When the boys talk about the girls - Valerie Carr

Valerie Carr was born in 1936. She made her singing debut in the Fifties, recording some singles for the King Records label, until she signed with Roulette in 1958. This single, 'When the boys talk about the girls' peaked at number 19 in the US Billboard Hot 100 in 1958 and number 29 in the UK singles chart. It is a charming little song, which was covered in 1966 by the Shirelles.

I bought this single along with a handful of other ones, but unfortunately this copy is warped. I'll leave it under a stack of heavy books for some time, but in the mean time I found some recordings of both sides so I can still hear these tracks. Buying singles online can be a bit like Russian Roulette sometimes.

My collection: 7" single no. 6746
Found: Discogs.com, received 11 July 2022
Cost: 0 (yep, I got a refund)
Tracks: 'When the boys talk about the girls' / 'Padre'

The winner takes it all - Abba

What can I say about Abba that hasn't been said already a hundred times before? Well, maybe that their "live" show in London is absolutely groundbreaking, but also prohibitively expensive. You would think that once the expenses of creating a purpose-built arena in London have been earned back, the prices for those seat would go down but there is no sign of that happening anytime soon. And so Abba will remain the biggest money-making machine Sweden has ever created (with only the possible exception of Ikea). 'The winner takes it all', indeed. 

This 7" single was released in the GDR, or East-Germany as we would call it back then. We didn't know much about that part of Germany except that it was ruled by communists and that Amiga was their state-controlled record company. Those Amiga Abba-singles have now become a nice little sub-collection for me, and I'm glad to add this one to my already too large Abba collection.

My collection: 7" single no. 6624
Found: Discogs.com, received 29 January 2022
Cost: €2
Tracks: 'The winner takes it all' / 'Elaine'

Falter im Wind - Milestones

The Milestones came together in 1968. The band's original line up was Beatrix Neundlinger, Günter Grosslercher, Robert Unterweger and Rudi Tinsobin. Their first self-titled album was released in 1970. In 1972, just before they were selected to represent Austria at Eurovision, Unterweger and Tinsobin left the band and were replaced by Norbert Niedermeyer and Christian Kolonovits.

Although Austria isn't known for its great Eurovision entries, this certainly can compete with the best of them. The song is tastefully arranged and has rather poetic lyrics. This single was also released in a sort of proto-gatefold sleeve, with one piece of paper folded into another one, with either a photograph of a dog or a photograph of the band appearing in the hole in the middle of the front sleeve. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6760
Found: Discogs.com, received 10 August 2022
Cost: €9
Tracks: 'Falter im Wind' / 'Du schöner Tag'

Chirpy chirpy cheep cheep - Middle of the road

Among my early memories of pop music I find this song, 'Chirpy chirpy cheep cheep' by Middle of the road. Which is odd, considering it was released when I was just a baby. All I know is that my older brother and sister were suitably impressed by this group and they must have played their copies of this single later on in the Seventies.

It took me a while, but I finally bought my own copy. It has to be said that I bought it along with a couple of other single I ordered online - but at the same time, I'm rather glad to have this song because it is a charming little pop song from (gulp) 51 years ago.

My collection: 7" single no. 6758
Found: Discogs.com, recieved 9 August 2022
Cost: €2
Tracks: 'Chirpy chirpy cheep cheep' / 'Rainin' 'n painin''

Love is stronger than death - The The

This single really isn't much to look at, but it does complete the set of singles from the The The album 'Dusk'. As 7" singles became increasingly rare in the Nineties, only 'Dogs Of Lust' got a decent commercial release in the UK. The next single, 'Slow emotion replay' was only ever released as a Spanish promotional 7" single, and this single of 'Love is stronger than death' was released in the USA. 

'Dusk' was the last 'big' album by The The. After the Hank Williams tribute 'Hanky Panky' their contract with the Epic label ended and Matt Johnson devoted himself increasingly to soundtracks and independent releases. Sometimes I wish the days of the 'old' The The could continue.

