'Set me free' was the first single taken from Jaki Graham's second album 'Breaking away'. It is one of her better known songs, having reached number 7 in the UK singles chart and number 11 in the Dutch Top 40.
The idea for 'The wild boys' came from Duran Duran's video director Russell Mulcahy, who wanted to make a full-length feature film based on the 1971 novel 'The wild boys: a book of the dead' by William S. Burroughs. He suggested that the band might create a modern soundtrack for the film. Singer Simon Le Bon began writing some lyrics based on Mulcahy's quick synopsis of the book, and the band created a harsh-sounding instrumental backdrop for them.
'Wonderland' was the first single taken from Paul Young's third solo album 'Between two fires'. The song was written by Betsy Cook, who would record the track herself a few years later. That single has been in my collection for years now, so I decided to add this cover version as well.
Last month,Wess Johnson, one half of the duo Wess & Dori Ghezzi passed away. Wess and Dori were a very successful duo in Italy. They represented their country during the 1975 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place in Stockholm after Abba's historic victory the year before.
Level 42 released their third album 'The pursuit of accidents' in 1982. The first single from the album was 'Are you hearing (what I hear)?'. The song had a bouncy quality that the band would become famous for later on in their career.
All I can say is that my Spanish wasn't very good when I was eight years old. I always thought that 'Que sera mi vida' meant 'How are you, I'm okay', but it actually means 'How would my life be'. Oh well, lessons learned.
In the UK, 'Angeleyes' and 'Voulez-vous' were released as a double A side, because the record company believed 'Angeleyes' would appeal more to the record buying public than 'Voulez-vous', which was released as the A-side track in most other countries. They were not wrong: the single peaked at number 3 in the UK singles chart.
'How are you' was released as the first single from the Kinks' 1986 album 'Think visual'. The title track from that album was an attack on the very MTV video culture the band seemed to be enjoying so much during the earlier part of the decade.
After their debut album was very successful, with four hit singles lifted off it, Go West's second album 'Dancing on the couch' paled in comparison. The first two singles 'True colours' and 'I want to hear it from you' landed just outside the UK top 40, and the singles 'Don't look down - The sequel' and 'From Baltimore to Paris' didn't chart at all.
Long before Aerosmith became The Most Irritating Band On Earth, they debuted in 1973 with 'Dream on'. The power ballad written by band leader Steven Tyler became their first major hit, reaching number 59 in the US chart. It was re-released in 1976 when it reached number 6.
Peter Tosh was born as Winston Hubert McIntosh on October 18, 1944. He became a core member of The Wailers, Bob Marley's backing band. In 1976 he launched a solo career with the debut solo album 'Legalize it'.
'James Cagney', a song named after the actor of the same name, was taken from Nik Kershaw's 1986 album 'Radio Musicola', and released as a single in Germany only in early 1987. The single did not chart.
'Don't let the sun go down on me' was originally a hit for Elton John in 1974. The single peaked at number 16 in the UK singles chart. However, it was this live version, performed together with George Michael, that made the song even more popular.
'Something's jumpin' in your shirt' was the second single taken from Malcolm McLaren's 1989 album 'Waltz darling'. The song comes with a peculiar lyric, which I'm sure is about tits. And I'm not sure there are that many hit singles about that particular subject (Well, excluding the whole hiphop genre, of course - I'm talking about music here).
The Italian promo single is a strange phenomenon. There are several in my collection, and without exception they are white label promos, released in a custom white sleeve, with two A-side tracks from different artists on them. In this case: 'Don't give up' by Peter Gabriel and 'In too deep' by Genesis.
'This is your land' was released as the second single from the Simple Minds' 1989 album 'Street fighting years' in April 1989. The song was written and composed by the band and features Lou Reed as guest vocalist.
With less folk influences, a clear rhythm and intelligable lyrics, 'Closer to your heart' was widely considered to be Clannad's first 'pop' single. The single was taken from the band's 1985 album 'Macalla'.
