Bahama mama - Boney M

'Bahama Mama' was the second single from Boney M's fourth album Oceans of Fantasy (1979). In Europe it was released as a double A-side with 'I'm born again', but in Japan the record company released 'Bahama mama' as the sole A-side and gave the single a different sleeve, based on the photograph from the album sleeve. 

Perhaps they were especially enamoured with this photograph because it alluded to the woodblock print 'The Great Wave off Kanagawa', created by the Japanese artist Hokusai (1760–1849). The print depicts three boats moving through a storm-tossed sea, with a large, cresting wave forming a spiral in the centre over the boats and Mount Fuji in the background.

My collection: 7" single no. 8462
Found: Discogs.com, received 16 October 2026
Tracks: 'Bahama mama' / 'I'm born again' 

The sounds of silence - Simon & Garfunkel

'Hello darkness my old friend' may be one of the most recognized first lines of a pop song. It was recorded by Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel in March 1964 for their debut album Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. An overdubbed electric remix was released the following year and went to number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. 

It led the duo to quickly record their second album, which was called Sounds of Silence to profit from the song's popularity. In 1967, 'The sounds of silence' was featured under both the opening and closing credits of the film The Graduate. This Japanese single shows part of the movie poster, making it perfectly clear that this was the song from that movie. It reached number 1 in Japan.

My collection: 7" single no. 8461
Found: Discogs.com, received 16 October 2026
Tracks: 'The sounds of silence' / 'The big bright green pleasure machine' 

Yesterday when I was young / Goldfinger (live in Japan) - Shirley Bassey

Two songs from Shirley Bassey's live performance at the Kosei-Nenkin Hall in Tokyo in 1974 were released on this single. She sings 'Yesterday when I was young' and the James Bond theme 'Goldfinger' before an enthusiastic audience in Japan.

The single was taken from the double album Live in Japan, released exclusively in Japan in the autumn of 1974. A cd version of that album was finally released worldwide in 2008. It reproduces the text from a booklet that came with the LP, which included the lyrics in English and Japanese.

My collection: 7" single no. 8460
Found: Discogs.com, received 16 October 2026
Tracks: 'Yesterday when I was young (live)' / 'Goldfinger (live)' 

 

Gotta go home - Boney M

'Gotta go home' was re-written from a German single 'Hallo Bimmelbahn' (1973) by Nighttrain with the brothers Heinz and Jürgen Huth, both also credited as co-writers on Boney M.'s version. The song was coupled with 'El Lute', tells the true story of Spanish outlaw Eleuterio Sánchez, who was still in prison at the time the song was released, though he was shortly to be released following a pardon. The song presents his claim that he was wrongly convicted of murder and links his liberation from prison to the liberation of his country from oppression after the rule of Franco. During a promotional visit in Spain, Boney M. met Sánchez and gave him a golden record for the sales of the single. 

The Japanese sleeve is similar to the one released in Europe, but adds the 'Happy Disco No. 1 Hit!' label. Hopefully it helped the sales over there.

My collection: 7" single no. 8458
Found: Discogs.com, received 16 October 2026
Tracks: 'Gotta go home' / 'El Lute' 

Felicidad (Margherita) - Boney M

My hunt for Japanese Boney M singles continued with another Japanese seller who offered more titles than just the Boney M ones. I received the package after significant delay at the Dutch customs - after paying an import charge I had to wait a mere 18 days until it was finally delivered. But anyway...

'Felicidad (Margherita)' was a non-album single by the German band, released in December 1980. The song was a cover of the Italian artist Massara's 1979 summer hit 'Margherita (Love in the sun)' which was sung in Italian and was released in English in the UK under the title 'Margarita (Mamma, oh mamma)'. Producer Frank Farian had a difficult relationship with the band at the time and originally recorded the song with session singers, but in the end had to overdub Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett's vocals.

My collection: 7" single no. 8457
Found: Discogs.com, received 16 October 2026
Tracks: 'Felicidad (Margherita)' / 'Strange' 

4 track sampler - Kerri Anderson

Somewhere in 1991 I read a review of Kerri Anderson's album Labyrinth in a TV magazine. The reviewer described the lyrics as pure poetry. Somehow I was intrigued, but I only bought the album on CD in 1992 when I found it in a local record store. Slowly but surely Kerri Anderson won me over. Ever since then, I play the disc quite regularly and when Discogs came around I found out that there was also an acoustic sampler on CD, which I managed to snag last year. 

Kerri Anderson only released one vinyl record - this promotional 12" single - and it arrived on my doorstep this afternoon. It features four tracks from the album. It's as varied as the album itself: the haunting 'Ghosts', which is the opening track of the album and always gets me in a good mood, the hopeful but perhaps too optimistic 'One day', the fantastic 'In the night', which is one of the best tracks on the album, and the all out rocker 'Day by day'. 

I wonder what happened to her. If it wasn't for her record company folding in 1992, she might have released more music. As it is, the one album is the only evidence of her amazing talent.

My collection: 12" single [unnumbered]
Found: Discogs.com, received 9 October 2026
Tracks: 'Ghosts', 'One day' / 'In the night', 'Day by day' 

 

Accordeon Potpourri no. 47 - The 3 Jacksons

Since 2021 I have bought a handful of singles by the 3 Jacksons, a trio that worked the accordeons like madmen. Their instrumental versions of hits of their contemporaries were always varied, and they touched on Eurovision classics more than once. This particular selection includes their version of 'Are you sure' by the Allisons, among other, English, Dutch and German hits.  

I found this single in a weird sleeve, but found an authentic Philips sleeve in the same row, so I swapped them around. It always feels better to have a Philips single in an authentic Philips sleeve!

My collection: 7" single no. 8456
Found: Rataplan, Rijswijk, 3 October 2026
Tracks: 'Wheels, Danke für die Blumen, Och was ik maar (bij moeder thuis gebleven)' / 'Corinne Corinna, Are you sure, Kill watch'