Questionnaire - Chas Jankel

'When you answer all these questions / on a postcard if you please' -- it's not the kind of lyric anyone would write these days. Questionnaires have all been abandoned to the web - and otherwise no-one ever takes the time to fill them in with a pen and send them off to the address it came from.

It was an unusual song anyway, Chas Jankel's 'Questionnaire': the sound of a wailing siren on feverish party music - and then a lyric full of questions. I loved the track when it was on the radio in 1981 and so I was happy to get the single in 1993.

My collection: 7" single no. 1910

Found: Plaatboef, Leiden, May 19, 1993

Cost: 1 guilder

Tracks: 'Questionnaire' / 'Boy'

Hollow horse - Icicle Works

After the release of their self-titled debut album the Icicle Works struggled to match their initial commercial success. As a live band they did secure a loyal fan base in the UK and abroad. In September 1984 the band issued the single 'Hollow Horse', which continued to be a live favourite, but failed to reach the UK singles chart.

I bought this single recently on the assumption that it would be an interesting song, because I knew the band. The song turns out to have the same soaring quality as 'Love is a wonderful colour', but is less memorable. Still, a very nice single.

My collection: 7" single no. 3476

Found: Empire Records, Den Haag, December 11, 2008

Cost: 0,5 euro

Tracks: 'Hollow horse' / 'The atheist'

Burning bush (Testify) - Savage progress

Savage Progress started off when Rik Kenton and Glynnis Thomas met one another in 1982. They recruited Ned Morant, Carol Isaacs and Andrew Edge. In 1984 they released their debut album 'Celebration', which contained the three singles that were released subsequently: 'My soul unwraps tonight', 'Heart begin to beat' and 'Burning bush'.

I got to know 'Burning bush' because of the video, which was played often on television, and as a track on a compilation double LP which I bought in 1985. I bought this single, a limited edition housed in a posterbag, in 2001.

My collection: 7" single no. 3363

Found: Record fair, 2001

Cost: 2 guilders

Tracks: 'Burning bush (Testify)' / 'Tears of love'

Tell me there's a heaven - Chris Rea

The whole concept of heaven and the afterlife is one of mindboggling stupidity. It supposes that you have to be miserable your whole damn life and then, when you're dead, suddenly everything turns into a warm, fuzzy, mellow state of constant happiness. This is especially ridiculous when you consider all the people dying of hunger, war, murder and environmental disasters.

Chris Rea once wrote this song about it: 'Tell me there's a heaven'. The song was released at a time when death and unhappiness were all around me. I thought the lyric of this song was highly appropriate for the cynicism I felt about the things that were going on, and I still think it's one of the best songs ever written - lyrically as well as musically.

My collection: 7" single no. 2264
Found: Record fair, April 8, 1995
Cost: 3 guilders
Tracks: 'Tell me there's a heaven' / 'And when she smiles'

I touch myself - Divinyls

The rock band Divinyls formed in Sydney, Australia in 1980. The band had several line-up changes, but at the time of their biggest hit 'I touch myself', the line-up consisted of core members Christina Amphlett and Mark McEntee, plus Charley Drayton, Benmont Tench, Lee Borkman and Jim Hilbun.

'I touch myself', a song about masturbation, hit number 1 in Australia, number 4 in the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 10 in the UK.

My collection: 7" single no. 2621

Found: Record fair, February 24, 1996

Cost: 2 guilders

Tracks: 'I touch myself' / 'Follow through'

No regrets - Walker Brothers

'No regrets' was originally written and performed by folk and blues singer Tom Rush in 1968. The Walker Brothers, who'd had a string of hit singles in the late Sixties, recorded it as their comeback single in 1976. It was also the title of the accompanying comeback album. It remains a standard to this day.

It was my big idol Midge Ure who introduced me to the song in 1981. His version of 'No regrets' was a thundering, synth-driven pop song, with all the emotion and despair of the Walker Brothers version, but perhaps more power. I heard the Walker Brothers version in the late Eighties - and it took me some years to find a single of it.

My collection: 7" single no. 1418

Found: Record fair, Amsterdam, April 7, 1991

Cost: 3 guilders

Tracks: 'No regrets' / 'Remember me'

Mind of a toy - Visage

After the release of the classic 'Fade to grey', Visage followed it up with this beautiful song 'Mind of a toy'. It's classic synthpop stuff, with a very bewildering end. From the first time I heard this music box play out the song, I've always thought it was a touch of genius. It was the third single taken from Visage's self-titled debut album. It peaked at number 13 in the UK, but didn't chart in the Netherlands.

My collection: 7" single no. 1608
Found: Record fair, Amsterdam, March 28, 1992
Cost: 2 guilders
Tracks: 'Mind of a toy' / 'We move'