Da' ya' think I'm sexy - Rod Stewart

These days Rod Stewart has become a bit more jaded, singing songs from the American Songbook and so on, but back in the Seventies, he became this racy, sex-obsessed maniac. Or so it seems. This single illustrates this best, with the big hit 'Da' ya' think I'm sexy' plus the B-side 'Dirty weekend', which delivers exactly what it promises: two songs about sex and being sexy.

The song was released as the first single from Stewart's 1978 album 'Blondes Have More Fun'. It reached number one in the UK and the USA, as well as Canada and Australia. Royalties from the song were donated to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and Stewart performed the song at the Music for UNICEF Concert at the United Nations General Assembly in January 1979.

My collection: 7" single no. 6940
Found: Vinyl & zo, Rijswijk, 15 April 2023
Tracks: 'Da' ya' think I'm sexy' / 'Dirty weekend'

San Salvador - Azoto

From 1980 to 1992 San Salvador was the scene of a bloody civil war between a right-wing government and left-wing guerrilla groups. It makes you wonder why Azoto decided to release an upbeat disco song with the title 'San Salvador'. The song was written by Celso Valli and Julie Scott. The Italian Celso Valli was actually hidden behind the studio group Azoto. He is an Italian composer, conductor and musician. At the beginning of his career, in the late 1970s, he was at the forefront of the Italian disco scene. During the 1980s he produced a large number of songs belonging to the so-called Italo disco. 

Astonishingly, Valli also wrote 'Ti Sento' by Matia Bazar and 'Self Control' by RAF (and later Laura Branigan). After 1985, Valli decided to focus more and more on Italian pop music. Since then, as a songwriter, arranger, keyboardist and/or producer, he has collaborated with many well-known Italian artists, including Andrea Bocelli, Filippa Giordano, Giorgia, Jovanotti, Mina, Laura Pausini, Eros Ramazzotti, Vasco Rossi and Il Volo.

My collection: 7" single no. 6939
Found: Vinyl & zo, Rijswijk, 15 April 2023
Tracks: 'San Salvador' / 'San Salvador (instrumental)'

Ma Baker / Baby do you wanna bump - Boney M

This 'original double hit' single comes from 1982 and features two of the earliest hits of the group Boney M. What's interesting about this release is that the version of 'Baby do you wanna bump' brings together the two parts that appear on the original single as one track. 

The record label Hansa also continues their tradition of putting the wrong track times on the label. 'Ma Baker' is said to last 4 minutes and 10 seconds (and actually lasts for 4 minutes and 33 seconds) and 'Baby do you wanna bump' is listed as 6 minutes and 10 seconds, but in reality adds 43 more seconds. Basically you get more - which is always good, of course.

My collection: 7" single no. 6931
Found: Easter market, Den Haag, 9 April 2023
Tracks: 'Ma Baker' / 'Baby do you wanna bump'

Lover don't go - Princess

'Lover don't go' would turn out to be the last single by Princess, released in 1989. She'd released two albums, but while the first album, recorded with Stock, Aitken & Waterman was a big success, the second album was already less successful. 

In 1989, Princess released the stand-alone single 'Lover Don't Go', which failed to chart. Her brother/manager Don alleged that the single's chart prospects were unfairly halted, after its sales were mysteriously assigned to another artist's record, causing Princess' single to miss the top 100. "On the Tuesday, the track was 108 the chart, but come Thursday, we see nothing. We hear later on it dropped to 365, and they told us that they made an error with the barcode and gave our sales to some other record. That killed the record." Her third album, 'Say It', which was slated for release in 1990, was never issued as Princess retired from the music scene and moved to the US. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6937
Found: Easter market, Den Haag, 9 April 2023
Tracks: 'Lover don't go' / 'Lover don't go (instrumental)'

I'm not in love - Johnny Logan

It's a bit of a mystery why Eurovision legend Johnny Logan never actually succeeded in building a successful career. Although he won the Eurovision Song Contest three times (twice as a performer and once as a writer), his material outside of Eurovision failed to make much of an impression on the buying public. 

