Reflections on the death of David Cassidy

It was announced to-day, the child actor and singer, David Cassidy died from complications following hospitalization late last weekend

He played the role of Keith Partridge  a teen boy of the touring headed by their Mother who was played by Shirley Jones in the must see tv series of the early 1970's that we all watched and talked about as juniors back then. Indeed I had to go visit friends as we weren't allowed at home to watch commercial tv in order to see the show on the pretext it was a play date.

The series was massive in North America and given its construct being but a few years on from The Monkees, the series gave birth to hit 45's and albums which are still adored by many of our generation as terrific pop songs.

David left the show pursuing a career in popular music having a good number of hit 45's and albums of which this, Daydreamer from the Dreams Are Nuthin' More Than Wishes album was a favourite of mine from 1973

Like a number of artists of this era following a change in music tastes he took time out before resuming in 1985 with the  Romance album  issued by Arista and resuming concert tours. It was sad he had to give up performing in 2014 due to dementia.

David was a part of our lives as kids back then the adorable boy next door who could sing and act whose life we followed in Jackie magazine and elsewhere.

Let's be glad for what he gave us and for the opportunities he was able to take advantage of furthering his craft.
Rest in peace, David.

Easter earworms

I've a little time to kill today so I thought I'd work on this weeks entry tonight instead of leaving it until later and I'll start of by thanking those of who read and remarked on last weeks entry.

One recurring theme from the last seven days has been how you can be transported back in time by such things as rewatching tv shows or  hearing and  maybe discussing such things as music as you recall people, places and events from that period that link in with your childhood. 

There's a phenomenon people call the 'Earworm' that enables to you recall the sounds and tunes when they are heard again even if it may of been decades since you last heard them. It may even be one reason people listen to and collect recordings from the past apart from the joy listening to music can bring.

I had a number of those moments this week listening to some downloads of albums I hadn't heard in eons like the Miami Vice tv album.

Then talking some more around the subject of schooldays and the notion of being a schoolgirl with a few people in a more personal way proved interesting for the similarities in what we get from it - being the child, the love of uniforms and structure, finding an inner peace and when we first realized we were different than our peers.

The observant will note its no coincidence the red sweatshirts shown are just like mine!

Of course this week something special usually happens involving Bunnies and for some crosses.

It's Easter which means lots of things from the deep religious side to the side that's often seen in stores this time of year.

The bunny should be dropping this off for me to nom at Easter!

The chilling little style of this Sissy Gurl

Well a few things I had planned to do are off so I might as well get today's blog done.

One of things I recall thinking about heaps was about everything that would happen after the last period of afternoon school finished. 

When I went to day school it was kind of easy in that you'd pair off with a few friends and call in at the neighbourhood store to select some sweets to share while you talked about the day and what you thought of Master x's lesson.

At boarding school we had it back in the dorm but because tea was early it was frowned on as it 'spoilt your tea' so you'd leave them for later or weekends.

I have always loved lollipops still walk around the curb licking them that speaks volumes about me I guess.

Actually I have a pinafore dress not a million miles like that of the girl on picture and used to read while sucking on a lollipop so perhaps one way to visualize me is think of that little at least in spirit if not in dress. 

Tammy will wear their dress from now on as a adult little and accepts his sissy gurl side.

The only thing that matters is having fun reading and sucking your lollipops.

Link:Lollipops

Amelia Jane

For most of this week I've been reading a mixture of Enid Blyton's Secrets series with the first two stories in their 1960's paperback editions as modern editions haven't so much edited as partially re-written the first chapters that are essential to understand why 4 children would runway in this period from their guardians.

Guilty secret time:

Okay, the eagle eyed will spot a modern no-no on the front cover of this, one of the original three story collections in the Amelia Jane stories.

Amelia is a home made ragdoll who lives in the toybox with the other twos of the children who own them with a teddy bear, sailor boy, wooden mouse and a clown as well as a 'golly' a black faced doll if you grew up in the 70's or before you may well have had in your toybox.

I have fond memories of my toy box I can assure you with dolls teddy bears and even a golly.

Amelia being home made hasn't been what we'd call socialized and so is gets very bored doing incredibly naughty damaging things, playing with matches, being very rude and spiteful, just like many young children, something that no doubt makes it very easy to identify with.

In some respects it's almost a moral tract showing action and consequence through the adult narration.

The other toys do with the help of the brownies (another no-no in modern editions) restore order. 

Amelia has to stand in the corner  and is smacked, just rather like I was at that age for doing pretty much the same things cos like any kid I was capable of 'naughty'.

