Viens l'oublier - Jean Vallée

In 1978, Jean Vallee represented Belgium with 'L'amour ça fait chanter la vie'. I found that single 12 years ago in Chelsea Records. But it wasn't Jean's first attempt: in 1970 he had his first Eurovision experience with 'Viens l'oublier'. And lo and behold: it was again Chelsea Records where I found this particular single.

Jean Vallée was born as Paul Goeders in Verviers on 2 October 1941. He passed away on 12 March 2014 in Clermont-sur-Berwinne. He was appointed Knight of the Order of the Crown by HM Albert II in 1999. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6512
Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, 25 November 2021
Cost: 5 euro
Tracks: 'Viens l'oublier' / 'Il y ferait bon dedans'

Le soleil donne - Laurent Voulzy

The majority of my Laurent Voulzy discs come from Antwerp, and this one is no exception. I bought the 7" single of 'Le soleil donne' at Chelsea Records 12 years ago, and now I found the 12" single in that same shop. 

I have a soft spot for Voulzy, not only because of his song 'Les nuits sans Kim Wilde', but also because of the brilliant songs I discovered on the compilation album 'Carib Islander'. Every single track on that one is great - and so obviously I was curious to hear the extended version of 'Le soleil donne' which features on this 12" single. In fact the extended version also appears on the compilation album (I didn't realise that) but the dub version is very interesting too.

My collection: 12" single [unnumbered]
Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, 25 November 2021
Cost: €1
Tracks: 'Le soleil donne' / 'Le soleil donne (dub)', 'Le soleil donne [edit]'

Era troppo carina - Alain Barriere

It's always nice to find a Eurovision song in a different language than the original version, but performed by the original singer. And so, here is 'Era troppo carina', the Italian version of 'Elle était si jolie', by Alain Barriere. The single was released commercially with a picture sleeve, featuring a goodlooking woman walking over the Champs Elysées in Paris, but this here is a promotional jukebox version of that same single.

The tracks remain the same. The B-side is the Italian version of 'Plus je t'entends', which appears on the French EP of the song. The original RCA Italiana company sleeve is a nice surprise. You never know what you get when you order online...

My collection: 7" single no. 6509
Found: Discogs, received 17 November 2021
Cost: $4
Tracks: 'Era troppo carina' / 'E piu' ti amo'

Julie - Daniel

21 years after buying 'Julie' by Daniel, I bought it again... but this time it's the original Yugoslavian single, which features the original version 'Džuli' that went missing on the international release for some reason. This single came to me directly from Croatia, since I bought a couple of singles from a Croatian dealer on Discogs.

Even after almost three decades, this song is still as infectious as ever, although it may sound dated to some.

My collection: 7" single no. 6510
Found: Discogs.com, received 17 November 2021
Cost: $3
Tracks: 'Julie' / 'Džuli'

Der alte Musikant - Ben Cramer

Ben Cramer's Eurovision song 'De oude muzikant' featured on this blog before, not only in the original version but also in the English version. And it gives me great pleasure to present, not a month later, the German version of that song. 

Just like the English version, this single presents the A- and B-side in translated form. 'Der alte Musikant' is of course, 'De oude muzikant', and 'Komm Sylvia tanz mit mir' is a literal translation of the song 'Kom Sylvia dans met mij'. The pressing, of course, comes from Germany.

My collection: 7" single no. 6511
Found: Discogs.com, received 18 November 2021
Cost: €5
Tracks: 'Der alte Musikant' / 'Komm Sylvia tanz mit mir'

Moja generacija - Korni Grupa

Korni Grupa was a Yugoslav rock band from Belgrade. Formed in 1968, Korni Grupa was one of the first Yugoslav rock bands to achieve major mainstream popularity, and the first Yugoslav supergroup. Since the beginning of their career, the band had developed a two-way musical development, one of commercial pop rock music aimed for mainstream popularity, and the other, an artistically influenced progressive rock sound crossed with influences of psychedelic, folk, jazz and symphonic rock music.

The band also performed at the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest with 'Moja generacija'. The song reached 12th place, owing to which, along with the little success of their second album, the band had decided to split. They held two farewell concerts at the Novi Sad Studio M and disbanded on December 1, 1974. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6508
Found: Discogs.com, received 17 November 2021
Cost: $6
Tracks: 'Moja generacija' / 'Zbogom ostaj o,detinjstvo'

Thank you for the music - Abba

The current resurgence of Abba would have you think that I have suddenly started buying Abba singles. This could be true, of course, but this particular single has been on my wantlist for about two years. It just took me very long to find a decent copy for a decent price. 

This is, of course, a re-release of Abba's immortal 'Thank you for the music'. It was released in the UK in 1983 in a poster sleeve. It coincided with the release of a compilation album, also titled 'Thank you for the music', that same year. It was only a year after the release of 'The Singles: The first ten years' in 1982, the one that featured the group's last two singles. But between 1982 and this year, Abba has released dozens of compilation albums and also re-releases (and re-re-releases) of all their albums. And box sets, of course. I wonder how many re-releases 'Voyage' will get in decades to come...

My collection: 7" single no. 6506
Found: Ebay, received 17 November 2021
Cost: £5
Tracks: 'Thank you for the music' / 'Our last summer'