Skyfall - Adele

Who can still hum the melody of 'Another way to die', the previous Bond theme? Thought not. The steady decline of James Bond movie theme songs that had started at the end of the last century seems to have been halted when the powers that be decided that this year's Bond song would be performed by a British artist again. And that's the first time since 1985 when Duran Duran recorded 'A view to a kill'. 'Skyfall' is "Bond by numbers", some people commented. With a large orchestra to back her up, it certainly feels like a retro track.

Obviously I was wondering if a 7" single would be released, but even before I started looking out for it, my friend Puck contacted me because he'd seen the single during a shopping trip. I was very happy to get this little present, which will probably prompt me to start buying more "Bond singles". I missed out on a few during the last 50 years...  

My collection: 7" single no. 5298
Found: Den Haag, November 8, 2012
Cost: Nothing (a present)
Tracks: 'Skyfall' / 'Skyfall (instrumental)'

Chasing pavements - Adele

The last stop in my tour around London (bar the obligatory visit to HMV, but I haven't bought a 7" single there in a long time!) was Sister Ray in Berwick Street. Almost closed last year, I was happy to hear that the shop was saved, and even happier to see that they still stocked an attractive amount of 7" singles. I ended up buying 10 pieces, most of them recent ones, such as this one.

Adele's 'Chasing pavements' was released in January 2008 as her second single. The song refers to an incident that occurred at 6am one day after a fight with a former boyfriend during which Adele was running down the street alone. The single peaked at number 2 in the UK singles chart and number 9 in the Dutch Top 40.

My collection: 7" single no. 3982
Found: Sister Ray, London, August 5, 2009
Cost: 2 pounds
Tracks: 'Chasing pavements' / 'That's it, I quit, I'm moving on'

Hometown glory - Adele

I heard this song on a television series (I'm not saying which) and found out what it was because I remembered some of the lyrics. These days with Google, it ain't hard. Adele's 'Hometown glory' is a great piano-based track, with the voice of Adele not distracting too much from the beautiful music.

Adele wrote 'Hometown glory' when she was just 16 years old. She was born on May 5, 1988 in Enfield, North London and released her debut album '19' in 2008. The single reached number 19 in the UK singles chart, after flopping on its initial release in 2007.

My collection: 7" single no. 3617
Found: La La Land, April 2009
Cost: 5 euro
Tracks: 'Hometown glory' / 'Fool that I am (live)'