School's out - Alice Cooper

During the Eighties, I listened to the radio and every now and then this song would come up. Certainly being at the age of having to go to school every day during the week, this became a bit of a rebellious anthem. 

Alice Cooper has said he was inspired to write the song when answering the question, "What's the greatest three minutes of your life?". Cooper said: "There's two times during the year. One is Christmas morning, when you're just getting ready to open the presents. The greed factor is right there. The next one is the last three minutes of the last day of school when you're sitting there and it's like a slow fuse burning. I said, 'If we can catch that three minutes in a song, it's going to be so big."    

Big it was: the song peaked at the top of the UK singles chart and number 6 in the Dutch Top 40. This copy isn't much to look at, but for 50p, I can't really complain.

My collection: 7" single no. 7389
Found: Music & Video Exchange, London, 20 October 2024
Tracks: 'School's out' / 'Gutter cat'

So young - The Corrs

In January I posted a 7" single by the Corrs on this blog for the first time ('Little lies / Songbird'), and I'm glad to be able to add another one from their Nineties heydays. 'So young' was released in 1998, after the song was remixed by K-Klass. The track was taken from the album Talk on corners, which became popular after the band scored a hit with a cover of the Fleetwood Mac song 'Dreams'. 

The B-side of this single features the title track of their debut album, Forgiven not forgotten. Coincidentally that is the song that made me discover the band, and which prompted me to buy the album. It's nice to have the song on 7" vinyl finally.

My collection: 7" single no. 7388
Found: Music & Video Exchange, London, 20 October 2024
Tracks: 'So young (K-Klass remix)' / 'Forgiven not forgotten'

Church of the poison mind - Culture Club

On the hunt for 7" singles in London was rather a disappointing adventure this past weekend. There aren't that many record shops that stock decent 7" singles anymore, and whenever they do, the state of those things is particularly dismal. Tattered sleeves and loose discs all over the place. I wonder where all the 7" singles have gone, because London used to be littered with shops owning literally hundreds, sometimes thousands of singles.

Anyway! I did find a few, even if they were not in the best state. This picture disc of 'Church of the poison mind' by Culture Club is a good example. It looks alright, but the sound of this disc is dreadul, especially the first half minute of each side. Whatever, it is still a nice item to look at.

My collection: 7" single no. 7387
Found: Music & Video Exchange, London, 20 October 2024
Tracks: 'Church of the poison mind' / 'Man shake'

Them heavy people - Kate Bush

When Kate Bush released the On Stage EP, promotional singles were made for 'Them Heavy People', which was the lead track of the EP. This promotional single omits the two tracks on the B-side, and simply presents the two tracks from the A-side of the EP as this single's A and B-side.

The story could end there, but it is quite interesting how difficult it is to find a good copy of this single. Of course, it's a release from 1979 which makes it a bit antique, but it is amazing how many of these singles have been mutilated: the middle has often been dinked. People are still asking a lot of money for those mutilated copies, of course. So I was lucky to find a copy that was both cheap and intact. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7386
Found: Discogs.com, received 19 October 2024
Tracks: 'Them heavy people' / 'Don't push your foot on the heartbrake'

The Tower - Luna

Physical releases of Eurovision songs from this year have been very scarce, unfortunately. So far, I've only been able to get Olly Alexander's 'Dizzy' on 7" vinyl, CD-single and USB and the CD-single of the winning song from Switzerland. However, recently Poland's Luna has come through with a beautiful 12" single, and it looks quite impressive.

'The Tower' didn't reach the final, unfortunately, but it's a decent song that deserves some repeated play. This 12" single is pressed on red vinyl and presents four versions of the song. The acoustic version is probably the most different of the four, as it strips down the track to the basics. The other three versions are actually very similar. A good extended remix could have made this package even more appealing. 

My collection: 12" single [unnumbered]
Found: Luna website, received 17 October 2024
Tracks: 'The Tower', 'The Tower (acoustic)' / 'The Tower (revamp)', 'The Tower (radio edit)'

Die Roboter - Kraftwerk

The German magazine Musikexpress released three Kraftwerk singles over a period of a few years. I bought the magazine with singles of 'Heimcomputer' and 'Tour de France', but I missed out on the first one, 'Die Roboter', released in 2017. 

Of course, there is always the internet. I found a copy on Discogs.com recently for a price actually lower than a magazine would have cost me. I can live without the magazine, but I really needed to have this single! The B-side has a simple etching of 'Kraftwerk' and the number 1 through 8. The version of 'Die Roboter' comes from the album 3-D Der Katalog, a box set that I still need to buy. There is always something to hunt down!

My collection: 7" single no. 7384
Found: Discogs.com, received 10 October 2024
Tracks: 'Die Roboter'

Amiga Quartett - Robin Gibb

I was ordering some singles online and this one popped up with the same seller for just one euro. As you know I'm a sucker for Amiga EP's, I snapped it up despite already owning both tracks on side A. Which is why I was so pleasantly surprised by the two other tracks. 'Robot' in particular is a song you wouldn't expect from one of the Bee Gees.

My quest for Amiga Quartett EP's will continue for some time, because these East German discs have a special kind of appeal - especially when they contain music from artists that I know and like.

My collection: 7" single no. 7383
Found: Discogs.com, received 8 October 2024
Tracks: 'Juliet', 'How old are you' / 'Boys do fall in love', 'Robot'