Blazer!

We've talked about comics on here and I think there may of been on the other blog a series of three entries looking at the comics in my current age dysphoric life which are regular publications being weekly, fortnightly such as MOTD or monthly.

Rather like they did when I was first ten, they come through the letterbox, then via the paperboy from Gallimore's newsagents and today through the postman or woman being sent out by the publishers.

Some publications here in the UK are more smaller operations than say D C Thomson so issues of their comics are less regular and even as with THE 77 Gang via Comic Toolbox crowdfunded before being finally published so there's no fixed cycle.

In April they issued after starting a "Kickstarter" a new comic that sounded interesting.

Entitled Blazer!, it is by uk comic legend Steve McManus, his first new publication since Judge Dredd Magazine and promises  Hot Heroes and Sneaky Villains

It's set out as a 1970's comic would be with title and tag line to the top right down to the fake date of April 1 1974 and is a more older boys only action title of the sort I loved back then with the same style drawing and use of speech bubbles

This is issue one and we don't when the second will emerge, the bain of small operations such as this but believe me it fired this boy up big time reading something clearly boys own with a war story and action thrillers. 

My Tom Petty lp collection

Tom Petty is an artist I like a lot having very many compact discs I have picked up over the decades but this entry is more about the smaller number of vinyl albums by him I have bought.

 The Greatest Hits album originally came out in 1993 remaining a favourite of many although though their have been other compilations such as the Playback box set and 2000's Anthology: Through The Years and it in July 2016 came out on double vinyl.

More accurately for people living in Europe, it's a re-issue as there was a very limited vinyl release for Europe and the UK and that edition is like many early 90's vinyl releases very expensive when you see a copy.

The strength of this set is its brevity containing only the 45's and two new recordings such as Mary Jane's 2nd Dance and that the running order makes for a highly enjoyable play starting with such early tracks as American Girl running through such gems as I Need To Know, Refugee, Don't Come Around Here No More and I Won't Back Down with a lack of anything resembling padding so in just over 68 minutes the case for Tom Petty is made convincingly in song and arrangements.

The four side splits are chosen well so you get the opportunity changing them to reflect on what you have heard and in non technical terms the sound and pressing quality of this European lp set is really high with the grooves cut by Chris Bell.

 Before the Heartbreakers were formed, there were a group of guys who played with Tom Petty In Gainsville, Florida and that band was reformed for an album in 2007 and this, Mudcrutch2, is their last offering also bought on vinyl issued May 20th 2016 with shared song writing between the band and Tom.

In 2007 Tom has returned to performing and even making a new recording with his original backing group done over two weeks August 2007, Mudcrutch and this album release is the outcome.

The lead off single is Scare Easy which was issued in March 2008.

I bought the double lp version because unusually Tom has decided to make the lp have the widest difference between loud and soft sounds so while the overall volume may be low it ebbs and flows better which is more relaxing, something I approve of strongly. 

Those who follow the album charts can't helped to notice Tom Petty in 2014 topped it in the States with Hypnotic Eye that came on cd in late July that year but there was a a bit of delay while I got my copy because it is the 140 gram German lp pressing simply cos it sounds a bit better (and has more dynamics) than the cd version plus came with a free download code for 24bit (48K) High Definition lossless digital audio and regular slightly more compressed Mp3. 

Being the sort I am I downloaded the 24bit and downsampled myself a Mp3 from that using the Batch Format convertor in my cd copying program which sounded much better.
Favourites from this altogether really good comeback album are Burnt Out Town which with American Dream Plan B  and Power Drunk are good examples of Tom Petty drawing from current affairs to write spirited songs about the World we live in.

That album sadly proved to be his last new studio album as he died in 2017.

In 1994 Tom Petty released the album Wildflowers for Warner Brothers which was issued on cd, cassette and in very limited quantities on double vinyl.

That limited release now goes for huge amounts used when you do see a copy in the wild but when it was issued originally it was to contain another ten songs but Warner Bros records blocked that.

Since Tom's death in 2017 a number of projects have come out but that longer version of Wildflowers was something he had been working on before death and that came out in late October 2020.

