'Rainbow lake' was released as the second single from Wendy & Lisa's third album 'Eroica'. Released in November 1990, it was their last chart hit in the UK, although it only reached number 70 during the one week it charted.
Seal released 'Violet' as the fifth and last single from his self-titled debut album. It featured acoustic versions of tracks from the album, with all the royalties from the single donated to charity. Unfortunately, the single was not the biggest success from the album: it reached number 39 in the UK singles chart.
'Sister of mercy' was the fourth single taken from the Thompson Twins' hugely successful 1984 album 'Into the gap'. The single version was different from the album version, in that it started out as a ballad. The B-side was a megamix of wellknown Thompson Twins tracks, such as 'We are detective', 'Into the gap' and 'Hold me now'.
'When the snow falls' was originally Ten Sharp's debut single back in 1985. The single did not chart, and since subsequent singles were not a big success either, the band broke up in 1987. When they returned in 1991 with the single 'You', they had a European hit on their hands. The album 'Under the water-line' consisted of nine new tracks, but also a version of 'When the snow falls'.
I cited the words 'I could be your friend, I could be your slave, I could be anything you want me to / But please, don't be aggressive' to a friend back in 1992, when she wanted to hit me because I was pulling her hair again. The words stuck in my mind, and subsequently I bought the single just after it had failed to reach the Dutch Top 40.
Whenever I play this song, I'm very curious what drove the record company to release this as a single. The quirky song with its strange title was not exactly chart material and anyone with one ear could easily admit that. After the commercial failure of 'This side of love', this single was sure not to improve matters much.
Technotronic finally managed to create one track which did not include rapping. The singing on this track was still pretty substandard, but at least it was a kindof decent tune. The lyric is another poetic masterpiece: 'Rockin' over the beat / Rollin' over the melody'.
Roland Orzabal surprised many when he returned in 1993 on his own under the Tears for Fears band name. Curt Smith had left the group and the album 'Elemental' was created without him. The song 'Fish out of water' on the album was apparently about Curt Smith. Roland has often referred to this song as his 'How Do You Sleep', in reference to the scathing song John Lennon wrote about former bandmate Paul McCartney. Curt released a formal response to this tune four years later, in the song 'Sun King' from his album 'Mayfield'.
'Radio Musicola' is the title track from Nik Kershaw's third album. Both the album and the single were released in 1986 by MCA Records. The album deals with subjects of integrity, media skepticism (particularly towards tabloid journalism), privacy, insecurity and mass produced run-of-the-mill pop.
I still remember vividly the first time I heard 'Belfast child' by the Simple Minds. It was a Saturday evening and I had a splitting headache. I'd taken a few pills to combat this, and started playing some music. As always, I'd borrowed the new cd-singles my sister had bought, and this was one of them. I was listening to this new track with a lot of attention and was very impressed with the buildup and climax near the end of the track. When the song was over, my headache was gone.
Newgrange (Irish: Sí an Bhrú) is a passage tomb of the Brú na Bóinne complex in County Louth. It was originally built between c. 5500 and 2900 BC. It is one of the most famous prehistoric sites in the world, and indeed the most famous of all Irish prehistoric sites.
Taken from their debut album of the same name, 'Adolescent sex' was the first hit for Japan, reaching number 27 in the Netherlands and number 20 in Japan. The single did not chart in the UK, where it was not played on the radio because of the title.
Released in October 1987, 'Fight fire with fire' was the last single by Mai Tai to reach the Dutch Top 40. It reached number 31 during a four week chart run. The single was taken from their 1987 album 'Cool is the rule'.
The new single by Madonna notwithstanding, the most famous song called 'Celebration' was originally released in 1980 by Kool & the Gang, a number 1 hit in America for the band. Kylie Minogue, who cited the song as one of her alltime favourite songs, recorded for her fourth studio album 'Let's get to it' in 1991, but it was not included.
'Sounds like a melody' was the second single taken from Alphaville's debut album 'Forever young'. Released in May 1984, the single reached the top 10 all over Europe, including a number 6 position in the Dutch Top 40 and number 3 in Germany and Austria.
Not content with having a European hit with 'Nur geträumt', the German band Nena recorded the track in an English version entitled 'Just a dream'. This English version was the follow-up to '99 red balloons', the English version of her hit '99 Luftballons' which reached number 1 in the UK.
'Just a shadow' was the third and last single released from Big Country's third album 'Steeltown'. Like the two before, the single was only a significant success in the UK. The single peaked at number 26 in the UK singles chart in January 1985.
Time for some dodgy Nineties music now. Timmy T was born as Timmy Torres in Fresno, California on September 21, 1967. He released his biggest hit 'One more try' in 1991. The song was written and performed by Timmy himself. The inspiration for the lyric was the breakup with a girlfriend.
Contrary to public belief, Roxette did not debut with the single 'The look', which gave them worldwide fame. Instead, this single, 'Neverending love' was the start of their career together. Per Gessle had been a member of Gyllene Tider, a Swedish pop group, and Marie Fredriksson had a successful solo career in Sweden.
'Don't drop bombs' was released as the second single from Liza Minelli's 1989 album 'Results'. Like the album, the single was produced by the Pet Shop Boys and Julian Mendelssohn. The track was written by the Pet Shop Boys and featured background vocals by Tessa Niles.
