Teenbeat: Rediscovering...The Osmonds

Phew! What a scorcher,eh?

Definitely weather for thinner tops and skirts here as I'm melting in the heat, windows wide open with a glass of milk at my side.

Seeing it was the bank holiday I played a double lp I haven't touched in good few years although the contents are well known to me, going back to my early childhood and the records I heard on the radio.

They were the records, over two paws worth issued by the Utah, United States family group The Osmonds in their various permutations, whole group, solo and duos and this Greatest Hits set from 1977 has them all from One Bad Apple sounding more like the Jackson Five, the hard rock Crazy Horses and the perfect timeless pop of Love Me For a Reason a favourite from '74.

It also captured Jimmy's take on the music hall composition Long Haired Lover from Liverpool but for me more critically Marie Osmonds Paper Roses and Morningside of the Mountain, highlight her gifts in country music which I was rather exposed to and Donny's solo recordings like The Twelve of Never and Puppy Love.

It came well packaged with lots of pictures and even more on the paper inner sleeves so it was certainly well put together in the way some of these packages aren't.

It got a clean up and played for the memories, a useful appendage to the 1972,3 and 4 Now Yearbook Records.
 

Updating The Nows - Now Yearbook 1974

Into May and the Now Yearbook return to the past gets back to those pages we favour on vinyl going back to a year that has some parallels, extreme economic and social disruption plus a general election (if you were around you might recall we had two) and while the grown ups were getting worried about the "State of the Nation" we were playing, reading our comics, playing our records and enjoying Vision On.

Getting back to this, we have a record with some 48 tracks, all but one a substantial hit almost the equivalent of four of those cheesy cover girl Top Of The Pops albums that had remakes of all the hits, pressed on three lumps of green vinyl but sadly lacking the informative booklet of the cd version

 

Record One opens with  ‘Killer Queen’ that was first Top 5 single for Queen, and followed by the classic ‘Jet’ by Paul McCartney & Wings the second second from his latest album, and the still breathtakingly original, and hugely influential ‘This Town Ain’t Big Enough For Both Of Us’ from Sparks. This is followed up by run of ‘glam rock" from Sweet and Roxy Music, and including #1s from Suzi Quatro, and the years’ biggest seller ‘Tiger Feet’ from Mud, before closing with Slade’s ‘Far Far Away’. 

Flipping over to side two we start with Elton John with ‘Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me’, before some of the years biggest Rock hits, including ‘You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet’, ‘Radar Love’, ‘Dance With The Devil’ and the Faces ‘Pool Hall Richard’ before concluding with ‘Mike Oldfield’s Single’ – the ‘theme’ from his iconic album ‘Tubular Bells’. 

Record Two's first side is packed with huge hits including 6 #1’s - with chart-toppers from David Essex, The Rubettes, Alvin Stardust and Paper Lace, plus a huge hit from Pilot the Scottish group that promised much and the first Top 3 single for the Bay City Rollers with ‘Shang-A-Lang’. 

To my delight 1974’s biggest selling singles act were The Wombles, and their debut ‘The Wombling Song’ is up next along with the #1 global smash ‘Kung Fu Fighting’ from Carl Douglas inspired by the cult films and sport, before ending with the Reggae-Pop #1 ‘Everything I Own’ from Ken Boothe. 

1974 was a landmark year for Soul music, and it included the first global ‘Disco’ smashes and fittingly this is given a side to itself kicking off with with Barry White’s #1 ‘You’re The First, The Last, My Everything’ before a run of iconic floor-fillers from The Hues Corporation, Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, and a further #1 ‘Rock Your Baby’ from George McCrae. 

We conclude this side with four of the greatest Soul ballads of all-time from The Isley Brothers, Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross & Marvin Gaye and ‘You Make Me Feel Brand New’ from The Stylistics. 

Record Three kicks off with the title track from the year’s biggest selling album, ‘Band On The Run’ from Paul McCartney & Wings – followed by the iconic ‘Candle In The Wind’ from Elton John, ‘I Honestly Love You’ by Olivia Newton-John which was her first US #1, and the amazing ‘The Air That I Breathe’ from The Hollies, before a run of four songs: John Denver’s ‘Annie’s Song’, ‘She’ from Charles Aznavour’, ‘The Three Degrees with ‘When Will I See You Again’ and ‘Sad Sweet Dreamer’ from Sweet Sensation – all of which hit #1 in 1974. 

The final side of Record Three is an eclectic line-up of pure Pop heaven led by the number ones ‘Seasons In The Sun’ from Terry Jacks and ‘You Won’t Find Another Fool Like Me’ from The New Seekers that charted in December of 1973, and including Stephanie De Sykes, 10cc, and Lulu with ‘The Man Who Sold The World’, featuring David Bowie on backing vocals, before a second appearance from Sparks with ‘Amateur Hour’, plus Cockney Rebel’s ‘Mr Soft’, and Leo Sayer closing out this collection with his debut hit ‘The Show Must Go On’.

As you can see this is a very comprehensive selection of hits, many of which I certainly recall gathered up from the original recordings in the media we were brought up on.

Recommended.

