Interests and Influences

 

Anime and manga drawing styles do influence me beyong just reading NEO magazine for upcoming shows and J Pop infomation.

Maico is Japan's newest radio DJ. When she is not working she must stave off assassins, crazed fans and a couple of office workers as well. She believes she was created just to be the perfect DJ. 

Maico's name stands for Multi-Artificial Intelligence Computer because she is 100% android, not a robot as the director always refers to her as. One would think that an android used for a radio show would look boxy or metallic, but Maico is certainly not robotic looking, in fact, she looks like a normal, pink-haired girl. 

When I was living in the Greater London Area, I used to travel out a lot across and just beyond the City and on one Saturday morning in the spring I was in the Covent Garden area, a favourite part of central London of mine where I came by this:

Aww she's cute, very fluffy and and a hand puppet being made by hand and I just had to have her, walking across the area clutching her tightly afterward. This was well before I had any idea of what being a little even was!!!

Well I used to take her to work - as this is the internet and a public site I won't say where - but the job was super important for children's welfare over here and every lunch time I'd put on an impromptu puppet show. 

We called it Peaches the Panda show and it was ever so funny. At all other times she was on my desk and I'd start playing with her as people drifted about the office.

Shortly afterward I got another fluffy thing but this was more a Plushie I named Spikey cos he's an Hedgehog.

I found them a few days ago as I was sorting out my closet so I give them a bit of clean and fluffing up and their back out on display.

The Second Time Around

And it is in more ways than one!

The soul music group Shalamar formed in 1976 from three dancers who appeared on the US black music show Soul Train were a passion of mine in the late 70's, early 80's being one of the acts that were the link between the seventies Soul (think Ojays' and solo Smokey Robinson) and the Funk that became prevailed as the main genre of black music in the 80's.

Sufficient I feel to say I bought the 45's usually as imports cos they were cheaper and many of their albums that were very satisfying in themselves having ballads as well as uptempo stompers you can dance to.

Of the albums of these that held and still hold great interest for me they are Big Fun issued fall 1979, Three For Love issued January 1981, Friends Early summer '82 and The Look issued May of 1983 and the last album by the classic original line of Jody Watley, Howard Hewitt and Jeffrey Daniels.

Jeffery pioneered the 'Moonwalk' first shown on BBC UK tv's Top Of The Pops in 1982 and was begged by Michael Jackson no less for the secret of them moves!

The records remain in my collection but like many acts it took a while before anything outside of a compilation got issued in the cd era.

That takes us back to the title of this post because in so far as the UK was concerned for a brief point Friends and The Look were issued around 1983/4 when the label was being handled by Warner (WEA) as straight cd issues - no bonus tracks - but had been out of print for a long while. These issues commend a very high price on the collectors market.

In 1996 Sequel Records part of the big re-issue group Castle Copyrights issued all four of these albums on cd, with Big Fun and Three For Love being issued for the very first time with bonus tracks.

It wasn't long however before this set of re-issues themselves were deleted and following the formation of Sanctuary Records from Castle Copyrights and the issuing of new compilations including the nice various artists Soul Classic Soul and Solar Classic Disco two cd sets in late 1999, attention again was placed on revitalizing the Shalamar catalogue.

In 2002 the entire Shalamar album catalogue was re-issued from 1977's Uptown Festival to 1990's Wake Up with new liner notes featuring interviews with Jeffery and Howard and lots of chart related facts.

It was and is a great idea but this set of issues have some flaws for the serious fan.
The first thing is like many contemporary albums an attempt was made to make everything sound loud so the quiet ballad You Can Count On Me has the same average level as a track like Dead Giveaway on the 2002 The Look cd which it never did on vinyl.

They also seem to attempted to remove any hiss and pops from the original tapes - I'm not sure these tapes are the actual 'master tapes' so much as copies of - and this has left the high notes sounding brittle and liking any sense of space around instruments or vocals.

You can hear a filter on the high notes on the intro of You Can Count On Me being lifted electronically on the louder passages which is distracting.

On the 2 albums on one cd issue of Big Fun and Three for Love I was taken aback to see they had shortened several tracks for 12 seconds or sometimes longer compared with the 1996 cd and original vinyl albums and used much shorter edits of Right In The Socket and Full Of Fire with the first song losing over two minutes!

To give you an idea how this impacts on it if you took the two albums minus any bonus tracks, the 1996 issues would run for 80:56 minutes and the 2002 a mere 74:50.

Nowhere in the notes of the 2002 cd does it mention this just proudly informing you of the bonus of The Second Time Around (edit) which was the 45 version (the lp version runs for 7:06) which how they got it all onto one cd!!! In so far as the first two albums go there are more bonus tracks - the edited singles versions - on the 1996 versions too.


