Frilled edition!

A good good while back we had the Frill Free Edition now here's it's opposite!
Not something I usually talk about  and certainly never something you'll see peeking out all seedily on this blog ever but actually some of us do a bit of the frilly albeit in a restrained way possibly cos we're exploring things.

In my case probably more I just feel like sometimes being more girlie some of the time at least and something that is relatively plain with fully elasticated legs for a snug fit appeals more than some designs and I feel happy in them.

Plus I got a couple of pairs of these white frilly ankle socks to go with them and these do go just above the ankle which I prefer looking a bit more balenced with the skirt lengths I usually wear.

Teenbeat XV - The Beatles in mono

The genius of this entry goes back three weeks ago to September 8th at least in the UK as  that was when a rather special set of vinyl lp records was issued in both individual and boxed set form with the box set featuring a big book with a history of the records , pictures of tape boxes and naturally enough, the artists themselves.
It is also a follow one to November 2012's Teenbeat special that was timed to do with the stereo vinyl re-issues and how that slotted into my collection started in my earlier life.

The first thing to say is in this set there are 11 albums, the first 9 UK titles, the American compiled but later adopted in the UK Magical Mystery Tour and the new Triple Mono Masters compilation.
I opted to buy them individually as with a bit of searching I could get the whole set for much less than I anticipated and it's not every day you can get a set of brand new mono albums made directly from the tapes, the way they did in the 60's with not one jolt of digital processing involved.

An indication of the attention to detail in this set is the label above being a copy of the one used on the very first copies of the Please Please Me album from March 1963, the other UK original albums through Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club band have period Yellow and Black labels with the White Album (aka "The Beatles") and the new Mono Masters triple having dark green Granny Smith Apple designs.

This one being American in origin has a replica Capitol colourband rim design as original Capitol lps did back then. Originally the songs from the film were issued in the UK on two 7 inch singles in a book and the stereo lp was eventually issued in November 1976 for that territory.
The sleeve construction owning a few originals is the same although the way the glossy lamination is achieved is different.
The White Album has individual issue numbers stamped on the front to each copy and top opening slots for each record, the four pictures and poster just like the originals did.
I have just one of them left to arrive but overall these sound at least as good as in number of instances better than my originals such as of the UK Revolver or early 80's extremely limited edition mono issues (the so-called '81's) like my copy of With The Beatles while I've never owned the White Album and Magical Mystery Tour in their mono  forms.
It seems using the tapes directly and altering the sound slightly per track while making the lacquers used to make the records has given them a transparency that has never been on any previous lps and in comparison with the Beatles in mono cd box set  is lacking from that.
While not  much processing  to the tone was done on the cd box set, it's obvious some tidying up like editing and click removing  was done digitally when you compare the actual records to the cds but it doesn't undermine the value of the cd set for those who prefer that media.
Why mono? Because for much of 60's the final mix was done first to mono, the one speaker systems most people had taking a lot of care with the impact and critically with the Beatles they were present during that process.
In the UK All the singles from Love Me Do to Get Back were only released in mono so the original mixes were the mono ones although from 1970's many compilation albums featured only stereo mixes done later.
In so far as original studio albums go the stereo mixes were done later usually by engineers in a half hour or so with no input from the Beatles so these mono mixes were more what they wanted their fans to hear and there are a good number of significant differences  between them with Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club band sounding more finished, nay arresting as a listening experience compared to the stereo.
It's important to note the first two UK albums were not recorded with any aim of making a stereo record so much as using two tracks to fine tune the balance between vocals and instruments later on which why in 'stereo' you have that odd backing in one speaker, vocals on the other effect.
The final album in this series, Mono Masters is a triple album that has those singles with flip sides and other tracks not originally  released in the UK on album form from the original single mix of Love Me Do to You Know My Name from the b side of the Let It Be via such singles as I Want To Hold Your Hand, I Feel Fine, Day Tripper, Hey Jude and the last UK mono single Get Back. It also has the entire Long Tall Sally EP plus dedicated mixes made a projected EP of songs from the Yellow Submarine that were never issued given a separate lp side meaning if you don't need the stereo versions, the Yellow Submarine album isn't really needed as there were only two other songs that are on it by the Beatles and they were issued on previous albums anyway.
Like most people who bought it, I feel compared to the 7 inch singles the sound is that much fuller for having more vinyl space to accommodate the full range of loud and soft passages and low notes in this unique compilation. It also is more convenient too than flipping 45's every two and half to three minutes with the 6 sides covering fairly well defined eras in the group.

The records:
Please Please Me
With The Beatles *
A Hard Day's Night
Beatles For Sale
Help!
Rubber Soul
Revolver
Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band
Magical Mystery Tour
The Beatles (better know as the "White Album"**
Mono Masters.
*= Known to Canadians as Beatlemania with the beatles, the first album we had!
** not issued in mono in Canada and the States, ever.

This set slots nicely into my collection replacing a number of copies whose sound I wasn't so happy with and enabled me to remove a couple of albums whose contents are now totally replicated in better sound, generally tidying matters up.

Something's afoot!

He he, that got y'all excited didn't it?
Mommy excelled herself this week with a couple of unexpected gifts for me

Cute bunny furry slippers for keeping me warm during the winter months.

And some cute kitty socks too!