Changestwobowie redux

On Wednesday I went out armed with a remaining HMV store voucher and some cash from Christmas at least in part because of that store groups current crisis is in 'administration' with the intention of getting the odd thing I'd not got around to.
In June of 2016 I wrote about the vinyl re-issue of the iconic ChangesOneBowie compilation lp - a kind of greatest hits - originally issued in 1976 but on April 13th last year the follow up issued some five years later was also reissued but I hadn't gotten around to getting a copy.

Originally issued in November of 1981on RCA records, it followed the format of the first volume with a seamless selection of  songs split for lp across two sides with a fairly plain photo free blue rear with a large capitalized tracklisting.
I remember seeing this at a record store I frequented around late 1981/2 looking almost lost around the other major releases of the era and a part of this stems from David having no input into the track selection which has it odd points as it features 1984 from the Diamond Dogs album but not his more recent hit, 1979's Boys Keep Swinging and as this compilation goes back to 1971 for its selection it failed to sum up what mattered in that year so much effected by the "Berlin trilogy" albums (Low,Heroes and The Lodger) and Scary Monsters.

 That was an influence on not buying it until the cd era - have the super rare RCA cd from 1984 - and I wasn't alone as the sales figures were much lower for this than it the first installment.
This is in spite of having the disco remake that is John I'm Only Dancing (Again) that was never on a studio album.
The record was re-issued in both standard black vinyl 180 grams and blue which like with the re-issued ChangesOneBowie with it being pot luck as to which version you got as there's no indication on the lp jacket.
Mine is the rarer blue vinyl one shown above where you'll see  they have stylized "Bowie" to pass at first sight for the 1980's RCA records logo on the left and the reminder of the typesetting mimics the RCA label of that era.

 The record itself is housed in a smooth-sided card sleeve that is a close replica of the original that removes any reference to RCA Records and his narration on the record of Peter and the Wolf that RCA issued and was advertised originally.
Looking at it in 2018/9, the pair of albums to sum up as well as one might expect his main era and for some of us the soundtracks of our lives nay childhoods even and so sound better than the original editions did.
Whereas on cd the 1993 deleted The Singles Collection sums his career up better to 1987, I think for a vinyl based part nostalgic look these two albums do work well.

Previous entry:
ChangesOneBowie

Teenbeat XXVI -Four wheel drive

Now for one after the twenty-fifth numbered edition of teenbeat, the series that looks at music that in someway is connected to my past we go back to the Great White North home of decent winters and unfailing  politeness.

The establishment internationally of Canadian artists until the late nineteen-sixties was very much a hit and miss affair not least for being a smaller country it was seen as market for American and British talent with the recording industry geared more around the manufacture and marketing of those acts for their bigger UK and US owners until beatle money from the likes of Capitol Canada filtered down and labels had artists and repertoire looking inward at promoting homegrown talent.
Amongst the first were Edward Bear and the Guess Who both of which achieved great sales and respect not just back in North America but around the world. The Guess Who having a huge hit with  American Woman disbanded in early seventies featured Randy Bachman from which after the abortive attempt at making a fresh start as Brave Belt lead on to the formation of Bachman Turner Overdrive who specialized in blues based hard rock.
The outfit comprising at launch of Randy Bachman on lead guitar, Fred Turner on bass, both sharing lead vocal duties coupled with Robbie Bachman on drums with Tim Bachman on guitar and drums all hailed from Winnipeg, Manitoba issuing two albums before Tim Bachman was replaced by Blair Thornton for guitars between nineteen seventy-four through seventy-seven.
It was that line up rather than the later ones that made there impression on me glued as ever as a sickly disabled kid with such  hit 45's as Blue Collar,Let It Ride, Takin' Care of Business, the breakout You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet in seventy-four, Hey You and Take It Like  Man blasting out of the radio when bed bound.
The impression you might get today from oldies radio is they were just about hit hard rock 45's  but actually as someone who does own many of their albums on original vinyl, they did produce coherent musically interesting albums of which probably the best is Not Fragile which sold by the cartload back then too.

Last year the North American specialist re-issue company Caroline issued a box set of eight original albums including the less popular Street Action and Rock and Roll Nights albums of the late nineteen-seventies of which the latter saw British Columbian songwriter Jim Vallance contribute songs of which one Rock And Roll Hell was covered by American metal stars Kiss on their Creatures OF The Night Album in nineteen eighty-two.
So there's a reason to have those two albums.

When you open out the box, what you get is the booklet which gives a short history of the band and those eight original albums in cd form freshly remastered by Andy Pierce in the UK.
There's no truth in the rumour here Catgirl Enterprises LLC photography dept was going for the ISO 1600 retro effect on that shot (lol)!

The booklet includes full colour photography including live shots of the band many of which were used originally for those albums that were issued in gatefold sleeves. Note too how the bands logo features the Maple Leaf.

