1983 Sony BHF 90 Audio Cassette

As normal bias tapes went in the early ‘eighties, Sony’s offerings were pretty good. This is a 1983 Sony BHF 90 – the BHF being a step up in quality and definition from the lowly Sony CHF. Visually, these were an upgrade on the BHFs from the previous year, featuring a sort of metallic foil finish on the label rather than plain paper as in 1982. There may possibly also have been a slight improvement in sound, but my recording equipment in the early 1980s was so poor, and of course so much time has now elapsed since these tapes were new, that it’s very difficult to tell. These are good tapes though – with considerable treble response for normal bias ferrics.

1978 Dindy Super C60 Audio Cassette

A Dindy Super ‘Low Noise’ special from 1978. Sixty minutes of pretty seriously lo-fi recording time. I wonder how many of these got through their inaugural year without at least temporarily preserving the inescapable tones of John Travolta and Olivia Newton John? This one didn’t manage it.

1983 Agfa FeI Ferrocolor HD Audio Cassette

A 60 minute Agfa FeI Ferrocolor HD tape from 1983. I got this from one of the many record fairs which were such a major part of the culture for young people in the early ‘eighties. It was a standard Type 1 normal bias cassette, such as you’d buy blank on the high street. But like so many of the tapes bought at record fairs, this one came pre-recorded with a bootlegged live performance – in this case, from punk rock band The Damned. The quality of these bootlegged recordings would range from acceptable down to abysmal. This one, sadly, was near the abysmal end of the scale. However, I’d been at the gig in question, at the Tower Ballroom, Birmingham, on 8th September ’83 – and I wanted a lasting memory of it. I’d have preferred a decent recording, but I wasn’t gonna let extreme lo-fi put me off.