Teenbeat XIIII - Steely Dan is "Collected"

This week post nearly didn't happen thanks to a severe migraine complete with flashing lights and electrical storms in my brain but here we go.
The Jazz influenced sounds of Steely Dan, comprising of Donald Fagen and Walter Becker  with other assorted helpers have long been a favourite of mine but between a sad story of sticky analogue tapes saved to a digital format that itself had issues like a major corporation that lack a playback machine for it and the odd decision to bump up the low and high notes and squash the gap between loud and soft sounds on the current  editions tying to find decent sounding Steely Dan has been challenging shall we say.

This is a band who had a way with lyrics and arrangements  as evidenced on songs like Rikki Don't Lose That Number, Reeling In The Years, Aja and Do It Again and recently I found this triple cd compilation issued in the Netherlands by Universal that does sound rather good with a generous selection from their 1972-1980 albums including the song FM from the movie of the same name.
It'll do until some one can remaster the studio albums anew.

Our day out

As kinda hinted at last week, the week was gonna be busy as I was going out twice and also has the effect of putting out of sync chronologically what should of been the next post but anyway after getting Chat  and Tumblr to work fine in Pale Moon, my default browser we come to this weeks post.
Going out had it's own ahem difficulties thanks to Cheshire East's decision to rapidly move forward resurfacing work requiring closing our main road off completely with very little notice so setting off required literally walking a mile and a bit through the fields to catch a bus to the areas super important rail station catching the train where upon its arrival I met with Jennifer.
Shock alert: I sent a text to Andi on the cellphone!
Traversing the road network in South Staffordshire isn't bad considering the population density outside of the peak hours obviously and it may surprise some but there are a  number of really nice buildings in the towns we went through such as St Peter's, the Parish Church of West Bromwich and the delightful Sandwell Nature Reserve.

All of this was enhanced by the brilliant sunshine and blue skies  on what had turned out to me a warm September's day.

(Above Miss Maisie bunny)
It wasn't long before we arrived at our destination and met with Andi.
Maisie and I  introduce ourselves, sorted our overnight stuff out and proceeded to read this weeks Beano comic  that we'd bought at the Station to the accompaniment of Jean-Michelle Jarre playing from a music server. I'll bet that beats getting up every 18 minutes to change lps!
Andi rustled up a most delicious home made Cottage Pie which was much appreciated while apart from talking about everything and anything including Camp, Andi treated us to hearing the original Captain Kremen  lp, that out of his head radio space fantasy of the DJ , the late Kenny Everett, in a series I remember well for the characters and amazing vocalizations.
I have this vague recollection of going to bed after changing into my kitty nighttime attire and brushing ones teeth sometime before Midnight and waking up around 7:30ish. Maybe it was the Elderberries??? Even Maisie was on that!
Before dashing off to catch the train back, Andi made a lovely cooked British breakfast complete with fried bread.
We'd like to thank Jennifer for the lift down and company as well as Andi for having us as we sure appreciate it all the way.

An enjoyable day

I never do things by halves, people and  this week isn't an exception for reasons that will become clearer with the passage of time as on Saturday September 6th I was away and leaving our Town our driver decided to go via the Rail centre that is Crewe, the delights of the market town of Nantwich and the tranquil Bunbury near to the Shropshire Union Canal (aka the "Cut" to people in South Staffordshire).

Enroute it looked rather dull especially over the Halkyn Mountains with a shower too but as you can see it was actually very sunny at this place. I think its overall feel is just that actually and it was heaving with people.

Got where this is yet? Okay it's Llandudno, North Wales about 15 miles from Colwyn Bay and as it happened just as I arrived boats were out taking people out to see the Great Orme and here is one with would be passengers.
That was taken before I went for a coffee, went to a large Magazine vendor and visited a surviving HMV music store armed with a voucher and walking out with some cds that effectively cost me nothing.

There are many ways of getting around but the most intriguing is this road train that goes from East to West Shore with it's colourful livery. I wonder if it has a steam engine to power it?
Talking of power, we must of had some as Mommy and I won two prizes each on the bus raffle with a box of chocolate Fudge and a diary for me and wasn't it some co-incidence,eh?

A more conventional way is this special tourist bus. I just love the seaside, something that's a constant with me from childhood.
I had fish and chips for lunch out before strolling along the Promenade, just relaxing as you do between fighting the Seagulls off and running around suitably kittyfied.
Mommy and I visited some clothes and gift shops which was fun and then decided to go for tea and some cake in the afternoon where I had a really big slice of a lemon and cream cake which was delicious to tide me over until we returned a couple of hours later.

Restoration post

Hi! We're back by the power of the Pale Moon after last weeks problem with the 'toplap' and trying to make the treacle laden old desktop actually do something that makes actually using an manual typewriter seem almost liberationly quick which was one of the first useful 'toys' I ever had.
While the original toplap is waiting repair or cannibalization for the spare parts, I has a new to me toplap that is smaller than that and has a more typewriter feeling keyboard which for those of us taught to type on a proper typewriter is very much appreciated.
Fortunately much of my music was backed up in many ways, vendor clouds, usb sticks and even on the cards of the music player  used to play from without having to fire up the computer although this leaves a few albums potentially missing that probably underscore the need to back up by whatever means the things that matter on your computer.
Equally having a back up of your bookmarks with those sometimes hard to recall web addresses helps in getting re-established as does having somewhere your passwords for sites you joined and contribute to.
While I didn't have a really update list the one from de original Treacle machine was at least serviceable and having been exported and the imported to Pale Moon using a usb stick on here only required two additions and one change to be of use in getting back online.
Thanks everybody for being understanding  during this period.