'I can't help myself' is the debut single of the Australian synthpop/rock band Flowers. It was released in May 1980. The debut album was called 'Icehouse', which later became the band name. In the UK, the single was released in October 1981 under that new band name. The single did not chart outside of Australia.
I picked up the single at an open air market during the free one day festival Parkpop, which is held annually on the last Sunday of June in Den Haag.
Nick Lowe reached number 7 in the UK singles chart with 'I love the sound of breaking glass'. It was his first solo hit single, after having been a member of bands like Brinsley Schwarz and Rockpile.
His debut solo single was 1976's 'So it goes', followed by three further singles that didn't chart. 'I love the sound of breaking glass' (1978) was a radio hit even in the Eighties, which is how I got to hear it. The B-side, an old track by Lowe with his band Rockpile, has a pretty funny lyric by the way.
My collection: 7" single no. 2497 Found: House of Rhythm, London, October 30, 1995 Cost: 50p Tracks: 'I love the sound of breaking glass' / 'They called it rock'
Tears for Fears released 'Pale Shelter' as a single three times. The first edition - this one - was produced by Mike Howlett and was released as the band's second single, after their debut single 'Suffer the children'. Both tracks of this single would appear on the band's debut album 'The hurting', but in re-recorded versions.
About the lyric, Roland Orzabal said: 'It's a kind of a love song, though more referring to one's parents than to a girl'. The title of the song is a reference to "Pale Shelter Scene", a 1941 drawing by British sculptor Henry Moore.
My collection: 7" single no. 2536 Found: Beanos, East Croydon, London, November 1, 1995 Cost: 2 pounds Tracks: 'Pale shelter (You don't give me love)' / 'The prisoner'
With a basic knowledge of English as a child, I thought this song was about taking the subway in London. In reality, of course, the lyric is an indictment of the British policy on arms, referencing the government of the UK's commitment to nuclear weapons, implying a level of acceptance on the part of the general population.
The Jam had three instant number one hits in the UK in 1980, of which this was the first. The band consisted of Paul Weller, Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler and broke up in 1982.
My collection: 7" single no. 48
Found: Rapsody, Den Haag, 1980
Cost: 3 guilders
Tracks: 'Going underground' / 'The dreams of children'
Kees Rietveld was born in Den Haag, Netherlands in 1969. He participated in the Soundmix show in the Netherlands in 1985, and won the contest with his imitation of Stevie Wonder. After this television debut, he scored a Dutch top 10 hit as Georgie Davis with 'Blackstar', a very Wonderesque-sounding track.
Davis released four more singles, but all of them failed to reach the Dutch Top 40. The last one was 'Call me my baby', a more adult-sounding track released in December 1988. In 1990 he participiated in the national finals for the Eurovision Song Contest with the song 'Eenmaal', but ended up being last of the ten participants.
My collection: 7" single no. 748
Found: Free Record Shop, Den Haag, February 17, 1989
Cost: 3 guilders
Tracks: 'Call me my baby' / 'I don't wanna wait to give up'
The Norwegian band Fra Lippo Lippi had a European hit with 'Shouldn't have to be like that' in 1986. It would be their only hit, because subsequent singles were hits in countries like Norway and the Phillipines only. In the Phillipines the band still has a great fan following to this day.
I found this picture disc during a holiday in London. I liked it so much, that I bought it even though it looks discoloured and worn. I've never seen a copy again. I do have the regular single as well, but a collector's item is always more interesting to use for show and tell. So here it is...
My collection: 7" single no. 390
Found: Record Exchange, London, October 1989
Cost: 1 pound
Tracks: 'Shouldn't have to be like that' / 'The distance between us'
Another single by Fay Lovski, and another one that didn't become a hit. It was a popular song on radio and television, probably because of its upbeat sixties-style production. The song was taken from the album 'Confetti', an album I've been looking for since the late Eighties, mostly because of the track 'He don't love me anymore', a beautiful ballad that was not released as a single, unfortunately.
I found this single just before going to a birthday party in Utrecht that night. It was an annual tradition to buy some records before going to that party.
