quite nearly i said that, look you see, it is not normal for people that i do not know to approach me with questions. and then i remembered that this is not strictly speaking true. for a while i was, for some rather inexplicable reason, the "go to" guy for a provincial BBC Radio station to ask questions of. these questions usually pertained to a news matter or some other such concern for the day. no, i have no idea if any of my snippets were ever broadcast; but if you suspect you may have heard me speak on a range of subjects, well then so much the better.
should it be the case that i get an approach with a request to name the "greatest vibes compilation ever", i would be stuck somewhat. there are a number of contenders. chief would be Now That's What I Call Music 4, which i had on tape, and Now That's What I Call Music 6, which i still have on vinyl. yes, from time to time my eyes do wander over the former in terms of tapes similar to what i had being available for sale on that there ebay.
also, Australia. i have in my custody two fine, fine Australian compilation records what my Dad once bought. well, bought. they are 1981 Over the Top and 1982 With A Bullet. both are, frankly and despite the lack (due to when they were released) of Frankie, excellent.
now that i think, i am pretty sure Now That's What I Call Music 8 was smart, too. and the 13 volume, maybe, just to break up the even number sequence. but of course none of them are pictured above.
instead, what you are seeing in the glory of Commodore 64 mode is one called The Best...Album in the World...Ever! my understanding from the cassette label is that it is as point of fact volume or edition 5 of this, although it does not appear to make this clear on the artwork.
the tapes of this gem are ones i picked up either in 1997 or 1998. i made the investment on a trip back home, for of course at the time i was living my exile years in the Africa of the South. for those with a keen sense of the importance of provenance, the CD copy is one i picked up in the last couple of years for a silly low price; i suspect south of £2.
you probably, now that i look at it, can't make out the tracklist on that above picture. should you be really or particularly interested, well then here is a link to the full tracklisting.
my car stereo at the time, smart as it was, could only have one tape in it at a time. if it had been one where you could load two in, then these two tapes might as well have been welded in to it from 97 or 98 through to, say, 2001 or 2002 or whenever it was exactly when that particular blew up, through no fault of my own, on the busiest section of the busiest highway in Africa, during rush hour.
just how good is it? well, i kept playing it for years despite them twats Radiohead being on it. and the Presidents of the United States of America, who really should have considered a shorter name. POTUS, perhaps. the mix is just so excellent that the tapes got played through and through.
it's a kind of weird nostalgia, really, as i do and do not look back on the days of this tape with any nostalgia or sentimental hygiene. there were good days and also very bad days. this was kind of the soundtrack to it all, mostly. yes, no doubt i jolly well did play these all the way on at least one drive between Jozi and Cape Town, bru.
when one speaks of association with experience and sentiment, they probably mean this. to all intents and purposes the CD set is identical, if not offering superior sound i suppose. but i don't get the same joy or sense of feeling playing the discs as i can recall from playing the tapes.
no, there is no particular reason or purpose to this post, i suppose. just throwing it out there, i guess, so as to have yet more of my memories recorded on the web, for however long all of this lasts. but, that said, if any of you check this out and go yeah, that's a pretty smart mix, then nice one.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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