Sun in stereo!

It's a few years since I looked at a series that rounded up around a theme a group of mainly American hits typical twenty-five or more and presented them in something called "Digitally Extracted Stereo" or D.e.s. for short.

This is very different than often crude and hard to listen to attempts to create stereo from mono recordings either by smothering in echo or pushing low and hi notes to the left or right channel and does create a realistic sounding stereo spread with instruments and even whole vocals seperated out and placed. 

This latest volume looks at Sun Records, the Memphis, Tn, label that was one of the very first to launch rock and roll from the mid 1950's and covers many hugely influential artists and songs often covered by others not least the "British Invasion" groups of the mid 1960's. 

We get prime slices of Elvis in his pre RCA output, Jackie Brenston's Rock 88 arguably the first ever rock and roll record ever, rockabilly by Carl Perkin's including Honey Don't as featured by the Beatles on the album Beatles Beatles '65 Jerry Lee Lewis  and the Big O himself Roy Orbision.

Country is also represented with Charlie Rich and Johnny Cash to.

These are the original hit recordings sounding as full and clear as they can from very good sources and if you are lacking a sampler of the Sun Records output can be strongly recommended.

Updating the nows - Now Yearbook 1977

We pick up from ourlast main entry from May 6th  where we went back to 1974 with this, the 1977 edition as we didn't bother with vinyl copies of the outstanding 80's and 90's editions released between these two.

 

1977 was many things.

It was the year of the Silver Jubilee with all the street parties, events including presentations of commemorative mugs at school marking it, it was when officially I became a teenager when magazines like Look-In and features on pop music mattered as I was very much into music back then.

It was the year that saw much of the mainstays of 1972-1976 drop out of the charts and new more direct "new wave" bands come in.

We had The Muppet Show on ATV at the weekends that was must see tv which for us back then was in colour and Mutli-Coloured Swap Shop on the BBC although we loved 'Tiswas" on ATV Saturday mornings.

It was also ten years since Radio One started in September 1967.

As with all vinyl editions this is a three lp version reduced to just 49 tracksand reordered to fit the format compared with cd versions with single thin jacket and lined inners.
 

We kick off LP1 with a timeless anthem from Queen with ‘We Are The Champions’ from the News of the World album and followed by the huge instrumental rock of ‘Fanfare For The Common Man’ by Emerson, Lake and Palmer. 

The song that would open ‘Live Aid’ years later is next up from Status Quo with their signature ‘Rockin’ All Over The World’although it was written by John Fogarty, and followed with classic pop-rock from 10CC with ‘Good Morning Judge’ and Yes with their huge hit ‘Wonderous Stories from the Going For The One allbum.’. 

Hot Chocolate enjoyed their first #1 with ‘So You Win Again’, and Donna Summer and Boney M. both make the first of two appearances on this collection with Top 3 pop smashes ‘Love’s Unkind’ and ‘Ma Baker’….

Flipping over for a side two we are celebrating easy-listening pop brilliance, and opening with a run of four #1s: Manhattan Transfer with ‘Chanson D’Amour’, David Soul with the UK and US #1 ‘Don’t Give Up On Us that some were infactuated with’, Leo Sayer with another trans-Atlantic chart topper ‘When I Need You’, and Deniece Williams with ‘Free’. 

Olivia Newton-John’s ‘Sam’ continues the run of pop gems that also includes #1 ‘Angelo’ from Brotherhood Of Man’, ‘You’re Moving Out Today’ from Carole Bayer Sager and Meri Wilson’s unforgettable ‘Telephone Man’. The superb vocals from Elkie Brooks on ‘Pearl’s A Singer’ closes the first LP in style.

LP2 opens with an amazing run of punk and new wave classics that I mentioned at the start: The Stranglers with ‘No More Heroes’, The Clash with their debut ‘White Riot’, Ramones with ‘Sheena Is A Punk Rocker’, and The Jam with their first Top 20 hit ‘All Around The World.

 Elvis Costello with the classy ‘Watching The Detectives’ leads into defining tracks from Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers with Roadrunner, Boz Scaggs, and Ram Jam plus a hit from the tv soundtrack to ‘Rock Follies'.

