Tumblring Adventures

By the time you have read this I will be off and away for a few days which is after the last sixteen or so months a pretty novel thing to be the point of doing even if just doing it seems unsettling in some ways as much as you in others might be looking forward to just doing that.

Dealing with tumblr pasts and presents is something I'm obliged to do and we are working on a new project to take back a tumblr before a host of issues around how I saw me set in rather like I did with one music site a while back.

The odds are good as generally even if peoples accounts may remain over five years it is rare they are in any way active and social media unlike old school forums  to be things where peoples stars burn bright for a while before burning out and leaving.

I know with it the dash was running low last year as people left or removed accounts, sometimes because they switched groups with their own "truths" and "rules" and in the mess before all of that really it needed reworking anyway as sources were not good as the current standard for tumblrs of it's kind are.

There won't be a fanfare  when I feel it's done but it's taking effect now and more recent posts are bringing in the kind of interaction I really want from it.

I am going forward on my own terms.

Getting set to go away

It's been rather warm this weekend with temperatures getting up to thirty degrees Celsius which has made it to get into doing very much to be honest. 

People who do follow my Tumblrs know one thing I am very partial too is plushies and this one has been in the collection now for a good while and is often seen whenever people come visit me.

Oswald joined the menagerie by way of  being a gift that came from Northwich, Cheshire and flow down from the fireplace for his picture to be taken.

From time to time I do move them around or occasionally donate the odd one if I'm feeling I've had as much enjoyment as I can from that one, replacing with another.

I'm likely to be busy towards the end of the week I will be away next Monday so while there will be a blog issue coming out, I won't be around the usual sites posting links as a bit of being away is about digital detoxing apart from the rough internet where I'll be.

Ric Ocasek and The Cars

This week I am looking at a series of cds, mainly with an eye to the best quality comprising of the output of the influential Boston New Wave group The Cars whose music I've had on most formats since the late 1970's and that of their lead singer Ric Ocasek.

Ric Ocasek cds

Beatitude was his first solo album after forming The Cars and was originally issued on lp and tape in 1982 and my copy was the US lp.

On January 30th 2020, the new cd issuing and remastering concern RubellanRemasters reissued this on cd to a most impressive standard where the track "Prove" is a unique version, lasting about 37 seconds longer than the original album version and using the "Long Version" from the Beatitude tape of Connect Up To Me"  apart from featuring the single version of Jimmy Jimmy  and three other mix variants.

Ric's This Side of Paradise was issued in 1986 featuring True To You and Emotion In Motion which was featured on the BBC Tv show Entertainment USA that year presented by Jonathan King which I originally owned on cassette and then record. I currently have the original West German cd.

The Cars - 2016 sacd

 

This originally came out in 1978 being recorded in England where the singles My Best Friends Girl and Just What I Needed were quite popular even coming in picture discs and I originally owned this on lp.

This new copy by Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs of Chicago,Ill., on super audio cd playable on regular players too, has brought out more fine detail hidden in the original recordings without sounding overly bright.

This like most recent Mfsl cds is packaged in mini lp form replicating the feel of a vinyl album with the disc in a soft cloth inner.

Candy-O - Gold regular cd 2011

It had been a long time in the making near enough 22 months since I ordered this cd when it's release was announced in 2009 but on September 13th 2011 it finally came out on gold mini lp style cd and 180 gram vinyl.  

I first remember buying this in 1979 being mightily impressed with the debut album released June 1978 and it's clutch of singles that charted well in the UK.

 

The lead off single on this album was Let's Go a perky little 'new wave' number with It's all I Can Do being the second going from memory. 

In case any doesn't know the model in the body stocking featured on the car cover is Candy Moore. 

This new issue to me has judged the sound of the percussion about right as one of the signature sounds of producer Roy Thomas Baker's work is the forward highly miked drum sound that is hard to pull off without sounding harsh .

Heatbeat City July 2016 MFSL 2016 SACD (Playable on regular cd players too)

This was in many respects the last good Cars album and a staple of FM radio featuring the smash 45's Drive, You Might Think and Magic. It certainly wasn't off my tape player having back the original on chromedioxide tape - that happened to sound rather good back then but both it and the original cd always sounded a bit bright which took away the edge from Ric Ocasek's vocals. 

