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.

Childhood summer vacation memories

Writing about my vacation a fortnight ago reminded me of two things that I recall from my childhood.  One was the existence of Summer Specials, comics, puzzle books and colouring books that were meant to be on sale and enjoyed by us as children for three to four months that way typically brought while  vacationing.
The British ones you most looked forward to included the Summer Edition of the Beano not least for it was printed on glossy paper unlike the regular newsprint used back then and the Summer Dandy edition, both full of stories about our favourite characters.
The other was camping which we did at school and my folks sometimes did although our cousins vacations were nearly always camping ones.
Tying the two together is this bit of a Minnie The Minx, cartoon strip who was my comic heroine at the time. 

Holiday Report

I visited the Snowdonia national park, in Wales recently as I had been experiencing a lot of stress and it was having a serious effect on my mental well-being.
I was greeted by exceptional hot, sunny weather affording superb views of Mount Snowdon and the isolated moorlands surrounding it.
The lambs were all out in the fields young and old some having a chew of the grass, others sheltering in the shade of nearby hedges, walls and trees.
A few had the bright idea of exploring the human domain of the narrow roads and we needed to slow down to allow them to cross back into the fields.
I liked the solitude up there but I’m not sure the idea of being literally miles way from the nearest market town would really do for me which I guess is a reflection of my urban upbringing.
Betws–y-coed is a place I like to stop off at as here are good range of shops and spectacular waterfalls. There are a lot woodlands in the area and I took a lot photos – on my ageing Olympus OM10 of the trees, sometimes lying underneath the branches to get the viewpoint I wished to capture.
Llandudno: It remains a largely unspoilt Victorian seaside resort with excellent shopping facilities. The Theatre is really good and many amateur choral performances are hold during the summer season in local churches. On Tuesday there was a Brass Band concert taking place, appropriately enough, on the Bandstand along the promenade. The players were really good – I’m no great fan of Brass Bands but the musicianship couldn’t be faulted.
Bangor: I visit here a lot, being a University town with bookshops and some good Pubs that serve meals. There is an excellent record shop on the High Street, Cob Records, whose staffs really know about music. The main store is in Porthmadog – this is a ‘satellite’ store – it has a first rate second hand vinyl department that is well worth rummaging through and stock new vinyl releases too.
Links:- www.cobrecordsbangor.com E-mail shop@cobrecordsbangor.com
Phone 01248 353020
Things that didn’t go as they should: I days filming got wasted as a Fuji film become tight and tore whilst rewinding it out of the camera – we came close a to a two inch dent being added to the guest house waste paper bin!!!

My first cd player

Twenty years ago around this week I got my first cd player and discs as before than I had been on record and cassettes for convenience.

Yeah, I know that titles a bit Fischer-Price but actually this player a Toshiba XR-J9 'transportable' mains only machine actually was the first I had back in June of 1986. 
You pressed the open button to place the discs on a platter and lowered the lid down causing a puck to grip the disc.
It originally had captive leads for the line out but I had it modified for better sound. The headphone socket is on the front panel with a volume control which was the players Achilles heel as it was prone getting noisy.

To go with that Toshiba player I got this - the very first compact disc I ever bought - from Our Price (RIP).
It's the PolyGram pressed version with on barcode on the rear.
Btw disc number two was a UK Nimbus pressed Pet Shop Boys, Please

On this player you had place the disc on a puke which was gripped and rotated when you shut the lid and pressed Play.

Although a number of physical formats have challenged its role as the digital sound carrier of choice, none has the universal acceptance the cd has.

Eight Tracking in the UK

Eight tracking in the UK

I am currently in the process of repairing an Eight-Track cartridge player from the 1970’s
and have been currently building up a collection of tapes to complement my original collection from the on-line auction site ebay uk.
The picture at the top of this article is of a US eight track cartridge that shows the shape and packaging such tapes came in.
The eight-track was invented in 1965 and was being manufactured in the US until 1989 where it was extremely popular.
It features a continuous loop of tape with four programs spread across 8 tracks (each stereo pair taking up 2 tracks) which are changed automatically by a metal sensing foil or by manually selecting using a button on the player.
Program 1
What’s so good about them? The sound – better high frequencies than pre-recorded cassettes. Also easy to use push in to start, pull out to stop.
Program 2
Who can repair my broken tape?
Kates Track Shack - see your Internet search engine for current link.
They sell replacement pressure pads if the original has crumbled away.
Also see Eight Track Heaven Internet site for details.
Program 3
Where can I get tapes from?
Second hand music shops. Many sellers on E-bay and places like Kates Eight Shack.. On Ebay US here are three great shops - 8 Track Shack www.8-track-shack.com
Also Janeen's Music, Sport and History (Great communications) and Olivia's 8 Tracks, Books and Other stuff. Don't forget to work out the postal charges. On Ebay US many retailers have a World-Wide postal charge calculator - do use it. Customs: The UK sharks ignore mail whose value including Post and handling is under £18 for Duty, Customs and the dreaded VAT (See Inland Revenues site for more).
Program 4
Players
At boot fairs and on E-bay you’ll find car and home players being sold.

