Meet The Beatles - last copy!

End of week, one more week left in the month and we are back with what might be the last part in the Beatles story where it began for the United States with what was the first issued album and unlike in the UK Stereo and mono copies were available immediately as the United States had a higher take up of stereo systems than the UK.

Pop records in the U.K. were generally the province of teenagers with shoe box mono portable record players.

It was common place to cut pop records with more an eye to avoiding any issues with cheap equipment with returns to shops and that tended to show with less "top" and limited bass and this was very much the case in the United States so cheap players wouldn't skip the groove.

As time went on, the records would be recut to higher standards but what was on your record was  often a matter of what "Stampers" somebody in the pressing plant "pulled" when more discs needed pressing.

By the late 1970's overall you'd stand a chance of getting an okay copy, okay compared with the U.K. With The Beatles but not that great.

That's where this, the last recut version comes in as by now fair more detail had made it so it was cleaner than any previous version just as the Beatles were to come to Compact Disc with titles from the UK catalogue

The front cover was based on the UK With The Beatles cover with a bluey tint becoming black towards the end with the title bodly showing at the top so it could be spotted easily in the shop record racks at a distance.

The rear cover was an attempt to explain by way of an essay who and where these "Beatles" came from and talks about their upcoming appearence on the must see Ed Sullivan popular entertainment show on CBS Tv.

I have had a number of copies over the decades, from a early 80's Purple label one to 2024's mono reissue but this is the 1986 edit that was only out for about 18 months at the most from the last new cutting.

The iconic "Rainbow Rim" label returned with the text newly typeset which was common feature of many 80's Capitol releases.

This copy sounds as good as can, featuring the the new single and it's U.K .and U.S. which for some of takes us more back to those times than the british With The Beatles album regardless of that albums technical superiority.

February round up

My right side is playing up so I'm strapped up and resting a bit, at least physically as there's some family stuff that's been on my mindover the last few weeks that's been hard to escape from.

That's nothing new, I mean there's always been stuff that shall we say seemed more intense that that of your mates from way back in the day with everything being played to the max.

I have been listening to a few cds the old transport took issue with apart from that 12" single compilation  from 1986 I wrote about on the other blog this week and I suspect that when part II comes out will be the cut off point as by then I was focused more on albums and especially building a cd collection having got s player then.

I have played a couple of the latest reissue classical lps in a series I have being buying - not blindly collecting in full - where the performances were one's I've always loved but where with them due to when I first got them I never had them on vinyl so having newly remixed from the original masters versions is great and to go with one I bough a few months ago I've tracked down a later recording with a different orchestra of otherworks that I only part of on a early cd to go with it as much as I'd love to see that reissued.

I enjoyed reading this months AdventureMaxPlus magazine

Respinning the Compact Discs II

Way back around November 2024 I wrote an entry around a series of changes to the hifi as it had changed radically in several years thinking that would be pretty much the end of that for a while but something happened.

Issues started to develop with the cd player, never one for playing recordable cds, around 40 to 60% of my super audio cds with hybrid regular cd layers just refused to be recognized and play spitting them out and those that did seemed to have audible errors on the first track.

Then to top the lot it was fussy about the slightest mark or finger print on regular cds, skipping tracks so it needed to go.

Pity.

I bought this SMSL half sized transport from someone unused as due to financial issues having just got it they needed to raise cash quick that had been on my list of potential upgrades in the future.

One aspect of it took me back to my first cd player a Toshiba  and that was it loads from the top with no slots or draw mechanisms with a magnetic puck you put on top or more accurately two, a larger one forming part of the lid.

It's a bit more basic on the display just track number and time information and if you wish to use the USB socket  but it spins very quickly on anything finding all the tracks accurately.

There are a choice of outputs, the newer I squared S, AES/EBU XLR, coaxial which my default and optical which the lead to the minidisc portable was put in.

It works really quite well once you relearn how to get the disc out using the recesses the grip the disc with the edges of your fingers having removed the puck.

I did reorganize the shelf to make it a bit neater and stack the mini size components in a more functionally related way while I was at it.

