The Road Trip, or, If You Could Take Only 15 8-Tracks on the Road...

[todd33rpm]

If this needs to be moved to a music category, I understand...wasn't quite sure where to put this.

It's a game friends and I have played periodically, a bit of a response to those Lists of Favorite CDs That Must Accompany Me Everywhere I Go. The difference is the self-imposed limitation of doing it in a different format.

Let's say it's the early-to-mid 1980s. You have a 8-track tape case to take on the road with you for a long trip - going mountain climbing, moving to another state, heading off to an amusement park, whatever. The case can hold 15 tapes. What do you take?

The only rule is that your selections have to be commercially-released or record club* prerecorded 8-tracks, covering the relevant era of impact in terms of release...no albums that were only released on CD recorded to an 8-track, in other words. Best-ofs and live albums are fine.

Although this doesn't apply to you unless you want it to, my own stash includes double-album sets released on one 8-track, to maximize how much music I could take with me. (If anyone wants to play by that rule, I'd be very interested to see what albums make your cut!)

So, here's mine. Looking forward to your selections!

The Best of OTIS REDDING
The Kink Kronikles THE KINKS
The Best LEO KOTTKE
Moonflower SANTANA
Tusk FLEETWOOD MAC
More Hot Rocks THE ROLLING STONES
An Anthology DUANE ALLMAN
Live Rust NEIL YOUNG
The Very Best of POCO
London Calling THE CLASH
Quadrophenia THE WHO
Rock and Roll Music THE BEATLES
The Best... GENESIS (this mid-1970s album included all of Nursery Cryme and Foxtrot in one release; effectively a two-fer)
Greatest Hits STEELY DAN

and...oh, why not...
Trout Mask Replica CAPTAIN BEEFHEART (that's if I'm travelling alone...if I have companions that won't be able to handle it, I'll substitute Electric Ladyland THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE)

Your turn!

*Example: Sting's album The Dream of the Blue Turtles was released by Columbia House, although I don't think it was put out in stores by A&M.

[Scorpion8]

Wow, dunno if I ever even owned that many, but let's see how many I can remember:

Aerosmith ~ Rocks
Heart ~ Little Queen
Fleetwood Mac ~ Rumors
Nazareth ~ Hair of the Dog
Kansas ~ Leftoverture
Boston ~ Boston
Bad Company ~ Bad Company
Head East ~ Head East
Jethro Tull ~ Aqualung
Rush ~ 2112
UFO ~ Obsession
Yes ~ Fragile
Gary Wright ~ Dream Weaver
Styx ~ The Grand Illusion

(i'll be adding to this list as I can ....)

The place where I worked (college dining hall) had an AM/FM/8-Track stereo hooked into the PA system. We used to blast tapes while we mopped the floors between meals. It drove the students out, so we could clean, and it kept us entertained while we worked. Those were the days...

[Superfly]

I actually took this road trip back in January of 2006 and visited Des_lab on this trip.
I drove from my home in San Francisco to Los Angeles to visit friends & family. Then out to Sedona, Arizona to visit my dad. Then drove to the Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, Las Vegas, Death Valley, Reno, Lake Tahoe, then back home to San Francisco.

This was in my 1977 Lincoln Continental Town Car. It has the original factory AM/FM quad 8track deck. I brought more than 15 8tracks however.

I wont say how much I spend in gas. *yikes*That 7.5 liter, 460cu" V8 ran like a champ!
At 30 years old, still runs strong, very quite, very smooth but damn it is a gas-guzzler.

The greatest experience was driving eastbound on I-40 through the Mojave desert. I had the rode to myself, relaxing with the cruise-control set at 90MPH, relaxing in those big & soft leather seats with the power-glass moonroof open listing to my favorite quadraphonic 8tracks. *drool*


Anyhow, here are teh 15 tapes I'd bring;

U.K. - U.K.
Heart - Little Queen
Fleetwood Mac - Rumors
Kansas - Leftoverture
Rush - Hemisphere
Rush - A Farewell To Kings
The Moody Blues - Days Of Future Passed (quadraphonic)
Deodato - Prelude (quadraphonic)
Deodato - 2 (quadraphonic)
Chicago - VII (quadraphonic)
Earth Wind & Fire - That's The Way Of The World
Gino Vannelli - Storm At Sunup
Gino Vannelli - A Pauper In Paradise
Deep Purple - Machine Head (quadraphonic)
STYX - The Grand Illusion




todd33rpm:
You are correct.
The Sting 8track 'Dream Of The Blue Turtles' was only a Colombia Record Club and RCA record club of Canada release. Not sold in stores.

[Superfly]

Earth Wind & Fire - That's The Way Of The World I have as a quadraphonic 8track as well.
For some reason, I can't go back and edit my previous post.

