Love conquistador - Da Vinci

Although I already own the single 'Conquistador', I felt it was amusing to also buy 'Love conquistador', which is the English version of that song. Of course, that version appears on the B-side of the other single, but for this release, the two sides are flipped and the English version suddenly becomes the A-side.

Obviously this is the German release of the song, whereas the other single is the original Portuguese release. It's interesting to compare how the photograph is cropped on this sleeve.

My collection: 7" single no. 7851
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 15 November 2025
Tracks: 'Love conquistador' / 'Conquistador'

Nous - Mary Roos

'Nur die Liebe läßt uns leben' sang Mary Roos in 1972, and it gave Germany an honourable third place at that year's Eurovision Song Contest. Such was the success of the song that she decided to record it in English, French and Italian as well. 

This is the French version, released in Germany by her record company as 'Nous'. The language always sounds beautiful, but this version lacks the engaging nature of the original version.

My collection: 7" single no.  7850
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 15 November 2025
Tracks: 'Nous' / 'N'oublie pas lorsque tu chantes'

La notte non lo sa - Nana Mouskouri

The Eurovision song 'A force de prier', performed by Nana Mouskouri in 1963, was recorded by her in different languages. There was an English version and a German version, and when I found the latter two years ago, I wrote down the hope that I would find the Italian version in 2025. Well, I did just that!

'La notte non lo sa' was released with yet another sleeve design, together with an Italian version of 'Weisse rosen aus Athen', which was another successful song by the Greek singer. Now aged 91, she continues to make occasional appearances on TV shows despite her 'farewell tour' and 'final concert' a few years ago.

My collection: 7" single no. 7849
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 20 November 2025
Tracks: 'La notte non lo sa' / 'Rosa d'Atene' 

Love's great adventure - Ultravox

Next month sees the release of an expanded deluxe edition of Ultravox's The Collection, a 'greatest hits' album originally released in 1984 to celebrate the success of the band up until then. The new track on that album was called 'Love's great adventure', and it was a very unexpected and nice surprise that that track was released as a cd-single and 10" single recently. 

Both formats feature a new '80s style' remix by Blank & Jones, along with a few other unreleased tracks. Some would label these four tracks as 'inessential', but I think Ultravox fans are delighted with this release - just as I am. 

My collection: 10" single [unnumbered]
Found: Ultravox website, received 12 November 2025
Tracks: 'Love's great adventure (Blank & Jones so80s Reconstruction)', 'All stood still (12" extended re-mix extra)' / 'Love's great adventure (Steven Wilson instrumental mix)', 'Hymn (alternative instrumental outtake)' 

Unrequited / Live and let live - The The

Just when the campaign for The The's most recent album Ensoulment had ended, there was a new single. 'Unrequited / Live and let live' is a double A-side single taken from the soundtrack of the movie Odyssey, which features music from The The, i.e. Matt Johnson.

These two tracks come with prominent vocals from Gillian Glover, who also plays an instrumental part in running the record label Cinéola, which these singles are released on. And as always there are the illustrations by Andy Dog a.k.a. Matt's brother Andrew, who passed away in 2016.

My collection: 7" single no. 7848
Found: The The website, received 13 November 2025
Tracks: 'Unrequited' / 'Live and let live'

The winner takes it all - Abba

The final Japanese Abba single for today is the monumental track 'The winner takes it all'. It should be fitting to end with this one, because it is truly one of the band's best. 

Ulvaeus denies the song is about his and Fältskog's divorce, saying the basis of the song 'is the experience of a divorce, but it's fiction. 'Cause one thing I can say is that there wasn't a winner or a loser in our case. A lot of people think it's straight out of reality, but it's not'. However, Ulvaeus admitted that the heartache of their breakup inspired the song, but noted that the words in the song should not be taken literally. He said: 'Neither Agnetha nor I were winners in our divorce.' 

My collection: 7" single no. 6163
Found: Discogs.com, received 6 October 2021
Tracks: 'The winner takes it all' / 'Elaine' 

Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A man after midnight) - Abba

'Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)' was written and composed by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, with the lead vocal sung by Agnetha Fältskog. Fältskog, as the narrator, weaves the image of a lonely woman who longs for a romantic relationship and views her loneliness as a forbidding darkness of night, even drawing parallels to how the happy endings of movie stars are so different from her existence. The melody line of the song was played on an ARP Odyssey synthesizer.

The song came about after Benny and Bjorn heard Donna Summer's hit 'Hot stuff', and upon hearing it, it inspired the riffs, melody and sentiment of the song with Agnetha yearning for 'a man after midnight' whilst Donna was in need of some 'hot stuff'.

My collection: 7" single no. 6155
Found: Discogs.com, received 6 October 2021
Tracks: 'Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A man after midnight)' / 'The king has lost his crown'