'So sorry, I said' was the third single release from Liza Minelli's 1989 'Results' album, which was produced by the Pet Shop Boys. The single was released in a limited edition gatefold sleeve featuring a photograph of Liza with the Pet Shop Boys.
'I get lonely' was released as the third single from Janet Jackson's sixth studio album 'The velvet rope' (1997) in February 1998. The single version featured extra material by Blackstreet, an American R&B group who apparently specialises in mumbling through other people's good songs in an incoherent manner.
I don't often write about my LP's on this blog, unless it's a rare or very interesting one. And here's a good example. Talk Talk's 'It's my mix' was released in Canada and Italy only (this is the Italian pressing) and contains six extended remixes of Talk Talk tracks. It also features a giant size poster of the photograph on the sleeve.
'She kissed me' was the third single taken from Terence Trent d'Arby's third album 'Symphony or damn'. It was a more rock-oriented track than any of his previous singles. The B-side features a rather bad remix of the album's first single 'Do you love me like you say'.
Japan performed live for the last time in the UK during a six night stint at London's Hammersmith Odeon in November 1982. These performances, which were sold out, were recorded in order to put together the live album 'Oil on canvas'.
One month ago today, Chas and Dave announced their split. Dave Peacock decided to retire from the music business after the death of his wife Sue in July. Chas Hodges will continue to perform live as Chas and his band - honouring touring commitments the duo had already made.
Sandra came full circle when she released a remix of her first international hit 'Maria Magdalena' in 1993. The remix of 'Maria Magdalena' remained uncredited, and was made to promote the greatest hits collection '18 Greatest hits', which was released in October 1992.
'99.9F°' was the title track of Suzanne Vega's 1992 album, which was subsequently released as a single as the album's second single. My copy of the single comes from the music library of Capital radio, as the large sticker on the front clearly indicates.
These days, Ozzy Osbourne is an old, mumbling idiot who prostitutes himself for the entertainment of people who watch corny shows on MTV, but back in 1968 he formed the rock band Black Sabbath with Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward.
'Jealousy' was originally written by the Pet Shop Boys in 1982. It was finally recorded for their 1990 album 'Behaviour'. It was released as a single in 1991, in a slightly altered version: the outro which was originally recorded with a sampler-based orchestra, was re-recorded with a real orchestra. This dramatically increased the quality of the track, of course. In the track, Neil Tennant recites a quote from William Shakespeare's Othello: 'Not poppy, nor mandragora /Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world / Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep / Which thou owedst yesterday.'
The artwork department must have been happy when 'Dumb waiters' by the Korgis was released as a single. They didn't even bother to design a new sleeve: the single sleeve was identical to the album sleeve - as the album was also called 'Dumb waiters' anyway.
'Cold cold heart' was a new track recorded for Wet Wet Wet's first Greatest Hits album, 'End of part one' (1993). It was produced by Nile Rodgers of Chic fame.
Jerney Kaagman, Bert Ruiter, Ton Scherpenzeel, Age Kat, Ab Tamboer and Jons Pistoor got together in 1989 and reunited as Earth & Fire. The group had been inactive for five years, but decided to record a new album together and see if they could recapture the amount of success they'd had throughout the Seventies and early Eighties.
'Hello (Turn your radio on)' was written by Marcella Detroit, Manu Guiot and Siobhan Fahey. The latter commented: 'Hello is the furthest I've come as a writer, because it's intense and emotional and it sounds like it could have been done by a man'.
Like most Sepultura songs, 'Roots bloody roots' is thought to be another protest song. The most common meaning that fans come up with is that everyone needs to preserve their own roots, and not modernize, forget or feel shame for them. This is shown in the lyrics We don't need to change, our ways to be saved.