 This one arrived August 19th 2016 and the main improvements are the slight rasp in the vocals is present without the very bright splashy symbols of the original but has a really warm midband projecting the vocals clearly as if you were in the studio booth hearing the session.

In that way it's more truthful to the original lp but really builds what was captured on the mastertape.
I prefer this sacd for the sound and love the mini lp presentation.

The Cars Greatest Hits - DCC CD GZS 1123 1996

In the early 2010's  I was able to get this CD also re-mastered by Steve Hoffman with a 19.99% reduction at a price I could just about afford as it's been out of print for just over a decade

This also uses the "original mastertapes" and is quite useful having all the top 40 45's from the first five albums on as no speciality company has tackled Panorama.
It does sound really good although I should note Steve used the album versions of I'm Not The Only One - a 1986 '45 and Heartbeat City rather than the remixes done by Elektra - the bands label - for the original Greatest Hits lp/cd.

Panorama - US Elektra 1999 HDCD

A real step up from my regular German cd and the home of the single Touch and Go, Misfit Kid and You Wear These Eyes.

I also got the Joe Gastwirt HDCD U.S. only re-master of the bands 1980 Panorama album which in Europe remains in a murky sounding version with very little top response. This had to be imported.

While in every respect the finest version of this album remains the US original lp, the re-master is a considerable improvement obviously sourced from a good quality tape for anyone needing a cd.

The only negative is it is slightly bright on my stereo - with tone controls you need to turn the treble back to about 11 o'clock.

Shake It Up - Gold regular cd 2009

In November of 2009 Mofi issued this remastered version of the bands fifth album Shake It Up in  gold plated UDII form with a mini lp style package which is the home of Victim Of Love, I'm Not The One, Since You're Gone and the title track.

Remastered by Rob LoVerde this is the best CD I've ever heard of this title and although it's a limited edition it is highly recommended.
CD catalogue number UDCD788

Door To Door - original West German cd 1987

Door To Door released August 11, 1987  was their last album until 2011's Move To This and this had the hit single You Are The Girl but was disappointing compared with with Ric Ocasek's This side of Paradise album of the previous year.

I bought this upon release straight on cd.

I have the cars five studio albums on lps mainly bought from new between  1979 through 85 too which have their own sound and gain from their bigger size when it comes to looking at the artwork..

Now Yearbook 1983

We've had some odd weather this weekend so I've been raiding the music library and listening to things.

I do have some compilations and the main series I collected was the Now That's What I Call Music series that provided a snapshot of a point in the pop charts when it was released starting with the first issue from 1983 which I bought on record and I continued buying them to Now 20 in late 1991 as my tastes and that of the singles charts they covered drifted apart.

One thing to say about that series is firstly it only started in 1983 and because of licensing and later on competing series such as HITS they didn't capture all the main hits which was remedied in part with the yearly  Millennium series from 1999 and the later series.

This is a special 4 cd music yearbook brought out by the Now people in June 2021, limited too, that mixes 80 hits over the four cds with text about the year in music and a regular track listing shaped more like a book for the year 1983.

There are just a couple of what I consider to be essential tracks missing such as David Bowie's Let's Dance produced by Nile Rodgers of Chic probably because his estate doesn't allow tracks to be issued on various artists compilations although when he was alive it appeared on Now 1 and Yazoo's Nobody's Diary, the duo's last hit before Alison Moyet established a solo career.

This said it does gather up the big hits of that year including those belonging to acts on what was CBS plus Warner Bros with such gems as Double Dutch, Don't Talk To Me About Love and Big Log outside the usual suspects of what was an amazing year for pop, the year UK acts broke into the US charts big time after the initial British Invasion of the mid 60's.

The discs are stored in pouches and are best put into Mylar sleeves such as those you get for Japanese mini lps as otherwise they may get grazed over time which is not uncommon with this sort of packaging but if 1983 was a big year in your life as it was to me, then this is a great nostalgia pack guaranteed to take you back to that time.

There also is a three red coloured lp version too but as I have my original Now 1 & 2 and Hits lps I don't really need it although it's neat for anyone else.

They decided to issue a second special edition with another sixty songs from 1983 across three discs which took in such hits as Manic from the Flashdance soundtrack that I wore the chrome tape out of and Snot Rap as featured on the Kenny Everett show on BBC1.