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New They Might Be Giants Album....on 8-Track

I have Flood from new on LP but I have never stumbled across mention of any other album so far as I recall - this will be their 17th!!!!

I shall always remember that Flood was championed in a very big by the music journo'/DJ that was subsequently put inside for sexual offences...............the name escapes me.

Finding an 8-track player, I suspect, will be quite some challenge, or at anything but crazy price.
 
TMBG are still going strong. I won't even call them a "guilty pleasure." They're just one of my favorite bands, which would seem highly incongruent if you knew my usual tastes. I greatly respect that they have just continued to do their own thing for nearly 40 years, with no regard to whether or not it was ever cool. I don't think "cool" is even a relevant term when talking about them. And so once you a) shed any notion of whether or not the music is cool and b) let go and just take their style for what it is (fairly distinct from anything, really, but nevertheless with fairly diverse inspirations), they can become quite enjoyable. That said, I can understand why someone might not like listening to them.

Great live shows too, btw. I took my wife to one, which immediately converted from from anti-TMBG to pro-TMBG.
 
I seldom play, but do really like TMBG based entirely upon Flood.
I will investigate more of their stuff - only 15/16 albums to catch up on :)

The champion for Flood, was Johnathan King, BTW.
 
I seldom play, but do really like TMBG based entirely upon Flood.
I will investigate more of their stuff - only 15/16 albums to catch up on :)

The champion for Flood, was Johnathan King, BTW.

Admittedly some post-Flood albums have been better than others. "Apollo 18" is the last album in the classic style. I really like the albums that followed Apollo 18 in the mid-90's, "John Henry" and "Factory Showroom", which were their first with a full backing band. I would then fast-forward all the way to "Join Us" from 2011 which IMO is the best of their modern albums (there were good things before it but none were quite as cohesive and consistently good as Join Us). "Nanobots" and "Glean" are also good, but better first to check if you're still on-board with TMBG via John Henry, Factory Showroom, and/or Join Us.
 
Finding an 8-track player, I suspect, will be quite some challenge, or at anything but crazy price.

Actually a quick eBay search suggests that there are plenty around and relatively cheap....at least they are at the moment!
 
Indeed - just checked.
I am amazed - I only recall them ever being anywhere near popular as in-car units (of which there are quite a few for sale too) - serious PITA in a car due to the small-brick-sized tapes.
 
There is still a continuing subculture of 8-trackers in the general tape heads community.

If one wants to try, a Radio Shack half size replay only unit is good, cheap and plentiful.

Once the descent takes hold, it's Wollensak and Akai....

I buy tapes at ~$5-10 range. Buy from sellers that replace the pads, etc. Don't buy new, sealed tapes - many have deteriorated pads and are often unplayable.
 
I am correct in remembering that recording 8-track tapes was very seldom done/never at home? The huge majority/all of use was with commercially recorded tapes?
 
I am correct in remembering that recording 8-track tapes was very seldom done/never at home? The huge majority/all of use was with commercially recorded tapes?
Not sure about that...my better decks all had recording and my "final deck" - Wollensak - even has Dolby. When 8-track was king it was the only friendly recording format - there were no cassettes yet.
 
There are folks that specialize in 8-track repairs. Unfortunately, the deck that I like the best - one of the last Wollensak models, is essentially unrepairable. It basically can't be taken apart today due to deterioration of the adjustment pots, etc. Fortunately, my seems to be in good shape - should do a head adjustment, but that part is pretty easy,
 
It may be a consequence of the format, in the UK at least, being very, very much associated with in-car use - when it arrived it did revolutionise ICE. Obviously in-car players were that - players.
 


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