In fact, the Stray Cats kept making music all through the Eighties, despite breaking up a few times in between. After 1992's Dave Edmunds-produced 'Choo Choo Hot Fish', and the cover album 'Original Cool', the group called it quits again. Further reunions happened in 2008 and 2018.
My collection: 7" single no. 6357
Found: Kringloop Den Haag, 20 March 2021
Cost: 0,5 euro
Tracks: 'Rock this town' / 'Can't hurry love'
Circa 1980 Aspelund, who had just been divorced, relocated with her two-year-old son to Lake Worth, Florida. She performed locally and on Caribbean cruise ships making periodic visits to Finland and Sweden, notably in 1986 when she headlined in the stage musical Cats in Helsinki. It was reported in 2010 that Aspelund had returned to Finland on a permanent basis. No doubt she's visited Lapponia a few times since then.
My collection: 7" single no. 6353
Found: Discogs.com, received 19 March 2021
Cost: 4 euro
Tracks: 'Lapponia (English version)' / 'La la sing a song'
The song is a ballad, with the band calling for a day of love in the whole world that never ends. The song was released as 'A day of love', the version that is presented on this single. This version failed to chart.
My collection: 7" single no. 6352
Found: Discogs.com, received March 19, 2021
Cost: 4 euro
Tracks: 'A day of love' / 'Naj bo baby'
After training to be a medical practice assistant, Drexel married a musician, changed her last name to Johnson and became a mother in 1984. A year later she began her work in a transfusion medicine laboratory. In recent years Drexel has returned to the music industry as a music teacher, she is also the lead singer of the group Bluesonix.
My collection: 7" single no. 6351
Found: Discogs.com, received 19 March 2021
Cost: 5 euro
Tracks: 'Mikado' / 'Die Marionetten'
The album 'Transmissions', from which both singles were taken, was equally unsuccessful in reaching the charts, but the trio remained undeterred and started the project Spirit Of The Forest, enlisting the help of many famous stars to create a song that would perhaps persuade more people to think about the environment. Thirty years later, my cynical conlusion is that people didn't care then, and they still don't care now. At least we got some remarkable songs out of it.
My collection: 7" single no. 6350
Found: Discogs.com, received 21 February 2021
Cost: 1,66 euro
Tracks: 'Eons roll by' / 'Uchu o mamoro'
'Green Mellow Hill' is the last release by the Sparklings, a single that features a cover version of the Marty Wilde composition 'Running Forwards' on the B-side. It was released in 1970. Obviously I was after this B-side track, but it was a search of many years, since this single has become a bit of a rarity. With an average asking price of 40 euros on Discogs, I was lucky to find a copy on the Dutch Ebay recently for just one tenth of that price. The only downside being that the single came without the picture sleeve. I still think it's a good deal.
My collection: 7" single no. 6349
Found: Ebay.nl, received 12 February 2021
Cost: 3,5 euro
Tracks: 'Green Mellow Hill' / 'Running Forwards'
Bandjo and Anne Cathrine Herdorf represented Denmark during the 1987 Eurovision Song Contest with 'En Lille Melodi'. I also have the English version of that song, 'A simple little song', which I bought in 2009. What I didn't know, was that there is also a Dutch version of the song. At least, Anne Cathrine tries to sing the song in Dutch but clearly it is not her mother tongue. It makes this song sound a lot like those Eastern European acts that try to sing in English. So if you're from abroad and you're worried that you can't understand the lyrics of 'Je Leven Lang Verliefd' ('Your Entire Life In Love') : don't worry, even Dutch people can't understand them.
My collection: 7" single no. 6348
Found: Discogs.com, received 12 February 2021
Cost: 3 euro
Tracks: 'Je leven lang verliefd' / 'En lille melodi (instrumental)'
