Strawberry Fields forever - Beatles

Although I would love to own the box set of Beatles singles with the green sleeves, it is quite impossible to get for a reasonable price. These re-releases from the Eighties, however, pop up for a more reasonable price every now and again. And so I settled with this re-release of 'Penny Lane' and 'Strawberry fields forever', simply because they're two of the best tracks recorded by the fab four IMHO.

This single came with a piece of paper informing the buyer that the albums 'Rubber soul', 'Help' and 'Revolver' were soon to be released on compact disc. It wouldn't be the last time these albums were released on the format: since then, there have been remasters, box sets and what not. Still, no-one seems to have caught on to the idea that Beatles tracks are not the most attractive in their current state. A stereo remix wouldn't be too bad an idea in an age where music is usually listened to with in-ears.

My collection: 7" single no. 5369
Found: unknown
Cost: unknown
Tracks: 'Strawberry Fields forever' / 'Penny Lane'

Running with the night - Lionel Richie

The dodgy lyrics of the man's later work may make you forget just how good his songs were at the height of his popularity. A song like 'Dancing on the ceiling' can't hold a candle to a great pop track like this one, 'Running with the night'.

It was the second single from his multi-platinum album 'Can't slow down'. The electric guitar solo was played by Steve Lukather, best known as a member of the rock band Toto. Lukather sat down in the studio and the engineer played the basic tracks of the song, for him to hear for the first time, so he could plan his part. As the music played, he jammed along on his instrument. At the conclusion of tune, he said to the engineer, "okay, I'm ready for a take." The producer replied, "That was a take." Singer Richard Marx added backing vocals on the track as a session singer; he had also lent his vocals to Richie's 'All Night Long (All Night)' and 'You Are'.

My collection: 7" single no. 5474
Found: Kringloop Hebbes, Den Haag, July 25, 2014
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Running with the night' / 'Serves you right'

Magnificent obsession - Fehlfarben

Fehlfarben is a German post-punk band from Düsseldorf, Germany. The band name is from a German printing term referring to erroneous colors in prints: singer Peter Hein was in this line of work at Xerox while in the band. Its founding members were Peter Hein (vocals), Thomas Schwebel (guitar), Michael Kemner (bass), Frank Fenstermacher (saxophone), Markus Oehlen and Uwe Bauer (drums).

'Magnificent obsession' was released as a single in 1983, but didn't register in any charts I know. Still, the single was picked up by radio stations, which is how I found out about it at the time. I also forgot about the song for a long time, until I finally got this single a few years ago.

My collection: 7" single no. 5394
Found: unknown
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Magnificent obsession' / 'Das Buschgespenst'

Spetters - Kayak

Although the name Kayak isn't mentioned on the front of this sleeve, the soundtrack for the Dutch movie 'Spetters' was indeed played by Kayak. They are credited on the back of the sleeve, as is composed Ton Scherpenzeel.

Anyone who has seen the movie 'Spetters' will know that the story centres around a group of young people, with sex, jealousy and motorcross playing a big part - and there's also a recurring appearance of various variations on the theme of homosexuality. It was the controversy surrounding Spetters that caused Verhoeven to leave for Hollywood, where he went on to because a hugely successful director.

The music on this single tends to be overlooked - it wasn't even a hit in the Netherlands even though the movie attracted more than a million viewers in the cinema - but listen to it here and you will find this is actually great even without the movie.

My collection: 7" single no. 5428
Found: unknown
Cost: unknown
Tracks: 'Theme from 'Spetters'' / 'Lost blue of Chartres'

Born free - Vic Reeves

Vic Reeves presented a television show on New Year's Eve 1990, which went on during the turn of the year. Just after midnight, one of his guest stars was Kim Wilde - which will go a long way into explaining why I bought this single.

'Oh! Mr. Songwriter' was a song performed by Kim during the show, and as this single shows, it would have been nice if she'd sung it on this recording as well. Vic Reeves, while a good comedian, doesn't have the best singing voice. Still, this release, featuring a cover of 'Born free', was received very well in 1991 and even reached the top 10 in the UK singles chart.

My collection: 7" single no. 5479
Found: Kringloop Hebbes, Den Haag, July 25, 2014
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Born free' / 'Oh! Mr. Songwriter...'

Contenders - Heaven 17

In a review of Heaven 17's 1986 single 'Contenders', Simon Reynolds for Melody Maker wrote: "This one practically hurls itself off the ropes at you, solid funk brawn but light on its feet, bobbing and weaving, jabbing and pummeling and always on the attack, but, somehow, failing to deliver that hook to floor you completely. The killer blow never comes."

I'm not a fan of music reviews, but this particular one hits the nail on the head: it is a nice enough song but it isn't particularly memorable. Which is surprising, because Heaven 17, up to that point, were able to serve up memorable pop songs each and every time. After their successful first three albums, the fourth album 'Pleasure one' failed to deliver a top 40 smash, and started a run of many non-charting albums.

My collection: 7" single no. 5404
Found: unknown
Cost: unknown
Tracks: 'Contenders' / 'Excerpts from 'Diary of a contender''

Laat me nu gaan - Linda Lepomme

In 1985, actress and singer Linda Lepomme represented Belgium during that year's Eurovision Song Contest with the song 'Laat me nu gaan' ('Let me go now'). She received only 7 points and ended up in last place.

A few months later, Lepomme started working at the musicals division of the Royal Ballet of Flanders, where she was artistic director between 1987 and 2005, until subsidies to musicals were no longer supplied by the government.

My collection: 7" single no. 5605
Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, August 10, 2014
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Laat me nu gaan' / 'Laat me nu gaan (orchestral version)'