Christmas 2022

 Here at Kitty Towers we are a bit on the ball so after having Christmas Dinner I'm typing up the Catmas entry.

You'll hear a bit more about this Big item in the present list but it is a extra bit to the 1980 to 1984 Now Yearbook series with tracks they didn't include .

I asked one S Claus for this as it rounds off that part and so have this the three lp set version that will tie in with the LP of Now Yearbook 80 and my other original compilations on records.

I had the Beano Annual that goes with both the Christmas Special comic and the Christmas edition of the regular comic with exclusive cartoon adventures from Minnie the Mix, Rubi, the Bash Street Kids and the like.

That's a ritual that goes way back in time and single digit ages.

 

This was a delayed Record Store Day issue of a live concert from 1982 during the Rio tour for those of us alive at the time, the first time it came out on two slabs of gold coloured vinyl.

 I had these two Super Audio cds that originally were issued in 2000 and 2003 part of a series seeing the entire Steely Dan catalogue remastered and issued in audiophile vinyl and Super Audio cd form by Kansas based Analogue Productions.

I had a voucher from one aunt, some hand knitted woollen socks,a new diary to help keeping things organized, money from the 'rents and one brother although one present sent by mail hasn't arrived and one hopes isn't lost

Card edition 2022

 

Wishing Everyone a Happy Christmas and all the best for Twenty Twenty Three!

Another week in the countdown

 Cold enough?

It's been a very cold few days here with temperatures well in the minus region - we don't do degrees f here - so being out has meant being wrapped up even when its been okay to be out on wobbly paws.

Catmas is beginning to take shape with a christmas carols by the tree event being held last Saturday for everyone young and old who was up to it.

Yesterday one Mr S Claus put an appearance in as the christmas lights, reindeer and sleighs are multiplying in the gardens coupled with local shops being decorated out.

 

This is one of two official trees, outside a local church, the damp excuse of a tree provided by the council, wilting and at a bit of angle due to the ongoing subsidence issues here is being by us cos it just isn't a proper Christmas tree we can use for things.

The church is also open at certain times for anyone needing a warm faced with problems with heating costs being a struggle.

Countdown begins

 It's that month again so lasting just longer than Prime Ministers these days we start the BIG COUNTDOWN.

It's entirely normal here for there to be an Advent Calendar as that's what I grew up with and not much has changed with me anyway so there won't be any groan up versions.

This time around Disney is involved and why not?

How many Disney movies have you seen at the movie theatre or on the small screen, read the novelizations of  and coloured in the colouring books reasonably neatly?

Thought so. Here we have one advent calendar that has lots of mini story books included  you can read or better still, get some one to read them to you.

Tomorrow should be community singing by our tree as well.

Things are starting to arrive although trying to organize Xmas with poorly grump you need to run errands for and keep an eye on.

I am working on the Christmas blogging schedule so I get a rest here and on the Tumblr, final post should be December 19th according to my main notes and resumption  being around the 26th.

I'm unsure if we'll do the blog on Xmas day thing this year with it being a Sunday and things here a bit up in the air.

Anyway, see you next week!

The start of preparations

 

That magical learning with mom, grandma moment as we try to make things happen for ourselves with the lesson being taught by tv reminds me of making home made decorations and cards for CatMas (the feline Xmas) and baking mice pies.

Actually card making is going to be on this weeks Blue Peter I believe.

Of course around then up go the Advent Calendars you can count down the days on and actually I'm trying to get bits of that organized like making out a card list, sorting out any presents although I'm fairly certain one family member won't make it as we've scarcely seen or heard anything from them all year not collecting anything left by anyone for them from last year.

I have some idea what may be for me as anyone who does really know me I prefer to work with people around these things as much as we all appreciate just having something as much as I ask others if there might be something they are looking for in return in the main.

That's what I have been working on these last few rather damp days.

Autumn ramblings

 Almost approaching Winter so reaching for more grippy footwear given the combination of weather and twisting, bumping and sinking sidewalks and pretty gloves has been something I've been doing as I've been gradually getting back on my two lower paws this last week.

