Rediscovering old vinyl from your miss spent youth
Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2021 1:06 pm
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 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.