A festa da vida - Carlos Mendes

Carlos Eduardo Teixeira Mendes was born on May 23, 1947 in Lisbon. He started his singing career in the 1960's, representing Portugal at the Eurovision Song Contest on two occasions: in 1968 and 1972.This single, 'A festa da vida' is the 1972 entry. 

'A festa da vida' ('The party of life') is a ballad, with Mendes singing that the world needs to view life as a party in order to dismiss the negativity of the world. Although Portugal hadn't been particularly successful at Eurovision in previous years, this song reached 7th place at the close of voting, making it the country's highest placing at the time. Of course, it wouldn't be until a few years ago that Portugal actually won Eurovision. But when they did, they did it with a song that became an instant classic. This song is not an instant classic, but enjoyable all the same.

My collection: 7" single no. 6315
Found: Discogs.com, received August 8, 2020
Cost: 5 euro
Tracks: 'A festa da vida' / 'Glow worm'

Red hot - Robert Gordon with Link Wray

Rock 'n' roll can be exciting, as I found out quite early on, when I got the album The best of the top 40 of the year in the summer of 1979. One of the tracks on the album was Robert Gordon's 'Red hot', a track that packs a lot of punch in under three minutes. The track was taken from Robert Gordon's debut album together with legendary guitarist Link Wray and featured cover versions of various rock 'n' roll songs.

'Red hot' was originally performed by Billy Lee Riley. Robert Gordon & Link Wray's version became a big hit in the Netherlands in March 1978, peaking at number 7. Finding this single was quite a surprise, I can't remember ever seeing this one before although it isn't exactly rare.

My collection: 7" single no. 6299
Found: Kringloop, Den Haag, June 14, 2020
Cost: 0,5 euro
Tracks: 'Red hot' / 'Sweet surrender'

A la folie ou pas du tout - Serge & Christine Ghisoland

Serge & Christine Ghisoland (both born in 1946) are a singing duo and married couple from Mouscron, Belgium, best known for their participation in the 1972 Eurovision Song Contest. With their song 'A la folie ou pas du tout' ('Madly, or not at all'), they only managed to reach 17th place in a field of 18 competitors, ahead only of the Maltese entry.

Although they released a few more singles between 1970 and 1972, there is little information available on the couple after their Eurovision appearance. Serge Ghisoland is believed to have worked for many years with Belgian record label, Elver. He was also a music teacher in several schools in the Mouscron/Comines region of Belgium.

My collection: 7" single no. 6296
Found: Discogs.com, received May 30, 2020
Cost: 3 euro
Tracks: 'A la folie ou pas du tout' / 'Femme'

I've found love (now that I have found you) - Love & kisses

I'm not really sure if a sleeve like the one shown here would be well received nowadays, with all the #metoo scandals we have been witnessing over the past few years. But back in 1977, this wasn't a problem. Love & Kisses was a disco group assembled by European producer Alec Costandinos, using a variety of male/female singers. Costandinos was born Alexandre Kouyoumdjiam in Cairo, Egypt, in 1944 to an Armenian father and a Greek mother.

The debut album consisted of just two songs: 'Accidental lover' and 'I've found love (now that I've found you)'. This single contains the same two tracks, but obviously in edited form, because the LP presented versions that exceeded 15 minutes.The single reached number 12 in the Dutch Top 40.

My collection: 7" single no. 6293
Found: Plato, Leiden, May 30, 2020
Cost: 0,5 euro
Tracks: 'I've found love (now that I've found you)' / 'Accidental lover'

He's misstra know it all - Stevie Wonder

Stevie Wonder has a lot of big hits on his name, but sometimes even Stevie Wonder released unsuccessful singles. 'He's misstra know it all' was one of them. It was taken from his album 'Innervisions' as the fifth single, but only managed to chart in New Zealand and the UK, peaking at number 18 and number 10 respectively.

While scouring through a list of singles sold by an online dealer I came across this title and heard the song for the very first time. It was immediately catchy to my ears, which made me wonder why the single wasn't more successful in other territories. But it's nice to discover something new sometimes - even if it's almost 50 years old.

