Windpower - Thomas Dolby

I bought the 7" single of 'Windpower' almost twenty years ago. No wonder that the sleeve of this 12" single looked familiar, but I quickly realized that I'd never heard an extended version of the track.

The single was taken from Dolby's debut album The golden age of wireless (1982) and released on 26 July 1982.  

My collection: 12" single [unnumbered]
Found: Record Palace, Amsterdam, 18 January 2026
Tracks: 'Windpower (high power extended play)' / 'Flying North (High Altitude extended play)' 

Sloop John B - The Beach Boys

'Sloop John B' is a Bahamian folk song from Nassau. A transcription was published in 1916 by Richard Le Gallienne, and Carl Sandburg included a version in his The American Songbag in 1927. There have been many recordings of the song since the early Fifties.

In 1966, American rock band the Beach Boys recorded a folk rock adaptation that was produced and arranged by Brian Wilson and released as the second single from their album Pet Sounds. The record peaked at number 3 in the US Billboard Hot 100, number 2 in the UK singles chart, and topped the charts in several other countries. It was innovative for containing an elaborate a cappella vocal section not found in other pop music of the era, and it remains one of the group's biggest hits.

My collection: 7" single no. 7922
Found: Record fair, Amsterdam, 18 January 2026
Tracks: 'Sloop John B' / 'You're so good to me'

I'm the man - Joe Jackson

Joe Jackson released the album I'm the man in October 1979, just nine months after his first album Look sharp!. On his website, he explained: 'This is really Part Two of Look Sharp! – it was released less than a year later. I don't know how I even had the time to write and record a slightly more mature record, but I think it is, and the best of the first three.'

Besides the LP version, there was also a box set of five 7" singles, featuring all ten tracks of the album (one on each side), as well as a poster of the sleeve image. I was surprised to find a copy of this box set in such great condition for just 10 euros, and I bought it despite the fact that I only knew one track: the single 'It's different for girls'. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7921
Found: Record fair, Amsterdam, 18 January 2026
Tracks: 'On your radio' / 'The band wore blue shirts' // 'Geraldine and John' / 'Don't wanna be like that' // 'Kinda kute' / 'Amateur hour' // 'It's different for girls' / 'Get that girl' // 'I'm the man' / 'Friday' 

Love is the art - Living in a box

'Love is the art' was the fourth single from Living in a box's eponymous debut album. It was the least successful of the four, reaching number 45 in the UK singles chart. 

I was lucky to find a copy of the UK pressing of the single, among many German and Dutch pressings of different singles from different artists, so I don't really know how this dealer got this particular item. But that's the fun part of record fairs: finding singles you weren't particularly looking for, but get to buy them just the same.

My collection: 7" single no. 7917
Found: Record fair, Amsterdam, 18 January 2026
Tracks: 'Love is the art' / 'Love is the art (instrumental)' 

The hit combination - Level 42

Level 42 was very popular during the Eighties, but in the Nineties that popularity seemed to elude them. Their ninth album Guaranteed (1991) didn't score as well as its predecessors, and so the record company tried to reverse their fortunes. A greatest hits album wasn't going to do that, because Level Best was just two years old at that point, and so they went for the next best thing: a remix album. The Remixes was released on 20 July 1992.

Besides remixes of their biggest hits, taken from various 12" singles, there was also a medley mix titled 'The hit combination', created by Ben Liebrand. That remix was released as a single as well. The full version appeared on the B-side, whereas an edit appeared on the A-side of this single.

My collection: 7" single no. 7916
Found: Record fair, Amsterdam, 18 January 2026
Tracks: 'The hit combination (edit)' / 'The hit combination (full version)'

Rivers of Babylon - Boney M

I was glad to buy a Japanese single of Boney M's 'Rasputin' a little over six years ago, because of the radically different sleeve of that one. Well, it happened again, when I went to a record fair in Amsterdam last week, and the first thing I found was the Japanese edition of 'Rivers of Babylon'. 

Quite why the Japanese decided on using a very small picture of the group, in the corner of a generic 'tropical island' image is a mystery to me, but it is a nice little rarity to add to my collection. Of course, Japanese singles are almost always in an impeccable state, and this one is no exception.

My collection: 7" single no. 7915
Found: Record fair, Amsterdam, 18 January 2026
Tracks: 'Rivers of Babylon' / 'Brown girl in the ring' 

Radioactivity - The Divine Comedy

The latest issue of Electronic Sounds magazine in the UK came with a free 7" single of The Divine Comedy, featuring their excellent cover version of Kraftwerk's 'Radioactivity' (actually an old B-side from 1998), backed with the rather less impressive, but brilliantly titled 'The Synthesizer Service Centre Super Summer Sale' (from the rather frustrating album Office Politics). 

When I bought the issue online I assumed that both the original 'Radioactivity' by Kraftwerk and The Divine Comedy's cover version were on this single, which actually would have made it an excellent single. But it's still a nice item, and pressed on yellow vinyl, too!

My collection: 7" single no. 7914
Found: Electronic Sounds magazine website, received 7 January 2026
Tracks: 'Radioactivity' / 'The Synthesizer Service Centre Super Summer Sale'