Lead me on - Amy Grant

Amy Grant was born on November 25, 1960 and made her debut already in 1977. She made a career out of recording Christian music, which got her a lot of critical and commercial acclaim in those circles. In 1988 her music took on a more contemporary pop form, when she released the album 'Lead me on'.

The title track deals lyrically with slavery and the Holocaust. The lyrics also talk about man's relation to these events and man's relation to man. The message of the song makes it very strong, unusual for Amy Grant, who was known for her meaningful but light lyrics.

My collection: 7" single no. 2342

Found: Record Exchange, London, June 26, 1995

Cost: 1 pound

Tracks: 'Lead me on' / 'Find a way'

Download: here

Love on the rocks - Neil Diamond

In 1980, the movie 'The Jazz singer' was released. It was a remake of the 1927 movie of the same name. The soundtrack of the 1980 movie was performed by Neil Diamond. He had been singing and performing since 1966 and got praised and scorned for his role in the movie. Three hit songs came from the soundtrack album: 'America', 'Hello again' and 'Love on the rocks' - but only the last one was also a hit in the Netherlands. I thought it was a beautiful song, and now that I've heard it again, I stand by my judgement of almost 30 years ago.

My collection: 7" single no. 854

Found: Den Haag, May 27, 1989

Cost: 2 guilders

Tracks: 'Love on the rocks' / 'Acapulco'

Download: here

Let it all blow - Dazz Band

The Dazz Band grew out of the Cleveland jazz fusion band Bell Telefunk. Originally consisting of Mike Calhoun, Kenny Pettus, Bobby Harris, Ike Wiley and Michael Wiley, they recruited extra members Kevin Kendrick, Steve Cox, Eric Fearman, Pierre DeMudd, Sennie "Skip" Martin, Jerry Bell and Terry Stanton. Their debut hit in America was 'Shake it up' in 1980.

'Let it all blow' was released in 1984, like their former albums and singles on the Motown label. It became their biggest hit in the UK, peaking at number 12, and their only hit in the Netherlands, peaking at number 10.

My collection: 7" single no. 1855

Found: Concerto, Amsterdam, January 30, 1993

Cost: 3 guilders

Tracks: 'Let it all blow' / 'Now that I have you'

Download: here

I'm on my way - Betty Boo

In December 1992, an acquaintance of my sister went to London and offered to buy us some singles while she was there. I wrote down a couple of titles and included this one. A week later, I suddenly had this posterbag edition of Betty Boo's second single off her album 'Grrr! It's Betty Boo'. I can't say I played this single a lot, but it's a nice throwaway pop song. It also includes a musical quote from the Beatles' 'Lady Madonna', by the way.

After 'Let me take you there', this was the second and last Betty Boo single I bought. Her career was almost over by that time: she released one more single and then disappeared from the scene - writing song for other acts instead.

My collection: 7" single no. 1797

Found: Virgin Megastore, London, December 7, 1992

Cost: 2 pounds

Tracks: 'I'm on my way' / 'Boo choons'

Download: here

My side of the bed - Susanna Hoffs

The Bangles had a big hit with 'Walk like an Egyptian' in 1986. In the video, Susanna Hoffs was the one that caught the eye of the viewer the most, with an innocent look and big seductive eyes. It should be no wonder, then, that her first solo single in 1991 was titled 'My side of the bed'. It's just enough to make any man fantasize away.

Well anyway - with those smouldering looks and such a great voice, I bought the single when it came out and the cd soon after that. But I was surprised five years later when I found out that there was also a picture disc 7" of this single - with quite a different photograph of Susanna on it. At one pound, I couldn't resist buying that one too. So now I have two editions of this single. Well, not a problem. It's still very nice to look at those pictures.

My collection: 7" single no. 1394 / 7" single no. 2668

Found: Melody Maker, Den Haag, March 2, 1991 / Record fair, Leeds, June 30, 1996

Cost: 6 guilders / 1 pound

Tracks: 'My side of the bed' / 'Made of stone'

Download: Album 'When you're a boy', including both tracks

Melodrama - Bolland

The brothers Rob and Ferdi Bolland are famous in the Netherlands, mostly for their production work with Falco and others, but also for their successful singles in the seventies. Their biggest international hit, 'You're in the army now', ironically didn't chart in the Netherlands - and this single from 1979 befell a similar fate.

It's amazing when you read Dutch career overviews of Bolland & Bolland, because they simply ignore this single. Most articles state that 1979 was the year in which they started producing other artists (like for instance Sandra Reemer, who participated in that year's Eurovision Song Contest), but 'Melodrama' was released in 1979 as well. And I bought this single back then, because it was one of the few available for 3 guilders in the shop I went to almost weekly. And that was just about what I could afford...

My collection: 7" single no. 26

Found: Wouters, Den Haag, 1979

Cost: 3 guilders

Tracks: 'Melodrama' / 'Showdown at sundown'

Download: here

Tell me - Jahn Teigen and Anita Skorgan

This is the first Eurovision Song Contest-related single I ever bought. That's quite amazing, because I don't live in Norway and I had been following the Contest for three years already. But this single came cheap and the memory of the song had faded but was still clear enough for me to remember that I actually liked it better than that year's winning song, 'Ein Bisschen Frieden' by Nicole. The single contained the English and Norwegian version of the song 'Adieu'.

Jahn Teigen participated three times in the Contest, of which 1982's 'Adieu', together with his wife at the time, Anita Skorgan, was the second. They ended up at twelfth place, which seemed like a great injustice to me at the time. Even now I think it was a great song - but perhaps not as overwhelming as a Bambi-eyed German girl singing about peace.

My collection: 7" single no. 136

Found: Disco Market, Den Haag, 1982

Cost: 1 guilder

Tracks: 'Tell me' / 'Adieu'

Download: here