Turn back the clock - Johnny hates Jazz

When you know that I collect records by Kim Wilde, you would think that I would have bought Johnny hates Jazz's single 'Turn back the clock' at the drop of a hat, since she's singing backing vocals on this track. But the embarrassing truth is: I didn't know this until a few years later! When I did find out, I had to really hunt for this single.

'Turn back the clock' was the title track of Johnny hates Jazz's debut album, released in 1987. The single peaked at number 12 in the UK and number 5 in the Netherlands.

My collection: 7" single no. 1779
Found: Record fair, October 25, 1992
Cost: 3 guilders
Tracks: 'Turn back the clock' / 'Cracking up'

The talk of all the USA - Middle of the road

Remember what Alfred Hitchcock used to say; never give away the clue of a movie. With a song like 'The talk of all the USA' it's just the same. It's because of the clue of this song that it wasn't released in the UK, I suppose. The B-side of this single, 'Samson & Delilah' was a reasonable hit for the band in the UK, peaking at number 26.

Meanwhile, this single, which was released in the Netherlands, gave them a number 1 hit. Could it be because of the lyric? I have to say that the music is very memorable as well.

My collection: 7" single no. 2723

Found: September 2, 1996

Cost: 1 guilders

Tracks: 'The talk of all the USA' / 'Samson & Delilah'

Stay on these roads - A-ha

The first single from A-ha's third album 'Stay on these roads' was the title track. The music of this song was created on a Roland D-50 synthesizer, the sound patch is called 'staccatto heaven'. The wind sound during the instrumental was made on a Roland Juno 60 or Juno 106 synthesizer.

As always, Morten Harket's crystal clear voice sways through this song like there's no tomorrow. The single was a number 1 hit in Norway (of course) and went top 10 everywhere else in Europe. The first single from this album was also the best.

My collection: 7" single no. 601
Found: LP top 100, Den Haag, March 25, 1988
Cost: 6 guilders
Tracks: 'Stay on these roads' / 'Soft rains of April (original mix)'

Ride on time - Black box

Due to the fact that the cover and the label of this single contain no information about this track, it's impossible to determine whether this is the original release of Black Box's 'Ride on time' or a re-release. My guess is that it's the original, since even the track 'Love sensation', on which 'Ride on time' is based is included on the B-side.

'Ride on time' was written and produced by the Italian production team Groove Groove Melody, consisting of DJ Daniel Davoli, programmer Mirko Limoni and musician Valerio Semplici. The team worked with model Catherine Quinol (aka Katrin), who was the face of Black Box. In the video and in live performances she lip-synced to the original vocals.

The song sampled Loleatta Holloway's 1980 disco hit 'Love Sensation' and attracted some controversy for the uncredited use of Holloway's vocals from that song. Holloway's counsel engaged in a press attack on Black Box, successfully securing a settlement that paid the singer an undisclosed sum.

My collection: 7" single no. 2408

Found: Plaatboef, Rotterdam

Cost: 1 guilder

Tracks: 'Ride on time' (Black box) / 'Love sensation' (Loleatta Holloway & Dan Hartman)

Easier said than done - Shakatak

Bill Sharpe, Jackie Rawe, Roger Odell, George Anderson and Keith Winter formed the British jazz-funk band Shakatak in 1980. In 1981, they released their debut album 'Drivin' hard', from which the single 'Easier said than done' was taken. It gave the band their first top 20 hit in the UK, peaking at number 12. The single did almost equally well in the Netherlands, peaking at number 17.

The music of Shakatak is often described as elevator music. Indeed, originally I wasn't impressed by this single at all. After some time I still wanted to have it.

My collection: 7" single no. 1121

Found: December 1, 1989

Cost: 2 guilders

Tracks: 'Easier said than done' / 'Late night flight'

Le dernier qui a parlé... - Amina

Amina Annabi was born on March 5, 1962 in Carthage, Tunisia. She started to forge a career in music in 1978, when she formed a group. After five years of playing in schools all over France, she started to go solo. By that time she got involved with Radio Nova, the leading radio station in Paris for world music. One of the producers of the station was Martin Messonier. He started to work with Amina - a relationship that eventually became romantic as well. Their daughter was born in 1986.

Her debut solo album 'Yalil (Night)' was released in 1990. A year later, she was awarded 'Le prix Piaf' as Best Female Singer of the Year. Also in 1991, Amina represented France in the Eurovision Song Contest with a song of her own, entitled 'Le dernier qui a parlé...'. She tied with the swedish participant Carola for the first place but due to insane EBU rules, the French entry ranked second and the award was given to Sweden. However, this single was the artistic triumph of the two. In the Netherlands, it was also a bigger hit: the single peaked at number 35 in the Dutch Top 40, whereas Carola's single flopped.

My collection: 7" single no. 1442
Found: Melody Maker, Den Haag, May 24, 1991
Cost: 6,5 guilders
Tracks: 'Le dernier qui a parlé...' / 'Neila'

Building a bridge to your heart - Wax

Starting off with the most confusing countdown in pop history, Wax (a duo consisting of Andrew Gold and Graham Gouldman) released 'Building a bridge to your heart' as the first single of their second album 'American English'.

