Ann Christy's 1975 entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, 'Gelukkig zijn', was released in two versions: the original Dutch (Flemish) version, and this English translation. Both singles are considered a rarity, extremely hard to find, and so I was lucky to find both on one day.
Although the original title means 'Being happy', the title 'Could it be happiness' was chosen for this English version.
My collection: 7" single no. 5182 Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, June 9, 2011 Cost: 3 euro Tracks: 'Could it be happiness' / 'This world is full of pain'
Chris Rea released his sixth album 'Wired to the moon' in 1984, keeping up his 'one album per year' tempo without any problem, it seemed. A whopping five singles were drawn from the album, although only the first one, 'I don't know what it is but I love it', reached the UK singles chart.
The title track was the fifth single, and like the previous three, it didn't chart. All this despite the fact that it's actually a lovely sort of lullaby.
My collection: 7" single no. 5171 Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, June 9, 2011 Cost: 1 euro Tracks: 'Wired to the moon' / 'True love'
Ann Christy was born as Christianne Leenaerts on 22 September 1945 in Antwerp, Belgium. She began a singing career with The Adams Orchestra. She later married the drummer, Marc Hoyois. Her first solo recordings met with little success. In 1968 she won the Knokke Cup singing contest.
Her first attempt to represent Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest came in 1970 with the song 'Le temps, le vent'. She also tried the next year with 'Dag vreemde man', which finished second in the national final. A third attempt in 1973, when each of five chosen acts performed two songs, ended in third place for 'Bye Bye'. She finally had success in 1975 when 'Gelukkig zijn' ('Being happy') was chosen to represent Belgium in Stockholm. Christy sung the first half of the song in Dutch and the second half in English, and although the song had been tipped to do well, it ended the evening in a very disappointing 15th place out of 19 entries.
Christy was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 1982, and died on 7 August 1984, aged 38.
My collection: 7" single no. 5181 Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, June 9, 2011 Cost: 3 euro Tracks: 'Gelukkig zijn' / 'Er is zoveel verdriet in de wereld'
'Sad song' was released as the third single from Ellen Foley's debut album 'Night out'. It featured Ellen's trademark voice, which was used to so much effect on Meat Loaf's 'Paradise by the dashboard light'.
Contrary to the previous two singles 'We belong to the night' and 'What's a matter baby', the single was not a commercial success.
My collection: 7" single no. 5173 Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, June 9, 2011 Cost: 1 euro Tracks: 'Sad song' / 'Stupid girl'
'You surround me' was released as the second single from Erasure's fourth studio album 'Wild!'. Upon release, it became Erasure's tenth consecutive Top 20 hit on the UK singles chart, peaking at number 15. It reached number 10 on the Irish singles chart, and number 38 in Germany.
The track, a love song, was written by Erasure members Vince Clarke and Andy Bell and is a heavily-synthesized ballad with a dramatic chorus featuring Bell's falsetto. Clarke has stated that this song was his attempt at writing a James Bond film theme. Also included on the single as a B-side is '91 Steps', an instrumental with complex synthesizer programming and unusual time signature. The track utilizes repeating cycles in which the first seven bars use a 7/4 time signature, followed by one bar in 3/4 time.
My collection: 7" single no. 5132 Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, June 9, 2011 Cost: 1 euro Tracks: 'You surround me' / '91 Steps'
'Nights on Broadway' is a track from the Bee Gees' 1975 album 'Main course'. The second single release from the album, it immediately followed their number one hit "Jive Talkin'". The song introduced Barry Gibb's falsetto voice in the chorus. It was a turning point in Bee Gees style, as they progressed through their disco era writing songs mostly sung in falsetto by Barry. He did not know of his special "talent" until producer Arif Mardin asked someone within the group to try to do some kind of screaming during the main chorus.
'Nights on Broadway' reached number 7 on the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and number 8 in the Dutch Top 40.
My collection: 7" single no. 5136 Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, June 9, 2011 Cost: 2 euro Tracks: 'Nights on Broadway' / 'Edge of the universe'
'Cold love' is the second single from the Donna Summer album The Wanderer. Although the song did not gain as much success as its predecessor, it did receive a Grammy nomination for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance.
Vocally, this song contrasts with the just previous 'The Wanderer' single release - it is very reminiscent of her 1979 'Hot Stuff' - power belt and hard rock approach. Personally, I prefer the B-side, the very intriguing 'Grand illusion'.