My collection: 7" single no. 6757
Found: Discogs.com, received 9 August 2021
Cost: €3
Tracks: 'Love is stronger than death' / 'Infected (live)'

Hey hey rise up - Pink Floyd featuring Andriy Khlyvnyuk

In February 2022, the Ukrainian singer Andriy Khlyvnyuk, who had abandoned a US tour by his band BoomBox to serve in the Ukrainian military in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, recorded an a capella version of the first verse of the Ukrainian anthem 'Oh, the Red Viburnum in the Meadow', a Ukrainian patriotic march.Due to the song's association with the Ukrainian people's aspiration for independence, singing of the song was banned during the period in which Ukraine was a Soviet Republic (1919-1991). Nevertheless, it was sung by Ukrainian patriots, with defiance; anyone caught singing it was jailed, beaten, and even exiled.

Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour was shown the Instagram post by the Ukrainian artist Janina Pedan, who is married to his son Charlie, and was inspired to record something in support of Ukraine in the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War. Together with drummer Nick Mason he recorded this track, released as a single to raise money for humanitarian efforts in the region.

This blog is not politically involved, but it does need some clarification that Pink Floyd have always released beautiful music and the fact that they use their name and reputation to raise awareness about this horrible Russian crime - which is still continuing as I'm writing this - is something anyone of sane mind should applaud. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6755
Found: Amazon, received 18 July 2022
Cost: €8
Tracks: 'Hey hey rise up' / 'A great day for freedom 2022'

If we only have love - Paul Andrews

Who is Paul Andrews? Try as you might, you will not get an answer to this question, because the web lists a lot of Paul Andrews-es, but not this one. He released two singles: 'My Girl Maria' (1970) and this one, 'If we only have love' (1972), a cover version of Jacques Brel's 'Quand On N'a Que L'amour'.

But it's the B-side I was really interested in: it features a cover version of Marty Wilde's song 'Lullaby', which appeared on his 1969 album 'Diversions'. That album is fabulous and 'Lullaby' is one of the more gentle and touching tracks on it. This single was released in Angola, and so this marks the first time I ever bought a single that was pressed in that country. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6750
Found: Discogs.com, received 13 July 2022
Cost: €8
Tracks: 'If we only have love' / 'Lullaby'

Moitié-moitié - Carol Rich

The synthesizer became increasingly popular during the Eighties, and although it took a little while, the Eurovision Song Contest also caught on. During the second half of the decade many entries were so synth-heavy that the records almost couldn't cope with the walls of sound that were built. And this single is a good example.

Anne-Lyse Caille (stage name: Carol Rich) represented Switzerland in 1987 with a song called 'Moitié-moitié', which means either 'so so', 'half half' or 'fifty-fifty'. It highlights the good and bad aspects of love. All the synthesizers couldn't really help the song: it ended up in 17th place in a field of 22 competitors.

My collection: 7" single no. 6756
Found: Ebay, received 21 July 2022
Cost: €6
Tracks: 'Moitié-moitié' / 'Fou dans la tête'

The first day of love - Anne-Karine

Norway was an unlucky country when they participated in the Eurovision Song Contest. Although they started competing in 1960, their songs only made it to the top 3 once, in 1966. But they kept on trying, and by 1974 they depended on one man for their success: Arne Bendiksen delivered the majority of their songs during the 1970s. 

Anne-Karine Strøm was one of the Bendik Singers, who performed 'It's just a game' in 1973, and in 1974 she was back as a solo artist (with the other three members acting as her backing singers!). 'The first day of love' was performed in English.

My collection: 7" single no. 6754
Found: Discogs.com, received 15 July 2022
Cost: €4
Tracks: 'The first day of love' / 'Harmony'

Der Sommer ging vorüber - Grethe & Jørgen Ingmann

When Grethe & Jørgen Ingmann won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1963 with 'Dansevise', it was the first time a Scandinavian country went away with the prize. The duo recorded two versions of their song in other languages: 'I loved you' in English and this one, 'Der Sommer ging vorüber' in German.

It's interesting that only the German version came with a colour picture sleeve. The B-side is a cover of the song 'The end of the world', written by Sylvia Dee and Arthur Kent and originally recorded by Skeeter Davis.

