Popcorn - Anarchic System

Gershon Kingsley composed 'Popcorn' as an instrumental tune. Still, there are a few vocal versions of this track, and the first one was recorded by Anarchic System in 1972. Anarchic System was a French band. Early singles 'Popcorn' and 'Carmen Brasilia' were very much influenced by electronic music, although later work is influenced more by the rock genre.

For the longest time, I didn't know that there was this vocal version of 'Popcorn', all I knew was that Anarchic System recorded 'a version' of Kingsley's composition. I found out shortly before I found my copy at a Dutch record fair. Although I prefer the instrumental version on the B-side of this record, it's still a great rarity.

My collection: 7" single no. 2736
Found: Record fair, Amsterdam, September 8, 1996
Cost: 5 guilders
Tracks: 'Popcorn (Vocal)' / 'Popcorn (Instrumental)'
Download: here

I put a spell on you - Dee Dee

I am pretty sure that I would never have bought this 12" single if I hadn't had the double lp The best of the Top 40 of the year in my collection. By the time I bought this, that album was mine for more than a quarter of a century, and I'd played 'I put a spell on you' by Dee Dee more than a few times. Otherwise, I might have just glanced at this record and put it aside in the shop.

The way it was, I just had to have this special yellow vinyl edition, featuring an extended version of this cover of the Cleedence Clearwater Revival classic. Sure, it's throwaway pop, but I've never disliked that...

My collection: 12" single no. 436

Found: Plaatboef, Rotterdam, 2004

Cost: 5 euro

Tracks: 'I put a spell on you [12" version]' / 'Do your loving right'

Download: here

I've seen that face before / Pull up to the bumper - Grace Jones

Before I bought this record, I left it standing in the shop for months and months. I didn't think it would contain longer versions of the two songs listed, and that was reason enough not to buy it. I think I was right, because when I finally did buy it, this record contained the regular versions of the songs. Still, after all that time, the price had dropped, so the financial damage was limited.

Grace Jones is an icon, and 'I've seen that face before' is her best song, in my opinion at least. If only for that one line: 'toi aussi, tu déteste la vie'. There's only one woman who can snarl like that.

My collection: 12" single no. 325

Found: Disco Market, Den Haag, 1995

Cost: 2 guilders

Tracks: 'I've seen that face before' / 'Pull up to the bumper'

Download: Disc 2 of album 'Ultimate Collection', including both tracks

Living in a world (turned upside down) - Private Lives

The radio station I listened to in the first half of the 1980's was very much oriented towards the UK charts. Even if songs didn't make it into the Dutch charts, you would hear the latest sounds from Britain, and that would give you a good idea of what was going on on the other side of the North Sea.

Private Lives was a band that never made it in Europe. They didn't even make it in the UK, as only this song, 'Living in a world (turned upside down)' reached the lower regions of the singles charts.

It's a classy, stylish song, with a melody that stays in your head once you've heard it. I loved it in the eighties and I was happy to find this single almost a decade later. Much to my surprise, it was a Dutch pressing!

My collection: 7" single no. 1832

Found: Record Palace, Amsterdam, January 13, 1993

Cost: 2 guilders

Tracks: 'Living in a world (turned upside down)' / 'Breakup'

Download: Album 'Prejudice and pride', including both tracks

Respectable - Mel & Kim

The British sisters Mel and Kim Appleby, born to English and Jamaican parents, were noticed while they were dancing in a nightclub in London, signed to Supreme records and put under the guidance and supervision of the production team Stock Aitken & Waterman. It was the start of a short but very successful career, starting in September 1986 with their debut single 'Showing out (Get Fresh at the weekend)'. The second single, 'Respectable', was an even bigger success in the UK, reaching no. 1 in the spring of 1987.

I bought this single twice. The first copy I bought quickly after its release, the second copy six years later. It was a German limited edition in red vinyl, which was a great find. I never saw this item before or since.

My collection: 7" single no. 526 (1) and 1884 (2)

Found: Free Record Shop, Den Haag, 1987 (1) and Record Fair, Amsterdam, April 24, 1993 (2)

Cost: 6 guilders (1) and 4 guilders (2)

Tracks: 'Respectable' / 'Respectable (instrumental)'

Download: here

Find me (Odyssey to Anyoona) - Jam & Spoon feat. Plavka

Time can be cruel to pop songs. Some songs sound dated only a couple of years after they are released, others are truly timeless. I'd have to say that this one falls into the former category. Listening to 'Find me' in 2008 makes it a very 'nineties' track. Jam & Spoon have produced and created many tracks but they have used the same style pretty much all the time.