Now my original 1996 Three For Love cd got lost in a move several years back and so I ordered up a complete set of the four 1996 cds used and was taken aback by the differences.
Now for The Second Time Around, I'm reunited with the cds that sound really like the vinyl albums I love.
Deja vu!

London American label Year By Year series

In 2009 Ace Records a leading UK based speciality cd re-issue label commenced its new project the London American year by year series. 

The London American label was an imprint of UK Decca Records that licensed recordings from the very many independent companies in the States and promoted them for the UK market at a time when very few US companies had UK operations of their own and the global multi-market companies we have today just didn't exist. 

London American had many deals with companies such s United Artists, Liberty, Big Top, Chess and Cadence that were the home to many of the stars of the late 1950's and early 60's such as the Everly Bros, Bobby Vee, Del Shannon, Chuck Berry and Johnny and the Hurricanes who were really popular some more popular than back home in the States. 

So a series like this is really valuable for giving you a taste of what the music of this era the one before the Beatles was really like and what is more they have deliberately gone for the previously unissued on cd tracks. 

As a really good move they have also got access to the UK Decca tape vaults where the tapes used to manufacture the original 45's were stored and used them so we have the original monaural sound those who bought and collected the 45's expect which has been expertly re-mastered. 

To date three titles have been issued 1960, 1961 and 1962 which came out last week landing in my mailbox on Monday. 

Hear we go again rewinding to the past with this the latest instalment of ACE's London American year By Year series. 28 tracks some hits some misses that haven't been re-issued on cd from 1958 from the original UK masters. 

Artists featured are Duane Eddy, The Mills Bros, Jerry Lee Lewis, Pat Boone, Chuck Berry, The Drifters and Eddie Cochrane with his Summertime Blues. What's great about the series is there's very little duplication with other ACE London American compilations

School Uniform and skirt length

This time of year certain British stores tend to be busy such as BHS, Marks and Spencer, John Lewis and that very British institution, the school uniform shop  because after next week Autumn term starts at most schools and this brings with it last minute uniform replacements and checking everything fits.

We always had are skirt lengths measured so they were not too short as that would break school rules and reflect badly upon our folks. It may of seemed awkward but I'm they cared to ensure we were decent and properly presentable.

Boys do look pretty good in kilts as the boys in this co-ed school in Scotland who have the kilt as part of the school uniform.

Perhaps this should be an option elsewhere in the UK?

The Tubes and cd updates

Finally I got two albums by the theatrical art-rock group The Tubes on cd, mainly The Completion Backward Principal and Outside/Inside from 1981&1983 respectively that were re-issued by BGO Records over here many years ago (1991 I think).

They feature the hits 'Talk To You Later' and 'She's A Beauty' which was a top 10 hit in the States which I remember buying the domestic 45 of.

Coming soon and not before time is a set of discs in the 1992 Rock and Roll Hits series from UK EMI's Music For Pleasure label featuring various classic jukeboxes on the front covers.
They compile may hits of the 'Rock and Roll era' from 1955 through 1963 from the Capitol/EMI, MCA and United Artists/Liberty stable taking in Buddy Holly, Gene Vincent, Bobby Vee, Eddie Cochrane and the Crickets amongst many.

I bought two back then but they soon went out of print and want to complete the set.

The little side of Sissification

When people think about being a sissy and how you may be encouraged to explore more of it, it is usually the more Adult forms that feature but with me for most of the time it is more of younger and less overtly adult thing.

It's really rather more an exploration of the more little more child-like feminine side of me that was often hidden in the past and has more to do with the idea of being given a fresh start to have a Mummy like figure who'd encourage more exploring that side often in more little girl frilly attire.

You're with her for that period and she's determined you will use that time to step out of your comfort zone and try this out even if a mild spanking may be in the offing if you aren't prepared to give it a go as after all you made it plain you did feel that way.

It would be a big pity not to.

While there is much wrong with this caption, the pronouns, the mean language the girls use, the hint you might be gay the right things are you do want to play with girls in games that no boy ever would, go making daisy chains and being expected to look after your pretty dress.

It was always more like the childhood I wanted and I do recreate remaining in many ways that child - that GURL, dammit - and that's what the little side of this more about for me.

Funimation SAVE releases

Driving me pretty much to the poor house are Funimation's budget 'SAVE' line in anime dvd's which came out a few months ago.
In essence they are reprints of older titles often keeping the packaging from the previous edition all at a cheap price generally under USD $30 even for a complete series which may have up to 26 episodes.
The one above "The Galaxy railways" is an adventure series set in as the would suggest on the Galaxy Railways with a team of crack railway security people, the SDF, and is really good.
Surprisingly this title has never been issued in the UK.

This one - Aquarion - has and was last out in the UK late in 2009 but the US Funimation box set is cheaper and a good deal neater. As I was a bit short of funds at the time I missed out on getting it but as a Mecha series goes this is great and it is really well drawn.