Flipping over to side 2 European disco leads the hits with Baccara’s chart-topping ‘Yes Sir, I Can Boogie’, alongside massive tracks from Belle Epoque and the debut ‘Daddy Cool’ for Boney M. ‘The Crunch’ from The Rah Band was an instrumental smash, as was disco-flavoured re-working of the ‘Star Wars’ theme which gave Meco a US chart topper. 

The side winds down with two of the years’ biggest soul ballads – the Floaters hit #1 in August with ‘Float On’, and the Commodores released an all-time classic, with ‘Easy’, featuring Lionel Richie on vocals.

The concluding LP opens with one of music’s defining moments: Donna Summer’s #1 ‘I Feel Love’ with its production showcasing the role of the synthesizer – the track not only signalled the future direction of pop music but has also filled dancefloors since its 1977 release. 

The Trammps ‘Disco Inferno’, Heatwave with ‘Boogie Nights’, The Emotions’ ‘Best Of My Love’, Rose Royce with ‘Car Wash’, chart newcomers Chic with ‘Dance, Dance, Dance’, ‘Nights On Broadway’ from Candi Staton and side-closer ‘Don’t Leave Me This Way’ from Thelma Houston all feature here in a stellar run to celebrate disco as one of the dominant genres in 1977 and was set to dominate in future years.

The final side opens with the sumptuous ‘Telephone Line’ from the Electric Light Orchestra, and ‘Silver Lady’, the second track and second #1 from David Soul on this collection.. Smokie had an enduring hit with ‘Living Next Door To Alice’, and 10cc hit big again with ‘The Things We Do For Love’. 

Liverpool Express and Alessi Brothers enjoyed hit ballads, whilst 1977’s singles chart saw ‘Way Down’ from Elvis Presley go to #1 in the wake of his death of which I did own a copy at the time. The final track is 1977’s biggest seller – the first single to sell over two million copies! – and the years’ Christmas #1!! as ‘Mull Of Kintyre’ from Paul McCartney & Wings closes this retrospective.

That was the last single I bought in 1977 after Jonathan Richman's Egyptian Reggae and that diversity is really what I loved pop music back then and the loss of Marc Bolan that year hit more more than Elvis Presley not least as I'd spent half my life following growing up with him.

GHS Halloween Party

Well it may get done today as we're doing things a bit differently, a bit more rapidly than usual  but we did get away against most odds with a host issues to work through but it did happen.

Fun thing number one was having booked a cab to get the main rail station here rather limited services more directly "in area", the cab is running late which meant it was as well I allowed very generous timings from projected arrival to when the first preference train would depart.

Then you find the driver doesn't know one route at all although they had a sat nav app on their smartphone and doesn't seem to know the other that well so by the time you encounter roadworks and diversions, well my work is cut out remember 15 year old routes from roughly when we had a car, that went across that area and the back routes to the Town centre.

We did get there thank heavens in reasonable time, enough to buy a Royal British Legion remembrance badge from the sellers at the station and get on platform five for the Avanti service to London Euston that did call where I wanted quicker and the dash to get another cab to the venue.

I arrived doing a quick change act to more suitable skirt before chatting and having a cod and chips tea which having not eaten since midday was much appreciated.

Things were somewhat spookiness inside and out and on Saturday a few others had come as I read my comic and chatted a bit before settling down to a burger and fried onions ready for the Treasure Hunt which took the form of racing around the garden trying to find sheep to which you then place in a pen after having each one recorded.

We then moved on and in my instance took off coat and jumper to Lantern making from carving a pumpkin which had proved a bit elusive in some areas to get but fortunately Jennifer had bought one for me which also saved something more reminiscent of carrying a old school Medicine Football and that was mine carved. 

By early evening it was time for the fireworks display as we battled out out with the massive display in the West Midlands for bangs getting though a good number of fireworks and unlike last year we it was dry which was more fun.

I got through three sparklers which is a lot more than usual as post accident I have massive grip and shaking issues in my hands to the point I didn't safe holding a  flaming *anything* in my hands with dropping either on me or anyone else but did manage that which was personal triumph after all these decades.

We had a bring along a bit of something buffet afterwards, with me avoiding anything connected with cheese for reasons those who know will well understand (you wouldn't want to next me if accidentally had any!)

