Spinnin' Christmas day edition

Christmas but once a year so getting out of bed not really being asleep for much of the night I am up having smelt the grump's turkey, well basted, cooking overnight and am opening the presents.
There is only on batch of main presents this year thanks to a three year delay from getting he licence to issue them in the States which comprises of the first four Dire Straits albums remastered and issued on Super Audio cd.

 They were not cheap and will be reviewed at some future point but the sheer expense cut into my Christmas allowance my folks allow but as the reviews at other sites were so positive trading my original cds from the 80's for these seemed to make sense.
Back to the future  with annuals connected to christmas of the past with the boys, girls and pets of which we laughed our heads off reading the Beano and Dandy Comics.

 Being straight reprints they take you back to the past you knew which is why as with last year there's no current Beano annual simply because while some of the favourites of the past are still there, the contexts are different and the newer series of cartoon strips don't connect that much with me.
I do have a copy of the Dandy Annual though to plow through.

 I did pick up the Christmas Beano Special which is the christmas themed regular edition which covers the comic as it now is which is enough to enjoy the way the comic has moved. 
Let's put it this way, last weeks regular comic for Christmas week was a plastic festooned edition with bits for pranks while in the past the stories would be enough to get you reading what might be happening to Walter and his Softies chums from Dennis and Gnasher and so on.
I had some money from relatives that I can use towards some books or Blu ray discs in the future.
Hope everyone's enjoying Christmas and it won't be long before I tuck into our Christmas meal.
Regards Caro.

Happy Christmas

Yes my friends, we have reached the last edition before Christmas on this slightly more groan up blog where I take a rest from posting as it does consume a fair bit of my time running my portion of the blogisphere and there are many thing that need to get done in order for Christmas to happen.

That means I'll be pausing this blog other than a combined edition around Christmas itself looking at the day as there's no point in duplicating entries trying to reword what is essentially the same thing.

I plan on doing an entry for around the New Year so it just falls on me to wish everyone a Happy Christmas and all the best for 2020.
 

Now That's What I Call Music CD

Week two of Advent, a day after the General Election so it's too early begin anything about the outcome of although I did go out and vote myself.

 One thing getting on for some thirty-five years ago reminds me a little of this time of year is the original release of the compilation lp/tape Now That's What I Call Music 4 which came out in Late November of 1984 which I did buy at the time on record.

As some people may be aware it appears the original albums of this 104 plus special editions series are slowly coming out on cd because while cds were a thing in 1984 there were not many issued plus they tended to be a lot more expensive than records and tapes.

There was a kind of Now 4 issued on cd in a very limited release but only ten tracks from the 30 on album plus a few from Now 3 and 2 so I was pleased to pick this new cd version up recently.
I say version of because there are a few different versions compared to original which is an issue in trying to replicate a series that had a few one of a kind mixes on apart from licensing issues today that didn't apply back then.

The good news is that the Special Remix of No More Lonely Nights by Paul McCartney was used even though  a shorter version of Nick Heyward's Warning Sign minus two raps somehow got selected. It's always good to hear Too late For Goodbyes by Julian Lennon, son of the former Beatle.

The original album had some earlier Motown hits as by this point they'd agreed to let songs that were hit singles go on such compilations so we get Lionel Richie's unforgettable Hello. 

On the whole though I think it does a good job of replicating  this set that many of us had at the time

This member of the series didn't do too well as two tracks by Gary Glitter and Bob Marley on the original lp and tape from early June 1984 were removed on this cd and there were a number of significant version mix ups

February 1984's  NOW 2 which took in the Christmas 1983 and winter of 1984 hits had a few errors that would irritate those 'in the know' but was generally okay apart from a totally different version of Joe Fagen's That's Living Alright

The one that showed the series concept was a winner from early December 1983,in  time for the iconic tv advertising on ITV and Channel 4was a virtual Greatest Hits of 1983 with hits by Kajagoogoo, Limahl, Duran Duran, Culture Club and Genesis amongst many others.
The sleeve does list the missing number ones of 1983 too.
There had been a short lived card sleeve double cd of this issued in 2003, the thirtieth anniversary but that had been out of print for a while. 

