New copies and the "right to comment"

Back with a post kind of linked to the previous but in some respects a little different in the week the Donald was told he lacked the Authority on many but all his tariffs by a court, clearly acting out of the constitution. What a naughty little boy!

There often is lovely discourse in music and especially audiophile circles about what constitutes "the best" version of an album and if you read through page after page it's obvious there can be a major difference in what people or prioritizing or perhaps the copy that works best on their stereo systems.

Take this the 2017 half speed mastered version of Roxy Music's classic 1982 Avalon album that beyond the title track included the top ten single More Than This which some feel is a bit bland but many others like.

I have an American Warner Bros original that I was able get in great shape and yes I am happy with it, but having heard this edition I'd say it was a very decent copy obviously lacks wear and can be replaced by the shop if there's any issue.

One person suggested the only comments that should be accepted about how it sounds are by those who have compared at least another edition and ideally several.

If you were talking about a review then that kind of approach would make sense being able contrast and compare any difference you observe but a casual reflection on how having talked about the new version coming out a person posts there thoughts having just received their copy really you don't.

Naturally the kind of super fan with multiple copies is into the comparison, the "is this worth picking up?" aspect but really so long as you're upfront about it being your only copy it's crazy to deny it.

We don't all have multiple copies - storage issues would increase if you took that approach - and many of us can recall just going into a shop and getting the version that was available even for older titles and provided we felt it was great sounding and we obviously loved the music we were satisfied with that.

Many people are getting into (or back to) vinyl and "more than good enough" new copies are well worth picking up when they can be had for modest prices.

In the end it's only an opinion and the one that matters most is yours.

Brothers In Arms...again

The last time I wrote about Dire Straits, the rock group and not the state of my purse would of been late 2019 when I was building up a collection of super audio cds and slowly their recordings were coming out in that format.

This week reminds me a little of when I went to my summer holiday around this time in 1985 when after a couple of years there seemed to be a real buzz around the Compact Disc since its introduction and So Far Away was played a lot on the radio.

That was the lead single from Brothers In Arms, the new Dire Straits album and this was for many the gateway album to get a cd player and a few discs one reason being the songs run for longer on the cd (but then they also did on the Chrome cassette) and in time I got the cd with those versions.

That was very much it until I got the sacds.

These days I do play a lot of vinyl and I always wanted to hear those other versions so hearing the record as in a single lp was being reissued at start of this month I picked it ip.

Cut by Miles Showell at Abbey Road, London from the tapes this sounds more analogue and in some ways being more concise does suit it.

It also avoids the four side changes of modern full length versions spread over two records.

I'm pleased to get this version.

On the appointment of Pope Leo

The last week has been a warm one and as mentioned it was a rather busy week for news that we really couldn't keep up with it.

Following the death of Pope Francis in rather less time than it's taking the Anglican Church to organize the appointment it's most senior Bishop, the Cardinals have appointed a new head of the Roman Catholic church.

Robert Prevost was selected and has chosen the styling Pope Leo XIV (14th) and he is an american by birth, widely travelled, speaks several languages fluently and appears to share many of his predecessors concerns coupled with the more humble approach to the role, being more of a bridge-builder with the more modern secularized world.

Concerns over the handling of historic sexual abuse issues, excessive influence in some countries running and long running issues around the role of women and place of lgbt people within the wider church and internally have had an impact on membership, extent to which people are less likely to just follow papal teaching and church attendances.

That was something Pope Francis made some headway with, joining in discussion about things that faith and belief plays a part in such as stewardship of our planet and its environment that some while not attending Mass as often in the past do care about as well as social justice generally.

Much of my family are Roman Catholic, the reminder being Anglo-Catholic so it's pretty much home for me, some of those values show in my views around certain topics in much the same way I am sure your beliefs do in what you do but values matter.

VE Day reflections

 

Yesterday was VE Day and while its politics aren't mine Phillip Zac was a brilliant cartoonist the Daily Mirror employed during WW2 whose cartoon are easily the most iconic and at times moving of that era, really getting the emotions.

For me this cartoon speaks volumes not just of the sentiments of many of that generation but really invites us to think about what it means when we consider the millions of lives lost, the destruction of so many towns and cities that it took us here in the U.K. decades to really recover from and the massive economic price paid: For Freedom.

Our Freedom

The Freedom of hundreds of Millions in Europe as imperfect as that peace proved to be

To strive to ensure it Never Happens Again

To co-operate to help each other and resolve our differences peacefully.

Some trends in our world, the war in Ukraine, disengagement from being a force for diplomatic good by the United States and indifference to the difference N.A.T.O. has made keeping Europe free and in the main peaceful are very worrying.

We should NEVER lose it again.

Another one bites the dust

A new month almost a year on from the General Election, four month near enough from the arrival of one Donald J. Trump in the White House and we return to more current affairs.

We are in Staffordshire, specifically Greater Stoke on Trent an area radically changed in a half century into a if not the world centre of Pottery production with a massive legacy in that regard beyond Coal mining and Iron and Steel production which we had a good deal of.

Changing dining habits, the increased use of dishwasher leading to less specialized crockery being bought, competition from much cheaper labour countries, wholesale "dumping" at below cost foreign production and monsterous hikes in energy prices which firing wares in the kiln has seen decimation over recent years.

Late Wednesday it was announced the famous Moorcroft pottery with a very long history is set to close as the impact of energy costs and, yes, the impact of Tariffs on U.S. sales, a major sales area for speciality ware which they produce.
 

 It is sad the brand and its wear will be lost beyond obviously the loss of jobs but as this continues it is bound to have an impact on skills which in order to maintain the industry are needed to be taught both in college and also in the workplace.