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'

Are you sure? - The Allisons

Bernard Colin Day (born 2 February 1941) and Brian John Alford (born 31 December 1939) were marketed as the brothers Bob and John Allison, while in fact they weren’t brothers. The song ‘Are You Sure’ was written by John, inspired by an old girlfriend who broke off their relationship. They were only 18 at the time, so it had an impact. 'Over the next few months, I wrote a succession of very sad songs. One afternoon, about six months later (…) I began to wonder why on earth did she say goodbye? I don’t understand why she finished it. So I kept thinking, would she change her mind? (…) I hadn’t got a tune. Normally when I wrote songs, you get an idea for a tune first of all and then you decide what lyrics, which sort of lyrics would suit that tune. But I had an idea, I had this thought, why are there so many words that mean goodbye. So I wrote them down. Goodbye, farewell, so long, au revoir. And then I thought I could turn that into a verse. So I did.' 

Meanwhile, Bob was in school, finishing his exams. His parents didn’t want him to do anything other than school work, and so the two didn’t meet for two months. In the meantime, John finished the song on his own. When they finally did meet, the created the harmony together. In 1961 they represented the UK at the Eurovision Song Contest with the song. 

This German single was released in 1987, but with a colour picture sleeve. It was number 54 in a series of hundred 'Hit Come Back' singles. 

My collection: 7" single no. 8454
Found: Reformdrogist de Regenboog, Rijswijk, 3 October 2026
Tracks: 'Are you sure' / 'There's one thing more' 

Let it be - Joan Baez

Speaking of the Beatles, I wasn't really aware that Joan Baez had recorded a cover version of 'Let it be' until I saw this single last weekend. She turned this staggering anthem into an intimate folk tune. 

Joan Baez was born on 9 January 1941 and her repertoire is full of songs of protest and social injustice. She played at the Woodstock festival in 1969 and released some 30 albums. 

My collection: 7" single no. 8455
Found: Rataplan, Rijswijk, 3 October 2026
Tracks: 'Let it be' / 'Poor wayfaring stranger'