Remaking the past

 

One thing I have been doing this week although I have not and today do not feel well is remaking a series of tapes that I did originally started in January of 1988 coinciding as it did with the replacing of pre-recorded cassettes for compact discs.

The main reason then to do it was that compact disc wasn't and remains less good as a on the go personal format with discs easy to mark and awkward to carry about, changing as needed.

I tended back then to use Maxell XLII type two chrome position tapes that tended to be reliable although I had experimented using type four metal oxide ones and with the machine I had in the 1990's in particular it just was the case it didn't work out so well even though in theory it ought to had been better.

When MiniDisc arrived here many of those tapes just went tossed aside which in hindsight was a bad move given the relative scarcity and high prices of such tapes that are no longer made. 

I remade this small bunch on some very lightly used metal tapes of the sort I did have back then as a homage to that era but did need to rejig the track lists as for one album the original A side was noticeably longer that the other to the point no suitable tape length existed  and with another it made more sense to put the live tracks on one side  and add its one studio recording at the end of the album that preceded it

Today while I could listen to Mp3's or lossless files, I still prefer to physically handle the tape and there is less risk of the effects  of corruption of the memory card when use use a physical media such as tape and reply by my trusty Panasonic walkman.

Surprisingly the in some ways basic Yamaha budget cassette deck does a much better job of making better recordings on these tapes than  the on paper better deck I had then, being quite lifelike.

I don't use dolby find it it hit and miss when it comes to replay tapes between machines and some of issues around setting automatically tape tuning reliably as it tends to get that wrong making duller recordings.

David Crosby - R.I.P.

 This is an evolving post being composed at speed but it was announced late Thursday that David Crosby, pictured below died today aged 81 years being born in Los Angeles, Calif.

David was constant for those of us brought up on West Coast Californian rock both as a group member and solo artist, often collaborating with others. 

The picture, one of the more recent was on the tour re-promoting his "If Only I Could Remember My Name" album with a series of concert dates.

For those of our generation, we grew up in the light of Woodstock and Crosby, Stills and Nash formed of ex members of The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield (Steven Stills) and The Hollies (Graham Nash) were a major part of that, joined later on by Neil Young who gave us such gems as Almost Cut My Hair, Ohio State, Suite Judy Blue  and others covered everything that mattered in that turbulent time.

The Byrds are only second to me outside of the (Jefferson) Airplane/Starship as my biggest musical influences revolutionizing rock music, pushing boundaries and Crosby was a co-founder of that very group that produced folk rock, propelled psychedelia into pop culture, came up with Country Rock and a host of other things.

Their career took off after the electrified recording of the Bob Dylan song  Mr. Tambourine Man was issued in mid 1965 to worldwide acclaim.

David is to be seen at the far left of this 1966 picture from the year that gave us Eight Miles High, Fifth Dimension and lead to recording of Everybody's Been Burned, a torch song sang by David which was the b side of So You Want To Be A Rock And Roll star which remains a huge favourite and Lady Friend, issued in 1967 during a turbulent period in the Byrds history as a mono single which I got to here via the excellent UK 1973 The History of The Byrds  compilation which at that time was hard to find otherwise.

Rest in peace.

Duran Duran: Hammersmith '82

 One disc I had over the Christmas Holidays was this hour or so long live recording of Duran Duran at the peak of their fame in 1982 at the Hammersmith Odeon, London which was first issued in full several yeas back as a audio cd included in the DVD of the concert.

Today soundtrack recordings like this tend to be dismissed a bit for the whole feel of seeing and hearing the show in surround sound but in 1982 we listened to recordings either off the radio from the likes of Radio One or bootlegs but this is a well played set.

It is split between four sides to help keep the best sound quality and comes in a gatefold sleeve.

From this concert Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me), a cover of the Steve Harley song was featured as the b side to The Reflex (Remix) in April 1984.

Updates over The New Year period

 

As some of you may be aware I'm rather pawley sneezing, coughing with aching bones this thing having started around Catmas aka Christmastime  and it is taking some time to clear up unfortunately so I haven't been able to do an awful lot.

It's also that again unfortunately Mommy had been poorly with breathing problems to the point having almost stopped breathing needed taking to hospital  as an top emergency where she was found to had a kidney and lung infection that she had antibiotics for and being low on some trace elements.

This is  a huge concern for me as we wait on to see when she can return home doing various tests and monitoring stuff given she has CEOP so I'm afraid there's nothing of the usual sorts of posts you would of expected on this blog in its long history.

Until next week, Bye.