Det' lige det - Hot Eyes

Kirsten Siggard (born 7 September 1954 in Slagelse) and Søren Bundgaard (born 4 March 1956 in Glostrup) formed Hot Eyes and represented Denmark at the 1984 Eurovision Song Contest for the first time - and certainly not the last time. 'Det' lige det' ended up in fourth place, in a field of 19 competitors.

This single presents both the Danish and the English version of the song. The song is sung from the perspective of a woman waiting for her lover to come to her. She tells him that his presence brightens the day considerably and that he shouldn't be afraid of loving her, as he appears to be.

My collection: 7" single no. 6078
Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, May 24, 2019
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Det' lige det' / 'Waiting in the rain'

Giverny - Chris Rea

Somewhere along the way, I have become addicted to unknown Chris Rea singles. They are always surprising, but in a good way. His sound is usually pretty relaxed, laidback and soothing. This single from 1986 is no exception. 'Giverny' was taken from his album 'On the beach', but it was only released in Europe.

In these days of European politics, it is worth noting that Chris Rea is apparently a supported of the idea of a Brexit, claiming that 'you cannot force different people to live together [when] they simply do not want to'. Applying this logic to the United Kingdom, we're in for some interesting times then...

My collection: 7" single no. 6081
Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, May 24, 2019
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Giverny' / 'Bless them all'

Jump to it - Heartbeat UK

Steve Byrd was a guitarist in Kim Wilde's band when she went on tour for the first time in 1982. Since then, he remained in the band and also wrote songs together with her when she started writing songs herself. But in 1987 he made a break for himself and joined Heartbeat UK, a band that was formed by ex-Culture Club member Jon Moss. Together with Steve Lambert and Mark Heyward-Chaplin (the latter also from Kim's backing band) they signed with Virgin Records and released this single, 'Jump to it'.

The single bombed. Heartbeat UK soon ceased to exist. Steve Byrd went back to Kim's backing band - and he appeared live on stage with her when she supported Michael Jackson in Europe during his 'Bad' tour in 1988. All's well that ends well, then? Well, anyway, I needed to hear this song for myself. It's a nice pop track. It would have been interesting to hear more from this band. Alas, it wasn't to be.

My collection: 7" single no. 6080
Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, May 24, 2019
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Jump to it' / 'Jumping'

Made in Spain (La chica que yo quiero) - La decada prodigiosa

La Década Prodigiosa was formed in 1985 as a project directed by Javier de Juan (drums), Manel Santisteban (piano) and Manuel Aguilar (bass) to produce an album of medleys of popular Spanish songs from the sixties. Several session singers collaborated in this first album, 'Los Años 60, Vol. I'. Due to the success of the album, a band of eight members was formed in 1986 for the second album ('Los Años 60, Vol. II'): Manolo Rodríguez, Cecilia Blanco, Ana Nery, Carmelo Martínez and Jose Subiza joined the three creators.

In 1988, La Década was internally chosen by broadcaster Televisión Española to represent Spain at the 33rd Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin with one of their first original songs, 'La chica que yo quiero (Made in Spain)'. As only six people were allowed on stage by EBU rules, Javier de Juan directed the orchestra and Manolo Rodríguez stayed backstage. The song finished eleventh out of 21 competitors. Since then, the group has survived many replacements of members, even though in the mid-nineties their popularity began to decline.

The single is pretty rare nowadays and is often sold online for upwards of 10 euros. I was therefore pretty happy to find a copy of this single on a Spanish marketplace website.

My collection: 7" single no. 6074
Found: Todocoleccion.net, received May 23, 2019
Cost: 4 euro
Tracks: 'Made in Spain (La chica que yo quiero)' / 'Made in Spain (La chica que yo quiero)'

Rock 'n' Roll is king - Electric Light Orchestra

I think I wasn't the only one who was quite shocked when Electric Light Orchestra released this single in 1983. Ever since they hit it big with 'Sweet talkin' woman', 'Mr. Blue Sky', 'Don't bring me down' and 'Xanadu', listeners had grown accustomed to lush arrangements and melodic songs, so 'Rock 'n' Roll is king' felt a bit like the band had gone back to basics. And after radio picked it up, I quickly didn't want to hear this song ever again.

