The return of The Hollies on vinyl

This week we're going back to a series of posts from 2011/2 while I'm recovering from this darn heat.
That series of post explored the sixties and early 70's output of The Hollies from a compact disc angle but one problem is a number of Hollies compact discs remain in grey sounding highly compressed issues from the late 1990's and to which using records is presently the only sure fire way to get past that fork in the road. 
 In 1967 as I remarked in an earlier post the group and specifically Graham Nash were moving in a more experimental direction that resulted in two albums and a Graham leaving the band.
They issued at the same time as Sgt Pepper, their own pop psychedelia album, Evolution with trippy original sleeve but this album hard to find in original stereo form was re-issued in 1972  as "The Hollies" which was kinda silly "Stop Right There!" would of worked better  with a new sleeve and liner notes.

Interestingly, it used the very same stampers to make it as the first issue of Evolution and so it was for a mere £2.99 and a clean I replaced a so-so mono re-issue with something that sounds better.

 By years end the "Oh wow" factor was raised considerably after the "King Midas in Reverse" 45 showing on this album that includes the U.S. single Dear Eloise but as much as some of this love this album it bombed saleswise at the time making it hard to find in its original mono and stereo forms.
Thankfully Parlophone released in September 2016 a twin mono and stereo remastered lp that sounds better than the EMI cd or critically the 2011 Spanish Guersson mono lp re-issue that used it as a source.
This apart from not having Dear Eloise with a chopped off intro sounds noticeably clearer with fine high frequency detail although it is not clear if used a digital source or not.
It is in any event much better sounding.

Cannibis legalization?

One topic that has been discussed recently is the use of Cannabis Oil in the treatment of epilepsy medically as presently this is illegal within the UK coming under  a blanket ban on all cannabis use that goes back several decades.
Into this it also has been suggested as the "war on drugs" has not been won legalizing cannabis for recreational use has been suggested by one senior Conservative  former minister.
To me, the two areas of debate are not identical because in the first instance, cannabis products for medical usage which is allowed in Canada and some European countries needs to produced in laboratory conditions where strengths and other agents in them have to be disclosed. In other words you need to know exactly what would be prescribed and that decision would be made by say a doctor or specialist rather than the patient themselves.
One problem with recreational use of cannabis is the user has no idea of the strength nor of any other products in with it because it is produced clandestinely and it is far from clear if legalized such production would stop given the illegal infrastructure exists right down to street level distribution.
That means even if one was to put in age checking, requirements to have contents clearly displayed and approved licensed sales sites, there would no guarantee consumer would use them.
The Home Office Minister, Sajid Javid, has permitted two high profile families with sick children to be able to import cannabis oil and have it in effect prescribed while conducting a review into the use of it that is expected to allow prescribing for others in a similar situation.
What  he has ruled out for now at least is a broader legalizing of cannabis for recreational use which to me seems reasonable given the complexities legalizing might entail and the strong arguments about medium to long term impact usage has on mental health not least memory function.
The bigger argument here is for medicinal use under prescription which is not unlike the use say of opiates in severe pain management where again what is grown in secure units has the potential when not for street heroin.  

Trumpomacy?

 (Pix credits:CNN)
While on Tuesday I was frankly much more interested in hearing what Mike Love and Bruce Johnston of the Beach Boys had to say about their collaboration with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the anchorman had to politely caution them they may need to switch at short notice to a news announcement.
The reason for this was after a on-off-on series of behind the scenes diplomatic activity President Trump of the United States of America and his opposite number Kim Jong-un of North Korea the two leaders met in Singapore, South-east Asia which was the first time a serving U.S. President has ever met his North Korean counterpart in over sixty years.
Being of the generation brought up in the "Cold War" we learned and lived with the history of the Korean War of 1950-53,Eisenhower's doctrine of the "Domino Effect" of how one country would fall to "Red China" the whole of the region would get into communist hands which was our moral mission to prevent leading to involvement in Indo-China and Vietnam specifically.
Whatever our reservations may be other how that panned out and the rapprochement with China in recent decades, that left the states of North and South Korea technically at war each backed by China and the U.S. respectively subject to periodic tensions and missile threats apart from leaving families split and gross human rights violations in the North.
Indeed the worrying back drop to this was the frankly childish even for seven year olds playground spat between these two grown men trading insults and threats of mass destruction that scared South Korea and other neighbouring states.
After all this both men (and I'd like to think they had "Grown up") agreed to look at denuclearization of whole Korean peninsula, working on economic reform and development, human rights and a end to hostilities.
While critics can rightly point out there's not much meat on the bones here and may question if giving up rather than suspending training exercises with South Korea temporarily, the preparedness to at least start the process of tidying up the Cold War mess in a way that respects the legitimate concerns of both Korea's and de-esculates tensions I feel has to be seen as a good thing.
 