While the series on cd has its issues and would of better issued earlier in the day to catch sales of those who may of wanted to replaced their lps or tapes, it does help fill the gaps for those of us who bought the later cd issues from Now '86 onward. 

Advent thoughts and that

Just about two weeks and a bit to go before things happen so this week I've had me hair all tidied up ready at the hairdressers who are all ready for it with their own decorations and that up.
By this time next week we'll know pretty much what if any direction this country is likely to be going with us going to the Polls next Thursday having listened to all the debates, read the leaflets, seen the 'fact checker' posts and the like.
I have been continuing as  a certain person  knows making some more cassettes as I have had a few more arrive which in view of having to toss out some expensive ones because someone had stored them in an ill ventilated damp place leaving them badly mildewed  was no bad thing.
Sometimes I feel I have to be a bloodhound, sniffing everything to check it is okay just because some people cannot do this before listing them for sale. 
That said, I intend to leave that side of things outside of the odd recording which I can start and return to later as Christmas does eat  time up with family and that plus obviously buying tapes costs money which is needed more for other things like presents.
As well Mom's brother in law and my Uncle is in bad way so things there may well take time and even headspace away from Christmas so it's best to concentrate on getting everything done ready to run no matter what.
It's not I'd want - this time of year does have it's fair share of bad memories -  but happens happens no matter what and you have to get on with things the best you can.
There should be a special edition next week all being well and then it's the one before the day. 
  

Some General Election Thoughts

With just a couple of weeks left to the General Election heres some non partisan thoughts round issues that have been talked  about.
One area the politicians having being talking about is homelessness and housing with a main difference between the emphasis on building home for first time buyers by the Conservatives and Building 100,000 homes to rent by Labour.
To me it shouldn't be a binary choice because we know there is insufficient new build  for the UK's population and at the same time there is  a shortage of affordable property to rent, especially of an acceptable standard.
A common problem with both proposals is there is a shortage of construction workers  which already is causing delays to developments and even a shortage of bricks so I don't feel labour's proposal is achievable  as it is and there would be issues with expanding privately owned property.
I think we need to revisit prefabricated housing such a that produced in Scandinavia   where the quality workmanship is built in at the factory being pre-plumbed and wired and is effectively assembled on site. which is quicker and doesn't require as many skilled hands that we don't have.
Labour are talking about Rent Control - limiting ("Capping") rents  which are very high in some areas but what concerns me is that the minute that is starts being put into effect, private landlords who invest in property for a reward will simply send the residents to the streets which happens even now if they feel they can get more from tenants.
To be at a point to even considers needs a rebalencing   of the private/public rental market and a long period of state investment which may take more than one parliament to get anywhere near.

The Environment is important and is a world wide issue which as an industralized nation we have and continue to add to but we do have a problem when it comes to building measures to minimize our impact into.
We are losing ground to housing developments that don't tie into transport networks  which means we lose trees, visual amenities and add more Co2 while allowing brownfield sites to lay dormant. This area is badly impacted by nondescript spawl as it is.
Building on such older used sites need to be competitive  financial as greenfield site.
The sorts of measures some advocate toward dealing with global emissions would have a major impact on peoples livelihoods and if such are necessary, people are going to need to assisted during that change and into new work.
Making people impoverished isn't any nicer for saying 'it's for the environment's good'  

Ours is a mainly urbanized country but even in inner cores high car ownership exists for reasons such as poor transport even in say Dudley, in the Black County due to poor bus services that make a fifteen minute car trip over an hour  with multiple connections, you can't get to Walsall by train without going on a round trip via Birmingham from Wolverhampton and it's no better across Greater Stoke on Trent as I know personally.
In order to reduce the impact of those car trips when comes to congestion and Co2 we need to make fast, efficient public transport a reality rather than in effect fining people making necessary journeys with congestion charging.
My area doesn't even a passenger transport transport executive so in effect bus and train companies make the decision about to provide  ignore social and other needs like getting people about when infrastructure remains stuck at a level that is Edwardian at best and pre Victorian at worst frequently jammed which makes public transport less reliable.
 

