Call it a mid-life crisis if you will (the P sure did), but in fall of 2006 I became consumed with the idea of building the finest 8-Track tape collection possible. One of the first steps in that process was buying a primo vintage Panasonic 8-Track stereo component off e-bay, so I could listen to my finds. To my amazement, this component is smaller than your average single deck cd player. And as an added bonus, it sounds great and works perfectly.
I’m guessing that most reasonable people haven’t heard an 8-Track in almost 30 years (if ever). So the old chestnut that “8-Tracks sound terrible” is based more on collective word-of-mouth than actual experience. In fact, damaged 8-Tracks do sound terrible, but tapes that have been well cared for and properly stored actually sound much better than compact discs or MP3s. Think of it this way: if you’d only heard scratched up records on broken turntables, you’d probably think the LP is a terrible format (many do… excuse me while I weep with pity for them). You’d be right to believe that, but you wouldn’t necessarily be right.
It’s hard to explain why I thought speculating in 8-Tracks was a good idea. It goes against all common sense, not to mention the ufo-believin’, National Enquirer readin’ stigma that’s firmly married to the format. But the first time my friend Jason saw my 8-Tracks he took one off the shelf and ran his fingers over the tape. “I just want to touch it,” he said, sounding like a 12 year old boy handling a Playboy magazine, “analog tape is like an endangered specie nowadays.” His reaction instantly summed up my feelings about why this was an important project. It was partly an act of cultural preservation, and partly just a bored idiot doing something to see if it could be done.
Well mission accomplished, and then some. This is the first part in an ongoing series that will highlight some of my favorite tapes, and allow me to wax philosophically about the forgotten joys of the 8-Track. At the very least, it will give you, discerning reader, the opportunity to see some all-time great albums in an oddball alternate format, and ridicule me mercilessly for my bad taste.
With that, let’s hop in the time machine and go for a ride. Set the controls for the heart of 70′s…
The Doors * L.A. Woman – Listening to this album on 8-Track was like listening to it for the first time all over again. I’m totally convinced that the 8-Track version of this album was mixed differently than the LP/CD version. The bass and drums are featured much higher in the mix here, and explode out of the speakers in a way that always leaves me shaking my head. Trust me, there’s stuff in there that you just can’t hear any other way.
Pink Floyd * Animals – Because 8-Tracks play continuously, the last song of the album bleeds into the first track, kicking the album off again. The 8-Track version of Animals is notable because it fuses the last and first songs (Pigs On The Wing, Parts II and I, respectively) with a pretty killer guitar solo that is impossible to find anywhere else. The roadie who played that solo did such a convincing guitar impersonation of David Gilmour that it was only years later that anyone figured out that Gilmour hadn’t played the part.
The Clash * London Calling – Just an amazing album in any format.
Steely Dan * Aja – This 8-Track rates extremely high for me, because Donald Fagen and Walter Becker are such noted sonic uber-perfectionists. I get a huge kick out of imagining their reactions if they knew I was playing their stuff on vintage analog equipment. In fact, I’m pretty sure that this picture is brighter than the others here because Fagen and/or Becker had an aneurysm exactly when I snapped the photo. It sounds great fellas – keep up the good work!
Various Artists * Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era – Ah, Nuggets. Is there anything they can’t do? Talk about music that was made to be heard on analog equipment. There are some albums that have other people’s past good times attached to them like a faded scent, and that’s pretty damned cool. I can easily picture someone like my late Uncle Buzz, pulling this 8-Track out of the glove compartment while cruising down the highway in his purple TR-6, wind blowing in his hair and a big smile on his face…
Tags: Nuggets, Pink Floyd, Steely Dan, The 8-Track Diaries, The Clash, The Doors
13 March 2008 at 11:38 pm |
To laugh AT or to laugh WITH, that is the question…. I am saddened to report that under California community property law, I own these too, as these precious “assets” were acquired after we were betrothed. Then again, half of zero is, um, zero….
14 March 2008 at 7:54 am |
Yeah!!!
I’ve listened to the “American Graffiti” soundtrack more times than I’d like to admit; it was one of my parents’ favorite 8-tracks back in the dizzay…
Good times…
14 March 2008 at 8:34 am |
At one time in my youth here on the jersey shore i would actually go to the seaside boardwalk and win 8-tracks! ya know, put the quater on the board – spin the wheel type shit…
my step pop had an 8-track player in his car and we would jam deep purple, black sabbath, robin trower, jimi hendrix and so on in his car on the way to concerts! yep, he took me to see ozzy osbourne 5 times with randy rhoads!!! my step dad was cool once…. heh….
