Vinyl I am listening to...

[Simon Wires]

Master seal -Living stereo U.S pressing .

 

[jls001]

This morning's listening - Weather Report 8:30

 

[jls001]

Some recent listenings:
1) Chick Corea - The Song of Singing (Blue Note, Gramaphone of India pressing)
2) Luminescense - by Keith Jarrett - Music for String Orchestra and Saxaphone (ECM 1049)
3) Keith Jarrett - My Song (ECM 1115). This album is fast becoming one of my all-time fav albums. Moody, haunting, melancholic.
4) Shakti with John McLaughlin (Columbia PC 34162). My copy is a demo copy
5) Sting - The Dream of the Blue Turtle (A&M SP 3750). Very anti-war, very anti-nuclear. Reflects the global tension of the cold war of the mid 80s.

 

[jls001]

Recently got hold of a third copy of Suzi Quatro in B&W cover. Rock's first female bass guitarist ..Scheduled for late night spin ..

Reminds me of her "Four Letter Word" and her duet with Smokie, "Stumblin' In". Both were huge hits in the early 80s.

 

[Simon Wires]

1985 Columbia

 

[reubensm]

1985 Columbia

hey, I have this one

I remembered watching the song, Tarzan Boy on Eurotops on Doordarshan, when I was in school. When I was lucky to pick this record up when I was living in New Delhi, some time ago.

 

[Simon Wires]

Reminds me of her "Four Letter Word" and her duet with Smokie, "Stumblin' In". Both were huge hits in the early 80s.

hey, I have this one

I remembered watching the song, Tarzan Boy on Eurotops on Doordarshan, when I was in school. When I was lucky to pick this record up when I was living in New Delhi, some time ago.

Eurotops All day,I was brushing my memory to recollect out this term, but couldn't get that until I read yours.

Suzi Quatros 48-Crash and few numbers from Modern Talking used to be the frequently played ones in Eurotops.

Being located in the southern tip of the country, we had the advantage of watching both Srilankas Roopavahini and limited hours(7:00PM ~11:00PM) relay from DD TVM; Late by 10, I still remember my teen age days, going up to the 2nd floor terrace in pitch dark, to turn the antenna pole towards the west to catch up Eurotops. Some fond memories!!

 

[sughosh]

hey, I have this one

I remembered watching the song, Tarzan Boy on Eurotops on Doordarshan, when I was in school. When I was lucky to pick this record up when I was living in New Delhi, some time ago.

Wow, and I thought I was the only one to have this

It's actually a pretty decent 80s pop LP. Apart from Tarzan boy I quite like Pull the wires, Woody boogie and the title track

 

[reubensm]

Wow, and I thought I was the only one to have this

It's actually a pretty decent 80s pop LP. Apart from Tarzan boy I quite like Pull the wires, Woody boogie and the title track

I have this Baltimora LP and 2 Modern Talking LPs (1) You're my heart, you're my soul and (2) Cherri Cherri Lady. These were all regulars on Eurotops. I wonder if I will come across Falcao's Rock Me Amadeus. That was another favourite during my school days

 

[reubensm]

Being located in the southern tip of the country, we had the advantage of watching both Srilankas Roopavahini and limited hours(7:00PM ~11:00PM) relay from DD TVM; Late by 10, I still remember my teen age days, going up to the 2nd floor terrace in pitch dark, to turn the antenna pole towards the west to catch up Eurotops. Some fond memories!!

Yes, TV came to our home in 1981 before the Asian Games. In those days, we did not have a DD Transmitter in Trivandrum. The local electronics corporation, KELTRON set up a home-brewed experimental 10 Watt transmitter and used to show video cassette based movies every day from 6pm to 9pm. Then somebody discovered that by using a 13 to 24 element yagi antenna on a high mast with a MC60 booster, one could tune in to channel-5 and channel-8 Roopavahini stations. I still remember how the Roopavahani station used to close at 11pm with the Srilankan National anthem, with their country's flag on the screen

We got a low power 100watts DD transmitter in Trivandrum by 1982, just before the Asian Games, a 1000 watts high power transmitter by 1984 for the Los Angeles Olympics and subsequencly a 10kW transmitter and full studio by the late 1980s.

