Remembrance 2026

We are recovering and with that time moves on to, as I type this Remembrance Sunday which for me always meant selling poppies door to door, matching to our local Remembrance Day service and indeed laying the odd wreath.

Scratch the surface and you'll find scouting is an inspiration in my life whatever challenges over the years I faced and in scouting we mark it for what former guides and scouts did, what scouts and guides did to help out during the two World Wars and to understand the sacrifice previous generations made to preserve our liberty and freedom.

Yesterday lots of Guides and Scouts took part in services to mark this and that is where my thoughts are right now.

Postponed

The best placed plans of Mice and men were turned very much on their heads for this week as I was meant to be away for a few days with friends but the American Covid had other thoughts and laid me extremely ill instead  with things that would of gone with me sat here, outfights bought to had been worn just still in the bags and some rapid conversations with affected parties.

Normally I'd look forward a bit of Pumpkin Carving even if one year the blade get nearer the paws that are desirable apart from games indoors and out. 

I also was looking to holding sparklers as the bonfire was light and our firework display started.

It is to be hoped I'll be well enough to attend next year.

Changes

 

The last week didn't have the best of starts with the great food allergy reaction knocking me out for a bit but I did manage to get done a few things that I felt really needed to happen.

One was to deal with the excess of glasswear that had been Mom's passion in the years before her death taking over the front room not least the area around the fireplace that was extended some forty years ago along the walls.

The things that were very much her such as weird cats and other animals stayed but the many perfume bottles have gone tidying up that area and allowing more space between each remaining item.

The other was replacing a old tape recorder that seldom got use for something more useful like a better turntable and preamp that also replaces a old record player for just playing the record for just background music into the Roberts DAB+ radio where the main turntable is plugged elsewhere into a full blown hifi.

It's Canadian designed but made in Taiwan with a walnut finish which looks better in what is very much a domestic space. I mean I have a stuffie on the top of it!!!

That just does the job well and is being well used.

Updating the nows - Now Yearbook 1971

Delayed from being released early last month for unexplained reasons at the same time as the cd versions we had on October 2nd the latest 70's volume of Now Yearbook and era poorly compiled  at the time.

This is a selection from the 4 cd but makes sense as this was the era of playing records and we had Hot Hits remakes for Music For Pleasure and the Top of the Pops series for Hallmark as hit compilations of original tracks just weren't a thing in 1971.

To play it takes you back to then.

Record one starts with a series of classic songs and performances starting with Elton John’s signature ‘Your Song’ leads, followed by Paul McCartney’s debut solo single ‘Another Day’. U.S. classics next: Neil Diamond’s ‘Sweet Caroline’ is as popular today as it was in ’71, as is John Denver’s ‘Take Me Home Country Roads’. Country-pop hits for Lynn Anderson and Olivia Newton-John come ahead of the debut single from Carly Simon and to close the side, Judy Collins’ version of ‘Amazing Grace’ was massive hit and would end up spending an incredible 67 weeks on the UK charts!...flip the LP over for Rod Stewart with his first chart-topper ‘Maggie May’ alongside the second #1 for T.Rex with ‘Get It On’ and also the second chart-topper for Mungo Jerry with ‘Baby Jump’. The Kinks and Free follow leading to two of the defining anthems of the era, The Who’s epic ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’ closing with Deep Purple with ‘Strange Kind Of Woman’. 

Record two  first side opens with some of ‘71’s most soulful ballads: Al Green’s ‘Tired Of Being Alone’ is followed by Diana Ross, who hit #1 with ‘I’m Still Waiting’ and the Jackson 5 hit the top in the U.S. with one of their most beloved tracks, ‘I’ll Be There’. The Tams enjoyed a #1 with the re-released Northern Soul classic ‘Hey Girl Don’t Bother Me’, and leads a run including The Elgins, The Supremes and ‘I'm Gonna Run Away From You’ from Tami Lynn. The side winds down with two stunning ballads from The Delfonics with ‘La La Means I Love You’ and The Temptations with ‘Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)

Side  two opens with ’Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves’ gave Cher a U.S. #1 and Cilla Black was back in the UK Top 3 with ‘Something Tells Me…’. followed by Tony Christie leading a run of pure-pop gems from Bay City Rollers, Middle Of The Road with their #1 ‘Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep’, The Mixtures, Clodagh Rodgers (with 1971’s UK Eurovision entry), and ‘Knock Three Times’, the first #1 for Tony Orlando & Dawn while the side concludes with the Top 10 hit, ‘I Believe (In Love)’ for Hot Chocolate. 

