Saturday, May 31, 2014

Blood on the 8-Tracks, Track Eight: To Make a Long Story Short...Too Late!

Some Boring Facts:

Well, I finally found out why they’re called 8-tracks instead of 4-track.

I would have known this a lot sooner, but now I just don’t have the time to read things like this:

And if that’s not enough for you, there are sites out there like the aforementioned 8-Track Heaven and the 8-Track Museum.

In case it’s not obvious to you, these people have serious problems.

Well, I’ve already lost interest. How about you?


Some Worthless Opinions:

So let’s cut to the chase. So what did 8-tracks offer? Well, the old ads showed a young guy and a gal in a car, so I guess the main draw was that you could just leave it playing in the background and it would keep going while you were done doing...whatever you did in the back of a car.

Maybe cassettes didn’t automatically play side two or have a repeat setting at first. But once they did, the bigger, bulkier 8-tracks made less and less sense.

But just to put it in perspective, here were some things that sucked about 8 tracks:

1. The SOUND kind of sucked, actually. Tape just didn’t sound as good as vinyl and if it wasn’t lined up just right, you’d hear the ghost of songs on the other tracks while trying to listen to track that was actually playing.

2. No Fast Forward or Rewind!
Unless you had a high end player. So if you missed something, you had to wait until the track finished and got to the same spot again.  I’ll get into THAT at another time...

3. Sometimes they would even leave off songs. You heard right. Go look at that track listing on your 8-track version of Tommy.  That’s right!  “Christmas” is missing! How come they don’t talk about that on Fox News?!

4. Forget about liner notes. Maybe 8-tracks were made for people who had better things to do (like that couple in the car) than sit around like a nerd reading liner notes.

5. The packaging was crap and usually fell apart within a week or two. I have album covers that are still pristine. And those bozos want me to buy a piece of cardboard folded in four parts?


More Worthless Opinions, or CDs (and mp3s) Kind of Suck, Too:

On the other hand, CDs weren’t flawless, either. Although some records began to sound better after CDs came out, I doubt that 99% of us noticed the difference.

CDs were smaller, too, and thus, supposedly more convenient. And I guess it was true to a point. Now I'm a lazy man, and I value the idea of not having to flip over a record every twenty minutes.  Try that when you're painting a room and see what happens to your productivity.

As an aside, I should add that my first CD player only played one disc. Like an idiot, I fancied myself a music connoisseur, and thought that being able to play more than one album at a time somehow cheapened the music. Tell that to your party guests as you climb over them to get to the stereo.

And the size of the CD could actually be a pain in the ass, especially if you’re a nerd who likes the liner notes (me), which were now in a 6 point font. Any hope of learning the lyrics, or finding out who the drummer was went out the window.

And although shorter, the CD jewel cases were actually thicker than LPs and thus very inefficient to store. It wasn’t until the new cottage industry in CD shelving addressed the havoc these little discs caused on our record shelves.

And although they held more music, there were a few double albums that didn’t quite fit on a single CD and the record company would to drop a song. (The older release of Prince’s 1999 didn’t have “DMSR”. Someone tell me if I’m missing anything, okay?.)

There were also some double albums (Tommy) that would have fit perfectly well on a single disc, but that record companies wanted to charge more for, and so put them on two discs instead, thus defeating the purpose.

Oh, and indestructible? Please. You could fling a CD you hated against the wall and shatter it quite easily. How do I know this? Don't ask.

So CDs were not nearly all they were cracked up to be.

And don’t get Neil Young started on mp3s!


Waiting Around for the Next Shiny Toy:

I spent the 80’s watching my favorite record stores devote more and more space to CDs at the expense of vinyl.

I wasn’t a vinyl holdout, exactly. I held off getting a CD player because I kept hearing about how yet another new technology - Digital Audio Tape - was superior to CDs, and would eventually replace them. Remember that? No? Okay, let me help you.

So I spent about five years waiting for that to happen while my vinyl choices dwindled. I finally gave up and got the CD player in 1989. But by then we had a young child, and my opportunities for even playing music were limited. And it wouldn’t be until that other shiny new invention - the internet - would provide me with a wealth of musical information that would allow me to dive back in head first.

And we’ve come full circle now, as I see more and more record store (remember them?) space taken up by vinyl. Because, you know, the sound quality is better.

It’s kind of like living in Brooklyn, or wearing old clothes. If you wait long enough it’s back in style.

Every decade seems to offer us something newer and shinier, and we - music lovers that we are, and thus blind to any faults in the object of our affections - fall for it every time.
But I’m not likely to start buying vinyl again. My turntable’s in the basement and the stairs are murder on my knees.

So were we idiots for being taken in by a shiny new technology (and really bad clothes) back in the 70s? Nah. And even with the Beatles breaking up and all, I’m still fond of that underrated decade.

If you ask me, the 80s had a lot more to answer for than that. But that’s for another time.

