High In Spirits - The Tapes of Things long gone

[Liedzeit]

High In Spirits by Bullfrog

So this might be off-topic. I am not going to talk about albums but about cassettes, I taped in my youth. There is a discussion about the end of the album. Lots of people listen only to streamed music. Which is sad. But then there used to be a time when it was next to impossible to listen to albums. Because they were extremely expensive. When I was 15 I could not afford to buy more than one LP every month. Then my pocekt money was gone.
What I did and what we all did, we taped the music. And to tell the truth, the cassettes I taped roughly between 1974 and 1978 I still listen to with the most enjoyment.

Apologies for being even more self-indulgent than is usual around here. But here I go. I will randomly pick an old cassette and ramble on about it.

Bobby Vinton – Mr. Lonely 1962
[Unknown]
Joan Baez – Children of Darkness 1967
Joan Baez – Love is Just a Four Letter Word 1968
Joan Baez – The Night They Drove Old Dixie down 1971
Country Joe McDonald – The "Fish" Cheer/I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag 1969
Joan Baez – I shall be released
Joan Baez – Where Are You Now, My Son? [Excerpts]


Joan Baez – We shall overcome ?
Fleedwoods – Come Softly To Me 1959
Roy Orbison – Blue Bayou 1963
Cilla Black – Anyone Who had a heart 1964
ELP – Fanfare for the Common Man 1977
Bullfrog - L.A. Police # 55 (The Conny Plank Mix) 1977
Dadawah – Seventy-Two Nations 1974
Eddie Cochran – Jeannie, Jeannie, Jeannie 1967

This first one is rather an exception. In general, I would tape what was then called Oldies and some then-current hits. Here I have obviously been into some radio feature on Joan Baez.
I am not a very big fan of hers. But I love everything here. Especially the Vietnam stuff, and the version of We shall overcome. Where she adds to the We are not afraid line a "Ha ha".
Mr. Lonely a beautiful schmalz song, that I thought was by the Fleetwoods. I asked Siri and she knew better. She could not identify the next one though, some classical baroque piece. In between the Joan Baez stuff we have Country Joe. Woodstock was ancient history at the time. But now it feels like I was right there in the audience.
Blue Bayou is a song I cannot stand. No idea why I taped it. Except that Roy Orbison could sing anything and it would sound great, a quality only very few singers have (Frank Sinatra comes to mind.)
Cilla Black was typical for the music I liked then (and now): high voices singing tear jerkers. I saw a musical about her life last year. Amazing.
Following are two songs that were released in 1977. Fanfare is of course well known, but L.A. Police probably not. It is by a German band, Bullfrog. A beautiful pub-rock like song. A group I did not know until I googled them today. I should give them a chance and listen to the complete album which is called High in Spirits. And I take that as the title of this "diary".
]Seventy-Two Nations is one of my all-time favourite reggae songs. And easily the best track on this cassette. And again, I had no idea who the singer was. For more than 40 years I was ignorant but now I know. Thanks Siri, or rather Shazam.
Eddie closes the show with Jeannie. Not one of his best ones. But nice enough.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwTkjfeDB8g
_________________
When the stewardess is near do not show any fear.

[bobbyb5]

That's funny that you said you don't like Joan Baez except a couple songs. I feel the same way. I find her singing practically unbearable, except for a couple that I really love. Like you, I think her version of The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down is really excellent. And another one called In the Quiet Morning. I'm sure it's no coincidence that these were her only two hits. But they were good ones. And I kind of like the song Diamonds and Rust.

When I was really young in the 80s I also made a lot of cassettes, but never like a mixtape with all different artists on it. I only made tapes of whole albums. Usually I taped my friends' albums because just like you I couldn't afford to buy all the albums that I wanted. Except in the bargain bin at the used record store maybe. But I couldn't afford too many new albums. I had hundreds of tapes. Boxes full. All kinds of music. Even New Wave and stuff. All kinds of shit.

[bobbyb5]

Btw, I never heard of Bullfrog before. But albums by German bands in the 1970s sure had the coolest album covers. This bullfrog cover reminds me of all those albums by Eloy and some of those other krautrock bands with the cool album covers.

