38 Special and Supertramp

Today on this return visit to this  series of post I am talking about a series of re-issues that upon hearing of them piqued my fancy.

A big thing with me was what tends to bracketed under the phrase 'Southern Rock' which pretty much got a hold of me in my mid teens and never really left and one band I had a fondness for was 38 Special formed in Jacksonville, Fl, by friends Don Barnes and Donnie Van Zant in 1974 around the time the Allman Blues Band were massive who released a good many albums.

Stylistic this form of rock has a high level of blues and country in the mix and whilst still performing with a different line up to day, the albums issued  from 1977 through 1988 are the ones I cherish, having vinyl copies bought very much at the time.

Now when I said there was no mention of any other formats so when I want to get my fill of such tracks as Chained Lightning, Rocking Into The Night, Travelin' Man, Caught Up In You and If I'd Been The One I'd need to put the record deck on or put the copy on cassette in a cassette tape walkman.

Thus when it was announced at the beginning of the year Universal Japan, the label that acquired A&M Records which these albums had been issued by they were being re-issued   I was interested in getting cd versions.

First of like many of Japan's limited editions, these are packed differently in that they are exact replicas of the original lps -'Mini Lp's' is the term that's used - so you get a card outer sleeve, an inner holding the cd and any inserts included.

The other thing is they use a special type of plastic 'sandwich' to make these cds from that allows the pits that hold the data to be more accurately pressed and also more reflective for less errors  than standard cds.

An example of that is with the Tour De Force album of the fall of 1983  with it's three singles where the cover shows the cover art in all its glory being taken around the video shoot of the lead of 45, If I'd Been The One that was played on Much Music and MTV that year.

The rear of the lp is reproduced as is with no attempt to remove reference to lp sides and as with all japanese issues, there's the folded paper OBI that tells people in Japan all about the disc.

1986's Strength In Numbers was issued on lp in a two sided die cut sleeve and in this cd re-issue, that has been reproduced which is good example of the attention to detail the  Japanese take on these issues.

Each disc is wrapped in a archive quality see through resealable pouch with a strict 6 month sales period.

A good number of these discs were freshly mastered from the original tapes and compare favourably with the original lp issues so personally I am very impressed with the series.In a week that's been rather warm, drinking a lot and trying to keep cool, in the cooler late afternoons I have been playing some classical music to help relax by.

Last week the demise of one specialty compact disc and lp label, Audio Fidelity was announced and as if by co-incidence a disc by one its competitors is here, delayed a little which isn't uncommon.

Perhaps unfairly seen as typifying a nineteen-seventies style over substance trend, Supertramp tended to do albums around concepts, house individuals of some professional musical merit as performers and attract producers who liked to make recordings that had an 'oh wow!' technical feel to them.

Probably the best known studio album is Crime Of The Century which as a lot of hifi worthy production points thanks to producer Ken Scott but another was nineteen seventy-nines Breakfast In America with it's clutch of singles such as 'The Logical Song', 'Goodbye Stranger' and the title track a kind of statement about complacency and corporate values in the States.

 One problem with the albums production is the recording equipment was not that good at capturing quick bursts of high frequencies and it tends to sound over bright on good quality equipment which has lead to a number of attempts to fix that and put the emphasize on  the vocals.

This issue by Illinois based  Mobile Fidelity on Super Audio cd that is also playable on regular cd has managed strike a good balence between keeping in detail and bring out the vocals. A job well tacked by mastering engineer Rob LoVerde who has really pulled it off.

As with all their issues on 5cm disc, this comes in a mini lp form with a gatefold featuring the full album art and inner for the disc which looks and feels great in the hand so I'm mightily pleased with this disc that joins my collection.

It also comes with a full colour insert in one of the two pockets which is a nice touch.

When it comes to compilations while not perfect, 1986's The Autobiography of Supertramp easily found used is the best sounding with a very wide dynamic range taking their recordings to 1985's Brother Where Are You Bound and the Cannonball single.

Taking a rest

This last week has been a bit different with not being here for a few days so in a  way it feels rather like I'm playing catch up right now like with dealing with unopened mail and the like apart from getting the washing done.

One great thing about where I live is even in more built up centre there are undeveloped patches of land that are a haven for wildlife which may be things like birds and small mammals but as here actually you can get to see horses grazing  where the fields are let to individuals although this very field was the one in 2005 where one horse decided to steal my camera bag using his teeth that had my then Minolta camera with lenses and run off with them.

