The Album Review Club - Christmas Break Until 8th January

[threespires]

Yes, my parents had an 8-track player and by virtue of wanting to hear my music in the house, I bought a few early on by necessity. That and vinyl at the same time, but if you didn't have good equipment on the needle, doing damage to your LPs or 45s was going to be an issue and wasn't going to be something to last for enjoyment.

8-track cartridge - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

It was the thing in the late 70s with me mostly, but by the early 80's, recording music on cassettes was all the rage.

The biggest complaint on the 8-track was one never could easily line up the side 1 and side 2s of a vinyl LP into the 4 sides required on that media. I recall AC/DC's Back in Black had the title song faded out and then faded back in on that 8-track. When I heard that sacrilege, I knew it was time to convert to cassettes, and just swap and share with friends (or record albums, etc.) onto that format.

The sideboard gramophone was the weapon of choice in the homes of early 70s Britain!




Until they were usurped by the much cooler 'music centre' :-)

 

[Black&White&BlueMoon Town]

The sideboard gramophone was the weapon of choice in the homes of early 70s Britain!


View attachment 128560

Until they were usurped by the much cooler 'music centre' :-)

View attachment 128561

Nice technology, liking that cassette player on the left side to both record off the LP or radio.

We actually had this exact 8 track model in our kitchen growing up (I laughed too as a kid):



My side-by-side dual cassette high speed recorder and player in university was nice to swap and share while in campus housing when being introduced to all kinds of new bands I'd not yet heard of.

 

[crublue1]

The sideboard gramophone was the weapon of choice in the homes of early 70s Britain!


View attachment 128560

Until they were usurped by the much cooler 'music centre' :-)

View attachment 128561

I still have the lid off my uncle Harold's music centre. I use it to drain oil into when servicing cars + bikes.

 

[threespires]

I still have the lid off my uncle Harold's music centre. I use it to drain oil into when servicing cars + bikes.

Thinking about it they are about the right shape and size for a decent capacity drain pain! Must be a tough old bit of plastic.

 

[threespires]

Nice technology, liking that cassette player on the left side to both record off the LP or radio.

We actually had this exact 8 track model in our kitchen growing up (I laughed too as a kid):

View attachment 128562

My side-by-side dual cassette high speed recorder and player in university was nice to swap and share while in campus housing when being introduced to all kinds of new bands I'd not yet heard of.

I assume somewhere there's a seminal 60's design textbook in which there's a chapter on futurism that simply says 'stick it in a f*****g globe".

 

[Saddleworth2]

I have listened to very little Portishead in the past but do recognise a number of tracks on this Album. I have listened to it three times and hear the similarities others do, Sade on one track, Elbow on the second track (so this is where you got some of your ideas from Guy (and he always blamed Genesis) Ha.). I don't feel ready to mark it yet but the needle has definitely moved to the right (positive). The instrumentation is interesting and her voice has a pure melancholy which I'm always a sucker for. I can take or leave some of the sampling although it does make for a richer soundscape. I haven't yet got the emotional connection that some have mentioned. Maybe a bottle of red will do the trick.

As others have noted, it was a pretty good year for albums. I had a brief flirtation with Britpop, REM released Monster which I still have a liking for having seen them play it live, I was also listening to Nirvana, Hootie and the Blowfish, Manic Street Preachers, Nirvana and Pink Floyd new releases all of which were fine albums. I think Filed Under: Easy Listening was also released that year. A very fine album that I grew to appreciate hugely. Not as good as Copper Blue but good nonetheless.

Wish I had listened to Dummy more though. I can see me continue to play it long after this round finishes.

 

[bennyboy]

Dummy.
As an album i found it very samey vocally and musically.
Very one paced with a lot of annoying drum beats and record scratching?.
Mysterons and Sour Times get the lp off to a great start.
After that I struggled with most due to lack of variety vocally and musically until the last track Glory Box,another great track.Loved the guitar in this track.
Vocally fine but doesn't really test herself bar Glory box.
As I posted earlier struggled with this as an lp but 3 great tracks and 8 nothing special inbetween I will give this a 6 due to the high quality of the 3 tracks I liked.
Feel sorry for for not getting into it more due to the great write up.

 

[LGWIO]

Opened with Mysterons which for some reason made me think of Midsomer Murders, although I dont think (as someone else mentioned) that it is a theremin on the track. A great openere followed by an equally good Sour Time. I think both tracks draw you in but draw you in to something very much the same.
Interesting watching the video, once again helpfully provided by @BlueHammer85, where it seemed Barrow didnt like the way many people received or percieved the album as being background or ambient.
Had it on again today as I was making some food and didnt quite find myself bopping round the kitchen. Late night laid back relaxation, cool and classy.
Certainly one I shall listen to abit more and also nice to learn how much it means to @threespires
A quality choice and an 8 from the Derry jury

 

[threespires]

Dummy.
As an album i found it very samey vocally and musically.
Very one paced with a lot of annoying drum beats and record scratching?.
Mysterons and Sour Times get the lp off to a great start.
After that I struggled with most due to lack of variety vocally and musically until the last track Glory Box,another great track.Loved the guitar in this track.
Vocally fine but doesn't really test herself bar Glory box.
As I posted earlier struggled with this as an lp but 3 great tracks and 8 nothing special inbetween I will give this a 6 due to the high quality of the 3 tracks I liked.
Feel sorry for for not getting into it more due to the great write up.

Don't feel sorry, after all we're scoring the albums not the write ups!

 

[Mancitydoogle]

I’ve really gone down the rabbit hole here but I suspect there are very few in this thread that could possibly appreciate let alone enjoy Sugar. I’ve thought about nominating FUEL (or Copper Blue) a number of times but know it would end up in the bottom of the ranking with complaints about how loud it is. Gift is quite probably my favo(u)rite opening song on any record ever, and if it isn’t that, it’s the title track of New Day Rising. Of course I wouldn’t even consider Husker Du because we all know how that would turn out here. Bob Mould remains one of rock music’s greatest ever guitarists and songwriters — he’s the king of alt/punk hooks — but because he fed his genius through Marshall stacks so potent he got tinnitus at age 25 or whatever, plenty of lilt-lovers find him too “angry” or something. Anyhow, I agree 94 was a great year for music but more for Goaters list (he stole a lot of good ones I’m sure you’d have included).

Meantime I’ve tried many times to get into Portishead given the rapturous words many have spilt on Dummy over the years and I will dutifully try again but honestly folks I am hungering for a record with some zip and energy and humo(u)r and at this rate I’m about ready to shove some Chappell Roan down all of your gullets when it’s my turn and call it a day.

Think we’ve had a track from Copper Blue on the playlist thread which I quite liked.
As this week’s nomination wasn’t driving music, I’ve had this on in the car and i must say it’s great.