My collection: 7" single no. 6291
Found: Discogs.com, received May 29, 2020
Cost: 1 pound
Tracks: 'He's misstra know it all' / 'You can't judge a book by its cover'

Lost in your love - John Paul Young

John Paul Young will forever be remembered for that other single, 'Love is in the air', but that isn't the only single he ever released. In fact, between 1975 and 1983 he released ten studio albums and a multitude of singles.

'Lost in your love' was taken from the same album as 'Love is in the air', which explains why it sounds so similar. The single became a minor hit in the USA, Austria and the Netherlands only. The real pull of this particular single is that it is pressed on gold vinyl. Well.... gold in this case means a sort of oily brown, but it's still coloured vinyl.

My collection: 7" single 6283
Found: Discogs.com, received May 14, 2020
Cost: 2 pounds
Tracks: 'Lost in your love' / 'Standing in the rain'

Popcorn - Tom Spencer

Tom Spencer was one of many people who recorded a cover version of the Gershon Kingsley tune 'Popcorn', but he is the only one - as far as I know at least - who can claim to have recorded the 'Deutsche Originalversion', in other words: the German original version. Which in itself seems like a lie, because the original version of 'Popcorn' was certainly not German.

As for Tom Spencer, he is an unknown artist who released only this single and a single called 'Ghostrider (Riders in the sky)', both in 1972.

My collection: 7" single no. 6281
Found: Discogs.com, received May 12, 2020
Cost: 2 pounds
Tracks: 'Popcorn' / 'Moog March'

Wuthering heights / The man with the child in his eyes - Kate Bush

There's not much to write about Kate Bush that hasn't already been written a thousand times. She is undoubtedly one of the most talented women to have appeared on the music scene in the last century and her music is likely to last for decades to come.

Old Gold was quick to realize this when they released this double A-sided single featuring her first two hit singles in 1983, just five years after they were originally released. 'Wuthering heights' and 'The man with the child in his eyes' appear on this disc in their original single versions, which for the latter is quite unique, as that version has rarely appeared on a physical format since.

My collection: 7" single no. 6154
Found: Discogs.com, received August 9, 2019
Cost: 2 pounds
Tracks: 'Wuthering heights' / 'The man with the child in his eyes'

Popcorn - Jam

This single is actually quite exciting for me, because it is the first time that I bought a single on the BASF label. We all know this manufacturer of tapes and such, but I've never actually seen a 7" single with a BASF label.

And then there is the track: another cover version of Gershon Kingsley's 'Popcorn'. There are so many versions of this single, and I just love adding to my collection for some reason.

Then there is the artist. According to the sleeve, this is 'the big hit from France'. Knowing that Kingsley was a German-American composer, we have to assume that Jam is a band from France. Assume, because there is no information about Jam. Just that this is one of only two singles they released. The other one? 'Jingle bells'....

My collection: 7" single no. 6270
Found: Discogs.com, received March 25, 2020
Cost: 3 euro
Tracks: 'Popcorn' / 'Ecco'

Popcorn - Orchester Volkmar Schmidt

Now that many countries are in some form of isolation, either self-isolated or instructed by their respective governments, there may be some sense of what people in the German Democratic Republic were going through for some decades after World War II. Despite their disappearance behind the iron curtain, music penetrated the country, either as performed by the original artists or as a cover version.

This single, released by state record company Amiga features a cover version of the popular Gershon Kingsley tune Popcorn, as performed by the Orchester Volkmar Schmidt. It was one of the singles I received in a package of six today. I'm glad that despite all the quarantines, international mail is still functioning.

My collection: 7" single no. 6270
Found: Discogs.com, received March 25, 2020
Cost: 3 euro

Tracks: 'Popcorn' (Orchester Volkmar Schmidt) / 'Eine neue Liebe ist wie ein neues Leben' (Peter Albert & Orchester Günter Gollasch)

I feel for you - Prince

Utter the words 'I feel for you', and most people who are into Eighties music will immediately respond with the name Chaka Khan. For it was her who made the song immortal, with the stuttering 'Ch-ch-chaka khan' intro provided by rapper Melle Mel, and its funky sound effects. But the song was written by Prince - and not only that, he recorded the song on his eponymous second album, released in October 1979.

