Wish you were here

It sometimes is the case on this blog as is on the other one you get a follow up post sometime afterward and this weeks is no different in that we last touched on it in March 2018.
I've like the Pink Floyd for a very long time, long enough to have had recordings on various formats by them but while some artists recording frequently emerge on newer formats, theirs seldom do.
I mentioned last time the albatross around the neck which is Dark Side of the Moon that did originally come out on Super Audio cd in 2003 but in 2011 it and the follow up were issued very briefly on Super Audio cd in the form of a 'digipak' more like a small hardback book actually.
Recently December 30th last year to be exact, both got re-issued in this form by Analogue Productions of Kansas, U.S.A. which having missed out on Wish You Were Here which is a personal favourite I was keen on getting on sacd as my cd goes back to 1985!

This is the front of Digipak which is neither the UK or North American front cover  which is pretty understated.

 When you go to turn it over, on the inside left pocket you have a full set of postcards originally issued with the lp scaled down included which played on the title "Wish you were here" from the days people would send a postcard home with that phrase on it

 At the rear we have song writing and publishing credits and on the right a tray where the disc normally fits and which thankfully the teeth are tight so it doesn't fall out.

 Here is the actual disc itself made in Germany and one change that has happened since 2011 is the ownership of their recordings has moved from EMI Records to their own lable Pink Floyd Records that are distributed in the UK and Europe by the Parlophone division of Warner Bros and the US by Sony/Columbia.

 This is the rear of the digipak which indicates it has both a regular cd layer for normal cd playing equipment and the higher definition Super Audio layer.
That layer houses both the regular stereo mix and a 5.1 multichannel mix  where the lp and tape had a quadraphonic mix originally issued in limited numbers.
Much of this album thematically looks at the life of a rock group part influenced by the damage to band originator Syd Barratt, also at the corporate music business on how it stifles and controls art mocking record company executives in Have a Cigar who say how great they are but ask "And which one's Pink?" showing their ignorance that there's no performer called Pink in this band before trying to get them to change material to the latest fashion so they can sell more even if it's not what the band was formed for. 
Really all that matters to them is the profit not the idea of artistic and musical integrity and maximizing that is really what meeting the band was about.
Personally I feel this new version on the stereo Super Audio cd layer remastered by James Guthrie has more depth and springs forth from ones loudspeakers  more than any other version and so while it was expensive is nontheless worth getting.

Previous Pink Floyd on sacd entry:
The Dark Side of the Moon 

Winter in the wood

While the never-ending political discourse runs on and on as it has this week to the dismay of many, I took a bit of time out to look at what else is around me.

Fortunately here, even in the built up envelope you do have woodland pockets and about a week ago woodland management trimmed some dead wood off to let a bit of light in for new growth.
These trees have been here for over twenty-five years that I can recall.

Even though part of last week was relatively cool, the general temperature trend has been above the seasonal norm so these berries are out all ready.

Surprisingly so are these blossoms in an adjacent hedgerow approaching the built up core that I spotted yesterday while out dodging the ice.
Getting out of the discourse is so much healthier.

Welcome to the madhouse

With  the total chaos around running the country looming since yesterday's events in the House of Commons and the deteriorating situation on the streets as companies struggle to prepare for something they don't actual know and tensions are mounting with threats and abuse being traded by and at people on both sides of the infamous B word argument (we've past civilized debate with M.P.'s even invoking hanging images of opponents) this one point I am tossing the towel in.
If what we have going on is supposed to the mark of an well educated civilized society that can debate maturely topics then something is very much wrong and so I'll leave the so-called adults to it cos frankly we had better debates at school on the most contentious issues without the refusal to listen and sheer personal abuse being tossed out.
Where even the person in charge of debate ignores advice by making deeply controversial decisions leading to near riotous scenes that have no element of custom and practice one can just give up.

 I'm staying with reading my books, annuals and hugging my plushies as the planet isn't sensible enough to see what we can that there has to be give and take to make a deal we can live with because not having one won't solve a thing.
Sometimes you just have to do something because nothing is far worse.

****I've had enough*****
 

Nipper has lost his bark redux!

It may be the new year but there's a distinct feeling of deja vu in the air given I've had to go go into the district centre quicker than I'd of planned this Monday

 On January 13th 2013 on this blog I wrote about the going into administration of HMV, the large british music and video retailer on the back of the collapse of Jessop's photography stores.
Well on Friday December 28 2018 around 10 am as I was out on a long walk, it was announced Hilco who owned HMV since that year had filed for administration citing poor christmas sales, a big collapse in dvd/blu ray sales, very high rents and the moved toward streaming.
Oh brother thought I as I looked at my telephone answering  device as I saw my brother had left a message for me because as it happened he'd given me a gift voucher bought mid December for Christmas.
With charismatic fairness he'd said if they weren't going to honour gift vouchers -and under UK law they need not when in administration-  he'd give me a cash replacement.

A vinyl rack in store where you may discern vinyl prices are high than corresponding cd issues although there's always been something in holding a lp record in your hand compared to a cd never mind a download.

 A cd rack where many titles are discounted meaning in real terms they sell for less than did in the early 1990's including even Chart Titles not just back catalogues that stores such as HMV stocked in the past.

That news was why I had get get my voucher redeemed asap before any store closures and major stock depictions take place.

As most of cd and sacd discs I buy tend to be limited edition titles with world wide runs of 5,000 or less stores tend not to stock them in the way during the nineties they did.
Instead I picked up some dvd and blu ray titles such as the Beatles documentary movie Eight Day's a Week - the touring years from 2016 I had been putting off for a bit but were likely to get fairly soon anyway.
That took care of ensuring my Christmas voucher money wasn't lost.