Although the single did not get any further than 12th place in the UK singles chart, it was a number 1 hit in Sweden and the Netherlands. It would also be their last hit in most territories.

My collection: 7" single no. 1024

Found: Record Exchange, London, October 17, 1989

Cost: 1,5 pounds

Tracks: 'Building a bridge to your heart' / 'Heaven in her bed'

Dirty mind - Shakespear's sister

When a band decides to make a remix for a single, they have to think long and hard whether the new version is actually better than the original one. In the case of Shakespear's sister's 'Dirty mind', they didn't think long and hard enough. The 1990 version of 'Dirty mind' takes all the life and soul out of the song and makes it into a lump of sounds that crashes under its own weight.

The record-buying audience duly rewarded this effort: the single only spent one week in the UK singles chart, at number 71. And that was probably because the original version was on the B-side, which is why I bought it.

My collection: 7" single no. 1198
Found: Melody Maker, Den Haag, March 30, 1990
Cost: 6 guilders
Tracks: 'Dirty mind (1990 version)' / 'Dirty mind'

Love is just the great pretender - Animal Nightlife

Animal Nightlife originally released 'Love is just the great pretender' in 1984. When this single did not chart and the follow-up 'Mr. Solitaire' did, the band decided to have the track remixed and released it as 'Love is just the great pretender '85'. This did the trick: the single climbed up the chart and peaked at number 28.

The B-side of this single is an instrumental track that fits into Sade's catalogue seamlessly. Or did I already make that comparison before?

My collection: 7" single no. 2597

Found: Grammofoonwinkel, Utrecht, December 12, 1995

Cost: 2 guilders

Tracks: 'Love is just the great pretender '85' / 'Basic ingredients'

You don't need someone new - The Lotus eaters

Peter Coyle, Jeremy Kelly and Stephen Creese formed the Lotus eaters in 1982 in Liverpool. Although the band is considered to be part of the 'New Romantics' movement from around that time, their music was more folk-oriented than the synthpop of bands like Japan and Spandau Ballet.

'You don't need someone new' became a regularly played single on the local radio where I lived, and so I got to know the band. It was their second single, which peaked at number 53 in the UK singles chart.

My collection: 7" single no. 1288

Found: All that music, Leiden, August 31, 1990

Cost: 2,5 guilders

Tracks: 'You don't need someone new' / 'Two virgins tender'

Super freak - Rick James

When I was 11, 'Super freak' by Rick James was my air guitar favourite. The 1981 hit single was produced and performed by Rick James and features background vocals from Motown labelmates The Temptations, featuring James' uncle Melvin Franklin.

The single reached number 2 in the Dutch Top 40. The song is also well known because it was sampled by MC Hammer in his 1990 hit 'U can't touch this'. That being a hip hop track, it was of course unlistenable.

My collection: 7" single no. 1782
Found: November 7, 1992
Cost: 2 guilders
Tracks: 'Super freak' / 'Super freak (instrumental)'

1979 - The Smashing Pumpkins

Band leader Billy Corgan reportedly worked nonstop after his band's Siamese Dream tour and wrote about 56 songs for the Smashing Pumpkins' 'Mellon Collie and the infinite sadness' album. As the Mellon Collie sessions came to a conclusion, '1979' was just a couple of chord changes and a snippet of a melody without words. When the time came to choose the songs that were to appear on the album, producer Flood said that '1979' was not good enough and wanted to drop it from the record.

This inspired Corgan to finish it in four hours. The next day, Flood heard '1979' once and decided immediately to put it on the album. The song features a sample of Corgan's voice repeated throughout. During recording, Corgan was singing "ooh" as the melody line, so he and Flood decided to record him singing to a tape. The pair electronically manipulated several samples and looped them against a drumbeat. The single was the band's first international big hit, peaking at number 16 in Australia and the UK and number 12 in the US Billboard Hot 100.

My collection: 7" single no. 2834
Found: Record fair, February 8, 1997
Cost: 10 guilders
Tracks: '1979' / 'Bullet with butterfly wings'

Good thing going - Sugar Minott

Sugar Minott was born as Lincoln Barrington Minott on May 25, 1956 in Kingston, Jamaica. He began his singing career in 1969 when he joined the African Brothers, along with Tony Tuff and Derrick Howard. After five years, the group broke up and Sugar Minott started a solo career.

He had several hits in his native Jamaica, until in 1981 'Good thing going', a cover version of a song originally performed by Michael Jackson, was picked up for distribution by RCA and reached number 4 in the UK Singles Chart in March 1981, leading to an album of the same name. Minott never equalled this success again.

My collection: 7" single no. 956

Found: All that music, Leiden, August 10, 1988

Cost: 2 guilders

Tracks: 'Good thing going' (Sugar Minott) / 'Hung up' (Desi Roots)

Elettrochoc - Matia Bazar

Taken from their 1983 album 'Tango', 'Elettrochoc' is probably the most frantic track of Matia Bazar's lengthy career. The operatic vocals of singer Antonella Ruggiero are supported by a high energy synth backing. I was very impressed when I heard this single for the first time, and even to this day it never fails to excite me.