My collection: 7" single no. 5166 Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, June 9, 2011 Cost: 1 euro Tracks: 'Cold love' / 'Grand illusion'
Nile Rodgers and Grace Jones produced 'Victor should have been a jazz musician', a track taken from her 1986 album 'Inside story'. As the song title suggests, it saw Jones exploring new musical territories and the spoken opening line even refers to one of the late and greats of jazz: "I went to a Nina Simone concert...". The horns on the track were played by Lenny Pickett, Stan Harrison, Steve Elson, and Mac Gollehon under the collective name The Borneo Horns.
The single reached number 35 in the Dutch Top 40, but failed to chart in other territories.
My collection: 7" single no. 5176 Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, June 9, 2011 Cost: 1 euro Tracks: 'Victor should have been a jazz musician' / 'Crush'
In the autumn of 1989, 'You've got it' was released as the fourth and final single from Simply Red's third album 'A new flame'. The previous three singles had been top 20 hits in the UK, but this single wasn't as successful, peaking at number 46 only.
The B-side of this single features a live acoustic version of their biggest hit, 'Holding back the years', recorded in Australia in August 1989.
My collection: 7" single no. 5174 Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, June 9, 2011 Cost: 2 euro Tracks: 'You've got it' / 'Holding back the years (live acoustic version)'
Pas de Deux (Walter Verdin, Dett Peyskens and Hilde van Roy) were a Belgian band, best known for their participation in the 1983 Eurovision Song Contest, and the controversy surrounding their selection as that year's Belgian representatives. 'Rendez-vous' consisted of just one line of quasi-nonsensical lyric ('Rendez-vous, maar de maat is vol en m'n kop is toe') repeated over a quirky, rhythmic instrumental track while Peyskens and van Roy danced barefoot, and seemed to baffle the conservative audience.
'Rendez-vous' proved unsuccessful, finishing in 18th place of the 20 entries, having received points from only the UK, Spain and Portugal. The single reached the Belgian top 30, but a follow up single, 'Manimeme', went unnoticed and the group soon disbanded. When I bought this single, a search of almost 28 years came to an end. In the shop they told me second hand copies of this single came in every so often, and it was never there for long. It's still very much sought after, apparently.
My collection: 7" single no. 5187 Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, June 9, 2011 Cost: 5 euro Tracks: 'Rendez-vous' / 'Rendez-vous (mix)'
'What kind of fool (Heard all that before)' was written by Kylie Minogue, Mike Stock and Pete Waterman for Minogue's first compilation album 'Greatest Hits' (1992). The song was produced by Stock and Waterman and received a generally positive reception from critics. Released as the first single in the summer of 1992, it became Minogue's 19th top 20 hit in the UK and 15th in Australia.
Kylie admitted in an interview with the Australian Sunday Telegraph in October 2008, that she is no longer fond of the song: 'There's plenty I've cringed about', she says. 'There's one track I really didn't like called 'What Kind of Fool'. But I realised you can run, but you can't hide, so I embraced 'I Should Be So Lucky' and the rest of them.'
My collection: 7" single no. 5153 Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, June 9, 2011 Cost: 2 euro Tracks: 'What kind of fool' / 'Things can only get better'
'Still my heart cries for you' was Kayak's seventh single, a track taken from their 1976 album 'The last encore'.
The love song written by band member Pim Koopman was an atypical single. It has changes in tempo and atmosphere, making it quite inaccessible. As a result, the single failed to chart. Releasing any track from the album as a single seemed to be a desperate move from the record company since the album didn't contain any potential hit, since the band were into making quite intricate arrangements at that point.
My collection: 7" single no. 5130 Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, June 9, 2011 Cost: 1 euro Tracks: 'Still my heart cries for you' / 'Raid your own house'
Hot Chocolate had a string of hits during the Seventies. Of course, not all of their singles made it into the top 10, there were some smaller hits inbetween the big ones. Most of their songs were produced by legendary hitmaker Mickie Most and written by band members Brown and Wilson.
'Cheri babe' was one such smaller hits. Released in November 1974, the single reached number 31 in the UK singles chart.
My collection: 7" single no. 5164 Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, June 9, 2011 Cost: 1 euro Tracks: 'Cheri babe' / 'Sexy lady'
Released in 1968, shortly after Spain's historic Eurovision Song Contest win, Merino Costa released this cover version of Massiel's song 'La la la'. Essentially, it's a cash-in on her success, as this version is not too far removed from the original.