In 1987, after winning for the second time with 'Hold me now', he released a cover version of 10CC's 'I'm not in love', but the single would only reach a lowly number 51 in the UK singles chart. I wonder if this limited edition poster sleeve contributed to the appeal, but I can't be sure - I'm not even sure that many people had posters of Johnny on their walls. It's a nice, if not essential, release anyway.

My collection: 7" single no. 6936
Found: Easter market, Den Haag, 9 April 2023
Tracks: 'I'm not in love' / 'Such a lady'

Hot blooded - Foreigner

I think it's hard to resist coloured vinyl singles if there's even a remote chance that I'll like the track. And this single by Foreigner is a good example of my policy. I didn't even know 'Hot blooded' very well but when I spotted this single in an almost-red colour, I decided I had to have it. (It does actually look red in this picture but if I hold up the disc against the light it turns pink-purpleish.) 

Lead singer Lou Gramm said: "We used to work at Mick's apartment and he would just keep playing one guitar riff after another. Just playing whatever came into his mind. When he started playing that riff, I remember saying, “Wait! Stop! What’s that?” Mick said it was just another riff. So, I started singing along to it. We eventually got the idea of what the chorus would be and then started working on the verse lyrics. Once they were put together it naturally led to the “Hot Blooded” verbal line. I remember we were jumping off the walls when we cracked the title of the song." 

My collection: 7" single no. 6934
Found: Easter market, Den Haag, 9 April 2023
Tracks: 'Hot blooded' / 'Tramontane'

Don't tell me lies - Breathe

The single 'Don't tell me lies' which I bought in 1989 was actually a re-release of an earlier version of 'Don't tell me lies'. That earlier version was released on a double 12" single (which I bought in 1995) but somehow I never found the 7" single. 

The big success for Breathe came with the single 'Hands to heaven' and 'How can I fall'. Astonishingly, the band disappeared quite quickly after their debut album, and a second album, 'Peace of mind', dropped like a stone.

My collection: 7" single no. 6933
Found: Easter market, Den Haag, 9 April 2023
Tracks: 'Don't tell me lies' / 'Moments'

Ghosts again - Depeche Mode

Just last month I posted the exclusive Musikexpress single of Depeche Mode's 'Ghosts again' on this blog. The single features one track and an etching of the DM logo on the other side. The (also German) magazine Rolling Stone decided to do a similar thing and include an exclusive Depeche Mode single with their current edition - but this time with a B-side. 'Never let me down again' became very popular recently when it was used in the HBO series The Last of Us - an irritating series for its repeated ads on TV for a channel I don't subscribe to.

And so I end up with two different singles of 'Ghosts again'. I like this song a lot, but the new album 'Memento mori' is a bit lacking in similarly appealing songs, in my humble opinion. But the band has delivered loads of great songs during their 40+ years, so I guess this album is a good enough epitaph - assuming that Dave and Martin won't continue after this one.

My collection: 7" single no. 6924
Found: Mein Presseshop (Germany), received 4 April 2023
Tracks: 'Ghosts again' / 'Never let me down'

Piove - Arturo Testa

Domenico Modugno's 'Piove' has been covered numerous times, especially in the late 1950's and 1960's when this song was wildly popular. Most versions are as dramatic and slow as the original, but Arturo Testa recorded a fast, jazzy version that is far less dramatic - and more appealing I might add. 

This EP presents four songs from the San Remo Song Festival 1959, as the title suggests, but performed by Arturo Testa and Wilma de Angelis, and not the original artists. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6926
Found: Discogs.com, received 5 April 2023
Tracks: 'Piove', 'Io sono il vento' / 'La marcia in fa', 'Li per li'

Come running - Marty Wilde

Although picture sleeves were very rare in the 1960's, I still have this EP of Marty Wilde featuring his January 1962 release 'Come running' with a great picture sleeve. How come? I don't know, but this is a very nice selection of songs and you could almost qualify this as a mini-greatest hits compilation.

