PePe Wróć - Perfect

The band Perfect is probably already familiar for the most avid readers of this blog, since I featured their singles Chcemy Być Sobą and Zamieniam Się W Psa here a month ago. This single, 'PePe Wróć' does not come close to their best track, 'Bla bla bla', but it's still a good piece of rock. 

It was released in 1982, between the other two singles mentioned above. The title means 'Pepe come back'. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6832
Found: Received 7 January 2023
Tracks: 'PePe Wróć' / 'Opanuj Się'

Funky 608 D - Krzak

At the end of November I received a stack of singles from Poland from my friend Mat. A week ago I was surprised yet again with even more treats from behind the iron curtain. At least, that's how we, in western Europe, described all the countries east of Germany back in the Eighties.

All the names in this batch will be familiar for those who kept an eye on Polish pop, but for me, each and every single was a new discovery - and in most cases, a very pleasant discovery. Take for instance Krzak, described on Discogs as "a phenomenon on a global scale". A band playing instrumental music, it was one of the most popular rock groups in Poland of the early Eighties. This single, 'Funky 608 D' was released in 1980 and will certainly delight you - the B-side perhaps even more than the A-side.

My collection: 7" single no. 6831
Found: Received 7 January 2023
Tracks: 'Funky 608 D' / 'Kołysanka Dla Maciusia'

Boosh - Whelan & Di Scala (Da Mode)

'Running Up That Hill' was a big hit last Summer as a result of the Netflix series 'Stranger Things', which featured the song quite prominently. It certainly did wonders for the exposure of Kate Bush to younger generations. Of course, most older people were already familiar with the singer and the song. 

Even in 2006, the song was picked up by a young duo. Dave Whelan and Mike Di Scala took it upon themselves to make a remix of 'Running Up That Hill'. They titled it 'Boosh' and released it on a one track 12" single (the other side remained blank). 

My collection: 12" single [unnumbered]
Found: Discogs.com, received 11 June 2022
Track: 'Boosh'

Here again - Mighty high

Few will have missed the resurgence of Kate Bush last year, because she went number 1 in several countries with 'Running Up That Hill', all because of a certain Netflix series. But Kate Bush has always been around, ever since she debuted with 'Wuthering Heights' in 1978 and the follow-up single 'The Man With The Child In His Eyes'. 

It is that latter song that has been remixed by Mighty High some time around 2010. I bought the 12" single, which was released unofficially, last year, but for some reason it didn't appear on this blog yet. As I am rectifying that, it's a good chance to listen to this interesting version of a classic song.

My collection: 12" single [unnumbered]
Found: Discogs.com, received 11 June 2022
Tracks: 'Here again (vocal mix)' / 'Here again (dub mix)'

Giving you the best that I got - Anita Baker

Anita Baker's 'Sweet love' is a beautiful soul song, and after I bought it I came across this limited edition box set, released some time after that single. The box set only included the single and a poster, which made you think a poster sleeve could also have been an option - but perhaps a box set made more of an impression in the UK stores in 1988. 

The song itself is, unfortunately, not as good as 'Sweet love'. At least, that's what I think. I've had this set for a few decades now but I am letting go of it, along with a handful of other singles. If you're interested, check out my Discogs inventory. 

My collection: 7" single no. 2454
Found: Record fair, Leiden, 2 September 1995
Tracks: 'Giving you the best that I got' / 'Good enough'

Et bonjour à toi l'artiste - Nicole Rieu

Back in November 2014, I bought 'Et bonjour à toi l'artiste', the French Eurovision entry from 1975 by Nicole Rieu. As I wrote back then, she recorded her song in no less than six languages. One of these was Japanese. 

'Soyokaze no okurimono' appears on the B-side of this Japanese single. Normally it is prohibitively expensive to order Japanese singles because of the postage costs involved, but I found this copy on Discogs from a French seller. That made it a lot easier to decide to buy this one. After all, we don't hear Eurovision songs in Japanese often enough. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6830
Found: Discogs.com, received 5 January 2023
Tracks: 'Et bonjour à toi l'artiste' / 'Et bonjour à toi l'artiste [Japanese version]'

Oração - António Calvário

Most people would think that the first ten years of the Eurovision Song Contest were pretty dull. Well, except my father, who thought that all the music made after the 1950's was bad. I grew to appreciate the music of the Fifties and Sixties later in life, and I have grown a pretty impressive Eurovision collection of singles as you can see on this blog. 

A recent acquisition is this Portuguese song from 1964. António Calvário sang 'Oração' ('Prayer') and recorded an EP with three more songs. Like most Portuguese songs, it didn't win but ended up in 13th place among 16 participants. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6829
Found: Discogs.com, received 4 January 2023
Tracks: 'Oração', 'Notre dame d'amour' / 'Alma de boémio', 'Tricana'