1977 and all that Part II

I hadn't been too great this weekend - even the grump noticed which is rare - with ptsd issues so we're playing catch up from the great unopened to trying to get things done that just weren't.

Now that's not so dissimilar to how it was with me as a child and certainly in 1977 when it was more the mountains of school work to catch up on as they were more into that than your well-being  so I opened a super audio cd set of Tchaikovsky Symphonies that came out this week and am playing a few as this is typed.

As now and with a fairly rudimentary hifi made of what could be got and aired up, with some super tuning up I did read a bit around it in 1977 and this was a popular magazine with me not least for the record reviews beyond the great Penguin Guides for classical recordings.

If you could "save a bob" or two by finding a excellent mid or budget price recording back then building up a basic library of standard works by diligent research then I did

This it had to be said was my favourite, a mixture of news, technical and practical features and aspects of getting good sound, reviews and lively readers letters and a variety of records reviewed with attention to sound quality.

Back then we did believe in graphs and published test results which became a dirty word in some circles with some types believing they didn't matter a jolt.

I don't they're the final word but they are useful not least in understanding where something may not be performing as good as it should.

Audio to me is as much an art as a science and they will always be trade offs.

In time I soon got a great system going.

1977 and all that

Parts of my feelings around certain times are complicated by the distance between where people of expected my own interests to had been and where in reality they were be they about gender issues or age dysphoria.

1977 as far as the birth certificate went put me in as a teenager but that felt like a distant country to me with its own ideas about what you'd do, what you might like and your peers were in that other land.

 

Scratch the surface and you'll be interested to hear scouting was the kind of thing I liked, learning new skills, being outdoors, being together as unenlightened as that era was to my gender feelings or able to find ways of accommodating my disabilities.  

It was the Silver Jubilee back then so I was presented with a special mug at school when we had special events such as a garden party with games and in Guides and for that matter Scouts you had badges you wore.

It was a very big deal back then and many held street parties.

I did have comics and back then you had loads of choice and I had the Beano and Dandy and while I'd of sooner had Tammy I did find girls who's loan copies to me although with attitudes back then you had to be discrete with it.

The common like musically was Abba as while my tastes were moving toward people like Elvis Costello and the New Wave from the pure pop of my tweens it was so well arranged, written, produced and performed I shared in that like reading magazines, buying records and having posters.

1977 wasn't a bad year with me.

Birthday

 

Some days seem as if it's just a continuation of the other really, little really separates it from the other and others stand more for being like that as much as times aren't as they were either domestically or in the wider world involving current affairs presently.

One day late last week was different for being my birthday, less "getting older" more getting more polished as we go around the sun one more time which was marked at EB with birthday wishes from the members of that great fiction site and a couple of persons at GT who did remember.

My BFF remembered and sent me an e-card, then she never forgets and we do have rather a lot in common both with interests and this other life.

I did a couple of cd sets that looked at that point where things moved from the late 1950's when rock and roll seemed to drop out of favour with relatively tame singers and groups to the period modern music exploded and all the social conventions just changed.

It's not that I don't have some compilations on cd overing this period but this is a broader collection from many labels as licensing tracks can be difficult,

This set has notes on each track helping to place them in context although I generally prefer year by year sets and takes us from the last months of 1959 to the end of 1962 when things were going to change rapidly.

The Second volume came out a week or so ago that covers a shorter period - 1963 and 1964 where that bug name group from Liverpool came from just strong support in the North-west of England to international stars and on the back of that many UK groups had great success in the United States that had been largely insulated from transatlantic trends. 

The Beatles and the Rolling Stones are not represent due to licensing issues but many british acts such as Herman's Hermits, Animals, Searchers and the Kinks are as are american acts whose appeal still held such as Elvis Presley and american surf acts whose novelty status got them some UK attention such as Jan and Dean and the Surfaris and acts that were to become massive in a years time such as the Beach Boys.

Bond movies started in 1962 and the songs from them are represented within these sets such as Goldfinger and Motown, a cult interest in the UK around 1960-63 became more popular by 1964 scoring well on the charts as much as in the main british acts dominated that era and in time Tamla_Motown the UK imprint of Motown was established in early 1965.

Spring cleaning

Rather crazy weekend with ahem "events" taking place in the Middle East as I type this as much as I prefer not have deal with everything the alleged groan ups are responsible for not least as they do affect children, often fatally.

Apart from trying to deal with the excesses of Amazon's packaging that makes filling the mixed recycling bin a challenge most fortnights requiring massive amounts of compress to get it all in, one thing I have been doing is removing a few things like box sets that have either been superseded by new and better sets or simply of artists I have lost that degree of interest in.

Sometimes you find with changing your stereo the set you had doesn't sound that good and that was certainly the case with one Abba and Bruce Springsteen set that for all the packaging just didn't sound right to my ears.

Then obviously you do get new things - events in a few days time will most likely bring some - and you do have to find ways of storing them so you reduce things that just aren't used and maybe no longer matter that much to you.

Usually they go to things like children's charities like Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital, a national centre for very ill children where it'll do some good.