The end of an era

While I suck on my lolipop, this week the politicians have been visiting factories, playing with children and kissing babies while setting out their Manifestos the programs for what four years of whatever party is meant to look like and to which whole chunks usually get shredded my thoughts have been elsewhere not helped by being unwell for a fair bit of the week.
Thing is, this is usually the time of year where the last touches to the Community magazine are made before it goes of the the printers so there's normally there is a last minute scramble that this time would of included things like when our Christmas tree gets turned on, carolling and Christmas events including the school plays and so on.
This time it's pretty quiet because it was announced a few weeks ago that it was to fold as the person who had been editing it had been at it for twenty three years who I have known personally for at least twenty five and there's a lot stuff with it like chasing up content, making sure content is legal (nothing, say slanderous can go in print over here), sorting the page layouts and proof-reading to start with.
I've been involved from day one being wearing a boring groan up hat in a Community Association that identified a  big need being knowing what was going on especially if you didn't belong to several groups who might informal share such information that lead up to a group who got the newsletter started and had distributed it with others on foot religiously over that period come rain or snow.
It probably says a lot about me that I wobbled personally hanging on to walls several times to deliver while other non disabled people stayed in and drunk their coffee as it went through the letter box or using brownie like ingenuity to get them in where access to was poor but it was all done willingly for no financial reward.
They are supposed o be trying get space in the Parish Council's magazine but is quarterly so we'll have to see just how that pans out.
To me it just seems the end of an era.

The 90125 story

While the politicians are playing the anything you can do I can do bigger game I've been exploring an album I remember buying in late 1983 and have gone through a few versions of over the years

 Home surprisingly enough of two hits the rock disco Owner Of a Lonely Heart that I bought on 45 in November of 193 and It Can Happen from 1984 from a "progressive" rock group regarded as a spent force during the early 1980's that give birth to the supergroup Asia, it was a massive comeback from the dead.

 The last version I bought of it was this HDCD gold version from the sometimes good sometimes so-so Audio Fidelity label which while coming from the actual master tape sounded dull and too smoothed off for my tastes.

 This was the version I first bought, yes a Chrome tape that sounded marvellous and a far bit livelier from that 'audiophile' cd which was replaced by regular cd in the late 1980's .

 When cd's first came out supplies were scare and colour printing options for the disc tops were limited which lead to a colour scheme being set out  with on Warner Bros distributed titles a gun like Target cross hair design too.
That copy was the first European edition made before Warner Bros had their own cd pressing plants and was highly regarded.

During the transition as Warner Bros established a plant in the then West Germany some discs were made their from those original cd stampers which in practical terms means they are identical physically to their so-called target originals, just lacking that design and colour scheme.

That is the rear cover which like all early Warner Bros titles has a potted history of artist  hints at why it was selected for cd issue in those early days when few whole catalogues were available on the fledgling format.
 I recently acquired a near mint  copy as it is the earlier edition I prefer and really like the sound
 no doubt remaking to tape soon enough.

And they're off...

I guess if this thing is to covered and it's not as if we can escape it, then this happens to be the best place to put it.

 It was the first day proper when I typed this up but the horses are off on this epic battle that will reach it's conclusion by Ten PM on December 12 and so far we're making our way up foot in mouth alley toward our first set of key seat speeches by the various party leaders.
What it is that causes politicians to go off at interviews and the like to go well away from anything that really within their powers as politicians and make ill considered comments.
Having been in that game myself I am puzzled why anyone who knows just how the press and certain interest groups spin things out would consider commenting on such stuff a day before the General Election period is formally announced meaning various party spokesmen spend time having to explain all of that which takes them away from those issues each party wishes to talk about.
Then you start to get difference between a leader and key member such as Chuka Umunna M.P. challenging Jo Swinson, the Liberal Democrat leaders assertion the party will not form a future Government with the left wing Labour Party.
Plus you have candidates either de-selected for being caught saying unacceptable things or former M.P's calling on their supporters to vote for the other side!
Just five more weeks of this circus act to go.