Prince passed away in 2016, and since then, his famous 'vault' has been used to release several albums and singles. This single is the most recent release, pressed on purple vinyl (how appropriate) and presenting for the first time a demo he recorded for the song. It is an interesting release, because you can clearly hear that it was recorded on cassette and it runs for over four minutes, longer than the eventual album version. The fact that the sleeve is pretty beautiful too makes this an interesting package for Prince fans and music lovers everywhere.

My collection: 7" single no. 6257
Found: Prince website, received February 5, 2020
Cost: 10 euro
Tracks: 'I feel for you (acoustic demo)' / 'I feel for you'

Muzika i ti - Tereza Kesovija

Several years after releasing Doći Ćeš Sam - the EP that included a Eurovision cover - Tereza Kesovija made it to the Eurovision stage herself. She represented Yugoslavia during the 1972 edition with 'Muzika i ti' ('Music and you'), a pleasant little song in which Kesovija sings that music and her lover are the two things in which she has found happiness.

At the close of voting, the song had received 87 points, placing 9th in a field of 18 competitors.

My collection: 7" single no. 6255
Found: Discogs.com, received January 24, 2020
Cost: 5 euro
Tracks: 'Muzika i ti' / 'Prvi cvijet'

Dan ljubezni - Pepel in kri

'Dan ljubezni' ('A day of love') was the song entered into the 1975 Eurovision Song Contest by Yugoslavia. It was performend by the band Pepel in kri (credited on TV as 'Ashes and blood'). At the close of voting, it had received 22 points, placing 13th in a field of 19 competitors.

The song calls for a day of love in the whole world that never ends. Little did they know that Yugoslavia would be embroiled in a war that would cost many lives just two decades later.

My collection: 7" single no. 6253
Found: Discogs.com, received January 24, 2020
Cost: 5 euro
Tracks: 'Dan ljubezni' / 'Tvoj prvi rock 'n roll'

Colorado - Xandra

Sandra Reemer renamed herself Xandra for the 1979 Eurovision Song Contest, singing 'Colorado'. I already owned the Dutch version of 'Colorado' and the English version of 'Colorado'. So when I saw this single, it was mainly the different sleeve that attracted me. The english version, announced on the sleeve, wasn't new to me, but I loved the sleeve variation, so I quickly decided to pick this single up.

I got home, looked at the singles a little closer, and suddenly I noted the other side of the sleeve, announcing a "deutsch. Version". And so I ended up buying a different version of this Eurovision song without really knowing it!

My collection: 7" single no. 6250
Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, January 24, 2020
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'Colorado (English version)' / 'Colorado (Deutsche Version)'

Puisque tu l'aimes dis-le lui - Raffaella Carra

Another purchase that is explained by the artwork only. This French edition of Raffaella Carra's biggest hit, 'A far l'amore comincia tu' swaps the two sides to present the French version as the A-side track. Both the disc and the sleeve were made in France.

Raffaella Maria Roberta Pelloni was born on June 18, 1943 and became successful as a singer, dancer, TV presenter and actress. After her boom in the Italian market of the early 1970's, she moved to Spain, doing television and releasing records in the Spanish language. This led her to move to South America, where her records had been heard for some years. In 1979, she established her headquarters in Buenos Aires, which was under a military dictatorship. Raffaella Carrà was one of the figures of the ATC, the official television network of Argentina.

My collection: 7" single no. 6246
Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, January 24, 2020
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Puisque tu l'aimes dis-le lui' / 'A far l'amore comincia tu'

Det blir alltid värre framat natten - Björn Skifs

Two months ago, I bought 'When the night comes', the English version of 'Det blir alltid värre framat natten'. It was only a matter of time, of course, until I would get the original Swedish version as well - so here it is.

As you can see, the sleeve is virtually the same as the English version, however this single is made in Sweden and not in Germany like the other one. I ordered this single along with a few others from Norway.

My collection: 7" single no. 6241
Found: Discogs.com, received January 22, 2020
Cost: 3 euro
Tracks: 'Det blir alltid värre framat natten' / 'Part time love'

Rock and roll crazy - Zappo

I have been after this single for a long time, primarily because of the sleeve. I already have the two tracks on this single, thanks to the French edition that swapped the two sides. On this sleeve, you can see Marty Wilde - for it is him - wearing a Superman costume, complete with a 'glam rock' helmet... it is a priceless picture.