Here's another good Dutch song from the Eighties. Yes, the combination 'good' and 'Dutch' is a rare one in my book, but in the first half of the Eighties it seemed to happen more often than ever. 'Vroeg of laat' ('Sooner or later') is a combination of great synths, a nice drum rhythm, beautiful vocals and a rather accomplished guitar solo at the end. As a bonus, the B-side is an upbeat song in which an atheist ensures us that life is great after we die.
A colleague of my sister went to London in December 1992. These were strange times: international mail order was still in its infancy, while 7" singles became increasingly rare in the Netherlands. So I took it as an opportunity to have the latest Sade single brought to me. It was bought and I paid back the amount via my sister. That's how I got 'Feel no pain', a single I actually didn't see very often during record fairs and the like after that.
'Circle in the sand' was written by Rick Nowels and Ellen Shipley, who wrote many of Belinda Carlisle's hit singles in the late Eighties and early Nineties. The track was released as the third single from Belinda's1988 album 'Heaven on earth'.
'Hello again' was the fourth single taken from the Cars' 1984 album 'Heartbeat city'. The single was notable for its music video, which was directed by Andy Warhol, who also appeared in the video.
Don Henley recorded 'New York minute' for his 1989 album 'The end of the innocence'. It was released as the album's second single and reached number 48 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Despite the somewhat dodgy lyrics, I always considered this single by the Dutch band Time bandits to be an epic piece of work. It's got something to do with the subtle intro and the thundering drums, building to a climax that sadly ends in a fade-out. I've spent many moments in 1983, when this single was released, trying to imagine how this song would be like if there were an extended version of it.
'Three babies' was the third single taken from Sinéad O'Connor's second album 'I do not want what I haven't got'. In the UK, this single was released in a limited edition poster sleeve, which fortunately I got to buy while I was in London.
Fish, Nik Kershaw, Cliff Richard, Dave Stewart, Holly Johnson, Robin Gibb, Kim Wilde and many others contributed their voices and music to the Anti-Heroin Project in 1986. It was one of many charity projects in music that took place in the mid-Eighties, following the lead of Band Aid and Live Aid.
Dutch readers of this blog are not likely to miss the fact that the photo on this sleeve was made in Amsterdam, at the Kadijksplein to be exact. This was not the reason for me buying this single, but I think I saw the song once on television not long before I bought it. (By that time, I'd already given up on radio.)
While working on the follow up to 'Into the gap', Thompson Twins band member Tom Bailey suffered a nervous breakdown. Nile Rodgers was subsequently called in to help finish the album 'Here's to future days', which was released in September 1985.
Bob Marley wrote and recorded 'Iron lion zion' in April 1973 or 1974. It was released posthumously in May 1992 on the box set 'Songs of freedom'. It reached number 5 in the UK singles chart and number 4 in the Dutch Top 40 when the track was released as a single.
I recently saw a video of Whitney Houston on the UK television programme 'X Factor'. Her new song was quite horrible, she almost lost the top of her dress and she looked quite lost on stage, like she hasn't quite kicked her drug habit yet.
Released in February 1985 as their fourth single, Matt Bianco's 'More than I can bear' was not their biggest hit but perhaps their artistically most accomplished song. The song appeared on their debut album 'Whose side are you on' (1984) and was remixed for the single.
'The world is stone' was originally written in 1978 for the Starmania musical as 'Le monde est stone', a French song by Michel Berger and Luc Plamondon. The song was adapted to English by Tim Rice.
Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb, a.k.a. the Bee Gees wrote 'If I can't have you' in 1976. They intended to record it as a track on their follow-up of the 1976 Bee Gees album 'Children of the world', but when they became involved in the soundtrack of the movie 'Saturday night fever', they gave the song to Yvonne Elliman to record it.
Although they released several singles between 1976 and 1982, 'Il veliero' was only the second hit for the Chaplin band. Like their debut single 'Let's have a party' in 1977, this single reached number 24 in the Dutch Top 40. I've also got the 12" single, but this is the single version of that track.
