improbability drive

howdy pop pickers

well, this is curious. believe me, i had no intention, look you see, of starting off the second month of this year precisely as i did the first. which is making extensive reference to what is (probably) the greatest work of art what the twentieth century produced, or as it is called for short Tommy by The Who. 

presently, and at the time of writing, it would be fair to say that i own (or am the custodian of) several copies of Tommy in its original album format. off memory (i cannot recall many things with too much precision no more), at least two variations of "regular" CD, one which preserves it as a two disc affair and one as a single, some form of "special edition" CD that came with a "live bootleg" of the whole thing, and i think two copies of it on vinyl. also, Daltrey's (fairly) recent "Orchestral" version of it. and some DVDs, videos and what have you. 

quite by chance, a chance presented itself to take ownership (be custodian sense) of another variation of the work that is Tommy on an entirely different format. so, i took the chance. 

yes, in the greater good and glory of Commodore 64 mode, there is the version of Tommy what The Who did with both the London Symphony Orchestra and star guests. on, as many of you will have no need for me to define or explain, the 8 Track format. 

as far as i am aware, indeed concerned, this is the first time that i have ever owned (or been designated the protectorate of) any vibes in this somewhat, or rather, different format. how splendid that it should be so that it's a particularly fine recording what i have for a first then. also, in all likelihood, this is the last instance of me taking ownership of vibes, or anything, in this format. 

just what is, or was (is, as it still seems to be around), 8 Track? well, i could do a google and give you an extensive, proper answer. but, you could do that. let me trust memory and experience, then. which is going to be interesting, as such is very limited indeed. 

my basic, rudimentary understanding (as in guess) was or is that 8 Track was or is the "stepping stone" between reel to reel tape and them what we now know as conventional tapes. i am unsure that they were ever all that popular here in the UK, and i generally associate the format with our friends in America. 

i base the above purely on only ever knowing one (1) person what had an 8 Track here in the UK, although there might have been a second. but, the only friend i can remember having one and actually having it play whilst i was in their presence was the illustrious Norman B@st@ard. this was not a particularly good experience of it, either, as he had attempted to record some new stuff on an old 8 Track tape, unsuccessfully. either the tape was damaged, or it was a flaw in the format, but it seemed to cut and chop between parts of different songs as it played. also we might have pressed a "random" button if it had such a feature, or twatted it one so it was indeed broken. 

how did i come to take ownership of this complete set of Tommy as performed by The Who, the LSO (and that is just to save me typing out London Symphony Orchestra, also saving you valuable time in reading London Symphony Orchestra again and again. oh) and some special friends? a complete surprise act of random kindness, explained a bit more after another image for all of you who might for one reason or another be interested in this. 

no, i am not particularly what one would call "social". it is not really difficult to be not, for as someone close stresses, really everyone hates me, can see through my mask, despite me, etc. quite reassuring how often i get told this, in case i forget. but, leaving that aside, i do "keep a hand" in one or two social things, so as to ward off concern. whilst i am not going to give you the details, in such a forum one person was having a rough day, and wished to do a random act of kindness, offering these to anyone what might be interested in them, free, and they would pay postage too. very generous indeed, i took them up on it, and of course offered to pay something and cover postage. they were having none of it. 

and so here we are. lovely stuff. 

from what i can work out, or gather (ascertain, perhaps) there is a most curious effort going on to try and revive this format. unless it was all one grand and "practical" joke where i missed the punchline, for Christmas 2020 one could purchase a Dolly Parton Christmas Album on 8 Track. it strikes me as there is little more in the world which could be quite so quintessentially American as this, which may well be why i associate the format with our friends in the good ole' US of A. yee ha, etc. 

shall it be so that i ever, you know, actually play these tapes? if, of course, "tapes" is the correct way to refer to an 8 Track. my understanding is that yes, it is so, for in the above picture you can clearly see the tape itself, housed in the cartridge. going on from that clarification, at this point no, it seems unlikely that i will be able to check them out by means of playing them.

once i (gratefully) received the 8 Track tapes, i did indeed take to the greatest and most best known of car boot sales of the internet to inspect what was available in respect of players. we speak, of course, of a technology which was rendered obsolete somewhere north of 40 years ago, meaning that i went for a look with little optimism. some speculative reading and the odd glance revealed that the market dictates a valuation degrees north of £50 for an 8 Track player which might work. also, it might not. to put a sort of kind of fiscal sense context to that, for between £10 and £20 i could get this Tommy variation in a compact disc or vinyl record format and just play it. or, indeed, for £0, just "borrow" it off of the internet, as i believe one can do. 

when i posted news of my procurement of this Tommy set on one of the social media things (yes, maybe i am more active than i mentioned before), some comments came in. one spoke of fond memories of the format, another commented how hideous the sound is off of them. this neither shrinks nor expands my existing understanding of the format, but it does solidify the stance which says i probably would not be wise to spend significant coins of money on a player just to see what might happen. or hear, i suppose. 

anything more i can tell you on the actual recordings? for some reason i thought it was done as a kind of charity thing, but i have checked and no, done purely because they could. guest starts (artistes, if you prefer) include Rod Stewart (who was supposed to do the whole thing alone but did not), Ringo Starr, Steve Winwood, Richard Harris (yes, that one) and some others. i am almost certain that i have indeed heard this particular variation of Tommy, and that i have not (prior to this set) retained a copy of it probably speaks of what i thought of it. 

my thanks, once more, then, to the random generosity of a random internet stranger for these 8 Track tapes now forming part of my collection of stuff off of The Who. sit here, they shall, looking kind of cool and interesting. 

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