Jan 23
Akai CR-83D eight-track player. Posting because my dad owned this.
seen from China
seen from Italy
seen from Philippines
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seen from Malaysia
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seen from United States
seen from Poland
seen from Hong Kong SAR China
seen from United States
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seen from Israel
seen from Israel
Akai CR-83D eight-track player. Posting because my dad owned this.
Inktober 2020 // Day 4 // Radio
# 2,741
Sun Ra Astro Black blue eight-track (1973)
Eight-tracks, of all formats ever created, became a joke by cultural and social census. Nowadays, you can think about the many ways you could listen to vinyl records or even cassettes with thousand-dollar antique stereo systems made of source components, pre-amps-, power amps-, and receivers. The discourse of fidelities, technical specs-, nostalgia factor, collections, and maybe having intricate conversations with the recordstore owner standing behind the counter (assuming she or he could be really bothered) means that vinyl and cassette culture have been looking good. Eight-tracks? Who ever talks about them in 2019? They died in the Eighties (with very rare exceptions) and all you hear of them still is how they’re stigmatized by the hippie or bell-bottom progeny. You heard about it in the Nineties and you’ll still hear about it now. Eight-track collectors don’t have the visibility or quantity of outlets that hip-hop, punks, and indie enthusiasts do who have it all for boomboxes, sampling, posting finds, buying and selling, showing off, equipment, and etcetera. At least, it’s what little I’m seeing. I could be wrong. With the format’s clunkiness, a higher vulnerability in wear-and-tear, and inconvenience, rest assured the eight-track is never coming back.
Maybe the only time you’d see any (personal) interest in the format is if any important artist has released an album on it. It’s why we’re showing you a Sun Ra release on eight-track, and the first-ever on Ω+. Like normal cassettes, eight-track shells came in different colors, with Astro Black in blue.
#rarities
Trunkards #296. I, myself, was a virtuoso with the 8-Track.
© 2017 Rick Hutchins
An Akai CR-83D eight-track tape deck; one which our family used to own.
# 4,055
Minnie Riperton: Perfect Angel beige eight-track (1974)
Hearing “Lovin’ You” on vinyl is total heaven. It fits within the timeframe of release and the format it was intended to listen on. The only thing that could even top that is Perfect Angel on a beige eight-track, which really makes it a memento of the times. If you ever had a feel for Seventies culture and / or your identity was made of it, you’d understand.
Right after the new year I make the annual rounds at Deer Park’s Tanger shopping center, an outdoor mall of sorts. I always go at night where not many people are walking around in the frigid open air and starry pitch-black skies, to see all the glowing lights and hear the music coming from all sides as you walk from storefront to storefront. “Lovin’ You” happened to play while I was finding the next store to venture in. I couldn’t escape. Time slowed down and everything drifted away for the next five minutes hearing Riperton’s five-octave (!) voice. I couldn’t help myself but to give in and think back to a distant summer when my friend started her life-long addiction and I was jumping from job-to-job dealing with personal financial ruin. Only “Lovin’ You” has that power that either makes you want to draw someone in closer or push you back to an essential time that should’ve mattered more.
8 track stereo by Francisco Herrera Via Flickr: 8 track stereo