The way life's meant to be - Electric Light Orchestra

'The way life's meant to be' was the last single to be released from Electric Light Orchestra's 1981 album 'Time'. The song starts with gentle violins, and continues with flamenco-like guitar playing, and castanets. The south Mediterranean sound continues throughout the vocal and choiring on the refrain.

According to Jeff Lynne, 'It seemed to be [a pessimistic view] on that song. Yeah, well, and absolute that song... He's walking down the same street that it was before, like say a hundred years before. But uh, even though he's on the same bit of ground, everything that he knew is, like, buried under this new shit, y'know, that's growing up... on top of it, all these plastic towers and stuff. Ah, the castanets. It was a bit Russian but we put castanets on it and it became Spanish.'

My collection: 7" single no. 4796
Found: Record fair, Utrecht, April 10, 2010
Cost: 0,5 euro
Tracks: 'The way life's meant to be' / 'Wishing'

Long Hot Rock Summer - Various artists

This four track EP was included for free with a copy of Popfoto, the music magazine I read every month back in 1989. The label Mercury promoted four of their rock bands with this single. I couldn't decide whether to keep or throw away this disc, and in the end I decided to include it in my collection.

Basically, the tracks on the A-side I find boring, whereas the B-side tracks are marginally better. Kingdom Come's track is probably the best of the four, as it contains less rock cliches than the other three. Why, Dare's song even sounds like a Europe castoff!

My collection: 7" single no. 942
Found: Den Haag, July 8, 1989
Cost: -
Tracks: 'Born to be my baby' (Bon Jovi), 'Gypsy road' (Cinderella) / 'Gotta go (Can't wage a war)' (Kingdom come), 'Into the fire' (Dare)

Undercover of the night - Rolling Stones

'Undercover of the night' was largely composed by Mick Jagger. Keith Richards even commented: 'Mick had this one all mapped out, I just played on it'. The lyric sees Jagger explore the then-ongoing political corruption in Central and South America. According to him, the song was 'heavily influenced by William Burroughs' 'Cities of the red night'.'

The single was promoted with a music video which included some violent scenes, causing it to be censored or even banned in several territories. It didn't hinder its commercial success: 'Undercover of the night' reached number 11 in the UK singles chart, number 9 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 5 in the Dutch Top 40.

My collection: 7" single no. 4801
Found: Record fair, Utrecht, April 10, 2010
Cost: 0,5 euro
Tracks: 'Undercover of the night' / 'All the way down'

Riders in the night - Freur

'Riders in the night' is a track on Freur's debut album 'Doot doot' (1983). It was released as the fourth single from the album. The track was shortened by two minutes, as the album version clocked in at five and a half minutes. The record company probably hoped that a shorter version would be picked up by radio more easily.

Still, this single went the same way all its predecessors went: straight to the bargain bin. Freur has never been commercially successful - it's probably their eclectic mix of pop and rock that caused them so much lack of success.

My collection: 7" single no. 4791
Found: Record fair, Utrecht, April 10, 2010
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Riders in the night' / 'You're a hoover'

Oh Diane - Fleetwood Mac

'Oh Diane' was written by Lindsey Buckingham for Fleetwood Mac's 1982 album 'Mirage'. The song, like the album, was produced by him as well.

Despite the previous two singles from the album ('Hold me' and 'Gypsy') being unsuccessful, the song became a surprise big hit for the band in the United Kingdom when released there in December 1982. It peaked at number 9 in February 1983, helping to push its parent album into the Albums chart Top 10.

My collection: 7" single no. 4803
Found: Record fair, Utrecht, April 10, 2010
Cost: 0,5 euro
Tracks: 'Oh Diane' / 'Love in store'

Vivre - Guy Bonnet

Guy Bonnet was born in Avignon, in the Vaucluse department in southeastern France in 1945. During his career, he has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest a couple of times. He started in 1968, writing and composing 'La source' for Isabelle Aubret. In 1970 he participated himself with 'Marie-Blanche', which finished fourth out of 12 contestants.

In 1983, he attempted to better that score with the song 'Vivre', which he wrote and performed himself. The song deals with the parting of two lovers, with one apparently slated to be executed by firing squad while the other continues to live. The song was historically the first ever French Eurovision entry to also be recorded in the minority Provençal language, then under the title 'Vièure'. The song finished eighth out of 20 contestants.

My collection: 7" single no. 4823
Found: Record fair, Utrecht, April 10, 2010
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'Vivre' / 'Un signe d'amour'

Who wants to live forever / Friends will be friends - Queen

After the death of Freddie Mercury, 'Who wants to live forever' was re-released by EMI in March 1992. Originally, the track was released as a single from Queen's 1986 album 'A kind of magic'. The song was written by Brian May for the soundtrack of the movie 'Highlander'. The double A-side 'Friends will be friends' was from the same album, and originally released as the single that preceded 'Who wants to live forever' in 1986.

As far as I know, this double A-side single was only released in the Netherlands. It reached number 7 in the Dutch Top 40.

My collection: 7" single no. 1617
Found: Melody Maker, Den Haag, April 4, 1992
Cost: 6,5 guilders
Tracks: 'Who wants to live forever' / 'Friends will be friends'