Unlike some UK reissues in recent years, each album is issued as a separate compact disc reproducing its original front and rear lp album art shown going left to right from seventy-nine's Rock and Roll Nights to the album that started it all, Bachman Turner Overdrive from seventy-three.
Unfortunately as with a number of these sets they have dispensed with an inner sleeve so you need to carefully prise open the edge to get the disc out to avoid marking it which is a pity given the print quality is respectable.
The last two albums are otherwise unable new and very expensive used in cd form and the others were until several years ago where between England's BGO and Lemon/Rock Candy  records the first six were too.
Personally I prefer the feel of this set which plays a big part in the whole tactile memories of handling the albums and forty-fives I had while the material is amongst some of the fines blues hard rock ever recorded with fine musicianship.
For around GBP £30 I feel this is a great introduction to a very interesting band and probably serves people better than 1993's out of print Anthology two cd set on Mercury/Universal Music.

Teenbeat XXIIII - Elton on vinyl

A good few years back, going back the last dying days of my original laptop I did post something about my collection of Elton John cds and his "To Be Continued..." box set of 1990 of which my copy is Canadian.

During a period in the late 1980's through early 90's much of my original vinyl and tape collection of his got converted into cds some of which are specialty gold re-masters of better than regular cd quality.
Feeling the need as I got back into vinyl for some of this prolific singer/songwriters output in that form, I decided to add a couple of well chosen compilations.

 My original copy of this the 1974 Greatest Hits album was the MCA edition that had a different track selection but it was an album much played growing up and to which I have the DCC gold remaster that over twenty years on still stands out.
What's on it ten essential tracks including such vignettes as Crocodile Rock, Candle in the Wind and plaintive Border Song.
I got the UK lp which sounds like he's almost in your room singing.

 That compilation was followed up three years later by another that because he had just switch labels required some cross-label licensing that has caused issues with the US cd edition since to the point I remade the selection digitally.
The strength of this compilation was it housed on lp form a number of non album 45's such as Pinball Wizard, Philadelphia Freedom and Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds and his Rocket Records duet Don't Go Breaking My Heart with Kiki Dee which was a British #1.
I decided to get the UK version as it sounded better and between both volumes of Greatest Hits I was only missing one song, Levon, and that didn't matter so much.

Probably his best album overall is Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and this is my 1976 Japanese reissue which has the same sort of tri-fold sleeve as the UK original, inserts and is in immaculate condition.

Previous posts:
Rocket Man Part One
Rocket Man Part Two

Changesonebowie redux

Between studying I have been listening to some music and arriving last Friday was this, the vinyl reissue of the very first David Bowie compilation entitled changesonebowie that came out originally in 1976.

It was the first album that featured John I'm Only Dancing and in the eyes of many had a seamless unity running through the selection that made it most satisfying to play from start to finish starting with Space Oddity through Jean Genie to Golden Years from his Station to Station album issued early in 1976.
The cover photograph is very iconic.

 It was reissued May 20th  in random form with half the copies on standard black vinyl an the other clear like the above one on my turntable with no indication which you'll be getting!
Although this is sourced from high resolution digital files it does sound better than the original UK album overall and is noticeably cheaper to buy compared to a used original!
Having so many of my favourite 45's from childhood playing this was a enjoyable trip through time so I'm glad to have gotten it.

More Rollermania

It is Friday apparently and there is actually another entry this week...

 A loud high pitched scream is heard, several heads look puzzled and Sammy's covered her ears up. What could possibly produce such a reaction in Jo?
Easy, anything connected to the band she was in love with in her Tweens, screaming at the television at, covering her bedroom walls with pictures of Woody, that's what!
Toss in strong Lothian  accents, more plaid than the Edinburgh Wool shop stocks and simple, easy to sing a long to songs and you have it plus she wrote about it a time or two.

I'd definitely recommend covering your ears up as Jo's gotten this, a kind of cd replacement for her original lps imported from the UK (Dang American companies mixing up the songs and adding extra strings on the local copies) covering the first five essential albums from 1974 to 1977 that were played to death back then in card sleeves that have the front and back covers. She says these were original 'gatefolds' but the only gate I know is the one at the end of our path.
She's only one you'll find who could quote the lyrics to "Give a Little Love" and sing along to Rock n' Roll Love Letter" for  more times than anything by the Beatles and thinks "Summerlove Sensation" is the best ever pop record, period.
Worrying I saw her copy this on her 'puter  and put it on her music player the other day so she might have it on her when you next see her...

Regards Marmalade,  the original sticky ginger cat and proud member of the North Staffordshire Tom Cat Club.

Teenbeat XVI - Rumer

After the last few posts here's a return post in our Teenbeat series that does link a bit to the previous posts in that they are connected to past rituals if not likes from my actual childhood.

 

No, that wasn't my actual phonograph although it does so perfectly depict that whole girls gathered around it listening thing perfectly that we did.

Now on to the featured artist, a Pakistan born Britisher going by the stage name of Rumer ('real' name Sarah Joyce) with her new lp entitled Into Colour released this month that features the much airplayed track Dangerous.
It's usually a dangerous task to define an artist by others, but it's fair to say her style is very much routed in the singer songwriter mode and has many things in common with the late Karen Carpenter, which as seasoned blog readers know was the stuff very much on my stereo back in the 70's when I was a child (one can hardly say growing up with a straight face!).

Much to some peoples surprise in 2012 she released this album, Boy's Don't Cry which was a covers album drawing from the 70's although the lead off single P.F.Stone actually goes back to the 60's.
Initially some folk issued groans thinking she was jumping on the lucrative covers bandwagon but she makes every single song on it sound as if it was her own. 