Saturday, May 24, 2014

Blood on the 8-Tracks, Track Seven: You Can’t Go Home Again:

So, what to do with all of these old 8-tracks? Do I try to enjoy them again by re-buying them? Do I let sleeping dogs lie? (And, as you’ll see below, there were some real dogs.)


And if I do buy them again, do I get them in CD format? mp3? VINYL?!


As I said in the first of at least seven too many posts link about this, when deciding whether to re-buy an album, it pays to remember that I may have already played it out. In other words, no matter how good the record is, is it worthwhile replacing it if I’m just going to listen to it once and just file it away? Like plutonium, but in a good way, every record has its own half life.


And my tastes have changed, too. I don’t always know if a record that seemed great to Jaybee-the- pimply-fifteen-year-old will still seem so to Jaybe-the-grumpy-old-man-who-scares-the-four-year-olds-who-pass-by-his-house?


I have to keep this all in mind when considering which 8-tracks to replace. (You’d think I’d give World Peace this much thought.)


So how’m I doin?


Replaced So Far:


Alone Together 8 TRack.jpg



When the odd song played on the radio, it epitomised the obscure-yet-classic-sounding solo albums of the early seventies. Actually sitting down to listen to such albums can prove disappointing. Not here, though. While the songs don’t convey a strong personal identity (a common flaw of many such “classic” solo albums) they are tuneful and well produced. This version of “Only You Know and I Know” beats the hell out of the Delaney and Bonnie version. A vinyl copy basically fell into my lap, and my life is better for it. A-


And this is what the original vinyl looks like. Pretty cool, huh? (Things that look like vomit are cool, right?)


Alone Together Vinyl.jpg


Manassas.jpg




This double album showcasing Stephen Stills temporarily salvaging his career avoids sequencing hell, dividing it’s four sides neatly over the four tracks. And it fits on a single CD! It would be all downhill from here for poor Stephen, though. A-


Songs for Beginners.jpg



There are more good songs here than Nash ever wrote for CSNY, so you wouldn’t blame me for thinking he didn’t have it in him. So it was a very pleasant surprise, that I finally got a chance to replace last year. Good then, excellent with the sequencing fixed. A-



St Dominick's Preview.jpg



Not as brilliant as Astral Weeks or Moondance, but a little sharper than either Tupelo Honey or His Band and Street Choir, this one suffers only from a bit of schizophrenia by mixing radio friendly short ones, with long slow ones, but Van brings it all together nicely in the title cut. But I do miss how “Independence Day” would bleed into the other tracks on the 8 track, making everything sound like it was recorded on a boat on a foggy ocean in the middle of the night.  A-


Let it Bleed.jpg



A true Roommate Mike garage-sale special. For the Stones, it’s actually a bit uneven. “Gimme Shelter” and “You Can’t Always Get WHat You Want” are amongst the greatest rock n roll songs ever, but that causes some of the rest to lag behind. Hidden Gem: “You Got the Silver”  A



The Redundant:


Live Cream.jpg



I loved this record and considered it to represent some of Clapton’s greatest work. It’s reviled by those critics who preferred rock n roll to be shorter and tighter. I understand, but my gut is still in agreement with fifteen year old Jaybee. So I just swallowed the Cream oeuvre whole with the box-set of Those Were the Days. But I just couldn’t win - my favorite track - “NSU” was in a different version.  Whatever. This is still a guilty pleasure.  A-


Stage.jpg



Superior to the really crappy “David Live”, it’s a good representation of Bowie’s best 70s work. But I've got all these songs already in their original studio versions, so why bother? But if you don’t already have Low, Heroes or Station to Station, it’s highly recommended. A-


Contenders:


Satanic Magesty.jpg



This one’s not bad at all. Just not quite on the level of many other early Stones records. I’ve had less reason to get it since getting the Singles Collection. But someday. Another Mike Special! B+


10cc.jpg


Remember these guys? This is their first and it’s really good. It’s got the Beach Boy vocals, the Graham Gouldman melodies and that British sarcasm. C’mon Amazon! I’m waiting! A-.


On the Fence:


These are the ones that may may suffer from either half-life or taste change considerations, in order of my increasing hesitation:


Poco.jpg



Although I loved this record when it came out, and have had a couple of chances to replace it, I haven’t. I’m afraid to. Something tells me that Ritchie Furay doesn’t translate well to other decades. Maybe it’s me.



Crosby Nash.jpg


Talk about not transcending a decade! This has got to be the quintessential half-assed supergroup albums of that time, and yet I’ve got fond memories of it.  If you thrust it into my hands I wouldn’t throw it back at you.



Marrying Maiden.jpg


I do recall it being real pretty, but with song titles like “Essence of Now” and “The Dolphins” you know it’s going to be like talking to a hippie. Pleasant enough but when it’s done, it’s DONE. By the way, the guy actually sings too well. Are you seeing a theme here? I’d replace it but I’m afraid that it’s REALLY going to suck.


