Old masters

 

As I type this just a bit before bedtime here it is expected to fall to below one degree C having spent part of the day putting away the physical trappings of Christmas such as the decorations and tree for another year.

The magic that we invoke by our ritual served us well providing a focus on what really mattered avoiding the deafening noise from other things this last year settling in to enjoy the New Year listening to this years New Years Day concert from Vienna.

While in many ways I like to buy new recordings often more generous when it comes to couplings and frequently on the higher quality super audio cd format, the allure of the past can cut in.

Take this 1976 recording originally made in SQ Quadrophonic sound for EMI/Angel during a period the celebrated Austrian conductor Herbert von Karajan was under contract to EMI Records.

It's hardly generous at just under forty four minutes  being a straight issue of that lp with nothing added outside of an excellent remastering done in 2017 that improves on the 1990  Angel original cd transfer.

The thing that makes it worth while actually is the playing not just of the orchestra in Richard Strauss's work but that of the soloists Rostropovich on cello and Koch on voila being one of the finest ever recordings of this work.

It really holds your attention until the very end.

Rollermania Pt.II

 

The last time I posted about the Bay City Rollers on this blog was way back in October 3rd 2010 which is a long time which is why this post is being made the way I did back then and  a fair bit has happened in that time.

The first thing to update this blog on is that we had the deaths of two long term members of the group and another who was only a member for a relatively brief period which means in practical terms the likelihood of any kind of meaningful Rollers act on tour have gone with Eric Faulkner ill and Derek Longmuir and Stuart "Woody" Wood otherwise preoccupied.

One July 2nd at 6 am 2018 it was announced that Alan Longmuir, the bass player who left in early 1976 feeling at the ripe old age of 26 he was too old to be in the band had died.

Ian Mitchell who was from Northern Ireland stepped into Alan's shoes in 1976 playing on the Love Me Like I Love You single from April that year and the Dedication album that was recorded in Canada, died in early September of 2020 aged 62 and who outside of the BCR was a important part of the group Rosetta Stone.

Last Thursday, April 23rd, it was announced Les McKeown who joined the band in early 1974 remaining with them until 1978's Strangers In The Wind album not being happy about the group moving in a more new wave direction and launching a solo career.

He had stepped in as lead singer replacing Nobby Clark and two early singles were re-recorded for the Rollin' album of 1974 with his vocals.

As the old century moved in to the new, he performed with a version of the rollers with some success and kept in contact with former band mates not least in trying to resolve the scandal of grossly underpaid record royalties that hand left many members with little to show for their fame and the consequences of being ripped off by Tom Paton, their manager for good measure.

If some of us were fans of other members of the band at the time, we'd all acknowledge Les was the big heart throb of the group, universally popular, happy to meet fans.

The Bay City Rollers played a part in breaking the barrier for Scottish popular music to be successful all over the world, selling some 120 million records worldwide. 

To get the appeal at the time as we experienced it  you have to remember this.

You would deck yourself from head to foot with Tartan attire often hand sown with scarves wrapped tightly around your wrists, you'd scream and hug your television on each and every time they were on.

If you were lucky you'd go roller-spotting hoping to catch a glance of any band member, whilst out and try desperately to get hold of one.

You bought each and every record they issued the minute it was, buying the magazines featuring them, the annuals and as much of the merchandise they issued. 

You collected newspaper cuttings too.

Back in 1975 much of the slick multimedia promotion of today simply didn't exist nor did the technology such as cellphones and the internet so we didn't have ringtones and screens to download.

They were your all embracing passion and for most of us romantic interest rolled in one. I was obsessed with Stuart 'Woody' Wood!

The music of our older siblings was progressive rock that had songs that could last for a whole album side arranged in suites often lasting for more then seven minutes with lyrics that required older more poetic reading skills with cryptic metaphors than those of us aged between 7 and 14 had.

It was too long for us.

We liked guitar based songs that lasted three minutes that were about things in our world not sword and sorcery that made us feel good and that we could huddle in corners singing while having fashions we'd copy.  

It was our music, not our siblings or parents.

That music was and is tied to our childhood which resonates strong in some of us.

If that was the backdrop and soundtrack of our formative childhood years you well get how with Les's death it seems as if a page in past is over.

The band may in effect be no more as thing we can see but we have the music and memories that were a part of lives then and will remember it they way we know they would of wanted us to. With gladness.

