Easter edition

 Okay it is Good Friday although yesterday I was having issues with bigger old windows that corrupted the usual browser to the point it had to be totally reinstalled eating up time and paw movement.

I want that costume!

Continuing briefly from last week, one wishes the Princess of Wales all the best with her chemotherapy and hopes she can can be granted the space she needs to work through everything.

Here I was out earlier in the week enjoying myself, seeing a few people before Easter in different areas some are off on school holidays and others will be doing so next week like here.

Easter can affect post so I tried to get things ordered so all being well they should not be delayed much and indeed some ankle socks and a record came in very good time.

There's an Egg for consumption here, white cos I prefer white chocolate as it doesn't trouble my head as much compared to diary or especially dark which tends to last days on end.

Anyway enjoy Easter folks!

That Photo and what's at the core of the discussion

Heading towards yet another wet weekend here.

One thing probably worth remarking upon this week is the whole issue of trust, media speculation and after image processing that the Wales's appear to have got themselves into with the release last week of a picture of them and their children for Mothering Sunday (the British Mother's Day) to the World's media after her period of being in hospital.

It didn't last twenty-four hours before being picked apart for showing some less than subtle editing which seems to be norm with many today but this ignores one important requirement which is Newspapers require an image to be an accurate indication of the event taken even if they may crop a picture themselves having received so it was retracted.

A picture has to be of the event not a composite even of many images taken at the time or in effect a photo montage upon a theme.

But then it appears they *may* be issues with a picture issued in 2022 of the late Queen and her family.

An explanation proffered was as an amateur photographer, the Princess of Wales enjoys dabbling in photo editing which is probably true - and has reflected in the controversies from time to time about rules in digital photographic competitions generally - but you need to give the press the picture "as is".

As it stands the attempt at the "perfect" picture seems to have fuelled speculation on the extent of the Princess's condition, if we're having anything held back, even bizarrely if the royal are using a body double, all of which is a long way from her intent in having and issuing that picture. 

Sometimes you just have to present the picture as taken, warts and all.

Phil Collins recut

This week we're looking at a couple of things that came for my birthday which are a bit special.

As part of the celebrations marking the 75th anniversary of Atlantic Records, some 75 albums are being re-issued in special audiophile versions by Kansas based Analogue Productions in association with Atlantic records.

They are in every sense premium editions from the high quality jacket printing and finish, the use of acclaimed mastering engineers to cut the grooves and that they are 45 rpm allowing more room for all the notes to be fully accommodated with less of the compromises required especially with long albums.

I have always liked Phil Collin's solo albums but they were bought straight to compact disc so I decided to pick up two titles of his in the series starting with Face Value, his first album from early 1981 issued after Genesis's Duke which saw the use of horns and use of intricate drum sounds on songs like In The Air Tonight and I Missed Again.

It also has an interesting version of Tomorrow Never Knows, originally written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney for their Revolver album of 1966. 

In late 1982 having issued Abacab and Three Sides Live for Genesis Phil returned to his solo material and issued this, Hello, I Go Again, the follow up.

This had a massive smash cover version of the supremes song You Can't Hurry Love that keeps much of its soulful qualities and is beautifully recorded and Don't Let Him Steal Your Heart Away, a hit on early 1983.

The sound quality of both these albums is absolutely stunning with lots of detail, atmosphere and dynamics coupled with excellent tuneful bass.

It is unfortunate that each is restricted to just 2,000 copies each with no ability in the license to repress because already the first one is very hard to find despite being issued in October last year.

 

Birthday edition

Normally I do a kind of special day post on here but as it's similar to that of the other blog it's just an altered version really as any individual items will have their own one of posts  and I certainly wasn't gonna be talking about the budget today. 

There were cards as much as cards got crowded out last year with the events of just under three weeks before everything was on pause so the small number cards wee just in a bit of a corner rather than a central position.

That one fills the girl of the family slot doesn't surprise most given the craziness of our family, doing stuff and trying to smooth things over.

While I don't know about any other presents and they can always be added as an update I do the know the Super Audio cd of Genesis's Selling England By The Pound by Analogue Productions as part of the Atlantic 75 years anniversary delayed from last November is here.

Given the record version was acclaimed, I'm looking forward to spinning this disc.

There is a copy of the special 45 rpm 75 years anniversary issue of the first Crosby, Stills and Nash album that alongside Abbey Road and Let It Bleed heralded the new and in many ways more modern sound of rock than the more sophisticated pop of just a few years back.

I'm rebuilding a bit of the collection so a few new to me original lps came too ready to clean up and resleeve.

There will be a fuller write up around the 2004-2005 installment of Now Millennium but this gathering of notable tracks from those two years will help bringing back the sounds of that era coupled with a book about the artists and times.

I'm sure there will be some money to put towards a few other purchases looking towards Easter and Summer get together and unlike last year we'll have a small meal together at a local pub, something we always did when Mom was alive and something that didn't happen last time as that's been booked.

Gearing up to a marker and just being me

 Things were different last year for a variety of reasons such as the period the year before where I was seriously ill had rather messed my head up, tending to forget things significantly worse than is usual for me given my short term memory issues.

This was impacted by my and Mom's covid infection at the end of year and her death that dominated to a large extent the whole period going into March which rather left traditional birthday arrangements really messed up as even the cards given nothing else much happened just melted into the many bereavement cards that took up much of the front room so it was in many ways a non event.

The other thing was the stresses and strains really took me backward to my most "littlest" side as your world seemed to no long appeared to be recognizable at the very time you needed that comforting sensation and associated emotions.

Things that had been bought to spend time away "more little" in 2022 spent more time on me in 2023 as I just felt more settled as that little and indeed when last week an Aunt called in, I was dressed very much as that little.

Sometimes it's best to be true to yourself and just let things be.

This year it well be marked closer in spirit to how it always was even if one face may not be at the table because life continues even as the loss is still felt but the drift over time more towards this life is just there, we talked about it in 2016, and if I still sit with my stuffies then so be it.