gonna get the faculty together

howdy pop pickers

indeed, this is another valiant (or vague) attempt to honour that commitment i made to not write of something pertaining to David Bowie once a month for a while. or, in some instances, twice a month, look you see. but, you never know, this - even if by accident - might be useful or interesting in a way which goes further than simply indulging my passion and obsession. although yes, in fairness, it would be moi writing this, so what else is it i must write of. 

some time ago (as in the past, rather than the future, this has happened) i made a purchase. nothing particularly new or out of the ordinary there. also, not even that it was a tape what i bought is all that surprising, truly, what with most new releases once again being made (legally) available in this much cherished format. well, cherished by some of us; them of us what can remember how tape gave us the new experience of the freedom to listen to quality vibes on the go, or anywhere. 

my interest in, and purchase of, this tape was not really for reasons to do with the tape itself. whilst it seemed to be a splendid, if unspecified, tape (more on that in a bit), it was that which came with the cassette, or on it (on the box) which took my fancy, grabbed my interest and (very easily, admittedly) persuaded me to purchase. 

yes, for something of a change, more tin machine stuff from me. no, it is not november, or the fifth of november, yet (at least not at time of writing, i have no control over when you read this), so not my regular tin machine musings. although the one in place for later this year does indeed echo some of what this is all about. 

to be specific, and there is nothing negatively pedantic about wishing for such, it is (ostensibly) a cassette single of the second single released in furtherance of promoting the Tin Machine II album, with that particular recording (or "cut") being Baby Universal. interestingly enough, it is paired, as a sort of quasi b-side, with You Belong In Rock N Roll, the first single released ahead of the album. 

both of these are mighty fine songs, and quite a few would argue the case for them being the two finest on the album. i wouldn't immediately disagree, but i shall forever have a soft spot for One Shot, since that's what the band opened the concert what i (and a friend, and some other people) saw. to be honest, it is so that this recently (at long last) made available again album features several songs which do not bear Hunt Sales as the lead vocalist, and so selecting the "best" of them is a bit academic, if not moot. 

on purchasing this cassette i was not sure which versions, exactly, of either of the two songs listed i was to get. for fans of provenance, a more correct expression may be that i won the auction rather than engaged in a straightforward transaction, so that should tell you where i found it. with regards to a comprehensive provenance statement, off hand i do not recall the final fee paid. my thinking is that i would have considered this very nice to have, but the nice level was finite in terms of amount prepared to pay. more than likely that finite level would be £10, so no doubt i paid somewhere south of that figure, if not too much south. 

it is so that you can sort of (kind of) see the song information on the inlay picture above, assuming that you do not simply get distracted, understandably so, by the picture of the boys in the band. or rather, a slight lack of information. yes, the songs are listed, but no, it does not indicate which versions of them. as it turned out, neither are the "album" versions of the song. the a-side is the 7" edit of Baby Universal, with the what is technically the b-side being the "special long" or "extended" mix of You Belong In Rock N Roll. quite a nice plus, that latter one, as it is relatively rare, featuring on only one of the CD singles and, so far as i am aware, the 12" single released. 

however lovely, wonderful or interesting (to some) the above may very well be, precisely none of it was the motivation for purchase. no, instead, that was for something on the case, or box, of the cassette. very much an instance of my magpie eyes are hungry for the prize, or otherwise a natural proclivity to be drawn to shiny things. shiny things which are tricky to capture in an image without some sort of reflection, but i have tried my best. 

presumably as a "play on name" marketing thing, so as best to promote a band called tin machine they went ahead and made a tin, or metal, plaque or plate to attach to the cassette single. and a quite decent one too, not that i am an expert on such materials (or elements). mindful of this tape, and box, now being, at time of writing, some 29 (twenty nine) years old (!!), it has remained in very good, perhaps even excellent, condition. sure, that could come down to it being well looked after over the years, but then it has to have been of a quality that it was possible to preserve in the first instance 

why did i not purchase this at the time? because i had no idea it existed. nor did any such knowledge of it existing ever come to be mine, or in my possession, until i did a random, infrequent search on the subject of bowie, or in this instance tin machine, to see if there was anything which caught my eye. and this of course very much did. 

as you can (and this may be optimistic of me) hopefully make out, the metal plaque on the cassette does indeed feature the same image from the Tin Machine II album cover, which caused some perhaps needless controversy. it is the (relatively) famous kroisos kouros statue of greek provenance. more can be read of the statue here, and the controversy surrounding use here. 

now that i think on, or simply have paused for thought to reflect on the matter, i did indeed get knacked for arriving at college wearing a concert t-shirt featuring this statue. it was obscene, apparently. hey ho. i am assuming that if the band (but let us be honest, Bowie) had elected to use a similar statute but of a lady it would not have raised quite so many eyebrows or caused quite so much distress. 

to try and keep all of my usual comments on the subject of tin machine as and when it crops up in one convenient paragraph, no, the band were not "rubbish" or similar, that's just lazy journalists. generally, a view held is that tin machine's demise, much like how it came into being, was the whim of Bowie, who was reported as being disappointed with poor sales, or just bored. those in the know, however, have always indicated that it was Tony and Hunt sales who walked, apparently frustrated with the "softer" pop songs (such as Baby Universal and You Belong In Rock N Roll) they were doing, and somewhat disappointed with their royalties kick. of the latter, well, they were not exactly the first musicians to part ways with Bowie with a similar sense. 

what's the sound quality like of the tape itself? very, very good indeed. much like the box and the case (and the plaque thing), it had clearly been looked after. but, also, it's a high quality tape recording to start off with. 

for some reason there's always been an idea floated, or circulated, that the sound (audio) quality of a tape is considerably lower than, say, a compact disc or vinyl record. well, yes, there are a lot of poor, cheaply made tapes out there, and not so good cassette decks. get your hands on a well made tape and a decent player (note, not always the most expensive), and quality vibes are yours. 

but also no, i am uncertain or unsure as to why tape has experienced a revival. it is a revival i have funded, purchasing certain albums in this presumed to be obsolete format as and when they come up, and are of an attractive price. as in, Rolling Stones please note, north of £8 is not getting bought. no matter how nostalgic or fond i may for the days of tape, it remains so that the best "personal stereo", being defined as a small easy to carry device with headphones, i have ever used is the iPod. so of course Apple went right ahead and stopped making them. 

i am quite sure, confident indeed, that the above image represents the entirety of my tin machine singles collection. so far as i can recall there are none missing. yes, just the two singles off of the second album, with only one being in any sort of conventional packaging. the tape is kind of conventional, but the metal (tin) plaque thing on the front is certainly not flat or "streamlined", so it is a bit tricky to store in a standard way. 

none of the singles from the first, self titled (titular) tin machine album? only one of the three they released for that record, the song Tin Machine from the album of the same name by the band of the same name, was one i liked, and it being on the album struck me as being totes sufficient. perhaps one day i will pick up that single, just because, but presently it tends to exchange hands for north of £20, so that day is not likely to be soon. 

unsure as to who(m) any of this might have been of interest (passing or specific) to, but if that's you, well then nice one, and thank you for having a gander and a read. 

be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!