Child of earth - Karoline Krüger

There have been several 'environmentally friendly' Eurovision songs, but the Norwegian entry from 1988 was not recognized as such by most people because of the difficult language Karoline Krüger had to sing in. So she did what any sensible artist would do: she also recorded an English version.

I bought 'For vår jord' in 2022, thinking I might never get this English version because it was a bit on the expensive side. But look, a few years later the single isn't that expensive anymore and I got to order a copy from Norway. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7775
Found: Discogs.com, received 9 October 2025
Tracks: 'Child of earth' / 'For vår jord'

Flowers - Zaine Griff

‘Flowers’ is a song written by Zaine Griff. It was released on Zaine Griff’s second album Figures (1982). The lyrics explicitly refer to the theatre play Flowers, written by Jean Genet and is meant to be a tribute to his old mime and movement teacher, Lindsay Kemp, who produced the play during the Seventies. Zaine asked Kate Bush to sing backing vocals on this song, and she did.

Quite why I never managed to buy this single before has to have something to do with the price of it. I can't recall that I ever saw it for a low price anywhere, but when I thought of this single recently, there it was, for just a few quid. Of course I had to have it. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7773
Found: Discogs.com, received 6 October 2025
Tracks: 'Flowers' / 'Turn out the light'

Don't take my mind on a trip - Boy George

Some years ago I bought the 3" cd-single (yes, that's also a collection I have) of Boy George's 'Don't take my mind on a trip'. I didn't know the song at the time, but it came with a rather good cover version of 'What becomes of the broken hearted'. I didn't give it a second thought for some time, but then I bumped into this 7" single. It was interesting (and cheap) enough for me to want to take it home.

The single wasn't very successful, peaking as it did on number 68 in the UK singles chart. But the two tracks on this disc are varied: the A-side sounds like a Teddy Riley or Jam & Lewis production (it was produced by Gene Griffin, but actually arranged by Teddy Riley) and the B-side sounds like a Stock, Aitken & Waterman (in their good days) production (it was producted by Vlad Naslas). 

My collection: 7" single no. 7772
Found: Record fair, Rijswijk, 5 October 2025
Tracks: 'Don't take my mind on a trip' / 'Girlfriend' 

In all honesty - Breathe

Obviously I'm familiar with the band Breathe, because I have quite a few of their singles. But I never saw this one before, and I had a little trouble finding out where this one belongs in their discography. As it turns out, this was their second single release, before the original release of 'Don't tell me lies', back in 1986. 

Unlike that song, 'In all honesty' did not end up on the band's debut album All that jazz. Actually, that album is going to be re-released by Cherry Red in December this year in a deluxe 2cd edition, which adds the two tracks on this single.

My collection: 7" single no. 7771
Found: Record fair, Rijswijk, 5 October 2025
Tracks: 'In all honesty' / 'Take a little time' 

December - All About Eve

We're some months away from December, but I still wanted to post this beautiful limited edition 10" single of All About Eve's 'December'. It was packaged in a box and included a little poster featuring portraits of the band members and the lyrics of the song.

What's more, the disc included no less than four tracks. 'December' appears here in the 'Narnia Mix', which also appeared on the 12" single. All of the tracks appear on various formats, so no exclusives on this one.

My collection: 10" single [unnumbered]
Found: Record fair, 1990
Tracks: 'December (Narnia mix)', 'Drowning' / 'Paradise (89 remix)', 'The witch's promise'

What kind of fool - All about Eve

After the big success of their single 'Martha's Harbour', All About Eve released one last single from their debut album, titled 'What kind of fool'. Now several editions of that single have already been featured on this blog: the 7" single, this 12" single and this 12" single.

But there was also this 10" single. And not just any 10" single: it came in a gatefold sleeve with a booklet inside. The booklet contains the lyrics of 'What kind of fool' plus all the non-album tracks that were released as B-sides of several singles taken from the album. The B-side of the 10" single features an exclusive live track, recorded at the Astoria in London.

My collection: 10" single [unnumbered]
Found: Record fair, 1990
Tracks: 'What kind of fool', 'Gold and silver' / 'Every angel (live)' 

Driving in my car - Madness

While the foldout sleeve edition of the single 'Driving in my car' is an amusing way to package a 7" single, there was also a picture disc released at the same time, no doubt to make the single go higher in the UK charts. 

The strategy must have worked, because the single ended up peaking at number 4, which was just slightly lower than the charttopping 'House of fun', which preceded this single release a few months earlier, also in 1982. Then again, Madness routinely released picture disc 7" singles at that time - and now, over four decades later, I am still hunting them down.

