Showing posts with label Viola Wills. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Viola Wills. Show all posts

Saturday 8 July 2023

If you could read my mind - Viola Wills

30 years ago I bought 'If you could read my mind' on 7" vinyl. The single featured two versions of the song, including a 'short US Disconet version'. Disconet was always renowned for their long remixes of disco songs, and so it was intriguing enough for me to buy this 12" single which features the full length Disconet remix of the same track. The remix is a whopping 12 minute trip, but it's an extended version rather than the kind of remixes that are being done these days, where the music is usually replaced by something anonymous - and sometimes the vocals too. 

What's more, this 12" single also presents a 'regular' extended version of the track, which is almost seven minutes long. By comparison, it is short, of course.

My collection: 12" single [unnumbered]
Found: Kringloop, Den Haag, 2 July 2023
Tracks: 'If you could read my mind (Special US Disconet version)' / 'If you could read my mind [extended]'

Monday 17 July 2017

I can't stay away from you - Viola Wills

Released in 1981, 'I can't stay away from you' was an ill-fated single for Viola Wills. Best known for her disco hits 'Gonna get along without you now' and 'If you could read my mind', this song was simply too middle of the road for the disco generation, which had probably moved on anyway.

I actually bought this single for the B-side: a cover version of one of the most beautiful songs ever recorded: Chicago's 'If you leave me now'. Unfortunately, this disco version also disappoints. Still, sometimes curiousity has to win and it's a nice enough single to add to my collection. Although Viola continued to record albums and singles until well into the Nineties, she did not have another hit.

My collection: 7" single no. 5854
Found: Velvet Vinyl Outlet, Leiden, July 14, 2017
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'I can't stay away from you'/ 'If you leave me now'

Sunday 20 October 2013

Gonna get along without you now - Viola Wills

I was quite amazed to see this sleeve and not recognise it. It meant, under normal circumstances, that I didn't have this song (I have been fooled by my photographic memory many times, because some singles appeared in different sleeves). Viola Wills' 'Gonna get along without you now' is one of those late Seventies disco records that wasn't the biggest hit but still sounds so familiar because it was played a lot on the radio both in 1979 when it came out and in later years.

The song is actually a disco cover version of a song written by Milton Kellern in 1951. The original version was recorded by Teresa Brewer and released in early 1952. It was recorded as a big band 'swing' track. The track was subsequently covered by countless others, including Chet Atkins, Trini Lopez, Bad Manners and UB40.

My collection: 7" single no. 5349
Found: Kringloop, Den Haag, October 19, 2013
Cost: 0,25 euro
Tracks: 'Gonna get along without you now' / 'Your love'

Sunday 5 July 2009

If you could read my mind - Viola Wills

Viola Wills was born as Viola Mae Wilkerson in Los Angeles on December 30, 1939. Wills was already married from her teens and was the mother of six children before the age of 21 when, in 1965, she was discovered by Barry White who signed her to Bronco Records and rechristened her with the shorter stage surname of Wills.

Her 1981 single 'If you could read my mind' was remixed by the DJ remix service Disconet. In that version, she had a hit in the Netherlands, reaching number 3. Wills died of cancer on May 6, 2009 in Arizona.

My collection: 7" single no. 2058
Found: November 27, 1993
Cost: 2 guilders
Tracks: 'If you could read my mind (Special short US Disconet version)' / 'If you could read my mind'

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