'Golly' is a no-no too but anyone who has read these stories know he's a really sweet but strong character who will stand up for himself and isn't afraid to take the lead on bring Amelia back under control.

I guess the 'Golly' problem lies with parts of his depiction having prominent eyes and red lips being too close for some to 'blacked up' white actors who some see as promoting a negative stereotype of black people although Enid Blyton sure doesn't in her stories and in the UK at least 'Golly' or 'Gollywogg' was never frequently used as a racial insult.

Given that, shouldn't we judge a book by it's content and only take offence when a character is being portrayed in an offensive way?

Philadelphia International and me

Philadelphia International Records to give it  its full title has always been a part of my life ever since I just I turned 8 years old and as regular readers know I wrote an entry a good year or so back on the O'Jays on of this labels most famous acts.

If you haven't read it just click on the 'music' topic index and you'll find it in that search.
First of though earlier this year a special 4 cd box set was issued entitled "Philadelphia International Classics - the Tom Moulton remixes". 

Tom Moulton was a DJ who understood earlier than many the importance of the longer discotheque mix extending the 'groove' for dancing and sometimes simplifying the sound just for that audience by taking off special effects.

 He got involved with the label doing these remixes for the funk act Peoples Choice and the song "Do iI any Way you Wanna" from 1974 and in 1977 Philadelphia International issued a lp long deleted of some of his remixes of them and other artists.

This set has all those tracks plus some brand new remixes including that great early 80's song "Nights Over Egypt" by the Jones Girls done in the same style (no added echo, synthesized drums) extended and remixed from the session masters for really good quality.

If you love 12" remixes you'd love this set on England's Harmless  records (HURTXCD 112).

Another act I liked around this time was The Intruders who had several hits such as Cowboys to Girls, Love Is Like A Baseball Game, (win, place or show) She's A Winner and I'll Always Love My Mama and i had for a long time the cd version of 1973 "Super Hits" compilation of theirs.

I was able to find a copy of the 1996 "Cowboy to Girls-the best of" which has a lot more songs on it which was part of Sony's Blues & Soul legacy series which was really well mastered a lot more detailed compare to that older disc

Finally back to those O'Jay's.
Prior to them signing to this label they were signed to another - Neptune- and issued an lp called "In Philadelphia" back in 1969 which had been out of print for absolutely ages.
In truth this is mainly cover versions of popular songs of that era however it's the arrangements that clearly show what was to come on that classic album "Backstabbers" famous for "Love train" and "992 Arguments" that remain a gem.

It was briefly issued in 1994 in the states on cd but even that can be hard to find so, as resourceful as ever, I found a copy in Germany cheaply and pay for it to be shipped over, completing at long last my O'Jay's collection on cd.

Kiss

Work is afoot on the Kiss vinyl collection since it got trimmed in the late 80's and early 90's although I've always loved the band and have many of their albums on compact disc. The combination of the album art, sound and nostalgia of the moments when you got the new album and put it on your phonograph all point to a reason to tackle this part of my vinyl project this year.

The core left was:

Alive II -  US Original with the Evolution of Kiss booklet and thick gatefold cover featuring a stage shot.

Double Platinum - US Original in foil jacket and full inserts.

Dynasty - Italian LP

This was replaced by an US original with the poster, original inner sleeve and Kiss Army mechandising leaflet.

The original colour inner design.

Original mechandise leaflet and full colour poster with no pinholes or blu-tack marks.

Unmasked - Italian lp (no poster)

In 2014 the whole Kiss Catalogue was re-issued in remastered form on vinyl and I got a new copy of Unmasked. This included the poster!

Music from The Elder (UK) 

A concept album that introduced us to the late Eric Carr on drums and saw a new Fox make up scheme for him devised for concerts and promotional material and home to the singles I and A World Without Heroes.

Kiss Killers UK (stone mint)

Creatures Of The Night UK CANL 4.

Replacements for ether lost originals or cassette editions:

Dressed To Kill 1975 UK original with some wear to sleeve but Excellent condition vinyl with "Bogart" label

Destroyer US with Kiss Army inner sleeve

Although only VG+ graded apart from a few crackles through Beth this plays really well and sounds much better than any European lp issue I've ever heard.

Rock and Roll Over US copy has stickers and insert but is a bit noisy. 

Love Gun (no gun or merchandise leaflet) US copy.

My copy is a regular Casablanca pressing but for the Columbia Record Club which was a mail order discount club very popular at the time.

It has the same STERLING stamper as the regular shop sale version coming out the same press but has this stamp to denote ist is a "Club Issue".