Besides 'Come running', this EP also features the theme song of the movie 'The Hellions', in which Marty appeared as an actor as well as providing this song, and 'Tomorrow's clown', which reached number 33 in the UK singles chart. The B-side of the original single of 'Come running', 'Ev'ryone' appears on this EP as well.

My collection: 7" single no. 6925
Found: Discogs.com, received 5 April 2023
Tracks: 'Come running', 'Ev'ryone' / 'The Hellions', 'Tomorrow's clown'

Les mots d'amour n'ont pas de dimanche - Christine Minier

Of all the French entries at the Eurovision Song Contest during the Eighties, 'Les mots d'amour n'ont pas de dimanche' is perhaps the least wellknown - and the song with the longest title. Christine Minier, who performed the song, won the national final while she was working as a hairdresser. The song ended up in 14th place in a field of 22 competitors. 

The single, meanwhile, has become something of a rarity. According to Minier: “The record company guaranted a release only if I finished in the top 5". In the end, the single did get a limited release. As a result, it is rarely offered for sale, even online, and so finding a copy wasn't exactly easy. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6923
Found: Discogs.com, received 1 April 2023
Tracks: 'Les mots d'amour n'ont pas de dimanche' / 'Feu vert'

Laiskotellen - Lasse Mårtenson

Lasse Mårtenson represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1964 with 'Laiskotellen'. The song was composed by Mårtenson and lyrics by Sauvo Puhtila. The song finished seventh in the competition,  organized in Copenhagen, and collected nine points. Finland received three points each from Denmark, Norway and Great Britain. The song thus became, along with Marion Rung's "Tipi-ti", the most successful Finnish Eurovision song up to that point.

My copy of 'Laiskottellen' came without a picture sleeve as was habitual at the time. I received my copy from a Finnish dealer on Discogs, one of very few copies on sale in recent times.

My collection: 7" single no. 6790
Found: Discogs.com, received 15 October 2022
Tracks: 'Laiskotellen' / 'Ehkä kerran'

One more lonely night - Kaija

When I wrote my post about 'Hullu yö' recently, I noticed that my post about another single by Kaija was missing from this blog. I actually think I did write about it, but in the early days of this blog Blogger used to randomly delete posts because of copyright claims. Fortunately they stopped doing this now, because I don't think anyone should stop me from writing about my own records... or should they? 

Anyway, 'One more lonely night' and its B-side 'Una notte folle' are simply the English and Italian versions of 'Hullu yö', which makes this kindof an essential purchase. It's not often that a Finnish artist records an Italian version of their song, in fact it only happened once before, when Lasse Martenson recorded 'Cara domenica', the Italian version of 'Laiskotellen'.

My collection: 7" single no. 3455
Found: eBay, 2008
Tracks: 'One more lonely night' / 'Una notte folle'

Volare - Jane Morgan

Strictly speaking, the lead track of this EP is 'The day the rains came', as it's the first track on the A-side, but it's the second track on that side which I bought this record for: another cover version of Domenico Modugno's 'Volare'. And it's quite an interesting record, too: the label states 'not for sale', which I guess makes it a promotional EP.

Jane Morgan was born in Newton, Massachusetts (USA) on 3 May 1924 and initially found success in France and the UK before achieving recognition in the US, receiving six gold records. Her song 'The day the rains came' reached number one in the UK Singles Chart in early 1959. This EP features her version of 'Volare', sung in Italian and English. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6922
Found: Discogs.com, received 22 March 2023
Tracks: 'The day the rains came', 'Volare' / 'It's all in the game', 'Everybody loves a lover'

L-Imhabba - Helen & Joseph

When Malta started participating in the Eurovision Song Contest in the early 1970's, they insisted on performing in Maltese. This didn't necessarily prove to be a success formula, as these first two entries ended up in last place. Helen & Joseph's 'L-Imhabba' ('Love') was Malta's second unsuccessful attempt after 'Marija L-Maltija'. 

In an effort to make the difficult Maltese language a little more accessible to all the viewers, a word in Italian, Spanish, German and English was included in the chorus: “L-imhabba hi bacio, beso, Küsse / Haz li 'l qalbek tmiss u li jsejhulha "kiss" / L-imhabba hi bewsa helwa zokkor / Li jimbuttawha x-xottejn waqt li jinghalqu l-ghajnejn”. You can see it doesn't really help.