Eurotops, Didi's comedy show, Transtel Telematch, Expedition to the Animal Kingdom, Transtel Musik Laden, etc were some of the common Transtel fare on DD during those days There was also another Transtel cartoon called Babapappa, which was my favourite as a kid...I've never heard of that ever since

 

[ANILKUMAR]

Eurotops All day,I was brushing my memory to recollect out this term, but couldn't get that until I read yours.

Suzi Quatros 48-Crash and few numbers from Modern Talking used to be the frequently played ones in Eurotops.

Being located in the southern tip of the country, we had the advantage of watching both Srilankas Roopavahini and limited hours(7:00PM ~11:00PM) relay from DD TVM; Late by 10, I still remember my teen age days, going up to the 2nd floor terrace in pitch dark, to turn the antenna pole towards the west to catch up Eurotops. Some fond memories!!

Also, Aneka's "Japanese Boy" and Lip Inc's "Funky Town" topped the charts during that period. I searched a lot for "Japanese boy" and finally could get it in a POP compilation album.

 

[Simon Wires]

Goody Goody .. The popular song and album by Vincent Montana Jr.

Sunil Ganguly - The street seller strongly and repeatedly stressed me to pick this and I obliged , though I had apprehensions about that fitting my taste ..

Played it today and turned out to be too too good.. Now I need to look out for another near mint copy .. Regret ,I missed
to pick up his other guitar solo albums which was available to me at throw away price

 

[Simon Wires]

Courtesy FM Anil Kumar.
Mike & The Mechanics

.

 

[jls001]

After a jazz overkill, listening to childhood fav

 

[Simon Wires]

Covert Art !!


He was 23 years old on 27/May/1975;must be 62 now ! . Wonder why this thoughtful birthday gift, got landed in Calcutta's flea market !!
May be, he got convinced by track 9, Devil Woman

Ringo Star - Album Ringo - Gate fold ..

 

[reubensm]

Very nostalgic and romantic. They would be grandparents now

I would hate to say this but one of the primary reasons behind a lot of records being sold off or given away is "Death". I have known so many families, who owned significant record collections. When the old man (or at times, middle aged man) passes, the family just disposes them. There are also a few guys who opt for digitizing these and letting them go after their turntables died and they did not bother to get them fixed or replaced.

I always believed that the wife and kids should also be involved in the hobby to ensure that after the primary hobbiest disappers, others are there to take these on themselves or pass on the collection to the right persons.

It was common practice to give records as birthday gifts, wedding anniversary gifts and even as prizes. Mom received quite a few from dad back in the day. i have many many records with birthday wishes on them.

Covert Art !!


He was 23 years old on 27/May/1975;must be 62 now ! . Wonder why this thoughtful birthday gift, got landed in Calcutta's flea market !!
May be, he got convinced by track 9, Devil Woman

Ringo Star - Album Ringo - Gate fold ..

 

[Saket]

I would hate to say this but one of the primary reasons behind a lot of records being sold off or given away is "Death". I have known so many families, who owned significant record collections. When the old man (or at times, middle aged man) passes, the family just disposes them.

True. I have also heard that many rich Bengali families in Kolkata have big record collections. Many times the servants/ care takers of the house sell it to the record vendors at throw away prices by way of 'stealing' some of the records from the huge collection.

