In an earlier entry on this blog, I already wrote about the 12" version of 'Somebody (Hey girl)' by Video. Though I bought the 12" single this year, I bought the 7" single in 1993. It features, of course, the single version of the track, and a different instrumental version than the one on the 12" single. And so, here it is...
After many uptempo and midtempo singles, 'Victims' was Culture Club's first proper ballad, released as a single in late 1983. The single reached number 3 in the UK singles chart, and only number 16 in the Dutch Top 40.
Nina was born as Ana Maria Agusti Flores in Barcelona on October 1, 1966. Her music career started in the Eighties in bands like Costa Brava and Xavier Cugat. In 1989 she represented her country Spain with this song, 'Nacida para amar' ('Born to love'), a beautiful ballad composed by Juan Carlos Calderón. That same year, she released her debut solo album 'Una mujer como yo'.
Dingetje is the alias of Frank Paardekoper. His career in music started in 1977 with a parody of 'Cokane in my brain' (Dillinger), entitled 'Ik ga weg Leen' ('I'm going away Leen'). Four years later he recorded 'Houtochdiekop', a parody of Joe Dolce's 'Shaddap your face'.
After Foreigner had a lot of success in 1984 and 1985 with their album 'Agent Provocateur' and the singles 'I want to know what love is' and 'That was yesterday', record company Atlantic released a remixed version of their earlier song 'Cold as ice' in the UK. It seemed like a great move: the original version had become a classic and a remix would probably do just as well almost a decade after the song's original release. There was even a double single release, with a second disc including two live tracks.
The Dutch band Gruppo Sportivo formed in 1976. The original line-up consited of Hans Vandenburg, Peter Calicher, Max Mollinger, Eric Wehrmeyer, José van Iersel and Meike Touw. According to frontman Vandenburg: 'We picked our name because we saw it on a poster and liked the sound... and we are a sort of team. We write in English because no one else outside Holland speaks Dutch and we want our songs to be heard and listened to everywhere.'
'I can't help myself' is the debut single of the Australian synthpop/rock band Flowers. It was released in May 1980. The debut album was called 'Icehouse', which later became the band name. In the UK, the single was released in October 1981 under that new band name. The single did not chart outside of Australia.
Nick Lowe reached number 7 in the UK singles chart with 'I love the sound of breaking glass'. It was his first solo hit single, after having been a member of bands like Brinsley Schwarz and Rockpile.
Tears for Fears released 'Pale Shelter' as a single three times. The first edition - this one - was produced by Mike Howlett and was released as the band's second single, after their debut single 'Suffer the children'. Both tracks of this single would appear on the band's debut album 'The hurting', but in re-recorded versions.
With a basic knowledge of English as a child, I thought this song was about taking the subway in London. In reality, of course, the lyric is an indictment of the British policy on arms, referencing the government of the UK's commitment to nuclear weapons, implying a level of acceptance on the part of the general population.
Kees Rietveld was born in Den Haag, Netherlands in 1969. He participated in the Soundmix show in the Netherlands in 1985, and won the contest with his imitation of Stevie Wonder. After this television debut, he scored a Dutch top 10 hit as Georgie Davis with 'Blackstar', a very Wonderesque-sounding track.
The Norwegian band Fra Lippo Lippi had a European hit with 'Shouldn't have to be like that' in 1986. It would be their only hit, because subsequent singles were hits in countries like Norway and the Phillipines only. In the Phillipines the band still has a great fan following to this day.
Another single by Fay Lovski, and another one that didn't become a hit. It was a popular song on radio and television, probably because of its upbeat sixties-style production. The song was taken from the album 'Confetti', an album I've been looking for since the late Eighties, mostly because of the track 'He don't love me anymore', a beautiful ballad that was not released as a single, unfortunately.
The band that found fame as Wang Chung originally started in 1980 as Huang Chung. Jeremy Ryder, Nick Feldman and Darren Costin chose this name as it refers to the standardized bass pitch of ancient China. The literal translation means 'yellow bell', the band summarized the definition as 'perfect pitch'.
I'm glad to say I got into Propaganda before they took over the charts in Europe with their second single 'Duel'. 'Dr. Mabuse' peaked at number 27 in the UK singles chart and number 7 in Germany in 1984, but elsewhere the single failed to chart.
Today is the 40th anniversary of Lenny Kuhr winning the Eurovision Song Contest with 'De Troubadour'. The event took place on March 29, 1969 and the 16 participating countries awarded the exact same 18 points to four competitors, causing four countries to win that year. Since there was no tie-break rule in place, Spain's Salome won with 'Vivo Cantando', Lulu from the United Kingdom won with 'Boom bang-a-bang', France's Frida Boccara won with 'Un jour, un enfant' and Lenny Kuhr won for the Netherlands.
Before Johnny hates Jazz signed to Virgin records and released the debut album that yielded these hits, they recorded their debut single on RAK records, the label owned by the father of band member Calvin Hayes: Mickie Most. This single did not chart, but the track would end up on their debut album anyway.Sounds familiar? Well, true, because I wrote about the 12" single of 'Me and my foolish heart' a while ago. The 7" single is in my collection as well. It's got less tracks and a different sleeve.
My collection: 7" single no. 2097
Found: Record fair, Amsterdam, April 16, 1994
Cost: 1 guilder
Tracks: 'Me and my foolish heart' / 'Living in the past'
Download: here
After Joelle Ursull participated in the Eurovision Song Contest with 'White and black blues', my friend Puck suddenly bought this cd-single by her. I didn't know the song 'Miyel', but it turned out to be an earlier track by her, taken from her debut album of the same name, released in 1988. The cd-single contained four mixes of the track, and I had to admit that it was a nice song. Not outstanding, but nice.
In 1987 T'pau became one of my favourite bands. I had all their singles, bought the album, and waited anxiously for album number 2. When their new single 'Secret garden' came out, I couldn't wait to buy it, and so I didn't. It turned out to be a disappointment: I didn't like the harsh rock sound of the A-side, and the B-side sounded just as messy and loud.
When Jason Donovan hit the charts in 1989 with 'Sealed with a kiss', I immediately recognised a beautiful song - but with a terrible singer. I was relieved when I found out that it was actually a cover version and older versions existed.
