A festa da vida - Carlos Mendes

Carlos Eduardo Teixeira Mendes was born on May 23, 1947 in Lisbon. He started his singing career in the 1960's, representing Portugal at the Eurovision Song Contest on two occasions: in 1968 and 1972.This single, 'A festa da vida' is the 1972 entry. 

'A festa da vida' ('The party of life') is a ballad, with Mendes singing that the world needs to view life as a party in order to dismiss the negativity of the world. Although Portugal hadn't been particularly successful at Eurovision in previous years, this song reached 7th place at the close of voting, making it the country's highest placing at the time. Of course, it wouldn't be until a few years ago that Portugal actually won Eurovision. But when they did, they did it with a song that became an instant classic. This song is not an instant classic, but enjoyable all the same.

My collection: 7" single no. 6315
Found: Discogs.com, received August 8, 2020
Cost: 5 euro
Tracks: 'A festa da vida' / 'Glow worm'

Jealous of youth - The The

There's a special place in my record collection for The The, one of those British bands that managed to 'get to me' at a very early age. Their versions of 'Uncertain smile' grabbed me from the first time I heard them, and I have collected their albums and singles ever since. 

For a long time I thought that their later singles were never issued on vinyl, because record companies were very busy phasing out the format in the early 1990's. And so, here I am, almost three decades after its release, finding a copy of the Spanish promotional 7" single of 'Jealous of youth', one of the songs that became part of the soundtrack of my life back in 1991. It's a one-sided promo, so no B-side on this one.

My collection: 7" single no. 6314
Found: Discogs.com, received August 8, 2020
Cost: 4 euro
Tracks: 'Jealous of youth'

Mothers little soldier - Fra Lippo Lippi

Just like 'Love is a lonely harbour', 'Mothers little soldier' is a single taken from Fra Lippo Lippi's 1989 album 'The colour album'. Adding this one to my collection means that I'll only need 'Count on me' to make the set complete - but I am waiting until the price of that one comes down.

Although the melody of this song is as strong as anything they've release, the single didn't manage to chart in Europe. Perhaps it did in Norway, but I couldn't find any chart data from that country.

My collection: 7" single no. 6313
Found: Discogs.com, received July 31, 2020
Cost: 4 euro
Tracks: 'Mothers little soldier' / 'Under the same sun'

Marianne - Cliff Richard

I do read the comments on this blog, although there aren't that many. My recent entry about Sergio Endrigo's 'Marianne' caused a friendly reader to let me know that Cliff Richard, who also took part in the 1968 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, actually covered this song. I really didn't know that! But when I found out, I thought it would be great to actually own a copy of that version, since I also collect Eurovision cover versions (well, within some reason - I don't actually need 100 versions of 'Volare' to be honest).

I think it's suitable that I found an Italian copy of the single. The great thing about Cliff Richard's version is that it is translated into English, and my English is a lot better than my Italian. The single actually was a hit in several countries, peaking at number 22 in the UK and number 15 in Ireland.

My collection: 7" single no. 6312
Found: Discogs.com, received July 31, 2020
Cost: 3 euro
Tracks: 'Marianne' / 'Mister Nice'

Mothers talk - Tears for fears

This single by Tears for fears is an interesting one: it was released in April 1986 in the USA, after the 'Songs from the big chair' campaign had already ended in the rest of the world. I never knew that the so-called 'US remix' of 'Mothers talk' had actually been a single, but here you go. Although labeled as a "remix", this version of the song is actually a complete re-recording, done by the band after their 'Big Chair' tour had ended. It was mixed by the award-winning producer Bob Clearmountain, who would go on to mix the band's next album with them.

The single managed to peak at number 27 on the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. The sleeve is almost identical to a UK 12" single from 1984.

My collection: 7" single no. 6310
Found: Discogs.com, received July 27, 2020
Cost: $3
Tracks: 'Mothers talk' / 'Sea song'

Never as good as the first time - Sade

I could buy a lot of singles by Sade just for the artwork. There have been a lot of different sleeves in different territories, and they usually look stunning, because their frontwoman is rather photogenic. Still, I haven't actively collected their singles, buying them is often just a case of adding them to a stack of singles I'm buying from a dealer at a record fair, or in this case, an online order.

'Never as good as the first time' came in this great sleeve in America. I was actually buying a rare promotional cd by Happy Rhodes - you won't find her in this blog because she never released any 7" singles unfortunately - but the same dealer had a few rather interesting singles to go with it. The sleeve is very different from this one and this one, and so I decided to get it without much doubt.

My collection: 7" single no. 6311
Found: Discogs.com, received July 27, 2020
Cost: $2
Tracks: 'Never as good as the first time (remix edit)' / 'Keep hanging on (live instrumental)'

Bring me to life (Synthesis) - Evanescence

Evanescence's exercise of fusing their hardrock tracks with a symphonic orchestra on the album 'Synthesis' has created one of the best albums of recent years, in my opinion. This picture disc single was released in a limited edition of 499 copies (one might wonder where number 500 went), distributed with the German rock magazine Sonic Seducer.

When I ordered that magazine last year it came with a cd-single, but for some reason the online shop recently carried a version that also included this picture disc 7". Oh well, I had to buy it - albeit grudgingly.

My collection: 7" single no. 6309
Found: Sonic Seducer webshop, received July 29, 2020
Cost: 10 euro
Tracks: 'Bring me to life (Synthesis)' / 'Bring me to life (Synthesis) (instrumental)'