Amiga Quartett - Abba

A few East German singles from Abba, released by the state-run record company Amiga have already popped up on this blog: Dancing Queen/Fernando, Mamma Mia and The winner takes it all. The collection is not complete yet, but I recently found perhaps the most interesting of them all: an EP that featured four of the Swedish band's hits. 

This quartet mops up singles from their last two albums, plus the track 'Under attack' that was released as the last original Abba single back in 1982. The cover actually features a photograph of the band, which didn't happen often on these Amiga releases. As far as I know, there's only two more singles to go. I'm sure they will pop up on here sometime.

My collection: 7" single no. 6778
Found: Discogs.com, 1 October 2022
Tracks: 'Super trouper', 'Head over heels' / 'One of us', 'Under attack'

All souls night - Loreena McKennitt

When I posted this single recently, I noticed that there was no previous entry about Loreena McKennitt on this blog. Which is strange, because I definitely own another single by her. I bought it on 30 December 1994 in a period of frantic singles buying because I'd just recently started - and lost - my first proper job. I bought this single in Utrecht in a shop called Grammophoonwinkel, and I recently found out that the shop had closed down back in May, after almost fifty years. I would have liked to visit the shop one last time, but I found out too late. 

Anyway, 'All souls night' is one of the singles I bought on that cold and dark December afternoon, just before a birthday party in the same city. I think this single must have been on this blog in the early days, but back then Blogger used to honour "copyright claims" from unknown parties who apparently protested against me writing about "their" records. Fortunately this doesn't happen anymore. So here it is, just a few days too late because the traditional Irish All Souls' Night happened a few days ago. 

My collection: 7" single no. 2230
Found: Grammophoonwinkel, Utrecht, 30 December 1994
Tracks: 'All souls night (edit)' / 'Bonny Portmore'

Liebe, so heisst meine Welt - Véronique Muller

The German language has a tendency to sound a bit aggressive, especially when during my childhood my peers did impressions of a certain leader. A song like 'Liebe, so heisst meine Welt' shows a more tender side of the language: Véronique Muller shows that German can sound tender and soft as well.

'Liebe, so heisst meine Welt' is the German version of 'C'est la chanson de mon amour', with which she represented Switzerland at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1972. I bought that single almost a year ago, and this one is the only other version of that song. Even the B-side was translated into German: 'Quand le printemps revient' became 'Der Frühling kommt niemals allein'. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6791
Found: Discogs.com, received 28 October 2022
Tracks: 'Liebe, so heisst meine Welt' / 'Der Frühling kommt niemals allein'

Nur ein Lied - Thomas Forstner

In 1989 Thomas Forstner represented Austria with the song 'Nur ein Lied'. Avid readers of this blog will know this because I already wrote about the single back in 2009. 

A recent discovery was the 12" single of this song, which featured an extended version of the song. It still contains the rather bombastic sound of the single recording, but adds an instrumental part in the middle. It wouldn't be hard to construct this extended version using the single, since that one already contains the instrumental as well as the vocal version of the song, but there you go. 

My collection: 12" single [unnumbered]
Found: Discogs.com, received 28 October 2021
Tracks: 'Nur ein Lied [extended]' / 'Nur ein Lied (instrumental)', 'Nur ein Lied'

The big one - Black / King of emotion - Big Country

A collection of singles by Black can't be complete without those Italian promos that feature two (possible) hit tracks on one disc. In the case of 'The Big One', Black was coupled with Big Country's 'King Of Emotion'. In short: two tracks that had little in common, except that both the artists came from the UK.

Surprisingly, 'King of emotion' was the bigger hit of the two, reaching number 16 in the UK singles chart, whereas 'The Big One' only made it to number 54. In Italy it was the other way around: 'The Big One' reached number 17 whereas 'King of emotion' did not chart. I would be tempted to call that justice.

My collection: 7" single no. 6581
Found: Discogs.com, received 30 December 2021
Tracks: 'The big one' (Black) / 'King of emotion' (Big Country)

Out on the ropes - The Shirts

Nothing could beat the great pop track 'Laugh and walk away' by the Shirts, a single I bought when I was just nine years old. Apparently they released another single from the same album with almost the same sleeve and the same B-side, and it is this one: 'Out on the ropes'. This copy is a so-called 'demo record', as it says on the label. 

Interestingly enough, the band reunited two decades after breaking up in 1981. Since then, they have released two new albums. The last one, 'The Tiger Must Jump' (2010) included a new version of 'Out on the ropes'.

My collection: 7" single no. 6789
Found: Discogs.com, received 14 October 2022
Tracks: 'Out on the ropes' / 'Maybe, maybe not'

Tot bloedens toe - Frank Boeijen

The Dutch singer Frank Boeijen has continued his career to this day, but 'Tot bloedens toe' is the last of his singles that was released on 7" vinyl. As such it is a true rarity, because it is rarely offered for sale. The only chance to grab hold of a copy is to hunt for it online - and even then it is not easy. 

This single had been on my wantlist for four or five years, and suddenly, earlier this month, one copy was offered for sale. Naturally I had to buy it. The single features a rather ugly single edit (fading out much earlier than the album version) and a beautiful B-side. It is certainly worth a listen, even if you don't understand Dutch.

My collection: 7" single no. 6788
Found: Discogs.com, received 14 October 2022
Tracks: 'Tot bloedens toe' / 'Stormvogels'