Love is blue - Marcello Minerbi & his orchestra

There are many versions of 'L'amour est bleu', the song with which Vicky Leandros appeared at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1967. And a sizeable portion of those cover versions is instrumental-only. The Sixties were a great time for orchestras. Famously, Paul Mauriat made it to number 1 the US Billboard Hot 100 with his instrumental cover, and many other orchestras followed, hoping to have similar success.

Marcello Minerbi was born on 7 August 1928 in Genoa (Italy) and became the leader of the vocal trio Marcello's Ferial, which formed in 1962. They were very popular in Italy until they broke up in 1968. Meanwhile, Minerbi formed his orchestra, recording theme songs and hits of the day in his style. His version of 'Love is blue' was a nice find during my singles hunt in Darmstadt - and also the last one.

My collection: 7" single no. 7738
Found: Come Back, Darmstadt (Germany), 4 August 2025 
Tracks: 'Love is blue' / 'From your side'

Malibu - Patricia Paay

Dutch singer Patricia Paay was born on 7 April 1949. She started her career in 1966 with the singles 'No on can love you like I do' and 'You called me baby', before releasing a few singles in Dutch. Her first really big hit happened in 1977, with 'Who's that lady with my man', which reached number 2 in the Dutch Top 40. 

A year later she released 'Malibu', a single that also ended up on a compilation album, which is how I got to know the song. Followers of this blog know that I have almost bought every track on that album as a single, but this one was pretty hard to find, I have to admit. So it was a bit of a surprise to find this in a German store. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7737
Found: Come Back, Darmstadt (Germany), 4 August 2025
Tracks: 'Malibu' / 'The touch' 

Theme from E.T. (Dance version) - Ego

The movie E.T. came with a theme that was recorded by various artists, due to the sheer popularity of that movie. The Dutch Future World Orchestra came with a version, and a bit further south the Italian band Ego came up with a dance version.

Ego was an Italian project, probably formed by brothers Carmelo and Michelangelo La Bionda, who are considered the inventors of Italian disco music. I say 'probably', because they are listed as the writers of the B-side, 'Ego's theme'.

My collection: 7" single no. 7736
Found: Come Back, Darmstadt (Germany), 4 August 2025
Tracks: 'Theme from E.T. (Dance version)' / 'Ego's theme' 

Emma - Hot Chocolate

The dramatic story of 'Emma' gave Hot Chocolate their first significant hit. It became a number 3 hit in both the UK and the Netherlands in 1974. 

The song details the love of the (nameless) singer and a girl called Emmaline from the age of 5 all through a wedding at 17 until her suicide at an unspecified later date. Emma wanted to be a 'movie queen' but never got a break, eventually killing herself, explaining in a suicide note: 'I just can't keep on living on dreams no more'.

My collection: 7" single no. 7735
Found: Come Back, Darmstadt (Germany), 4 August 2025
Tracks: 'Emma' / 'Makin' music' 

Funky town - Pseudo Echo

In 1980 Lipps Inc. released 'Funkytown', a single that was a big hit in discotheques and charts worldwide. Quite why the Australian band Pseudo Echo decided to record a cover version of the song 1987 is a bit of a mystery, but it was a charttopper in Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Back in the UK it reached number 8, while it didn't chart in the Dutch Top 40 at all.

The band still exists, after a period of hiatus through much of the Nineties. By now, they have released six albums and some 20 singles. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7734
Found: Come Back, Darmstadt (Germany), 4 August 2025
Tracks: 'Funky town' / 'Lies are nothing' 

El Lute - Michael Holm

Michael Holm recorded the 'Deutsche Originalversion' of 'El Lute', a song originally recorded by Boney M. Many German artists had the opportunity to simply translate hit songs and have a local hit with it because it was recorded in the language that literally everyone spoke (and still speaks) in the country. 

Holm was born on 29 July 1943 and started his career in 1961. Between then and now he released many dozens of singles and some 20 albums, nearly all of them in German. I saw this single while browsing through a few hundred discs, and thought it interesting enough to bring it home.

My collection: 7" single no. 7732
Found: Come Back, Darmstadt (Germany), 4 August 2025
Tracks: 'El Lute' / 'Wer lügt, gewinnt' 

Yester-me, yester-you, yesterday - Stevie Wonder

In 1966 Chris Clark recorded 'Yester-me, yester-you, yesterday', a song written by Ron Miller and Bryan Wells. Stevie Wonder recorded the song a year later, but the single was released in 1969, when he was going through some vocal problems and was required to wait before recording a song. Motown decided to release some tracks that were recorded earlier, and so his version of the song saw the light in September 1969. 

It was a big success: the single reached number 7 in the US BIllboard Hot 100 and number 2 in the UK singles chart, making it at that time, Wonder's biggest UK hit.

I found this disc during the annual family holiday while going through some singles in a record store in Darmstadt. That record store was a highlight of the week for me. Oddly, because I went to that same shop in 2018 and found exactly nothing!

My collection: 7" single no. 7733
Found: Come Back, Darmstadt (Germany), 4 August 2025
Tracks: 'Yester-me, yester-you, yesterday' / 'I'd be a fool right now'