My collection: 7" single no. 2228
Found: Grammofoonwinkel, Utrecht, December 30, 1994
The band that found fame as Wang Chung originally started in 1980 as Huang Chung. Jeremy Ryder, Nick Feldman and Darren Costin chose this name as it refers to the standardized bass pitch of ancient China. The literal translation means 'yellow bell', the band summarized the definition as 'perfect pitch'.
They released three singles as Huang Chung before finding fame with 'Dance hall days' with their new band name Wang Chung. 'China' narrowly missed the Dutch Top 40. My sister bought the single when it came out, which is the reason I still remembered it 15 years later. I was very surprised to find the extended version of the track on the B-side. A very good deal.
My collection: 7" single no. 3002 Found: Geest, Den Haag, June 20, 1998 Cost: 1 guilder Tracks: 'China' / 'China (extended version)'
I'm glad to say I got into Propaganda before they took over the charts in Europe with their second single 'Duel'. 'Dr. Mabuse' peaked at number 27 in the UK singles chart and number 7 in Germany in 1984, but elsewhere the single failed to chart.
The song was named after the fictional character made famous by film maker Fritz Lang. Journalist Paul Morley was involved in signing the band to Trevor Horn's newly-formed ZTT Records label. He marketed the band as 'a twisted, hellish version of Abba'. Well, as a child I thought this was a scary song, indeed.
Today is the 40th anniversary of Lenny Kuhr winning the Eurovision Song Contest with 'De Troubadour'. The event took place on March 29, 1969 and the 16 participating countries awarded the exact same 18 points to four competitors, causing four countries to win that year. Since there was no tie-break rule in place, Spain's Salome won with 'Vivo Cantando', Lulu from the United Kingdom won with 'Boom bang-a-bang', France's Frida Boccara won with 'Un jour, un enfant' and Lenny Kuhr won for the Netherlands.
According to some, France would have been the overall winner because it was their song that got votes from all but six countries, although Lenny Kuhr was the only participant of the four that got the highest mark from one country: six points. Whatever the real outcome might have been, today is a great day to highlight this song. There is a whole website devoted to the 40th anniversary of 'De Troubadour' here, and if you want to hear the song in German, Spanish, French, English and Italian, go to this page. On this blog you can hear the original song plus its B-side, 'Mais non monsieur'.
Before Johnny hates Jazz signed to Virgin records and released the debut album that yielded these hits, they recorded their debut single on RAK records, the label owned by the father of band member Calvin Hayes: Mickie Most. This single did not chart, but the track would end up on their debut album anyway.
Sounds familiar? Well, true, because I wrote about the 12" single of 'Me and my foolish heart' a while ago. The 7" single is in my collection as well. It's got less tracks and a different sleeve.
My collection: 7" single no. 2097 Found: Record fair, Amsterdam, April 16, 1994 Cost: 1 guilder Tracks: 'Me and my foolish heart' / 'Living in the past' Download:here
After Joelle Ursull participated in the Eurovision Song Contest with 'White and black blues', my friend Puck suddenly bought this cd-single by her. I didn't know the song 'Miyel', but it turned out to be an earlier track by her, taken from her debut album of the same name, released in 1988. The cd-single contained four mixes of the track, and I had to admit that it was a nice song. Not outstanding, but nice.
The vinyl single, which I bought shortly after that, actually featured a B-side track, 'Mal'. It proved that Joelle rarely surpassed the level of 'average'. Except for that French entry of the Contest in 1990, of course...
In 1987 T'pau became one of my favourite bands. I had all their singles, bought the album, and waited anxiously for album number 2. When their new single 'Secret garden' came out, I couldn't wait to buy it, and so I didn't. It turned out to be a disappointment: I didn't like the harsh rock sound of the A-side, and the B-side sounded just as messy and loud.
It was a first sign of things to come: the album 'Rage' was full of tracks like this, and contained only a few standout tracks. I don't know why I held on. Thankfully, album number three was much better.