That was followed by Jennifer's General Knowledge and Music quiz which I score a reasonable 29 out of fifty and a good laugh was had taking part in which is the bigger thing really.

After what seemed an eternity for those of us on early bedtimes, we did get to sleep after talking through the next meet up and other related stuff to get up later the next morning for a Bacon sandwich before heading for a meal.

The meal was scrumptious, I opted for a Turkey Roast, a Sticky Toffee Treacle sweet and a orange flavoured J20 which I must admit was the for time I drunk one and it was really smooth which helped my throat a bit.

Everybody else's look good, was well presented and we had steady walk back before people made their way back home before Iris and Mary kindly offered me a lift to the station where although we had missed one by minutes the next wasn't long back home to the door at decent hour.

I'd like to thank Jennifer for her hospitality, Andi for the trifle, help in the kitchen plus technical support with fireworks and everybody for making it a fun time

* assembled on Asus Chromebook with NO processing or picture editing*

Classical music round up 2024 - bits from the past

I was a bit late getting up this morning  even though I was in bed  and asleep according to my set bedtime although that's probably down to the business around moving from Daylight Saving Time  and how that affects your body clock.

We're a bit busy with getting ready for the spooky weekend but in the throws of that I revisited a set of four really quite old records of mine.

Piano music is a favourite of mine either solo or in the form of a concerto with other instruments typically a full orchestra and Beethoven wrote a set of five such concertos for piano and orchestra which remain hugely popular even today.

This is the third in series of I have that were recorded around 1961-3 for the first time in stereo by the acclaimed pianist Wilhelm Kempff with accompaniment from the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by  Ferdinand Leitner.

The whole set came on four lps, and this like the others is an original  with the "Tulip" logo on the record label.

Given they are over sixty years old, I gave them a very thorough cleaning to remove anything that in that time had worked its way into the groove which helps as there are a good many very quiet passages that don't like any intrusions of dirt and other debris.

That's the rear and it does also show the more usual thick spine with title wasn't commonplace back then as this doesn't have nor do Decca albums of the same era although I have to say the more modern spines with titles are much easier when hunting for your recordings when in racks.

As for the playing, the orchestra is a full on with modern instruments that won't impress those who favour using replicas of eighteenth century instruments but the playing especially the piano just sweep you along in their romanticism which to me is most apt as you just focus on the playing.

It's a set that although there have been a number of great modern accounts  that may offer modern musical scholarship and digital recording you just find yourself very much coming back to.

Two thousand posts

Time creeps up on you. At least that is how it appears to me barking a little still recovering as we look back to another time when as ones world went more electronic and internet based, the scrapbook became more of a electronic blog although what people do with blogs does vary.

The earliest of posts had their origins elsewhere from when various emergent social media tried adding things to keep you more on their pages as we walked out of the walled channels of news and information our internet providers offered to more user friendly browsers that let us store sites we'd look up things more for ourselves from and sites offered unique content such as discussion on music going from the those Use.net boards to sites that looked at things around gender, interests such as anime and things for those of us who loved our past experiences in childhood, realizing that actually there are many of us whether or not it's about the things you did, they way you dressed, what the heck, the life you loved and still love.

This blog always was a mixture of that and all the interests  cos in me at least it is all wrapped in one package - always was - just being yourself in carefree and totally innocent way which for me at least much of adult life just fly over me me like some airplane you read of in a book but never really on that whole projection as it went whizzing by.

That was never my trip, just obviously minding the way how as an adult in law the way things go and the things that clearly could never be but then as time went by you found others of a similar mindset to whom just playing more that way, that was okay (being by law adults) well clear of anything "off" or gets your "ick".

That's the thing between the pages of this journal not always in chronological order often following some sequence, sometimes things from the past I recall, often things in the present, the life as lived and the two thousand of them is what today we celebrate.

Improvements at the sharp end

We're an issue away from an anniversary here, recovering from this flu thingy and one thing that has run from the early days of this blog wrapped around all the things around being, presentation, age dypshoria/regression has been music and to be specific the evolution over the decades of how I hear it.

Records do play a fair part in that although the way things go is hat some recordings may not be on record but say compact disc and some often older albums may not of had (or had less than satisfactory) an issue in that format.

