Love is blue - Vicky Leandros

I have my share of copies of Vicky Leandros's 1967 Eurovision entry for Luxembourg: in French (two, no, three different copies), German, and English. But there are actually two different versions of the song in English, and this is the other one. 

'Love is blue' has the same lyrics as 'Colours of love', but the musical accompaniment is quite different. You can hear it during the first verse already: 'Colours of love' features a piano accompaniment which is absent on 'Love is blue'. 

Initially I bought this single because I didn't have this sleeve - which is quite pretty - but in doing so I actually found a different version of this Eurovision classic. And that's always a treat. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7690
Found: Record fair, Rotterdam, 15 June 2025 
Tracks: 'Love is blue' / 'Dance with me until tomorrow'

Mamma Mia - Abba

The fourth and final picture disc to be released recently off the album Abba from 1975 is 'Mamma Mia'. Coincidence: my mum was also called Mia, and so this song became a bit of an injoke when I was young. ('Here she goed again'). 

This is actually my fourth copy of the song, having bought the Dutch single, the German single (not on this blog!) and the GDR single over the past few decades. I doubt this will end here, because I'm still after a few variants!

My collection: 7" single no. 7683
Found: Platenzaak.nl, received 14 June 2025
Tracks: 'Mamma Mia' / 'Intermezzo no. 1'

Cliff (No. 2) - Cliff Richard

I actually bought this single a few months ago but it needed a bit of cleaning in order to make it playable. And then I forgot to put it on this blog! Fortunately it is still in my collection, so it randomly pops up now. 

It's 'Cliff (No. 2)', an EP that was released back in 1959. It features five tracks with his backing band The Drifters, plus one track by the Drifters on their own. The most interesting ones for me were the Richie Valens track 'Donna', which is a track that was also recorded by Marty Wilde, and 'Move it', a song Cliff performed on the UK radio a few years ago together with Kim Wilde. It's a piece of music history!

My collection: 7" single no. 7568
Found: Record fair, Amsterdam, 19 January 2025
Tracks: 'Donna', 'Move it', 'Ready Teddy' / 'Too much', 'Don't bug me baby', 'Driftin''

S.O.S. - Abba

Of the four picture discs that were released recently to celebrate the 50th birthday of Abba's self-titled album from 1975, only 'S.O.S.' features a photograph in black and white. It's a shame really because picture discs should really be in colour, always. On top of that, 'S.O.S.' is actually the best song of the four, so it's a bit weird to make it seem like it wasn't important. Because it was. 

The song started a run of 18 consecutive top 10 hits for Abba in the UK, peaking at number 6. It was also a number 2 hit in the Netherlands. Both John Lennon and Pete Townshend stated that it was one of their favourite pop records. In my opinion, 'S.O.S.' is the absolute highlight of Abba's current 'Voyage' shows in London. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7682
Found: Platenzaak.nl, received 14 June 2025
Tracks: 'S.O.S.' / 'Man in the middle' 

Hooked on you - Bread

I bought a few Bread singles recently, and that's because for some reason I keep bumping into them. The soft rock stylings of this band never disappoint, even with songs I'm not that familiar with. And they had some classy sleeves too!

'Hooked on you' was written and composed by David Gates. It was the second single released from Bread's 1977 album Lost Without Your Love, and became their final charting hit, reaching number 60 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 48 in Canada.

My collection: 7" single no. 7697
Found: Record fair, Rotterdam, 15 June 2025
Tracks: 'Hooked on you' / 'Fly away' 

Julie - Arne Jansen & les Cigales

Back in the summer of 1983, 'Julie' by Daniel was the summer hit of the year. The Yugoslavian entry for that year's Eurovision Song Contest made it to fourth place on the scoreboard and subsequently became a big hit in several European countries.

And at the time there were plenty artists who thought they could profit from the song's success as well. Enter Arne Jansen, a moderately successful Dutch singer, who with his support group Les Cigales recorded a version of the song in Dutch. The lyrics were provided by record company mogul Johnny Hoes, who conveniently also ran Arne Jansen's record company Telstar. A hit was born: this version of 'Julie' made it to number 28 in the Dutch Top 40.

My collection: 7" single no. 7696
Found: Record fair, Rotterdam, 15 June 2025 
Tracks: 'Julie' / 'Lorelei'

It ain't easy / Give up your guns - Ritty McGarrety

You'd be forgiven if you've never heard of Ritty McGarrety - I hadn't either. It was purely by chance that I saw this single and decided to buy it, based on one of the titles on this sleeve. 'Give up your guns' was originally recorded by the Buoys, and I absolutely love that song. So I was quite curious what this person had made of it. 

It turns out that Ritty was actually named Ritty van Straalen. He was a Dutch drummer, best known for his years with the succesful Utrecht-based band, Continental Uptight Band. He released a couple of solo singles and 'Give up your guns' was one of them, scraping into the Tipparade, just outside of the Dutch Top 40. Quite why the song appears on this 'maxi single' remains unknown, although the record company probably wanted to profit from its near-hit status. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7693
Found: Record fair, Rotterdam, 15 June 2025
Tracks: 'It ain't easy' / 'Give up your guns', 'Please, look back'