Now That's What I Call Music CD Part 4

The last time we visited the topic of the re-issue on cd of the early 'classic' now albums of the 80's was August 7th when we had Now 6 which was rather out of sync seasonally to when that originally came out.

We are now at the point in the series where some of the tracks did have a cd release in 1986 as by that point cd sales had picked up with heavy promotion, it was becoming possible to buy a separate cd player for about £200 or less and purchasers of all in one systems often had the option of getting a heavily discounted matching player so they could upgrade and add cd replay too.

The price of the discs themselves though was an issue to youngsters and casual pop fans so while fans bought releases by that years top acts on cd such as the Pet Shop Boys, Queen, Madonna and Genesis in big numbers, the kind of person who handed over £7.99 for that season's NOW or HITS compilation wouldn't of paid £22 for the cd version.

Now 7 was issued in the Summer of 1986 so some of that years early hits ended up on the HITS lp/tape around the spring and was strictly lp and tape only with the quirky last minute addition of Queen's A Kind of Magic that necessitated the hasty white hype sticker as this wasn't listed on the jacket.

This album originally had 33 tracks on it but when you look at the rear of the cd you'll soon spot there was only 30.

Now 7 does strangely omit three songs, On My Own by Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald and (Bang Zoom) Let's Go Go by The Real Roxanne with Hitman Howie Tee plus the unmissable Absolute Beginners by David Bowie from the film of the same name.

Just why that should be is anyone's guess as Absolutely Beginners made the millennium series NOW 1986 as well as Bowie's own Best of 1980-87 in 1998.

During that transitional period we were  fortunate that seven of the original 33 tracks did come out on the compilation cd NOW '86 issued November 1986 much advertised at the time in Q Magazine, What Cd and LM (anyone remember that five issue wonder???) with 8 from Now 8 which had a single 18 track cd issue.

The seven songs that are:

A Kind of Magic 4'23

Absolute Beginners 5'36

West End Girls 3'55

Lessons In Love 4'00

On My Own 4'41

Let's Go All The Way 3'57

I've emboldened two of missing tracks so if you own this early cd you need to hang on to (or for some of you buy) this cd which charted at #65 as a cd only release to put a couple of omissions right.

As well they used the album version of Nu Shooz's I Can't Wait rather than the common single version normally used and there appears little reason to use an edit of Billy Ocean's When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going which they did.

While it is good a cd version exists, the three missing tracks and some version issues does take the shine of it

By November of 1986, it was plain cd was here to stay so the Now team issued the NOW '86 round up of hits but because of concerns around the price point only compiled a single cd version of NOW 8 with just 17 tracks with some of the others on NOW '86. 

The Autumn and early Winter had a wide variety of charting singles and some worthy entries fell off the cd wagon so having a cd version of an album where 25 of the 32 tracks had a cd issue at the time is a must.

The Wizard is a track missed for being the "new" Top of the Pops theme of the mid to late 80's and was part of the original Now 8 on record and tape versions now reinstated as was Big Country's One Great Thing from their album The Seer.

On this version there are a few differences in the versions but compared to previous issues in this series more attempt has been made to get it something like right,

The following songs differ from the original 1986 double LP:

Genesis – In Too Deep (Album version used instead of 7″ mix which was on Now 8 LP and CD)

Grace Jones – I’m Not Perfect (But I’m Perfect For You) (Album version used instead of 7″ mix which was on Now 8 LP and CD)

Janet Jackson – What Have You Done For Me Lately? (LP Edit from Design Of Decade used instead of 7″ mix which was on Now 8 LP)

Peter Gabriel & Kate Bush – Don’t Give Up (The version included here is 5:57 which is shorter than both the LP and 12″ mixes but longer than the 5:41 7″ mix that was on Now 8 LP and CD).

On the whole I would say this was one of the best of the series and we'll see how NOW 9 turns out.

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.

Classical music volume 2

The last time I mentioned classical music on here was last year where I mentioned some of disc I'd bought and some I'd replaced.

Since then I've been working slowly on my collection which goes back to the early days of the compact disc after a childhood of vinyl and cassettes both looking at replacements as well as new recordings to me. 

An instrument I do like is the is the horn and I picked up a recording from 2007 by the trumpet player Tine Thing Helseth with the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra  that has various works on it on Simax PSC 1292.

It features Haydn's trumpet concerto (see below), Albinoni's  plus two by Johann Baptist Georg Neruda and Johann Nepomuk Hummel and is a super audio cd thatr plays on regular players like mine.

We'll start with Handel where having last year replaced one cd of the Water Music I was looking at replacing a single cd with one of his Opus 3 and three  of his Opus 6 Grand Concertos on Naxos I bought in 1989. The recording quality was good the players very good but somehow the conductor doesn't really bring the compositions to life.

