Summer is over - Frank Ifield

Frank Ifield was an English-born Australian easy listening and country music singer known for his yodeling vocal style. His family emigrated to Australia in 1946. He returned to the UK in 1959 and in 1962 he had a major success with the song 'I remember you'. Throughout the Sixties he had a succession of hits which were mainly revivals of American country songs. 

This particular single features a version of 'Summer is over', a song made famous by Dusty Springfield. Her version was often used on Radio Veronica, during its broadcasts from a ship in the North Sea. This version is slightly less romantic, but it is still a stunningly beautiful melody. I bought my copy at the record fair last week, but it benefited from a little cleaning. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7652
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 12 April 2025
Tracks: 'Summer is over' / 'True love ways'

Klop klop hallo - Willeke Alberti

Although I'm not particularly a fan of Willeke Alberti, a few singles have ended up in my collection, and that's all because of her connection with the Eurovision Song Contest. Like her father, Willy Alberti, Willeke covered a handful of Eurovision songs, and it's quite interesting to hear her versions because they come with translated lyrics. Translated into Dutch, that is.

And so, in 1970, 'Knock knock who's there' became 'Klop klop hallo' and 'All kinds of everything' became 'Duizenden dingetjes'. Both songs were from the Eurovision Song Contest in 1970 (representing the UK and Ireland respectively) and they appear on this single from 1970. It's just a pity that this single was released on mono only. But it's a rare piece nonetheless: a copy without a picture sleeve commands at least 15 euro on Discogs!

My collection: 7" single no. 7665
Found: Easter market, Den Haag, 20 April 2025
Tracks: 'Klop klop hallo' / 'Duizenden dingetjes'

Vse rože sveta - Lado Leskovar

Lado Leskovar was born as Vladimir Leskovar in Ljubljana on 23 March 1942. He began his music career in the early Sixties. In 1967 he represented Yugoslavia at the Eurovision Song Contest with 'Vse rože sveta' ('All the flowers in the world'), finishing in eighth place.

Although he tried to further his singing career, he ended up working for Radio Televizija Slovenija. During the parliamentary elections in Slovenia in 2008 he was a candidate for the party Zares. Ten years later (2018) he ran for a seat in the National Assembly under the auspices of the Desus party.

An unexpected bonus on this EP is 'Jokal bom na dežju', a Slovenian version of the Everly Brothers song, 'Crying in the rain'.

My collection: 7" single no. 7664
Found: Discogs.com, received 14 April 2025
Tracks: 'Vse rože sveta', 'Orly' / 'Potraži me u predgradu', 'Jokal bom na dežju'

Lass mich dein Pirat sein (remix '91) - Nena

Although 'Engel der Nacht' was Nena's last single as a band, the record company decided to release a compilation album called Nena, die Band in 1991. In order to promote that album, this remix of 'Lass mich dein Pirat sein' was released as a single.

The remix does respect the original version of the song, fortunately, but adds some elements in order to make it sound a little more contemporary. Jens Kuphal was responsible for the additional programming, postproduction and mix.

My collection: 7" single no. 7663
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 12 April 2025
Tracks: 'Lass mich dein Pirat sein (remix '91)' / 'Du kennst die Liebe nicht (live version)'

Bang-a-boomerang - Abba

Surprisingly, I didn't already have 'Bang-a-boomerang' on a 7" single, and even more surprisingly, 'S.O.S.' is on the B-side of this single. It is a French release on the Vogue label, with a very colourful sleeve.

The song was written by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus and Stig Anderson and at one point had the working title 'Stop and listen to your heart'. The lyrics compare the "message of love" with the returning boomerangs which the Aboriginal Australians developed. The song was originally written for Svenne & Lotta, who competed in the Swedish national final for the Eurovision Song Contest 1975 with it. The duo had a big hit with it in Sweden. Abba then recorded the song and released it as a single in France and included it on their Greatest Hits album in November 1975. It was never released as a single in Scandinavia.

My collection: 7" single no. 7662
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 12 April 2025
Tracks: 'Bang-a-boomerang' / 'S.O.S.'

Waterloo - Abba

What can I say about Abba's 'Waterloo' that hasn't been said already about a thousand times? Not much, I fear, and so I only need to explain why I bought this particular single. 

It's the Danish pressing of the single and it was released in 1974 in two different versions: with green lettering and red lettering. I'm not sure if I'm going to collect all versions of this single, because many different pressings exist, but this one was amusing and looked good too - and the price was right.

My collection: 7" single no. 7661
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 12 April 2025
Tracks: 'Waterloo' / 'Watch out'

Amiga Quartett - Fleetwood Mac

The last Amiga Quartett EP I bought last week at the record fair was this one by Fleetwood Mac. The band seems to be very popular these days; copies of their old LP's are selling like crazy. I think a new generation is discovering the band, which can only be a good thing because they made some amazing music.

This EP features some of their early Eighties tracks, including 'Hold me' and 'Gypsy', two singles that are among my favourites. The other two tracks are less familiar, but equally great.

