Lay your hands on me - Thompson Twins

The Thompson Twins enjoyed a lot of success with their 1984 album 'Into the gap'. They had to come up with a new album soon, so the writing and recording of the next album 'Here's to future days' began in late 1984. The band recorded the single 'Lay your hands on me' with producer Alex Sadkin. The new single climbed to number 13 on the UK singles chart.

My copy of the single came in a limited edition poster bag. I might never have bought it otherwise: I thought the track was a lot weaker than previous singles. Nowadays I feel differently: it still sounds rather fresh.

My collection: 7" single no. 1905

Found: Record fair, Den Haag, May 2, 1993

Cost: 2 guilders

Tracks: 'Lay your hands on me' / 'The Lewis Carol'

Download: here

Lover come back to me - Dead or Alive

After their considerable success with 'You spin me 'round', Dead or Alive came up with another energetic popsong in the guise of 'Lover come back to me'. Personally I always thought this was an even more powerful song, but the masses disagreed: this single fared less well. It peaked at number 11 in the UK and number 30 in the Netherlands.

By the time of the next single, the momentum of Dead or Alive seemed to have disappeared, each single scoring less well than its predecessor. And producers Stock Aitken & Waterman moved on to greener pastures with singing soapstars and fair-haired boys.

My collection: 7" single no. 292

Found: LP Top 100, Den Haag, 1985

Cost: 5,5 guilders

Track: 'Lover come back to me' / 'Far too hard'

Download: here

Alles heeft ritme - Frizzle Sizzle

Sisters Karin and Laura Vlasblom and their friends Mandy Huydts and Marjon Keller debuted in 1981 on 'Kinderen voor kinderen', a Dutch television programme and LP featuring songs by a children's choir. In 1984 the girls appeared on the fifth annual show to tell that they formed a girl group. Naming themselves Frizzle Sizzle they were selected to represent the Netherlands in the 1986 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest with 'Alles heeft ritme'. They ended up 13th in the contest in a field of 20 contestants. In the Dutch Top 40, the song peaked at number 21.

I found this single, amazingly, in a Record Exchange in London, in the basement of the Goldhawk Road shop. I think it's the only time I bought a Dutch language record abroad.

My collection: 7" single no. 3090

Found: Record Exchange, London, May 12, 1999

Cost: 20p

Tracks: 'Alles heeft ritme' / 'Eenmaal jong'

Download: here

Invisible - Alison Moyet

Alison Moyet's third solo single was specially written for her by Motown legend Lamont Dozier, from the famous Holland/Dozier/Holland writing team. The song was released in 1984 and peaked at number 21 in the UK singles chart. A year later, it reached number 31 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart - making it the only US top 40 hit of her career.

By the time I bought this single, it was ancient. I already had all the other singles taken from her debut album 'Alf', so this was a nice completion.

My collection: 7" single no. 3263

Found: Record fair, Utrecht, October 21, 2000

Cost: 1 guilder

Tracks: 'Invisible' / 'Hitch hike'

Download: here

She sells - Banderas

The second single from Sally Herbert and Caroline Buckley, a.k.a. Banderas, was 'She sells', a song about women being exploited for advertisements. It followed up their successful debut single 'This is your life' (which appeared previously on this blog but was deleted for some strange reason).

I bought this single some time after its release. Before that, I'd gotten hold of Banderas' debut album 'Ripe', which caused my interest in their single releases. It's one of the best pop albums I have.

My collection: 7" single no. 1958

Found: Record fair, Amsterdam, September 25, 1993

Cost: 2 guilders

Tracks: 'She sells' / 'She sells (Alternative 7" mix)'

Download: cd-single 'She sells', including both tracks

Martyr - Depeche Mode

Until the imminent release of 'Wrong' in April this year, 'Martyr' is still Depeche Mode's last single release. It came out on November 13, 2006 in support of a new compilation album, 'The best of Depeche Mode volume 1'. Originally titled 'Martyr for love', the song was recorded during sessions for Depeche Mode's previous album 'Playing the angel'. It was considered as the first single from that album, but was subsequently dropped from the album because it was considered to be 'too poppy'.

Released as their 45th single, it was their 35th top 20 hit in the UK. The single was released as a numbered limited edition on a picture disc 7" vinyl.

My collection: 7" single no. 3592
Found: Plaatboef, Den Haag, March 5, 2009
Cost: 4,5 euro
Tracks: 'Martyr' / 'Never let me down (Digitalism remix)'

Helden - David Bowie

Besides the French version of 'Heroes', I also found the German one a few days ago. It doesn't often happen that you find several versions of one track in a shop - and (relatively) cheap too. Obviously I bought this one as well.

'Helden' is a slightly better version than the French one, because this one sounds German. Bowie's pronunciation is a bit strange here and there, but it sounds a lot more credible than his French.

My collection: 7" single no. 3591

Found: Plaatboef, Den Haag, March 5, 2009

Cost: 3,5 euro

Tracks: 'Helden' / 'V2 Schneider'

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