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Rediscovering old vinyl from your miss spent youth

Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2021 1:06 pm
by Grumpytim
As mentioned elsewhere, during lockdown#2 I've been recording the majority of my old records to 96khz/24bit files. It's been an interesting process as it gives you an ear into the recording mores of different periods, genres and styles.

Re discoveries so far for me have been

Psychedelic Furs - a gruesomely underrated band, I'll be having a look at what they did after the first 3 LP's that I have. My only problem with these is that the production feels very compressed, so CD's may be investigated.

Tom Robinson Band - not punk by any stretch of the imagination, but a damn fine band with lyrics that (regrettably) are just as relevant today as they were in the late 70's.

Glaxo Babies - they fall somewhere between Gang of Four and the Pop Group, nice sound, but unfortunately while there's nothing wrong with Put My Name on the Guest List, it doesn't quite catch fire.

Simple Minds I have everything up to New Gold Dream and they're all pretty well recorded, Empires & Dance is still my favourite, but the rest are all very good, even New Gold Dream which straddles the start of their regrettable morphing into U2#2.

Led Zep 2, I actually prefer the vinyl to the CD version, it has much more space.

Lords Of The New Church - a punk goth supergroup if that's not a contradiction in terms. The first two LP's aren't bad but they are both let down by either a really weedy production, or thin vinyl. Shame really as they were quite good live.

Fast Product - a compilation by the label of the early singles by Gang of Four, a couple from the Mekons, the Scars, 2.3 and an early incarnation of the Human League. I took the liberty of adding the Gang of Fours Tourist, and the Mekons Where Were You 45's just to pad it out a tad. While we all know and love the Gang of Four, for me the Mekons really should have been so much bigger. Pretty much the same politics, just not quite so po faced with it. I really must get hold of a copy of the Quality of Mercy at some stage.

Bob Dylan At Budokan, I have this on CD and vinyl. It clearly was a very good concert, but you'd be hard pressed to tell this from the production of both the Cd and the vinyl. Thin is the only way I can describe it which is a shame given how good some of the bootleg series sound.

It's weird just how varied the production was in those years, some absolute corkers, and some where it feels like every bit of life has been squeezed out of the band.

There are others, but these are what I've listened too so far.

Re: Rediscovering old vinyl from your miss spent youth

Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2021 7:07 pm
by Daniel Quinn
In my youth I listened to cd's of genesis

Re: Rediscovering old vinyl from your miss spent youth

Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2021 8:57 pm
by NSNO2021
TRB were true pioneers, I can't recall any other group whose songs openly championed gay rights as early as TRB. I saw them on their first UK tour at the Liverpool Empire where all hell let lose when someone deliberately brought the curtain down early preventing them doing an encore. My friends and I were bemused, the large gay contingent literally rioted ripping chairs up and hurling them on to the stage. Cue the boys in blue, cue fighting and more mayhem. As a teenagers we watched in awe as riot got into full swing. More police with dogs eventually restored order and emptied the place. The NME report on the gig had the memorable headline TRB = Two Rows Broken as fans riot. 😁👍

Re: Rediscovering old vinyl from your miss spent youth

Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2021 9:15 pm
by CN211276
It was a bit more peaceful when I saw them in 1978 supported by Stiff Little Fingers. Saw them for a second time in 2017 playing all old songs.

Re: Rediscovering old vinyl from your miss spent youth

Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2021 10:46 pm
by NSNO2021
It's good to see Tom still doing his thing on 6 radio, I have a lot of respect for him. Btw I have just read as a result of the riot over 40 years ago Tom is permanently banned from the Empire (their loss). So on his postponed 70th birthday tour he is playing the Liverpool Philharmonic which is much better venue.

Re: Rediscovering old vinyl from your miss spent youth

Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2021 11:01 pm
by NSNO2021
CN211276 wrote: Mon Apr 05, 2021 9:15 pm It was a bit more peaceful when I saw them in 1978 supported by Stiff Little Fingers. Saw them for a second time in 2017 playing all old songs.
Stiff Little Fingers were very good, proper group with good musicians 👍

Re: Rediscovering old vinyl from your miss spent youth

Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2021 11:16 pm
by CN211276
nilsatisnisioptimum wrote: Mon Apr 05, 2021 11:01 pm
CN211276 wrote: Mon Apr 05, 2021 9:15 pm It was a bit more peaceful when I saw them in 1978 supported by Stiff Little Fingers. Saw them for a second time in 2017 playing all old songs.
Stiff Little Fingers were very good, proper group with good musicians 👍
SLF stiil tour regulary. Saw them around twelve years ago.

Re: Rediscovering old vinyl from your miss spent youth

Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2021 5:10 am
by antonio66
Daniel Quinn wrote: Mon Apr 05, 2021 7:07 pm In my youth I listened to cd's of genesis
Made me smile anyway DQ. :grin:

Re: Rediscovering old vinyl from your miss spent youth

Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2021 9:29 am
by Grumpytim
Daniel Quinn wrote: Mon Apr 05, 2021 7:07 pm In my youth I listened to cd's of genesis
On that note Selling England By The Pound is my Genesis LP, and like a lot of 70's Lp's it seems to have a very thin production which is a shame as it's a good LP.

Somewhere along the way it seems that I've lost a couple (at least) of LP's, one by the Ramones and one by Genesis. I can only assume that at some point Then There Were Three took A Rocket To Russia, which is a shame as I have fond memories of both. It'll probably get me lynched by the Gabriel faithful, but I recall that preferred Then There Were Three to Selling England by The Pound. Anyway I'll have to get a CD version at some point.

In terms of Gabriel I have 1 & 3 on vinyl. 3 would probably feature if not in my top ten favourite LP's it definitely would sit in the top 20. Unlike the Genesis LP, both of these still sound good on vinyl. If anything I prefer the vinyl version of 3 and the CD of 1.

Scarily it seems that my wife has more Marrilion than I have of Genesis/Gabriel combined..

Re: Rediscovering old vinyl from your miss spent youth

Posted: Thu Apr 08, 2021 10:17 am
by Grumpytim
Today's blast from the pasts are

Bauhaus - Press The Eject and Give Me The Tape. I didn't really expect much from this, for some reason I seemed to recall that this wasn't a 'good' recording. Well I was wrong, this is actually quite good fun. The other LP's will have to be revisited shortly.

Crass - Feeding of the 5,000. This is almost exactly as I remembered it, 'A' Level sociology/economics lyrics delivered with the passion, anger, certainty and conviction that only youth can have (were we ever really that young?). Joking aside all of this does not sound trite or dated many years later. The thing that really shines through is just how lost they would have been without Penny Rimbaud holding it all together. I did wonder about this and Christ The Album, but it turns out to have been a good decision to revisit them.

Sex Gang Children - Song & Legend + Live. Hmm I seem to have taken a Goth detour at some point in the 80's which is odd as I don't really remember it. Testimony to better living through chemistry perhaps? Comparing this to Bauhaus does not go well. Bauhaus come across as measured and whilst there's a lot of energy, it never seems rushed. Live however reminds me of the Jazzaholics from Jeeves and Wooster who judged a performance not by it's virtuosity, but by who finished the song first. There are times when that's what this LP sounds like. Maybe they should have jumped genres and started speed metal? It's a shame really as on Song & Legend they showed some promise, Mauritia Mayer is a particularly good song,

May have to dig out the 45's and see what's hiding in there..