Category: Entertainment

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I’m Such A Geek

What audio geek does not appreciate some nekkid pix?

I want to say that getting the top cover off was the hardest point, but getting it back on was much, much worse. More than once the fiddly bits that keep it locked in place went flying when I was trying to get them back in. Thankfully I found them each time.

Curiosity almost killed the cat.

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Saturday Afternoon Coffee and Tunes

This particular CD Walkman, the Sony D-EJ915 is among my favorites the company produced in the late 90s. While it has no built-in display (you need the external remote to see track numbers, times, and to access all the secondary functions like programming and sound control), it does have physical buttons on the unit itself to handle all the basic functions. I have the remote, but I hate Sony MD/CD remotes so it’s always important to me that I can access the basic functions from the player itself.

I understand the 915 was their flagship model from 1999 to 2000 and it reeks of quality. The top case is solid aluminum, has skip-free G-Protection and seems to run forever on two gum stick batteries. It’s also among the last players Sony made that allowed you to see the spinning disc (a big plus for me just because).

Shadowfax’s Dreams of Children dates from about 1984 and while not era-specific to the player (something YouTube guys like to point out when demoing/repairing their equipment), for me it invokes memories of San Francisco and embodies my whole “New Age” music period. I found it at a thrift store for $1 earlier this week.

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Saturday Afternoon Coffeehouse Tunes

Meute – Empor (2024)

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Thursday Night Soundtrack

Duncan Sisters: Duncan Sisters (1979)

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Afternoon Tunes

Yeah, that’s my newest Sony CD Walkman. I bought it labeled “untested – for parts or repair” to fill up my last shadow box and it’s one of those rare “untested” beasts that not only looks great but is actually completely functional. This one’s a keeper and will not end up under glass.

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Ah, Memories…

It was a simpler time. Groceries this week or five new CDs? Decisions, decisions! So…ramen it is! (I had my priorities, after all!)

(Yes, I tagged this in the Decline and Fall of Civilization category because as a society we lost something when music stores died.)

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Released 51 Years Ago Today

Sir Elton must be feeling old…as am I.

Elton John: Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy (1975)

This was probably the most-anticipated release of my youth, and has remained my all time favorite EJ album my entire life. The entire recording is pure genius from beginning to end. My favorite song from the album, Better Off Dead, is posted above.

Produced by Gus Dudgeon, it was recorded at the Caribou Ranch in Nederland, CO from June – July 1974. After the successful Caribou album, the prolific musician returned to the Caribou Ranch recording studio in the Colorado Rockies to record his next release. The concept album is an autobiographical account of Elton John and Bernie Taupin and the struggles they faced at the beginning of their musical careers. The single Someone Saved My Life Tonight, is about John’s half-hearted suicide attempt while he was engaged to a woman, faced with choosing her over his musical career (and still struggling with his sexual orientation at the time). His friend and former band mate Long John Baldry convinced him to break off the engagement (whom John’s refers to in the song as “Sugar Bear”). The album also marks the last time that John recorded with drummer Nigel Olsson and bassist Dee Murray until the Too Low For Zero album in 1983. Captain Fantastic makes history when it becomes the first album to ever enter the Billboard Top 200 at number one. For the original LP release, a limited number of promotional copies are pressed on translucent brown vinyl, with each album jacket autographed by Elton John and Bernie Taupin. The album is remastered and reissued on CD in 1995 with the stand alone singles Philadelphia Freedom, Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, and Elton’s cover of the John Lennon penned One Day A Time (B-side of Lucy), added as bonus tracks. Out of print on vinyl since 1989, the album is remastered and reissued in 2017. Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy spent seven weeks (non-consecutive) at number one on the Billboard Top 200, and is certified 3x Platinum in the US by the RIAA.

The album was released on pretty much every format available, but there is one vinyl pressing that is rarer than rare: a brown vinyl edition that was limited to 2000 units, signed by both Elton and Bernie. Currently there is one—ONE—listing on Discogs, and it’s going for $2500 Australian.

 

And here I thought the pink vinyl version of Madonna’s Bedtime Stories, or the multi-disc, multi-color vinyl version of Pet Shop Boys’ Relentless was ridiculously expensive and forever out-of-reach!

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Why Did An Inveterate Disco Dolly Like Myself NOT Have These In My Collection?

Yeah, I have them on vinyl (of course), but while I thought I had replaced most of my collection of late 70s Cerrone goodness on CD, I went to play Cerrone’s Paradise the other day and realized that I had not. Sure, I had his seminal work, Love in C-Minor, and even a couple of his later releases (Supernature Symphony and Disco Symphony) on CD, but these two (along with The Golden Touch and Cerrone V) were absent. I opted to replace these two now and wait on the others.

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