Out on the ropes - The Shirts

Nothing could beat the great pop track 'Laugh and walk away' by the Shirts, a single I bought when I was just nine years old. Apparently they released another single from the same album with almost the same sleeve and the same B-side, and it is this one: 'Out on the ropes'. This copy is a so-called 'demo record', as it says on the label. 

Interestingly enough, the band reunited two decades after breaking up in 1981. Since then, they have released two new albums. The last one, 'The Tiger Must Jump' (2010) included a new version of 'Out on the ropes'.

My collection: 7" single no. 6789
Found: Discogs.com, received 14 October 2022
Tracks: 'Out on the ropes' / 'Maybe, maybe not'

Tell me your plans - The Shirts

Annie Golden, Ronald Ardito, Artie La Monica, Robert Racioppo, John Piccolo and John Criscione formed The Shirts in the mid-Seventies. Their debut album 'The Shirts' was recorded in London and released in early 1978. The album became very popular in Europe.

The first single, 'Tell me your plans' reached number 4 in the Netherlands after a chewing gum-gnawing Annie Golden appeared alongside her band in the popular weekly music show Toppop.

My collection: 7" single no. 631
Found: Disco Market, Den Haag, 1987
Cost: 1 guilder
Tracks: 'Tell me your plans' / 'Cyrinda'

Laugh and walk away - The Shirts

I didn't know much about The Shirts. I saw 'Tell me your plans' on TV when it was in the charts, but I thought that the next single 'Laugh and walk away' was much better. It was so aggressive and uptempo, it excited me a lot. It was 1979 and my weekly allowance was not big enough to be able to buy chart singles. There was a record shop around the corner where singles would be 50% cheaper once they fell out of the Top 40. It was January 1980 when I bought this single.

'Laugh and walk away', released on EMI's Harvest label, entered the Dutch Top 40 on November 10, 1979, reached no. 12 and stayed in the chart for seven weeks. Nothing was ever heard from them again.

My collection: 7" single no. 35

Found: Wouters, Den Haag, 1979

Cost: 3 guilders

Tracks: 'Laugh and walk away' / 'Maybe, maybe not'

Download: Laugh and walk away