The third and last single drawn from T'pau's third album 'The promise' was a remixed version of 'Soul destruction'. The remix was made by Phil Harding and Ian Curnow, who were famous for their work with producers Stock, Aitken & Waterman.
The single did not chart, and I only found out about its release about a year after the fact. The band released a fourth single, 'Only a heartbeat', in Japan and the USA only. Shortly after this, the band broke up. Such a shame!
My collection: 7" single no. 2194
Found: Big Company records, London, September 29, 1994
'Something's gotten hold of my heart' was written by Roger Greenaway and Roger Cook. It was originally recorded by David and Jonathan. Gene Pitney recorded a more successful version in 1967, peaking at number 5 in the UK singles chart.
The song achieved its greatest success in 1988 when it was covered by Marc Almond. Originally recorded by Almond solo on his 1988 album 'The stars we are', the single version reunited it with its original singer Gene Pitney, their version became a number one single in the UK for four weeks in January 1989. Sales were helped by this limited edition box set which included two postcards, a discography and a badge.
My collection: 7" single no. 719
Found: Free Record Shop, Den Haag, 1989
Cost: 10 guilders
Tracks: 'Something's gotten hold of my heart' (Marc Almond & Gene Pitney) / 'Something's gotten hold of my heart' (Marc Almond)
My sister bought this single back in 1981. I have no idea where she picked this song up, it was probably played on the radio a few times. The single did not chart in Europe. At the time of its release, the Canadian band consisted of Bill Henderson, Brian MacLeod and Ab Bryant.
Taken from the album 'Wanna be a star', the single was a number one hit in Canada and peaked at number 22 in the US Billboard Hot 100.
Freelove was a founding member of the critically acclaimed band Two Nice Girls, formed by Gretchen Phillips, Kathy Korniloff and Laurie Freelove. After releasing their debut on Rough Trade Records, Laurie decided to leave the band and set out to forge a solo career.
She was 'discovered' by Nigel Grainge of Chrysalis/Ensign Records at a music conference in Austin, Texas. Recognizing her potential as a break-through artist, she was signed to the English label within the week, and that year recorded her first solo CD 'Smells like truth'. 'Arms of a dream' was the first single taken from the album, but the single did not chart.
My collection: 7" single no. 2327 Found: June 3, 1995 Cost: 2 guilders Tracks: 'Arms of a dream' / 'O my heart'
'King without a crown' was released as the third single from ABC's 1987 album 'Alphabet city'. It was, in my opinion, also the best of the three single releases from the album. The whole atmosphere of the song, the arrangement and the pure, straightforward pop was a relief compared to the cluttered sound of the previous two singles.
Unfortunately my opinion differered once again from that of the general public. In the UK the single peaked at number 44, in the Netherlands at number 31, making it the worst selling single of the three. After this single, ABC's career once again took a nosedive with ABC's next disastrous album, which ironically was titled 'Up'.
My collection: 7" single no. 752 Found: V&D, Den Haag, February 17, 1989 Cost: 2 guilders Tracks: 'King without a crown' / 'The look of love (live in Boston)'
Released as the second single from Sandra's second album 'Mirrors', 'Hi! Hi! Hi!' was an upbeat track written by Michael Cretu and Hubert Kemmler. The latter was making a name for himself in Germany as Hubert Kah.
Released in the autumn of 1986, the single was a top 20 hit in Austria, France, Israel, Italy and Switzerland.
'Alles geprobeerd' ('Tried everything') was one of my favourite tracks of 1986. Even if you don't understand Dutch, you should be able to appreciate the lengthy musical piece at the second half of this track. At 6 minutes and 22 seconds, this was another long single by het Goede Doel, taken from their album 'Mooi en onverslijtbaar'.
The band usually performed this track with an even longer instrumental piece, which caused the track to last for anything between 10 and 20 minutes.
The song that represented Israel during the 1992 Eurovision Song Contest was about that most useless of all pastimes, 'Viva sport', or 'Ze rak sport' in Hebrew. And because there are a lot of people in Europe who think that this pastime is not useless, the song was rewarded with a sixth place in the ranking. Of course, they are wrong.
The song was performed by Dafna Dekel, who was born on May 7, 1966 in Ashdod, Israel. In 1999, when the Contest was hosted in Israel, she presented the programme together with Yigal Ravid and Sigal Shachmon.
'Dreamboat Annie' was the title track and a recurring theme on Heart's debut album. Originally divided in three parts scattered on the album, the single version was a mixture of all three and did not appear on the album in this form.
The B-side 'Sing child' was taken from the album and foreshadowed the later singles of the band. They would be stuck in a middle of the road rock phase for a couple of years.
All about Eve's success was slowly rising, until this single was released. 'Martha's harbour', a rather uncharacteristic ballad by the band, was their first and last top 10 hit in the UK, peaking at number 10.
On its creation, Julianne Regan commented: 'This song happened by accident when we were recording the first album. It was one of those things when we had the day off and we were sat in this very idyllic setting beneath a willow tree besides a stream by this beautiful residential recording studio and it just came out so naturally. It was a miracle of a little song and its very dear to us because of that, because it was very pure, a really happy accident. Everybody went to the pub and we put it down and by the time they got back Martha's Harbour was committed to tape. Martha's Harbour is a fictitious backdrop for this happening.'
