Waterloo - Abba

What can I say about Abba's 'Waterloo' that hasn't been said already about a thousand times? Not much, I fear, and so I only need to explain why I bought this particular single. 

It's the Danish pressing of the single and it was released in 1974 in two different versions: with green lettering and red lettering. I'm not sure if I'm going to collect all versions of this single, because many different pressings exist, but this one was amusing and looked good too - and the price was right.

My collection: 7" single no. 7661
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 12 April 2025
Tracks: 'Waterloo' / 'Watch out'

Amiga Quartett - Fleetwood Mac

The last Amiga Quartett EP I bought last week at the record fair was this one by Fleetwood Mac. The band seems to be very popular these days; copies of their old LP's are selling like crazy. I think a new generation is discovering the band, which can only be a good thing because they made some amazing music.

This EP features some of their early Eighties tracks, including 'Hold me' and 'Gypsy', two singles that are among my favourites. The other two tracks are less familiar, but equally great.

My collection: 7" single no. 7660
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 12 April 2025
Tracks: 'Hold me', 'Eyes of the world' / 'Oh Diane', 'Gypsy'

Amiga Quartett - MIke Oldfield

Did I really need this MIke Oldfield EP? Sure I did, because I didn't have all the tracks on vinyl yet. 'Shadow on the wall' is a firm favourite, of course, as is 'Moonlight shadow', but I didn't yet own the other two tracks. 

'In high places' features guest vocals by Jon Anderson, and 'Foreign affiar' is a song I got to know via a cover version many years ago. All in all, another attractive package from those East German Amiga guys.

My collection: 7" single no. 7658
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 12 April 2025
Tracks: 'Moonlight shadow', 'In high places' / 'Shadow on the wall', 'Foreign affair'

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'