When Jason Donovan hit the charts in 1989 with 'Sealed with a kiss', I immediately recognised a beautiful song - but with a terrible singer. I was relieved when I found out that it was actually a cover version and older versions existed.
One of those versions was pointed out to me by my sister: Bobby Vinton recorded the track in 1972 and reached number 3 in the Dutch Top 40 with it. It's my favourite version, although earlier versions also exits: Four Voices recorded it in 1960, Brian Hyland in 1962 and Gary Lewis and the Playboys in 1968.
Jez Willis and Tim Garbutt formed Utah Saints in 1990. Early on in their career they had a few hit singles in what they call their 'vocal sample trilogy', of which this one, 'Believe in me' is the third. It features a sample of the Human League's 'Love action', whereas the B-side, a remix of the first part in the trilogy 'What can you do for me', with a sample from the Eurythmics' 'There must be an angel (playing with my heart)'.
The single did not chart in the Netherlands, but peaked at number 8 in the UK singles chart. I bought the single because of the Human League sample. When you listen to this track you quickly realise that the guys forgot to make a song.
My collection: 7" single no. 2709
Found: House of Rhythm, London, July 3, 1996
Cost: 1 pound
Tracks: 'Believe in me (7" edit)' / 'What can you do for me (Def Mix 7 inch)'
'Love action' was the Human League's first top 10 hit in the UK in 1981, which was quite a feat since they'd been at it since 1977. The song is a semi-autobiographical account of lead singer Phil Oakey's relationships. The song contains a cryptic reference to Lou Reed in the lyric, 'I believe what the old man said'. Oakey, speaking in 1982 said, 'no one ever asks me who the old man is... it's Lou (Reed).'
At the time, as a short-lived marketing stunt, the Human League labelled their singles 'Red' or 'Blue'. This was supposed to help buyers differentiate between the band's musical styles. 'Red' was for dance tracks, 'Blue' for pop songs, although the exact difference was never fully explained. 'Love Action' was designated 'Red'.
The long career of the Three Degrees is quite extraordinary. Formed in 1963 in Philadelphia, they managed to be successful in three decades, first with Philadelphia soul, then with glittering disco and finally with Stock/Aitken/Waterman-produced dance music.
This single comes from the middle period: released in 1979, 'The runner' is an upbeat, fast-paced disco track, which has become a radio classic.
'Fly like an eagle' was written by Steve Miller. It appeared on his 1976 album of the same title. The song went to number 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart during the week of January 8, 1977. Amazingly, it didn't chart in the UK, but it did reach number 27 in the Netherlands. Since then, it has gotten some sort of 'classic' status.
In 1997, Seal recorded a cover version of this song for the soundtrack of the movie 'Space Jam'. Still, nothing beats the original.
Classix Nouveaux was formed in 1979 by Jak Airport, B.P. Hurding, Mik Sweeney and Sal Solo. Their first live gig took place in August 1979 at Camden Palace. With publicity growing for the band, their dramatic and heavily made up image helped quickly associate them with the New Romantic movement, alongside bands like Japan and Ultravox.
Their debut album 'Night people' came out in 1981. The single 'Guilty' narrowly missed the UK top 40, just like the three subsequent singles. It was 'Is it a dream', taken from their second album 'La Verité' (1982) that finally propelled them to number 11 in the UK chart. It is still their biggest hit and a regular on eighties compilation cd's.
Deep Forest is a musical group consisting of two French musicians, Michel Sanchez and Eric Mouquet. Michel Sanchez came up with the idea of mixing Baka Pygmy chants with modern music after hearing on-site recordings of these tribes. Along with Eric Mouquet they created the project Deep Forest.
Their first self-titled album (nominated for a Grammy) was released in 1992, with 'Sweet lullaby' being the hit single that would put Deep Forest on the musical map. It peaked at number 10 in the UK singles chart. The song is adapted from a traditional song from the Solomon Islands.
'I can't help myself' is the debut single of the Australian synthpop/rock band Flowers. It was released in May 1980. The debut album was called 'Icehouse', which later became the band name. In the UK, the single was released in October 1981 under that new band name. The single did not chart outside of Australia.