Rollermania Pt.I

Blasts from the 70's in four speakers

Sometimes on here we don't do things by halves and this week we're going back in time to some 70's albums that recently remerged.

 MFSB stood for "Mothers, Fathers, Sisters and Brothers" and were the backing band on many of the soul label Philadelphia International Records distributed through Columbia/CBS rather like the Funk Bros were to Motown and this is a pairing of their 1975 album Philadelphia Freedom that features their recording of the  Elton John hit and 1976's Summertime* which is just summer inspired compositions in a more jazz influenced Funk style which I like.
This for me is a great replacement for my so-so 2010 edition issued by Edsel on regular cd.

 The Guess Who were formed in 1969 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and were a very popular hard rocking band in North America.
This features their very polished 50's influenced  Rockin' album of 1972 and Best of Vol: 2 album of 1973 in Quadraphonic and stereo.
Volume 1 of The Best of was issued in 2014 by now deceased Audio Fidelity in stereo and quad too and I was able to pick up a copy recently which contains earlier hits like American Woman and Laughing.

I do like some Jazz and got this recent issue of Herbie Hancock's Sextant album in stereo and quadraphonic sound from 1973 that features the ARP synthesizer.

1973's Head Hunters which is acclaimed by many was re-issued by Analogue Productions in stereo and quad too in 2016.
You'll note all of these releases are on Super Audio cd also playable on regular cd playing equipment and all apart from *  which is just in stereo also have the original Quadraphonic surround sound versions issued on record and Q8 tape on the Super Audio cd layer.

Introducing Selena - from christmas of the past

After last weeks excursion into the early nineteen-seventies,  we are going forward into the past here by looking at something I had for Christmas but in nineteen seventy-nine instead which as anyone who lived through that time knows also was turbulent politically.

The cold war was very much still on but for all of that trade with what was the U.S.S.R was fairly common place and ownership of soviet era cars, cameras and electrical goods was popular partially down to price compared with West European and Japanese models but also because being in production for longer they did appeal to traditionalists.
The Vega Selena B212 was unlike anything made by Panasonic, Grundig or Sony in a number of ways such as it featured a wooden cabinet which was unheard off aiding the sound.
You just didn't get that then anywhere else.
An unusually feature was the use of a mechanical rotating Turret that had been a common fixture of televisions featuring VHF reception to change the wavebands which again was unusual for a domestic rather than one designed for radio operators in that it had five short wave bands that typically were used for international broadcasting as  the signals could travel thousands of miles.

The one criticism that could be made was the tuning scale was only marked in a fairly rudimentary way but in terms of sensitivity it was surprisingly good and it did feature a signal strength indicator that could be illuminated.
Frequencies are marked in metres except for FM where they use megahertz
The waveband in use was indicated directly through a cut out on the tuning scale.
That was major appeal to me as listening to short wave transmissions is something I did from an early age so to have it on fairly portable radio - weighing four kilos it is fairly portable and not as light as most of competition was an advantage.

This is the 'gubbins' of it - the main assembly where on the bottom right you can see the turret with its coil packs,on the top  the old school but still good silver hatted transistors because no integrated circuits were used, plus on the far left mains cord connector, D.I.N. connector for monaural record and replay from tape recorders and a earphone socket.
 As well on the turret is the AM antenna and ground connectors although for AM there is a ferrite rod and for FM and shortwave a telescopic antenna built in on the top of the case.
It was relatively inexpensive too so to have something that performed well, looked like a piece of furniture and portable was great.
It was the radio I listened to the Abba concert from Wembley on that Christmas and one reason why I fondly remember having it.

Early 70's favourites

There's a post planned for next Friday which will be published even though by the time you see it I'll be on a train making my way back here.
Recently I had a couple of new discs arrive here - so new they've only been out for a week from announcement - and train comes into it for one act's title.
The Hues Corporation come into it as they were on Soul Train, the black music tv show a lot during the mid 70's during the soul and 'disco' explosion of the summer of 1974 when what was played and danced to in underground clubs broke out to clubs and as I remember vividly even the children's dances in seaside resorts.