The third LP kicks off with T.Rex and their first #1 ’Hot Love’, the first #1 from the ‘glam’ scene that would dominate the singles charts over the next few years. Peter Noone enjoyed a big hit covering David Bowie’s ‘Oh You Pretty Things’ and is followed by early glam-pop favourites from Sweet and Slade. Up next, Dave & Ansel Collins' groundbreaking chart-topper ‘Double Barrel’ which became the second ever reggae single to hit the UK #1 spot. Easy Listening gold up next from Perry Como, Andy Williams, Elvis Presley and to close the side ‘Till’ from Tom Jones

The final side holds a stellar run celebrating 1971’s groundbreaking soul classics, opening with Marvin Gaye’s landmark masterpiece ‘What’s Going On’, before the Oscar-winning ‘Theme From "Shaft"’ from Isaac Hayes and Ike & Tina Turner’s electrifying ‘Proud Mary’. Bill Withers’ sublime ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’ leads to a final run of classics from Cat Stevens with ‘Wild World’, Joan Baez’s interpretation of ‘The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down’, and Janis Joplin’s posthumous hit – the timeless ‘Me And Bobby McGee’, and it’s left to Rod Stewart to sign off the year with his #1 ‘Reason To Believe’. 

This is a great round up of 1971 in all its variety as I recall it.

Teenbeat: Rubber Soul deluxe set

The last time Beatles remix campaigns were mentioned was November 7th 2022 and much as passed under the bridge personally and musically.

Everything had just been assumed that from 2014 all we'd have were approved nearly all original mixes re-mastered for cd and record seeing the milestones of the cd re-masters of 9/9/2009, the stereo lp version being issued in late 2012 and the 2014 mono remastered lps.

Then we began at the end of that decade of remixed deluxe sets that generally did little for me as in the main I am and remain happy with the original stereo and mono mixes and sometimes it's easy to correct one thing and yet make another mistake.

Sometimes things are best accepted as they are.

For me November 7 2022's Revolver stereo remix did overall a lot more good to the point I bought the single lp and that is my stereo go-to version.

Things got paused with the Now And Then single, the extended and remixed "Red" and "Blue" compilation and then in time for Christmas in 2024 the 1964 US mono albums set.

We resume rather late the main series with the stunning 1965 UK album Rubber Soul which came out in stand alone lp, cd and lp and cd super deluxe sets.

I opted for the five lp box set that has a new stereo remix, a selection of sessions, a new stereo edition of the Capitol version of Rubber Soul I grew up with, a repress of the UK Mono, a single and a big book.

It 's all in the box!

That's how it looks stored in box with the book in brown as it arrived at 09:55 on Thursday a day before formal release day.

The We Can Work It Out/Day Tripper single included has a new stereo remix in a period inner sleeve.

That's the new Capitol 12 track Rubber Soul from the original American tapes with two different songs, some different mixes and missing four tracks of the UK edition with added reverb some of us had sounding fuller than before even if compared to UK sourced versions there is generational loss.

The book has essays, interviews with John Lennon and Paul McCartney and photographs.

Regarding the remix which is the main thing with this set and the stand alone smaller packages, the aim has been rather than just move four tracks around the stereo spread which is all that could of been done for a good number of decades from when the sessions were recorded to using A.I demixing technology that learns the sounds of instruments and vocals so you end up with something more like modern multitrack so you can mix and position each element in stereo spread.

This does help as this album in its original rushed stereo mix often has backing on one channel and vocals on another.

It works well with much of the percussion centred which is far more balanced and the vocals sound more richer and lacks the artificial reverb  that was used for the 1987 cd and all subsequent new record and cd versions ever since.

I am not alone in feeling this is really well done and having listened to it several times feel this will be my stereo go to version.

I also have the 96khz 24 bit digital files of it.

1,300 posts

We may well be exiting this month with the last few days being more fall like before we enter October and all that has to bring but really we're 1,300 posts old this week  which is rather a lot of posts and a more years than frankly I care much for counting.

The earliest posts of this blog go back to the earliest of years to which I have notes about things I did, things I felt and did in days where there were photographs for some thing, those never got "digitized"  so we wrote the entries and if needed looked for suitable images that encapsulated what the post was about.

The blog proper began in the middle of the 2,000 on the back of old sites that offered limited blogging facilities and renewed old connections but it wasn't really until mid 2008 that we went direct digital photos to blog entries.

The blog always acknowledged my boy past although we don't go on and on about that like a broken record and talks of about my feminine side, how that comes out and what I like to wear and just why I detest being pidgeonholed by people who think there's ONLY one way to do it.