 

Relaxing revelations

 

Last week was a bit messed up in a number of ways so we're catching up and at the same time trying to relax a bit so I did play a couple of records one being a Bay City Rollers album from the days I had lots of clippings, posters and scarfs of theirs.

Given my super audio cd player spends over 80% of its time playing regular cds I recently changed the external digital to analogue converter that takes the noughts and ones from the transport in the player to improve on its sound.

I've had cd since 1986 so not surprisingly some my cds go back a long time and some have had a number of cd releases so how would you know what's worth keeping as we tend to remember how something sounded but not necessarily take account of what we heard it on.

This variant of the first Duran Duran album was from 1985 to the early 1990's the international cd release of the album which saw To The Shore removed and the 1983 single Is There Something I Should Know? added as track five (and last track on side one on the US/Japan lp) 

In 1993 a version that restored To The Shore was issued in Europe with a newer mastering issued but to my ears it seemed to lack "attack" and subsequent issued in 2003 and 2010 worse.

The usual criticism of that first cd issue was that sounded bright and that 1983 single was mastered a bit louder than the rest of the album and I can remembering how it sounded on my original Toshiba player.

Putting it in the super audio cd and playing from the new external digital to analogue convertor was a revelation as it didn't sound bright, there was an obvious bass line and Simon Le Bon's vocals had great presence.

I even heard clear soundstaging!

Actually I had to pinch myself that I wasn't hearing a record playing it was that good correcting that level issue while playing it.

Actually this was a really good sounding cd ONCE you corrected the level mismatch and took advantage of the advances in digital technology.

Now it won't sort a bad cd out but it certainly will bring out everything that the disc has and that for generations we assumed it never had.

Looks toward Spring

While one thaws out after a cold start to the weekend when I got a bit colder than desirable with lips turning blue due to bitterly cold strong winds thoughts turn to looks and completing them.

Plaid skirts have always been a favourite of mine  ones like these with just a bit of detail such as bows but nothing too fussy or hard for me to put on by myself are just the thing.

Heels it must be said may be so so feminine but with my wobbliness not realistic as I'd be flying all over the place!

One approach especially in winter months would be thick white tights giving much of the look you want but less "suffering for fashion" at this time of year but for spring onwards I just love the freedom of just below the knee plain white socks that are still warmish with just a touch of the kitten.

You can't take that out of me.

Classical Music sacd round up 22

Ironic when we've improved regular cd replay for not just ye olde cds from the 80's but modern cds when the numbers of super audio cds has dropped we have three box sets of them!

Thus we have a new numbered sacd round up and all the discs are hybrid so they have a cd layer for regular players apart from the sacd layer for compatible players.

Jacqueline de Pré was a sensational cello player whose career was sadly cut down by illness but not before making some of the greatest recordings during the 1960's for Emi/Angel that were compiled in 2025 in newly transferred high definition masterings for super audio cd.

SACD 1

1-4 ELGAR Cello Concerto in E minor

5-9 DELIUS Cello Concerto

London Symphony Orchestra · Sir John Barbirolli (1-4)

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra · Sir Malcolm Sargent (5-9)

Recorded: 19.VIII.1965, Kingsway Hall, London (1-4); 12 & 14.I.1965, No. 1 Studio, Abbey Road, London (5-9)

(p) 1965, Remastered (P) 2020 (1-4) & 2022 (5-9) Parlophone Records Limited

SACD 2

1-3 SCHUMANN Cello Concerto in A minor

4-6 DVOŘÁK Cello Concerto in B minor

7 DVOŘÁK Silent Woods

New Philharmonia Orchestra (1-3), Chicago Symphony Orchestra (4-7) · Daniel

Barenboim

Recorded: 8-9.IV & 11.V.1968, No. 1 Studio, Abbey Road, London (1-3); 11.XI.1970, Medinah Temple, Chicago

(4-7)

(p) 1969/2022 (1-3) & 1971/2022 (4-7) Parlophone Records Limited

SACD 3

1-3 HAYDN Cello Concerto No. 1 in C major

4-6 BOCCHERINI Cello Concerto No. 9 in B-flat major

7-9 HAYDN Cello Concerto No. 2 in D major

English Chamber Orchestra · Daniel Barenboim (1-6)

London Symphony Orchestra · Sir John Barbirolli (7-9)

Recorded: 17 (1-3) & 24 (4-6) IV.1967, 13.XII.1967 (7-9), No. 1 Studio, Abbb

Her husband, Daniel Barenboim, was an international renown pianist and this cycle of Beethoven's Piano Concertos.

While several years back we bought the Sir Colin Davis Nielsen Symphonies set, this set of recordings done in analogue tape in the sixties does include overtures and Concertos not present in that modern set so is of value.

The conductor John Wilson has given us much in recent years  but this recording by the Sinfonia of London of Walton's Cello Concerto is a highlight for me from 2024

His 2025 account with Charlie Lovell-Jones of the Violin Concerto is highly enjoyable.

While there was an issue in 2018, this remastered edition that came out last year takes Mozart's Piano  Concertos 20, 21, 25 and 27 in excellent mid 1970's recordings by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Claudio Abbado with Friedrich Gulda on piano and puts all four of the recordings on two hybrid super audio cds in a slim case.