I had to get the owner to go in there and retrieve it all covered in horse spit and clean it!
I have  been walking both when I was away and also here where it's gotten a bit cooler from the start of last week but I think we'll be back to t shirts and shorts with fairly soon as while very hot weather isn't my thing, being able to drop off the layers and taking in some sun as well as fresh air is something I do really like.
The cherry blossoms and blue bells are still out here.

Past memories and musings

This week I've been feeling pretty good overall and I remembered about the first pedigree cat  I had after the dog we had had before went a bit off and tried to turn on Mom in the kitchen with teeth gnashing.

Candy came as part of pair with her brother who was a good deal more active doing things like swiping the record deck arm on the stereo console unit we had with his paw or making a play for the goldfish in the days you could just buy or 'win' them as a kid.

She wasn't too keen on fussed being  typically aloof seal point Siamese but was pretty affectionate with you when she felt in the mood  and they came with us on vacations scratching  ones bare legs having chewed part of the wicker travel basket.

One thing I do want to talk a bit about is inaneness of unsolicited messages  not least as they come from places where actually the answers to most questions can be found because they have been answered in actual posts and usually come from not reading things like my profile which exist for that reason!

Some of those questions are connected with my regressed life not least spanking within it which tend to show the individuals clearly assume one has or wants a regular set spanking as either a bdsm or sexual thing.

The thing with me is there isn't a set number of times because it is discipline based as judged by whoever is in charge of me  at that point and if they themselves feel it is justified subject to my consent to being spanked in the first place. They may even feel an alternative may work better in that individual instance!

Even if they did, it will backed by more guidance because the aim is not just to spank me, but in the longer run transform those attitudes and behaviours which takes me to another area.

Some people like to feel they are 'Caregivers' because they enjoy dominance, controlling  as they spank you but actually although that is a tool, the main criteria is to care and love the individual supporting and guiding them to be the best they can in their everyday lives.

In other words the main defining criteria isn't dominance and control, it's loving guidance.

The same but different - being you

One reason I have to have a blog rather than a Tumblr is Tumblr doesn't just rightly clamp down on threats but also on anything that contradicts its right on "woke" culture even though it's supposed to be a social blogger tool for all regardless of views.

Being on there talking and sharing my childhood experiences helped me understand me and get to grips with who and what I was really about, having conversations with boys but because in part their opposition to anything that's not pro gender questioning and skewed towards modern feminism, they axed all my original accounts.

Well I'm post binary genders, having moved on from "I'ma boy cos I have his body" and now see myself more as Sissy Gurl because we got to really what I was about.

My sex is male and socially I am a mixture of feminine and masculine gendered traits so you might think it was okay to be gender affirming as a masculine boy but on there it wasn't at all.

That's the thing: While I respect the rights of others to be as they are because I share space with them doesn't mean I should have to accept attempts to cast me as things I am not just because I do have a feminine side too AND I have a male body.

My mixture of masculinity and feminine traits should be accepted within my own  Gender Identity, our natural boyish aggression rather than being denounced is best channelled in areas that benefit everyone and people should be appointed because of their ability not trying to mirror society demographics as good as having a mix can be.

Having dolls and liking soft cute underwear are just a part of the whole I am.

Likewise my interest in things usually associated with females such as kawaii and my like of wearing dresses and skirts apart from short trousers should be respected.

I also know I am so off the scale with my feminity I could never socially be a girl as I'd be less feminine and more effeminate to them while being just as much over the masculine limits too plus my submissive dainty side is so plainly sissy to them

I say just call me Sissy Gurl and get on with it as I'm so third gender we might as well be honest about it for once.

Spaces that have existed for male and females alone because they provide safe spots for free frank conversation should be respected  even if most things are co-ed.

There is merit in single sex youth movement units even if two of the opposite sex do share facilities and take part in exercises together because it helps develop each to their full potential learning from older members and leaders of their own gender not just skills but also how to be the best grown man and women they can.

They aren't the same but are complementary and both deserve respect as the sex that they are from the one they are not.

Vivaldi

It took a while for me to move away from the giants of Romantic era composers to Baroque and that whole area is one where the battle in performance techniques between modern instruments and conventions  from the Victorian period clash with the so-called Historically Informed  Performance techniques in vogue for the last 35 odd years is at its fiercest.