  

The middle way through the abortion debate

I do sometimes talk a little out current affairs even if a career in politics it had to be said did nothing for my mental health and indeed only served to highlight the impact of  intellectual disabilities in coping in very adult situations and lead to age regression  as part of the coping mechanism becoming more prevalent.
One issue that has been much talked about in the media is abortion which is very difficult to get across the Island of Ireland and to which in the Irish Republic (aka Southern Ireland) is illegal under a amendment to the constitutions and prevented by a 1945 Criminal law clause in Northern Ireland except for a tiny exemption.
There is little getting around the fact this is a very emotive issue  that transcends everyday political differences on different sides of the argument and for some is linked to religious centred notions of morality.
For me it's not something that I see as a clear-cut issue because universal statements of principal don't always help in a persons own individual situation where we may be looking at the least damaging outcome as much as I may share a general view where it may be of benefit.
In the general hierarchy of birth control I tend to look on abstinence or the taking of contraceptives as being the primary means of individuals taking control of giving birth, exercising personal responsibility and only having a child when they feel able to meet those needs.
In general I do not believe in abortion being available to act in the place of the use of contraception nor personally do I believe a parent carrying a child born with a disability should be advised as a matter of routine to have an abortion. That's influenced by being disabled and having grown up in the disabled community from childhood covering a wide range of physical, intellectual and learning disabilities and their families.
However to me there are other situations where the physical and  mental well-being of the mother take on an important consideration where they may be unable to look after the child, where having the child especially when born under traumatic situations would lead to a state of distress likely to result in a nervous breakdown where it would seem to me to be unreasonable to oppose a request because the outcome for mother and child if not would be to detriment of both.
Such applications it seems to me need to be considered on their own merits.
That for me is why I understand why some may be generally and genuinely uncomfortable emotionally and ethically with abortion, in the end I come down to permitting in certain situations and why the individual and their situation matters so much that to write an absolute prohibition in a constitution or to have a situation where a woman who has an abortion regardless of circumstance  may receive a longer prison sentence than a person who commits murder is not one I can agree with.
The general principal is very important but the right decision for the individual in their own circumstances matters more in dealing with such matters in fair and compassionate way.

Supertramp

In a week that's been rather warm, drinking a lot and trying to keep cool, in the cooler late afternoons I have been playing some classical music to help relax by.
Last week we talked about the demise of one specialty compact disc and lp label, Audio Fidelity  and as if by co-incidence a disc by one its competitors is here, delayed a little which isn't uncommon.
Perhaps unfairly seen as typifying a nineteen-seventies style over substance trend, Supertramp tended to do albums around concepts, house individuals of some professional musical merit as performers and attract producers who liked to make recordings that had an 'oh wow!' technical feel to them.

Probably the best known studio album is Crime Of The Century which as a lot of hifi worthy production points thanks to producer Ken Scott but another was nineteen seventy-nines Breakfast In America with it's clutch of singles such as 'The Logical Song', 'Goodbye Stranger' and the title track a kind of statement about complacency and corporate values in the States.

 One problem with the albums production is the recording equipment was not that good at capturing quick bursts of high frequencies and it tends to sound over bright on good quality equipment which has lead to a number of attempts to fix that and put the emphasize on  the vocals.
This issue by Illinois based  Mobile Fidelity on Super Audio cd that is also playable on regular cd has managed strike a good balence between keeping in detail and bring out the vocals. A job well tacked by mastering engineer Rob LoVerde who has really pulled it off.
As with all their issues on 5cm disc, this comes in a mini lp form with a gatefold featuring the full album art and inner for the disc which looks and feels great in the hand so I'm mightily pleased with this disc that joins my collection.
It also comes with a full colour insert in one of the two pockets which is a nice touch.
When it comes to compilations while not perfect, 1986's The Autobiography of Supertramp easily found used is the best sounding with a very wide dynamic range taking their recordings to 1985's Brother Where Are You Bound and the Cannonball single.