 

Not the sort of weather for that although it's so timeless and summery.

Won't be long before the ghoulish comic comes here but Josie And the Pussycats were a favourite cartoon series of mine combining an adventure per episode with a musical performance you could play air tambourine to in an era that included the Archies and The Partridge family were on tv with the Monkees a repeated treat.

You could say that era and me were very much at one with each other so elements show up in the extended current version of the young me that loves music or school related anime and enjoys the whole experience of handling and playing a record as "Stack O' Tracks" the 1968 album of Beach Boys instrumental versions is current playing out from my original copy.

It will soon time to put up Advent Calendar's another childhood ritual as one square at a time we count down the magic of CatMas (you might know it as Christmas) and all that brings.

Until next time, bye.

Can we have customer service, please?

 

As one one music site I've been on since this blog started people are talking about whither or not the MiniDisc could make a come back as some youngsters appear to be rebelling against streaming plus incessant and intrusive social media taking over their lives as a way of having your favourite songs in slot in form with track titles I'm dealing with issues around another comeback media.

Perhaps to be a bit more accurate less about the media itself, its quality, but rather getting it as a very expensive as in $200 compact disc arrived in this country fine and got lost and a record I ordered in this country appears to be been due to arrive to the courier but hasn't.

The common denominator (big word of the day!) is the courier Evri better known to Brits as Hermes which when you read online seems to going through a patch of high proportions of its parcels not arriving or hitting a brick wall in their tracking system.

This is compounded by a customer service model that relies exclusively at the customer interface with a Chat Bot which isn't a thing you might feel like striking in frustration but a computer based artificial intelligence lead thing that tries to talk to you via your keyboard solving your problem.

The trouble is at no point can you converse with a human being (remember them?) and enquire what they are actually going to do as it it says is "last status was" and "we'll attempt another delivery" without saying by when.

That means you get nowhere being stuck in a loop.

Currently the cd is at the point having spoken to the seller that if it doesn't show up within the week I'd get a full refund which is a great offer by them although that was preempted by Ebay giving me the refund as Evri's service was part of their Global Shipping Program but leaves me without the disc I really wanted and we're waiting on the record possibly needing to contact the seller to ask them to pester Evri to sort it out.

Somebody needs to step in not just to sort out where all this missing items go but to mandate them to offer real email or over phone customer service with people who can sort things out.

In other words actual customer service.

Return to Revolver

While spooky things were going on last week, other things were out and waiting for me upon return.

The Beatles scarcely need an introduction known even to the youngest although in terms of recordings the earliest goes all the way back to 1962, before I was born and there's never been a point their albums haven't been available although for a brief period their earliest singles were deleted.

That era saw both the emergence of the lp album format for younger people rather than the province of soundtrack and classical music recordings for "grown ups" and stereophonic recording of popular music.

The Beatles together with the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan were very much a part of this change and so not only did they produce albums that expanded upon musically their singles but because the dominant format for youngsters until the late 1960's was mono sound often from a record player with built in single loudspeakers, the method of recording was geared to the aim of making a satisfactory mono record.

Stereo was from the recording point of view the last concern and an after thought so as the beatles progressed using more instruments and effects the more the limitations showed up and their Rubber Soul and Revolver albums exposed the deficiencies compared to the mono versions.

 

That is why on October 28 this year a series of releases featuring new stereo mixes came out on download, lp record and compact disc using new computer artificial intelligence but steered by humans technology that enabled separating out some of the parts of the four track mixes into effectively separate tracks that could be mixed and placed within the stereo image in the manner many popular albums from the 1970's were by design using multitrack recording systems. 

Take Taxman for instance, there are many periods of near silence on the right hand channel as the vocals are just there or the errors in the double tracking at the start of Eleanor Rigby, the missed scat ending on Got To Get You Into My Life that was in the mono but not the stereo.

This remix centres the vocals more providing the immediacy and drive of the mono but with a more spacious feel spreading the instrumentation around the left and right channels.

