Raves From The Grave redux

We're going backwards here looking at a post made in December 2010 while it is bank holiday and my thoughts are on the return to School Days next month.

Back then I started to work through from tapes I had finding songs I'd not bought on record and cd and at that time I started to download albums and tracks  so I downloaded a group of tracks from around 1983-4 that were mainly American hits so not compiled over here.

By then I'd got this group of tracks  number had been transferred to various Mp3 players over the years  but when the old computer died, it took some of these.

Billy Satellite: Satisfy Me Aug 84
Ratt: Round and Round July 84
Night Ranger Sister Christian June 84
Dwight Twilly Band: Girls April 84
Twisted Sister: We're Not Gonna take It '83)
Twisted Sister: I Am (I'm Me) (UK April 83)
Twisted Sister: I Wanna Rock (84)
Twisted Sister: Stay Hungry (84)
Twisted Sister: Leader Of The Pack
Twisted Sister: Come Out and Play

Recently though while I've lost my original iTunes and Amazon accounts I used then, I had found my 7Digital one where some were still available.

I decided to download a Twister Sister compilation that added a few more favourites, I'd got the Tell It Like It Is Ratt compilation on cd since given I had liked Night Ranger got their Midnight  Madness and  Seven Wishes from 1984 and 5 resepectively.

I also added Billy Satellites debut, Peter Schillings Error In The System  and John Waite's No Breaks  albums which were all hits with me back then.

 

Moving more into the decade that started after 2010 had finished I was missing the two published albums by the American country pop group The Band Perry from 2010 with the above which was their debut plus Promise, their 2013 follow up.

 

Original they had been Aac downloads from Apples iTunes Stores and lost in time but I was able to track down the original cds and using the dbPoweramp software make copies for the computer and Fiio music player.

 This album a compilation from 2001 that had David Sylvian, Japan and Rain Tree Crow tracks still existed but only in an early mushy Mp3 so I got the full cd quality Flac album version to replace it with as I do now have a reissue lp of it so having a physical copy is as the English say, sorted.

Arcadia: So Red The Rose - cd versions

Between things here I had been comparing  a couple of copies of an album that didn't sell that well in 1985 that I do like for its artsy lush feel, a deluxe version that came out in March of 2010 that might of been mentioned on the older of the blogs back then that had twelve inch and seven inch mixes and a dvd and its first cd issue in 1990.

This is the Japanese first pressing which has full lyrics, a potted history of Duran Duran and Arcadia in Japanese very well printed as you  might expect.

The Deluxe edition was part of a series EMI put out across 2009 and 2010 to meet the demands of hardcore fans who typically want every major mix variant that some titles of such as Duran Duran, the self titled first album in its UK form and Seven and the Ragged Tiger were heavily criticized for for their very loud. screechy sound with poor dynamics although other titles such as 2009's Rio that used the UK lp mixes for once were decent.

So Red The Rose in that series housed in clam shell which again was at odds with the remainder of the discs for packaging was not bad but comparing them that 1990 cd has noticeably better dynamics on what was a extremely well recorded album and a a bit more natural sound that just breathes. 

While the 2010 wins on completeness and is worth owning for those 12" mixes and the dvd, cd fans would be better served getting either the this edition, the similar 1990 Capitol US one or the 1993 European for sound.

On vinyl UK, US and Japan first issue issues sound really good if having it on that form matters to you.

 

Working on the special interests

It's the weekend so there's a few things to be getting done here like checking through some of my discs as I reduce their storage requirements by using smaller form storage systems cos I've some of these since the mid 1980's.

Some do have the odd mark on them, even from new in the days stored the cases and discs separately and usually they'll play fine but thicker radial marks can cause skipping so I do play anything that falls in that category.

So today that means I have a few discs to check through and if needs be look for replacements, probably used given some are no longer on catalogue.

Music is generally a special interest of mine, always was from a young child which isn't untypical of autistic people although it must be remembered we are people not "the autistic" and do have variations.

This is a pretty good chart that shows how many traits can mean, you may be autistic even if may show in different ways and I have a good 85% of these.

Learning to feel good about your autism matters and being able to share a special interest can help.

Kool and the gang 1979-1985

We enter a new month, see some changes around what we can do (and how)  and a few things have arrived here.

The music of Kool and the Gang goes back quite  along time, actually to the dawn of the 1970's  but as flavours changed, the group itself did coming up with a smooth soul and funk style that was extremely popular until again in the late 1980's a mix of more electronic instrumentation and the influence of HipHop moved what had become dubbed "R&B" along a very different line.

This is  a set that across three discs takes six albums from 1979 through 1985 all of which had major hit singles in either the US or the UK that many regard as some of the must enduring of the era.