And so I ended up in a record store in Leiden last Saturday, where another visitor was playing a few singles before he decided to buy some of them, and I heard this one come by. Quite nice. And so I picked up a copy and took it home. A lot changes in 35 years.

My collection: 7" single no. 6073
Found: Velvet Vinyl Outlet, Leiden, May 18, 2019
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Rock 'n' Roll is king' / 'After all'

Heaven help me - Deon Estus (with additional vocals by George Michael)

Deon Estus was born in Detroit on July 4, 1956. As a teenager he joined the band Brainstorm and recorded two albums with them. During the early Eighties he moved to Europe, living in Belgium and Ireland before settling in London. Not long after that he was invited to join Wham! - he is featured prominently in the music videos for 'I'm your man' and 'The Edge of heaven'.

No wonder, then, that George Michael appeared on this track, recorded for Estus' solo album 'Spell'. The sleeve shown here is from the American edition of the single. Curiously enough, a European sleeve which I saw in the same record store last Saturday does not mention George Michael on the front sleeve at all. No wonder, then, that the single only reached number 41 in the UK, whereas it reached number 5 in the US Billboard Hot 100.

My collection: 7" single no. 6072
Found: Velvet Vinyl Outlet, Leiden, May 18, 2019
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Heaven help me' / 'It's a party'

New song - Howard Jones

The recent release of a super deluxe edition of Howard Jones' debut album 'Human's Lib' included a rare track. It made me aware of a Portuguese single of 'New song', Howard's debut release, that apparently contained a different version of the song. Did I mention that I am a collector? Somehow I felt motivated to get a copy of this single, and sure enough, a Portuguese dealer offered a copy online.

I ordered this single along with a few others from this dealer, and I wasn't disappointed: the 7" single from Portugal did indeed contain a version of 'New song' that I'd never heard before. How this ended up on the single is still unclear, but it's nice to have a copy.

My collection: 7" single no. 6015
Found: Discogs.com, received March 13, 2019
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'New song' / 'Change the man'

Popcorn - MH Band

Here is another version of 'Popcorn', the legendary Gershon Kingsley composition. Well... not exactly another version, because I already owned a copy of the M&H Band's version of 'Popcorn', but this is a different edition.

But this single is still of interest, because the sleeve is different and the B-side features a track called 'Popcorn House', created by Mark Haliday, but incorporating a piece of the melody of 'Popcorn'. And this makes it all very worthwhile.

My collection: 7" single no. 6069
Found: Velvet Vinyl Outlet, Leiden, May 18, 2019
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Popcorn (radio version)' / 'Popcorn house'

De do do do de da da da - The Police

The Police recorded their nonsensical 1980 single 'De do do do de da da da' in two languages other than English: in Japanese and Spanish. It's not easy to find a good copy of this single in mint condition, so I was rather stunned to find one in the centre of Den Haag during today's record fair.

Unusually for an American 7" single this copy has a small centre hole. And it has to be said, hearing Sting sing in Japanese is an interesting experience, although Japanese readers of this blog would have to say whether his pronounciation is good enough. I would also venture that the Japanese version is better than the Spanish one.

My collection: 7" single no.  6059
Found: Record fair, Den Haag, May 4, 2019
Cost: 5 euro
Tracks: 'De do do do de da da da (Japanese)' / 'De do do do de da da da (Spanish)'

The look of love - ABC

Unbelievably, I never owned a copy of ABC's 'The look of love' despite owning all of the band's albums, nearly all of their singles and even a few 12" singles and CD-singles. This strange situation has now been rectified. I ordered a beautiful copy of the UK 7" singles recently.

