Back in 2004, I bought a copy of 'Bette Davis eyes', a great hit from 1981. And more recently, I bought an Italian promo featuring Kate Bush's 'Sat in your lap' and 'Bette Davis eyes' by Kim Carnes. Two copies on vinyl would be enough for most people - but I just couldn't resist this Japanese version of the single.
In recent years, Carnes has written songs such as 'It's a mighty hand' with Greg Barnhill on a 2006 film, 'Chances: The Women of Magdalene', 'Enough' with Dana Cooper on his 2010 album, 'The Conjurer', for which she also provided backing vocals. Carnes also co-wrote 'Live to tell' with Jamie Appleby, Marv Green and Alyssa Reid on Reid's 2011 album, 'The Game'.
My collection: 7" single no. 6199 Found: Record fair, Utrecht, November 17, 2019 Cost: 2 euro Tracks: 'Bette Davis eyes' / 'Miss you tonite'
The unlikely pairing of Kate Bush and Kim Carnes is something that can only happen in Italy. For years they released promotional 7" singles with two (potential) hits on them. I recently acquired quite a few of them.
Whether these singles became a hit in Italy is unknown: although the web offers mountains of information, I have yet to find a good source for Italian singles charts data from the past. Suggestions welcome in the comments, of course...
My collection: 7" single no. 6108 Found: Record fair, Den Haag, June 1, 2019 Cost: 5 euro Tracks: 'Sat in your lap' (Kate Bush) / 'Bette Davis eyes' (Kim Carnes)
Kim Carnes released her seventh album 'Voyeur' in 1982. The title track was released as a single ahead of he release of the album, but it failed to live up to record company expectations, especially after the big success of her 1981 hit 'Bette Davis Eyes'.
Although the single reached number 10 in Sweden, it only managed to get to number 68 in the UK singles chart and number 29 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.
My collection: 7" single no. 4534 Found: Any old time, Amsterdam, January 30, 2010 Cost: 0,1 euro Tracks: 'Voyeur' / 'Thrill of the grill'
Kim Carnes released her sixth album 'Café Racers' in 1983. While internationally the first single from that album was 'Invisible hands', the Netherlands saw the release of 'The universal song', an uncharacteristically slow song from the American pop singer.
The single peaked at number 29 in the Dutch Top 40 in February 1984. I recorded the song from the radio and found the single a couple of years later.
My collection: 7" single no. 831 Found: Disco Market, Den Haag, May 20, 1989 Cost: 1 guilders Tracks: 'The universal song' / 'Invisible hands'
The thing I like most about my record collection is that I've got some singles from strange countries. And this one is from a country that doesn't even exist anymore: the German Democratic Republic, otherwise known as East Germany. There have been some fascinating documentaries about life in that country recently, but there's not so much information about the state record company Amiga.
Which is why this EP is pretty hard to find background information on. It contains cover versions of four hits from the year 1981. 'Bette Davis Eyes', originally by Kim Carnes, Kim Wilde's 'Chequered love', 'Hands up' , originally by Ottawan and Abba's well-known song 'Lay all your love on me'. I bought this EP when I saw it because of the cover of 'Chequered love'. Interestingly, Petra Zieger is still in the music business these days as a singer of German Schlagers. That's a long way from this 'painting by numbers' cover of 'Chequered love'.
The quality of the vinyl leaves a bit to be desired, but the tracks are incredibly rare.
My collection: 7" single no. 2925
Found: Record fair, Rotterdam, December 13, 1997
Cost: 5 guilders
Tracks: 'Bette Davis Eyes' (Familie Silly), 'Chequered love' (Petra Zieger) / 'Hands up' (Cantus Chor), 'Lay all your love on me' (Cantus Chor)
In the Netherlands and most of Europe, Kim Carnes is a one hit wonder. She still released a stack of albums, so I guess she did better in her home country, America. But the one hit I'm talking about, is 'Bette Davis Eyes'. It reached no. 16 in the Dutch top 40 in the summer of 1981. In the UK it fared even better and reached no. 10.
I never bought this single until recently. Back in 1981 the song was played on the radio too often, I didn't need the record to play the song in my head. But it's a great slice of pop that belongs in my collection.