Both sides of this single were written and produced by Peter Shelley and Marty Wilde, who collaborated a lot during this time. Released in 1973, 'Rock and Roll crazy' wasn't a hit, even though it was a glam rock stomper if ever I heard one.

My collection: 7" single no. 6233
Found: Discogs.com, received January 8, 2020
Cost: 10 euro
Tracks: 'Rock and roll crazy' / 'Right on'

I will follow starlight - Katri Helena

Long before Katri Helena appeared on the Eurovision stage with the immortal 'Tule luo', she represented Finland in 1979 with the song 'Katson sineen taivaan'. She had actually participated in the Finnish national finals in 1969, 1972 and 1978, but this song made an impression and she went on to Israel with this song. 'Katson sineen taivaan' ended up in 14th place in a field of 19 competitors.

This single presents the English version of the song. 'I will follow starlight' was translated by Paul Fagerlund. The sleeve of this single isn't without its flaws - but for a rare single like this I am not complaining.

My collection: 7" single no. 6232
Found: Discogs.com, received January 7, 2020
Tracks: 'I will follow starlight' / 'Spring is around the corner'

I wish it could be Christmas every day - Wizzard

A few years ago I went to a Christmas gig by Kim Wilde, and she played a version of 'I wish it could be Christmas every day'. The original song was released in 1973 by Wizzard - around the time I started watching Toppop on a weekly basis as a wee three year old kid. I didn't really know this song very well, but it did sound vaguely familiar.

When I started looking for the single I quickly found out it was issued in a gatefold sleeve - and it was pretty hard to find. I was therefore delighted to find this single finally in April this year. Not really the season for a Christmas single, but when something is on your list for a few years, you can't miss the opportunity.

'I wish it could be Christmas every day' reached number 4 in the UK singles chart when it was released. It has had no less than 15 re-entries since then, in 1981, 1984 and then from 2007 until this year - every year in December of course. However, since the original tapes were lost all the re-entries were based on a re-recording made in 1981.

My collection: 7" single no. 6033
Found: Record fair, Utrecht, April 13, 2019
Cost: 5 euro
Tracks: 'I wish it could be Christmas every day' / 'Rob Roy's nightmare'

Mary's boy child (Oh my Lord) / Dancing in the streets - Boney M

'Mary's boy child' is a Christmas song, originally written by Jester Hairston. The song was written when Hairston was sharing a room with a friend. The friend asked him to write a song for a birthday party. Hairston wrote the song with a calypso rhythm because the people at the party would be mainly West Indians. The song's original title was "He Pone and Chocolate Tea", pone being a type of corn bread. It was never recorded in this form. Some time later Walter Schumann, at the time conducting Schumann's Hollywood Choir, asked Hairston to write a new Christmas song for his choir. Hairston remembered the calypso rhythm from his old song and wrote new lyrics for it.

Harry Belafonte heard the song being performed by the choir and sought permission to record it. It was recorded in 1956 for his album 'An Evening with Belafonte'. It was also released as a single. It reached number 1 on the UK Singles Chart in November 1957, and has since sold over 1.19 million copies there.

When Boney M recorded 'Mary's boy child' in 1978, they coupled it with a new song, 'Oh my Lord', written by Frank Farian and Fred Jay. This version also reached number 1 in the UK, and topped the chart for four weeks. When Hairston - who was 78 years old at the time - found out how well the Boney M version had done, he said: "God bless my soul. That's tremendous for an old fogey like me".

After Christmas, Hansa Record flipped the single and released it with 'Dancing in the streets' as the A-side. As you can see from the pictures here, the sleeve was different. On the labels the 'A' and 'B' were indeed changed. The tracks, however, remained the same.

I was lucky enough to find three versions of this single in the same store: the Dutch pressing with the black and white sleeve and two versions of the German pressing. This Boney M single remains one of the best selling Christmas singles of all time.

My collection: 7" single no. 6073
Found: Velvet Vinyl Outlet, Leiden, May 18, 2019
Cost: 3x1 euro
Tracks: 'Mary's boy child (Oh my Lord)' / 'Dancing in the streets'