My collection: 7" single no. 7762
Found: Discogs.com, received 12 September 2025
Tracks: 'Driving in my car' / 'Animal farm' 

Life's what you make it - Talk Talk

In 1991, a remix version of 'Life's what you make it' by Talk Talk was released in Europe. The single featured an arty sleeve with a cover painting by James Marsh, as per usual. However, a year earlier the same sleeve was used for a UK re-release of the original song.

This single may have a similar sleeve, but both the A-side and B-side are different. On the A-side, there was the original version of 'Life's what you make it', and on the B-side there was a live recording of that song. The single was released to promote the album Natural history, a 'greatest hits' collection put together by EMI. They followed this up with the remix album History revisited, which is why the other single was released in 1991.

My collection: 7" single no. 7761
Found: Discogs.com, received 12 September 2025
Tracks: 'Life's what you make it' / 'Life's what you make it (live from Hammersmith Odeon)' 

Que daria yo - Alan Sorrenti

Alan Sorrenti represented Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1980 with the song 'Non so che darei'. Due to the success of his song at the contest, he decided to record several versions of the song. The English version, 'If you need me now', was released in several countries, and the Spanish version was released in Spain and South America. 

My copy of 'Que daria yo' is a promotional disc, meaning that the label is white and says 'disco promocional - prohibida su venta'. That's always a bonus in my book.

My collection: 7" single no. 7753
Found: Discogs.com, received 2 August 2025
Tracks: 'Que daria yo' / 'Todo es magico de noche'

Every angel - All about Eve

All about Eve were promoted heavily by their record company when their debut album looked like it was going to be a big success. They didn't yet have their big hit 'Martha's harbour' yet, but a good live reputation and a strong fanbase went a long way. 

And so, Mercury Records started releasing singles in many different formats - a wellknown strategy in 1988, before chart rules were made more strict in the UK. 'Every angel' was released on a 7" single, a 12" single, and this limited edition 10" single. This format came with its own exclusive track: 'More than this hour' was only available on this 10" single. The exclusive poster showed the image from the sleeve of the 7" and 12" singles. 

My collection: 10" single [unnumbered]
Found: Record fair, 1990
Tracks: 'Every angel (extended)', 'Candy tree' / 'Wild flowers', 'More than this hour'

Through the barricades - Spandau Ballet

It's been five years since I last bought a Spandau Ballet single, and I thought I had them all. But then I saw this picture disc while I was browsing through an online seller's catalogue and I felt it was pretty enough to want to have it.

The album of the same name was re-released a few years ago as a deluxe edition, but unfortunately the extra tracks on that one were not interesting enough. Now that the band has released a sumptuous book/disc collection spanning their formative years, here's hoping they will do a similar thing for later years in their career too. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7749
Found: Discogs.com, received 30 August 2025
Tracks: 'Through the barricades' / 'With the pride (live in '85)' 

Who will you run to - Heart

In the Eighties, Heart went through a kind of metamorphosis, after the record company took the band aside and said they needed to change their style in order to have some kind of success. According to Nancy Wilson in an interview: 'The image of it was so intensely unreal. It was the [hair] extensions, the corsets and all the stuff'.

'Who will you run to' was taken from the band's 1987 album Bad Animals, which was full of these high energy, loud songs. Personally I prefer the more intimate sound of the B-side, 'Nobody home', which ends up pretty loud anyway, but in a good way. I already owned the regular 7" single, but this picture disc is definitely an added bonus.

My collection: 7" single no. 7748
Found: Discogs.com, received 30 August 2025
Tracks: 'Who will you run to' / 'Nobody home' 

We love you - Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark

Back in 1986, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark released this double single of 'We love you'. The package contained the original single of 'We love you' plus the original single of 'If you leave'. Although I already own both singles, this double single package was just too good to pass on. 

The inside of the gatefold sleeve shows the group, which at the time counted no less than six members. These days OMD still exists, but only with core members Paul Humphreys and Andy McCluskey.

My collection: 7" single no. 7745
Found: Discogs.com, received 30 August 2025
Tracks: 'We love you' / 'We love you (dub)' // 'If you leave' / '88 seconds in Greensboro' 

Kate Bush - Kate Bush

Kate Bush is a mini-LP released in the USA and Canada in 1983. With this release the record company EMI America hoped to raise the profile of the British singer/songwriter who had until then been largely ignored by the record buying public over there.

The record was a mix of two tracks from Kate's most recent album at that time ('Sat in your lap' and 'Suspended in gaffa'), one track from the preceding album ('Babooshka'), a live track from the On Stage EP ('James and the cold gun') and one new track: a French version of 'The infant kiss', called 'Un baiser d'enfant'. The Canadian release came with one extra track, 'Ne t'enfuis pas'. 