For some time in the Eighties I had a hobby creating remixes out of existing recordings by bands. This single lent itself to this purpose excellently: the instrumental version on the B-side is rather different from the vocal version on the A-side.

My collection: 7" single no. 496

Found: Disco Market, Den Haag, 1986

Cost: 2 guilders

Tracks: 'Elettrochoc' / 'Elettrochoc (instrumental)'

Summer night city - Abba

The recording sessions for 'Summer night city' began in early 1978. Abba's new Polar Music recording studio had opened in May, but had not been ready to use initially, so the primary backing track had been recorded at Metronome Studio. A 43-second ballad-style introduction to the song had been edited out to improve the overall quality, but nothing seemed to work. Allegedly, mixing the single took at least a week, far more than it took to mix any other track in ABBA's recording history. A reluctant Abba decided to release the song as a single in September despite their disappointment with the track as it was.

Although the band was critical of their own song, the record-buying audiences were impressed. The single topped the charts in Finland, Ireland and Sweden and peaked at number 5 in the UK and the Netherlands.

The B-side medley was actually a remix of the original 1975 version that had been issued on the German charity album 'Stars im zeichen eines guten sterns'. It was a medley of the traditional songs 'Pick a bale of cotton', 'On top of old smokey' and 'Midnight special'. The recording is unique because it's the only cover version(s) that Abba have ever recorded in the studio.

My collection: 7" single no. 2299
Found: Record fair, Amsterdam, May 27, 1995
Cost: 2 guilders
Tracks: 'Summer night city' / 'Medley: Pick a bale of cotton/On top of old Smokey/Midnight special'

Forget about you - The Motors

The Motors had their debut live performance at the Marquee Club in March 1977. That same month, they recorded three songs for John Peel's weekly BBC Radio 1 show. By May they had been signed to Virgin Records, appearing in another John Peel session in September of the same year.

Their first single was 'Dancing the night away', which reached number 42 in the UK singles chart. Two big hits followed. In 1978 the band released 'Airport', which proved to be the band's biggest seller. The follow-up, 'Forget about you', was released two months later and reached number 13.

My collection: 7" single no. 1482

Found: Breda, July 3, 1991

Cost: 3 guilders

Tracks: 'Forget about you' / 'Picturama'

Diva lady - The Divine Comedy

Released as the first single from the Divine Comedy's 2006 album 'Victory for the comic muse', 'Diva lady' peaked at number 52 in the UK singles chart. It was released on two different cd-singles as well as this 7" vinyl single, which included a small poster and an exclusive track on the B-side.

The album is unique in the Divine Comedy catalogue - and in the catalogue of most recent popular music - in that Hannon's original aim with the album was to record it entirely in two weeks, with the minimum of overdubbing. As such, almost all of the music on the album - much to the chagrin of the classical players involved on almost every track, and the Divine Comedy band itself - was recorded in live takes.

My collection: 7" single no. 3436

Found: HMV, London, 2006

Cost: 1 pound

Tracks: 'Diva lady' / 'Elaine'

Smokers outside the hospital doors - Editors

'Smokers outside the hospital doors' was released on two different 7" vinyl singles, of which this second one was a limited edition. The cover was shiny metallic and the record was pressed on clear vinyl. The edition was limited to 10,000 numbered copies - this is number 3663. The B-side was different to the other single as well.

I bought this single after I had become hooked to the Editors album 'An end has a start', which I'd bought in the summer of 2008. I still rate it as one of the best albums of the year.

My collection: 7" single no. 3512

Found: Concerto, Amsterdam, December 27, 2008

Cost: 3 euro

Tracks: 'Smokers outside the hospital doors' / 'The picture'

Smokers outside the hospital doors - Editors

Editors recorded their second album 'An end has a start' in Grouse Lodge, Ireland over a two month period beginning in late November 2006. It was released in June 2007 and went straight to number 1 in the UK album charts. The album was preceded by the single 'Smokers outside the hospital doors'. The song was Editors' highest-charting single at number 7.

The single was released on two different 7" vinyl singles. This single contained the track 'Some kind of spark' on the B-side.

My collection: 7" single no. 3511

Found: Concerto, Amsterdam, December 27, 2008

Cost: 3 euro

Tracks: 'Smokers outside the hospital doors' / 'Some kind of spark'

God - Tori Amos

While in the US 'God' was released as the first single from Tori Amos' second album 'Under the pink', in the UK it was the fourth and last single. The single was released as a picture disc 7", plus there was also a 12" single and a cd-single available. All formats came with exclusive remixes, which on the 7" format was the 'acapella vocal & rain mix'.

The song was Amos' response to patriarchy and the repression of women through religion. Lyrically it was heavily confrontational of male-deity headed religions. The single only made number 44 in the UK singles chart, which made it the least successful single from the album.

My collection: 7" single no. 2200

Found: Record fair, 1994

Cost: 10 guilders

Tracks: 'God' / 'God (Acapella vocal & rain mix)'