Bonnie Raitt.jpg

Bonnie Raitt’s first album. I don't even remember. The sound quality was pretty poor.  And I think it got lost before I got to hear it more than once. Where the hell did it go, anyway?


His Band and Street Choir.jpg


This one was always a bit lightweight for me. I’m more of an Astral Weeks fan. It certainly wasn’t bad, and “Domino” is great, but that’s the only one.



The Real Dogs:


Then there’s the question of quality, ahem, quality:
Loathe as I am to admit it, not every record I’ve ever gotten is deserving of additional plays. Sometimes there’s a reason why something is in the bargain bin. Sometimes you get what you pay for.


Sheherazade.jpg


One of Mike’s. (I never said he batted 1.000.) And if I gave it the time, it might prove to be okay. But prog-rock has not worn well for me and these guys come across way too serious.



Overnite Sensation.jpg


This one’s all mine. I got thru it once but have no interest in trying again.


Quicksilver.jpg


I think Mike got this one, but I can understand it. After all, it’s a Best Of. It’s got to have some good songs, right? Well, I gave it a single listen, hated the guy’s voice, and decided that life was too short. I was 22 at the time.



I realize that I’m being terribly unfair here, and could come to enjoy, or at least appreciate these albums if I gave them the time. But sometimes a record just gives off the aroma of “too much work to enjoy”, and these three really stank.



So What Does It All Mean?:


When it comes to music, I pride myself on not looking back. Given a choice between the known and unknown, I’ll almost always choose the latter.  


But it’s only human to want to occasionally relive old memories, even when you know they’re as likely to disappoint as they are to satisfy. Aside from the occasional loser (Thank’s a lot, ELP!)
I did okay.


I guess it’s all a matter of focus and commitment, and what you can achieve when you’re willing to devote your life to something important.


Some people (Ghandi) free a nation from the yoke of colonial rule. Some people (Jonas Salk) find a cure for the scourge of polio. 

And some people (me) move their old 8-tracks to CDs.

Saturday, May 3, 2014

Blood on the 8 Tracks, Track Six: Velvet Underground Railroad

1979:


Friend Mike and I grew up in the same neighborhood and hung out in the same bar, where we talked about Ingmar Bergman while the TV played Benny Hill reruns. Kindred spirits, we’d eventually share an apartment. (I wonder if my Brother Pat remembers I took the stereo when I moved out…?)


The rent was cheap, which was great because neither one of us made a lot of money. What little we had was spent on essentials like records and parties. An exaggeration - to the relief of our landlord, we were disappointingly conventional. But we both loved music and would traul the discount bins for whatever we could find.


And it being the end of the seventies, most people were handing in their 8-track players, along with their souls to St. Ronny Reagan, but I digress.  


But it was a boon for us, with discount bins and yard sales overflowing with with used 8-track tapes.

2013:


Mrs. Jaybee and I took a trip to Boston, where Mike lives now. It was a week after Lou Reed died, and Mike thoughtfully left out a good article from the Globe. But then he surprised me by saying he never really heard a lot of Reed’s stuff - Velvets or otherwise - other than “Walk on the Wild Side”. So I decided I’d make him a mix CD of the Velvet Underground.


Later that week, while perusing allmusic or amazon for I don’t know what, I spotted a sale on 1969: Velvet Underground Live with Lou Reed. Then it hit me that Mike had actually gotten the first volume of this album from one of his discount bin dives. It must have been a short time before he moved to Europe, so he probably forgot. I probably played it more than he did.


Anyway, I decided to get the CDs.

VU.jpg

1969: Velvet Underground Live with Lou Reed


The full album (plus bonus tracks!) this time.


And I’m slightly disappointed.


One difference between then and now is that I’ve since become much more familiar with all of their (brilliant) studio output. So now this record suffers in comparison.


Another odd thing happened.  I think the poor sound quality of the 8-track actually added to my enjoyment. The tape may have only played one half of the stereo mix, because my recollection was of Lou Reed’s voice, some muffled guitar and not much else. It gave the songs a very spare quality that I really enjoyed.  The now better quality put them on grounds for comparison with the now familiar studio versions, and the former lose out.


Grade: B+

Having Said That:


It occurred to me that I wasn’t hearing VU-the-icons-who-made-several-classic-albums. I was hearing VU-the-band-playing-a-gig. In other words, this album is a record of a moment in the life of a band, and not a Statement by Rock Gods from the Past, which is what the studio albums represent for me.


Another thing: it’s probably a great record to introduce people to VU with.


So if I put aside my prejudices and try to listen to this like it was a new album with unfamiliar songs, I’d probably give it an A.



On the Other Hand...


But when push came to shove and it came time to make burn a CD for Mike, I stuck with the studio albums.


So let’s split the difference and give it an A-.


When to Play: When you’re looking for some ugly truth.
When NOT to Play: When you’re looking for sunshine and lollipops.
And if you’re wondering where to start with the VU, try this utterly brilliant post.