Ghoulish round up

This week the Fall took hold here as this picture taken while out Sunday kind of shows which means were are moving to that period of Halloween Night, All Saint's Day and of course every childs delight, Guy Fawkes Night with things that go boom in the night.
That for me means getting this post done sharpish as I'm off with littles friends for our events that go Boom! today.
Of course in groan up world Halloween was supposed to be the day we left the European Union but that didn't happen although a Commons majority to agree in principal to leaving with an agreement exists but yet another extension has been agreed to January 28 although we can leave earlier IF we get it done.
We also are facing a General Election on Thursday December  12th so there will be a severe outbreak of Election Fever so if it bothers you just duck under the pillow fort and hang out with your stuffies but do vote! We do need a government with a majority.
In other news the long overdue Dire Straits double 45rpm vinyl reissues and the related Super Audio cds have finally emerged after a over three year wait although mine will have travel from the U.S. Distributor to the shop over here who has my order for the first few four studio albums.
That means it'll be a few weeks or so before they show up here.

Tapes

While all the mad stuff was happening in Parliament,  I was making a few recordings one of which was to replace two pre-recorded cassettes that no long playback right using the small system's cd player and obviously the cassette deck.

 That was the cheapest tape you could buy from TDK, the then leading tape manufacturer usually in packs of three, five or ten a piece being typically used in stereo radio cassette recorders or all in one "Shoebox" shaped mono recorders that run on batteries.
A few might use them for making tapes up for the car as they were dirt cheap new but most people who had separate cassette decks used with their hifi systems wouldn't touch them thinking they'd moved on from all that.
One consequence of this is many people associate the tape with relatively poor sound.

 This is the back of the cellophane wrapper of the sixty minute version and the thing was actually if you used the adjuster (or an automatic tape calibration device) in the recorder these were a lot better than you'd think with crisp high notes and good clean bass with just a little more hiss than a more expensive type 1 "normal" tape.
Its been years since I last used one of these, I did use the D series in the early eighties before I had a brand new deck of my own but the 1991 D did an excellent job remaking that album on tape and even now they are cheap to find.
The reason people associate the tape with less than stellar sound is just what they were used with that's all.

People in the tape world argue a lot about type types-which is the best- but my experience suggested that it was about the individual tape than whither or not it was a type I "Normal tape" or a type 2 "Chrome position" or type 4 metal oxide tapes which were wasted on but the most expensive equipment.

 This is one I used a heck of a lot in the late eighties and up to the point I bought my first MiniDisc deck in 1997.
It is a type 1 which tended to be look down on by hifi types - Mr Hifi Bore  at the  pub would always talk about type 2's being where hifi cassettes started - but this was extremely good because it would take a lot of signal meaning it could capture more with less hiss than most type I's and had the ability to record the most bass of any tape without sounding distorted.
It also tended to be  very reliable which helped as I used a walkman tape player on the bus and train a lot. It helped they were sold in value packs of three or five in places like record stores or Boots the Chemists here in England.
I soon found this was at least the equal of type II tapes ditching most of TDK's type II's completely  but such was the prejudice on the part of hifi people many didn't buy them.

I won't talk too technical as that would come over as "mumbo jumbo" to you but on the wrapper it shows how good it was at capturing sound and why it was it had a better ability to keep the difference between the quietest and loudest sounds than some type II tapes.
It also meant it would play properly on any player without sounding too bright.
I managed to track down some new old stock ones to go with my three shoeboxes of TDK AD type I's living next to my recorder.