Update: Firstly it came as shock to me to find my much loved copy of Chicago X (10) which had the smash hit 'If You Leave Me Now' had in the intervening years jammed up (the lubricant in the tape must have dried out). I recently got it repaired by Kates Track Shack - it now plays smoothly -although I'm looking for the US edition to replace it with.
I won the American Eight Track of Supertramp's 'Breakfast in America' which has 'The Logical Song' on it and a copy of Wing's 'London Town' which featured the top ten hit 'With A Little Love' from '78 (own the original UK LP too).

The drive belt had snapped on the auto player and I fixed it by using a thick rubber band - the sort you use for mail.
I won a Akia CR 81D 8 track recorder on Ebay Uk and given it some TLC. The sound is excellent - clear high frequencies and next to no wow and flutter.Now to make my very own!
Was it worth it? Yes because I'm having fun re-discovering my favorites as I heard them back in the day. I've learned all about auction bidding - I'm getting near on 90% of what I bid for and the my feedback from the sellers is marvellous.
I've also discovered some people have no sense of what things are worth, placing bids way, way over the going rate.

Spring memories

This time of year always reminds me of my time in Junior School where often we'd go off for part of the morning for a walk doing nature study where we had to find  and identity different 
species of tree, flower, plant or birds.
As part of the lesson we were taught outdoors, we would draw what we'd seen and make notes, feeling things too before returning to our school building.
Just wondering around like we did back then is really helping me recover right now.

Chobits, Islands and Interests

I liked this anime for a long time dealing as it does with technology and that age old question if you could fall in love with a robot in this case a persocom (personal computer in an human looking form) called Chi.
Unfortunately the first dvd set of it got from Ebay I discovered was a fake. It had been made on a computer from a official dvd issue but they had radically reduced the picture quality in an attempt to squeeze 12 episodes on a single sided one layer disc! The discs had inkjet printed labels and no case.
In total the used just three discs for the whole set!!!
Normally a PAL disc can take upt to 6 episodes on a dual layers.
Recently I have replaced it with the UK official 6 dvd PAL set from MVM issued in 2005 which looks much better.

Visitors to certain Forums will have noticed the top left ‘Avatar’ has accompanied my entries of late. It is the front cover of the Kajagoogoo album ‘Islands’ which was released in May 1984 and is the home to the hit singles ‘Big Apple’, ‘The Lion’s Mouth’ and Turn Your Back On Me’. I bought the album having caught the Kajagoogoo bug in the winter of 1983 with the worldwide smash ‘Too Shy’ and the ‘White Feathers’ album. This was the first album following the split with Limahl and marked a period of considerable musical and lyrical maturity on the part of the group. The image is of the UK LP edition. I am still enjoying listening to it and it was re-released on CD in 2004
The Catalogue number is 7243 4 73654 2 3.
Visit the official website at www.kajagoogoo.com/
Winnie The Pooh stickarounds
GBP £10.99
UK stockist: Children's Rooms
Other products available include linen, photo frames and Twin Bell Alarm Clock.

Winnie The Pooh Stikarounds at Children's Rooms
21 May 2006 11:02
Freddie and the Dreamers singer dies
LONDON (Reuters) - Freddie Garrity, the lead singer of the 1960s pop band Freddie and the Dreamers, has died in hospital at the age of 69, his spokesman said on Saturday.
Garrity, originally from Manchester died in hospital in north Wales on Friday with his wife by his side.
The band topped the U.S. charts with "I’m Telling You Now" in 1965 and had further success with "You Were Made For Me".
Garrity had been suffering from emphysema for several years. He was married three times and leaves four children.