Shut up and boogie - Vulcano

Producer and composer Hans van Hemert brought together Anna Dekkers (a.k.a. Dee Dee), René van der Wel, Suzanne Venneker and Jos Groothuizen to form Vulcano. They debuted in 1981 with this single 'Shut up and boogie'. The B-side, an instrumental version, is aptly titled 'Shut up'. It was a nice disco track, but it didn't reach the Dutch Top 40.

When I bought this single, three copies were staring at me from the shelf. Two of them were pressed on black vinyl, and one was pressed on clear yellow vinyl. Since they were all the same price, obviously I chose the yellow-coloured one. I guess it's a kind of limited edition pressing. A nice little item.

My collection: 7" single no. 3557

Found: All that music, Leiden, January 24, 2009

Cost: 1,6 euro

Tracks: 'Shut up and boogie' / 'Shut up'

Download: here

Famous people - Sharpe and Niles

'Change your mind' by Bill Sharpe and Gary Numan was one of my favourite tracks of the year 1985. When I had the opportunity to buy Bill Sharpe's album 'Famous people' on cd at a discount price a few years later, I got to know many more great tracks. The instrumental track 'Peace' for instance, and the title track, which was apparently released as a single as well.

I never actually got round to buying that single, but it's exactly these two tracks that appear on it. Naturally, I bought it.

My collection: 7" single no. 3556

Found: All that music, Leiden, January 24, 2009

Cost: 1,6 euro

Tracks: 'Famous people (US remix)' / 'Peace'

Download: here

Aurora - Nova

The Dutch instrumental synthpop band Nova was founded in 1982 by Rob Papen, Ruud van Es and Peter Kommers. They started out as Peru (The first two letters of the names of original band members Peter Kommers and Ruud van Es) but decided to also start Nova as the commercial side of their music projects.

'Aurora' was originally a music theme in the track 'Sons of dawn' by Peru. The song got discovered by Willem van Kooten, who was the boss of record company Red Bullet. The single was released in March 82 and shot to number 1 in the Dutch Top 40.

My collection: 7" single no. 3554

Found: All that music, Leiden, January 24, 2009

Cost: 1,6 euro

Tracks: 'Aurora' / 'Reel'

Download: here

Shangri-la - Gerard Joling

Dutch singer Gerard Joling debuted in 1985 as a contestant of the Soundmix show on television, singing 'Crying' from Don McLean. A few number one hits in the Netherlands followed, and so it came to pass that he was asked to represent the country during the 1988 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. One of the factors that caused this was his distinctive high voice. The song included a high note at the end of the track, which many felt would stun the international juries and make them vote for the Netherlands.

It worked out differently: Joling decided to do a live performance in the Netherlands during rehearsal week, caught a cold during the flight back, and wasn't able to sing that high note. Opting to sing a lower note instead, he felt he'd done the right thing, but many were outraged at his 'wimping out'. Victory went to Celine Dion and the Netherlands ended ninth in the competition.

Joling would have come back to the 2009 edition of the Contest as part of a three man group overconfidently called 'the Toppers', but again he's wimped out, claiming that he can't work with the other members of that group after disagreements.

My collection: 7" single no. 3553

Found: All that music, Leiden, January 24, 2009

Cost: 1,6 euro

Tracks: 'Shangri-la (English version)' / 'Shangri-la (Nederlandse versie)'

Download: here

Rock 'n' Roll clown - Harpo

After his Europe-wide success with 'Moviestar', Swedish singer followed this single up with 'Motorcycle mama' in Decembe 1975. It didn't reach the Dutch Top 40, and for a year, Harpo went silent. He came back in January 1977 with 'Rock 'n' Roll clown', which showed signs of it being a novelty song, with its 'Hee haw haw' chorus.

Barely missing the Dutch Top 40 again, Harpo disappeared from view in the Netherlands. Apparently, he went on to have great success in his homeland Sweden. I remembered this single from my childhood, and so I didn't pass up the opportunity to buy this after all these years.

My collection: 7" single no. 3552

Found: All that music, Leiden, January 24, 2009

Cost: 1,6 euro

Tracks: 'Rock 'n' Roll clown' / 'Chelsea Lady'

Download: here

Window shopping - Peter Godwin

It should come as no surprise, that writing about my record collection makes me realise that there are still holes in that collection. Having written several articles about Peter Godwin, I knew that the single 'Window shopping' was still missing. So I was very glad to find that single yesterday.

Like most of his singles, 'Window shopping' is a synth-oriented affair, with nice melody lines and a catchy chorus. The single was taken from his 1983 album 'Correspondence', and, like most of his releases, commercially unsuccessful.

My collection: 7" single no. 3551

Found: All that music, Leiden, January 24, 2009

Cost: 1,6 euro

Tracks: 'Window shopping' / 'The art of love'

Download: Album 'Correspondence', including both tracks

Bend me shape me - Gilla

Gisela Wuchinger was born on February 7, 1950 in Austria. She was discovered by German producer Frank Farian in 1974. He signed her to Hansa Records and gave her the stage name Gilla. After an unsuccessful German cover version of an Italian song, Farian had her record a German disco version of 'Lady Marmalade'. Still singing in German, she caused some commotion for singing explicit lyrics: 'Willst du mit mir schlafen gehn?' was a direct translation of the song's famous line 'Voulez vous coucher avec moi'.

Gilla released her first international album, 'Help help', in 1977. On her second international album, this single appeared. It was a disco cover of The American Breed's 'Bend me, shape me'. My copy of the single comes from Spain, hence the translated title on the cover.

My collection: 7" single no. 3550

Found: All that music, Leiden, January 24, 2009

Cost: 1,6 euro

Tracks: 'Bend me shape me' / 'The river sings'

Download: Album 'Bend me shape me', including both tracks