I'm not perfect (but I'm perfect for you) - Grace Jones

There's no-one quite like Grace Jones. She's got a few classic songs to her name, and the album Inside story (1986) was an attempt to add a few more. That album didn't really get that legendary status, despite the involvement of Nile Rodgers.

However, the album did contain a few nice pop songs, and this was one of them. The song came from an idea that Jones and Mick Jagger had "when you are famous, and having to be as perfect for your partner as you are as a performer"; one of the pair did one line and the other followed. Although they only got as far as the title, Jones told Jagger that she would go away and develop it into a song imagining what her and Jagger would have said. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7720
Found: Kay's Outlet, Wagenberg (Netherlands), 12 July 2025
Tracks: 'I'm not perfect (but I'm perfect for you)' / 'Scary but fun'

April love - Pat Boone

'April Love' was composed by Sammy Fain and written by Paul Francis Webster. It was written as the theme song for a 1957 film of the same name, starring Pat Boone and Shirley Jones and directed by Henry Levin. Pat Boone recorded the song, and helped by the release of the film, it became a number one hit for him. In 1958, it was nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song but lost out to Frank Sinatra's 'All the Way'.

In 1973 the song was recorded by Ricky Wilde, and this is how I got to know this song. Obviously I was interested to hear the original as well, and I was lucky enough to find a copy last weekend!

My collection: 7" single no. 7719
Found: Kay's Outlet, Wagenberg (Netherlands), 12 July 2025
Tracks: 'April love' / 'When the swallows come back to Capistrand' 

Electric circus - Spectral Display

I wasn't actively searching for this single, but when I saw it I immediately realized I had something pretty rare. And indeed it is: it's the final Spectral Display single to complete the series - I now have all of them (although I am still after a few different formats). Of the five, this is probably the most unexpected one, because 'Electric circus' is a fully instrumental track!

Spectral Display came to prominence in 1982 with 'It takes a muscle to fall in love', a single I bought soon after it came out. I only heard 'There's a virus going round' over a decade after it came out, but that made me curious about this band and I started collecting their singles after that. If you like electronic music, this should pique your interest.

My collection: 7" single no. 7718
Found: Kay's Outlet, 12 July 2025
Tracks: 'Electric circus' / 'Sailor' 

Suddenly - Olivia Newton-John & Cliff Richard

The duet 'Suddenly' was a love theme for the movie Xanadu, which premiered in 1980. The song was performed by two big stars: Olivia Newton-John and Cliff Richard. The single reached number 15 in the UK singles chart and number 20 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. Surprisingly, it didn't chart at all in the Netherlands.

The B-side, 'You made me love you', performed by Olivia, didn't appear on the soundtrack album for Xanadu, although it did appear in the movie. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7717
Found: Kay's Outlet, Wagenberg (Netherlands), 12 July 2025
Tracks: 'Suddenly' / 'You made me love you' 

Piove (Ciao, ciao, bambina) - Peter Schilperoort

Domenico Modugno's 'Piove' has been covered so many times that it's hard to keep up. It always pays off to type in 'Piove' (or 'Volare'!) when doing online purchases, but in this instance I found a single in a real life record shop. 

This instrumental version was played by Peter Schilperoort on the clarinet, along with his quintet (whose members remain uncredited). Schilperoort was a founding member of the Dutch Swing College, a band that started on 5 May 1945, when the Netherlands were liberated from the German nazis. He passed away on 17 November 1990.

My collection: 7" single no. 7715
Found: Kay's Outlet, Wagenberg (Netherlands), 12 July 2025
Tracks: 'Piove (Ciao, ciao, bambina)' / 'When the saints go marching in'

Take me tonight - Kim Wilde

Although I own a lot of Kim Wilde records (and I do mean a lot) most of them have never featured on this blog. Which kind of distorts the image of my collection, so I plan to rectify that in the weeks to come. Although I won't bore you with the many different pressings of certain singles, I should really point out the weird variations and, of course, 12" singles that I own.

This single is a great one to start off with. 'Take me tonight' was released in Europe and the UK as the B-side of 'View from a bridge', but in Japan it was promoted to the A-side, because the song was used at the end of the movie Shadow (or Tenebrae as it was called elsewhere) - although that happened without director Dario Argento's consent. His dismay was loud and clear on a commentary track when the movie was released on DVD decades later. 

My collection: 7" single no. 1611
Found:  Record fair, Amsterdam, 28 March 1992
Tracks: 'Take me tonight' / 'View from a bridge'

The best of 1987 - Europe, Spagna, Cock Robin, Johnny Logan

I've never seen this EP before, and that may be because it was a special product for Johnson & Co. I don't know the company, but they had CBS make them this compilation with four tracks they present als 'the best of 1987'. Well, not necessarily, but there are a few nice tracks on there.

Most importantly for a Eurovision collector is Johnny Logan's 'Hold me now', the song that caused him to win the Contest for the second time. Cock Robin's 'Just around the corner' is a nice piece of mellow pop, and 'Call me' was a bit of a hype back in 1987 with its Euro Dance vibe. Europe's 'Rock the night' is probably the most dodgy track on here, with its lazy lyrics: 'Rock now, rock the night / 'Til early in the morning light / Rock now, rock the night / Whoa-oh, whoa-oh'. It's a far cry from the era-defining 'The final countdown'. But that was 1986. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7714
Found: Kay's Outlet, Wagenberg (Netherlands), 12 July 2025
Tracks: 'Rock the night' (Europe), 'Call me' (Spagna) / 'Just around the corner' (Cock Robin), 'Hold me now' (Johnny Logan)