[Liedzeit]

[Liedzeit]

3:47 EST by Klaatu

Agfa Red-1

Pipkins – Gimmi Dat Ding 1970
Bryan Ferry – Tokyo Joe 1977
Beach Boys – Help Me, Rhonda 1965
Golden Earring – Radar Love 1973
Klaatu – Sub Rosa Subway 1976
Klaatu – Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft 1976
Beach Boys – Good Time 1977
Otto Waalkes – Mao Tse Tung, Idi Armin 1977
Alvin Stardust – Growing up 1977


Suzi Quatro – 48 Crash 1973
Mary Hopkin – Those were the Days 1968
Hugo Montenegro – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly 1966
[Unknown]
Beatles – Martha, My Dear 1968
Stevie Wonder – Sir Duke 1976
David Bowie – A New Career In A New Town 1977
Dion – Ruby Baby 1963
Cowsills – The Rain the Park and Other Things 1967
Sheb Wooley – Purple People Eater 1958
War – Cisco Kid 1972

We start off with a novelty song from 1970. Composed by Albert Hammond of all people. I love novelty songs. And later on, there is an even better one. The Purple People Eater.
But the crown for silliness goes to Otto Waalkes. Or just Otto. He is universally loved in Germany. Really, the first movie he made is, I think, still the most successful German movie ever.
So if you think of emigrating to Germany you have to be able to pretend that this is funny: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vB-cZRYdE_s
Everybody loves Golden Earring. At least this one song. The only sure way to get old guys like me onto the dance floor. And DJs are smart enough to know it. I must have listened and danced to it hundreds of time. And now a question for you. They sing: the radio plays some forgotten song. Which one? I never knew until I checked now. Being non-native I can understand the lyrics if I really concentrate. But in most cases I have no clue what is going on lyrics-wise.
I tried to have my cassette recorder ready every Tuesday for the "LP-Wochenschau" on WDR2. They would play one track from some new LPs. In this case, they made an exception and played two by Klaatu. Well, there was a rumour going on at the time that Klaatu were an incarnation of the Beatles (literally or at least in spirit). And we really wanted that to be true. Well, nice songs, but not really Beatles quality.
In 1977 the Beach Boys were in decline as was Alvin Stardust. Alvin was one of my heroes. But I must say I have forgotten this one. The Beach Boys rhyming bad looking with good cooking. They would think twice about it today. And maybe they should have then. Nice little song, though.

Suzi was until the coming of her near-namesake (with her Banshees) the only female artist I really loved. She made horrible records later in her career. But 48 crash still rocks. Then we have an instrumental (also covered by Otto btw) that gets us right into the Wild West.

The next song is out of Shazam Scope, unfortunately. Some be-bop kind acapella. Most probably taped from a Wally Whyton show. Wally would play obscure folk songs on BFBS radio. Very often too obscure. Even for me. But this one was fun. Next two classics. I remember actually listening to some Duke Ellington at the time. Did not make me a fan though (except for Sophisticated Lady. I digress.)

The next song, I knew, was by Bowie but had forgotten the title. Siri did not recognize this! But Shazam did. So maybe that is why Apple bought them. (I thought, they did so ages ago.)
Ruby Baby is not a song I particularly like. Well, it is a minor classic, I guess.

The Rain the Park and Other Things is a little gem here. So typically 1967. And I am ashamed to say, I had forgotten who gave it to us. Twenty years ago I would have sworn that I would never forget any singer I have ever recorded. Today I feel lucky to remember my own name.
And finally, Cisco Kid.

Best track: Radar Love.
_________________
When the stewardess is near do not show any fear.

[Romanelli]

I used to make cassettes. All the time. I would never have multiple songs by the same artist on a tape, and I tried to work the flow from one song to the next as cleanly as possible.

My favorite was a cassette that contained only a 12 minute collage. It was made up of 5 to 10 second bits of rock music that fit together to form a seamless track. Took me months to make it. It was pretty amazing.

These tapes are all gone now. I had about six or seven until a few years ago, but I don't know if they were even playable by that time. I hadn't had a tape deck for years. I remember them, though. And I do the same thing now with 8 Tracks and iTunes playlists. Not exactly the same thing...there was a certain personal aspect of burning the tape from vinyl to tape that you just don't get with drag and drop...
_________________
May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...

[bobbyb5]

The forgotten song that Golden Earring sing about is of course Brenda Lee's Coming on Strong. It's the very next line of the song.

That's a pretty good mixtape. Especially the second side. Most of those are in my Greatest Singles of All Time charts. A couple are even in the top 100. Including The Rain, The Park and Other Things. Believe it or not. It was an awesome single and it still is. And I assume the Beach Boys song you have there is Good Timng, and not Good Time. Which is also one of my favorite singles.

[Liedzeit]

[Liedzeit]

[theblueboy]