Romantica - Achille Togliani

If the title 'Romantica' seems familiar, it's because it was performed at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1960 by Renato Rascel. This cover version by Achille Togliani, an Italian singer and actor who released an enormous amount of singles between 1950 and 1966. He also participated in the Italian San Remo festival - the festival that usually delivered the artist who would represent Italy on the Eurovision Song Contest. 

I'm not in the habit of buying every cover version of every Eurovision song - it would take a while and lots of money to do that - but when I come across one, for instance at a record fair, I can't resist.

My collection: 7" single no. 6425
Found: Record fair, Den Haag, 7 August 2021
Cost: 3 euro
Tracks: 'Romantica' / 'Perderti'

Bold as brass - Split Enz

About 25 years ago I had a friend with whom I shared the same sense of appreciation for certain kinds of music. During one of my visits she played me the album 'Dizrythmia' by Split Enz. Most of that album went past me, but the opening track 'Bold as brass' certainly made an impression. So much so that I contemplated buying that LP a couple of times over the past decades.

Imagine my surprise when I suddenly saw this single at a record fair recently. (Yes, a real record fair! We haven't had one of those in a long time either...) Obviously I bought this single. And obviously I never saw it before - nor did I ever think this track was released as a single, for some reason. It's great to have this now. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6428
Found: Record fair, Den Haag, 7 August 2021
Cost: 3 euro
Tracks: 'Bold as brass' / 'The woman who loves you'

Made in Spain (La chica que yo quiero) - La decada prodigiosa

It's been a long time since I last posted a 12" single on this blog, so I am happy that I have a good find right now. It's the extended remix of Spain's 1988 Eurovision entry by La decada prodigiosa, 'Made in Spain (La chica que yo quiero)'. For the longest time I didn't know there was an extended version of this song, but here it is.

Perhaps the funniest aspect of this song is that the group consistently sings 'Made in Espain', which is logical from a Spanish point of view, but it sounds a bit strange to those of us who are more acquainted with the English language. This extended version is a delightful Eighties-style remix: adding instrumental parts instead of replacing almost everything but the vocals. 

My collection: 12" single [unnumbered]
Found: Discogs.com, received 12 August 2021
Cost: 7,5 euro
Tracks: 'Made in Spain (La chica que yo quiero) [extended version]' / 'Sí, sí, mañana'

Don't ever cry - Put

When Yugoslavia fell apart in a wave of violence, the separate provinces were quick to enter into Eurovision separately. In 1992, Yugoslavia was still there (represented by Extra Nena), a year later we had Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia all competing side by side.

Croatia was represented by Put, a group put together by Vivien Galletta, Angela Jeličić, Melita Sedić, Naim Ajra, Petar Cucak Migliaccio and Olja Desic.Their song 'Don't ever cry' was a rather sentimental tune, pleading for peace and ending with the line 'Don't ever cry, my Croatian sky'. It was a kind of nationalism that hadn't really been seen on the Eurovision stage before - but several Eastern European countries would follow in these footsteps in the following years and decades. In the English version, the line in the chorus suddenly changes from 'Don't ever cry' to 'Why should we cry?'. I wonder why.

My collection: 7" single no. 6423
Found: Bea Records, received 3 August 2021
Cost: 6 euro
Tracks: 'Don't ever cry (original version)' / 'Don't ever cry (English version)'

Hot summer - Prince

The prolific Prince has recorded so much music during his lifetime that we can probably expect new albums to appear regularly for decades to come. Not everything will be great, but it's usually enjoyable nonetheless.

This single was released in Germany with the August issue of Rolling Stone magazine, and I happened to come across it on the last day of my holiday there, in Cologne. A cover single is usually a good reason to buy a magazine, and the fact that this is a 'worldwide exclusive' made it even more attractive. Fortunately, 'Hot summer' is a nice song, taken from the new album 'Welcome 2 America', which was released a week ago. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6422
Found: Köln Hbf, 28 July 2021
Cost: 9,90 euro (with the magazine 'Rolling Stone')
Tracks: 'Hot summer' / 'The bird (live)'

Notre vie c'est la musique - Laurent Vaguener

Laurent Vaguener is actually a pseudonym: his real name was Jean Baudlot. He was born in Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine on 16 February 1947, and died only recently, on 24 March 2021. During the 1970's he was best known as a composer, writing songs for Joe Dassin, Michele Torr and Gérard Croce among others.

In 1979 he wrote 'Notre vie c'est la musique' for the Eurovision Song Contest, and ended up performing the song on stage as well, using the pseudonym Laurent Vaguener. At the close of voting, it had received 12 points, placing 16th in a field of 19. Following this result, Monaco withdrew from the Contest for 25 years. 

Meanwhile, Baudlot continued to compose music in the following decades, eventually also composing for video games during the Nineties and for documentaries during the last two decades. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6420
Found: Discogs.com, received 15 July 2021
Cost: 5 euro
Tracks: 'Notre vie c'est la musique' / 'Israel connection'

Singing this song - Renato

Malta has an interesting history at the Eurovision Song Contest. The country first participated in 1971 and 1972 with songs in Maltese. Both entries finished in last place. They took two years off, and then returned in 1975 with Renato's 'Singing this song'. It was the first Maltese entry in English, and they were rewarded with a better placing: the song finished in 12th place. 

Despite this, Malta disappeared from Eurovision for no less than 15 years. Since their return in 1991, Malta has consistently chosen to enter songs in English and this was a good decision for them: during the Nineties they rarely finished outside the top 10. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6421
Found: Discogs.com, received 15 July 2021
Cost: 5 euro
Tracks: 'Singing this song' / 'Without your tenderness'