You are in my system

Well, after last weeks shocking revelations regarding his recently remastered cds,  I decided to pick up this compilation originally issued in 1989 that takes in his work from 1978 to 1988 covering much of the period of his music I liked at the time.
Best of all it only set me back a penny!
Apart from his solo work, this does cover one song from his work with that side project of Duran Duran during 1985, Some Like It Hot as performed by Powerstation.
As sound goes it's a pretty decent compilation and in 1990 a follow up volume was issued giving you a nice rounded view into this British soul performer.
Also coming soon is Shaking The Tree, the 1989 Peter Gabriel compilation featuring such smashing songs as Biko, Salisbury Hill, Shock The Monkey and Sledgehammer.

Cheered up edition

With talk of how a couple of upcoming cds by Demon Music group may be sourced from Mp3's (and bad sounding ones at that) as it appears the new Robert Palmer reissues have, it's hardly surprising I don't feel like talking much about music this week. I mean if I wanted a cd from mp3's, I like you could just burn off a copy using Mp3 to CD audio options of your laptops media making program using a dvd/cd drive!
Anyway I just love this look. Simple, refined and at the same quite youthful even, it ticks every box with me right down to the hairbow.  Exquisite.

Value deminished edition

I think it is beginning to dawn on avid cd collectors and music lovers, the explosion of interest we have had since the formats launch in December 1982 is in steep decline.
One area where it is obvious is in the repackaging of older discs in budget bare bone packs of Five or  complete sets where shewn of anything other than front and rear art they are offered up at bargain prices to try to raise moneys from previous releases that otherwise they wouldn't of.
These sets are typically issued by Sony/Bmg and Warners with some from the formally independent EMI. Many stores report with even with new discs there's a few weeks brisk sales followed by a short sharp drop.
The other area is in sales of older out of print discs via speciality stores, Ebay or Amazon Marketplace where some titles appear to be almost worthless with a few where you might just get $3 in a trade in now.
Even the area of discs I do spend a fair amount of money on specialty Gold re-masters are not impervious to this drop with pricing falling around 40% or more although I suspect coming from relative high prices around 2006 through 2009 it may have a fair bit to do with the fall in peoples disposable income thanks to the economy as many titles being available "for free" on Torrents and other darker parts of the internet for people to download and play on music servers.
Perversely, it was made it easier for me to get some titles that even used were over $100 mark for a good deal less such as a copy of the MFSL gold issue of Sting's Dream of the Blue Turtles for $24. As depreciation doesn't concern me as someone who just buys music to play for pleasure rather than seeing them as financial assets it's no big deal.To me the rationale for buying them is just having great sounding copies of your favourite albums.
Does the cd have a future?

Stargazing

As make our way into the fall, the sky at night gets darker, ideal for stargazing - light pollution permitting - and you don't need anything fancy. A good pair of binoculars is ideal for casual viewing although spending around $130 or more on telescope can pay off.
Although this site is aimed at kids it has some very good basic information to aid you.
Astronomy for Kids

Travelogue

I quite liked this photo of someone taking one and what the young lady in was wearing.

It appears to be a fairly bight day judging by the reflections for sightseeing on some kind of a trip to the big city although I'm not too sure if I'd be walking around in heels all day. That's tiring although I guess you could carry them in a big if you taking a trip to theatre in.
Would you?

Summer memories

This time of year we're coming toward the end of the Summer Vacationing period, whither you've gone way for a week or so on one stretch of taken a number of day trips out in and around your home home district or province.
Temperatures here are back on the up which is as for all those off work but I wonder how many of you have made some great memories of these times to look back upon in years to come? The whole process of taking pictures, writing a little about what you did and with whom including putting images say of tickets couldn't be simpler today with the ability to host them on various sites like Tumblr, Flickr, Google Plus and so on to share with friends and flick thru yourself on your smartphone like a virtual photo album. 
If you haven't all ready do think about getting this done as in the coming years you'll find it very useful.

Wings gold

The origins of this entry go back quite a number of years when pre internet you found out about new titles being issued either in magazines such as Hifi World or by visiting your local record or cd stores when we had them(!).

Generally there are two types of record companies, those who are large, issue titles to the mainstream generally with little special care about sound quality and sources and those who issue limited runs of titles where they do track down the best sounding copies of each album and carefully transfer it to record or as with these titles, cd.

Many early cds didn't sound too good through a combination of not being careful over sources and also the technology that takes analogue sound to digital didn't sound as smooth as the format was and is capable of. Its that that lead me to start getting these Gold cds by the now defunct company DCC classics from the early 1990's onward.

Way way back in the 1970's the albums (and 45's) by Paul McCartney first came to my attention and this album Band On The Run was a favourite of mine owning it on the awesomely clunky 8 track form and fittingly this album with it's hit 45's such as the title track, Jet and as on this  US edition only Helen Wheels was the first I bought.

Apart from having the U.S. extra track which oddly enough I do prefer as with the rest of the series it has a very smooth rich sound while not fooling me to say an lp issue, does at least sound less 'digital' to the ears.It also has a poster.

Arriving soon to me is Red Rose Speedway, the home of My Love a song that can be considered a 'standard' which will be a bit smoother than my 1987 UK edition and also has the reggae based b side to Hi Hi Hi,  C Moon, which inexplicably was left off the mainstream UK cds bonus tracks. It's a song I rather like. 

My copy will be missing the card slip cover but as it was a lot cheaper as many of these discs usually sell for over $100 I'm not complaining about that.

At The Speed of Sound should be with me by the time this entry goes live replacing a much loathed 1989 Capitol cd that masks much detail in the quieter parts in an attempt to eliminate tape hiss. I'm so looking forward to tossing that one across the sidewalk!

This album was the home of the hit singles Let 'Em In and Silly Love Songs as well as enjoyable numbers like Cook Of The House. It was this album Wings toured with on the tour captured on Wings Over America recently re-issued.

I've a sneaking feeling many of us who around back then had at least heard this album Venus And Mars before, one of the best in the Wings catalogue with it's singles Venus &Mars/Rock Show (the single edit is on Wingspan) and Listen To What The Man Said (single mix again on Wingspan). 

One issue with this album is some heavy handed compression was locked into the mixdown tapes but although it's not entirely cured what mastering engineer Steve Hoffman did was carefully balance Venus and Mars so it's quieter than the energetic Rock Show that it segue-ways into for better effect. 

Strangely on all the mainstream releases Rock Show is noticeably less loud! It too has the original poster as featured on the lp and three bonus tracks.

I also was recently able to McCartney, his first solo album  that featured the hit 45 Maybe I'm Amazed and Teddy Boy in addition to  Ram, featuring the 45 Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey and the pro population song Too Many People  on DCC too.