Guess who was at the Tucson Mall on this day in 1985? This guy. Bill's was having a sale - these are all Nice Price titles on the CBS family of labels.
- The Pink Floyd disc had a few rarities: a David Gilmour solo re-recording of "Money" and, unique to this disc, patchwork edits of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" and "Another Brick In The Wall, Pt. 2".
- The Ants album was a replacement - one of my gal pals was madly in love with Adam's cover look and I reluctantly parted with it, living with a cassette dub until buying this vinyl replacement.
- I might like the Romeo Void album better if I had listened to it but I only bought it for "Never Say Never".
- Six of the eleven tracks on Metalmania were/are favorites though not exactly metallic and the price was right so, despite the hideous cover art, the album earned a trip to the checkout counter.
Prince Charming - Adam and the Ants (1981)
Benefactor - Romeo Void (1982)
Metalmania - various artists (1985)
Down at Musicland, I picked up what I thought at the time were the second and third albums from Red Rider. Later, I would discover there was indeed an album before As Far As Siam, making these the third and fourth albums. Though they never were played as much as AFAS, both albums found a home with Neruda especially revealing lots of goodness over time.
Breaking Curfew - Red Rider (1984)
There were three record stores in the Tucson Mall in 1985: Bill's, Musicland and Wherehouse. Within a couple of years, a CD only independent store would open up and then one by one all the record stores in the mall closed. I think Musicland lasted the longest but it moved to a new location and a had a different name before closing.
- Heaven 17's third album, How Men Are, was released in September 1984. The final song on the album is the epic, ten minute "...(and that's no lie)" and I still love that song today It was the third single spun off from the album and this 12" had been "re-mixed to enhance danceability" featuring a just over six minute version of the song.
Driving back down from the mall, I stopped in at Hollywood Records and snagged my girlfriend's favorite song of the moment on a 45. Also picked up the red-hot Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack and a K-tel like compilation called High Energy which claimed to contain "original twelve-inch mixes".
Beverly Hills Cop - soundtrack (1984)
High Energy - various artists (1985)
"Say It Again" (7") - Santana (1985)
BY REQUEST:
Someone asked: "What was your setup like back in '85?"
In 1985, my stereo setup consisted of the Sharp VZ-2000, a Sharp RT-350 cassette deck, and the Pioneer CA-100 Tape Creating Amplifier. (I still have all three although I am confident they all need repairs.) I always sampled different blank tapes like today's Sony's UCX 90's but always returned to my tried and true favorite: TDK SA-90.
I still have both Red Rider albums on vinyl as well as the Heaven 17 twelve inch and the Santana 7 inch. Two copies of that last one as my wife brought one into the marriage. I do not have Metalmania or High Energy on compact disc. I do have all the songs from those two albums on other CDs though - I just checked.
In 1985, my stereo setup consisted of the Sharp VZ-2000, a Sharp RT-350 cassette deck, and the Pioneer CA-100 Tape Creating Amplifier. (I still have all three although I am confident they all need repairs.) I always sampled different blank tapes like today's Sony's UCX 90's but always returned to my tried and true favorite: TDK SA-90.
Later in 1985 or possibly early 1986, I upgraded the cassette deck to the sweet Aiwa AD-WX220. This bad boy is a programmable auto reverse high-speed dubbing deck. If I was asked to copy one of my mixtapes, I would load it into deck I and a blank tape in deck II. Press a couple of buttons and about twenty-five minutes later, it was all done - no need to flip either cassette. And if I didn't need to copy a whole tape, just certain songs, I'd select which songs using those gray buttons numbered 1-9 and they'd magically be dubbed onto the blank in whatever order I chose. It truly was a thing of beauty, folks. Provided there were three-second gaps of silence between songs, you could program it to play the songs on a tape in a different order and it would play, rewind, fast forward and "flip the tape" all by itself. The deck lasted nearly a dozen years and recorded hundreds, maybe thousands of tapes before giving up the ghost whereupon I purchased my last cassette deck to date: a Sony TC-WE805S.
VINYL SURVIVORS:
From now through the rest of the year, I'm not going to mention if I have the albums on CD. I will note the fact if I don't have the album on CD and whether or not I still have it on vinyl.I still have both Red Rider albums on vinyl as well as the Heaven 17 twelve inch and the Santana 7 inch. Two copies of that last one as my wife brought one into the marriage. I do not have Metalmania or High Energy on compact disc. I do have all the songs from those two albums on other CDs though - I just checked.
The TOTAL TALLY:
records bought: 78
money spent: $441.31
I'm 1-for-10 on today's purchases. At the time, the only record I had of these 10 was Prince Charming.
ReplyDeleteGlad you included your set-up. I'm more than a little envious. In 1985, I was using a Fisher all-in-one MC-725 that my parents gave me for high school graduation the year prior. It was compact (by 1985 standards) and could be easily in and out of dorm rooms. It worked great but would go through cartridges like a mother.
That's a sweet all-in-one with equalizer. My first system, way back in 1976, was a Soundesign all in one with record player, radio and 8-track. That was what I rocked, with an added cassette deck, until someone said seperate components was where it was at. Purchased the boombox with first few paychecks and then the cassette deck. The Pioneer dealie was a gift and pretty cool as it would auto fade tracks in three diffferent lengths, crossfade between tracks at three different intervals puls it had that "panning" effect and the equalizer. Was obsessed with non-stop, cross-faded mixtapes back then for two reasons: I liked the idea of no silence between songs and it made it harder for people to copy parts of my mixes. To this day, I listen to Spotify or MediaMonkey on crossfade so the music never stops.
DeleteI have not picked up as much of Red Rider as I should. I do have the third Heaven 17 album in my digital library - you know how much of a fan I am of Heaven 17.
ReplyDeleteIf I remember correctly from your 100th post, you are five foot eleven which makes you a taller Heaven 17 fan than me. But if you want to compare body mass, I'm afraid I have you beat, Martin.
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