Amiga Quartett - Elton John

This EP features four hit singles by Elton John, and I was quite surprised to find that I didn't already have them on 7" singles - with the exception of 'Rocket man' of course.

Of the four songs, 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road' is my favourite. The lyrics, written by Bernie Taupin, contain autobiographical elements, referring to his childhood on a farm in Lincolnshire. The song expresses a desire to get back to one's "roots", a common theme of Taupin's early lyrics. In 2014, Taupin reflected, "It's been said many times, but Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is a cinematic album. The lyrics to the title track do say that I want to leave Oz and get back to the farm. I think that's still my M.O. these days. I don't mind getting out there and doing what everybody else was doing, but I always had to have an escape hatch."  In 2020, he added, "I don't believe I was ever turning my back on success or saying I didn't want it. I just don't believe I was ever that naïve. I think I was just hoping that maybe there was a happy medium way to exist successfully in a more tranquil setting. My only naïveté, I guess, was believing I could do it so early on. I had to travel a long road and visit the school of hard knocks before I could come even close to achieving that goal."

My collection: 7" single no. 7659
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 12 April 2025
Tracks: 'Rocket man', 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road' / 'Crocodile Rock', 'Daniel' 

Amiga Quartett - Middle of the road

This Amiga EP features two songs by Middle of the Road that I already had on two other singles: 'Chirpy chirpy cheep cheep' and 'Soley, soley', plus two I didn't already have.

'Tweedle dee, tweedle dum' was released as a single in 1971 and reached number 2 in the UK singles chart. In the Dutch Top 40 it got to number 7. 'Sacramento' is a song I remember well from my childhood - my brother and sister were particularly fond of Middle of the Road and they played their singles regularly when I was young. 'Sacramento' only reached number 23 in the UK singles chart but was a big hit in Europe: it got to number 1 in Belgium, Germany, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands!

My collection: 7" single no. 7657
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 12 April 2025
Tracks: 'Chirpy chirpy cheep cheep', 'Soley, soley' / 'Tweedle dee, tweedle dum', 'Sacramento'

Gimme, gimme, gimme - Cantus-Chor

By chance I saw a German dealer at the record fair last week who had prstine looking Amiga singles. I bought a bunch, and this one was the first: a single by Cantus-Chor with cover versions of 'Gimme, gimme, gimme' and 'A walk in the park'.

Cantus-Chor was a German (GDR-) background-chorus, solo-choir and showgroup, founded in  December 1976 by Vlady Slezák. They released a handful of singles, two albums and appeared on a lot of compilation albums and EP's.

My collection: 7" single no. 7656
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 12 April 2025
Tracks: 'Gimme, gimme, gimme' / 'A walk in the park'

Delirious - Prince

'Delirious' was taken from Prince's third album '1999' and released as its third single. I missed out on it, because it was never released in Europe. Hence this simple single with a record company sleeve, I guess.

'Delirious' is a standard 8-bar blues number that tells how Prince is being driven crazy by a beautiful woman. The song teases the listener with sexual metaphors for cars and racing, hidden enough to avoid being censored. The track begins with a trademark Linn drum machine loop and a bit of synth bass before the synthesizer hook introduces the song. A rubbery bass guitar gives the track a rockabilly feel. The B-side to the track is "Horny Toad", which is very similar in rockabilly style and instrumentation. Some of the sexually charged lyrics were interpreted as sadistic at the time and were the source of some controversy. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7655
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 12 April 2025
Tracks: 'Delirious' / 'Horny toad'

Sag ihr, ich lass' sie grüssen - Richard Adam

Udo Jürgens represented Austria in 1965 with the song 'Sag ihr, ich lass' sie grüssen'. It reached fourth place in the competition, which inspired some artists to record their own versions of the song.

One of them was Richard Adam, a Czech singer who was born in Prague on 14 November 1930. He started his music career during World War II as a drummer in his brother's band, who was two years older. He achieved his greatest fame and popularity at the turn of the 1950s and 1960s. He also established himself abroad, and was very popular in the GDR and the Soviet Union. With the onset of normalization after 1968, he also faced a wave of bans, ostracisms, and political persecution. He has recorded approximately 330 songs, of which 250 were for the Czechoslovak Radio and 80 for the Supraphon publishing group. His most successful song was the song Tina Marie, which sold over one million records in the USSR alone. He sang on tour until he was eighty. He passed away on 14 October 2017.

My collection: 7" single no. 7654
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 12 April 2025
Tracks: 'Sag ihr, ich lass' sie grüssen' / 'Herr Schmidt, Herr Schmidt'

Bonne nuit, ma chérie - Fred Frohberg

'Bonne nuit, ma chérie' by Wyn Hoop was the German entry for the Eurovision Song Contest in 1960. It is a relatively unknown German Eurovision song, although it finished in fourth place. Very few cover versions of the song exist.

Perhaps the most interesting one was recorded by Fred Frohberg for the East German label Amiga. The label ceased to exist when Germany reunited after the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989, but it released a lot of singles during its existence. I'd never seen this old label layout before, and so I was quite glad to buy this single - it's a precious piece of history in many ways!

My collection: 7" single no. 7653
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 12 April 2025
Tracks: 'Bonne nuit, ma chérie' / 'Einer wird bei dir bleiben'

Enjoy yourself - The Jacksons

'Enjoy yourself' was released by the Jacksons in 1976. Featuring Michael and Jackie Jackson on lead vocals, it was the first single for the group since they departed from Motown earlier that year. The song peaked at number 6 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.

It was the group's first song to officially feature new member Randy Jackson, who replaced Jermaine Jackson when he decided to stay at Motown after his brothers left. A music video, the Jacksons' first, was released in early 1977 to promote the single; it features the five Jackson brothers wearing white suits and dancing on a stage. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7651
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 12 April 2025
Tracks: 'Enjoy yourself' / 'Style of life'