My collection: 7" single no. 6752
Found: Discogs.com, received 15 July 2022
Cost: €4
Tracks: 'Der Sommer ging vorüber' / 'Das Ende der Welt'

Look good tonite - ABC

ABC haven't had a vinyl single out since 1991, and that's why I almost jumped out of my seat when I saw the announcement of Electronic Sound magazine, that their latest issue would feature a free gold vinyl 7" of two unreleased ABC tracks. To be fair, 'Look good tonite' was released as a digital download for one day - which by chance I managed to download back then - but a digital release is not a release in my book.

And so, after waiting a couple of weeks, I received the magazine with the single from the UK. It is a real pleasure to have a new ABC single, and the two tracks are rather fabulous. I'm just waiting for them to release 'The Lexicon Of Love III'. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6751
Found: Electronic Sounds magazine website, received 13 July 2022
Cost: £11.99 (with magazine)
Tracks: 'Look good tonite' / 'Sixty seconds later'

Genghis Khan - 5 Carat

5 Carat is a rather anonymous Japanese act that only ever released two singles. This is one of them: a cover version of the song Dschinghis Khan, performed at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1979 by the group of the same name. The song was composed by Ralph Siegel.

For this version, an arrangement was apparently made by Tachio Akano, a Japanese composer best known as the composer of the Machine Robo series. As a cover version it is quite accomplished. The lyrics are a mix of Japanese and English.

My collection: 7" single no. 6748
Found: Discogs.com, received 11 July 2022
Cost: $4
Tracks: 'Genghis Khan' / 'Genghis Khan (instrumental)'

Tubular bells - Mystic Sounds

When the movie 'The Exorcist' was released in 1973, it was quite a sensation. Despite initial mixed critical reviews, audiences flocked to it, waiting in long lines during winter weather and many doing so more than once. Some viewers suffered adverse physical reactions, fainting or vomiting to scenes in which the protagonist undergoes a realistic cerebral angiography and later violently masturbates with a crucifix. Even heart attacks and a miscarriage were reported.

This single was released in 1974, featuring a version of the Mike Oldfield composition 'Tubular Bells', performed by Mystic Sounds, an unidentified act who were able to replicate the original recording quite well. To me it's unclear if this version was also used in the movie - I haven't seen it in a long time.

My collection: 7" single no. 6747
Found: Discogs.com, received 11 July 2022
Cost: $3
Tracks: 'Tubular bells' / 'Iraq'

Looking high, high, high - David Hughes

'Looking high, high, high' was the song with which Bryan Johnson represented the UK at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1960. It was a remarkable upbeat song that also included the line 'I shall die, die, die ('cause I love you so)'. \

English popular singer and operatic tenor David Hughes also released ‘Looking High, High, High’ as a single around the same time as Bryan Johnson. His version was not a hit. My copy comes in the original Top Rank record company sleeve!

My collection: 7" single no. 6742
Found: Discogs.com, received 9 July 2022
Cost: £2
Tracks: 'Looking high, high, high' / 'Mi amor'

You - Geraldine

Buying singles online can sometimes be a disappointing experience. But I am not totally sure, in this case, if I wouldn't have had the same disappointment if I'd bought this single in a real shop. The disc looks absolutely fine, but playing it it's hard to even hear the music. That's why I only recorded the A-side from this single - I already had the French version on another single. 

The Irish singer Geraldine represented Luxembourg with the song 'Toi', and she recorded the song also in English as 'You'. That version was obviously released in Ireland, but this is the Portuguese pressing with a slightly unflattering photograph of the singer on the front cover.

My collection: 7" single no. 6741
Found: Discogs.com, received 7 July 2022
Cost: €4
Tracks: 'You' / 'Toi'

Dai li dou - Gemini

Gemini was a Portuguese band from the Seventies. The members were Fatima Padinha, Teresa Miguel, Tozé Brito and Mike Sergeant.  In 1977 they participated in the Portuguese national final in order to represent the country in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song 'Portugal no coração'. The song won. However, every song was sung by two performers, and the audience preferred Os Amigos over Gemini. 

In 1978 they tried again and won the national final with the song 'Dai li dou'. This time they were allowed to go to Paris for the international competition. However, they only reached the 17th position. Teresa and Fatima would represent Portugal once more in 1982 in the band Doce.

My collection: 7" single no. 6740
Found: Discogs.com, received 7 July 2022
Cost: €5
Tracks: 'Dai li dou' / 'Gente lá da minha rua'