[Fast Forward]

The only 8-track that I can remember having was Procol Harem live with the Edmonton Symphony orchestra,, played the Hell out of it

[Web Police]

Great tapes guys. I could probably manage a road trip with 8 or 9 of them. :D

[todd33rpm]

Thought about making it a case of 24 or 30...but when I've done this with friends, it gives another set of answers when it's a scaled-back number. The definition of what's essential will change, and some great albums will fall away, unfortunately but necessarily, because of the limit.

My own "cutting room floor" albums included Todd Rundgren's Something/Anything?, Don Juan's Reckless Daughter by Joni Mitchell, the Rolling Stones' Exile on Main Street and Hot Rocks, the Who's Tommy, Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway by Genesis, both volumes of The Best of Rod Stewart, the Allman Brothers Band's The Road Goes on Forever and Sam Cooke's Shake/Ain't That Good News two-fer.

So, for example, More Hot Rocks survived the final cut because I've heard those songs less frequently than the ones on the original Hot Rocks, and I figured that the opportunity to get to know the sequel album better was too good to pass up.

[KeithCartridge]

With gas so high I only need 10 tapes for a mini road trip.

Devo Q-Are We Not Men (Put out on one of the cheapest WB carts and I’ve had 2 of them self destruct on me.)
Lost Horizon ST (Bacharach at his cheesiest and the end for him and Hal David)
Saturday Night Fever ST (8 Tracks & Disco, you need at least one.)
Mothers -We’re Only In It For The Money (An album with terrific special effects.)
Best of George Harrison (My fav solo Beatle)
A Tramp Shining -Richard Harris (Love it or hate it Macarthur Park is one of the strangest arrangement of the decade and even mainstream enough to have Sinatra cover it.)
Boz Scaggs- Silk Degree (Although his voice can sound Muppetlike at times, nearly every song is listenable it’s almost like a greatest hits collection.)
Velvet Underground & Nico (One day I hope I win the lottery and can buy the $300+ 8 track on eBay until then I have my copy tape, a Goth voice before there was Goth.)
Electric Light Orchestra Greatest Hits (The best singles band and best use of a flying saucer. I even like the Xanadu ST)
Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band (Some how whenever this tape ends up the car deck it won’t get change for at least a week, Cherchez La Femme.)

[clhboa]

Now this is kind of tricky because as we all know not only does selection depend on great music but also on the sound quality of the prerecorded tape. I have some great titles on 8-track that sound like crap. But off the top of my head here goes...


1. Point Blank-"self-titled" 1976
2. Various Artists-"The South's Greatest Hits Vol. 2" 1978
3. The Outlaws-"Hurry Sundown" 1977
4. ZZ Top-"Fandango" 1975
5. Hank Williams Jr.-"Hank Live" 1987
6. Little Feat-"Sailin' Shoes" 1972
7. Wet Willie-"Left Coast Live" 1977
8. The Doobie Brothers-"Minute By Minute" 1979
9. Steve Martin-"Comedy Is Not Pretty" 1979
10. Various Artists-"Volunteer Jam" 1976
11. Steve Young-"Renegade Picker" 1976
12. Bruce Springsteen-"Born To Run" 1975
13. Sea Level-"Long Walk On A Short Pier" 1979
14. The Eagles-"The Long Run" 1979
15. Steve Martin -"Wild And Crazy Guy" 1978

[todd33rpm]

I shoulda thought to put the years on my listing too...very good choices here. Love that someone else was into Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band, KeithCartridge. I used to have the "Whispering/Cherchez Le Femme" medley on a K-Tel 8-track called Pure Power back around 1977...Mom hated it, so of course I had to become a fan! :)

Also big ups for the Volunteer Jam, clhboa!

Superfly, my car would have been a 1978 Olds Cutlass Supreme, back in the day. Red interior, silver paint on the outside that was very prone to flaking. I miss that car.

Scorpion8, what was the "break point" for the title track of 2112 (i.e., where did it fade out on one program and back in on the other)?

Another thread on a related subject (cassettes, this time): http://tapeheads.net/showthread.php?t=702.
Would like to hear everyone's thoughts in that one too...

[Superfly]

Scorpion8, what was the "break point" for the title track of 2112 (i.e., where did it fade out on one program and back in on the other)?

Discovery
Grand Finale
Lessons

[todd33rpm]

Discovery
Grand Finale
Lessons

Many thanks!

I remember that being a vexation with The Dark Side of the Moon, too. In order to maintain the song order, there were fades in the three longest songs in the album: "Time" from program 1 to 2, "Money" from 2 to 3, and "Us and Them" from 3 to 4. Longform progressive rock didn't get a lot of forgiveness on 8-track.