Slow burn - David Bowie

The French are lucky to have a magazine like Rolling Stone in their own language. Famously they're not too concerned about learning other languages, and a magazine like Rolling Stone comes with lengthy articles about pop and (mainly) rock artists. But, more importantly: sometimes the magazine comes with a free single! 

In the current issue, there's a David Bowie single included. And it's quite a curious one: 'Slow burn' is a track from the album Heathen, which was released back in 2002. Back then, there was no 7" single of that track - but 23 years later, here it is. Of course this is related to the box set I Can't Give Everything Away, which brings together the last four albums Bowie recorded before his untimely death in 2016. Now, 'Slow Burn' is not really my favourite Bowie song of all time, but still this is a very nice item to have. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7766
Found: Fnac (France), received 29 September 2025
Tracks: 'Slow burn' / 'Wood Jackson'

December - All About Eve

We're some months away from December, but I still wanted to post this beautiful limited edition 10" single of All About Eve's 'December'. It was packaged in a box and included a little poster featuring portraits of the band members and the lyrics of the song.

What's more, the disc included no less than four tracks. 'December' appears here in the 'Narnia Mix', which also appeared on the 12" single. All of the tracks appear on various formats, so no exclusives on this one.

My collection: 10" single [unnumbered]
Found: Record fair, 1990
Tracks: 'December (Narnia mix)', 'Drowning' / 'Paradise (89 remix)', 'The witch's promise'

Confession - Mylene Farmer

Just by chance I found out that Mylene Farmer released a new single this month. There were no news items, nothing on social media as far as I could tell, but the single was just there while I was ordering some cd's on Amazon France.

'Confession', apparently, is an ode to David Lynch, who passed away early this year. Mylene sang this song at the Cannes film festival, where they gave the legendary director and creator all the attention that he should have also gotten at the Oscars (but America has lost the plot anyway this year). This is a lovely, almost understated song, with, as always, mysterious lyrics. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7765
Found: Amazon France, received 15 September 2025
Tracks: 'Confession' / 'Confession (instrumental)' 

What kind of fool - All about Eve

After the big success of their single 'Martha's Harbour', All About Eve released one last single from their debut album, titled 'What kind of fool'. Now several editions of that single have already been featured on this blog: the 7" single, this 12" single and this 12" single.

But there was also this 10" single. And not just any 10" single: it came in a gatefold sleeve with a booklet inside. The booklet contains the lyrics of 'What kind of fool' plus all the non-album tracks that were released as B-sides of several singles taken from the album. The B-side of the 10" single features an exclusive live track, recorded at the Astoria in London.

My collection: 10" single [unnumbered]
Found: Record fair, 1990
Tracks: 'What kind of fool', 'Gold and silver' / 'Every angel (live)' 

The name of the game - Abba

While I am still trying to catalogue several Abba singles that didn't yet make it to this blog while I've had them for years, I am also still buying different variations of Abba singles these days. And so, as luck would have it, I bought an Abba single yesterday which I can easily pair to one I've had much longer.

The single is 'The name of the game'. It's one of my favourite Abba songs (which, I will grant you, there are many of), but all too often the song has been butchered on CD releases. The vinyl singles presented here contain a version that almost reaches the five minute mark, but on various CD's the song skips an entire second verse. 

The German edition, pictured above, has a light blue stripe across the photograph. It is this version which is replicated in the CD singles box set, released in a tin box in 1999.  

When you compare it with the French edition, pictured here, it is easy to spot the difference. That edition was released on the Melba record label, as opposed to Polydor which was used in most of Western Europe.

You might find these differences trivial, but for me they are quite fascinating. I am a bit of a late adopter when it comes to collecting Abba singles, so I probably won't easily get the Australian, Hungarian and Yugoslavian editions, but once you dive in, it's hard to resist. 

My collection: 7" single no. 5891 / no. 7764
Found: Discogs.com, received 31 January 2018 / Rommelmarkt, Voorburg, 14 September 2025
Tracks: 'The name of the game' / 'I wonder (Departure)' 

 

Woodstock - Matthew's Southern Comfort

The song 'Woodstock' was originally written and performed by Joni Mitchell. It appeared on her 1970 album Ladies of the Canyon and on the B-side of her single 'Big Yellow Taxi'.The song's lyrics refer to the four-day Woodstock Music and Arts Festival held in August 1969, and tell the story of a concert-goer on a trek to Max Yasgur's farm in New York State to join in the "song and celebration".

A few months later, the song was recorded by Matthew's Southern Comfort. It became the best-known version of the song in the UK, where it topped the charts. Matthews recalled in 1000 UK #1 Hits by Jon Kutner & Spencer Leigh: "I had bought Joni Mitchell's album and we had to do four songs on a BBC lunchtime show. We worked up an arrangement for “Woodstock” and the response was so good that we put it out as a single."

I first became aware of the song when I was just a child. I had an EP featuring 6 Top Hits from England (which, incidentally, was also the title of that EP) and I played it a lot on my first ever record player. As far as I can recall, it was my favourite song of the six. I threw away the EP when I sanitized my record collection a few years later, but the memory remains. This became clear when I bought this single and played it again after all those decades. I have to say this version by Matthew's Southern Comfort is better than the version by the unknown artist on that EP though.

My collection: 7" single no. 7763
Found: Rommelmarkt, Voorburg, 14 September 2025
Tracks: 'Woodstock' / 'Scion' 

Driving in my car - Madness

While the foldout sleeve edition of the single 'Driving in my car' is an amusing way to package a 7" single, there was also a picture disc released at the same time, no doubt to make the single go higher in the UK charts. 

The strategy must have worked, because the single ended up peaking at number 4, which was just slightly lower than the charttopping 'House of fun', which preceded this single release a few months earlier, also in 1982. Then again, Madness routinely released picture disc 7" singles at that time - and now, over four decades later, I am still hunting them down.

My collection: 7" single no. 7762
Found: Discogs.com, received 12 September 2025
Tracks: 'Driving in my car' / 'Animal farm'