More Brexit Chaos

The whole after Britain leaves the European Union thing rumbles on with negotiations continuing this week well into the night as the two teams try to find an acceptable outcome to the conundrum that is leaving with an agreement where various groups in the UK Parliament are at odds with what they want (if anything-The liberals don't want and won't vote for leaving at all cos they know better than the electorate apparently...) .
The Irish Republic is more concerned about it's trade, the impact on leaving on its economy and the Northern Irish Belfast Accords  (aka the Peace agreement) even if it seems to mean different things to different people.
The Democratic Unionist party feels the Irish Republic is trying to push out out of the orbit of London and more of than of Dublin and Brussels which it alleges goes against the said Belfast Accords in different interpretation.

 On Thursday Morning we were very close to agreement between the UK and EU being signed off for a special Parliamentary Session on Saturday but the DUP have thrown a spanner into works with a late in the day "Not acceptable for now" statement . How kind of them.
This may change or given this is Brexit the discourse that never ceases, it may not so I'll just take two paracetamol and go bed. This is thing does my head in.

Restoring the vinyl

After the "Broked Edition" we have some restoration edition around vinyl which has been a mainstay of my music collection for a long time even if some went around the late 1980's and early 1990's as I embraced with some reluctance the compact disc.
Belinda Carlisle was an artist who I followed a lot during that era, coming from the Go-Go's to who  I liked in the early 1980's who had hits with Vacation, We Got The Beat and Our Lips are Sealed.
I had bought on record her second  album Heaven On Earth and it's follow up, the magnificent Runaway Horses even though the latter was also bought on cd and I later picked up the cd of Heaven on Earth.
By 1991 however I was starting to wind down on vinyl purchasing and so when later that year Live Your Life, Be Free was issued I bought that straight away on cd.
I had acquired the UK Virgin lp of it a good two decades later but to be honest I was very underwhelmed by it not least because it had vinyl roar not just between songs but so intrusive it obscured many of the quieter passages

 It was reissued in box set and then separately in 2018 by Demon Records who have acquired the rights to her catalogue and good number of other artists.

 They chose to issue it on red coloured vinyl which in reality all vinyl is being normally clear and coated black usually so unlike picture discs it doesn't affect sound quality.
This copy is much quieter and  has improved low notes although personally given one side is long I think a double album with perhaps a remix on the fourth side might of made more sense

In the Fall of 1993 Belinda released her fourth solo album Real or was it written without any punctuation probably as a artistic statement belindacarlislereal which as bought on cd although a very limited vinyl edition was made that usually sells for a lot of money.
As was my want in that era those cds were all taped on Maxell XLII high bias tape and that was no exception for my then Aiwa Walkman using a expensive Technics cassette deck.

 The sheer scarcity of the vinyl edition meant this album wasn't on vinyl in my collection so seeing this also was reissued in 2018 I bought a copy.

This was issued on clear vinyl which natively all vinyl is and actually sounds more open and less compressed than the cd which was louder than many but sadly others where much louder still a year later due to the so-called Loudness Wars.
I think having this edition was well worth it as it helps in enjoying it.
 
One of a small number of albums affected by the PVC sleeve issue was my original 1982 Eye Of The Tiger album by Mid-Western rock band Survivor which is a classic of the genre. The inside of the lp jacket smelt badly of the gas from those sleeves and it had started to 'fog over'.

Seeing it had a number of marks that resulted in clicks too I bought a mint original of the very first pressing over here which is a lot better and replaced the rubbish plain poor quality paper inner with a lined one.
It also had the lyric insert which my original had lost over the years.

Broked week in the Dorm

Well, this week I'm still recovering from this sore throat and cold wotsitname I acquired from the one and only grump so you may need to bare with me not being helped by the damp of lots and lots of rain.
I had to deal with a potential disaster with my extensive record collection caused by breakdow of PVC in outer sleeve that apart from smell so bad you could throw up, also can cause damage to the playing surfaces. 