 This was the album that started off her solo career, 2010's Seasons Of My Soul which as belatedly issued in the States the following year featuring the singles Slow and Aretha which were followed by an EP recorded with Burt Bacharach on download and very limited 7" vinyl.
She performed A House is not a Home, a  Burt Bacharach and Hal Davis song at the White House May 9th 2012 event honouring Burt.

Rumer's lp's feature different cover art from the corresponding cd and digital download editions usually designed by her and it is in that form  my collection of her recordings exists and is enjoyed.

I have made 'vintage' minidisc editions of these albums for posterity with the first two combined to a single 'extended play' disc.

Teenbeat XIII -Philadelphia International The Collection edition

Here we go with the latest edition of the Teenbeat series launched a few years back where I look at music that for me at least is linked with my childhood.

Released Monday May 5th in the UK comes this box set of 20 individual artist studio cds from the label synonymous with that styling of Soul Music from the late 1960's to the early 80's around the city of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia International record label where most but not all the key artists issued their recordings.
And that's really where this set scores over previous box sets as it gives you prime slices of the artists albums  as issued of which at least five I and many others would regard as essential albums in a soul collection
Album list:
1.Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes – Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes (1972)
2.Back Stabbers – The O’Jays (1972)
3.360 Degrees of Billy Paul – Billy Paul (1972)
4. Save The Children – The Intruders (1973)
5.The Three Degrees – The Three Degrees (1973)
6.Ship Ahoy – The O’Jays (1973)
7.Love Is The Message – MFSB (1973)
8.Keep Smilin’ – Bunny Sigler (1974)
9.Wake Up Everybody – Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes (1975)
10.All Things In Time – Lou Rawls (1976)
11.Life On Mars – Dexter Wansel (1976)
12.The Jacksons – the Jacksons (1976)
13.Teddy Pendergrass – Teddy Pendergrass (1976)
14.Jean Carn – Jean Carn (1976)
15.The Jones Girls – The Jones Girls (1979)
16.Edwin Birdsong – Edwin Birdsong (1979)
17.McFadden and Whitehead – McFadden and Whitehead (1979)
18.When You Hear Lou You’ve Heard It All – Lou Rawls (1977)
19.I’m In Love Again – Patti LaBelle (1983)

20.Life is A Song Worth Singing – Teddy Pendergrass (1978)
A good number of these albums were re-issued on cd  as part of the Sony Legacy Blues&Soul series from the 1990's to early 00's but are out of print attracting high prices new  as well as used but this set uses the same mastering so at a stroke restoring them to the catalogue.
They come in thick card lp style jackets reproducing front and rear lp art clearly with a booklet that gives a brief synopsis of each album and full credits.
Highlights for me are Save The Children, an Intruders album I grew up with on the amazingly clunky 8 Track tape with songs like "I'll Always Love My Mama", the Three Degrees self titled with it's clutch of hit singles such as When Will I See You Again" and the very jazz influenced Life On Mars by arranger and recording artist Dexter Wansel.
For around GBP £38 it's an amazing bargain that gets you exploring further this musically rich seam.

Recently another box set arrived but altogether a different proposition for this was the entire output of a single band whose label was together with Los Angeles based Solar Records the next wave with Motown's star begin eclipsed in the early 70's by Philadelphia International and itself being eclipsed by Solar and this bands label, Tabu Records whose artists who included Alexander O'Neal and Cherrelle of whom I liked in my teens.
Many would say the SOS band were one of the finest pervasive  soul groups of the 1980's but their recordings had been unavailable new for a good while with the earliest titles not even receiving a cd release. I had cassette issues of a few albums at the time but they were worn and I was looking for replacements.
In 2013 a Tabu Records re-issue campaign was launched which included the re-issuing of their albums with bonus tracks and a byproduct of this was a boxed set version where each album was packaged as a mini lp with just the original tracks and with extra discs for 7 and 12 remixes with a booklet.
I opted for that in around March 2014 this was eventually released as it was just what I was looking for - a complete set of albums - and also it was cheaper than the individual editions.
While some of the bonus tracks have been taken from vinyl, the main albums were not and sound very good on this set.

Teenbeat VIII

Bit of a musical rounded up for the first of two posts this week
We're back to 1981 a year  I still can recall  pretty well and the members of the band Fleetwood Mac were on a break after touring in support of the Tusk album and Stevie Nicks issued a well regarded album that had a lot of input from Tom Petty and to which he dueted on the hit "I Will Run To You"

Move forward to 1983, another pivotal year in my life, and in August I heard the first single that came from the just released  follow up album, The Wild Heart on the radio. Entitled Stand Back, it announced to the world that in that year where the English synthesizer new wave bands dominated,  she could compete with a sound that borrowed elements of it and yet keep the feel that makes her solo work so compelling, the space for her singing to transmit her emotions clearly. This was followed in October with the second 45 If Anyone Falls one the songs that continues to remind of the Fall of '83 even now.
It remains a favourite album of mine from when I bought the West German Chrome cassette version back in the day that sounded better than many pre-recorded cassettes just a year or two before.
One problem in the cd era for Stevie Nicks fans was the cd versions sounded thin, lacking bass and very bright, so much so for both albums that many Americans believe there is no good cd version of either album. However they are wrong as in 1990, EMI UK took over the UK rights and mastered this themselves to a much higher standard. It's simply that they've never encountered the discs that I obtained recently that I'm pleased to finally hear in digital form these albums. They sound really good.