As it was the fantastic 70's, that wasn't all, these recording were issued in Quadraphonic 'surround' sound on SQ record and Q8 tape for tape players like Dad's in car one and this disc comprises of their second album Rockin' Soul that contained their smash hit Rock The Boat the title track of which was released in  November 74 as a 45 and Love Corporation, the 1975 follow up that apart from having the title track issued on 45, also contained tracks such as Follow The Spirit that reminds one of the O'Jay's.
The first album contained Freedom For The Stallion written by Allen Toussiant issued in 1973 which I associate more with Edward Bear who covered it in Canada,to  which I have ordered the regular cd in mini lp form. That album had the original version of Rock The Boat that was reworked for the 45 and featured on their second album.
Some artists start out as session musicians, some move to it from being in groups and in Rick Derringer's case he was a McCoy who had a big hit with Hang On Sloopy and a part of the group the Strangeloves who performed I Want Candy but by the early 70's was doing session work for Edgar Winter Group, Todd Rundgren and Steely Dan amongst others.
This lead on the back of that to be given a chance to do solo recording for Columbia.

All American boy was his first successful rock offering from 1973 that had Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo  written by him originally for Johnny Winter and included on their album and it's 1975 follow up Spring Fever whose lead off single was a reworking of Hang On Sloopy is included as like the other these are 2 on 1 re-issues.
Rick managed to get some great session folk playing on these albums  a number associated with to become Eagle Joe Walsh formally of James Gang, who in style this was a slightly more poppier version of which sold well and which I had the 8 track of as a kid.
The chance to get this on Super Audio cd as fan of early 70's rock was too much to miss especially as it too has the stereo and original Quadraphonic mixes we loved back then on the  sacd layer.
For £11.99 each with two albums in stereo and Quad on them they're a bargain.

A double helping of Art Garfunkel

Just after Easter here and after last weeks 'golly gosh Caro actually posted about cycling!!!' post, we're back on firmer territory albeit with a bit of a twist.

The last time I posted anything around Simon and Garfunkel was way back in April 2010 when after living with reissue lps and the odd tape I finally sorted out my recordings by them but that left the period after they split off.
Fast forward on to January 2018 and the small British company Vocalion announces it is to the release the first two Art Garfunkel albums recorded for Columbia/CBS in 1973 and 1975 which of itself wasn't so unusual as both got their UK cd debut in 1992 in the short lived Collectors Choice budget choice.
What was is that they were being issued on hybrid Super Audio cds like a few others I've commented on in the recent past on this blog that play on regular players and for improved quality on Super Audio cd players like my current one.
The twist being they included the original Quadraphonic four speaker surround sound mixes too that came out on SQ Quad record and Q8 discrete Quad 8 track tape for the first time ever.
This means those mixes much acclaimed are now available while tracks such as "Mary Was a Only Child", "I Shall Sing", "I Believe (when I fall in love it will be forever)", "Disney Girls" originally recorded by the Beach Boys and featuring BB member Bruce Johnston on this recording, "My Little Town", a Paul Simon Song where they duet and the British smash "I Only Have Eyes For You" have never sounded better being carefully remastered from the original mid 1970's analogue tapes.
If you lived through this period and liked more soothing performances you won't want to miss this as they sound the best ever in any format. Recommended especially as they're just £11.99 each delivered less than U.S. speciality companies charge.

Past entry:
Simon and Garfunkel: Simon and Garfunkel on cd

Going back to the Seventies

While I'm preparing to be off having packed my case, tote bags and lord knows what else you take and find you really didn't need as much here's this weeks main post, a day earlier.
There are times not least with the more middles life I have I feel that we over complicate things not least compared to how things were in the past where we may of had less options but we just got on with it.
Like today we download things or stream them but there are different places, different formats and you're never quite sure if even an album will playback in the right order as different software works different sometimes having things playing in alphabetical order before now.

It was so much easier when this and it's ilk ruled the home entertainment roost as you just put a record  on and it just played it and if you wanted to hear the latest sounds you just spun the tuning dial and that was it no need for software upgrades and the like.Need to make a personalized selection then the cassette unit would let you do that from any source and play it on the 'Walkman'.
There are times when there's something to be said for keeping it simple.

Reflections on the death of David Cassidy

It was announced Wednesday, the child actor and singer, David Cassidy died from complications following hospitalization late last weekend

He played the role of Keith Partridge  a teen boy of the touring headed by their Mother who was played by Shirley Jones in the must see tv series of the early 1970's that we all watched and talked about as juniors back then. Indeed I had to go visit friends as we weren't allowed at home to watch commercial tv in order to see the show on the pretext it was a play date.