Songs like 1979's Ladies Night as covered by Atomic Kitten, Celebration, Get Down On It, Big Fun, Joanna, Fresh and Cherish are all songs featured in this collection together with minor singles and deep cuts.

It comes with a booklet that carries the original album credits and adds background information on the group and each albums history in a single slim package.

For the £13.99 I paid for this Beat Goes On set, that was quite a bargain.

70's favourites Part II

One thing I did pick up for my birthday was this recently released compilation of recordings by Gladys Knight & The Pips whose catalogue divides into two main chunks, the first being their period at Motown from 1967 through 1972 of which the best overall compilation is the 1995 Anthology two cd set and the period from 1973 through 1977 with Buddah Records.

That second period tends to be the more radio played  with songs such as "Midnight Train To Georgia", (I really got to use my) Imagination, I Feel a Song (in my heart) and "Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me" which have been anthologized a number of times and to which I bought the 1998 UK Camden "The Greatest Hits" which featured 18 of them at the time.

The strength of this set is it includes recordings made in the late 1970's and 80's for CBS/Columbia such as "Taste of Bitter Love"  and "Bourgie', Bourgie' " plus a number of hard to find mixes in addition to those Buddah era recordings aided by both sets of recordings being collectively owned by Sony today.

Moreover, while this doesn't feature 1989's License To Kill from that years James Bond movie, it is a an extensive collection over three modestly priced cds with the tracks running in era order rather than the at times totally random one of Music Clubs double cd sets of a few years back.

While some liner notes would of been good, this is a desirable set also issued on double lp selection too.
 

Things to do on a rainy day

As I write this, it's really been something of a damp squid of a weekend with very heavy rain, power issues in parts of the country and no good for being out of doors which as I said the other week is really more my thing.
Instead I've been otherwise engaged with more mundane things such as sorting out bookmarks on the Chromebook because my bookmarks go back at around 2006/7 being imported from machine to machine regardless of browser over that period.
Sometimes it can be good for finding a old post about something I recall particularly if it has some otherwise hard to find information in it.
On the other hand you may draw a blank because either the site no longer exists like Google + or it's a persons blog on a site that has been removed or they shut down such as on Tumblr and so serves no real purpose.
The great thing about Google Accounts is being synchronized it doesn't matter on what you view on, all things like bookmarks and password changes are all saved across the board so I thought it was a good use of time this weekend.
One thing you can do is still life photography of either objects like coins, models or like this, flowers.
I also listened to a few recordings I hadn't played in a while while I wait for some new old titles to slowly come in being ordered from various separate suppliers.
 

Teenbeat XXVIII - Hang on Loosley

Today on this return visit to the Teen Beat series of post I am talking about a series of re-issues that upon hearing of them piqued my fancy.
A big thing with me was what tends to bracketed under the phrase 'Southern Rock' which pretty much got a hold of me in my mid teens and never really left and one band I had a fondness for was 38 Special formed in Jacksonville, Fl, by friends Don Barnes and Donnie Van Zant in 1974 around the time the Allman Blues Band were massive who released a good many albums.
Stylistic this form of rock has a high level of blues and country in the mix and whilst still performing with a different line up to day, the albums issued  from 1977 through 1988 are the ones I cherish, having vinyl copies bought very much at the time.

Now when I said there was no mention of any other formats so when I want to get my fill of such tracks as Chained Lightning, Rocking Into The Night, Travelin' Man, Caught Up In You and If I'd Been The One I'd need to put the record deck on or put the copy on cassette in a cassette tape walkman.
Thus when it was announced at the beginning of the year Universal Japan, the label that acquired A&M Records which these albums had been issued by they were being re-issued   I was interested in getting cd versions.

First of like many of Japan's limited editions, these are packed differently in that they are exact replicas of the original lps -'Mini Lp's' is the term that's used - so you get a card outer sleeve, an inner holding the cd and any inserts included.
The other thing is they use a special type of plastic 'sandwich' to make these cds from that allows the pits that hold the data to be more accurately pressed and also more reflective for less errors  than standard cds.

An example of that is with the Tour De Force album of the fall of 1983  with it's three singles where the cover shows the cover art in all its glory being taken around the video shoot of the lead of 45, If I'd Been The One that was played on Much Music and MTV that year.

The rear of the lp is reproduced as is with no attempt to remove reference to lp sides and as with all japanese issues, there's the folded paper OBI that tells people in Japan all about the disc.

1986's Strength In Numbers was issued on lp in a two sided die cut sleeve and in this cd re-issue, that has been reproduced which is good example of the attention to detail the  Japanese take on these issues.

Each disc is wrapped in a archive quality see through resealable pouch with a strict 6 month sales period.

A good number of these discs were freshly mastered from the original tapes and compare favourably with the original lp issues so personally I am very impressed with the series.