Eurovision songs - Groot Draaiorgel Mortier

This is probably the most mysterious single I've ever bought. It didn't come with a sleeve, so all I have is the disc and the info on the label. It is credited to Groot Draaiorgel Mortier, and since the single is made in Belgium I have to assume it's a Belgian barrel organ.

The songs played by this barrel organ all come from the 1960 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest: 'Niet voor mij', 'Wat een geluk', 'Looking high' and 'Tom Pillibi'. There is no information about Groot Draaiorgel Mortier on the web, so this single looks likely to remain a mystery.

Listen to one side
Listen to the other side

My collection: 7" single no. 5819
Found: Kringloop Den Haag, January 16, 2016
Cost: 0,25 euro
Tracks: 'Niet voor mij', 'Wat een geluk' / 'Looking high', 'Tom Pillibi'

Io senza te - Peter Sue & Marc

I already bought Io senza te by Peter Sue & Marc at the end of 2009 as part of a big stack of Eurovision singles. The B-side of that single featured the English version of the song. When I was in Vienna last month, I suddenly spotted the German version of that song, with the German version of the song on the B-side.

Nothing wrong with a little language variation here and there, and so I bought this single as well, especially since it was so cheap (if you ignore travel fares and hotel costs, that is). It just goes to show that you never know what you find when you go shopping for records in other countries!

Listen to the song

My collection: 7" single no. 5857
Found: Moses Records, Vienna, June 3, 2016
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Io senza te' / 'Ich ohne dich'

December - All about Eve

Ordering online can be a treat sometimes, especially when you're able to combine things and get a few interesting singles together. I was a little surprised when this one arrived in a picture sleeve. It is a promotional 7" single for All about Eve's 'December', featuring the single edit on one side and an even shorter radio edit on the other side.

This track is of course best in its unedited version, but to own an exclusive radio edit is a nice addition to my already impressive All about Eve collection.

Listen to the song

My collection: 7" single no. 5857
Found: Discogs.com, received July 1, 2016
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'December (radio edit)' / 'December [single edit]'

Hon går rakt fram - Leyla

Having a complete Kim Wilde collection also includes many cover versions. Through the years I have been able to identify over 250 cover versions of Kim Wilde songs, and more than half of those are cover versions of 'Kids in America'. So it really is a nice surprise when it turns out that not everyone has turned to Kim's debut hit for inspiration.

The Swedish band Cotton Club debuted in 1984 with a self-titled album full of cover versions from hits between 1981 and 1984. One of them was Kim Wilde's 'Love blonde'. All the songs were translated into Swedish, and so 'Love blonde' became 'Hon går rakt fram'. When the track was released as a single, the record company decided to release it as a solo single from the band's lead singer, Leyla Yilbar Norgren.

Listen to the song

My collection: 7" single no. 5865
Found: Discogs.com, received July 27, 2016
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'Hon går rakt fram' / 'En enda rad'

The world would never turn again - Keith Potger

Keith Potger was a member of the Seekers, as the sleeve of his first solo single proclaims. The band had some success during the Sixties, until they disbanded in 1968.

'The world would never turn again' was released the next year, and although Potger would become a songwriter and producer, this first single was written by someone else. The B-side, interestingly, was provided by Frere Manston, which of course is a pseudonym of Marty Wilde. And there it is... the main reason for me to pick up this single. 

My collection: 7" single no. 5854
Found: Marktplaats, received June 22, 2016
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'The world would never turn again' / 'Santa Maria'

Do the Bartman - The Simpsons

I wasn't really planning on spending a lot of money on a single called 'Do the Bartman', despite the fact that I have an impressive amount of Michael Jackson singles in my collection. It is an amusing little song but songs by cartoon characters don't do very much for me. I finally found the single last month at a price that can't be beat.

There has been a lot of confusion about Michael Jackson's involvement in this song, mainly because he was under contract with Epic Records at the time of this single's release. However, the song's writer Bryan Loren has conceded that Jackson's contributions included back up vocals, providing the title "Do the Bartman" and that Jackson insisted his own name to be mentioned in the lyrics (read the story here).

My collection: 7" single no. 5852
Found: Kringloop, Leiden, May 14, 2016
Cost: 0,1 euro
Tracks: 'Do the Bartman (7" House mix/edit)' / 'Do the Bartman (LP edit)'

Listen to the song

Bodies / Kids in America - Beautiful Boy

Beautiful Boy was founded by Singer Dane Etteridge, who began writing and demoing a handful of songs with the intention of starting a new band. He teamed up with Simon Goldring (drums), Joseph Heaselgrave (guitar), Greg Bishop (bass) and Tom Beck (organ/keys). Their debut single 'Home' was released in 2014.