 

While there is a single remixed cd available I'd forget about getting that and opt for the 2 cd version which is only a little more and adds new remixes in a similar style of the contemporary Paperback Writer single and its backwards ending vocal psychedelic Rain b side and a selection of alternate takes and session tapes that gives you a feel of just what being in Abbey Road studios in early 1966 was like.

This album in a year of many impressive albums such as the Stones Aftermath (ALWAYS UK version NOT U.S!), the Beach Boy's Pet Sounds, the Kinks Face To Face and Bob Dylan's Blonde On Blonde double album and hit 45's from the Motown stable of artists was truly ground breaking for making new electronic sounds never previously heard.

Does this replace all other versions? Probably not as the mono still has its magic and collectors always like different versions but this is easier as a stereo version on the ear especially on headphones.

Let's see what can be done to Rubber Soul which I much prefer in mono.

A Ghoulish time

Did someone mention spooky parties last week?

Well, against the odds I actual to one this weekend held by a friend.

 

 Everywhere was spooky, corners, outhouses, the lot with bats, spiders, ghosts and lanterns as I talked with people and enjoyed a home made burger with onions that was scrumptious.

 

This one looks like it escaped from Harriet's farm!

On the other hand one really has to ask Grub's owner just what it was doing stuck in the spider's web about to become dinner.

We had a treasure hunt, looking for Halloween Bags very well hidden around the grounds although the one indoors seemed to fox all of us.

 

Most of us made lanterns from Pumpkins, mine was bought for me as it would of been too much to had carried with me on the train.

They came out really well.

By that point we were in need of food which was a buffet from various bits and bobs brought be people attending.

There was a quiz with general knowledge section and  music section relating to significant anniversaries of our late Queen, Elizabeth II. I scored nineteen which was pretty good going not being too familiar with much British tv from before the 70's.

In any event it was a good laugh. 

 

Seeing it was close to Guy Fawkes Night, we had a bonfire blazing from wood and cardboard and many rockets, catherine wheels with pretty colours which went well although one seemed to an idea of direction very much of its own like a  straight line!

Those of us who stayed overnight, losing an hour to the clock change went out for a meal at midday on Sunday which was very tasty having had a Turkey roast and Sticky Toffee Pudding with cream.

After which I caught having spotted the 16:29 train home after a kind lift from Andi.

That was it, a lovely time with friends with ghoulsh groovy theme.

Getting set

 

Something tells me they may well be a party or two next weekend across the country especially when it can involve Guy Fawkes Night events too.

It is beginning to get cooler across the day apart from the long nights drawing in which will mean next Sunday the clocks go back an hour and paws crossed here we'll be able to have the radiators running a bit in the evening.

Around this time of year, if you've been out you'll have noticed the leaves slowly falling off the trees and a little before those golden crispy colours that look so great in the autumn sun plus lots of little acorns about for the squirrels to bury for next year.

Next weeks post may be a a little late but don't worry!

Damp thoughts tail end of the week

Greetings from Kitty Towers.

It's a bit of a damp weekend so I wasn't out Saturday although The Grump was which was a relief about the earache following getting a letter to say gas was going up three times and I really don't need constant background noise as much as obviously it is a concern especially for those less well off compared with ourselves.

It's hardly surprising then  that you're back to reading books of the sort that not only written for an audience that I share the same reading age with but the same sorts of topics that such stories centre upon.

It may sound odd but I feel so much more at home sat on a floor reading or playing with groan ups around than the whole older child in chair discussing more grown up topics with them, not least with the craziness of the last week in adultland admittance £80 per annum, under 18's not allowed.

There's always music to be played here, just don't ask how many records or compact discs they're are, a good many hundred is the short answer but that was what I was doing as a kid back home anyway.

Just enjoying and being wept along in way that was more comforting from some of the realities of that time, whither it was closer to home or the wider world.

That's a favourite recording from the mid 1980's of mine in its original Japanese cd pressing form.

Then on Sunday there was more Castle Hangnail! by Ursula Vernon in storytime which saves reading it off the page aprt from being more like the storytimes we had at school then.