I can understand, however, how I never bought this single. It was played a lot on the radio during the Eighties and there were loads of other singles that I wanted to own and play. I really didn't need to hear this one - in fact for most of the Eighties and Nineties I'd had enough of this track. It's one of ABC's signature songs and having not heard it in a long time, I can now listen to it and enjoy it again.

My collection: 7" single no. 6051
Found: Discogs.com, received April 17, 2019
Cost: 1 pound
Tracks: 'The look of love (part 1)' / 'The look of love (part 2)'

Escapade - Janet Jackson

There is something special about UK pressed 7" singles, which is why every now and again I do buy some copies of singles I already own, but in their European counterparts. The latest delivery contained a few handfuls of such singles, coupled with a few I didn't already have. This single was one of them.

Of course I already did own a version of Janet Jackson's 'Escapade', but the UK version is notably different because both mixes on this disc do not appear on the other single I have. These mixes were created by Shep Pettibone, and it's interesting that these were preferred over the original single version that was used elsewhere.

My collection: 7" single no. 6048
Found: Discogs.com, received April 17, 2019
Cost: 1 pound
Tracks: 'Escapade (We've got it made 7")' / 'Escapade (Housecapade 7")'

Goodbye little Colombus - Chris Rea

I have many singles by Chris Rea. The man is a solid songwriter and his singles rarely disappoint. Bewilderingly, there's never been a complete singles collection of the man's output. I once made one myself, but this was in the days before Discogs and Wikipedia, so the 2 CDR set I made was not complete.

Proof of this fact is provided in the form of this single, which I never knew existed. Taken from his self-titled 1982 album, this is actually a promotional version of 'Goodbye little Colombus' from Germany. The back cover states that the song is presented in the TV programme 'Café in Takt' on August 12, 1981. Probably 1982 I'd think....

My collection: 7" single no. 6046
Found: Record fair, Utrecht, April 13, 2019
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Goodbye little Colombus' / 'If you choose to go'

Liberty town - Perfect Day

After the single Jane, Perfect Day released 'Liberty town', a track produced by Ricky Wilde. I managed to find this single during last Saturday's record fair in Utrecht, not long after finding 'Jane' with the same dealer.

Released in January 1989, it fared slightly better than its predecessor, but still didn't manage to get into the UK singles top 40. The band released two more singles before packing it in.

My collection: 7" single no. 6034
Found: Record fair, Utrecht, April 13, 2019
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Liberty town' / 'On the right side'

Absolutely immune - Act

Claudia Brücken and Thomas Leer formed Act after Brücken left her previous band Propaganda. 'Absolutely immune' was released as the couple's second single, after the hit single Snobbery and decay. This single didn't reach the chart, unfortunately.

It is a pity that Act broke up after the release of their debut album. Judging from the contents of this single, they could have released much more interesting tracks. 


My collection: 7" single no. 6045
Found: Record fair, Utrecht, April 13, 2019
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Absolutely immune' / 'Bloodrush'

Revolutions - Jean Michel Jarre

'Revolutions' was the ninth studio album by French synth wizard and composer Jean-Michel Jarre, first released in August 1988. The album spans several genres, including symphonic industrial, Arabian inspired, light guitar pop and ethnic electro jazz. The album reached number number 2 in the UK charts, Jarre's best chart position since 'Oxygène'. The majority of the album was played with a Roland D-50 synthesizer, with the majority of sound programming gathered from custom sound banks, compiled into a single bank and later released for French Keyboards magazine

This single presents an edited version of the album's title track, backed with the entire 'part 2' of 'Industrial revolution' as it appears on the album. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6047
Found: Record fair, Utrecht, April 13, 2019
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Revolutions' / 'Industrial revolution: part 2'

Shake - Andrew Ridgeley

As one half of the duo Wham!, Andrew Ridgeley has been much maligned after he and George Michael went their separate ways. It was often said that he didn't bring much more to the duo than his looks. History has shown that there was more to the story than that - without Andrew, George might never have become the pop star he became.