Going back a decade further this time to when I was most definitely in single digits (too bad about not having ringlets at de time!) one thing I can recall is rushing on over to a family friend to see this TV show where they song nice songs and David Cassidy was super awesome looking.

I had been looking for a cd of the hits from the show such as "I Think I Love You"a big hit from 1971 for a while now and recently Sony/Bmg issued this 14 track Playlist set which can be gotten quite cheaply (like £5.09 shipped).
It features Breaking Up Is Hard To Do remixed to a more modern stereo spread for the first time where on previous cds it was mono only.

Teenbeat VI - The Carpenters

I can count! Really the sixth numbered issue of Teenbeat is here and is being written up as it was the sound track of part of my childhood being forever on the radio and pops record as well as clunky car tape player.
Few artists managed to craft well performed pop with infectious melodies as Karen and Richard Carpenter did whose music continues to sell well after 1983's sad death of Karen both original studio albums and good many compilations covering such memorable hits as (they long to be ) Close To You, Goodbye To Love, Only Yesterday, Sing (written for Sesame Street) and Touch Me when We're Dancing. I have the Singles 1969-1973 and 1974-1978, that latter title NOT issued in the states being familar with from from Pop's record collection.

I did recently get this three disc Dutch set, "Collected"originally entitled The Ultimate Collection and issued briefly a few years back by Universal Records in Europe.
The first thing to be said it's really a 2.4 cd set as the third disc has just seven solo Karen and Richard tracks coming in a card wrap round sleeve with short booklet.
However what you do get is 34 Carpenters songs but all in their original lp versions rather than remixes done for the 1969-73 Singles Collection never mind Richard's many remixes from the mid 80's onward and for the most part the tracks are in chronological order. 
Trying to track down the original mixes can be difficult and most of the new compilations don't feature them so to hear these songs the way we did back then from the lps is a lovely nostalgia trip. The sound quality is also very good borrowing the tracks from the "Original remastered" series of cds from 1998.
My copy from Nagirly on Amazon UK only cost £GBP 10.87 plus shipping which isn't much for such a super complete set of hits from 1969 thru 1983. Recommended.

Ten

Do not adjust your computer peoples for what we have here is almost a deadringer for me at ten with the right shaped face, hair and so on as I ought to remember 10 as by this point we'd moved to a school that was very much 20th century, with more land so we did stuff.

The uniform needless to say is wrong needing a red sweater and the socks were meant to be white  but it's so close my head has gone back in that year!  Stuff we did include basic gardening and plant growing which was nice considering we were in the countryside, we had some science kit and even a proper school library now.Naturally we played Rounders still.

Oh goody gumdrops, there's a book we read with a very important moral  plus a good heart and isn't Mary looking so pretty in that dress? It was always a favourite of mine by the Authoress Frances H. Burnett, who was born in England but moved to the United States of America at 16 years of age and recently I re-read it. I vividly recall at 10 our class reading Emil and the Detectives as our teacher would read it aloud and we'd follow him.

Of course in this era, there was another kind of reading we did and I'd bet $5CAD I had and read this annual back in the day as a number of you probably did as well.
Great things about ten included being able to watch and understand more complex movies, having a bit more personal freedom as well could playout by ourselves so long as we we back on time for supper, being able to play more board games (no Playstation or X box then) and the music of which I listened to included stuff by Queen, Mud, lots of Motown and Phillysoul, Slade and the Tartan Terrors (aka The Rollers) that we talked about at recess.

Chilling little style

Well Sammy's moved so while Ik is down I thought I'd get this weeks entry written up.
One of things I recall thinking about heaps was about everything that would happen after the last period of afternoon school finished. When I went to day school it was kind of easy in that you'd pair off with a few friends and call in at the neighbourhood store to fix some candy to share while you talked about the day and what you thought of Master x's lesson.

At boarding school we had it back in the dorm but because tea was early it was frowned on as it 'spoilt your tea' so you'd leave them for later or weekends.
I have always loved lollipops still walk around the sidewalks  licking them that speaks volumes about me I guess.
Actually I have a pinafore dress not a million miles like that of the girl on picture and used to read while sucking on a lollipop so perhaps one way to visualize me is think of that girl at least in spirit if not in dress. The only thing that matters is having fun reading and sucking your lollipops.

Link:Lollipops

Beatles new vinyl (Teenbeat special)

This weeks TeenBeat special is about my collection of Beatles records.

As some of you may be aware I've been buying new Beatles records since 1977 starting with the 'Blue' compilation (1967-1970) and adding the odd used copy over that period since been introduced to them by friends and family as a kid.