But it was always wider than that looking at vacations I took, my interests be they reading such as books plus comics and music be they records, cds or for a period the 90's tastic MiniDisc.

Photography was covered both as pictures taken or in terms of what I was using like these days this classic light meter which when used correctly can help avoid mistakes that just relying on the cameras own meter can make whither it's a film or digital model

What of the future of this blog?

Well had I of planned it, I may well of done a few things differently with more thematic headings and had running list of topic in any month I might cover rather than flying by the seat of my skirt but I can see it running at least another five years or so.

So hear's to more post and whatever changes might creep in.

Now Yearbook Vaults 1986

After a bit of a pause - and we're still waiting for the vinyl Now Yearbook 1971 - Now Yearbooks Vault series resumes in the mid 1980's when I was listening to the radio a lot, buying discounted singles and as it was 1986, making a start on a cd collection.

The vinyl edition has some 44 tracks across 3-LPs – pressed in gorgeous purple vinyl – from the 4 cd set but as this was how I listening music for most of the year vinyl's where it's at when it comes to the memories.

The series resumes in 1986 where some singles were overshadowed at the time, some were highlights from albums that had already sold huge amounts, some found greater success internationally – but some like me bought them anyway.

 Record One opens with ‘Only Love Remains’ a classic ballad from Paul McCartney, a Top 40 hit and the third U.K. single from his ‘Press To Play’ album, and is followed by another beautiful song, ‘The Miracle Of Love’ from Eurythmics, from their ‘Revenge’ album…Billy Idol continued his run of hits with ‘To Be A Lover’ and in the U.S. Tears For Fears enjoyed a hit in ’86 with a re-recorded version of their 1984 U.K. hit ‘Mothers Talk’ whilst Wang Chung hit the Top 3 with ‘Everybody Have Fun Tonight.

Bronski Beat had their final Top 20 hit with ‘C’Mon C’Mon’ and to finish the first side their former singer Jimmy Somerville features with his new band The Communards and their second single ‘Disenchanted’… flip the LP over and 1986 saw David Sylvian release his second solo album ‘Gone To Earth’ and from it the first single ‘Taking The Veil’. Talk Talk follow with ‘Living In Another World’ whilst members of Duran Duran feature in the next two tracks: Arcadia with ‘The Flame’, the last single taken from their album ‘So Red The Rose’, and John Taylor with his first solo single ‘I Do What I Do’, taken from the soundtrack for the film ‘9½ weeks’. Grace Jones features with ‘I’m Not Perfect (But I’m Perfect For You)’ ahead of Swiss duo Yello with ‘Goldrush’ from their acclaimed ‘One Second’ album, and closing LP1, Big Audio Dynamite with ‘C’Mon Every Beatbox’. 

Record Two starts in superb style is Bruce Springsteen with his defining live cover of ‘War’, a Top 20 hit in both the U.S. and the U.K. followed by power-pop from Mike + The Mechanics, The Bangles and Chris Rea with the single version of the title track from his 1986 album – that would become a bigger hit two years later in a remixed version. Sting is up next with the final single – ‘Moon Over Bourbon Street’ – from his debut ‘The Dream Of The Blue Turtles’ ahead of jazz influenced tracks from Carmel and Matt Bianco – and the side closes with The Housemartins and ‘Sheep’ … whilst over on the other side… a stellar opening of alt-pop featuring Cocteau Twins, Siouxsie And The Banshees and The Stranglers. Pop icon Sandie Shaw released the fantastic ‘Are You Ready To Be Heartbroken? And Everything But The Girl’s ‘Come On Home’, the first single from their third album ‘Baby, The Stars Shine Bright’ is featured ahead of the closing trio of sophisticated pop from Fine Young Cannibals, ABC and Nick Heyward with ‘Goodbye Yesterday’ from his Postcards From Home album.

Record Three opens with a run of synth-pop tracks from Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, Howard Jones, Ultravox and Nik Kershaw, a style that was slowly leaving the charts plus Paul Young, Dee C. Lee and the side’s closing track, a stunning song from Elton John, ‘Cry To Heaven’…and over on the final side Billy Joel enjoyed his 27th U.S. Top 40 single with ‘A Matter Of Trust’, ahead of huge U.S. hits for Daryl Hall, Belinda Carlisle, Heart and Pat Benatar, and to finish, two legendary vocalists: Aretha Franklin with ‘Another Night’ and Lionel Richie with ‘Love Will Conquer All’ which gave him his twelfth consecutive solo Top 10 hit in the U.S.

1986 was diverse, sometimes too diverse but this adds nicely to my original Now and Hits albums with things that missed UK hit centred compilations