When you listen to this single, you may understand where all the criticism came from. 'Shake' really isn't a very good song and Andrew's vocals sound too lightweight for what should sound like a rough, tough track. I bought the single out of curiosity, although I did vaguely remember what it sounded like - but the poster sleeve was too nice to resist.

My collection: 7" single no. 6039
Found: Record fair, Utrecht, April 13, 2019
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Shake' / 'Hangin''

Jane - Perfect Day

In the mid-Eighties, Perfect Day was formed by Mark Jones (vocals), Kevin Howard (guitar), Andy Wood (bass) and Mark Stott (drums). After recording a demo they were picked up by London Records in 1987. They released their debut single 'Jane'  in the summer of 1988. The track was produced by Christopher Neil, with additional production and remix by Ricky Wilde. This is, of course, why I became interested in this particular release.

The single was not a chart success, but the band did manage to get a small fan following quite quickly. A fanclub was even formed before they ever made a chart appearance, which is an interesting feat for any band.

My collection: 7" single no. 6035
Found: Record fair, Utrecht, April 13, 2019
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Jane' / 'Preying on my mind'

The way you are - Tears for fears

The single 'The way you are' by Tears for Fears was released as a 'stopgap' between their first and second album. The song was actually recorded for the purpose of releasing a single, something the band looks back on with a certain amount of regret. In 2014, Curt Smith commented: 'We got over it and managed to go on and have more success despite that song. It’s one of those things that we can’t take it back, but we wish we hadn’t done it.'

Personally, I think it's one of the band's more interesting single releases. With all the percussion going on, it's a very amusing track to listen to. Which is why I was glad to find this promotional 7" single. It features the (regular) 'long version' and a (rare) 'short version'. Basically, the short version just fades out half a minute earlier, but still, it's a nice find.

My collection: 7" single no. 6032
Found: Record fair, Utrecht, April 13, 2019
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'The way you are (short version)' / 'The way you are (long version)'

Here today, gone tomorrow - The Duskeys

The Irish family pop group The Duskeys represented Ireland at the 1982 Eurovision Song Contest. Formed after the break-up of Sandy Kelly's (real name Philomena Ellis) touring showband The Fairways, she recruited her sister Barbara Ellis and Welsh cousin Nina Duskey. In 1980, they released their debut single, 'Don't feel like dancing'. In 1981 they competed in the Irish national finals for the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest with the song 'Where does that love come from' under the name The Duskey Sisters. They finished in third place.

A year later, they tried again and recruited a male member in the shape of Nina's brother, Dan Duskey. Their song 'Here today gone tomorrow' won the national finals, and so they competed on the Eurovision stage. They ended up in eleventh place. The song was heavily reworked for its single release and became a hit on the Irish charts, reaching number 12.

My collection: 7" single no. 6030
Found: Record fair, Utrecht, April 13, 2019
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Here today, gone tomorrow' / 'Here today, gone tomorrow (instrumental)'

4 bugg & en coca cola - Lotta Engberg

Lotta Engberg was born on March 5, 1963 and represented her country Sweden in 1987 with the song 'Boogaloo'. The song was originally called '4 bugg & en coca cola', but international advertising rules meant that the name of the song had to be changed. The song was a hit in Sweden and peaked at number 19, and it ended up in twelfth place in Eurovision, in a field of 22 competitors.

She appeared in national finals for Eurovision in 1984, 1988, 1990, 1996, 2002 and 2012, but failed to return to the international Eurovision stage. Together with her husband Anders she formed Lotta & Anders Engbergs orkester in 1989. Lotta left the band five years later to form her own Lotta Engbergs orkester. This band fell apart in 2002. Lotta has also been a successful TV host, presenting Lotta på Liseberg and Bingolotto on Swedish television.

My collection: 7" single no. 6026
Found: Discogs.com, received March 28, 2019
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: '4 bugg & en coca cola' / 'En helt ny dag'