I'm a wonderful thing (baby) - Kid Creole & the Coconuts

'I'm a wonderful thing baby' appears on the B-side of this single of 'Stool pigeon', but it was also released as a single in its own right. And, to make matters even more interesting, it was pressed on red vinyl in the Netherlands. It was the first single released from the album Tropical Gangsters and their first major hit reaching a peak of number 4 in the UK Singles Chart. In the Netherlands it got to number 21 in the Dutch Top 40.

In 1993, the single was remixed by Brothers in Rhythm and released as a single to promote the compilation album Cre~Olé: The Best of Kid Creole & the Coconuts.

My collection: 7" single no. 7127
Found: Discogs.com, received 21 March 2024
Tracks: 'I'm a wonderful thing (baby)' / 'Table manners'

 

 

Hey you - Chris Rea

One of Chris Rea's lesser known singles is 'Hey you', taken from his fifth studio album Water sign, which yielded the hit single 'I can hear your heart beat'.

According to the sleeve notes in the 2019 deluxe version of Shamrock Diaries, the record company would not fund Water Sign, "forcing [Rea] to use tracks that had been intended as demos". As a result, Rea plays most instruments on the album, and – unusually – drum machines feature. In an interview, Chris Rea said: "I turned in the Water Sign tapes as demos. And they said, that's it, put them out. And it looked like once they'd released that album they were gonna drop us." At that time he was ready to throw in the towel, quit the music business and open an Italian restaurant. "Then a guy from Ireland phoned Magnet Records and said, 'I really like Water Sign. Will Chris come over and do a concert?' Then it all started to come good in Ireland. I went over there, it was like Beatlemania! So I stayed there a while, did a large tour." 

My collection: 7" single no. 7126
Found: Discogs.com, received 21 March 2024
Tracks: 'Hey you' / 'Love to love'

Love is life - Hot Chocolate

It's always great to find a Hot Chocolate single. They released a lot of them in the Seventies, driven by music mogul Mickie Most and his RAK Records label, which demanded hit records from all the artists they signed. 

'Love is life' was the band's first chart success back in 1970. It peaked at number 6 in the UK singles chart during a chart run of 12 weeks. After this, they had two hits every year on average, right until 1983! In the Netherlands their success was more limited; 'Love is life' didn't chart and they only had 13 hits in the same period.

My collection: 7" single no. 7125
Found: Discogs.com, received 20 March 2024
Tracks: 'Love is life' / 'Pretty girls'

Baby come back - Eddy Grant

As I was going through my singles collection it dawned on me that I had a few Eddy Grant singles in red vinyl. I was intrigued and I started looking for more red vinyl singles by Eddy Grant. And so I came across this one: 'Baby come back'. 

It was originally a hit for the Equals, taken from their 1967 album Unequalled Equals. It was a number one hit in the UK, Belgium, South Africa and Rhodesia. The song was actually written by Eddy Grant; he was a member of the Equals. In 1984, after his solo career had taken off in a big way, he decided to re-record the song, but this version was less successful. But still, it was released on red vinyl in Germany.

My collection: 7" single no. 7124
Found: Discogs.com, received 20 March 2024
Tracks: 'Baby come back' / 'Political bassa bassa'

A word about numbers

Regular readers of this blog will know that I have always numbered the 7" singles featured on this blog. (12" singles are always unnumbered, because I never kept a record of them myself.) Recently I have updated my own log of 7" singles, because over the years I have sold some singles and I also bought certain single which I never logged. This discrepancy started to bother me more over the past few years, especially when I sold about 200 singles early last year. 

I used some spare time this month to get the log up to date. This means: clearing out all the singles I don't own anymore (although virtually I do, because they were featured on this blog!) and describing all the singles that I never logged before (this includes certain special editions, picture discs etc. because I already owned the 'normal' versions of those singles). It turns out that the discrepancy isn't that big after all: until 9 March my log showed that I owned 7155 singles, and today, after all these actions, I own 7119 pieces. 

You will notice, of course, that the next single on this blog will state the number 7120 (or higher), although that number already featured on this blog before. Now you know why...

Eurovision - Telex

I have a big subcollection of Eurovision singles and within that subcollection there's another subcollection: 12" singles of Eurovision songs. You'd be surprised how many 12" singles of Eurovision songs actually exist, and many have already featured on this blog anyway. But one eluded me, and I consider it the ultimate Eurovision 12" single: it's 'Eurovision' by Telex.

It's quite a rare one, because it was only released in the USA as a promotional disc. But it contains an extended version of that song, and as far as I know this version has never been released anywhere else. I've had to search for this one for quite a long time, and I am really glad to finally have it. Even if I had to have it sent over from Canada!

My collection: 12" single [unnumbered]
Found: Discogs.com, received 9 March 2024
Tracks: 'Eurovision [extended]' / 'Dance to the music', 'Twist a Saint-Tropez'

Coming up (live at Glasgow) - Paul McCartney

In 1980 Paul McCartney released 'McCartney II', a solo album created almost entirely on his own, aided only by his wife Linda. When the album was released in the USA, it came with a free 7" single featuring one track: a live version of 'Coming up'. This live version also appeared on the 7" single of 'Coming up', actually. 

I only bought this single because it came with an order of a few 12" singles, and it is a nice curiosity. It's not often one gets to buy a McCartney promo for the price of half a bread.

My collection: 7" single no. 7155
Found: Discogs.com, received 9 March 2024
Tracks: 'Coming up (live at Glasgow)'