, after a long illness of an undisclosed nature, aged 73.

'Een speeldoos' was the only Dutch Eurovision single missing in my collection, so it is with great pleasure that I acquired this disc. (A few more Eurovision songs happened in the last century, but these were never released as a single.) 

My collection: 7" single no. 6159
Found: Discogs.com, received August 16, 2019
Tracks: 'Speeldoos' / 'Bij jou'

Malaika - Anicken Loken

Anicken Loken released this single - and only this single - in 1989. There is no information about her anywhere on the internet, although back in February 2018 I wrote a little piece about this single on one of my other websites. But back then I didn't have the single myself - and now I do.

The single features two tracks: a version of the African traditional 'Malaika', and a cover version of the debut single by Ricky Wilde, 'I am an astronaut'. The original lyric by Marty Wilde was translated into Norwegian by Elvind Torp. And there you have it: it's very hard to find this Wilde-related single, but when it's Wilde-related, I gotta have it.

My collection: 7" single 6160
Found: Discogs.com, received August 22, 2019
Tracks: 'Malaika' / 'Jeg er en astronaut'

Profoundly in love with Pandora - Ian Dury

Ian Dury wrote and performed the song 'Profoundly in love with Pandora' for the television series 'The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾', based on the book of the same name by Sue Townsend. I remember I was a bit shocked at the time,because I knew Dury from slightly controversial songs like 'Spasticus Autisticus' and 'Sex & drugs & rock & roll', and this was almost a 'normal' pop song.

I'd almost forgotten about this release over the years, but it recently popped up during an online shopping spree, and so I picked it up. Always nice to have some Ian Dury in your life, innit.

My collection: 7" single no. 6156
Found: Discogs.com, received August 9, 2019
Cost: 1 pound
Tracks: 'Profoundly in love with Pandora' / 'Eugenius (You're a genius)'

Enjoy - Solid Gold Easy Amex featuring Red Box

This single comes with a promotional sticker on the front - as you can see - and a press release from EastWest Records. It explains a little about this release: "After enjoying an extended period of (expensive) bootlegged notoriety, this year's orbital theme-tune, "Enjoy" from Solid Gold Easy Amex featuring Red Box, is commercially released through East West Records on 21st May [1990]."

""Enjoy" in its original form is an old B-side from the outfit who scored top 10 hits in 1985 & 1986 with "Lean on me (Ah-Li-Ayo)" and "For America". The track's current notoriety began when DJ's like Paul Oakenfold unearthed the song and began playing it at orbital parties around the capital and elsewhere."

My collection: 7" single no. 6153
Found: Discogs.com, received August 9, 2019
Cost: 2 pounds
Tracks: 'Enjoy (Paul Oakenfold future mix)' / 'Enjoy (Original Golden Lay)'

Give love a chance - Seija Simola

Seija Simola was born in Helsinki on September 25, 1944. She began her musical career in the mid-Sixties in the band Eero Seija & Kristian Trio, and her debut solo album was released in 1970: Seija Simola 1.

In 1978, she represented Finland at the Eurovision Song Contest. She sang 'Anna rakkaudelle tilaisuus', which finished in 18th place, in a field of 20 competitors. Despite this poor result, Simola continued a long and successful career in her native Finland. She passed away in Vantaa on August 21, 2017.

This single presents the English version of her Eurovision song: 'Give love a chance'. It comes in one of the thinnest paper sleeves I have ever seen.

My collection: 7" single no. 6155
Found: Discogs.com, received August 9, 2019
Cost: 5 euro
Tracks: 'Give love a chance' / 'Little smile'

Arcade - Duncan Laurence

Every year when the Netherlands announce their Eurovision candidate, there is a sigh of desperation and the resigned thought: 'Okay, so we won't win this year - again'. Ever since Teach In won the contest back in 1975 - a feat I didn't consciously experience - there have been many attempts to get to the top spot, but with dud artists like Bernadette, Gerard Joling, Willeke Alberti, Glennis Grace and - oh how terrible - De Toppers, we didn't have a shadow a chance.

And then suddenly, the unknown artist Duncan Laurence was announced as this year's entry. The song sounded weird at first, but it was way better than most songs from previous years. And when the bookmakers started predicting that the Netherlands could win this year, a mixture of disbelief and hope started to rise. I couldn't believe it when 'Arcade' won the Contest in May. And then, of course, the question came: will it be released on any physical format? The answer came two full months later: 'Arcade' was released last week on 7" vinyl. So there you have it - a winning Dutch Eurovision song on vinyl. It doesn't really get much better than this.

My collection: 7" single no. 6151
Found: Bea Records, received July 30, 2019
Cost: 10 euro
Tracks: 'Arcade' / 'Arcade (acoustic version)'

Smoke - Natalie Imbruglia

Natalie Imbruglia was born on February 4, 1975 in Sydney, Australia. After appearing in commercials for Coca-Cola and Australian snack Twisties, she joined the cast of Neighbours. After just two years she left the show to move to London in 1994. She met Anne Barret, who became her manager and convinced her to record a demo of four songs. One of those songs was a cover of the Ednaswap composition 'Torn', which landed her a record deal with RCA. Released as her first single, it was an immediate international hit.

The album 'Left of the middle' spawned a few more singles, of which 'Smoke' was artistically the most accomplished. Having been under the impression that none of her singles were ever released on vinyl, I was excited to get my hands on this one. 'Smoke' reached number 5 in the UK singles chart and number 42 in Australia.

My collection: 7" single no. 6150
Found: Discogs.com, received July 29, 2019
Cost: 3 euro
Tracks: 'Smoke' / 'Smoke (Martyn Philips & Marc Fox mix)'