I recently bought the recordings made in 1964 and 1968 by the Academy of St Martins in the Field who play with modern instruments (I don't like 'original' as a rule) conducted by Sir Neville Marriner that have the complete set of compositions on three cds.

Originally made for Argo the sound is very well balanced and these a lovely performances well worth the modest price of this set in the Decca Originals series (475 867-2)

Haydn is a near contemporary who was under represented in my collection with a cd of cello Concertos and one of series of discs put out by the HMV stores in the early 1990's with his 94th Symphony and the Trumpet Concerto.

I had the 94th Symphony recorded by the English Chamber Orchestra with Jeffery Tate conducting but didn't get the whole set originally issues as separate full price cds between 1987 and 1992.

This was different to the his Mozart series I did get at the time and wrote about in 2005 and having looked at the merits of buying the originals used or a new repackage decided on the latter as they are straight reissues from the original digital masters.

I bought the 2008 re issues on Classics for pleasure as a set of two double cds at 'bargain price' of the London symphonies so-called cos he wrote them while performing in England as I liked the version of the 94th I had (Classics for pleasure 5 21855 -2  &  2 28369 -2).

While in the mood I added a set of his String Quartets part of  series by DG where older discs are packed in a small box with notes at 'bargain price' performed by the Amadeus Quartet that I used to borrow a lot from the local library but never got around to owning (DG 477514-2) so knew I'd like these performances.

Schubert's symphonies were something I grew up with and I had a series of recordings on cd conducted by Michael Halasz with 5 &8 by the Slovak Phiharmonic and the others by the Failini from Hungary from the mid 1990's. The 9th by the Failini just failed to bring much of the character out of it being a disappointment and the 5 &8 could of been better. 

I could of just replaced the 9th but looking into to it it would of cost almost as much as buying a replacement set and as I wasn't too happy with the 5&8th  I bought the older Berlin Philharmonic performances conducted by Karl Boehm whose work I loved for just under a tenner used.

Having listened to the set I feel he finds that much more detail in the score it's much more sorted overall.(DG 471 307-2 4 cds)

Lacking a set of his String Quartets on cd I added the Melos set from the 60's and 70's whose playing is gorgeous on DG (463 151-2 6 cds) and I was able to get for about £15 new.

Debussy is the kind of French music I like very much inspired by the Impressionists and I had picked up the HMV store compilation in 1992.
That contained some recordings by the French National Radio Orchestra (O.R.T.F.) conducted by Jean Martinon from 1974/5 I liked.

It happened that in EMI's Gemini series there are two double cd sets entitled "Orchestral Works -1/ and -2" of all their recordings which could be had for a darn cheap 4.93 each care of Amazon taking in La Mer, Prelude á l'aprés-midi d'un faune, the Petite suite, Children's corner (with the irresistible Golliwogs cakewalk) plus less performed works ,. with each disc containing over 70 minutes worth of music something a of a bargain I thought.

The OJays

The reason why this entry happens to here is because it was the story of the OJays and specifically their recordings in my own music library predates my main blog.

The OJays have a long history but it wasn't until Gambol and Huff produces take them into their Philadelphia International label in the early 1970's that they broke big and it was around that era that I first got to hear of them.

Strangely enough once source of hearing them was the journey to school as one of the drivers who took me always had their stuff plus a shedfull of other acts on that label playing out of his car stereo.

Several things hit you of which the first was the production being sparse allowing the musicianship to rise and the vocals to come through clearly.

The second was the arrangements with a strong jazz influence and finally them words - the OJays famously had had 'a message in our music' talking about the state of society - family breakdown, integrity, backstabbers, racism, the importance of love and so on in what in other respects was a cynical no future era. 

In the OJay's world you could rise above what maybe holding you down.

They were played also on the radio in the metropolitan area nearby.

I was late into getting anything buy the OJays on compact disc and the first title I did get was "Collectors Items" originally released on lp in 1977 which is a collection of special mixes of their earlier songs. 

Shortly afterwards in the States a number of their early albums got issued by Sony legacy but these were very hard to find and in fact I've only just completed my set with the Backstabbers, Ship Ahoy and Survival studio albums plus the Live In London album issued in 1974.

In late 1998 it was announced that WestSide were to re-issue all their post 1976 albums in the UK the following year and in that period I bought each issue as soon as it came out.

They came in the form of either 2 albums on a single cd or three on 2 cds with one album kind of split between the discs which wasn't ideal but they had very good notes about what was happening with the band, all the singles issued with their 'b' sides and so on.

There were all re-released by Edsel in 2004 in the much better 2 album on one cd format.