Falter im Wind - Milestones

The Milestones came together in 1968. The band's original line up was Beatrix Neundlinger, Günter Grosslercher, Robert Unterweger and Rudi Tinsobin. Their first self-titled album was released in 1970. In 1972, just before they were selected to represent Austria at Eurovision, Unterweger and Tinsobin left the band and were replaced by Norbert Niedermeyer and Christian Kolonovits.

Although Austria isn't known for its great Eurovision entries, this certainly can compete with the best of them. The song is tastefully arranged and has rather poetic lyrics. This single was also released in a sort of proto-gatefold sleeve, with one piece of paper folded into another one, with either a photograph of a dog or a photograph of the band appearing in the hole in the middle of the front sleeve. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6760
Found: Discogs.com, received 10 August 2022
Cost: €9
Tracks: 'Falter im Wind' / 'Du schöner Tag'

Chirpy chirpy cheep cheep - Middle of the road

Among my early memories of pop music I find this song, 'Chirpy chirpy cheep cheep' by Middle of the road. Which is odd, considering it was released when I was just a baby. All I know is that my older brother and sister were suitably impressed by this group and they must have played their copies of this single later on in the Seventies.

It took me a while, but I finally bought my own copy. It has to be said that I bought it along with a couple of other single I ordered online - but at the same time, I'm rather glad to have this song because it is a charming little pop song from (gulp) 51 years ago.

My collection: 7" single no. 6758
Found: Discogs.com, recieved 9 August 2022
Cost: €2
Tracks: 'Chirpy chirpy cheep cheep' / 'Rainin' 'n painin''

Love is stronger than death - The The

This single really isn't much to look at, but it does complete the set of singles from the The The album 'Dusk'. As 7" singles became increasingly rare in the Nineties, only 'Dogs Of Lust' got a decent commercial release in the UK. The next single, 'Slow emotion replay' was only ever released as a Spanish promotional 7" single, and this single of 'Love is stronger than death' was released in the USA. 

'Dusk' was the last 'big' album by The The. After the Hank Williams tribute 'Hanky Panky' their contract with the Epic label ended and Matt Johnson devoted himself increasingly to soundtracks and independent releases. Sometimes I wish the days of the 'old' The The could continue.

My collection: 7" single no. 6757
Found: Discogs.com, received 9 August 2021
Cost: €3
Tracks: 'Love is stronger than death' / 'Infected (live)'

Hey hey rise up - Pink Floyd featuring Andriy Khlyvnyuk

In February 2022, the Ukrainian singer Andriy Khlyvnyuk, who had abandoned a US tour by his band BoomBox to serve in the Ukrainian military in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, recorded an a capella version of the first verse of the Ukrainian anthem 'Oh, the Red Viburnum in the Meadow', a Ukrainian patriotic march.Due to the song's association with the Ukrainian people's aspiration for independence, singing of the song was banned during the period in which Ukraine was a Soviet Republic (1919-1991). Nevertheless, it was sung by Ukrainian patriots, with defiance; anyone caught singing it was jailed, beaten, and even exiled.

Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour was shown the Instagram post by the Ukrainian artist Janina Pedan, who is married to his son Charlie, and was inspired to record something in support of Ukraine in the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War. Together with drummer Nick Mason he recorded this track, released as a single to raise money for humanitarian efforts in the region.

This blog is not politically involved, but it does need some clarification that Pink Floyd have always released beautiful music and the fact that they use their name and reputation to raise awareness about this horrible Russian crime - which is still continuing as I'm writing this - is something anyone of sane mind should applaud. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6755
Found: Amazon, received 18 July 2022
Cost: €8
Tracks: 'Hey hey rise up' / 'A great day for freedom 2022'

If we only have love - Paul Andrews

Who is Paul Andrews? Try as you might, you will not get an answer to this question, because the web lists a lot of Paul Andrews-es, but not this one. He released two singles: 'My Girl Maria' (1970) and this one, 'If we only have love' (1972), a cover version of Jacques Brel's 'Quand On N'a Que L'amour'.

But it's the B-side I was really interested in: it features a cover version of Marty Wilde's song 'Lullaby', which appeared on his 1969 album 'Diversions'. That album is fabulous and 'Lullaby' is one of the more gentle and touching tracks on it. This single was released in Angola, and so this marks the first time I ever bought a single that was pressed in that country. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6750
Found: Discogs.com, received 13 July 2022
Cost: €8
Tracks: 'If we only have love' / 'Lullaby'

Moitié-moitié - Carol Rich

The synthesizer became increasingly popular during the Eighties, and although it took a little while, the Eurovision Song Contest also caught on. During the second half of the decade many entries were so synth-heavy that the records almost couldn't cope with the walls of sound that were built. And this single is a good example.

Anne-Lyse Caille (stage name: Carol Rich) represented Switzerland in 1987 with a song called 'Moitié-moitié', which means either 'so so', 'half half' or 'fifty-fifty'. It highlights the good and bad aspects of love. All the synthesizers couldn't really help the song: it ended up in 17th place in a field of 22 competitors.

My collection: 7" single no. 6756
Found: Ebay, received 21 July 2022
Cost: €6
Tracks: 'Moitié-moitié' / 'Fou dans la tête'

The first day of love - Anne-Karine

Norway was an unlucky country when they participated in the Eurovision Song Contest. Although they started competing in 1960, their songs only made it to the top 3 once, in 1966. But they kept on trying, and by 1974 they depended on one man for their success: Arne Bendiksen delivered the majority of their songs during the 1970s. 

Anne-Karine Strøm was one of the Bendik Singers, who performed 'It's just a game' in 1973, and in 1974 she was back as a solo artist (with the other three members acting as her backing singers!). 'The first day of love' was performed in English.

My collection: 7" single no. 6754
Found: Discogs.com, received 15 July 2022
Cost: €4
Tracks: 'The first day of love' / 'Harmony'