Abergavenny - Nancy Marano

These days, Nancy Marano is best known as a jazz singer, but back in the late 1960's, she recorded a few singles on the Columbia label, of which this 'Abergavenny' is one. This is, of course, a cover version of the Marty Wilde hit - or at least, Marty Wilde had a hit with this song in Europe, if not in the UK.

The B-side of this single is a version of 'Love song', taken from the Broadway production 'Celebration', or so the label says. But of course, my main interest is the cover version on the A-side, which is distinctly American in flavour. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6319
Found: Discogs.com, received August 13, 2020
Cost: 4 euro
Tracks: 'Abergavenny' / 'Love song'

Jesamine - Shannon

Things tend to get confusing sometimes, in the pop world. For instance, if I categorize this single under the name Shannon, this single will be in the same page as the one devoted to the disco legend who brought us 'Let the music play' in 1983. But this is not her - instead, it's good old Marty Wilde, who used the stage name during the 1960's. 

And then there's that song: 'Jesamine'. Wasn't that made famous by the Casuals? It was, but the song was written by Frere Manston together with Jack Gellar. And Frere Manston is, as you may have guessed, Marty Wilde. So Shannon recorded Frere Manston's song, and this single got released in America. 

I had some luck recently, when an online seller offered both the commercial and the promotional version of this single. The B-side of the commercial version is the song 'Lullaby', which Marty wrote for his children, Kim and Ricky. And you probably know who they are: Kim Wilde and Ricky Wilde of course. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6317
Found: Discogs.com, received August 13, 2020
Cost: 3 euro
Tracks: 'Jesamine' / 'Jesamine'

My collection: 7" single no. 6318
Found: Discogs.com, received August 13, 2020
Cost: 3 euro
Tracks: 'Jesamine' / 'Lullaby'

I'm in love with a German film star - The Passions

Some singles are on my wantlist, just waiting to pop up for a reasonable price. In the absence of record fairs - Lord knows when I will finally see a record dealer in the flesh again! - I scour the internet for singles, but there's a limit to what I can take. I won't buy a single for one or two euros, only to pay three to five times as much because of postage. And so this single only got to me in combination with another one. And since it's a Spanish copy, it comes with the beautiful title 'Estoy enamorada de una estrella Alemana de cine' (I don't know why the Spanish want to translate song titles, but they always do.)

The Passions were a British band, which formed in 1978 and broke up five years later. Their major chart hit, 'I'm in love with a German film star', was released as the band's fourth single on January 23, 1981. It was their only hit, peaking at number 25 in the UK singles chart and number 30 in Ireland. I have vague memories of hearing this song during the 1980's, but it took a long time - until early this year, in fact - to rediscover this track.

My collection: 7" single no. 6316
Found: Discogs.com, received August 8 ,2020
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'I'm in love with a German film star' / '(Don't talk to me) I'm shy'

 

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'