I bought this mini LP a few years after it came out, after a lengthy period of doubt. I had all of the tracka already on various single releases, and so it didn't really add anything. In the end, I still bought this record. Of course I should have gotten the Canadian one, but that one wasn't available at the time. Many variations on coloured vinyl existed, but these days they cost a bundle. So I'm glad I at least have this one.

My collection: LP [unnumbered]
Found: Free Record Shop, 1986
Tracks: 'Sat in your lap', 'James and the cold gun (live version)' / 'Babooshka', 'Suspended in gaffa', 'Un baiser d'enfant' 

Dancing in the dark - Kim WIlde

The second single taken from Kim Wilde's third album Catch as Catch Can was apparently the first and only single for her in Japan. 'Dancing in the dark' was the first single not to be written by her dad Marty and her brother Ricky, but by Nicky Chinn and Paul Gurvitz instead.

The single was unsuccessful in the UK and Europe, and one can only assume that it wasn't exactly a big hit in Japan either. Not that it's a bad song, it's just a bit unexciting compared to Kim's earlier singles. Fortunately this wasn't the end of her career; she would be back with a bang a year later.

My collection: 7" single no. 3029
Found: Record fair, Amsterdam, 23 September 1998
Tracks: 'Dancing in the dark' / 'Back street driver' 

What kind of fool - All About Eve

Last year I caught up with my collection of All About Eve 12" singles on this blog, but it seems I forgot one of them. This limited edition box features a big poster based on the artwork of the 7" single, plus a three track disc featuring the 'Autumn Rhapsody' version of the title track. Together with the two B-side tracks, this was an attractive package for the fans.

Funnily enough I never bought the 'regular' 12" single, featuring the same three tracks. A 10" single is also in my possession, but more about that later. Watch this space!

My collection: 12" single [unnumbered]
Found: Record fair, 199X
Tracks: 'What kind of fool (Autumn Rhapsody)' / 'Gold and silver', 'The garden of Jane Delawney'

View from a bridge - Kim Wilde

Although the Japanese record company decided to release 'Take me tonight', flipping the A-side 'View from a bridge' with the B-side, they also released 'View from a bridge' in Japan. The sequence has been lost in the haze of time, so I have no way of knowing which version came first. 

I do know that the sleeve of this release was outstanding. Using a photograph like that on the sleeve was brilliant, and certainly more colourful than the black and white sleeve that was used in Europe. The song remains a bona fide Eighties classic.

My collection: 7" single no. 1969
Found: Record fair, Amsterdam, 25 September 1993
Tracks: 'View from a bridge' / 'Take me tonight' 

Underwater - Harry Thumann

Harry Thumann was a German electronic music composer and sound engineer. He was quick to adapt to new technologies and started working with synthesizers early on in the Seventies. His single 'Underwater', released originally in 1979, was embraced in several European countries. Released in the Netherlands in the summer of 1980, it shot to number 12 in the Dutch Top 40.

I bought the single without a picture sleeve back in 1993, but during my recent shopping spree in a record shop in Darmstadt (Germany) I found a very decent copy with a picture sleeve. Of course I needed to upgrade. 

Harry Thumann died in 2001.

My collection: 7" single no. 1946

Originally found: Leiden, 20 August 1993
Picture sleeve version found: Come Back, Darmstadt (Germany), 4 August 2025

Tracks: 'Underwater part I' / 'Underwater part II'

Pour qui, pourquoi - Maribelle

Although I would certainly understand it if people called 'Ik hou van jou' a bit of a twee song, the melody of it is undeniably beautiful - especially when it's played by a full orchestra. After I disliked the song for a few years, I ended up buying the single in 1993 and the English version ('In love with you') five years after that. 

Obviously I was aware of the French version of the song pretty soon after that, but finding the single was hard - especially in the days before lively trade on the internet. Just a few months ago I was offered this single for 100 euros on a record fair. I finally found a decent copy on Discogs from a Czech seller - and for a decent price too. This copy has one playable side only - which is enough in this case.

My collection: 7" single no. 7743
Found: Discogs.com, received 22 August 2025
Tracks: 'Pour qui, pourquoi' 

Everything I own - Boy George

In 2013 Virgin Records celebrated its 40th anniversary. On that occasion they released a series of picture disc 7" singles of some interesting titles, and this single by Boy George was one of them. I didn't actually know this when I found this single last week; this knowledge comes from the Discogs website. There are more picture discs, but they have become quite expensive!

By contrast, this picture disc was definitely on the cheap side, cheap enough for me to want to take it with me on a day of shopping. I already owned the regular single, of course, but who could resist a picture disc? I certainly can't. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7742
Found: Velvet, Leiden, 19 August 2025
Tracks: 'Everything I own' / 'Use me'