The Rollers Singles Collection

I've been using that new Chromebook this week across the week working on my Tumblr of which is just over six years old which was marked.

Something else that is an anniversary is it's nearly a year to the day Alan Longmuir of the Bay City Rollers died and as you know it was one of few occasions I made a post about music here because, frankly it mattered as part of my boyhood past.

This is something I had for Christmas in 1975 as did many boys and girls particularly in with a copy of that years Blue Peter book and the fact I still have my copy with my childhood penned contributions says a lot about what being a BCR fan meant to me and how connected to that past I am.

Last Friday, Cherry Red Records almost by co-incidence issued a three cd set by the Bay City Rollers that sets itself outside of a good number of compilations and the cd issues of the first four British albums in 2004.

Entitled The Singles Collection, it collects in chronological order every British bay city rollers single (aka '45) issued from 1971's Keep On Dancing right though 1981's Life On The Radio and Set The Fashion from the Ricochet album recorded as 'The Rollers'  and featured in the Burning Rubber movie of the same year.

One of the things I like about it is it has the b sides of all the singles following the a (or main) side so for instance after listening to "Bye Bye Baby" you hear  "It's For You" which was the UK b side before moving to "Give a Little Love" so it's like playing all the original vinyl 45's the we did as kids.

Some of the earliest singles like Manana were hard to find even in the mid 1970's as they had been deleted but they are all here.

That's one from my original childhood 45 collection which I still have and I will say as a Rollermanic the American edition has added strings on it as did many of the tracks on the US "Bay City Rollers" album.

The set does put in American singles that were not issued in the UK  such as the re-recorded Saturday Night, a US #1 from 1976 and Yesterday's Heroes featuring the screams of Toronto's youthful BCR fans gathered at a CHUM 1050 promoted concert placed in order of release too.
The set includes a booklet with a write up about each single related to events in the life of the band and photos of the records and many world-wide picture sleeves.

The sound quality is very good not sounding compressed or muddy.

Thus it is a complete set that appeals to all of us fans whither like me you still have your childhood singles and albums or just looking for a set of the records you loved to remember Alan and the band by. It's available either direct from Cherry Red's website or Amazon.

This is for all of us who remember the era.

Reflections on Alan Longmuir and the Bay City Rollers

There's a bit of an unwritten rule on this blog which is to say it's not themed by things such as sport, anime or for that matter music even if they were a part of my boyhood or feature in someway in my more adult little boy/adult schoolboy present.

Part of this is to avoid week after week on entries around just one topic so the blog reflects more the whole but allows them to shine within that.

There is no getting around the fact the Bay City Rollers were a part of my boyhood even if having the level of interest in them was very much atypical of any boy of that era being something that I shared more with girls from late juniors into the first few years at high school where I did introduce this when I was asked to give a short introduction to my First Form class upon joining.

That introduction smoothed my integration into their number gaining me a good number of female friends  and critically of my best buddy Andy to whom you know I miss so much who also liked them AND was a boy.

We'd talk about them, sharing the weekly glossy fan magazines, annuals and gather around our tape recorders singing along to Remember, Give a Little Love and Love Me Like I Love You. 

We also watched Shang-a-Lang, the tv show featured them, other upcoming artist and had features on hobbies and interests, one being cars that interested me.

We all had our favourites within the group, Woody being mine, and like most of group we had tartan everything.

On Monday July 2nd It was announced at 6 AM Alan Longmuir, the bass player who left in early 1976, who is pictured in the middle died after three weeks of being ill following a visit to Mexico.

He joined to form a four original member reunion concert at Edinburgh Castle for Hogmanay 1999 and was due to perform with Les McKweon later this year.

Alan and the band were a important part of my boyhood, the backdrop to much that happened so this entry is a tribute to him and what he meant to me and my friends back then.