Mixed-up world - Timex social club

Gregory Thomas, Marcus Thompson, Kevin Moore, Michael Marshall, Craig Samuel, Darrien Cleage and Alex Hill formed the Timex social club in 1982. They released their debut album 'Rumours' in 1986. Their first single, 'Vicious rumours' peaked at number 13 in the UK, number 8 in America and number 3 in the Netherlands.

The follow-up single, 'Mixed-up world' only charted in the Netherlands, peaking at number 11. Soon afterward, their producer Jay King replaced them with a new band that he formed, an R&B group called Club Nouveau. After five years of being together, the Timex Social Club broke up.

My collection: 7" single no. 519

Found: Free Record Shop, Den Haag, 1987

Cost: 3 guilders

Tracks: 'Mixed-up world' / 'Only you'

Download: here

The hostage - Donna Summer

Donna Summer was born as LaDonna Adrian Gaines on December 31, 1948. Prior to her introduction to the music industry, she was a gospel singer. Aged eighteen, Gaines left home and school to audition for a role in the cast of the Broadway musical 'Hair'. She didn't get the part, but was offered the European Tour when the show moved to Germany. She settled in Munich and also performed with the Viennese Folk Opera and the pop band Munich Machine. She released two singles, 'Sally go round the roses' (1971) and 'If you walkin' alone' (1972), before she met and married Austrian actor Helmut Sommer.

She took on the stage name Donna Summer and signed a contract with the Dutch record company Groovy. Her debut album 'Lady of the night' spawned two singles: the title track and 'The hostage'. This single became a number 1 hit in Belgium and reached number 2 in the Netherlands. The song was performed on an absurdist television show in the Netherlands (see it here), which must have helped its popularity somewhat.

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My collection: 7" single no. 2623

Found: Den Haag, March 2, 1996

Cost: 1 guilder

Tracks: 'The hostage' / 'Let's work together now'

Fine line - Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney released the album 'Chaos and creation in the backyard' in 2005. At the time, he was happily married with Heather Mills (that didn't last long...). Shortly before the release of the album, the first single 'Fine line' was released. It reached number 20 in the UK singles chart. The B-side of the 7" single was an otherwise unreleased track, 'Growing up falling down'.

I bought this single as a present for someone, but when I listened to it at home I decided that I wanted to keep it myself. Somehow it was never administrated as my own, so now, three years later, it has become my most recent acquisition - at least in my singles catalogue.

My collection: 7" single no. 3583

Found: HMV, London, November 8, 2005

Cost: 2 pounds

Tracks: 'Fine line' / 'Growing up falling down'

Extracts from the forthcoming album - Strawberry Switchblade

This promotional clear flexi disc, housed in a four page booklet, was released in the autumn of 1984 to promote the forthcoming self-titled debut album by Strawberry Switchblade. The back of the booklet contains this promotional text:

Strawberry Switchblade, as the name may suggest, are a walking contradition. Small, frail, yet visually striking, the apparent prettiness of their songs belies the harsh reality of the lyrics. Like Macbeth's weird sisters the two seem to have sprung from the dark mists of Celtic faery. Their quiet, haunting ballads are sung in the best harmony voices since the Mamas and the Papas.

Inside you will find a flexi-disc that features extracts from the girl's debut album 'Strawberry Switchblade' with an introduction by Janice Long. Listen to it and you will realise that this is an album you must own.

My collection: 7" single no. 3000

Found: Geest, Den Haag, June 20, 1998

Cost: 2 guilders

Tracks: 'Extracts from the forthcoming album 'Strawberry Switchblade'

Mind adventures - Des'ree

The title track from Des'ree's debut album 'Mind adventures' was released as her second single in March 1992. It wasn't as big a hit as 'Feel so high', peaking just at number 43 in the UK singles chart. It didn't even chart at all in the Netherlands.

By that time, I'd heard the whole album and despite a few throwaway tracks, I thought the choise of singles was pretty good. No wonder, then, that I ended up buying all the singles drawn from the album. The 7" vinyl contains an alternative 7" mix that wasn't ever released on cd as far as I know.

My collection: 7" single no. 1620
Found: Disco Market, Den Haag, April 18, 1992
Cost: 3,5 guilders
Tracks: 'Mind adventures' / 'Mind adventures (Alternative 7" mix)'

Take it back - Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd released their last studio album 'The Division Bell' in 1994. The first single drawn from that album was 'Take it back'. While most apparently a love song, it can also be interpreted to be about Mother Nature, and how man abuses the earth. This latter interpretation gains some credibility from the video, which seems to have been made with the issue very much in mind. David Gilmour remained typically vague about the subject: 'It's got really nothing to do with my personal life, believe it or not. But I'm not going to tell you what it is about. You're gonna have to work that out for yourself. I had an idea for a song about a specific subject that came from a book I was reading, but I'm not going to tell you what the subject is or what the book is.'

Backing vocals on this track were performed by three famous ladies: Sam Brown, Durga McBroom (from Blue Pearl) and Carol Kenyon (who performed vocals for a.o. Heaven 17, Mike Oldfield and Paul Hardcastle). The single was released as a limited edition on see-through red vinyl.

My collection: 7" single no. 2122

Found: Fame, Amsterdam, July 15, 1994

Cost: 6,5 guilders

Tracks: 'Take it back' / 'Astronomy domine (live)'

Hey Matthew - Karel Fialka

Karel Fialka was born in Bengal, India, to a Czech father and a Scottish mother. In 1980 he started out as a poet and musician. In 1980 he had a minor hit with 'The eyes have it', which reached number 54 in the UK singles chart. In 1987, he released 'Hey Matthew'. In the song's lyric, a father questions his child on what he sees on TV and what he wants to be when he grows up. The single peaked at number 9 in the UK singles chart, but never charted in the Netherlands.

To me, it was unclear what the song wanted to say. It almost suggests that the child is seeing too much horrible things on television, but never really does this. The melody appealed to me, though, so when I saw it in the bargain bin, I snapped up this disc.

My collection: 7" single no. 640

Found: Disco Market, Den Haag, July 9, 1988

Cost: 1 guilder

Tracks: 'Hey Matthew' / 'The things I saw'