My collection: 7" single no. 7660
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 12 April 2025
Tracks: 'Hold me', 'Eyes of the world' / 'Oh Diane', 'Gypsy'

Amiga Quartett - MIke Oldfield

Did I really need this MIke Oldfield EP? Sure I did, because I didn't have all the tracks on vinyl yet. 'Shadow on the wall' is a firm favourite, of course, as is 'Moonlight shadow', but I didn't yet own the other two tracks. 

'In high places' features guest vocals by Jon Anderson, and 'Foreign affiar' is a song I got to know via a cover version many years ago. All in all, another attractive package from those East German Amiga guys.

My collection: 7" single no. 7658
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 12 April 2025
Tracks: 'Moonlight shadow', 'In high places' / 'Shadow on the wall', 'Foreign affair'

Amiga Quartett - Elton John

This EP features four hit singles by Elton John, and I was quite surprised to find that I didn't already have them on 7" singles - with the exception of 'Rocket man' of course.

Of the four songs, 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road' is my favourite. The lyrics, written by Bernie Taupin, contain autobiographical elements, referring to his childhood on a farm in Lincolnshire. The song expresses a desire to get back to one's "roots", a common theme of Taupin's early lyrics. In 2014, Taupin reflected, "It's been said many times, but Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is a cinematic album. The lyrics to the title track do say that I want to leave Oz and get back to the farm. I think that's still my M.O. these days. I don't mind getting out there and doing what everybody else was doing, but I always had to have an escape hatch."  In 2020, he added, "I don't believe I was ever turning my back on success or saying I didn't want it. I just don't believe I was ever that naïve. I think I was just hoping that maybe there was a happy medium way to exist successfully in a more tranquil setting. My only naïveté, I guess, was believing I could do it so early on. I had to travel a long road and visit the school of hard knocks before I could come even close to achieving that goal."

My collection: 7" single no. 7659
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 12 April 2025
Tracks: 'Rocket man', 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road' / 'Crocodile Rock', 'Daniel' 

Amiga Quartett - Middle of the road

This Amiga EP features two songs by Middle of the Road that I already had on two other singles: 'Chirpy chirpy cheep cheep' and 'Soley, soley', plus two I didn't already have.

'Tweedle dee, tweedle dum' was released as a single in 1971 and reached number 2 in the UK singles chart. In the Dutch Top 40 it got to number 7. 'Sacramento' is a song I remember well from my childhood - my brother and sister were particularly fond of Middle of the Road and they played their singles regularly when I was young. 'Sacramento' only reached number 23 in the UK singles chart but was a big hit in Europe: it got to number 1 in Belgium, Germany, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands!

My collection: 7" single no. 7657
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 12 April 2025
Tracks: 'Chirpy chirpy cheep cheep', 'Soley, soley' / 'Tweedle dee, tweedle dum', 'Sacramento'

Gimme, gimme, gimme - Cantus-Chor

By chance I saw a German dealer at the record fair last week who had prstine looking Amiga singles. I bought a bunch, and this one was the first: a single by Cantus-Chor with cover versions of 'Gimme, gimme, gimme' and 'A walk in the park'.

Cantus-Chor was a German (GDR-) background-chorus, solo-choir and showgroup, founded in  December 1976 by Vlady Slezák. They released a handful of singles, two albums and appeared on a lot of compilation albums and EP's.

My collection: 7" single no. 7656
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 12 April 2025
Tracks: 'Gimme, gimme, gimme' / 'A walk in the park'

Delirious - Prince

'Delirious' was taken from Prince's third album '1999' and released as its third single. I missed out on it, because it was never released in Europe. Hence this simple single with a record company sleeve, I guess.

'Delirious' is a standard 8-bar blues number that tells how Prince is being driven crazy by a beautiful woman. The song teases the listener with sexual metaphors for cars and racing, hidden enough to avoid being censored. The track begins with a trademark Linn drum machine loop and a bit of synth bass before the synthesizer hook introduces the song. A rubbery bass guitar gives the track a rockabilly feel. The B-side to the track is "Horny Toad", which is very similar in rockabilly style and instrumentation. Some of the sexually charged lyrics were interpreted as sadistic at the time and were the source of some controversy. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7655
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 12 April 2025
Tracks: 'Delirious' / 'Horny toad'

Sag ihr, ich lass' sie grüssen - Richard Adam

Udo Jürgens represented Austria in 1965 with the song 'Sag ihr, ich lass' sie grüssen'. It reached fourth place in the competition, which inspired some artists to record their own versions of the song.

One of them was Richard Adam, a Czech singer who was born in Prague on 14 November 1930. He started his music career during World War II as a drummer in his brother's band, who was two years older. He achieved his greatest fame and popularity at the turn of the 1950s and 1960s. He also established himself abroad, and was very popular in the GDR and the Soviet Union. With the onset of normalization after 1968, he also faced a wave of bans, ostracisms, and political persecution. He has recorded approximately 330 songs, of which 250 were for the Czechoslovak Radio and 80 for the Supraphon publishing group. His most successful song was the song Tina Marie, which sold over one million records in the USSR alone. He sang on tour until he was eighty. He passed away on 14 October 2017.