Written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, 'Another you, another me' was the second single taken from Gemini's self-titled debut album. Compared to 'Just like that', this was the weaker track. The single didn't reach the chart in as many countries, either.
The B-side of this single is the album track 'Falling', although in Scandinavia the B-side was another album track 'Slowly'.
My collection: 7" single no. 2965 Found: February 4, 1998 Cost: 2 guilders Tracks: 'Another you, another me' / 'Falling'
There's something strangely 'Can you feel it'-esque about 'Can you feel the force'. Unlike the Jacksons, Real Thing hails from Liverpool, UK. Members Eddie Amoo, Chris Amoo, Dave Smith and Ray Lake debuted in 1976 with 'You to me are everything'.
This single reached number 5 in the UK and number 11 in the Netherlands. It was their last hit in the Netherlands (although a remix of 'You to me are everything' did chart in 1986), but their success continued vigorously in the UK.
My collection: 7" single no. 3008 Found: Geest, Den Haag, 2001
Cost: 1 guilder
Tracks: 'Can you feel the force' / 'Children of the ghetto'
'Don't fall in love', released in 1985, was Toyah Wilcox's last top 40 hit in the UK, peaking at number 22. She'd had a lot of hit singles since 1977, when she started her career as part of a band named Toyah. A year later she married guitarist Robert Fripp.
I bought this single because my sister said she liked the song a lot. Myself, I was more impressed with the colourful and visually striking cover of the single.
My collection: 7" single no. 2368
Found: House of Rhythm, London, July 1, 1995
Cost: 40p
Tracks: 'Don't fall in love' / 'Snow covers the kiss'
Julien Clerc was born as Paul-Alain Clerc on October 4, 1947 in Paris, France. In 1969 he got the leading role in the musical 'Hair'. Since then, he's released a few dozen albums and even more singles. Some of them achieved international fame.
'This melody' was released in the summer of 1976 and rose to number 1 in the Netherlands. I always confuse this song with the previous single 'Venise', which I'm still searching for...
My collection: 7" single no. 2729
Found: September 7, 1996
Cost: 2 guilders
Tracks: 'This melody' / 'Prends ton coeur par la main'
Monsoon formed in 1981 and consisted of singer Sheila Chandra, producer Steve Coe and bass guitarist Martin Smith. They released one album, 'Third eye' in 1983. This album featured a cover of Lennon & McCartney's 'Tomorrow never knows' and their only hit, 'Ever so lonely'.
The song was a track inspired by the sounds of India, like most of the album. The single peaked at number 12 in the UK singles chart. A remix of the track appeared in 1995, but this version did not chart.
My collection: 7" single no. 901
Found: All that music, Leiden, June 23, 1989 Cost: 2 guilders
Tracks: 'Ever so lonely' / 'Sunset over the Ganges'
After Olivia Newton-John achieved world fame with the movie Grease, she picked up her own music career with the 1978 album 'Totally hot'. The single 'A little more love' shot to number 4 in the UK and number 3 in the Netherlands.
While I wasn't so impressed as a child with her Grease tracks, this track really impressed me. The song sounded modern and melodic and has remained a favourite of mine all these years.
New Order wrote and recorded 'True Faith' and '1963' during a 10-day studio session with producer Stephen Hague. The two songs were written as new material for New Order's first singles compilation album, 'Substance 1987'. After the two songs were recorded, the band's US management decided that 'True Faith' was the stronger track and would be released as the new single, with '1963' as the B-side.
As is the case for many New Order songs, the words in the title do not appear anywhere in the lyrics. The song is about Ecstacy. This is more obvious in the original lyrics, which contain the line, 'They're all taking drugs with me', in place of, 'They're afraid of what they see.' The line was changed at the last minute due to pressure from label executives, but the original line is often used when the band performs the song live.
The single peaked at number 4 in the UK, but did not chart in the Netherlands. I mainly remembered it because of the bizarre music video. In it bizarrely costumed dancers leap about, fight and slap each other in time to the music; while a girl in dark green makeup emerges from an upside down boxer's speed bag and signs the lyrics.
Scott Fitzgerald was born as William McPhail in Glasgow, Scotland on April 28, 1948. He represented the UK in the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest with 'Go', written by Julie Forsyth, a former member of singing group Guys & Dolls. Scott lost the contest, by one point, to Switzerland's entry performed by Celine Dion.
'Go' is still the better song of the two: a heartfelt rendition instead of the plastic, cold and emotionless voice of Dion. The Contest juries were once again failing.
After Keane had hit it big with 'Somewhere only we know' in 2004, they had the major task of following the single up with something equally successful. They succeeded: 'Everybody's changing' peaked at number 4 in the UK singles chart while reaching number 18 in the Netherlands.
I had actually sortof stopped buying 7" singles during that year, so when I decided to revitalise my collection last year I had to start finding those old Keane singles. I bought a whole bunch of them from an online dealer. This single was released as a limited numbered edition. This is number 28.
My collection: 7" single no. 3488 Found: eBay, received December 20, 2008 Cost: 3 pounds Tracks: 'Everybody's changing' / 'Fly to me'
The third and last single drawn from T'pau's third album 'The promise' was a remixed version of 'Soul destruction'. The remix was made by Phil Harding and Ian Curnow, who were famous for their work with producers Stock, Aitken & Waterman.