There were a number of different lp and cd options so I opted for the triple lp containing the original double mastered by Chris Bell and those missing ten tracks which sounds superb on very quiet vinyl on this Dutch pressed edition. 

It happened that I spotted a special discount code which when entered brought the price to £26.56 which was quite cheap.

For many of of in the troubled year that was 2020 this was just the tonic we needed.

On 12 June 2021, timed for Record Store Day, a remixed and reimagined version of Tom Petty's songs written and featured in the 1996 film She's The One was released in Blue Vinyl ahead of the July 2nd mainstream cd version which arrived last week.

This puts the emphasize on it being more a Tom Petty album rather than the film soundtrack pushed upon him at the time and includes four previously unissued songs from the film.

Winding on to the next level

Preparations here are taking place for the addition of a new component to my Hifi system that was last replaced getting on for something like five years ago when the Sony home MiniDisc unit died and as some might know in the absence of new units being made finding a fully functioning reliable used unit remains hard going.

That's why in a sense we went backwards to tape.

Without getting super technical the cassette deck I bought has two heads, one to erase the tape and another that is used to record when you make a recording and for playback having made the recording.

Different tapes do need different settings to get the best of them but using such a deck regardless of quality does mean a few cycles of adjust while recording and playing back before you have it set 'right' which is fine if you were able to go to a store and buy the same tape in near enough identical batches in packs but given no new type II (Chrome) and IV (Metal) tapes are being made you have to pick up new old stock or used of whatever brand and batch you can.

That's where the Yamaha KX 500U comes in which while still being a two headed machine dos have manual only bias as the auto tape tuning systems last generation machines had can make mistakes. It has been extensively overhauled and recalibrated.

It does feature a real time time counter which is more useful for working out how much spare tape is left, a master fader to make fading in and out easier and unusually for cassette decks a remote control that duplicates the main transport and track search functions.

It also features that useful thing known as Play Trim which allows you to tweak the high frequencies before the noise reduction circuits work to improve reproduction on playback of older or tapes recorded on other machines.

I don't believe in using Dolby simply because while it indeed reduces hiss, it isn't anything like as transparent in practise as it should and often tapes recorded using it tend to play less well on a different machine.

A low noise tape recorded on a deck that can output clean high levels tends to work better with little hiss.

It is unlike the Technics I bought new in 1991 by common consent a deck for type IV metal tapes thanks to better heads and circuits but given even used these can be over fifteen pounds a piece to be frank I'm much less likely to use them when I paid around four pounds new in the 1990's from the local Boots the chemists.

A good type II or type I is really what suits this machine best which these days are easier to find without paying mouth watering amounts and people like RGM who make the new Fox type I tapes which are basically the same chemically speaking as a good BASF was can be easily adjust to provide excellent results.

The Midline Maxell tapes of the mid 80's for those who weren't around were well presented with black shells and silver in the case of the ferric UDI and gold with red stripes in the case of the chrome position UDII were not only good lookers but performed really well only bettered by the XLI and XLII which had a price premium.

When it came to the Type II's I preferred them to TDK's offerings for reliability and being hard wearing despite the heavy promotion in the hifi and musical press of TDKs offerings.

For me the best of the TDK range at the time were the AD and AR "super" ferrics that had lower noise than most  and could take a higher level before losing detail than many while being playable on anything from a portable walkman or car stereo upwards.

I have a copy of the original instruction manual from 1986 which does amongst other things such what they suggested the correct settings for many popular tapes of that era were.

Whit hols edition

It's been a pretty warm weekend following a a boiling week up here in Staffordshire where we've tried balancing keeping active and keeping cool.

I've been here every day playing in the park which tends to attract quite a bit of wildlife usually birds and insects so you can blend play with rest observing them.

The really brave can explore the tree canopies in the rear of the playground too which would give you a very different perspective on things!

I've been reading my comics and getting through the crunchies a neighbour who's adopted little boy me kindly bought me for the Bank Holiday apart from my white choco Magnum ice creams.

Roll on the hols I say!!!