My collection: 7" single no. 7654
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 12 April 2025
Tracks: 'Sag ihr, ich lass' sie grüssen' / 'Herr Schmidt, Herr Schmidt'

Bonne nuit, ma chérie - Fred Frohberg

'Bonne nuit, ma chérie' by Wyn Hoop was the German entry for the Eurovision Song Contest in 1960. It is a relatively unknown German Eurovision song, although it finished in fourth place. Very few cover versions of the song exist.

Perhaps the most interesting one was recorded by Fred Frohberg for the East German label Amiga. The label ceased to exist when Germany reunited after the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989, but it released a lot of singles during its existence. I'd never seen this old label layout before, and so I was quite glad to buy this single - it's a precious piece of history in many ways!

My collection: 7" single no. 7653
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 12 April 2025
Tracks: 'Bonne nuit, ma chérie' / 'Einer wird bei dir bleiben'

Enjoy yourself - The Jacksons

'Enjoy yourself' was released by the Jacksons in 1976. Featuring Michael and Jackie Jackson on lead vocals, it was the first single for the group since they departed from Motown earlier that year. The song peaked at number 6 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.

It was the group's first song to officially feature new member Randy Jackson, who replaced Jermaine Jackson when he decided to stay at Motown after his brothers left. A music video, the Jacksons' first, was released in early 1977 to promote the single; it features the five Jackson brothers wearing white suits and dancing on a stage. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7651
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 12 April 2025
Tracks: 'Enjoy yourself' / 'Style of life'

Romantica - Aurelio Fierro

Whenever a single sleeve promises 'San Remo' in big letters it's time to be on my guard, because this could be one of the many cover versions of early Italian Eurovision entries. And indeed, in this case, Aurelio Fierro performs a version of Renato Rascel's 'Romantica'.

Aurelio Fierro (13 September 1923 – 11 March 2005) was an Italian actor and singer, specialising in songs in the Neapolitan dialect. His first big hit was with 'Scapricciatiello' in 1954. His best-known songs are probably 'Guaglione', recorded in 1956, and 'A pizza', from the Naples song festival of 1966.

My collection: 7" single no. 7650
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 12 April 2025
Tracks: 'Libero', 'Vento, pioggia e scarpe rotte' / 'Romantica', 'Il mare'

Take a chance on me - Abba

Collecting Abba singles has gone out of hand a bit. I used to want to have all the tracks, but now I am also drawn to strange versions from different countries. This one, for instance, was just too hard to resist. 

It's a Yugoslavian pressing of 'Take a chance on me', with, bizarrely, 'Thank you for the music' on the B-side. Official releases would never contain these two songs on one 7" single. As a bonus, this single has a beautiful sleeve too. You can see how I gladly shelled out a few euros for this one.

My collection: 7" single no. 7649
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 12 April 2025
Tracks: 'Take a chance on me' / 'Thank you for the music'

Wishing (If I had a photograph of you) - A Flock of seagulls

One of my favourite songs from the early Eighties is A flock of seagulls' 'Wishing'. You would know that if you saw my previous entries on this song. Two singles would be enough for most people, but when I spotted this picture disc, I simply couldn't resist.

A flock of seagulls have enjoyed a bit of a comeback recently, and their new album Some dreams was released in December 2024. Without the strange haircuts, because even Eighties artists get older.

My collection: 7" single no. 7648
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 12 April 2025
Tracks: 'Wishing (If I had a photograph of you)' / 'Committed'

Gerdundula - Status Quo

Those who know Status Quo from their late Seventies/early Eighties material will associate the band with long hair and just the slightest bit of headbanging. But their beginnings were quite different, as songs like 'Pictures of matchstick men' and 'Ice in the sun' have already proven on this blog.

My latest acquisition is 'Gerdundula', a 1970 single from the band. Confusingly, the song was written by Manston & James, which would lead someone to think that Marty Wilde was somehow involved, as he used the pseudonym Frere Manston at the time. However, in this instance it's the pseudonym for band mates Francis Rossi and Bob Young.

My collection: 7" single no. 7647
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 12 April 2025
Tracks: 'Gerdundula' / 'Lakky Lady'

Miazoume - Takis Biniaris

Some Eurovision singles tend to be overly expensive when you go look for them online. This particular single demands 300 euros on Discogs - at least, if you want it with the picture sleeve. Fortunately, I found my copy for a lot less, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered.

'Miazoume' was the Greek Eurovision entry from 1985, performed by the singer Takis Biniaris with his dramatic timbre. The song is a ballad with Binaris declaring that despite his and his lover's differences they are alike. The song finished in 16th place in a field of 19 competitors.

My collection: 7" single no. 7646
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 12 April 2025
Tracks: 'Miazoume' / 'Matia mou'