One name associated with it in Great Britain is Brecon Baroque, a ten piece ensemble of musicians who are lead  by the multi-award winning violinist Rachel Podger who specializes in baroque works.

One of the first works in this genre I encountered was Vivaldi's Four Seasons, a sequence of Opus 8 pieces three per suite connected at one point to reading of sonnets around the Four Seasons buying at the time Perlman's recording with the Israeli Symphony Orchestra on tape and eventually on cd Anne-Sophie Mutters recording with the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by the late Herbert von Karajan for EMI Angel.

Both of those were performed very much 'Modern' and in April this year this recording done in a period style with moderate tempo's (the tendency to play faster in H.I.P performances is a personal irritant) was released recorded in London's St Jude's church.

To me this recording does achieve something worthwhile, the stripping away of layers of cloying strings through the use of a smaller assemble  allowing the freshness of the composition to come through and is played well.

As well it has Il Grosso Mogul, Il Riposo and L'amorso added which adds value to this new recording where my 1984 cd has no extra material at all!

The English language title is The Trail of Inventiveness and Harmony which as you'd expect wasn't one Vivaldi himself give to this series of Opus 3 concertos but a catch all marketing thing  where Vivaldi really pushes the boundaries of what musicians can play through musical invention. 

There have been a few recordings  before but this is new to me and certain adds to ones appreciation of the 'red priests' contribution to classical music.

 This is another set of concertos he wrote, the Opus 4 that predate the famous Four Seasons and have been mainly ignored until recently that Rachel and the Brecon Baroque recorded in 2003. This was issued on regular cd and sacd, mine is the latter.

I love the flute having been bought up with schoolfriends who played woodwind and I did have I Musici's recordings from the late 1960's for Philips on cd being brought with them on tape but that was subject to some questionable sonic manipulation I found hard to listen to so I bought this 2011 release on Accent which is at least as good as playing and technically superior.

While I have a couple of other regular cd's of Vivaldi's music not least that Anne-Sophie Mutter recording of Four Season's that I enjoy hugely, this set of four Super Audio cds have added to my appreciation of Vivaldi's achievements.

Early 70's favourites

There's a post planned for next Wednesday which will be published even though by the time you see it I'll be on a train making my way back here.

Recently I had a couple of new discs arrive here - so new they've only been out for a week from announcement - and train comes into it for one act's title.

The Hues Corporation come into it as they were on Soul Train, the black music tv show a lot during the mid 70's during the soul and 'disco' explosion of the summer of 1974 when what was played and danced to in underground clubs broke out to clubs and as I remember vividly even the children's dances in seaside resorts.

As it was the fantastic 70's, that wasn't all, these recording were issued in Quadraphonic 'surround' sound on SQ record and Q8 tape for tape players like Dad's in car one and this disc comprises of their second album Rockin' Soul that contained their smash hit Rock The Boat the title track of which was released in  November 74 as a 45 and Love Corporation, the 1975 follow up that apart from having the title track issued on 45, also contained tracks such as Follow The Spirit that reminds one of the O'Jay's.

The first album contained Freedom For The Stallion written by Allen Toussiant issued in 1973 which I associate more with Edward Bear who covered it in Canada,to  which I have ordered the regular cd in mini lp form. That album had the original version of Rock The Boat that was reworked for the 45 and featured on their second album.

Some artists start out as session musicians, some move to it from being in groups and in Rick Derringer's case he was a McCoy who had a big hit with Hang On Sloopy and a part of the group the Strangeloves who performed I Want Candy but by the early 70's was doing session work for Edgar Winter Group, Todd Rundgren and Steely Dan amongst others.

This lead on the back of that to be given a chance to do solo recording for Columbia.

All American boy was his first successful rock offering from 1973 that had Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo  written by him originally for Johnny Winter and included on their album and it's 1975 follow up Spring Fever whose lead off single was a reworking of Hang On Sloopy is included as like the other these are 2 on 1 re-issues.

Rick managed to get some great session folk playing on these albums  a number associated with to become Eagle Joe Walsh formally of James Gang, who in style this was a slightly more poppier version of which sold well and which I had the 8 track of as a kid.

The chance to get this on Super Audio cd as fan of early 70's rock was too much to miss especially as it too has the stereo and original Quadraphonic mixes we loved back then on the  sacd layer.

For £11.99 each with two albums in stereo and Quad on them they're a bargain.