Ciao!

Ghouls and notes

 It's Monday again and the choo choos aren't chooing much today.

The world is getting spooky with lanterns and giant spiders webs emerging as we progress through October although the spiders wed I'm sleeping with is fairly small as I just don't have the heart to evict him.

Marshmallows  have been declared VAT exempt following a court ruling because they are primary for toasting which of course we all love to do over an open camp fire on sticks.

While war rages over Ukraine and the City of Liverpool is to host next years Eurovision song contest for that country I did pick up a box set of symphonies to play as the nights get darker and my legs get soaked.

Rachmaninov's symphonies always had an appeal having bought a record of the the Third in 1989 which was to be the last record of classical music I had bought until last month and this rounds up over four full discs all the symphonies and some interesting shorter works such as Symphonic Dances in well performed versions in digital sound.

Someone should tell Mr. Hifi Bore digital recording is the norm for classics

Blown about start to October

So it's wild and so far in blowy October which meant I didn't get anywhere Friday and Saturday here so yes it was dolly and colouring time at chez Jo's and reading this weeks Beano cover to cover.

I mean you can't call grown up news exactly suitable material for relaxing to with strikes, talk about nuclear strikes,money value going up and down like a yo-yo plus if "that" book actually comes out or not.

Sometimes then it makes sense to switch off all that stuff in much the same way we did with The Troubles, P.L.O terrorism and all that in the past cos after all kids and as kids we had to focus on what we needed and the regular day and then like now you might be told you can't go someplace due to a threat or transportation workers being on strike and just get on with it.

I also did play this record I had in the second half of 1979, the late Tom Petty's Damn The Torpedoes being chocobloc with great songs like Don't Do Me Like That, Louisiana Rain, Even The Losers and my all time favourite of his, Refugee.

Sunday I had on some Rachmaninov piano music from a box set I bought some years ago on compact disc which I feel has some of best performances in it.

Hopefully today will be drier so I just get out and enjoy the fresh air.

Season things to look forward to

 

Things that with all the other stuff in the world going on that I'm far more interested in is Halloween which creeps in towards the end of next month and in the first couple of days of November.

Good things about for me include spending more time outdoors as I'm not really an indoors type of person at all which can include things like outdoor crafts such as pumpkin based lantern making and games which benefit from having that room to spread around.

In the past they would of included things like toffee apples, dress up with props

 

There's nothing wrong with getting up in the trees and even being a fairy

Fall is magical for the amazing colours of leaves that may be gathered and I can remember when I was young doing a leaf based collage on black card.

Updating the NOW's - Now Yearbook 79 on vinyl

 As we start to move out of the period of mourning we return to a  topic explored in July in what may prove to be interesting development in a series of records issued.

To recap a little, the people behind That's What I Call Music, a compilation series born in late 1983 decided in 2021 to issue a series of year based compilations that while having a main book format cd set came with a extra set of discs.

Within the NOW Yearbook series as it was called they decided to make a special three lp selection from the main set available in part a tribute to those NOW albums we bought on vinyl and also a tribute to increased vinyl sales for collectors.

The music contained within these sets for many of us connected with the vinyl era buying both singles and those NOW albums on slabs of vinyl.

The series has moved from the 80's to the 70's with 1979 and back in that year we were treated to compilations usually around a three to four month period by KTel and Ronco jamming some 20 tracks per disc with thin sound and edits but no "Top hits of the Year" type sets.

Disco music was popular that year and WEA records did issue a Disco compilation as did EMI both of which sold well.

This issue is therefore of value within vinyl based collection for having some 48 tracks across six sides and possibly benefits from being a tighter set less disco heavy than the cd version on four very long discs.

Each record comes on bright orange vinyl, individually sleeved within a single thick pocket.

Kicking off on LP 1 we begin with one of Queen’s most popular songs ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’,  includes #1s from The Police (‘Walking On The Moon’) and the defining ‘Heart Of Glass’ from Blondie, as well as timeless hits from ABBA, Kate Bush, Olivia Newton-John and closing out side A with the haunting ‘Song For Guy’ by Elton John.

