Daytime Drama.

I don't know bout you but sometimes it seems as if people on social media or forums seem very much  to leave any sense of civility behind them. Today for instance one person tried to take a pot shot at a person with 20 years experience in their profession just for disagreeing with his personal point of view.If you didn't back this persons point of view you may as well of been in league with the devil.
A person who because of their position ought to know better refuses to resolve their difference with respected peers to the point they are barred from defending their product from ill informed criticism taking three attempts to get a publicly posted explanation from one site to another by members before it is allowed to be published even though the original site is the companies own.
On a third site two people send critical posts of each other that are then re-blogged by supporters and opponents ad infinitum cluttering up the stream making the task of clarifying each others intents and resolving differences all the more harder.
I just tire of all of this carrying on.

CSN Box set redux

It wasn't long after the introduction of cds that box sets started to emerge following on from those of the lp era covering typically a genre or whole artists career and a number of truly worthwhile releases came out from the late 1980's up to the mid 90's.
The common factor between these, the good and the sort you though "and just who is this for?" ones was the large boxes typically 14 x14 inches and equally large booklets as well as mouthwatering price tags.
Over the years some had become out of print as new titles and others repackaged in simpler typically cd sized packages with reduced prices reflecting both the period of time that had elapsed from issuing and that often they were not re-mastered which isn't necessary a bad thing given many how many contemporary poorly remastered cds have been put out.
Over the years Warners have been re-issuing a number and example of which I wrote about in the Rod Stewart entry a few years back and this is  one of two recently re-issued.
What this box set originally issued in 1991 comprises of  selections from all the studio albums Crosby, Stills, Nash (and Young) issued including a number of alternative mixes and versions  plus a selection from their respective solo albums, so giving you a wide appreciation of their talent that if you chose to investigate it from scratch would set you back rather a lot. You see how the talents blended and equally what each themselves all having a group past prior to C, S, N, (and Y) brought to the table. Although mastered back in 1991 by Joe Gastwirt prior to the individual albums being remastered in 1994, the sound remains very clear with good dynamics. I should point out Audio Fidelity have done specialty remasters of the First CSN album and CSN (1977).
The booklet is substantially the same but rejigged to fit the cd case with a short history of the artists and track by track narration. It would either make a good bookend to a collection of CSN individual albums or serve well as a inspired selection of their output where their music and vision was apart of our lives. For approx £18 for four cds I'd highly recommend it.
Also reissued is the almost matching Buffalo Springfield box set from the same era.

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?