'Breakaway' was the second and last single from Kim Appleby's second album of the same name, both released in 1993. The single reached number 56 in the UK singles chart, the lowest charting single of her entire career.
Ex-Thin Lizzy frontman Philip Lynnott recorded the song 'Old town' on his 1982 self-titled solo album. The song was written about the breakup of two lovers. It features a great piano solo by Darren Wharton. Unbelievably, this single did not chart in any territory.
This single from 1982 features an early version of the track 'Because you're young' by the then-unknown group Private Lives. The sleeve only added to the mystery: there was no photograph of its members anywhere. A listing of names on the back of the sleeve reveals that Private Lives consisted of John Adams, Steve Harvey, Brother James, Rick Lane, John Reid and Bobby Valentino. Session musicians Paul Harvey and Gary Barnacle appeared on this track as well.
Entitled the Future Love EP, this 7" single actually is not an EP, as EP's usually feature more than two tracks. Apparently the UK version of this single did feature three tracks, but as always, European buyers were ripped off.
'Alone' was composed by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly. It was first recorded in 1983 by Steinberg and Kelly's pet project, I-Ten, on the album 'Taking a cold look'. Heart recorded it in 1987 on their album 'Bad animals'. It was released as the first single from that album. It became their biggest hit, spending three weeks at number 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and reaching number 3 in the UK singles chart.
George Michael wrote the song 'Freedom '90' almost as a small autobiography. It described his fame and fortune in the early days with Wham!. The song was initially perceived to be describing Michael's effort to break free from his publishing contract with Sony Music. However, as Michael's sexuality came to light a few years later, the song became equally recognized as a one that describes the struggles of being a homosexual in the closet. The ''90' added to the end of the title is to prevent confusion with a Wham! song also titled 'Freedom'.
Herbie Hancock's 'Rockit' is one of many instrumental tracks released as a single in the Eighties. It stood out because of the groundbreaking music video directed by Godley & Creme, featuring robot-like sculptures by Jim Whiting moving in time to the music in a seemingly perpetuum mobile.
In 1980, CBS Records released the 'NU Disk' series of records on the Epic label. While they were similar to EP's, since both formats contained more than two tracks. EPs were usually on 7″ vinyl, and played at 45rpm. NU Disks were on 10″ vinyl, and they played at 33 1/3 rpm! For the most part, NU Disks were by New Wave synth-pop bands.
Bill Kelly, Fran Brozena, Jerry Hludzik, Carl Siracuse, Chris Hanlon and Sally Rosoff formed the Buoys in the early Seventies. The band was based in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Songwriter Rupert Holmes wrote their first hit 'Timothy' in 1971 and selected the Buoys to record this song himself.
'I drove all night' was written by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly for Roy Orbison. He first recorded the song in 1987, but it was only released in 1992, after it was a top 10 hit for Cyndi Lauper in 1989.
I'm glad to say that my collection of Sade singles also contains some rarities. Some of them have already been featured on this blog - and here's another one. 'Never as good as the first time' was the third single from Sade's second album 'Promise' and while it was re-recorded for the single release, this Spanish promo contains the album version of the track.
After having been in the band Blondie for years, Debbie Harry recorded her first solo album 'Kookoo' in 1981. The band then regrouped briefly, before disbanding in 1983. Six years later, Harry released her second solo album 'Def dumb and blonde'.
Nena released the original version of 'Irgendwie, irgendwo, irgendwann' in 1984. It was the first single from their 1985 album 'Feuer und Flamme', released a year later. After two previous singles failed to reach the German top 10, this one shot up to number 3, shuffling the band right back into the limelight again.
'Drag me down' was a single by the Boomtown rats, released in 1984, shortly before lead singer Bob Geldof became a charity celebrity, writing 'Do they know it's Christmas' for Band Aid and organising Live Aid a year later.
'Dreamers' is a David Soul single from 1981. The track was taken from his album 'The best days of my life', although, it has to be said, those days were already a few years behind him. He performed one of the title roles of the television series 'Starsky & Hutch' between 1975 and 1979, and his biggest hits 'Don't give up on us' and 'Going in with my eyes open' charted in 1976 and 1977 respectively.
'Without you' was a single by Chaz Jankel released in 1982. I never heard the track back then, which is not surprising since it didn't chart. Still, it is quite a great song, in the mould of other Chaz Jankel tracks. As an added bonus, the B-side is a dub version of his earlier single 'Questionnaire'.
I thought I couldn't go wrong with a Bee Gees single when I bought this despite the fact that I didn't know the song. But I was wrong. The Gibb brothers don't sound particularly inspired on this single, 'Secret love'. It is taken from their 1991 album 'High civilization', which is not usually recognised as an artistic high in their career.
After two German-language singles, Gilla recorded the singles 'Do you want to sleep with me' and 'Tu es' in 1975. The third and last single of that year by Gilla was this one, 'Why don't you do it?', a track that sounded not unlike Boney M's 'Do you wanna bump?'. And that is not surprising, since both Gilla and Boney M were produced by Frank Farian.
'Target practice' was the debut single of Belouis Some, released in 1984. The B-side of this single, 'Some people' became a club hit and also the title track of his debut album, released in 1985. Meanwhile, 'Target practice' did not chart in any territory.
'Friends' was the second single from Jody Watley's second album, 'Larger Than Life'. Unfortunately, she decided to collaborate on this track with rappers Eric B & Rakim, who detracted from what could have been an excellent pop track. Their vague mumblings are thrown into the middle of the song, like a garbage truck in a flowerbed.