‘Hot Stuff’ by Donna Summer from her brilliant Bad Girls album features on Side B alongside massive Disco-Floor-Fillers from Chic, Sister Sledge, and Amii Stewart plus two further iconic #1s from Gloria Gaynor with ‘I Will Survive’ and ‘YMCA’ from Village People.

LP2 Side A showcases an astonishing run of New Wave and Post-Punk hits leading with #1s from Ian Dury & The Blockheads (‘Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick’) and The Boomtown Rats (‘I Don’t Like Mondays’), and featuring Squeeze, Elvis Costello & The Attractions, Siouxsie And The Banshees, The Clash and Sex Pistols, before three Ska/Pop crossover hits from The Specials, The Selecter and ‘One Step Beyond’ from Madness.

Turning to Side B, the theme is Classic Rock from Meat Loaf and Electric Light Orchestra is joined by timeless hits from Billy Joel, Gerry Rafferty, Dave Edmunds and the debut ‘Stop Your Sobbing’ by Pretenders.

LP3 is all about golden pop – starting with ABBA’s ‘Chiquitita’ and including ‘We Don’t Talk Anymore’ – #1 for Cliff Richard, along with the year’s biggest-selling single, ‘Bright Eyes’ by Art Garfunkel from the film Watership Down, plus Neil Diamond, Roxy Music, and the winner of 1979’s Eurovision Song Contest – the Top 5 hit ‘Hallelujah’ from Milk & Honey.

Concluding the set, Side B features Goodnight Tonight by Wings, September by Earth, Wind & Fire, and opens with the superb ‘Street Life’ from The Crusaders. The unforgettable chart debut for The B-52’s with the iconic ‘Rock Lobster’ is included and the side concludes with four Synth-Pop smashes that pointed the way to the upcoming decade – ‘Money’ by The Flying Lizards, ‘Pop Muzik’ from M, and two further #1s from 1979: ‘Cars’ – one of two chart-toppers for Gary Numan in 1979 – and closing with ‘Video Killed The Radio Star’ by The Buggles. This track was co-written, produced and performed by Trevor Horn whose work would define the pop landscape over the next few years, whilst the song would be the first to be played on MTV in the US when it launched in 1981.

This set captures well the diverse, well crafted music scene of 1979 that for many of us were the songs we played, sang and talked about in school or college and the memories associated with that era.

Added to our original NOW albums on vinyl this series expands our collections of hit singles collected on vinyl albums updating while offering better sound than our original compilations issued that year.

Recommended.

Rest in peace Queen Elizabeth

This week is in many ways a FULL STOP because everything we had known changed rather suddenly on Thursday afternoon where our Queen, Elizabeth IInd died peacefully following a short period of rest surrounded by her family.

It all started with girl who had a sister Margaret, a mother and a father who in 1936 became the King - George VI - who was educated by private tutors having a fairly ordinary given the circumstances childhood that did allow for play and even some high jinks.

That picture was taken at the age of ten.

Later on she met what was to be her husband, the man we know as Prince Philip who died a couple of years ago.

Her father did not enjoy the best of health but he did his very best to be king not least during WW2 while a young Elizabeth apart from being a Girl Guide also joined in the war effort learning amongst many things mechanics in the T.A.

Sadly her father became ill suddenly in 1952 while she was on a visit to Kenya with Prince Philip and died.

Elizabeth was proclaimed Queen in 1952, coronated in 1953 at Westminster Abbey, London and reigned for some 70 years, having a family of her own including children from her own children's marriages.

The world has changed in so many ways since 1952, at least that's what my parents tell me, but in all that time she kept up with a changing world and served it extremely well even with her health issues in the last eighteen months or so.

She was always there, always there for us and our nation and that is what we are paying our respects out of.

A girl who took her duty seriously at the age of ten, made a solemn vow upon becoming our queen and  never let us down.

There is a formal timetable that we are going through at the moment as of Saturday where most of this was typed King Charles III, her son was proclaimed king in a ceremony at St. James's Place, London.

