Catching up on past things

 

Well a month has past although I had noticed something just that I will put aright in a few days time but meanwhile there are other things to be getting on with and one reason things have been a bit later than usual has been part of the gradual process of getting around to things put off over the years.

Specifically sorting out cupboards that Mum had last touched around early 2021,  getting a bit overgrown with old receipts, out of date medication, untouched tablet storage boxes and bits of dads stuff bought however no longer here so no not needed.

Then there was long running saga over surface areas for food preporation which was in part really down to dad using them for kitchen appliances like toasters and seperate ovens and in part to the habit of putting all the in use mugs across the limited remaining making putting food out difficult but having little inclination to tackling.

After a dramatic Sunday when that was involked as reason for breaking a plate, I just took the bull by the horns and sorted the cupboard  rehousing the mugs out of the way and for good measure a tablecloth that had seen better days got changed.

When Mum was alive but being unwell she was relectant to do tackle much and always reluctant given his issues, Dad's tendency to leave stuff strew about.

We'll see how this all goes.

Junior Beat: A new Badfinger album

 On what is likely to be quite a stormy day I'm playing a new record that's really not new as in freshly recorded but it's new out.

Late last year the iconic British band Badfinger was proud to unveil the forthcoming release of their long-lost album "Head First" scheduled for 2024 - exactly 50 years after it's original recording. 

1974 is one of those years I  seem perpectually stuck in to which music often takes me back to and this should of been their third album for Warner Bros after a fresh deal upon leaving Apple Records that itself was winding down.

This historic release features Peter Ham's final studio recordings and marks a significant milestone in the band's legacy, bringing forth an album that has been shrouded in mystery for decades. With hits such as "Come and Get It," "No Matter What," "Day After Day," and "Baby Blue," Badfinger has long been recognized as a formidable force in the power pop and classic rock genres of the 1970s. 

Originally recorded in 1974 at The Beatles' renowned Apple Recording Studio on Savile Row, London, "Head First" encapsulates a transformative era in Badfinger's storied career. 

The sessions for "Head First" took place during a tumultuous period for the band, marked by personal struggles and external challenges not least an explotative contract signed by a greedy manager, which ultimately led to the album being shelved and indeed was referenced in two of the featured songs.

For years, only a rough mix survived, with the master tapes thought to be lost. However, the recent rediscovery of the original multi-tracks has allowed for a meticulous mixing and mastering process, breathing new life into this long-hidden masterpiece. 

This release promises to provide fans with an authentic glimpse into the creative spirit of Badfinger during one of their most artistically rich periods and one I enjoyed playing from the moment it arrived earlier this week.

A change but for the better

 The week has gone backwards in a good number of ways not least with being returned to the pre internet era as major failures caused the telephone to go and the internet to evaporate in the ether.

It's been a different experience as routines moved from reading the news online, checking over things like Tumblr where you post and reblog things which for me are connected around being that eternal boy and our own site to one centred more around watching television, reading your comics, weather permiting playing outside that it wasn't at the weekend and that.

And in a funny way it was liberating to get up not grabbing ones chromebook to look at life but actually make it, live and experience it they way you did and maybe there is something in all this I would be best to learn from.

Get back to where you were back in the seventies.

Ten

The significance of Numbers.

Ten: The age in the year I remain in lots of ways

The number of sides of the singles I stacked up at the time on the autochange record player back then, across five discs of favour hits.

Ten tracks per side of many of our compilation lps on K Tel and Ronco.

Ten the number of lads who formed two sides for informal footy in the plaground and on the street.

Ten, the number of slots plastic cassette holders had we used to tape cartoon tunes and favourite songs.

Ten, today's date we have our internet changed. 

Thick I'll suck on my straw and finish this drink off.

New year and Radio

 

(Pix credits W-T-O/Ai @ UR forum)

We formally enter the New Year having at on Wednesday and watched the New Years Day concert from Vienna which is usually a very Strauss driven but fun affair that I always did from my earliest days.

Indeed I used to record it on reels of tape and when I had a Hifi VHS video recorder on that too in full blown stereo as at the time that machine was wired into my hifi for classical and pop commercial video replay apart from anything I recorded usually on TDK HS tape.

I'd of loved to have gone for a pleasant walk but it is raining cats and dogs here as I type having got a bot damp dealing with the rubbish earlier on.

(Pix credits: BBC)

It was announced on Tuesday, the BBC DJ Johnny Walker had died after leaving Radio 2 in October last year, aged 79.

Like many of that generation he came from the "Pirate" stations that challenged the BBC's lack of broadcast pop music especially hit records in the 60's with only the odd show broadcast and that lead to the founding of Radio 1 in 1967 and he joined that.

As a young boy he was one of the DJ's I listened to a lot although his passion for music was such he was known not to care for much of the music of the early to mid 1970's we liked and did get in trouble at times for refusing to follow the "playlist"which was mainly the chart hits where he'd sooner play album tracks and the like.

He came back the BBC in the 80's doing the Saturday afternoon show playing what we call today "classic rock" much of which was being issued on the Compact Disc that lead to resergence in interest of some of these artists before going on to present retrospective chart countdown shows of the short I do enjoy to hear as they bring back associated memories.

These days I mainly listen to Boom Radio but he is missed by many of us.