Susan Fassbender's 1981 single 'Twilight cafe' was a hit in the UK, but subsequent recordings failed to match that success.
'The Chinese way' was released as the second single from Level 42's 1982 album 'The pursuit of accidents'.
In 1984, Dutch DJ Rutger Kroese created the Anglia Remix, a medley of two songs with sounds of Big Ben. The two songs that were used were 'Earthquake' by the Flirtations and 'Catch me' by Marsha Raven. The latter had been released unsuccessfully earlier that year, but this remix gave it a new lease of life.
'Chains of love' was released in May 1988 as the second single from Erasure's third studio album 'The innocents'. The album version was produced by Stephen Hague and was slightly remixed for its single release. Most notably the album version starts 'cold', while the single version contains a short synthesizer pattern as an intro.
'Jackie Wilson said (I'm in heaven when you smile)' was written and recorded by Van Morrison in 1972 on his album 'Saint Dominic's preview'. It was inspired by a line in Jackie Wilson's song 'Reet petite'.
The single 'Only a fool' was taken from the Time Bandits' 1985 album 'Fiction'. While the previous single 'Dancing on the string', also taken from the album, reached number 28 in the Dutch Top 40, this single failed to chart.
This remix of the classic song 'The wild places' by Duncan Browne is a mystery. I can't find any information as to why this remix was released. What's more, the remix doesn't seem to add or change much from the original - except the great instrumental bit at the end of the song seems to have been chopped off. What a shame.
After working with Julian Marshall for a few years as Marshall Hain, Kit Hain pursued a solo career. This resulted in two solo albums, the first one of which was 'Spirits walking out' (1981). This album featured the single 'Danny' plus this one, 'Looking for you'.
How times have changed. When the Eurovision Song Contest was just a new invention, the Netherlands were actually very successful. Between 1956 and 1975, the country won four times - and they never managed this after 1975. The first time the Netherlands won was in the second year of Eurovision, 1957.
Although the Time Bandits basically still exist (at least, frontman Alides Hidding still uses the name when he performs solo or with a band), they split up in 1989. 'Wildfire' was the last single to be released by the band, but it failed to reach the Dutch Top 40.
After the breakup of the duo Dollar, Thereza Bazar released one solo album in 1985 called 'The big kiss', which she co-wrote. The album reportedly cost half a million pounds to produce and generated media attention, but according to Bazar, the album's circulation was poor due to a mix-up at the record company, with the album unavailable at the time of its advertised release. Today Bazar mentions the incident as the most upsetting of her career.
Level 42 members Gary Husband and Mark King wrote 'Tracie' and recorded it on their 1988 studio album 'Staring at the sun'.
For a little while in the Eighties, the Dutch group 'Toontje Lager' were very hot. After the very successful albums 'Erop of eronder' (1982) and 'Stiekem dansen' (1983) the band suddenly failed to attract lots of attention. Their singles flopped and they didn't even record an album anymore.
Attentive readers of this blog will recall I posted a 1989 remix of M's 'Popmuzik' on this blog back in August 2009. I bought that one in the UK. It appears that the Netherlands also released a remix of 'Popmuzik' that same year, except this one was made by Ben Liebrand, the Dutch DJ who had become a household name during the Eighties.
I think 'Someone somewhere (in summertime)' is my favourite Simple Minds song of all times. Still, it took me this long to find a copy of the single. Fortunately, it is a UK pressing so that's made it worthwhile waiting.
The British doo-wop revival band Darts were very successful in the Seventies. The eight piece band had three successive number 2 hits in the UK singles chart with covers of early U.S. rock and roll and R&B songs.
'Love games' was the first single taken from Level 42's debut album and their first chart success. This 12" single features the full length version of the track, which is over seven minutes long.
The British band King were very successful in the UK in 1984, and so it didn't take long for the record company to realise that they could also have a shot at launching the band in the USA. That's where this 12" single was made, and this copy was released for promotion as a gold stamp on the back of the sleeve proves.
I have a copy of the single by K-Ram called 'Menage a trois'. Some time after buying the single I found this 12" single and I decided I wanted to hear the remix - especially since I could buy the 12" single for a low price.
Japan member Mick Karn released his solo single 'Sensitive' in 1982. On the track, he collaborated with Ricky Wilde, who had just had his production debut on his sister's debut album 'Kim Wilde' in 1981. Ricky produced the track and also performed guitar and keyboards on it.