For some reason the 1982 UK PolyGram re-issue and the first cd issue have a grainy sound with poor high frequency extension but the US original doesn't.

Such measures are common on "Club issues" to ensure discount copies were not being put in regular sales and also to make it easy for them to not be taken as part exchange.

My original copy was bought around March of 1983 although it was a good few years older being a sealed deleted stock item with a small corner triangular cut but sealed,

It has this original merchandising leaflet for Kiss Army products and membership included.

ln addition it had a comic style Love Gun you could push out the card insert, fold and produce your own that would make a loud Bang!

While it is frustrating not have a copy with everything your original did, many of these bits were lost y owners at the time being used as intended and so copies with them are a lot more expensive and in the end it is the music and the inner with the bands logo written on green marble that matters more.

The Bay City Rollers and I

Sometimes I talk about things that almost sum up an era for me and the period 1974 through 1977 has this one.

I had this craze for a pop group that was more than just a liking, it was a obsession at the time where I had to have, watch and generally speaking experience everything connected with them taking chunks of my time and dare I say it, my allowance.

It also had a certain social cache helping me make friends as we exchange gossip, played their records and worked on our scrapbooks together during the day and in the Dorm.

The Rollers at London Heathrow airport back in'75.

Talking about my love for their music was the ice breaker at my high school which was a boarding school

Now the thing is I've still got those records the very ones I had back then when I had my very first stereo phonograph that also had a built in AM radio to hear the pop shows featuring singles chart countdowns on Tuesdays and the new records played by the DJ's.

This is the massive selling cover of the Four Season's song Bye Bye Baby that was released on February 28 1975 and had a six week run at the #1 slot.

Although compared to my current stereo that phonograph was primitive and the record deck played the discs with a bit more playing force than you'd use today, those discs by the Bay City Rollers play extremely well which I suppose has something to do with the care I took of them back then.

I got today a new to me copy of original hit single from late 1973 called Saturday Night in a picture sleeve that was made in what was West Germany.

In North America a re-recorded version was issued in late 1975 and this became the no.1 hit  in the States in January 1976 this featured on later copies of the Dedication lp from 1976.

The version I got didn't have Leslie on Vocals which the version on the UK Rollin' and North American self titled album did but the original vocalist Nobby Clarke together with it's UK b side Hey! C.B.

Here's the cover:

Here's the 1976 and 1977 Annuals from the UK I had back then that needless to say got read from cover to cover hundreds of times including at school.

They had a TV show that started on Tuesday April 22nd 1975 called Shang-A-Lang that featured other artists and had a bit about looking after bikes and cars that I watched on our new colour telly straight after Junior school.

Another vivid recollection of that time was tuning in at 10 am on New Years Day 1976  to the The Bay City Rollers' 1976 New Year's Day Special which lasted for two hours.

Here Eric Faulkner, Les McKeown, Stuart 'Woody' Wood, Alan Longmuir, Derek Longmuir and their Manager, Tam Paton presented exclusively for Radio 1 their own show, including all their hits, their new LP Wouldn't You Like It which featured the 1975 summer smash Give A Little Love and their own choice of records, with David Hamilton in the chair.

I taped the show on cassette but that recording is no longer with me.

The April 1976 single that reach the #4 position, Love Me Like I Love You was a song we sang along to on the school bus on trips.

Black Explosion!

Finally this month I got around to remaking this mainly soul based Ronco compilation from my youth using digital sources. 

It is mainly a soul, funk and hint if reggae compilation issued in early 1974 with tracks from the late 1960's and 70's including Soulville by Aretha Franklin before she signed to Atlantic in 1968.

I originally owned this on eight track tape but got the record during a period I was without a tape player for it.

It originally run for 62 minutes which with 24 tracks on it meant apart from sounding somewhat thin each track had to be edited down quite drastically to get it all to fit!
My new version isn't as I just matched the average levels between each song up nicely and comes to about 79 minutes in total.

Scouting and me part 3

Here be the third themed instalment!

If you were a cub in the 1970's and 80's you most likely would of received an annual like this to go with your Blue Peter, Beano and Dandy ones full of stories and information about being a Cub that would inspire you to go further gaining your awards.

The many annuals and their differing presentations over the years designed to appeal to boys

Thing was and is I'm a gurl so not surprisingly this was more my thing as much as I liked boys in Cubs and saw the value that was to them.

These were the annuals I would of wanted back then.

For me I needed to be in Brownies being the feminine gurl I was back then as that was a much better fit genderwise for me and so really that's more what what I aspire to today.