The (English) Beat Live at Bradford 1982 Audio Cassette

This is a real nostalgic treat. It’s a bootleg tape of The (English) Beat, playing a blistering live set in Bradford on 9th October 1982. Recording quality is poor, but the performance easily makes up for that, and it would have been a crime to let the less-than-professional recording prevent that fantastic performance from being preserved. I bought the tape – dubbed onto a Sony CHF-90 (how typical of the time) – from one of the record fairs held in Birmingham and the West Midlands either in late 1982 or early 1983. The inlay is in most ways typical of those on early ‘80s bootlegs – typed and photocopied onto matt-finish paper in an eyecatching solid colour. However, in this case the paper is thick and stiff enough to be described as card, which was quite a luxury at the time.

BASF Ferro Super I Audio Cassette (1989)

One of the problems with striving to improve Type I normal position audio tapes was that whatever manufacturers did with them, they were always still Type Is. That may not have been a problem technically. If the sound and signal to noise characteristics were massively better than those of a very basic, low end Type I, then a higher end Type I would have merit and, in real terms, justify its extra cost.

Johnnie Johnson – Johnnie B Bad Audio Cassette (1991)

It’s feasible that you won’t have heard the name Johnnie Johnson, but if you’ve ever heard one of Chuck Berry’s best known hits, you’ll have heard him play the piano. Johnnie Johnson, however, was far more than just Chuck Berry’s pianist. Johnson actually formed the band, and ran it as a trio before involving Berry as an extrovert frontman. Much of Chuck Berry’s guitar playing (and certainly the bits most people now associate with him having brought to the world) was highly reminiscent of Johnnie Johnson’s piano work. Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards was of the view that Chuck had essentially adapted Johnnie’s piano playing for the guitar, thus hitting upon a novel and exciting style, which came to define rock ‘n’ roll lead guitar. That, I feel, is a pretty fair synopsis.