In the intervening years, I had managed to almost complete the collection which was mainly of Canadian copies although like many, my collection went through a turbulent spell in the mid 80's when their UK albums were issued on cd and as some lps sadly showed their age through wear and damage in my teens, so they got to replaced by the cds in a few cases .  Indeed for a three year period I was minus a lot of their more important albums, period on record !

However over  time I had re-established much of the collection and replaced the odd surviving copy by newer copies that sounded better as some of the discs we had back then weren't so good.

This Monday, November  12th  sees the reissuing  in both the States and also in Europe of their entire catalogue on heavy weight 180 gram vinyl following the now authorized canon of UK releases using the transfers including edits done for the cds which were reissued on September 9, 2009 but without the small amount of limiting applied to the very loudest moments of the music that was applied to the cds.

It also is increasingly recognized the amount of fine detail thought in the very early 1980’s to be acceptable for cd was inferior to that of vinyl or higher resolution digital formats like super audio cd or high resolution lossless files so these records cut from higher resolution than cd files could easily out perform the cd versions.

Because I already have an extensive lp collection I have decided not to buy a complete box set but just to get new European pressed versions of those I remain unhappy with the sound of .

Magical Mystery Tour.

Capitol /EMI SMAS2835

First off, one benefit of this pressing is everything is in true stereo being  rather than the awful duophonic fake stereo of the analogue US and UK versions on the songs Penny Lane, Baby, You're A Rich Man and All You Need Is Love that my very first copy had. Because this lp was in truth a American creation added later in the day to the World-wide catalogue, they have used a old style colourband Capitol logo for it. So cool!

The booklet is tucked in the left jacket pouch rather than stapled in the gate-fold ready to fall off and is printed in thicker paper.

Secondly Sean Magee cut this and he did an extremely good job of getting deep bass on it, the treble is very smooth, and the presence on the vocals almost fooled me into thinking this was analogue sourced, lacking the harshness you sometimes detect on cd. He left a good amount of space from the end of the final track to the edge by the label to minimize any end of side playback problems. I went from having the 1976 UK version with the last three tracks in fake stereo originally to the 1988 Capitol digitally mastered one that was a bit better.

I feel this is the best one yet I've had.It was dead quiet too!

Past Masters

Parlophone

A product of the 'core catalogue' is all you need idea, this was compiled and originally issued in 1988 to round up material that didn't make its way into the individual UK albums that for the most part I never owned then but to which were all re-issued on cd world-wide the previous year.

These weren't just obscure tracks but actually a good many of their British singles and the whole Long Tally Sally ep that for North Americans we got spliced into our unique albums.

I needless to say bought the cds as soon as they were issued but the lp issued several months later never sounded good. It was thin, lacking in deep bass and oddly enough worse sounding than the cds which weren't all they could of been either.

This new copy sounds that much fuller with the added benefits this time around of stereo versions of two German language singles plus From Me To You and Thank You Girl minus the echo on the Capitol lp ‘Second Album’.

From my point of view the main value lies the the tracks that sadly we never got on our lps in real stereo such as This Boy, I Feel Fine, She's A Woman and Yes It Is plus the regular UK mixes of Day Tripper as well as the original single version of their first UK hit, Love Me Do. An aside: It was a shock to here I Feel Fine in stereo compared to the very echo filled fake stereo when I got the UK RED album.

I am extremely impressed with how this album has turned out this  around on lp sounding so much better than the original edition and would go as far as to say it bests the current cd when it comes to detail and sound-staging.

White Album: This edition I got for Christmas 2012 has far more bass than any previous edition and has been cut with a bit of gap between the end the last track and the start of label which helps as the originals didn't making getting clean sound at the end of the record difficult and a 1975 edition I had sounded thin.

A brief list of my Beatles lps to date.

STEREO:

Early Years (Capitol Canada) - early 80's

Second Album (Capitol USA) - 2nd copy early 80's

Please Please Me (Parlophone UK) - 1981

Beatlemania! With The Beatles (Capitol Canada) - late 70's.

2 copies one the 'TLC' wide stereo, the other narrowed

A Hard Day's Night (Parlophone UK) -1981
This was the first UK studio album I bought.

Something New (Capitol USA) -early 80's

Beatles '65 (Capitol Canada) -1983 (Colourband)

Beatles For Sale (Parlophone UK) -1979 

Bought used a few years ago

Beatles VI (Capitol Canada)-1983 (Colourbar)

Help! (Parlophone UK) -1973

Bought used a few back to replace Canadian Capitol Help soundtrack from late 70's

Rubber Soul (UK Parlophone)-1980 (_5/-6 HTM cutting)

Bought used a several months back to replace a late 1970's Canadian Capitol lp.

Yesterday and Today (Capitol USA) -early 80's All true stereo copy!
Revolver (UK Parlophone)1986
This -5/-4 UK copy made just before the cds were issued and the records then altered to us same source as the cd was bought very recently to replace my Revolver (Capitol USA) 1981 edition which sounded a bit distorted in places and only had 11 tracks not 14 of the UK edition.