Still, 'Find me' is a nice popsong, and when I bought this promotional double 12" release, I was very glad. It contains no less than six versions of the song, plus two other tracks, and the heavy duty gatefold sleeve gives it a lush look. The fact that such releases sometimes turn out to be a bit disappointing in the long run is just a minor remark.

My collection: 12" single no. 219

Found: Kensington High Street, London, 1994

Cost: 6 pounds

Tracks: 'Find me (Fruhschicht)', 'Find me (House ideaz)' / 'Find me (Dedicated to the blondes)', 'Find me (Ben Liebrand mix)' / 'Find me (Odyssey to Anyoona)', 'Odyssey to Anyoona' / 'Drie Kraft der vier Herzen', 'The Tribe'

Download: here

Chequered love - Kim Wilde

'Chequered love' was Kim Wilde's second single and it was another big success. In the Netherlands, it did even better than Kim's debut Kids in America, reaching no. 2 in the charts where 'Kids' only made it to no. 6.

In 1982, I was going to Disco Market on a very regular basis, searching through the singles until I found one or two titles I could take home and play. It was a nice surprise to find 'Chequered love' only a few weeks after I'd found View from a bridge.

My collection: 7" single no. 129

Found: Disco Market, Den Haag

Cost: 1 guilder

Tracks: 'Chequered love' / 'Shane'

Download: here

When your heart is weak - Cock Robin

Cock Robin hit the Dutch singles chart in early 1986 with a bang: their first hit, 'The promise you made', reached no. 1 within a few weeks and made an instant impression with the Dutch audience. Elsewhere they weren't as succesful: in the UK that single reached the chart four months later and barely scraped the top 40.

I heard the 12" mix of 'The promise you made' in a shop and was instantly interested in their remixes as well. A few weeks after I bought that 12", I found 'When your heart is weak' for a lower price than usual. Of course, I bought it. I wasn't disappointed: the 12" single contained a nice extended version of the track, as well as an instrumental version. Of course, I had to have the other 12" singles by Cock Robin as well... more about that later.

My collection: 12" single no. 41

Found: Disco Market, Den Haag, 1986

Cost: 5 guilders

Tracks: 'When your heart is weak (Dance mix)' / 'When your heart is weak (Instrumental)', 'When your heart is weak (Single mix)'

Download: here

After the party - Maarten Peters

Maarten Peters first rose to prominence in the Dutch music scene as the guitarist of the Frank Boeijen Groep. He took the place of original guitarist Wil Theunissen, who quit the band for health reasons. While playing the the Frank Boeijen Groep, Maarten Peters formed his own band, Maarten Peters & the Dream. This is probably one of their best known singles, despite the fact that it didn't reach the top 40 singles chart in Holland.

'After the party' was included on many mid-80's compilation albums and surprised some people because of its lush production. The 7" single included a short version and a full length version. The latter version ended up on the album, 'Hunting the queenbee'.

My collection: 7" single no. 418

Found: Disco Market, Den Haag, June 28, 1986

Cost: 3,5 guilders

Tracks: 'After the party' / 'After the party (short version)'

Download: here

On T.V. - Buggles

The trip to Esbjerg and the visit to the local record shop there which I mentioned earlier today was pleasing in many ways. For instance, I also got to fill one omission in my collection of Buggles singles.

On T.V. was the third single from the Buggles's second album, 'Adventures in modern recording'. When you look at the chart history of the Buggles, it's as if they never made more than their debut album, because the second album nor any of the five singles that were drawn from it ever made the chart. Finding 'On T.V.' meant that I finally had all of the Buggles's singles. Well, you know I didn't know about the single Elstree at that time...

My collection: 7" single no. 3431
Found: Esbjerg (Denmark), June 17, 2006
Cost: 10 Danish crowns
Tracks: 'On T.V.' / 'Blue Nylon'
Download: Album 'Adventures in modern recording', which includes both tracks

Good times - Chic

The assignment: buy as many singles as you can for 1 pound. The place: a warehouse, either Woolworth or some similar shop. The time: a summer holiday in 1979. I was only eight years old, but I knew what I had to do. I bought no less than 10 ex-chart singles in that shop in London. Almost all of them were in plain white paper sleeves, and all of them were UK pressings, something that I considered to be the best souvenir of this country I could ever have - better than a small Big Ben statue or a t-shirt with the word 'London' on it.