My collection: 7" single no. 6921
Found: Discogs.com, received 22 March 2023
Tracks: 'L-Imhabba' / 'Gonna be a fun day'

A-ba-ni-bi - Grupo Música

The Portuguese Grupo Música released their last single in 1978, featuring covers of 'A-ba-ni-bi', the Israeli winning song of the Eurovision Song Contest that year, originally performed by Izhar Cohen, and 'Det blir alltid värre framåt natten', the Swedish entry originally performed by Björn Skifs. 

Grupo Música remains as anonymous as the sleeve of this single looks, and after 1978 no futher singles were released. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6920
Found: Discogs.com, received 21 March 2023
Tracks: 'A-ba-ni-bi' / 'Quando a noite vem'

A ave e a infancia - Grupo Música

Grupo Música is another one of those anonymous acts who were busy recording covers of Eurovision songs. This single is their first release, I think, featuring the winning song of the 1977 edition, 'L'oiseau et l'enfant'. In Portuguese that becomes 'A ave e a infancia'. The B-side is a cover of 'Mathema Solfege', the Greek song which ended up in fifth place that year. 

According to Discogs, António Sala is the only identified member of Grupo Música. It's always a bit of a mystery who else was involved in this recording, although producer Correia Martins at least gets a mention on the back sleeve.

My collection: 7" single no. 6919
Found: Discogs.com, received 21 March 2023
Tracks: 'A ave e a infancia' / 'Licao de Solfejo'

Guarda os teus beijos para mim - Acetato

There's some more Portuguese covers of Eurovision songs in the batch of singles I received recently. This one was released in 1976 and features the number 1 and 2 of that year's competition: 'Save your kisses for me' (UK) and '1, 2, 3' (France). In Portuguese, that would be 'Guarda os teus beijos para mim' and 'Um dois tres'. 

The tracks were recorded by Acetato, an anonymous act who released nothing else, just this one single. As a result, the names of the four members of Acetato, pictured on the back sleeve, remain unknown.

My collection: 7" single no. 6918
Found: Discogs.com, received 21 March 2023
Tracks: 'Guarda os teus beijos para mim' / 'Um dois tres'

Eurovisão 1966 - Isabel Fontes

I do love covers of Eurovision songs, for some reason, and sometimes there's a particular twist that really interests me. This EP features not one, but four Eurovision covers, all from the year 1966, in Portuguese. It includes the winning song from that year, 'Merci Chérie' (Austria), 'Dio, come ti amo' (Italy), 'Ne vois-tu pas?' (Switzerland) and 'Yo soy aquel' (Spain).

The EP was recorded by Isabel Fontes, a Portuguese singer who has gone missing in the mists of time. A listing on Discogs reveals that she released three EP's between 1966 and 1977, but Wikipedia has no information about her at all. These days, Isabelle Fontes is a Brazilian model who lives in the USA.

My collection: 7" single no. 6917
Found: Discogs.com, received 21 March 2023
Tracks: 'Deus, como te amo', 'Mas, tu nao ves?' / 'Merci Cheri', 'Eu sou aquela'

Um grande, grande amor - José Cid

Although I already own 'Un grand, grand amour' 13 years already, somehow I never got my hands on the original Portuguese version of this Portuguese entry of the Eurovision Song Contest in 1980. Fortunately I was finally able to correct this omission recently by way of an order from a Portuguese dealer on Discogs.

'Um grande, grande amor' finished seventh in a field of 19 competitors, which was Portugal's best result up until then. It's easy to see why: with its catchy refrain of  'Addio, adieu, auf Wiederseh'n, goodbye / Amore, amour, meine Liebe, love of my life' it was accessible to all those who couldn't understand Portuguese and the disco tempo also did its thing.

My collection: 7" single no. 6916
Found: Discogs.com, received 21 March 2023
Tracks: 'Um grande, grande amor' / 'Barbara'