45 rpm attachment

 There are a good five boxes of singles around my bedroom that go back to the early 1970's and cutting off around 1992 of the old vinyl wrap lockable sort even if a good many have songs that are on lp albums or cds in my collection.

There are a few select ones from the 1960's that I picked up over time, some that were played with early compilations of hits often containing original mono mixes that are otherwise hard to find but generally they're the hits of a time I really loved.

In the earliest years you had to effectively lodge an appeal for someone, usually Mum to buy you one although my copy of Jeepster by T Rex I had for Xmas 1971 has been missing for a while surviving a couple of house moves but as time went buy I had pocket money that I saved towards things like that such as my stash of Bay City Rollers singles or were bought at things like birthdays like my copy of Elvis Costello's Oliver's Army.

You could say they reason they're still here is actually down to the memories attached to each one played as the earliest were three in rotation on a autochanger before you flipped the pile over for their b sides with friends to those like Charles and Eddie's Would I Lie To You that were played a side at a time on my hifi set up before I got around to picking up the cd of the album it was taken from.

Memories these days count for such a lot.

Thoughts before cornflakes

 

Normality of sorts resumed last week with Blue Peter resuming on Friday while I have also been also enjoying like a good many The Traitors, so popular there was even a series of cartoons across copies of the Beano referencing it quite openly but with the anarchic beano take you'd expect.

I avoid politics like the plague here (and on our forum) but I think all of us have been knocked for six to use a cricketing metaphor by how events involving the President of the United States and other Nato countries have turned out although though there appears - for now in this crazy world at least - a bit of a step back from the brink that was as bad as anything we went through during the Cold War.

I do wish to turn to matters that do directly affect all of us to address a topic that is causing some concern and that is around messaging be it emails or messaging on sites.

Please, Please, Please do wait for a response before shooting off volleys of messages even within minutes of each other because we need to firstly have to time to fully read them as everybody has lives beyond their computers and sites.

We may look after people, be dealing with episodes of ill health ourselves, need to do banking, shopping and possibly have a social life even so you just cannot expect us to be immediately available to look into things, responding fully straight off the bat.

It only leads to increasing frustration as you think you have worked out the answer only to find even more things in other emails or messages and so you have to start all over again.

Please consider fully what you wish to say - make a note even before typing - and put it in a single, ideally structured message and wait for us to respond.

Until next week, bye.

Less skating, more fun!

 

That it's been a cold, snow and ice covered week as I had struggled to get about on foot to the park or to ride buses to get me magazines and that so as a week it took in more comic reading and watching Youtube videos.

Over the last few weeks one Youtube channel has been posting a number of End of Year episodes of Blue Peter from the 1970's and 1980's some I only saw first time in black and white and others I might of forgotten over the years, bringing back memories and also to the void whilst the show in its modern form was taking a hiatus.

This afternoon it returns on CBBC with a Gladiators take over which in everyday terms means its an episode very much focused on and about that gameshow on BBC1 which is a big hit with children to the point of their being a Junior version too.

I have to say of newer programs, that is a favourite of mine together with Masked Singer when it comes to more general entertainment so it's something I'm looking forward to watching tonight.

Greetings from the Snow scene

 

Well we're expecting Storm Goretti here although whither for being somewhat lower than most of the city region we'll just see a light pasting of snow or sleet compared with the 30cm forecast for higher parts remains to be seen but we're stocked up here for the worst.

Yes readers I am in my short trousers and turn over long socks writing this but then the winters I lived through at school age were very much like these with just wellingtons on changing into proper sandles in school trugging to school on foot though snow although I read yesterday a real groan up meanie who took a shovel to a five year olds Snowman which naturally really upset him.

Just what is it with groan ups that cannot accept a bit of schoolchild fun like making things without having an urge to strike out?

Anyway it was caught on camera and with any luck he'll be shamed by the community for such a mean sprited act.

We're slowly catching up with delayed post and also working on the great classical downloads, restoring content and even upgrading a few recordings.