With just a few tracks released and a handful of live shows under their belt, they were invited to record two tracks for the RAK Singles Club. The original track 'Bodies' was coupled with a cover version of Kim Wilde's 'Kids in America'. As you know I collect everything to do with Kim, so this single was quickly included in my collection.

My collection: 7" single no. 5851
Found: RAK Singles Club, received May 14, 2016
Cost: 5 pounds
Tracks: 'Bodies' / 'Kids in America'

Listen to the song

You don't die from love - Stephanie

Princess Stephanie from Monaco appeared on this blog before with singles from her debut album, released in 1986. It was a rather successful album in some parts of Europe, so she went about recording a follow-up. Unfortunately, that took such a long time that the music scene had totally changed in the mean time.

That self-titled second album was finally released in 1991, with the lead single 'Winds of chance' failing to reach the charts. This single, 'You don't die from love' was the second and last single to be released by Stephanie. She did appear on Michael Jackson as the mystery voice on 'In the closet', but after that, her music career was over and done.

My collection: 7" single no. 5848
Found: Discogs.com, received May 2, 2016
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'You don't die from love' / 'Good dreams'

Listen to the song

Song of love - Thomas Forstner

On the day of the dramatic outcome of the British referendum about the EU and proof that democracy does not always work well, I thought it would be nice to write about something else the Brits are really good at: Eurovision. In fact, they are so good at it that they haven't reached the top 10 in that competition for over a decade now (except in 2009, when they made number 5 just for once).

Even Austria has done much better in recent years, winning in 2014 and reaching the top 10 once as well. And in 1989, they did pretty well too: Thomas Forstner's 'Nur ein Lied' made it to number 5. Such was the success that he even recorded an English version of that song. 'Song of love' was released as a separate single, but this didn't become a hit outside of Austria.

Listen to the song



My collection: 7" single no. 5846
Found: Discogs.com, received May 2, 2016
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'Song of love' / 'Song of love (instrumental)'

Layla - Habibi

Habibi represented Israel during the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest with the song 'Layla'. The band consisted of: Shlomit Aharon, Kikki Rothstein, Yuval Dor and Ami Mendelman. They had originally been offered the song 'Hallelujah' in 1978, but they turned it down. That song was performed by Milk and Honey, and famously won the contest in 1979.

'Layla' fared less well, with just 56 points placing seventh in a field of twenty competitors. They released one more album in 1982 (which included their Eurovision song) before disbanding.

My collection: 7" single no. 5845
Found: Discogs.com, received May 2, 2016
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'Layla (English version)' / 'Layla (Hebrew version)'

Listen to the song

Radio's on - Promises

I remember the song 'Radio's on' by Promises best for a home-made remix of Queen's 'Radio gaga' which was played on Dutch radio in 1984. The intro consisted of several radio-inspired song snippets, seemingly played while someone was dialing the radio.

The song was never a hit, unlike Baby it's you, which I bought in 1989. Yep, 27 years apart - that surely must be some kind of record, right?

My collection: 7" single no. 5843
Found: Record fair, Utrecht, April 17, 2016
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Radio's on' / 'Toby jug'

Listen to the song

Tonight - The Look

Just like I am the beat, The Look's 'Tonight' is a song I know well from my childhood. Finding the single has proved a little more difficult, because I haven't seen it through the years between then and now. And it's quite amusing to note that I bought the other single in 1995 and this one just 21 years later...

I don't really know why I remember the song that well, since it wasn't a hit - neither in the UK nor in the Netherlands.

My collection: 7" single no. 5842
Found: Record fair, Utrecht, April 17, 2016
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Tonight' / 'Three steps away'

Listen to the song

Genghis Khan - Dschinghis Khan

Such was the success of the song 'Dschinghis Khan' at the 1979 Eurovision Song Contest, that the German band decided to also record an English version of their song. 'Genghis Khan' was released in Germany - as this German pressing proves - but there were also singles made in the UK, Italy, France, Spain and, yes, even Australia and Brazil.

Whether the track was a hit in any of these territories, I don't know. I am however glad to have found a copy of this single, because the English lyrics betray even more clearly what the song is about.

My collection: 7" single no. 5856
Found: Moses Records, Vienna, June 3, 2016
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Genghis Khan' / 'Desert land'

Listen to the song

Love goes up and down - Errol Brown

Although 2016 has confronted us with morality in a big way - with David Bowie, Prince and several other big names in music departing - last year was no small matter either. In February Visage's face Steve Strange passed away, and in May we lost Errol Brown, the frontman of Hot Chocolate.