Sgt Pepper (UK Parlophone) -mid 70's

Bought two years ago to replace Capitol Canada 1979 edition

White Album (Capitol USA) -1988

Abbey Road (UK Apple) -1979

Bought used to replace 1979 Capitol Canada lp that I scratched

Let It Be (Capitol USA) -1979 Mastered fresh by Wally Traugott and sounds very very good

At the Hollywood Bowl -1977 (Capitol Canada) + (Parlophone UK)

Compilations:

Rock and Roll Music (Parlophone UK) -1976

Love Songs (Parlophone UK) -1977

1962-1966 aka RED (Apple UK) -1989 (Replaced 1977 UK)

1967-1970 aka BLUE (Apple UK) -1991 (Replaced 1977 UK)
Rarities (Pathe Marconi/French EMI) -1985
It's the French edition of the Capitol lp that had tracks not easily found in North America some of which ironically no longer in circulation.
Reel Music (Capitol USA) -1982 
The first US album to have Ticket To Ride in true stereo believe it or not!

Mono:

Please Please Me (Parlophone UK) -1988 

With the Beatles (Parlophone UK) -1982

Beatlemania! with the Beatles  (Capitol Canada) -1963

A Hard Day's Night (Capitol USA) -1988

Beatles For Sale (UK Parlophone) -1982

Help! (UK Parlophone) -1982

Rubber Soul (UK Parlophone) -1982

Revolver (UK Parlophone) -1967

Sgt Pepper (UK Parlophone)-1967

From Liverpool Box set

On November 3rd 1980, the mail order  division of England's EMI records, World Records issued a special 8 lp box set entitled "From Liverpool-The Beatles box" whose timing was unfortunate being but five weeks off the death of John Lennon, something I can recall all to clearly even today.

It had two posts, a couple of flexi discs and a leaflet outlining other titles they did and critically at the time as I recall well, the chance to be entered in a Prize Draw
It was heavily advertised at the time in magazines including the Radio Times and sold very well no doubt appealing to those who need to have something to remind them of the magic of the time during the period after John's tragic death in New York.
As you can from the above entry attempts had been made before to condense the magic of the Beatles for casual fans especially in an era where many singles were not on the contemporary lp releases in the UK but this set attempts to fill the gap by adding a sizable number of prime album cuts from each original album to the 45's and EP tracks making in effect a halfway house.

All 124 tracks over 8 lps were freshly mastered by Harry T Moss who did many of later full lp masters and Simon Sinclair who compiled it, used a number of rare or alternate mixes never previously issued in the UK too adding to it's collectors appeal.
The discs are set out in chronological order meaning that things from what become the Let It Be album appear before Abbey Road as they were recorded first and a number of tracks have 'clean' starts and earlier fades when they were segued on albums such as Abbey Road and the 'White Album' with the majority of tracks in stereo although two - P.s I Love You and She Loves You - remain in UK fake stereo form from the 1960's and freshly mastered tracks where no stereo versions were found were issued in mono.
Each disc has a separate glossy picture lp jacket with a history of the period on the reverse with a lined inner sleeve to protect it. It was also issued on cassette form in a box with the tapes being Dolbyized.
Some hifi types allege this album is too quiet having long sides but as generally they have 8 tracks per side (one more than usual in the UK) and only one side goes near 24 minutes it's well within the optimum range for lp cutting and more to the point sounds extremely good with fairly quiet vinyl too.
I actually wanted this back in 1980 but my folks never bought it me so to get a mint copy now is really nice transporting me back to that time.

Guilty secrets.

We might begin by saying according to Google, I have now 14 followers of this blog and it is going to circulated a bit more widely with a short introductory message.
For most of this week I've been reading a mixture of Enid Blyton's Secrets series with the first two stories in their 1960's paperback editions as modern editions haven't so much edited as partially re-written the first chapters that are essential to understand why 4 children would runway in this period from their guardians.

Guilty secret time:

Okay, the eagle eyed will spot a modern no-no on the front cover of this, one of the original three story collections in the Amelia Jane stories.
Amelia is a home made ragdoll who lives in the toybox with the other twos of the children who own them with a teddy bear, sailor boy, wooden mouse and a clown as well as a 'golly' a black faced doll if you grew up in the 70's or before you may well have had in your toybox.
I have fond memories of my toy box I can assure you with dolls teddy bears and even a golly (eek).
Amelia being home made hasn't been what we'd call socialized and so is gets very bored doing incredibly naughty damaging things, playing with matches, being very rude and spiteful, just like many young children, something that no doubt makes it very easy to identify with.In some respects it's almost a moral tract showing action and consequence through the adult narration.
The other toys do with the help of the brownies (another no-no in modern editions) restore order. Amelia has to stand in the corner  and is smacked, just rather like I was at that age for doing pretty much the same things cos like any kid I was capable of 'naughty'.
'Golly' is a no-no too but anyone who has read these stories know he's a really sweet but strong character who will stand up for himself and isn't afraid to take the lead on bring Amelia back under control.
I guess the 'Golly' problem lies with parts of his depiction having prominent eyes and red lips being too close for some to 'blacked up' white actors who some see as promoting a negative stereotype of black people although Enid Blyton sure doesn't in her stories and in the UK at least 'Golly' or 'Gollywogg' was never frequently used as a racial insult.
Given I at least have been called a 'muppet several times before now and no one has insisted on removing that word from public tv and literature, shouldn't we judge a book by it's content and only take offence when a character is being portrayed in an offensive way?

