#music, #Retirement Projects, #The XCerts, #vinyl records

The XCerts. Satisfied.

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SATISFIED. THE ‘B’ SIDE OF AN INTENTIONAL SINGLE…..

Having recently set up my late brother Kev’s Pioneer PL-12D Vinyl player, bought a Pioneer SA500 Amplifier and got some Jamo Cornet 30 IV 6 ohm Speakers, which are not first choice, but sound good enough to play the vinyl through….it was nice to clean up our 1977 acetate XCerts single with good vinyl cleaning fluid and actually put it reverently onto the turntable platter and play it after all this time. Next year it will have been written 50 years ago!

Punk, youthful energy alongside naivety here. I took the idea to Kev and Dave, played the usual chords on an acoustic guitar and sang the vocal melody and lyrics and said ‘Let’s do this!’. I wrote the song at work that same day in my lunch break. We rehearsed in the basement of the place I worked at. My boss was an amazing guy. Fully supportive and generous with empathy too.

And so. Having heard the idea, Kev (Zero) hit a blistering drum beat, Dave Pepper electrified the acoustic chords on his Gibson Les Paul, I plugged in my Fender Jazz bass guitar and it all kicked in. Achieved in basically fifteen minutes. We recorded it in Spaceward Studios alongside another few tracks in one single day. Two songs were chosen for a single 45 rpm release.

The only source of this Satisfied song playing was on a cassette. It was a copy of a copy of a copy it seems! Very muddy. A cleaner version was needed. So I attached a Shure MV88 microphone to the iPad, pointed it at the two speakers and captured the song onto a Shure MOTIV file app. Then sent it to iMovie with a basic visual background. Typed up the lyrics and……here it is.

Kev, his musician’s name Zero, and his drumming has now been played on his own turntable. I own the acetate 45 ‘single’ and it is the only one in existence. Very rare now and about three decades ago I saw it in a book of collectible records at the price of around £800. Why? Because we advertised in the NME, Melody Maker and Sounds magazine that Feeling in the Groove (A side) and Satisfied (B side) were to be released as an upcoming single. It never happened. Management played their usual ‘promise the stars’ games and nothing got done. So, of course, people think it is super rare. Well I guess it is!

11 thoughts on “The XCerts. Satisfied.”

  1. Man, what an incredible story and a beautiful tribute to Kev. There’s something really special about hearing those old recordings come alive again, especially played through the very turntable that was part of his own musical journey.

    And I totally love Satisfied… I’ll be coming back to this one listening often.

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    1. Thanks for listening. Standing in front of the speakers has a lot more ‘ooomph’ than the mic picks up. And clarity too. The engineer and producer at Spaceward Studio (have no idea who it was) did a good job being that a few songs were done so quickly in one day.

      Nice to hear it again to be honest. Cheers Bryan. 🙏🏽

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    1. It was nice hearing Kev playing drums again. I think he laughed and totally collapsed after playing that at the speed we set it up to be. We were simply standing there with mics around us and playing as we would as a live band. Then added some extra guitar bits and added weird vocals on top too.

      Thanks for cranking up the volume. I didn’t record it way up loud on the MOTIV iPad app settings volume wise. The fast pace was intentional. It was the age of punk after all. So went with that vibe really. 🙏🏽

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  3. Just six letters, Gollygeewowee! Great to read the backstory, Gray. Have you thought of having it converted to high res digital? I’m thinking of purchasing a vinyl washing machine. What ya reckon? Inspired by you I changed my needle yesterday and spun Charlie Musslewhite’s crystal green coloured vinyl on my player. It took me to an even higher level. Ah music, ya gotta love it! 😻🐾🐾

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    1. Cheers Shep. It’s all in its infancy regarding how to get the best sounds out of the vintage system. The guy I bought the Jamo speakers off is really knowledgeable about, what you are saying here, stylus quality. He had a few at the back of his counter, so I may go take another look when I am a bit more flush re: the cash.

      He did say that a very mild detergent, probably one of those ‘pure’ ones with no parabens, aroma added, etc. content are best, with a microfibre cloth was good practice. My mate who was pretty knowledgeable used to have his albums on the draining board at home in the 1970s. And basically gave them a gentle washing. So the washing machine sounds okay. I haven’t tried it though. It’s just that I thought my albums having no interventions….ever! needed a deeper clean. So I bought a dedicated vinyl cleaner spray. 5 sprays of fine mist around the album, left for about a minute, then quarter wiped from 12 to 3 o’clock positions, turning to complete the whole thing which took four quarter turns. Clockwise only wiping was suggested to get the dust and possible ‘grime’ on a one way ticket out of the grooves. Don’t want to be pulling it back in by anticlockwise wipes.

      It sounds a bit over the top, but to be honest the before and after was really noticeable. I tilted the albums in to the light and they were really shiny. I used a dry microfibre cloth after about five minutes to just get any missed wet areas done. I’ve done about fifteen albums. They sound completely different on the turntable. Still a bit of vinyl hiss noise, and natural wear inherited over years, but a lot quieter.

      The guy who sold me those speakers said exactly what you have just experienced. Noticeable sound difference with a high quality needle. Changes the whole sound as you say. With some Pioneer speakers a bit down the line, I should get a really rich vibe. They’re just so expensive though. £500 to £800 some of them. Japanese speakers you see. Great quality!

      So, the washing machine? Sounds good. I just went in all guns blazing with the cleaner. I bought Spincare anti static cleaning fluid off Amazon. Read the reviews and they were really positive. You get a decent sized cloth with it. And the instructions I wrote about above.

      Spot on. You gotta love music. And vinyl is still superior. Cheers Shep. 🙏🏽🍁🍂

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      2. I reckon you’ll nail the best way to get your precious listens in tip top condition Shep. Let me know if you find the holy grail method or magical faerie dust elixir source. Cheers. 🥃🥃 in return.

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    1. Cheers Danny. I remember you saying you listened to The Ramones. So possibly that’s why. I love the GIF. I didn’t have the Shure MOTIV app volume up loud when using the MV88 microphone. I will definitely work out better volume response next time. I would like to record the song on the other side of the acetate.

      Angie’s friend from childhood, who lives up here in Wales, visited yesterday. She brought two Wharfedale Linton 3XP bookshelf speakers for me. They belonged to her late husband. So now they are attached to the set up and sound great. The Jamo are kept now as back ups. The Linton are compatible with the Pioneer SA500 amp, but can’t be turned up full volume for use at a party or bigger room. But in The Den? Perfect. I wasn’t putting those Jamo Cornet speakers beyond volume 2 out of 10. These are the same 3 is uncomfortably loud in both cases. But 3 doesn’t distort or clip in any way. So all is safe.

      Thought you may like that information. People are now putting vintage speakers to work with their new set ups. They love the warm sounds produced. You may go down that line. But then again, knowing your way of finding out, you may have the perfect set up already.

      Talking of vintage, Angie bought me a Roland MT-100 digital sequencer and sound module about a month ago. Really great price in the local bric-a-brac shop. Lots of gamers and sound engineers are hunting them down to get the unique sound it offers. It seems vintage is still very sought after!

      Cheers Danny. All the best. 🙏🏽🍁🍂

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