The series was massive in North America and given its construct being but a few years on from The Monkees, the series gave birth to hit 45's and albums which are still adored by many of our generation as terrific pop songs.

David left the show pursuing a career in popular music having a good number of hit 45's and albums of which this, Daydreamer from the Dreams Are Nuthin' More Than Wishes album was a favourite of mine from 1973

Like a number of artists of this era following a change in music tastes he took time out before resuming in 1985 with the  Romance album  issued by Arista and resuming concert tours. It was sad he had to give up performing in 2014 due to dementia.
David was a part of our lives as kids back then the adorable boy next door who could sing and act whose life we followed in Jackie magazine and elsewhere.
Let's be glad for what he gave us and for the opportunities he was able to take advantage of furthering his craft.
Rest in peace, David.

The Main Ingredient

This week I'm doing an old school post rather like the last bunch were but as was always the case on Daytime Office Girl Crisis around one of other core topics, music and my collection.
Soul music is something I like being very much brought up on that from the nineteen sixties and  seventies and this group from New York were one I've always been partial  to.

As a overall compilation that one on the UK's Kent soul label is a s good as gets for sound quality but when I get deep into something I really mine catalogues especially when they are of such high quality.

This set of two albums originally issued  in 1970 and 1972 respectively was re-issued in two-fer form in 2010 by Superbird, a division of Cherry Red records in the UK featuring the hit single "Everybody Plays The Fool".

Expansion Records who tackle more specialist soul reissues in the UK, released their 1975 and 1976 albums Rolling Down A Mountainside which was ten 10 R&B hit 45 in 1974 and Music Maximus albums on a two-fer

A number of soul albums on RCA's catalogue were issued in the nineteen seventies in discrete four channel (Quadraphonic) tape and CD4 records.
in 2016 the enterprising UK company Vocalion, were able to license both the stereo and quad mixes of the 1974 Euphrates River for a super audio cd (playable on regular  cd equipment in stereo only) which includes their version of Summer Breeze covered also the Isley Bros. The album reached #8 on the R&B chart.

This regular 2 on 1 cd presents the 1975 album Shame on the World with the 1981 album I only have eyes for you with its minor hit Evening Of Love which was their last album for RCA Records.

Finding a decent Smokie compilation

It's been an odd week thinking through and dealing with emotional issues some of which I've commented upon at other places and that while running with an out with old and in with the new philosophy too.

But anyway, I've spent ages looking for a decent sounding Smokie compilation with hits like Living Next Door to Alice and It's Your Life as for some reason most either don't or feature re-recordings rather than the hits I remember.
I started off with this one but it was rather murky sounding.

So in 2011 I picked up a Music Club Deluxe double cd that came out in 2007 thinking this would be it as the selection was pretty generous and unlike some of their others this was a bit less of a random playlist and even featured a collaboration with Suzi Quatro.

That ticked all the boxes apart from quality as most the tracks sounded thin lack someone had shaved anything below 70hz off of them and a raspy in places too.
In the end I tracked a series of comments on various sites that suggested an earlier compilation from the early 1990's al;though I think it originally was issued in a different form in 1989.

That one, issued and pressed by BMG in Germany sounds so much better with bass and the vocals coming through in a rich clear way is it even though it only has 14 tracks, covers only up to 1978 and clocks just under 50  minutes like an lp of that era might.
I'm also going through and ditching a few other poorer sounding cds where I have better replacements as I think you can end up just keeping one of everything regardless.
Never mind the collector mentality, I'd rather have one good copy thanks.

Errol Brown

As a long time lover of soul music I was saddened yesterday to hear of the death at the age of  Errol Brown, the lead singer of the British group, Hot Chocolate  who first recorded for RAK Records in 1970 with Herman's Hermits of all people!

Such hits as Emma, You Sexy Thing, Everyone's a Winner and It started With a Kiss were staples of mine growing up, showing how British soul talent could equal that of the United States and be different.
R.I.P Errol.

Retro looks

Ever had that sense of deja vu? Well when I saw these just in at next that's exactly how I felt seeing these solid block heeled shoes as well with that combination of colours. So 70's, eh?
Some say with fashion if ya wait long enough it comes back in again and with these shoes it sure seems that way.
Price £36.