One of those singles was Chic's 'Good times'. Only a few months later this song would be misused for Sugarhill Gang's 'Rapper's delight'. What a waste...

My collection: 7" single no. 13

Found: London, July 1979

Cost: 10p

Tracks: 'Good times' / 'A warm summer night'

Download: here

Love take over - Five Star

Five Star is one of those pop groups that churn out happy tunes like there's no tomorrow, sell millions of records and then disappear into anonymity. Well, almost, because part of the group is still performing live from time to time.

I always liked Five Star, so it's no wonder that at some point I started collecting their 12" singles. Back in 1985, there was still a good chance that a 12" single would include an extended version of a song, instead of a remixed, remodelled and re-done track. 'Love take over' was remixed by Paul Hardcastle, who was one of the big names of that time. A nice find, although I can't remember exactly how I got my hands on this one...

My collection: 12" single no. 342
Found: ?
Cost: ?
Tracks: 'Love take over (remix by Paul Hardcastle)' / 'Keep in touch', 'Let me be the one (instrumental version featuring Grover Washington jr.)'
Download: here

See those eyes - Altered Images

I was very late discovering Altered Images. I did buy 'Don't talk to me about love' somewhere in the eighties, but I never realised they did much more than that until singer Clare Grogan joined the 2002 Here & Now Tour, and I got to hear a selection of their tracks live.

'See those eyes' was one of them. So naturally, when the chance presented itself, I snapped up the single. That happened in 2004.

It's always good to discover music, even if it's years too late...

My collection: 7" single no. 3400

Found: Den Haag, 2004

Cost: 1 euro

Tracks: 'See those eyes' / 'How about that then (I've missed my train)'

Download: Album 'Pinky blue', which includes both tracks

Rabbit - Chas & Dave

I knew a girl once who was always talking. She talked so much that my ears, and those of our mutual friends, started to bleed. I had to do something, and that's when I reached back into my record collection and recorded this song for her. It's got the great lines: Now you were just the kind of girl to break my heart in two / I knew right off when I first clapped my eyes on you / But how was I to know you'd bend my ear'oles too / With your incessant talking? / You're becoming a pest. When I asked about it, she confessed that she never really listened much to lyrics of songs, just the music. And so this little hint went right past her.

I bought the single a decade earlier, just because I liked it. I never heard much more about Chas & Dave until Tori Amos covered two songs of theirs in 1996.

My collection: 7" single no. 184

Found: Disco Market, Den Haag, 1983

Cost: 2 guilders

Tracks: 'Rabbit' / 'Uneasy feeling'

Download: here

Every breath you take - Otis Liggett

The Police's 'Every breath you take' is one of the world's best known songs. It was released in 1983 and reached no. 1 in the UK and the USA. Even twenty years later, Sting, who wrote the song, earned an average of $2000 per day in royalties.

No wonder, then, that other artists would record a cover version of this song. Acts like UB40, Juliana Hatfield and Puff Daddy have tried their hand on it, but the first artist to do this must have been Otis Liggett. His version was released in 1983, shortly after the Police released their single.

I didn't know this when I bought the single. I was in Esbjerg, Denmark, for an '80s rock festival in 2006 when I found a second hand record shop in the centre of town. Naturally I had to check it out. I left the shop with 13 singles, and this was one of them. It's a nice enough version, nothing spectacular, but a nice rare find.

My collection: 7" single no. 3430

Found: Esbjerg (Denmark), June 17, 2006

Cost: 10 Danish crowns

Tracks: 'Every breath you take' / 'Every beat you hear'

Download: here

No more talk - Dubstar

I don't remember why I bought 'No more talk' by Dubstar on cd-single (well, yes, I do buy those things too sometimes) in 1997. I may have heard the song in the shop while I was there, and decided to buy it on the spot. All I know is that it was in London, because outside of the UK I've never even seen a Dubstar release (except on international record fairs, of course...)

I do remember why I bought the promotional double 12" single of that track in 1999. I'd played the cd-single countless times and loved every track on it. My only regret was that it didn't contain any remixes of the song. Usually, when I like a song, I become interested in remixes because they can add a different perspective on it. And so I was very excited to come across this promotional release, containing six remixes of 'No more talk' by three different remixers.

The excitement faded, alas, when I heard the remixes. In my opinion, the Breakout mix by Jamie Myerson is the only one that warrants repeated listening. All the others are perfect music for loud discos where people are getting drunk. But that's not where I'm headed anytime soon. Still, I finally got what I was looking for and it's worth owning for that one remix alone.

