Boosh - Whelan & Di Scala (Da Mode)

'Running Up That Hill' was a big hit last Summer as a result of the Netflix series 'Stranger Things', which featured the song quite prominently. It certainly did wonders for the exposure of Kate Bush to younger generations. Of course, most older people were already familiar with the singer and the song. 

Even in 2006, the song was picked up by a young duo. Dave Whelan and Mike Di Scala took it upon themselves to make a remix of 'Running Up That Hill'. They titled it 'Boosh' and released it on a one track 12" single (the other side remained blank). 

My collection: 12" single [unnumbered]
Found: Discogs.com, received 11 June 2022
Track: 'Boosh'

Here again - Mighty high

Few will have missed the resurgence of Kate Bush last year, because she went number 1 in several countries with 'Running Up That Hill', all because of a certain Netflix series. But Kate Bush has always been around, ever since she debuted with 'Wuthering Heights' in 1978 and the follow-up single 'The Man With The Child In His Eyes'. 

It is that latter song that has been remixed by Mighty High some time around 2010. I bought the 12" single, which was released unofficially, last year, but for some reason it didn't appear on this blog yet. As I am rectifying that, it's a good chance to listen to this interesting version of a classic song.

My collection: 12" single [unnumbered]
Found: Discogs.com, received 11 June 2022
Tracks: 'Here again (vocal mix)' / 'Here again (dub mix)'

Giving you the best that I got - Anita Baker

Anita Baker's 'Sweet love' is a beautiful soul song, and after I bought it I came across this limited edition box set, released some time after that single. The box set only included the single and a poster, which made you think a poster sleeve could also have been an option - but perhaps a box set made more of an impression in the UK stores in 1988. 

The song itself is, unfortunately, not as good as 'Sweet love'. At least, that's what I think. I've had this set for a few decades now but I am letting go of it, along with a handful of other singles. If you're interested, check out my Discogs inventory. 

My collection: 7" single no. 2454
Found: Record fair, Leiden, 2 September 1995
Tracks: 'Giving you the best that I got' / 'Good enough'

Et bonjour à toi l'artiste - Nicole Rieu

Back in November 2014, I bought 'Et bonjour à toi l'artiste', the French Eurovision entry from 1975 by Nicole Rieu. As I wrote back then, she recorded her song in no less than six languages. One of these was Japanese. 

'Soyokaze no okurimono' appears on the B-side of this Japanese single. Normally it is prohibitively expensive to order Japanese singles because of the postage costs involved, but I found this copy on Discogs from a French seller. That made it a lot easier to decide to buy this one. After all, we don't hear Eurovision songs in Japanese often enough. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6830
Found: Discogs.com, received 5 January 2023
Tracks: 'Et bonjour à toi l'artiste' / 'Et bonjour à toi l'artiste [Japanese version]'

Oração - António Calvário

Most people would think that the first ten years of the Eurovision Song Contest were pretty dull. Well, except my father, who thought that all the music made after the 1950's was bad. I grew to appreciate the music of the Fifties and Sixties later in life, and I have grown a pretty impressive Eurovision collection of singles as you can see on this blog. 

A recent acquisition is this Portuguese song from 1964. António Calvário sang 'Oração' ('Prayer') and recorded an EP with three more songs. Like most Portuguese songs, it didn't win but ended up in 13th place among 16 participants. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6829
Found: Discogs.com, received 4 January 2023
Tracks: 'Oração', 'Notre dame d'amour' / 'Alma de boémio', 'Tricana'

I am not afraid - Black / Angel eyes (Home and away) - Wet wet wet

This single represents the last Italian promo featuring a song by Black, completing my series of three. It was released in 1987 when a little UK band called Wet wet wet were making a name for themselves with the track 'Angel eyes (Home and away)', which I consider to be a terrible song because of those weird vocals. 

As for 'I am not afraid' by Black, the track is, of course, called 'I'm not afraid', but what's interesting about this single, is that the label says it has a duration of 3 minutes and 30 seconds, whereas in reality the track goes on for the full five minutes. That is a good thing, of course, because the single edit, which is found on this single, which was released commercially, is one of the worst single edits in the history of mankind.

My collection: 7" single no. 6828
Found: Discogs.com, received 3 January 2023
Tracks: 'Angel eyes (Home and away)' (Wet wet wet) / 'I am not afraid' (Black)

Chequered love / Kids in America - Kim Wilde

Obviously I have a lot of Kim Wilde singles, as you can see here, but I am a sucker for rare pressings - and boy, this really is a rare one. Made in the Philippines, it features 'Chequered love' on the A-side and, strangely, 'Kids in America' on the B-side. 

What's also interesting, is that this single features the classic 'EMI' logo on the label. Although Kim was signed to RAK records in the UK, and RAK is actually mentioned on this label, the Philippines probably didn't use the RAK artwork on their records at all. 

The single came in a generic white sleeve. If anyone is reading this in the Philippines, I am quite interested in the sleeve that would have been on this one originally - most probably a record company sleeve or something!

My collection: 7" single no. 6827
Found: Discogs.com, received 3 January 2023
Tracks: 'Chequered love' / 'Kids in America'