Duran Duran: Rio Carnival

Believe it or not some forty odd years have passed since the issuing of Duran Duran's massive selling selling Rio album in May 1982 and a special EP was issued for Record Store day on last Saturday.

Duran Duran always had an appeal beyond art rock, new romantics and the like and that was dance fans so it wasn't so surprising their most popular songs were remixed in long versions for that audience and Rio had a number of singles remixed a number times for different countries too.

The cover is based upon the 1982 Dutch EP sleeve which apart from being cut at 45 rpm also had Girls On Film and Planet Earth from their first album.

The original CARNIVAL EP’s were the key to unlocking Duran Duran’s international success at the time and each tracklisting differed around the world. 

SIDE A – 1. Rio (Night Version) (6:39), 2. My Own Way (Night Version) (6:34), 3. Hungry Like The Wolf (Night Version) (5:14) // SIDE B – 1. Hold Back The Rain (Carnival Remix) (7:00), 2. New Religion (Carnival Remix) (5:13), 3. Rio (Part 2) (5:28). 

It is pressed on a red/blue swirl vinyl.

The return of the pre-recorded tape

 What did we talk about last week?

The stereo and music, sure but you know when I mentioned the cassette deck did you realize that actually that is so so on trend right now as while people find streaming convenient on say your smartphone, tablet or maybe Chromebook actually there is a resurgence going on in physically owning things like music.

We've heard for a good while about the vinyl comeback  from people thinking after 1992 it would be gone and many majors dropping vinyl editions unless artists pushed for it in the late 90's at least in Europe - it had been pretty dead from about 1990 in the States - to getting to the point that not only chart albums being issued again as a matter of course on vinyl to even older albums being re-issued on vinyl and many of the Universal groups "Completed" and Now That's What I Call Music themed releases coming out on vinyl too.

Something like this also has started to comeback in a big way too, the pre-recorded compact cassette which I must admit I am biased about as I was a major cassette user owning cassette walkmans, home decks, a radio cassette recorder and buying a  good number of pre-recorded tapes which by the 80's when that tape came out did sound pretty good.

Many people had car players and it must be said cassettes were easy to use in the car with a single hand movement to slot it in the mechanism and it started playing and each side clearly labelled apart from being fairly durable compared to compact discs if you're the solo driver.

Although people pushed Mp3's stored on memory sticks in cars, often there were issues with folder structures, finding the album you wanted and even when you did with it playing it in its proper order without a gap so mobile internet permitting streaming was a better option.

That said like most in car things today it's all big screens to look at and menu structures to navigate .

You can get new cassette equipment although much isn't on a par with the best from the 80's and 90's, something people are working on as new manufacture of better mechanisms is beginning and I would feel comfortable in recommending the Tascam home decks as good reliable new decks for those who just want to start all over again without at least a bit of tlc and a belt change on older units.

New tapes have been issued and sales are up.

Taylor Swift's current album, Midnights is one of several chart albums available on cassette as well as numerous vinyl and cd versions and like most modern releases doesn't use Dolby noise reduction as you can no longer license it from Dolby Labs.

That said on good tape, you have little hiss and less chance of the sound being a bit off if there were any difference between what it was duplicated on and your own machine.

Certainly I no longer use it on my own recordings for those reasons.

Some people have been collecting pre-recorded tapes for like ages and it's still happening with for example with this collection of all Taylor's cassettes apart from Folklore which is another reason why people buy releases.

Like have you ever tried "collecting" downloaded albums, having to back them up lest the SD card they're on gets corrupted and refuses to play and the lack of even a box with unique art is a turn off?

If you're a fan of an artist you want to own and handle things buy them, magazines, posters, concert programs and the albums and tape is small convenient carrier for their music you too can collect without taking up much space. 

It may seem crazy in 2023 but the humble cassette is back with us with youngsters embracing it as much as their parents generation thought they'd seen the end of tapes in their lives.

Just fast forward on to the future!

System sorting and a disc

 

I've been working a bit on the downstairs front room system as with mass Soaps watching on tv over the few years the system hadn't had much attention so for instance the amplifier got changed over not so long ago as the original had major issues with the switches not working reliably.

While originally it had tape again in the last few years that went so a couple of days ago we plugged in a high quality two headed stereo cassette deck so tapes could be replayed over it and even new ones recorded too.

CD was sorted a while back and one reason was the rash of compilations Now have put out over the years in card covers which I don't personally like with little information and prone to damaging the discs unless you line them but one the other hand dirt cheap.

The late 1970's to early 80's was an interesting decade in music and this compilation from 2022 does and excellent job of compiling mainly New Wave, Alt Rock and punk from that era to four generously filled discs with near enough all the tracks you need.

Strongly recommended

Good Friday Edition

While there is a lot of grown up fast moving political stuff going I'd normally of considered writing something about that speed and the time involved tracking events is such I decided to stick with something more straightforward.

This weekend - an extended one - is Easter which for me was always linked with church services such as Palm Sunday and colourful events such as having Jesus, the Christ, played going around the area on a donkey with everyone following.

For some of us that life, his death and the resurrection are the backbone of what Easter means, the core of our faith even if we may join in with other things we do at Easter, especially for children.

Easter Egg hunts with people in colourful costumes are a common thing, lots of fun to take part in and can be tied into a party of which most of us love anyway.

My large Egg, supplied by the legendary Grump alone this year will no doubt be consumed this weekend.

Happy Easter!