There are various cover versions of 'La la la' around, actually. Which is quite strange since the song was put down by critics and the viewing audiences after it won. Apparently it was still worth cashing in on the song's success...
My collection: 7" single no. 5180 Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, June 9, 2011 Cost: 2 euro Tracks: 'La la la' / 'Teresa mia'
Paul Young made a name for himself crooning old soul hits like 'Wherever I lay my hat' and 'Love of the common people' during the Eighties. When he took on Crowded House's 'Don't dream it's over' on the occasion of the release of his greatest hits album 'From time to time' in 1991 the audience had a much harder time to swallow it.
Still, it was a hit in various territories, albeit just not such a big one. It reached number 20 in the UK singles chart and reached anywhere between number 13 and 71 in European charts. It was a big hit in Norway, where the single reached number 6. Backing vocals on the track were performed by Paul Carrack.
My collection: 7" single no. 5160 Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, June 9, 2011 Cost: 1 euro Tracks: 'Don't dream it's over' / 'I need somebody'
The Bee Gees released 'How can you mend a broken heart' in 1971. Barry and Robin Gibb wrote the song in August 1970, when the Gibb brothers had reconvened following a period of break-up and alienation. They said that they originally offered it to Andy Williams, but ultimately the Bee Gees recorded it themselves and included it on their 1971 album, 'Trafalgar'.
The song was recorded on 28 January 1971 in London. It was released as a single in May 1971 ahead of the album. Although failing to chart in the UK singles chart, the song became the Bee Gees' first number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.
My collection: 7" single no. 5141 Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, June 9, 2011 Cost: 3 euro Tracks: 'How can you mend a broken heart' / 'Country woman'
Peter Gabriel released 'Peter Gabriel plays live' as his fifth album in 1983. The album was originally released as a double album and longplay cassette, with sixteen songs and a running time of over 80 minutes. It was eventually issued as a double CD set, and, in 1985, as a single CD version 'Plays Live – Highlights' with only twelve songs and some significant track time alterations.
This live version of 'Solsbury hill' was lifted from the album for a single release. It was not a hit, but apparently it inspired Sarah McLachlan to record a cover of this song a decade later.
My collection: 7" single no. 5157 Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, June 9, 2011 Cost: 2 euro Tracks: 'Solsbury hill (live)' / 'Kiss of life (live)'
'Do you remember?' was originally a track on Phil Collins's 1990 album 'But Seriously'. Shortly after the release of that album, Collins released 'Serious hits... live!', an album with live versions of his best songs. A live version of 'Do you remember?' was released as a single in the UK and Europe and managed to reach number 57 in the UK singles chart.
The song was written by Collins and produced by Collins and Hugh Padgham. Singer-songwriter Stephen Bishop is a backing vocalist on the track. The B-side features a live version of one of the Eighties' most accomplished love songs, 'Against all odds'.
My collection: 7" single no. 5158 Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, June 9, 2011 Cost: 1 euro Tracks: 'Do you remember (live)' / 'Against all odds (live)'
'One of these nights' is a song written by Don Henley and Glenn Frey and recorded by the Eagles. The title track from their 1975 album, the song became their second single to top the Billboard Hot 100 chart after 'The best of my love'. The single version was shortened from the album version of the song, removing most of the song's intro and most of its fade-out.
According to songwriter Glenn Frey, the song is about putting things off. 'We've all said, 'one of these nights I'm gonna do something - get that girl, make that money, find that house'. We all have our dreams - a vision we hope will come true someday. When that 'someday' will come is up to each of us.'
My collection: 7" single no. 5175 Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, June 9, 2011 Cost: 1 euro Tracks: 'One of these nights' / 'Visions'
'Let the music play' was released by Shannon in 1983. The original version of the record was produced by Mark Liggett and Chris Barbosa. The rhythmic ingenuity of the track included a drum-machine pattern produced by a filtered Roland TR-808.
The single reached number 8 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and reached number 14 in the UK singles chart. Although Shannon never reached the US top 40 again, she had five more hits in the UK. Despite this, she is still regarded as a one hit wonder.
My collection: 7" single no. 5162 Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, June 9, 2011 Cost: 1 euro Tracks: 'Let the music play' / 'Let the music play (dub version)'
Ann Christy's 1975 entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, 'Gelukkig zijn', was released in two versions: the original Dutch (Flemish) version, and this English translation. Both singles are considered a rarity, extremely hard to find, and so I was lucky to find both on one day.
