Early Personal CDRs

A few years after we started in November 1994 I splashed out on what was then cutting edge technology (sort of) in the shape of my first hi fi separates including a CDR recorder / burner. This was maybe 1997 (?) and well before the now ubiquitous nature of PC CDR / DVD drives. I wanted to burn CDs of singles and album tracks and in those days it was like the old days of cassette recorders - cue up, press record and hope you (a) don't cut the start of the track off or (b) have three seconds blank at the start of a track. There was also the added complication that the CD didn't always want to record and I'd get a 30 second blank. In those days CDR discs were maybe three quid or you could splash out maybe £8 for a re-recordable CD-RW, burn onto that (erasing errors first) and then copying from CD to CD-R. Not for me then select tunes online, download and burn in maybe 30 minutes total from start to finish. There was no such thing as volume levelling, editing of crackles and hisses or cross fading.

I was quite pleased with my first effort, imaginatively entitled "AOY The CDR Pt.1" and represents what I was playing then from a mix of single, LP / compilation and the odd CD:

Mike Cotton Sound - Harlem Shuffle
Sly - Buttermilk Pt 1
Brother Jack McDuff - Let My People Go
The Brand - I’m A Lover Not A Fighter
Thane Russell - Security
The Action - Hey Sha-lo-ney
Hayward Lee - Oogaloo
Fabulous Peps - So Fine
Little Caesar - Everybody Dance Now
Jimmy McGriff - The Worm
Monk Higgins - Watermelon Man
The Betterdays - Don’t Want That
Sonic Invasion - Go Out And Get Her
? & the Mysterians - Got To
Buddy McKnight - Everytime Pt 2
Andre Williams - Do The Popcorn
Eddie Wilson - Shing-a-ling Stroll
Little Mac - In The Midnight Hour
Billy Hawks - Oh Baby I Believe I’m Losing You
Georgie Fame - Somebody Stole My Thunder
The Birds - Say Those Magic Words
Mike & Ike - Ya Ya
Brian Auger - Black Cat
Jimmy Smith - Stay Loose
Rhinoceros - Apricot Brandy
Barry “Barefoot” Beefus - Barefoot Beefus
John Mayall - Crocodile Walk

Quite a mix of genres but I loved the lot (still do) and infact most of these languish unplayed now although Georgie Fame and The Action still get an airing. I particularly lve the Beefus which I have on very quietly cut "This Is Loma Volume 2 or 4 (?)" LP - infact I have the set of I think seven comps in this series. Anyway...

Around the same time I received / swapped comps and this one I found lurking on my MP3 player in the gym last week:

Booker T and the MGs - Plum Nellie
Caretakers - East Side Story
Bob and Ray - Air Travel
Julian Covey - Sweet Bacon
Clarence Carter - Snatching It Back
Wimple Winch - Save My Soul
Baby Washington - Think About The Good Times
Woggles - My Baby Like To Boogaloo
Joe Tex - You're Right Ray Charles
Music Machine - 96 Tears
Patti Drew - Fever
Johnny Taylor - Who's Making Love
Ike and Tina Turner - Ya Ya
Deep Purple - Hush
Mongo Santamaria - Sweet Tater Pie
Ray Charles - I Chose To Sing The Blues
Apostolic Intervention - Tell Me Have You Ever Seen Me
Johnny Jones and the King Casuals - Soul Poppin'
Elmore James - Shake Your Moneymaker
Etta James - Do I Make Myself Clear
Dee Clark - My Little Girl In The High School Sweater
Jackie Ivory - Do It To Death
France Gall - Der Computer No.3
Honeybus - Tender Are The Ashes
Perry and the Harmonics - Do The Monkey With James
Tina Britt - Sookie Sookie
Cyril Davies' All Stars - Someday baby
Lavern baker and Jimmy Ricks - You're The Boss

Interesting mix of the outstanding and the slightly bizzare. Loved the MGs "Plum Nellie" and am ashamed to say that even after listening to soul in various guises for nearly 30 years don't recall having heard this. I assume it's the same as the Small faces, although I've seen it attributed to both Marriott / Lane and Cropper / Dunn etc and I've seen (not yet heard) a similar titled track by Jimmy Smith