It's easy to forget that beside his 18 years with that band, he also released a handful of solo releases in the late Eighties. 'Love goes up and down' was his fourth solo effort, which only got to number 89 in the UK singles chart. If you listen to the song here, you'll hopefully agree that the song was very much underrated.

My collection: 7" single no. 5853
Found: Moses Records, Vienna
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Love goes up and down' / 'Thank you'

Listen to the song

Young ones everywhere - Stephanie

Princess Stephanie from Monaco made a name for herself as a singer with the 1986 hit 'Ouragan' / 'Irresistible', and on the back of that success released an album of reasonably good pop songs. But royalty is almost obliged to do something for charity as well, and so one of the tracks from the album ended up being connected to Unicef in 1987.

'Young ones everywhere' was the appropriate title of the single, and it announced in large letters 'Stepahnie for Unicef'. It is not known whether this single raised a lot of money for Unicef, but since it wasn't a Europe-wide hit, the worst is to be feared.

My collection: 7" single no. 5847
Found: Discogs.com, received May 2, 2016
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'Young ones everywhere' / 'Young ones everywhere (instrumental)', 'Besoin'

Listen to the song

Gone too soon - Michael Jackson

If you look at the list of singles by Michael Jackson on this blog, it's hard to believe that I haven't got them all already. But somehow I managed to miss this one. I only discovered it recently and fortunately I was able to get a copy of this single while I was buying a few others online.

As you can hear, the vinyl isn't exactly clean but as with most Michael Jackson tracks, I've already got it on CD anyway. Which probably makes you wonder why I need to have this on vinyl anyway. Well, you either have a collection or you don't. That's a logic in itself, I guess.

My collection: 7" single no. 5850
Found: Discogs.com, received May 10, 2016
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Gone too soon' / 'Gone too soon (instrumental)'

Listen to the song

Telefone - Sheena Easton

Sheena Easton recorded 'Telefone (Long distance love affair)' in 1983 for her album 'Best kept secret'. It was released as the album's lead single.  The song reached a disappointing number 84 in the UK singles chart. Amazingly, it was more successful in the US, where it became her fourth top 10 hit, peaking at number 9 late October 1983.

A year later, Easton added 'Telefono' to her Spanish album 'Todo me recuerda a ti', recorded for the Latin markets.

My collection: 7" single no. 5844
Found: Discogs.com, received May 2, 2016
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'Telefone' / 'Wish you were here tonight'

Listen to the song

Bandido (Deep mix) - Azucar Moreno

Since this week is Eurovision Song Contest week, it shouldn't be a surprise that I have a few Eurovision singles for you, even if I depend on new acquisitions to fill this blog these days. I was particularly lucky to score this one, since I suspect it's rather rare: it's a one-sided promotional 7" single single from Spain, the country that competed in 1990 with the song 'Bandido' by Azucar Moreno.

This single contains a special remix of that song, a remix that I thought was only available on a cd-single - also promotional - which I bought a few years ago. It's great to own this track on vinyl since it is actually a nice remix.

My collection: 7" single no. 5849
Found: Discogs.com, received May 10, 2016
Cost: 3 euro
Tracks: 'Bandido (Deep Mix)'

Listen to the song

Miami Vice theme - Jan Hammer

The Miami Vice theme was created and performed by Jan Hammer as the theme to the television series Miami Vice. It was first presented as part of the television broadcast of the show in September 1984 and released as a single in 1985, peaking at the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100. This picture disc 7" single presents three different edits of the theme, and only omits the 12" version that was released on the 12" single (and which clocks in on 6'54 minutes).

This picture disc presents lead role actors Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas. The series ran for five seasons between 1984 and 1989. 

My collection: 7" single no. 5841
Found: Record fair, Utrecht, April 17, 2016
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'Miami Vice theme (TV version)' 1'00, 'Miami Vice theme (12 inch edit)' 4'30 / 'Miami Vice theme' 2'26

Listen to the song

En lille melodi - Anne Cathrine & drengene

A simple song was the English version of this single. Quite why the band was suddenly called Bandjo is unclear to me, because 'En lille melodi', the original Danish version, is credited to Anne Cathrine & drengene. (What does drengene mean? 'Boys'. Yes, Anne Cathrine and her boys...)

I bought this single from the kind people of Vinyl Tap at the latest record fair in Utrecht. British dealers selling a Danish single. The world really has gone mad.

My collection: 7" single no. 5840
Found: Record fair, Utrecht, April 17, 2016
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'En lille melodi' / 'Alle har brug for kaerlighed'

Listen to the song