That being said I had a friend who years ago thought the same thing as you dk, that he was going to collect all 8-tracks (where are you rob hultz?) and i gave him ALL of mine…. weep, weep, weep…. a whole tall wicker laundry / hamper basket full of them…… and that as they say is 8-track history…. or at least mine.
14 March 2008 at 8:36 am |
and man o man, thats a sweet lookin nuggets 8….
14 March 2008 at 8:38 am |
Ok… I get the album thing. Granted, my love of vinyl doesn’t approach your love or unbelievable collection. I do not, however, get an 8 track obsession at all! I was so thrilled when cassette tapes came along because I hated 8 tracks. Nostalgic yes, better sounding? Are you “gardening” when you listen to these? I vividly remember them sounding like crap… on a good day, good player, stars in alignment, etc. You may just be a pathological hoarder. Think about it…
14 March 2008 at 9:00 am |
I started buying cheap vinyl in 1990 because music stores were practically giving the stuff away. Records at that time hadn’t fallen quite as far off the cultural radar as 8-Tracks are now, but they were pretty down and out, and there were many people who looked askance at me because I was collecting LPs. You’d think I was collecting Legos™ or lunchboxes, the way some folks looked at me like a bug under glass.
Fast forward 10 years and vinyl is no longer the red-headed stepchild format that it once was. People now take it seriously, it doesn’t feel like something out of the 70′s, and nearly every new release is issued on LP. I haven’t even had anyone look down on me for my record collection in a really long time. Amazing how times have changed…
None of this is to say that 8-Tracks will some day make a glorious comeback (they won’t, and shouldn’t). And yes, the format is flawed in a few crucial ways that are undeniable (no jumping from track to track being the biggie). But for me, it felt great going against the grain of popular culture – reminded me of my early days of buying fire-sale records for a quarter apiece and running home to listen to them. There’s no question I’m a music hoarder. You’d have to ask the P about the pathological part.
I suspect that you speak for many. Thanks for keeping it real…
14 March 2008 at 9:29 am |
it is admirable and wonderful to hear such an impassioned case for the superior sonics of the 8-track tape. and while i understand what you’re saying, i would also make the case that the 8-track marked the beginning of the commoditization of music. by tweaking the sequence of tracks in order to create four approximately-equal programs, much was — and forever will be — lost.
to say it another way, it was the first culturally acceptable form of ‘random play.’ and who knew how slippery that slope would become.
fast forward to 2008, and today’s mP3 generation pays no mind to the concept of track sequence. hell, most of the world seems to prefer NOT listening to the entire release.
so while it seems that the music world has come full circle back to the age of singles (45 rpms 2.0), i can’t help but hold 8-tracks partially accountable for artists losing control of their musical vision, all for the sake of “convenience” (not to mention the mighty dollar, which back then the artists never received anyway).
now…am i saying that those colorful, stackable, portable musical pieces of plastic are the forefathers (and mothers) of today’s ‘background music’ mentality? i’m not gonna go there today.
however, i am convinced that led zeppelin 8-tracks could never sound r i g h t, even if they do sound b e t t e r.
and i’m deathly afraid of what how an 8-track tape would mangle just about any release by the coltranes, miles davises and bill cosbys of the world, not to mention anyone else uncomfortable creating in such a modular format.
still, with all that said, i have one final thought: if that blossoming, burgeoning 8-track collection of yours happened to be reel-to-reel tapes instead, then you’d have a musical monument that…
CLICK.
…then you’d have a musical monument that would require more protection than the Barack Obama motorcade going through Huntsville, Alabama.
22 March 2008 at 8:53 pm |
[...] held up a sign that read ???The American Dream.??? The dream was about to end. …www.nytimes.comThe 8-Track Diaries: IntroductionThe 8-Track Diaries: Introduction 13 March 2008 by dkpresents Call it a mid-life crisis if you will [...]
13 July 2008 at 10:05 am |
On your comment about the 8-track of L.A. Woman sounding different from the CD/LP, you very well may be correct.
It was not unusual for a studio to mix an 8-track version to make it sound better in a vehicle (its primary market). I saw one setup where they were mixing an album while listening to it through cheesy car speakers rather than the studio monitors.
19 September 2009 at 10:38 am |
Yes, yes, yes, I thought I was hallucinating, but, no. You have helped settle an argument regarding the “full version” of pigs on the wing-Pink Floyd, only found on 8-Track. Thank you.
19 September 2009 at 6:42 pm |
To add another layer of intrigue to the 8-track version of ‘Pigs On The Wing’ – I’ve read that the guitar solo that links the two parts of the song was actually recorded by one of Pink Floyd’s roadies, doing his best imitation of a David Gilmore solo. I can neither confirm or deny this rumor, so I’ll present it as just that. But if it was actually a roadie, I’d say he nailed Gilmore’s sound!