 

[reubensm]

The year was 1979. I was 8 years old and in Standard 3. Towards the end of 1979, news started coming in Filmfare and Star N Style magazines that a huge hindi movie was being shot about a train catching fire. Grandma used to tell us about stories and trivia she used to read in these magazines (these were regulars at home back then). These were so intriguing and fascinating. Then during early 1980s, the rich kiddos at school started humming songs with catchy tunes, they said it was from a new hindi movie which was being made. They also took pride in their parents owning this record as it used to sell out within days of hitting the shops. Dad used to say that people would book in advance and so even if stock arrived, the sellers would not display the record on the shelves. This may sound funny but it actually happened in a place like Trivandrum (and were not talking Malayalam movies here). By around Feb (if I recollect correctly), pictures started appearing in the Indian Express (our newspaper at home back then) and we took great pride in collecting these posters with a railway engine pulling a train on fire. The movie is The Burning Train.

Rahul Dev Burman was a big deal in those days as people from the Trivandrum, not to familiar with the classical side of Bollowood music, took to his feet tapping, catchy music. Everyone had to own this record. Dad had been walking in and out of stores almost every week but could not get hold of a record. Store owners had waiting lists and would sell to their friends and on recommendation. They would not display Burning Train records on the shelf in the store.

The movie released sometime in April (if I remember correctly) was running to packed houses. We started troubling Dad to take us for the movie. He tried for the first 2 months to get tickets but never succeeded due to huge interest and advance bookings for the first 2 months. There was an article in the local newspapers that the North Indian population at the ISRO center in Trivandrum had booked the theatre for all shows on one full day for their friends, family and office colleagues. Once, dad took a chance and took us to the movie theatre, trying to buy unreserved tickets from the box office. I remember there was a huge queue and we could not even get close to the box office by the time the House full board was displayed. We were very disappointed and as a consolation, Dad took us to Trivandrum Central Station and showed us the departing KK Express (now known as the Kerala Express) to New Delhi. The engine looked similar to the one on the movie poster.

Dad always wanted this record and somehow he could never buy it. A friend who managed to get a copy (and would not lend it) offered to copy it on tape for him (with dolby which was a big deal then) and thats who we managed to listen to The Burning Train at home (and ever since). We ultimately got to see the movie at the Cinema and we were hooked for life. I have the DVD and with my son (who is also a Burning Train enthusiast) still watch it once in a while today (and whenever it comes on cable TV also). The dream of owning a Burning Train record remained un-fulfilled.

Turning the clock to the present. When I decided to get a few Hindi records to broaden my listening taste, this was the first title, together with Nazias Disco Deewane that came to mind (both related to memories from childhood). When I enquired, I realized that the Burning Train had become one of the most sort after Bollywood records and was perhaps one of the best pressed Bollywood records of all time. One guy demanded Rs.5000 for what he claimed was an unopened copy (I am sure this is not true as I recall, Indian releases back in the day were not shrink-wrapped), the rest were asking for between Rs.2000 to Rs.3000. I thought, well, lets not get into something that expensive just for nostalgia.

Last night however, for the very first time (34 years after we first talked about it), the Title music of The Burning Train played out from the speakers at home, from a record. Thanks to my good friend Simon, who took all the trouble to hunt this out from a stack of over 4000 records in a Kolkatta store during Easter season and send it across to me with a collection of other vintage Bollywood records, this dream was finally realized. And yes, the sound quality of this pressing is truly amazing, so much better than every other bollywood record that I have or have heard. This record is a true classic.

Thanks once again Simon and sorry for the long post, felt nostalgic about it so kept writing.

Here's a picture of the original album cover (my copy is without its original cover but who cares, the record plays and sounds real nice)

 

[peace_sells]

The year was 1979.

Congrats Reuben! I can only imagine how you must feel to finally own that record And kudos to Simon! :clapping:

 

[Saket]

Congrats Reuben on getting the coveted record. I have heard the record at Prateek's (FM) home on a SL-1210 and it did sound very nice to my ears. Came across this record in Kolkata for about 500 bucks, IIRC, but then I declined as for me, it was more of a collectible than a musical album. But that is my personal take on it. Happy for you that you got it finally. I remember a lot of your posts conveying a 'secret' desire to own that record.

Regards,
Saket