 I needed to get 100 of these replacement pe acid free resealable outer sleeves that after cleaning them to put them into as the others went to recycling.
You can get them in standard or double lp versions but as a not a few of my records may be a single disc in a gatefold sleeve I decided to buy doubles across the board as it's a lot easier although as you can appreciate the entire process is time consuming which isn't good but at least it's done and I know know what to get for any discs that don't have similar sleeves like Espirit (eil.com) use.

If that wasn't enough the tape player featured in last weeks entry died, refusing to move a tape in any direction which means it may well be a belt to which so far I can't find one of the right size and shape rounded or flat although I'll continue looking.
This meant I had get a newer player and I was able to spot this that features auto reverse, dolby noise reduction for any tape made with it (don't like dolby that much btw) and a tape selector cheaply working and for good measure ordered a spare belt which was available from Germany in case the one that's fitted acts up or snaps with old age (back to rubber breaking down to the sap that made it!)
Also I have removed a few things like books seldom read and records that had been replaced ready for a charity collection today so I get some space back and they hopefully get some money from it.

Making a tape or two

Here at That Boarding School Girl apart from being annoyed but not surprised at the Bear Pit that was Wednesday's activity in the House of Commons, I am unwell with a rotten  cold and cough so haven't been out on Thursday, not feeling up to much at all. 

Anyway continuing on a bit from last weeks post, the point behind having the cassette deck wired in was not just to play any old cassettes either pre-recorded on older ones of mine but to also to make new ones.

 As you will see in this picture, I have a portable cassette player aka a "Walkman" although that strictly speaking is a Sony term that while only playing in one direction before the tape stops and you turn it over, does feature Dolby B noise reduction for tapes made with it, a five band equalizer that acts like tone controls  to alter the sound to your tastes and a tape selector for tapes made to play in "Normal" or "Chrome/Metal" positions.

Around it are three tapes I made, one an original and the two Beatles ones I did this week on the Technics cassette deck.

One thing that those not brought up in the tape era won't realize is while a tape has a set playing time that time is not only halved across two sides equally but doesn't necessarily easily fit an album because either one side is longer than the tape's side or as with the Beatles 1962-1966 it is an album that runs for sixty-three minutes which would be too short for a seventy-four or ninety minute tape with lots of minutes of blank tape to get through before the second side and slightly too long for a sixty minute tape.

I decided with that one to remove a couple of songs that were not necessary and move one song to the second side to get it to neatly fit on a that sixty minute tape.

Likewise to get the forty nine minutes per side of the matching 1967-1970 album to a ninety minute tape I deleted a track from each side which left only a minute of blank tape from each of the tape which was very neat!

Project x part XII - simplification

This series of articles dates back to 2015 with the last entry from May of 2018 where we change the amplifier to better quality one.
Unfortunately when I went to put it one a couple of weeks ago the red power indicator came on for a second followed by a deep thud. Subsequent tests show it blew a few fuse and a number of transistors in the power amp.
This was a good time as any to try and simplify matters by adding one of the popular mini hifi components that have been around for the last fifteen or so years that typically comprise of a amplifier with built in cd player and tuner unit.
Denon are a very well respected maker of hifi components whose systems like that are frequent hifi award winners in that category.

The UD-M31 is a typical example of the breed being small , remote control driven with a RDS radio built in that does looks really smart.
There is a small 3.5mm headphone socket on the front that automatically switches out the loud speakers which were optional with model and not supplied .

 Looking at the rear panel you have antenna sockets for AM and FM radio and unlike the latest units two sets of line sockets that comprise of inputs AND outputs which means you can plug in recorders such as a cassette deck or MiniDisc easily and for MiniDisc there is an optical output for recording from cd which was the main digital input connector for them used for recording.
There are the pair of spring clip loud speaker connects right, then left for this units 22 watts per channel RMS which is the same as the previous one and notably higher than the original which will work well with the Wharfdale Delta 30's

 The cassette deck wired in with all its fancy tape tuning and display adjustment has a mechanically operated draw and the ability to insert four second pauses between recordings that helps when using tape searching systems like APSS.
It has a dedicated headphone output with its own volume control for monitoring.