Lover don't go - Princess

'Lover don't go' would turn out to be the last single by Princess, released in 1989. She'd released two albums, but while the first album, recorded with Stock, Aitken & Waterman was a big success, the second album was already less successful. 

In 1989, Princess released the stand-alone single 'Lover Don't Go', which failed to chart. Her brother/manager Don alleged that the single's chart prospects were unfairly halted, after its sales were mysteriously assigned to another artist's record, causing Princess' single to miss the top 100. "On the Tuesday, the track was 108 the chart, but come Thursday, we see nothing. We hear later on it dropped to 365, and they told us that they made an error with the barcode and gave our sales to some other record. That killed the record." Her third album, 'Say It', which was slated for release in 1990, was never issued as Princess retired from the music scene and moved to the US. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6937
Found: Easter market, Den Haag, 9 April 2023
Tracks: 'Lover don't go' / 'Lover don't go (instrumental)'

I'm not in love - Johnny Logan

It's a bit of a mystery why Eurovision legend Johnny Logan never actually succeeded in building a successful career. Although he won the Eurovision Song Contest three times (twice as a performer and once as a writer), his material outside of Eurovision failed to make much of an impression on the buying public. 

In 1987, after winning for the second time with 'Hold me now', he released a cover version of 10CC's 'I'm not in love', but the single would only reach a lowly number 51 in the UK singles chart. I wonder if this limited edition poster sleeve contributed to the appeal, but I can't be sure - I'm not even sure that many people had posters of Johnny on their walls. It's a nice, if not essential, release anyway.

My collection: 7" single no. 6936
Found: Easter market, Den Haag, 9 April 2023
Tracks: 'I'm not in love' / 'Such a lady'

Hot blooded - Foreigner

I think it's hard to resist coloured vinyl singles if there's even a remote chance that I'll like the track. And this single by Foreigner is a good example of my policy. I didn't even know 'Hot blooded' very well but when I spotted this single in an almost-red colour, I decided I had to have it. (It does actually look red in this picture but if I hold up the disc against the light it turns pink-purpleish.) 

Lead singer Lou Gramm said: "We used to work at Mick's apartment and he would just keep playing one guitar riff after another. Just playing whatever came into his mind. When he started playing that riff, I remember saying, “Wait! Stop! What’s that?” Mick said it was just another riff. So, I started singing along to it. We eventually got the idea of what the chorus would be and then started working on the verse lyrics. Once they were put together it naturally led to the “Hot Blooded” verbal line. I remember we were jumping off the walls when we cracked the title of the song." 

My collection: 7" single no. 6934
Found: Easter market, Den Haag, 9 April 2023
Tracks: 'Hot blooded' / 'Tramontane'

Don't tell me lies - Breathe

The single 'Don't tell me lies' which I bought in 1989 was actually a re-release of an earlier version of 'Don't tell me lies'. That earlier version was released on a double 12" single (which I bought in 1995) but somehow I never found the 7" single. 

The big success for Breathe came with the single 'Hands to heaven' and 'How can I fall'. Astonishingly, the band disappeared quite quickly after their debut album, and a second album, 'Peace of mind', dropped like a stone.

My collection: 7" single no. 6933
Found: Easter market, Den Haag, 9 April 2023
Tracks: 'Don't tell me lies' / 'Moments'

Ghosts again - Depeche Mode

Just last month I posted the exclusive Musikexpress single of Depeche Mode's 'Ghosts again' on this blog. The single features one track and an etching of the DM logo on the other side. The (also German) magazine Rolling Stone decided to do a similar thing and include an exclusive Depeche Mode single with their current edition - but this time with a B-side. 'Never let me down again' became very popular recently when it was used in the HBO series The Last of Us - an irritating series for its repeated ads on TV for a channel I don't subscribe to.

And so I end up with two different singles of 'Ghosts again'. I like this song a lot, but the new album 'Memento mori' is a bit lacking in similarly appealing songs, in my humble opinion. But the band has delivered loads of great songs during their 40+ years, so I guess this album is a good enough epitaph - assuming that Dave and Martin won't continue after this one.

My collection: 7" single no. 6924
Found: Mein Presseshop (Germany), received 4 April 2023
Tracks: 'Ghosts again' / 'Never let me down'

Piove - Arturo Testa

Domenico Modugno's 'Piove' has been covered numerous times, especially in the late 1950's and 1960's when this song was wildly popular. Most versions are as dramatic and slow as the original, but Arturo Testa recorded a fast, jazzy version that is far less dramatic - and more appealing I might add. 

This EP presents four songs from the San Remo Song Festival 1959, as the title suggests, but performed by Arturo Testa and Wilma de Angelis, and not the original artists. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6926
Found: Discogs.com, received 5 April 2023
Tracks: 'Piove', 'Io sono il vento' / 'La marcia in fa', 'Li per li'

Come running - Marty Wilde

Although picture sleeves were very rare in the 1960's, I still have this EP of Marty Wilde featuring his January 1962 release 'Come running' with a great picture sleeve. How come? I don't know, but this is a very nice selection of songs and you could almost qualify this as a mini-greatest hits compilation.

Besides 'Come running', this EP also features the theme song of the movie 'The Hellions', in which Marty appeared as an actor as well as providing this song, and 'Tomorrow's clown', which reached number 33 in the UK singles chart. The B-side of the original single of 'Come running', 'Ev'ryone' appears on this EP as well.

My collection: 7" single no. 6925
Found: Discogs.com, received 5 April 2023
Tracks: 'Come running', 'Ev'ryone' / 'The Hellions', 'Tomorrow's clown'