Vitam vitr v udoli - Karel Gott

In 1968 Karel Gott represented Austria at the Eurovision Song Contest with 'Tausend Fenster', a song written by Udo Jürgens. Since Karel was a Czech singer, it shouldn't be too surprising that he also recorded the song in is mother tongue. And so, 'Tausend Fenster' became 'Vitam vitr v udoli', a lyric that is totally unintelligible for most world citizens.

However, the song was released by the Czechoslovakian record label Supraphon, and this is the single I finally got to buy recently. This is one of the pleasures of Discogs, the worldwide market place: you would never find a single like this in a western European record store, or even a record fair!

My collection: 7" single no. 7206
Found: Discogs.com, received 22 May 2024
Tracks: 'Vitam vitr v udoli' / 'Neverim'

Popmuzik - M

After 'Popmuzik', 'Popmuzik', 'Popmuzik', 'Popmuzik' and 'Popmuzik', I recently found out that there was a new release of 'Popmuzik' on a 10" single, pressed on pink vinyl. It was another one of those Record Store Day releases, with an interesting tracklisting, because it contained an 11 minute remix on the B-side. And so of course I had to order this one.

The disc doesn't disappoint. Of course I am familiar with the original 7" version, but the three other versions were new to me, and their diversity really surprised me. Maybe all the versions of 'Popmuzik' need to be brought together on a CD release one day. Although listening to all of them in one go is probably going to be slightly exhausting. 

My collection: 10" single [unnumbered]
Found: Discogs.com, received 18 May 2024
Tracks: 'Popmuzik (Original 7" version)', 'Popmuzik (Live Latin Performance Vancouver 2000)', ''Popmuzik (R&B 1978 Demo Version)' / 'Popmuzik (Second Sun Remix)'

Run - Snow Patrol

'Run' by Snow Patrol is easily one of the best songs of this century, but so far I haven't been able to buy a copy on 7" vinyl for a somewhat reasonable price. Which is why I was quite surprised to locate a copy of the 10" single for a more than reasonable price.

This clear vinyl 10" single is a bit crackly but it does present two remixes of 'Run'. One by Jacknife Lee, an 7 minute and 27 seconds epic, and a more modest four minute version by someone calling himself 'the freelance hellraiser'. It's sudden surprises like this which makes online shopping more fun.

My collection: 10" single [unnumbered]
Found: Discogs.com, received 18 May 2024
Tracks: 'Run (Jacknife Lee remix)' / 'Run (Freelance Hellraiser remix)'

Seal our fate - Gloria Estefan

'Seal our fate' was released as the second single from Gloria Estefan's album Into the light (1991). In the UK, the 7" vinyl single was released as a "Limited Edition Tour Souvenir Pack" with a few attractive photographs of the singer and a poster.

The single became a moderate success, peaking at number 24 in the UK singles chart and number 10 in the Dutch Top 40. I never bought the single because I felt the song was not really good enough, but this Tour Souvenir Pack was attractive enough for me to want to own it anyway. I do think that Estefan's output in the Nineties wasn't really that impressive, but anyway. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7201
Found: Discogs.com, received 14 May 2024
Tracks: 'Seal our fate' / 'Seal our fate (remix edit)'

Love & pride - King

If you were alive in the Eighties, you most certainly will have heard King's 'Love & pride', which dominated the music channels in 1984 and 1985. The original version of 'Love & pride' was already in my collection, as well as the re-release from 1985 with a poster sleeve.

I didn't know, however, that at the same time a limited edition double single was released, featuring a second disc with two live versions. The versions were recorded for BBC Radio One, but there's no indication of venue and date. It doesn't matter much to me, but one has to wonder why record companies are always so uninformative when they release live versions.

My collection: 7" single no. 7200
Found: Discogs.com, received 14 May 2024
Tracks: 'Love & pride' / 'Don't stop' // 'Love & pride (live)' / 'I kissed the spikey fridge (live)'

Ordinary girl - Alison Moyet

Alison Moyet enjoyed a great deal of success with her debut solo album Alf in 1984. She followed it up with Raindancing over a year later. The first two singles, 'Is this love?' and 'Weak in the presence of beauty' both reached the UK top 10, but the third single, 'Ordinary girl', wasn't that lucky. It only reached number 43, while also missing out on any chart placement all over Europe.

That's not to say this is a bad song: it's absolutely catchy, but I have to admit that I didn't know the song at all when I bought this single. But you can never go wrong with Alison Moyet, I have found. Maybe the record company should have done a bit more of a marketing push back in 1987.

My collection: 7" single no. 7199
Found: Discogs.com, received 14 May 2024
Tracks: 'Ordinary girl' / 'Palm of your hand (Cloak and dagger)'

Take a look - Level 42

Level 42 enjoyed a great deal of success in the mid-Eighties, but after the huge success of their album Running in the family, the original line-up split up, leaving Mark King and Mike Lindup having to find replacements for Boon and Phil Gould. They recorded the next album Staring at the sun with Gary Husband on drums and Dominic Miller, who towards the end of the sessions was replaced by Alan Murphy.

'Take a look' was a single taken from the album. Like the previous single 'Heaven in my hands' it peaked outside of the UK singles chart's top 10, at number 32. All this despite the 'limited edition envelope pack' which included four postcards of the band members. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7197
Found: Discogs.com, received 14 May 2024
Tracks: 'Take a look' / 'Man'