Maypole

Yay! A bank holiday over here so I'm able to relax a bit  read and yes write today's blog entry although the idea came to me a few days ago so i just jotted down the initial thoughts cos my short term memory isn't good at all.
Seeing it's May Bank Holiday I was starting to think about what kinds of things I used to around this time of year and one of the things that stuck in my mind was school maypole dancing

While that  picture wasn't taken it my school, it was taken at a school in Gloucestershire, England actually, it is very very similar to how we did it.
Those who had two left feet were selected as 'ballast' to hold the maypole down, the uniform was similar except the boys nearly always had shorts on and in alternate boy/girl pairings we'd dance weaving in and out creating the plait you can see from the top of the pole downward.
One difference is we have what in England you'd call 'Pumps'  a cotton with rubber soled gym type shoe that you had to clean and polish before the public performance with matching three-quarter length socks.
I use to take me ages to polish and whiten mine!
I was pretty good at it actually having a good ear for the tunes we danced to so we kept in time with the music as well as each other. Well it kinda helps, eh?

Philadelphia International and me

Philadelphia International Records to give it  its full title has always been a part of my life ever since I just I turned 8 years old and as regular readers know I wrote an entry a good year or so back on the O'Jays on of this labels most famous acts.
If you haven't read it just click on the 'music' topic index and you'll find it in that search.
First of though earlier this year a special 4 cd box set was issued entitled "Philadelphia International Classics - the Tom Moulton remixes". Tom Moulton was a DJ who understood earlier than many the importance of the longer discotheque mix extending the 'groove' for dancing and sometimes simplifying the sound just for that audience by taking off special effects.
 He got involved with the label doing these remixes for the funk act Peoples Choice and the song "Do iI any Way you Wanna" from 1974 and in 1977 Philadelphia International issued a lp long deleted of some of his remixes of them and other artists.#
This set has all those tracks plus some brand new remixes including that great early 80's song "Nights Over Egypt" by the Jones Girls done in the same style (no added echo, synthesized drums) extended and remixed from the session masters for really good quality.
If you love 12" remixes you'd love this set on England's Harmless  records (HURTXCD 112).
Another act I liked around this time was The Intruders who had several hits such as Cowboys to Girls, Love Is Like A Baseball Game, (win, place or show) She's A Winner and I'll Always Love My Mama and i had for a long time the cd version of 1973 "Super Hits" compilation of theirs.
I was able to find a copy of the 1996 "Cowboy to Girls-the best of" which has a lot more songs on it which was part of Sony's Blues & Soul legacy series which was really well mastered a lot more detailed compare to that older disc
Finally back to those O'Jay's.
Prior to them signing to this label they were signed to another - Neptune- and issued an lp called "In Philadelphia" back in 1969 which had been out of print for absolutely ages.
In truth this is mainly cover versions of popular songs of that era however it's the arrangements that clearly show what was to come on that classic album "Backstabbers" famous for "Love train" and "992 Arguments" that remain a gem,
It was briefly issued in 1994 in the states on cd but even that can be hard to find so, as resourceful as ever, I found a copy in Germany cheaply and pay for it to be shipped over, completing at long last my O'Jay's collection on cd.

Teen Beat Edition

Following from my liking for structurally simple uncomplicated songs about romance I slowly graduated toward more complex music such as that by Kansas ( I couldn't really get into four sided concept albums) but the majority of their albums I had were on tape so I was mighty glad to get this cd set recently.

Beginning in the 70s from their hometown of Topeka, Kansas, the group produced a wild mix of rock anthems, introspective ballads, and loose jams on their studio albums.

Many of you have heard of "Carry On Wayward Son" on Classic Rock radio stations which was a smash hit for the group back in '76. Well that's from an album called Leftoverture that happens to part of this extremely cheap 5 cd set."Dust in the Wind" (off the featured '77's Point of Know Return album) is hardly indicative of the full-bodied, keyboard-and-violin-fueled anthems that grace most of their albums.

The albums included are:-

Kansas (S/T)

Song For America

Masque

Leftoverture

Point of Know Return

The discs are the Sony Legacy remasters from the 2000's that happen to sound extremely good to my ears coming with bonus live tracks too in card lp style covers.

I have the US 1996 re-master of Monolith from 1979 featuring the hit People of the South Wind as well Audio-Vision which had the hit Hold On.

I first bought Drastic Measures as a lp record in August 1983 shortly after its US release and following a selling off period in the late 80's while I was trying to build up my cd collection, I have been without a copy!

This was a pity as it was a enjoyable album the Prog rockers when John Elefante joined the band taking lead vocals.

It came out briefly on cd in 1996 and I bought a copy although it is long period out of print (England's Rock Candy re-issued a few months ago but that not as good sounding)

The song Mainstream takes a pot shot at the label people who stifle artistic development and Fight Fire With fire is a up tempo rocker.

YouTube - Kansas - Fight Fire with Fire

I also got the matching 1996 Legacy cd of  Vinyl Confessions the 1982 album with the hits Play The Game Tonight and Play On both of which shared as did most of tracks the bands strongly felt Christian beliefs.