Saludos al mundo - Ivan & M's

Seven years ago I got my hands on the original single by 4M, 'Dobar Dan'. Last year, I added an EP featuring four songs from the Eurovision Song Contest 1969, on which that song was presented by the Yugoslavian quartet in Spanish. And now, here's the actual single, released in Spain, with the Spanish version of  'Dobar Dan', entitled 'Saludos al mundo'.

What's interesting about this single, is that the B-side, 'Don Pasquale', was actually recorded in 1964 and released as a title track of an EP in Yugoslavia at the time. The sleeve of this single is in the style of other singles released in Spain at the time of the Eurovision Song Contest 1969, since the event took place in Spain that year.

My collection: 7" single no. 6749
Found: Discogs.com, received 13 July 2022
Cost: €3
Tracks: 'Saludos al mundo' / 'Don Pasquale'

When the boys talk about the girls - Valerie Carr

Valerie Carr was born in 1936. She made her singing debut in the Fifties, recording some singles for the King Records label, until she signed with Roulette in 1958. This single, 'When the boys talk about the girls' peaked at number 19 in the US Billboard Hot 100 in 1958 and number 29 in the UK singles chart. It is a charming little song, which was covered in 1966 by the Shirelles.

I bought this single along with a handful of other ones, but unfortunately this copy is warped. I'll leave it under a stack of heavy books for some time, but in the mean time I found some recordings of both sides so I can still hear these tracks. Buying singles online can be a bit like Russian Roulette sometimes.

My collection: 7" single no. 6746
Found: Discogs.com, received 11 July 2022
Cost: 0 (yep, I got a refund)
Tracks: 'When the boys talk about the girls' / 'Padre'

The winner takes it all - Abba

What can I say about Abba that hasn't been said already a hundred times before? Well, maybe that their "live" show in London is absolutely groundbreaking, but also prohibitively expensive. You would think that once the expenses of creating a purpose-built arena in London have been earned back, the prices for those seat would go down but there is no sign of that happening anytime soon. And so Abba will remain the biggest money-making machine Sweden has ever created (with only the possible exception of Ikea). 'The winner takes it all', indeed. 

This 7" single was released in the GDR, or East-Germany as we would call it back then. We didn't know much about that part of Germany except that it was ruled by communists and that Amiga was their state-controlled record company. Those Amiga Abba-singles have now become a nice little sub-collection for me, and I'm glad to add this one to my already too large Abba collection.

My collection: 7" single no. 6624
Found: Discogs.com, received 29 January 2022
Cost: €2
Tracks: 'The winner takes it all' / 'Elaine'

Falter im Wind - Milestones

The Milestones came together in 1968. The band's original line up was Beatrix Neundlinger, Günter Grosslercher, Robert Unterweger and Rudi Tinsobin. Their first self-titled album was released in 1970. In 1972, just before they were selected to represent Austria at Eurovision, Unterweger and Tinsobin left the band and were replaced by Norbert Niedermeyer and Christian Kolonovits.

Although Austria isn't known for its great Eurovision entries, this certainly can compete with the best of them. The song is tastefully arranged and has rather poetic lyrics. This single was also released in a sort of proto-gatefold sleeve, with one piece of paper folded into another one, with either a photograph of a dog or a photograph of the band appearing in the hole in the middle of the front sleeve. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6760
Found: Discogs.com, received 10 August 2022
Cost: €9
Tracks: 'Falter im Wind' / 'Du schöner Tag'

Chirpy chirpy cheep cheep - Middle of the road

Among my early memories of pop music I find this song, 'Chirpy chirpy cheep cheep' by Middle of the road. Which is odd, considering it was released when I was just a baby. All I know is that my older brother and sister were suitably impressed by this group and they must have played their copies of this single later on in the Seventies.

It took me a while, but I finally bought my own copy. It has to be said that I bought it along with a couple of other single I ordered online - but at the same time, I'm rather glad to have this song because it is a charming little pop song from (gulp) 51 years ago.

My collection: 7" single no. 6758
Found: Discogs.com, recieved 9 August 2022
Cost: €2
Tracks: 'Chirpy chirpy cheep cheep' / 'Rainin' 'n painin''

Love is stronger than death - The The

This single really isn't much to look at, but it does complete the set of singles from the The The album 'Dusk'. As 7" singles became increasingly rare in the Nineties, only 'Dogs Of Lust' got a decent commercial release in the UK. The next single, 'Slow emotion replay' was only ever released as a Spanish promotional 7" single, and this single of 'Love is stronger than death' was released in the USA. 

'Dusk' was the last 'big' album by The The. After the Hank Williams tribute 'Hanky Panky' their contract with the Epic label ended and Matt Johnson devoted himself increasingly to soundtracks and independent releases. Sometimes I wish the days of the 'old' The The could continue.

My collection: 7" single no. 6757
Found: Discogs.com, received 9 August 2021
Cost: €3
Tracks: 'Love is stronger than death' / 'Infected (live)'

Hey hey rise up - Pink Floyd featuring Andriy Khlyvnyuk

In February 2022, the Ukrainian singer Andriy Khlyvnyuk, who had abandoned a US tour by his band BoomBox to serve in the Ukrainian military in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, recorded an a capella version of the first verse of the Ukrainian anthem 'Oh, the Red Viburnum in the Meadow', a Ukrainian patriotic march.Due to the song's association with the Ukrainian people's aspiration for independence, singing of the song was banned during the period in which Ukraine was a Soviet Republic (1919-1991). Nevertheless, it was sung by Ukrainian patriots, with defiance; anyone caught singing it was jailed, beaten, and even exiled.

Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour was shown the Instagram post by the Ukrainian artist Janina Pedan, who is married to his son Charlie, and was inspired to record something in support of Ukraine in the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War. Together with drummer Nick Mason he recorded this track, released as a single to raise money for humanitarian efforts in the region.

This blog is not politically involved, but it does need some clarification that Pink Floyd have always released beautiful music and the fact that they use their name and reputation to raise awareness about this horrible Russian crime - which is still continuing as I'm writing this - is something anyone of sane mind should applaud. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6755
Found: Amazon, received 18 July 2022
Cost: €8
Tracks: 'Hey hey rise up' / 'A great day for freedom 2022'