Mathema solfege - Pascalis, Marianna, Robert and Bessy

For a long time, 'Mathema solfege' was Greece's most successful Eurovision entry. Its chorus of 'do fa fa fa, sol fa sol fa mi do ti mi mi mi, do ti do ti sol ti do' was recognizable for people all over Europe, even if they didn't understand Greek. These tricks were often employed back when countries had to enter songs in their own national languages. A trick like that wouldn't work anymore these days, but it certainly did in 1977: the song ended up in fifth place in a field of 18 competitors.

The quartet performing the song consisted of Paschalis Arvanitidis (born on 24 August 1946), Marianna Tolli (3 October 1952), Robert Williams (4 December 1949) and Bessy Argyrake (4 April 1957). They recorded one album together and then followed their own solo careers, with Bessy being the most successful one of the four.

My collection: 7" single no. 7790
Found: Moses Records, Vienna, 13 October 2025
Tracks: 'Mathema solfege' / 'I love, I love, I love you' 

Se piangi, se ridi - Bobby Solo

I already have an EP and a single featuring 'Se piangi, se ridi', so why buy this one? Well, the answer is simple: because I really prefer this sleeve. It's in colour, for one thing, and Bobby Solo looks a lot like the rock 'n' roll stars of his days on this one. Adding to that, this is the original Italian single, where we find out that the song is recorded with 'orchestra diretta da Gianni Marchetti, con il Coro di Nora Orlandi'. 

'Se piangi, se ridi' was a number 1 hit in Italy and Brazil, and also reached number 2 in Belgium, number 3 in Uruguay (of all places!) and number 4 in Argentina. Why this didn't chart in the Netherlands and the UK I don't know. It's a classic song.

My collection: 7" single no. 7789
Found: Moses Records, Vienna, 13 October 2025
Tracks: 'Se piangi, se ridi' / 'Saro' un illuso'

Dancing in the sheets - Shalamar

In 1983, Jody Watley and Jeffrey Daniel left Shalamar due to conflicts within the group as well as issues with their record company. They were replaced by Micki Free and Delisa Davis and continued by recording 'Dancing in the sheets' for the soundtrack of the movie Footloose. The single was released in 1984 and reached number 41 in the UK singles chart and number 17 in the US Billboard Hot 100. 

'Dancing in the sheets' was included on Shalamar's eighth album, Heartbreak, released before the end of 1984. Hewett departed the group in 1985 to begin a solo career. Sydney Justin took over as lead vocalist for Circumstantial Evidence (1987) and Wake Up (1990), Shalamar's final pair of albums before they disbanded. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7788
Found: Moses Records, Vienna, 13 October 2025 
Tracks: 'Dancing in the sheets' / 'Dancing in the sheets (instrumental)'

Magic touch - Mike Oldfield

Although Mike Oldfield has become famous for his albums Tubular Bells, Hergest Ridge and Ommadawn and his hit singles 'In dulce jubilo', 'To France', 'Moonlight Shadow' and 'Shadow on the wall', he's also released a few duds during his career. It makes buying Mike Oldfield singles a bit adventurous when you're not familiar with all of his work, like me.

'Magic touch' is, unfortunately, one of those singles I bought on a whim and when I played it I thought 'what the hell is this?'. A certain Max Bacon delivers some vocals on this track; it turns out he was the lead singer for 1980s rock group GTR. It doesn't really help this 1988 single; it didn't chart in any territory. And rightfully so, if I may say so.

My collection: 7" single no. 7787
Found: Moses Records, Vienna, 13 October 2025
Tracks: 'Magic touch' / 'Music for the video wall'

S.O.S. - Abba

I could continue my collection of Abba singles with this Austrian pressing of 'S.O.S.', an early single by Abba released in 1975. It's one of my favourite tracks from the band, and this sleeve was again notably different from the Dutch, French, German and Japanese versions.

I remember visiting Moses Records nine years ago, but I don't remember that there was this little corner with singles sorted by artists. The main singles department was in a separate room of the store, and that's where I bought the other singles during my visit this year. It was interesting that nothing seemed to have changed in all those years - although the owner said that he had thousands of singles stored somewhere else, so the amount of singles in store may have been the same, but there were definitely other titles on offer this time.

My collection: 7" single no. 7786
Found: Moses Records, Vienna, 13 October 2025
Tracks: 'S.O.S.' / 'Man in the middle' 

So long - Abba

Since I have been on the prowl for different versions of Abba singles recently, it was lovely to end up in Vienna and find a few Austrian pressings with different sleeves last week. It turns out that the record company in Austria had a knack for creating beautiful, colourful sleeves that were much more beautiful than the ones in Germany and the Netherlands.

Take for instance this version of 'So long'. The sleeve looks as new, which is a credit to the record store owner I guess, and the layout of this sleeve is simply stunning. I was very happy with this new addition.

My collection: 7" single no. 7785
Found: Moses Records, Vienna, 13 October 2025
Tracks: 'So long' / 'I've been waiting for you' 

Won't you hold my hand now - King

'These are heavy times', sighs Paul King on this single, and that message is as true now as it was back in 1985. Still, the band was always able to create melodic pop songs and package them in attractive sleeves and limited edition posters. 

'Won't you hold my hand now' was released as a double pack featuring a bonus second single, and also in this free colour poster version. I was actually aware of this poster version, but didn't want to spend any postage costs on this, and so I was happy to find a copy in one of Vienna's biggest record shops.

My collection: 7" single no. 7784
Found: Alt & Neu, Vienna, 13 October 2025
Tracks: 'Won't you hold my hand now' / 'Fish (reprise) live'