Jennifer she said - Lloyd Cole & the Commotions

Lloyd Cole and the Commotions had an interesting but short career during the 1980's. Starting out with the album 'Rattlesnakes' (1984) and three successful singles, their second album 'Easy Pieces' (1985) did even better - at least, in the UK. When their third album 'Mainstream' did slightly worse, the album called it a day and Lloyd Cole went solo.

'Jennifer she said' was the band's penultimate single, and it was released in a rather impressive four panel fold out sleeve. As it turns out, it's also the penultimate single by the band that I shall buy - I only need 'Lost weekend' to complete the set. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6322
Found: Discogs.com, received August 22, 2020
Cost: 2 pounds
Tracks: 'Jennifer she said' / 'Perfect blue'

There are more snakes than ladders - Captain Sensible

One of the problems of shopping online is that it's hard to find something new. You'll always use familiar keywords, and there isn't any way to browse through a certain stock without scrolling until you get a headache. 

The only way to inject a bit of originality is searching for producers - which is exactly what I did recently. As a fan of New Musik and Tony Mansfield I thought he would be the man to produce some interesting Eighties singles. And indeed I found this 'forgotten' (at least by me) single by Captain Sensible. The single managed to reach number 57 in the UK singles chart, but went by unnoticed over here in the Netherlands. What a shame, because it's a great song. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6321
Found: Discogs.com, received August 14, 2020
Cost: 3 euro
Tracks: 'There are more snakes than ladders' / 'The 4 Marys Go Go Dance All Night At The Groovy Cellar'

Abergavenny - Nancy Marano

These days, Nancy Marano is best known as a jazz singer, but back in the late 1960's, she recorded a few singles on the Columbia label, of which this 'Abergavenny' is one. This is, of course, a cover version of the Marty Wilde hit - or at least, Marty Wilde had a hit with this song in Europe, if not in the UK.

The B-side of this single is a version of 'Love song', taken from the Broadway production 'Celebration', or so the label says. But of course, my main interest is the cover version on the A-side, which is distinctly American in flavour. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6319
Found: Discogs.com, received August 13, 2020
Cost: 4 euro
Tracks: 'Abergavenny' / 'Love song'

Jesamine - Shannon

Things tend to get confusing sometimes, in the pop world. For instance, if I categorize this single under the name Shannon, this single will be in the same page as the one devoted to the disco legend who brought us 'Let the music play' in 1983. But this is not her - instead, it's good old Marty Wilde, who used the stage name during the 1960's. 

And then there's that song: 'Jesamine'. Wasn't that made famous by the Casuals? It was, but the song was written by Frere Manston together with Jack Gellar. And Frere Manston is, as you may have guessed, Marty Wilde. So Shannon recorded Frere Manston's song, and this single got released in America. 

I had some luck recently, when an online seller offered both the commercial and the promotional version of this single. The B-side of the commercial version is the song 'Lullaby', which Marty wrote for his children, Kim and Ricky. And you probably know who they are: Kim Wilde and Ricky Wilde of course. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6317
Found: Discogs.com, received August 13, 2020
Cost: 3 euro
Tracks: 'Jesamine' / 'Jesamine'

My collection: 7" single no. 6318
Found: Discogs.com, received August 13, 2020
Cost: 3 euro
Tracks: 'Jesamine' / 'Lullaby'

I'm in love with a German film star - The Passions

Some singles are on my wantlist, just waiting to pop up for a reasonable price. In the absence of record fairs - Lord knows when I will finally see a record dealer in the flesh again! - I scour the internet for singles, but there's a limit to what I can take. I won't buy a single for one or two euros, only to pay three to five times as much because of postage. And so this single only got to me in combination with another one. And since it's a Spanish copy, it comes with the beautiful title 'Estoy enamorada de una estrella Alemana de cine' (I don't know why the Spanish want to translate song titles, but they always do.)

The Passions were a British band, which formed in 1978 and broke up five years later. Their major chart hit, 'I'm in love with a German film star', was released as the band's fourth single on January 23, 1981. It was their only hit, peaking at number 25 in the UK singles chart and number 30 in Ireland. I have vague memories of hearing this song during the 1980's, but it took a long time - until early this year, in fact - to rediscover this track.

My collection: 7" single no. 6316
Found: Discogs.com, received August 8 ,2020
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'I'm in love with a German film star' / '(Don't talk to me) I'm shy'

 

A festa da vida - Carlos Mendes

Carlos Eduardo Teixeira Mendes was born on May 23, 1947 in Lisbon. He started his singing career in the 1960's, representing Portugal at the Eurovision Song Contest on two occasions: in 1968 and 1972.This single, 'A festa da vida' is the 1972 entry. 

'A festa da vida' ('The party of life') is a ballad, with Mendes singing that the world needs to view life as a party in order to dismiss the negativity of the world. Although Portugal hadn't been particularly successful at Eurovision in previous years, this song reached 7th place at the close of voting, making it the country's highest placing at the time. Of course, it wouldn't be until a few years ago that Portugal actually won Eurovision. But when they did, they did it with a song that became an instant classic. This song is not an instant classic, but enjoyable all the same.

My collection: 7" single no. 6315
Found: Discogs.com, received August 8, 2020
Cost: 5 euro
Tracks: 'A festa da vida' / 'Glow worm'

Jealous of youth - The The

There's a special place in my record collection for The The, one of those British bands that managed to 'get to me' at a very early age. Their versions of 'Uncertain smile' grabbed me from the first time I heard them, and I have collected their albums and singles ever since. 

For a long time I thought that their later singles were never issued on vinyl, because record companies were very busy phasing out the format in the early 1990's. And so, here I am, almost three decades after its release, finding a copy of the Spanish promotional 7" single of 'Jealous of youth', one of the songs that became part of the soundtrack of my life back in 1991. It's a one-sided promo, so no B-side on this one.

My collection: 7" single no. 6314
Found: Discogs.com, received August 8, 2020
Cost: 4 euro
Tracks: 'Jealous of youth'