The Angler - Gary Brooker

Gary Brooker was born on May 29, 1945 in Hackney, East London. He founded Procol Harum in 1966 with his friend Keith Reid. They are best known for their worldwide hit 'A whiter shade of pale'. The band broke up in 1977. In 1979, Brooker joined Eric Clapton's band. When Clapton fired his entire band two years later, Gary Brooker decided to record a solo album. 'Lead me to the water' was released in 1982 and contained this single, 'The angler'. Amazingly, it didn't become a hit.

I have no idea where I heard 'The angler' for the first time, all I know is that I was very impressed when I did hear it. And I was really glad to find this single cheaply shortly afterwards.

My collection: 7" single no. 933

Found: Disco Market, Den Haag, 1989

Cost: 1 guilder

Tracks: 'The angler' / 'Badlands'

Download: here

Left in the dark - Barbra Streisand

Barbra Streisand can be cheesy, too mellow and even kitschy, but sometimes she manages to create something magical. With the aid of producer Jim Steinman, who made his name with Meatloaf's 'Bat out of hell' epic, she recorded 'Left in the dark' in 1984. The lyrics are still melodramatic and a bit embarrassing ('You swore you'd be with me at seven o'clock / now it's a quarter to three') but the music can't be beat. And then of course there's those trademark backing choirs...

I bought this promo 7" single from my favourite second hand record shop. It was an unusual find, since it was a promo from the UK. This promo features a version of 'Left in the dark' "without spoken intro". It still clocks in at 5'47.

My collection: 7" single no. 362

Found: Disco Market, Den Haag, 1985

Cost: 2 guilders

Tracks: 'Left in the dark (without spoken intro)' / 'Here we are at last'

Download: here

A ride in the night - Teach-In

The Dutch pop group Teach-In was formed in 1967. In the Netherlands they had their first hit 1974 with the song 'Fly away'. International fame followed one year later when they won the Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm with 'Ding a dong'. Lead singer Getty Kaspers left the group one year after that, and was replaced by Betty Vermeulen and Marianne Wolsink. With these two singers the group recorded 'A ride in the night', a single that was to become the second one in my current collection.

'A ride in the night' reached number 31 in the Dutch Top 40, the lowest placing of the twelve singles by Teach-In that made it into the chart. I won't revise my record collection anymore, but if I did, this one would definitely be out...

My collection: 7" single no. 2

Found: Disco Market, Den Haag, 1978

Cost: 1 guilder

Tracks: 'A ride in the night' / 'Wonderful feeling'

Download: here

I still remember - Gary Numan

Gary Numan really impressed me when he recorded 'Change your mind' together with Bill Sharpe in 1985. I played this track all through the year. Then a year later I heard this one, 'I still remember'. I don' t recall where I heard it, but I really liked the kind of melancholy feeling this song evoked. It was only when I bought the single that I found out that it had been recorded to benefit the RSPCA. Shortly after I bought the single, I also got my hands on the picture disc 12" single.

As Gary Numan himself said: 'This version features a different lyric to the version which appears on The Fury album, being written from the point of view of an abused dog, I was watching the animal squad programme and there was a dog that had been starved and it ended with the dog look at the camera and there was a sad Barbara Dickson song playing in the background. I thought it was very, very moving. So I took an old ballad and re-wrote the lyric. What I tried to do was put myself from the point of view of a badly treated dog. That's why the chorus for example was changed from “I still remember” to “How can they do this.”'

The single didn't get any radio exposure. It went into the UK singles chart, at no. 74 for one week on December 6, 1986. And that was that. Numan was frustrated: 'You’ve got a record for charity, for animals, at Xmas and not one single play on the Radio; I found it disgusting, hypocritical, if we’d had the radio behind that we’d have done so much good.'

My collection: 7" single no. 480 / 12" single no. 42

Found: LP top 100, Den Haag, 1986

Cost: 6 guilders / 15 guilders

Tracks: 'I still remember' / 'Puppets' (extended version of A-side on 12")

Download: here

Union of the snake - Duran duran

Limited editions are a phenomenon in the UK. Especially in the eighties, there were gatefold sleeves, double singles, box sets and strangely coloured vinyl singles aplenty. In the Netherlands, these phenomena didn't happen as often. So whenever it did, it was immediately a collector's item. If I liked the artist, I simply had to have it.

However, I found out about Duran Duran's limited edition single 'Union of the snake' too late. So when I did, it had already left the shops. I finally found it two years later during a flea market in my highschool. The unsuspecting fellow student from which I bought this didn't know quite what he parted with: he only asked a mere two guilders for it. What a steal! I was very satisfied. Little did I know that later in life these items would change hands for astronomical amounts at times...

My collection: 7" single no. 358

Found: School fair, Den Haag, 1985

Cost: 2 guilders

Tracks: 'Union of the snake' / 'Secret oktober' plus free flexi disc with medley of tracks from the albums 'Duran Duran' and 'Rio'

Download: here

The day before yesterday's man - The Supernaturals

On February 8, 1997 I went to London to see the last performance of the musical 'Tommy', starring Kim Wilde as mrs. Walker. It was a fine performance, and after that very nice evening I went back to the hotel. Before being able to sleep, I watched some television and saw an episode of good old Top of the Pops. During this episode there was a performance by the Supernaturals, playing their current single 'The day before yesterday's man'. I'd never heard of the group, but I liked the song. So sure enough, the next day I went to the Virgin Megastore and got myself a copy of the limited edition yellow vinyl 7" single.

My collection: 7" single no. 2835

Found: Virgin Megastore, London, February 9, 1997

Cost: 99p

Tracks: 'The day before yesterday's man' / 'Honk Williams'

Download: here

Hello again - The Cars

The Cars were very successful in their native America, but they only got noticed here in Europe in 1984, when video music channels were on the rise. Their innovative video for 'You might think' was played dozens of times a week, and 'Drive' became famous after it was used for a video full of needy African people during Live Aid. To the best of my knowledge, neither of the 12" singles for these songs contained remixes.

'Hello again' was taken from the same album as the two named singles, 'Heartbeat city', and the 12" single featured remixes by famous producer Arthur Baker.

My collection: 12" single no. 465

Found: Record fair, Utrecht, 2004

Cost: 2 euros

Tracks: 'Hello again (extended remix version)', 'Hello again (dub version)' / 'Hello again'

Download: here