There are many ways I could end this post I truly wish I never had to make but I'd sooner go back to June, the 70th Anniversary and something that was both touching and hugely funny where The Queen and Paddington Bear starred in comic skit involving young bear taking tea with her, sharing a liking for Marmalade sandwiches before taping out spoon against cup and saucer the beat of the rock group Queen's song We Will Rock You before kicking off a concert in her honour featuring that group.

The Queen who retained her girlish humour, connected to a younger generation that evening and we remember as that person who while having a serious role was rather like a grandmother to us all.

*Apologies for spelling errors etc but I've been crying typing this.

Teenbeat XXXI - Rumours

 This week as I mentally try to put aside all the negativity following the whole Mofi scandal and related issues of just what other secrets are being hid from audio fans I'm doing a short piece on a welcome issue

Fleetwood Mac's Rumours has seemed to of had a life of its own overshadowing almost of of their recorded output from release in 1977 with a number of record reissues plus tape and cds.

In more recent years one track that was recorded for it but taken off due to concerns around side length, Silver Springs has been restored, closing out now what was the first side.

This album does contain some of the bands best songs such as Don't Stop, Songbird and Go Your Own Way which remain popular on radio even today and the great tune that is The Chase.

The current trend in vinyl releases is that of the twin disc 45 rpm cut much like a UK twelve inch single in someways allowing for higher cutting levels and cleaner tracking at the expense obviously of having to get up to change sides more frequently.

That and some issues around pressing faults on one that did appeal lead me down the path of buying this Japanese Warner Bros super audio cd which has been very well mastered using sources prepared by Bob Ludwig in the states including a surround sound mix for those with suitable players.

It also has a regular cd layer for copying onto portable digital players or using traditional cd equipment, sounding fantastic.

A kind of reintroduction

Believe it or not we have made just over a thousand and fifty entries, been in existence for well over a decade and still you see fresh people coming to it before you consider it is possible others may of left.

I had been thinking for a bit and actually a kind of reintroduction post is necessary not just because of the length of time we've been around but also for a host of reasons opportunities to formally and informally through say play have been restricted for a good two and half years and some will continue beyond.

This is unapologetically a blog for littles, people who regress either for short period or like some of us involuntary regress to some extent all of the time and those who may be in their lives.

With no implied criticism this blog only looks at and is about more things that would be seen as "child safe" or otherwise safe for work and has been from day one excepting the past is what it is and in talking about that, some things that may be less in favour today may be lightly referenced. The past is the past.

What unites people is what we bond over, a love of childhood, the one you had or for some more the chance for a better one that has us in it and others who are prepared to join in spirit.

Your dollies, teddy bears, toys, comics and yes your imagination are the things we need and the things we share that makes for that reenactment of the past in the present this life at its best has.

Your grown up side may have views on groan up topics but as they never came into play back in the playground then, we certainly don't need them now.

We just played and if someone was being a bit mean, then we said just that, no "isms", "ists" just treat others the way you'd like to be treated. 

That's how it works here and anyway did you say you were a child? Leave that to groan ups!

The vantage point here is more from a feminine angle but one that is wider than that of some peoples pasts however personally they may like being that person cos being you is only for you and what anyone else may be is...different. Different is okay.

Today we recognize some people have a stronger sense having a duality of feminine and masculine traits and interests even of others may not, that you may not from a purely gender point of view see yourself as entirely one or the other.

I can and shockingly do switch or move by degrees at times by interests and by dress as do a fair number of people today but you remain one person.

This blog not surprisingly accepts people who are non-binary or see themselves as gender fluid supporting the rights of all of us to be ourselves as we are and feels this shouldn't get in way of playing with others.

 

It is shocking to consider how people were judged in the past even from their earliest days but are we prepared to accept people for how they are even if that may not be you personally?

This blog doesn't believe in demanding personal endorsement  but believes in the acceptance of difference, seeing the person beyond how they may present or how you may live your life, respecting that. Being inclusive is being accepting of difference.  No one has to "get it".

