I treated myself to a pristine Kenwood KD 2055. It has been modded by a fellow I've dealt with before. He wired the tone arm direct to new RCA cables and ends, bypassing the contacts that "isolated" the signal path. The contacts do that, but in his opinion, it sounds better not sending the signal through the contacts. I deferred to his expertise, and from what I've seen of his collection, and previous purchases from him, he knows of what he speaks. The man is also an aircraft mechanic ... soooo ..
The KD sounds amazing. Empire cart, not sure which yet. Didn't ask and haven't investigated.
My wife surprised the dickens out of me with another audio Christmas gift.
A little preamble.
We had the good fortune to be in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada, this summer, and thoroughly enjoyed it. A great town to visit and not big as cities go, so it didn't take me long to stumble across Fred's Records, and consequently end up in front of the cashier with an armload of albums. I had to thin the herd a bit before paying. Mile Davis got a bit of favouritism that day. I felt I needed a jazz boost I think. In any case, one album really had my eye, and after I returned it to the rack, reconsidered and went back to retrieve it.
"Nope. Leave it. You have enough".
I was halted by my wife, and readily agreed with her. Another time.
Flash forward to Christmas.
There it was under the tree.
Queen "Live at the Rainbow '74"
A double album.
I've only had the chance to listen to one side so far. Excellent quality recording IMO.
Little back story on why it is so special to me.
In April, 1978, I was two months away from turning 14, and our family was in Berlin, West Germany, on the way to East Germany, to visit my father's relatives. That's a story for another day.
I think I only owned 3 albums at that time:
C.W. McAll - "Convoy" (I know!?)
Elton John - "Captain Fantastic" (Still my favourite Elton album. Underrated?)
Queen - "News of the World"
We were only in Berlin 2 or 3 days. Somehow my Dad and I were on a public bus, (we had a Volkswagen van for the trip), and I saw a poster for a Queen concert at the Deutsch Halle the next night*. Thinking I had a snowball's chance in Hades I asked if I could go. Literally just throwing it out there. My dad was not a music guy, and certainly had no patience for "Rock & Roll", and all the hype and noise that came with it.
To this day I'm still gobsmacked at what he did for me that day and the next.
We went to the Deutsch Halle and got me a ticket. My siblings were not interested, the two older ones that could go anyway. My father got us a motel room close to the concert, and showed me how to get my way back after the show by finding the big Mercedes sign, and walking towards it, which led me past the motel.
I was a kid from the sticks in every way. Born and raised in a tiny town of 800 in Canada's Northwest Territories. I had no clue about any thing big city, Rock & Roll, Berlin, the '70's etc.
When my whole family drove up to the concert hall in the Volkswagen and saw the crowd, nobody in that van thought I was getting out.
Nobody but me that is.
I didn't know you could find so many very cool leather jackets in one place. The fresh piercings and crusty blood around them was simply alien. Across the parking lot to one side, all in a row, were about 20 police riot vans.
"You don't have to go Les."
That was my more than a little concerned mother.
"I'll be fine."
And off I went.
To date, I rank it at or near the top of the concerts I've seen.
Tours I can compare include:
Supertramp "Crime of the Century"
Talking Heads "Speaking in Tonques"
U2 "Achtung Baby"
Thank you for allowing me to share the story of my very first concert, and one of the most cherished memories of my father and I. His decision to make that happen still amazes me.
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year Aker's.
*Queen "News of the World Tour"
Berlin, West Germany
April 28, 1978
