Il Padrino - Orchestra Mario Battaini

Mario Battaini (Milan, 6 October 1931 - 26 April 2000) was a multi-instrumentalist, arranger and italian conductor. He was very concerned with his privacy. For this reason he used various stage names during his career. One of them was Duke of Burlington. The hit 'Flash' was one of his biggest successes.

The A-side features an instrumental version of the theme from the movie 'The Godfather', entitled 'Il Padrino' in Italian. However, it is of course the B-side that interested me more: a version of Gershon Kingsley's immortal 'Popcorn'.

My collection: 7" single no. 6494
Found: Discogs.com, received 4 November 2021
Cost: €4
Tracks: 'Il Padrino' / 'Popcorn'

Das Schiff geht in See heute Nacht - Gunnar Winckler & Bibi Johns

This is an extremely old single, but it's also in an unusually fine state. You won't find that many 64 year old singles sounding this good. It's also in its original record company sleeve. Online purchases can be disappointing sometimes, but this certainly exceeded my expectations.

What this single is, is a German version of a Danish entry to the 1957 Eurovision Song Contest. On stage, Gunnar (a.k.a. Gustav) Winckler and Birthe Wilke performed 'Skibet skal selje i nat', but for this German version Birthe made way for Bibi Johns, a Swedish singer and film actress. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6493
Found: Discogs.com, received 4 November 2021
Cost: €4
Tracks: 'Das Schiff geht in See heute Nacht' / 'Gin und Rum'

Mein Ruf nach dir - Piera Martell

Piera Martell was born on 2 July 1943 in Jona, St. Gallen (Switzerland). She is best known for her participation in the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest. It's hard to believe that 'Mein Ruf nach dir' is from the same year as Abba's 'Waterloo', because it sounds so old-fashioned. The juries seemed to think so too, because it finished in joint last place (together with the German, Norwegian and Portuguese entries) of the 17 entries. 

Martell went on to make three further attempts to perform at Eurovision, without success. In 1976, she entered the German selection ('Ein neuer Tag' – 11th place), followed by two more participations in the Swiss selection in 1977 ('Aldo Rinaldo' – 4th place) and 1978 ('Hier, Pierre' – 6th place). She continued performing and releasing singles periodically until her retirement from the music industry in 1981. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6492
Found: Discogs.com, received 4 November 2021
Cost: €5
Tracks: 'Mein Ruf nach dir' / 'Du hast mir die Liebe gegeben'

Bonjour, bonjour - Paola

With a title like 'Bonjour, bonjour' you might suspect that this is a song in French, but the Swiss entry for the Eurovision Song Contest in 1969 was sung almost entirely in German - except for the title. Perhaps this was inspired by the fact that French was the most popular language at the time, both in the world and in the Contest. 

The song was performed by Paola del Medico, who was born on 5 October 1950 and was just 18 years old at the time of the Contest. Her song finished in fifth place in a field of 16 competitors. Considering the first four places were all winners in the old system, she did pretty well. She would return to the Contest in 1980 with the song 'Cinema'. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6491
Found: Discogs.com, received 4 November 2021
Cost: €8
Tracks: 'Bonjour, bonjour' / 'Valse d'amour'

That's me - Abba

Today is release day for Abba - their first album in 40 years is called 'Voyage' and serves to remind people that music can be timeless if you ignore "current trends". Fortunately they didn't employ rappers or other "famous people" to create their new work.

On this special occasion I thought I'd get out one of the special items I have in my collection: I got a nice handful of Japanese Abba singles last month and this one is extra special, because it flipped the A- and B-sides, relegating 'Money, Money, Money' to the B-side whereas 'That's Me' was promoted to the A-side. Why the Japanese felt this necessary I don't know - perhaps they thought the message of 'Money, Money, Money' was unsuitable for the Japanese public? 

My collection: 7" single no. 6479
Found: Discogs.com, received 6 October 2021
Cost: $7
Tracks: 'That's me' / 'Money, Money, Money'

This is your life (Barcelona mix) - Banderas

I find it quite sad that Banderas only ever released one album. I have it in my collection and it's one of those albums I keep returning to, quite regularly at least. The only big hit they scored was their debut single 'This is your life', and much to my surprise I found this promotional single recently online, featuring the so-called 'Barcelona mix' of the track. It is actually a shorter version of the 'Easy Life mix', found on the song's 12" single. 

Both women are still active in music, it seems. Sally Herbert made a name for herself as violinist, orchestral arranger, composer and producer.and released a track called 'Everything must change' together with Jimmy Somerville in February this year, whereas Caroline Buckley appeared on an EP called 'Lovers Unlimited', on which that same Jimmy Somerville was the main man. Funny enough, Jimmy also appeared on the Banderas'  sole album, thirty years ago. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6490
Found: Discogs.com, received 28 October 2021
Cost: €2
Tracks: 'This is your life (Barcelona mix)' / 'This is your life (Barcelona mix)'

Todo esto es la música - Serafin Zubiri

This single has been on my want list for a few years. It's the first of two Eurovision appearances by Serafin Zubiri. In 2000 he participated with 'Colgado de un sueño' - which, unfortunately, was never released on a 7" single, and in 1992 with this song, 'Todo esto es la música'. Curiously, this song was only ever released as a promotional item on both 7" single and CD-single. And it is a no frills affair: the CD only has one track, and this single features the same track on both sides.

The album 'Te veo con el corazon' followed later in 1992, after Serafin reached 14th place in the Eurovision Song Contest, in a field of 23 competitors.

My collection: 7" single no. 6489
Found: Discogs.com, received 28 October 2021
Cost: €6
Tracks: 'Todo esto es la música' / 'Todo esto es la música'