Round and Round

Well did someone mention music?
Well that's how a good many of us used to listen to music into the 80's and some still do if ya hadn't heard.
You take a record, give it a quick brush, put it on the turntable and drop that arm thing down on the right hand side and that's it until the end.
When it's at the end as pictured you lift the arm off, stop the turntable and start again on the second side.
It's easier than it seems even if some 'audiophile' types make a magical ritual around it and unlike memory sticks or home made is likely to remain playable for tens of years.afterward.


Funny time of year don't you think?
It has been very hot over the last four or say days over here so I haven't felt like doing very much at all really apart from regular stuff like going to work and getting up as the heat just lives ya whacked.
Still this new Month and the weather got me thinking about a few things I hadn't in years gotten around to fixing.
One was my copy of the Cars Drive 45 hadn't been replaced although it was scratched from back in the day so I was able to get a mint condition copy a day back that pleased me as this remains one of my favourite songs from 1984.
The other thing was as late I was to switching to cds I accidentally damaged my copy of Alexander O'Neal's 1987 album Hearsay that contained the hits Fake and Criticize in the mid 90's leaving it with one thick scratch that it wouldn't play properly through.
I'd applied a product called "CD Defender" to it - a kind of self adhesive see though skin some us for games cds - that meant on some players it could play but it was hit and miss.
Well I was able to get a new original made in Austria like my first copy was with immaculate surfaces as this cd is hard to get over here new and I'm just loving re-listening to it.

Old but not forgotten - artists we loved

In response to much talk on the Angels forum site and with inspiration from Linzi, here is a page to place links to those artists who may be 'old' but certainly not forgotten.

Linzi mentioned her recollection of seeing Paper Lace on Top of the Pops in 1974, after I mentioned about owning and playing an 8 track tape of theirs featuring the hits, The Black-eyed boys, Billy, Don't Be A Hero and The Night Chicago Died.

Here's the link to a Paper Lace web site: www.sonsandlovers.co.uk./PAPER%20LACE.htm

Anyone of certain age will recall seeing a leather clad gent with an infamous leather glove who had a string of hits in the mid 70's.

Yes, we are talking about the one and only Alvin Stardust responsible for 'Jealous Guy' and 'My Coo-Coo Choo' amongst others. He also starred in a Green Cross Code public information film shown on british television.
Jealous Guy video: ALVIN STARDUST -jealous mind
The official site: http://www.alvinstardust.com Alvin contributes to it.
A good fan site is http://alexgitlin.com/nnp/as.htm

Mocked by many but loved for the image as well as the music were the Rubettes.
Nobody, repeat nobody around in the summer of '74 forgets 'Sugar Baby Love' quickly - infectious sugar coated pop music with a doo-wop twist. Another staple of Top of the Pops in the 70's.
There is a good CD out 'The Very Best Of The Rubettes' with all the hits and more available.
The have an official website: http://www.rubettes.com but it has shock wave stuff on it so it may take a while - connection permitting - to fully load.

Forgotten by some but keenly remembered by some of us are the Scottish Group Slik which featured a young Midge Ure. They had a number 1 hit with the song Forever And Ever in February 1976 and released an album entitled Slik on Bell Records which featured Dancerama and Requiem, a top twenty single.

Here's some links: http://rateyourmusic.com/artist/slik

For more on Rich Kids who were formed from Slik see http://punkmodpop.free.fr/richkids_pic.htm.

Musically similar to Roxy Music the group Sailor hold a place in the hearts of many of us around in the mid 1970's in the UK. They had smash hit singles with Glass Of Champaign in late 1975 and Girls Girls Girls in early 1976.

Links to the band can be found here http://www.sailor-marinero.com/sailor_main.htm

Although it's Various Artists, the film Flashdance and it's Soundtrack often crops up in conversation about 80's music. Certainly it is an excellent soundtrack album with songs by Georgio Moroder and has the hits 'Manic', 'Lady, Lady, Lady' and the title track (by Irene Cara).
A film database listing information and comments on the film is available http://imdb.com/title/tt0085549/
A fans site outling the films impact on popular culture can be found at:
http://angelfire.com/80s/flashdance/

Another artist very sadly missed since her death in 2004 is Laura Branigan. She had six studio albums showcasing her remarkable voice and featuring both original songs and inspired cover versions.
A new compilation Platinum Collection comes out July 24th featuring the hits, such as Gloria and choice album tracks.
There is beautiful site dedicated to her and her spirit see http://www.laurabraniganonline.com/
Do visit it.