Thus the record deck itself has had upgrades from simple automatic models of my youth to more complex hifi models that play just one disc at a time.

Also the cartridge and stylus have had changes to with them of getting more out of what is in the groove and less of what isn't such as surface noise from the disc itself.

Recently I bought this which offers in a sme bayonet style form a clearer modern cartridge body to which a nude eliptical stylus is fitted to better fit the groove and extract more information.

Compared to others it is a better match for the arm with less lower mid resonances that however slight can make themselves heard.

This sounds just great through my phonostage that takes its output and raises it to play though the amplifier much better than its own built in one.

Now Yearbook Vault 1984

I did suggest it was going be a busy period on music releases last week and on Friday while sneezing my nosy off something a bit familar but also a bit different arrived.

Now Yearbooks, we covered them here looking from 1982 and before with 1977 due next month, rounding up on three very well filled lps the main hits of each year complement my original Now and Hits Lps from the 1983 and 4 respectively and then some older compilations.

In June Now launched a sub series VAULTS, which aims to cover minor hits of the sort that tended to pad out our Ronco and K Tel sets as much as we may of preferred some of them to the big hits back in the day and also American Hits which unless someone did a American Hit compilation you didn't get so I'd buy the 45's where available.

We didn't bother with 1983 as that was well covered on the vinyl front and I have many American and Canadian acts albums from that year I liked anyway so the initial title got a miss here.

Yesterday though they issued Vaults 1984 which although 1984 is well represented with a half of Now 2 and the whole of Now 3 and 4 plus the first Hits  did miss out a number of these min or hits and American hits that never were over here so I thought "What the heck!" and ordered it.

Like the regular Now Yearbooks on LP, these are coming out in three lp sets, three discs stuffed in a single sleeve which means we do miss some of the tracks from the 4 cd version in cheapskate wraparound card or fuller book forms but most of the essentials make it.

Record one  begins with some pop gems from established artists such as Heaven 17, ABC, and Scritti Politti ahead of Wild Life a U.S. single release from Bananarama followed by the solo debut from Helen Terry who had sung back-up vocals on the previous years’ massive seller ‘Colour By Numbers’ from Culture Club features along with Level 42, Soft Cell and Talk Talk who close the first side with ‘Such A Shame’. 

Flipping the record over we get to enjoy the sumptuous vocal pairings of Teddy Pendergrass and Whitney Houston, and Dennis Edwards and Siedah Garrett. The side also features the debut from the Colour Field, M+M’s ‘Black Stations/White Stations’, a commentary or racially defined radio in the States and established artists Tom Robinson and Marillion.

Record Two kicks off with a stunning collection of indie-pop, including Cocteau Twins, Siouxsie And The Banshees, The Icicle Works and the Top 40 debut from Everything But The Girl… plus Malcolm McLaren, The Associates and Blancmange with their cover of ABBA’s ‘The Day Before You Came’, whilst the dance-floor beckons on the other side with electro-dance and Hi-NRG from Sheila E., Divine, Evelyn Thomas, Miquel Brown, and chart regulars Shalamar, Donna Summer and Sheena Easton – with Arrow closing the LP with carnival favourite ‘Hot Hot Hot’.

The final record focuses on singles that found chart success in the U.S. and opens with Culture Club’s ‘Miss Me Blind’, which didn’t get a single release in the U.K, alongside a selection of U.S. new-wave hits from The Fixx, a British group who found more success in the States, Go-Go’s and The Cars. Synth-led tracks from The Psychedelic Furs, Visage and Sparks close the side. 

The Pretenders open the final side with ‘Show Me’, which was a U.S. hit, but not issued as a single in the U.K. Daryl Hall & John Oates, and Rick Springfield continued their run of Stateside hits and Bon Jovi debuted with ‘Runaway’. Scorpions and Judas Priest are up next with rock classics ‘Rock You Like A Hurricane’, and ‘Freewheel Burning’… and the concluding moment is given to ZZ Top with ‘TV Dinners’ one of four singles from their massive ‘Eliminator’ album.

It's a slightly off the beaten track musical overview of 1984 covering much that wasn't on those pioneering 1984 compilations regardless of quality and for those reasons gains a spot in my vinyl compilation collection