Life has interests as briefly mentioned and some of those are to be found within this blog, such as nature, music and reading although that is impacted by real life limits is more junior fiction than anything written specifically for an adult audience, comics and plushies.

I don't do regular pieces on fashion although sometime things around more littles wear such as play clothes or uniform do appear as I feel a post coming on.

Welcome to the World of Joanne_chan!

Teenbeat Summer Special 2022

 

Here at Kitty Towers we have had a new all woolen dolly resplendent in an Alice Dress to play with that's rather pretty.

The genius of this entry goes back to October of 2011 when this series within the blog started and overtime we moved away two cd sets to either specialty cds or box sets and so it was a hands worth of albums arrived to go with that compilation.

Covering from Prisoner In Disguise, Hasten Down The Wind,Simple Dreams with songs such as It's So Easy, Living In The U.S.A. and Mad Love you prime whole albums of her evergreen 70's recordings collected in a slim box.

This set is the first five Chaka Khan albums that show her exploration of soul and Funk that take in classy hits such as  I'm Every Woman and 1984's I Feel For You which apart from the title track featured the hit This Is My Night.

For the modest prices these set that have front and rear album art on card covers are well worth it for it.

Musical thoughts

It is extremely hot here as I sit typing this out.

I have been working through replacing a few cds from one of those Five Original Albums box sets I picked up around the middle of the last decade by Cheap Trick as I found them a bit loud sounding as much as the bonus tracks are handy.

Instead I tracked down the original UK cd issue of In Color  and Heaven Tonight which was part of the Sony Music low price Collectors Edition series of 1992/3 part distributed by Pickwick Group and the original US cd version of Dream Police which featured the single Voices which I still have on vinyl.

It emerged last Friday on the SuperDeluxeEditions website devoted to reissued and compilations that the popular NOW Yearbook series which sees 4 cds in card or book based packaging with a Extra 3 cd set coming out a month or so after and a selection on 3 lps is going back in time to 1979 in September.

That is interesting because it does allow for comprehensive year based collections potentially for much if not all of the 1970's because we've only had themed based compilations such as those around Glam Rock, Disco or New Wave that gather a number of popular tracks which are not in any year order or generic 70's  population and as anyone who lived through that decade knows there's a big span between Dana and say Xray Specs and the Buzzcocks.

I find year based collections useful because they do tend take you back to a narrow period with the memories associated with in way those catch all decade compilations don't providing a more comprehensive feel of that year in sound.

We'll see how that pans out and how they deal with artists in disgrace who had big hits soon enough.

 

Summer starts edition

 

It's summer in the world of the Pan Cultural Nekomini so you might well be about seeing places and things you've not seen before or engaging with people, buying little souvenirs  for people or engaging in your passion for post cards which is something I did from an early age.

I find the messages on those sent most interesting.

Ahead of it's time like so many of the classic stories from the likes of Jinty which were equal of the very best boys comics, The Best of Cat Girl is a classic tail (or should that be tale?) from the late 1960's  reprinted superhero series originally in the Sally comic just for catgirls like me, getting on the case.

You see Cathy Carter is not your average teen. She can jump further, fight longer and climb higher than anyone she knows - with the aid of a magic suit, she is Cat Girl! Facing off in glamorous, globetrotting adventures against supervillains and master criminals, Cathy often finds the hardest fight comes from her bumbling detective father, who doesn't believe Cathy can fend for herself.

It was rebooted for the 2020 Jinty&Misty Summer special in modern full colour for one whole strip and that's reprinted in here although yes I did buy that summer special.

I just have different take on girl than some but it's still a take just the same.

It's the uncoolest thing to admit, worse than saying you loved Abba in the mid 80's but I grew up listening to country music (Britishers habitually add the & Western bit) an Hank Williams was on those artists I listened to.

This recent set has all the major songs enhanced by the wonders of modern technology and made into highly convincing stereo versions rather than those reverb heavy where not redubbed after the event attempts to modernize the sound.

It just sounds fine with the enhancements in regular cd playing here.