Nee, je moet het je broer laten doen - Rubberen Robbie

Last month my brother passed away and it was one of those things you expect to happen, except you just don't know when exactly. He wasn't an easy person to live with, my brother, and during these last few years there were multiple complications with his declining health and a big (and I do mean BIG) collection having to move from one house to another. It was a huge undertaking. 

With most of the moving done, he passed away. I faced another apartment that needs to be emptied out - by someone or another. I remembered this little single, hiding away in my collection. I don't often post Dutch music on my blog, because listeners overseas can't really understand the music, but this one by the group Rubberen Robbie was too appropriate for my recent predicament. 'Nee, je moet het je broer laten doen' ('No, you must let your brother do it') is something that came back in my head almost instantly. 

My collection: 7" single no. 930
Found: Disco Market, Den Haag, 1989
Tracks: 'Nee, je moet het je broer laten doen' / 'Onder me klomp'

Remixes - Human League

Although the Human League were important players in the early Eighties synthpop movement, their 12" single output was less than impressive. They did release some extended versions of their singles, but for some reason it took a turn of the century to come up with more radical remixes.

In 2003 the album The Very Best of The Human League was released, a double CD with 17 of their biggest hits plus a bonus CD with 11 remixes. One of the remixes was 'Open your heart (The Strand remix)', which appears on the A-side of this 10" single. The B-side is a remix that doesn't appear on the CD: an 'Extended Family Vocal Mix' of 'The Sound of the crowd'. There was no excuse to leave this disc behind.

My collection: 10" single [unnumbered]
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 9 November 2024
Tracks: 'Open your heart (The Strand remix)' / 'The sound of the crowd (Extended Family vocal mix)'

Sevince - Nazar

'Sevince' ('When I'm in love') was the Turkish entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 1978 in Paris, performed by Nilüfer & Nazar in the country's first appearance since 1975. The song is an up-tempo number about the power of love and the song talks about love and how it is good when we are loved by someone.  

Nazar included Olcayto Ahmet Tuğsuz who went on to compose Turkey's Eurovision entries in 1982 and 1987 and San Marino's entries in 2016 and 2019. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7449
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 9 November 2024
Tracks: 'Sevince' / 'Darling'

Oui, oui, oui, oui - Jean-Paul Mauric

Jean Philippe represented France at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1959 with 'Oui, oui, oui, oui'. Such was the popularity of the song that many other artists recorded versions of the song. The most famous version was recorded by Sacha Distel.

But Jean-Paul Mauric also had a shot at the song. It appears on this EP, which also features three other songs. Mauric would get his own chance to represent his country two years later with 'Printemps (Avril carillonne)'.

My collection: 7" single no. 7448
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 9 November 2024
Tracks: 'Mon ange gardien', 'Ne m'oublie pas' / 'Oui oui oui oui', 'La marche des gosses'

Ik wil gelukkig zijn - Micha Marah

Micha Marah participated in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1979 with the song 'Hey nana'. She never recorded the song, until last year. Unfortunately it wasn't released on a 7" single.

In 1986 she did record a Eurovision song: a cover version of 'Über die Brücke geh'n' in Dutch. In this version it is called 'Ik wil gelukkig zijn' ('I want to be happy'). 

My collection: 7" single no. 7447
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 9 November 2024
Tracks: 'Ik wil gelukkig zijn' / 'Iedere dans'

Sprattelgumma - Siw Malmkvist

The song 'Puppet on a string' by Sandie Shaw won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1967, and what followed was a tsunami of cover versions in many different languages. It's quite interesting how many versions there are - and some of them have appeared on this blog already.

Siw Malmkvist's version is performed in Swedish, just like the other three tracks on this EP. It also features a version of 'Downtown', which was another big hit in 1967. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7446
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 9 November 2024
Tracks: 'Sprattelgumma', 'Nanting fanigt' / 'Arvid', 'Downtown'

Hou toch van mij - Maurice Hymans with the Westonians

As far as I know, the Belgian Eurovision entry from 1959 was only covered twice: once by Koen Crucke in 1996 (released on CD-single only) and this one by Maurice Hymans with the Westonians. They were considerably quicker to record the song: this single was released in 1959 already.

The group only released a few singles, all of them released in 1959.Not much is known about them. All I know is that it's nice to have a cover version of such an early Eurovision song.

My collection: 7" single no. 7445
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 9 November 2024
Tracks: 'Hou toch van mij' / 'Monisima'