My collection: 12" single no. 406
Found: Beanos, East Croydon (UK), May 1999
Cost: 3 pounds
Tracks: 'No more talk (Jamie Myerson Breakout mix)' / 'No more talk (FC Kahuna vocal mix)', 'No more talk (Steve Hillier remix)' / 'No more talk (Jamie Myerson Breakout instrumental mix)', 'No more talk (Jamie Myerson Vocal House mix)' / 'No more talk (FC Kahuna dub mix)'
Download: here

Waterloo - Abba

When I was a child, Abba was probably the most popular band in the world. I was always listening to them, whether it was on the records of my sister, on television or on the radio. I've bought the majority of their singles in my life, although I'm still not complete. When I bought this particular single, though, it was mostly for sentimental reasons. I don't think I ever played it. I don't think I could hear anything new if I played Waterloo once again.

This single was released in 2004 to commemorate the fact that Abba won the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest 30 years earlier. Sounds like a record company ploy, like most Abba releases these days. I think the third version of their 'Complete Albums' boxset was released recently. Thank God I'm not a hardcore Abba fan.

My collection: 7" single no. 3404

Found: hmv.co.uk website, 2004

Cost: 2 pounds

Tracks: 'Waterloo' / 'Watch out'

Download: Album 'Waterloo', including these two tracks (password: sanmarino)

Laissez briller le soleil - Reynaert

In the world of the Eurovision Song Contest, anything can happen. Every country is always trying to win, but there are many opinions about what a winning song should be. In the case of Belgium, it took a thirteen year old child to win the contest: Sandra Kim with 'J'aime la vie' took the prize home in 1986. Then in 1987 the Flemish broadcaster tried their luck with Lilianne Saint-Pierre and a strange song called 'Soldiers of love' (with an even stranger choreography). When French broadcaster RTBF took their turn again in 1988 they opted for an introspective ballad instead of the happy bouncy pop that won them the award two years earlier.

Reynaert's 'Laissez briller le soleil' is an interesting song because it doesn't choose: it's a ballad, but performed in mid-tempo, it's in a minor key but it has a message of hope... and so on. Personally I think this is a great song, but many people disagreed: during the 1988 Song Contest in Dublin, it ended as no. 18 out of 21 contestants.

My collection: 7" singles no. 1491

Found: private collection, Den Haag, July 7, 1991

Cost: 3 guilders

Tracks: 'Laissez briller le soleil' / 'The sun could shine in your heart'

Download: here

That ole devil called love - Alison Moyet

In the 1980's, record companies started releasing double vinyl singles as a way to attract buyers. The idea of 'buy one, get one free' was a good way to give the consumer two extra tracks from the same artist (although, one could wonder, wouldn't it be easier to press an ep instead?). The two singles, usually in a gatefold sleeve, were usually limited edition collectables. Quite easy to find in the UK, where they were released, but abroad, this could present a problem.

Fortunately, Dutch record shops started to import these items as well. The 'get one free' concept was less popular here, though: double singles would often cost twice as much. In the case of Alison Moyet's hit single 'That ole devil called love' it was worth it. Two extra live tracks plus a rather attractive inside sleeve (which featured a painted portrait of Alison) was a good proposition.

'That ole devil called love' was originally performed by Billie Holiday. Alison Moyet's version reached no. 2 in the UK singles charts in the summer of 1985.

My collection: 7" single no. 345

Found: Free Record Shop, Den Haag, 1985

Cost: 12 guilders

Tracks: 'That ole devil called love' / 'Don't burn down the bridge' / 'That ole devil called love (live)' / 'Twisting the knife (live)'

Download: here

View from a bridge - Kim Wilde

After buying Kids in America, I'd definitely become interested in owning more Kim Wilde singles. I didn't have a very great budget, though, so that made things difficult. Fortunately, my favourite second hand singles shop started to stock more Kim Wilde singles, which enabled me to have a few titles in a relatively short time.

I can't be sure now, but I think I bought 'View from a bridge' there as well. It was one of my favourite Kim Wilde tracks at the time and buying this made me very happy. I was kindof disappointed that the sleeve was made in black and white because I wanted to see colour photos of Kim even then...

My collection: 7" single no. 112
Found: Disco Market, Den Haag, 1982
Cost: 1 guilder
Tracks: 'View from a bridge' / 'Take me tonight'
Download: Album 'Select', which includes both tracks