The MK14 was one for serious computer nerds. I saved up and got a Nascom II ready-built as my first micro, then spent a few years adding bits to it and modding it. It was finally replaced by an Acorn Archimedes…
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The place I worked sold Ohio Scientific Superboard II’s and I had to fix a few of them. ISTR it had one of the fastest ROM Basic interpreters at the time. The Superboard used to thrash its competitors for Basic speed.
Can I hijack this thread and say that Terence “Astro” Williams passed away the other day? He was the “Dancehall” singer with UB40 (co-singer to Ali Campbell).
I really hate Reggae (except yls moving their bodies to it), but the early UB40 albums “Signing off” and “Present Arms” are masterpieces (before they recorded rubbish like Red red Wine) that I still love to listen to.
And they always bring back childhood memories when I was out for weekends with my uncle and dad. Boy of eight’ish, my uncle was a motocross driver and my dad and me were his service team. On the way to the races and back home, there was often “Present Arms” on the old Ford or Hanomag vans’ sound system. This was the time I learned how motor racing goes, like calculating stage times, greasing chains, that you must not enter the parc fermé after homologation, and how to roll cigarettes for the exhausted driver.
Having a drink and a spliff on Astro now. Waiting for the yl to return home to watch her dancing to UB40. 
Ahoi
Pom
Edit:
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No problem Pom. I had a tape of the first album which was released during my 1st year at university. Not a huge reggae fan… simply do I like the tune or not and most of the early UB40 tunes I did like. It was a very popular album 40 years back. Gosh it really was 40 years back… I wonder what happened to the people I shared a university accommodation flat with in 1980?
Ditto, but 1 in 10 is one of my favourites of any genre. 
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Another hijack: Graeme Edge, drummer and co-founder of the Moody Blues, died last week on Nov. 11. As is probably true of most of us on this side of the Atlantic, I first became aware of the Moody Blues through airplay of cuts from Days of Future Passed, which was released when I was 12 years old (!) and was still receiving heavy airplay when I went to university six years later. Of course there were other albums and other hits by then. My favorite at the time was “Question” from the A Question of Balance album.
Still listening over 50 years later.
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The Moody Blues made great albums. I was fortunate to see them perform at Preston Guild Hall in 1972 or 1973. Most of the tracks played were from On the threshold of a dream - great album that.
73 Phil
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That was in the set list on the cruise ship contract I’ve just returned home from! I don’t dislike the song myself, though I preferred to play the Chic, Stevie Wonder and even Abba stuff we did!
Talking of red wine, there was a particularly excellent Merlot that got brought out on formal nights to help wash down the lobster…
All change now. I’ve just had humous on toast for lunch - and even had to make it myself…
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Apparently Graeme Edge was the last original member of the band, and contributed much of the poetry on works like Days of Future Passed. Not sure how much of it will rank as timeless verse, but my best friend at university and I were fond of the closing lines from that album:
“Black is grey and yellow, white
But we decide which is right
And which is an illusion.”
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Not really. When I first started dating the woman who would become Mrs. FMF, she had just bought Long Distance Voyager. ISTR some good tracks on that, The Voice and Gemini Dream spring to mind and it must be getting on for 35 years since I last heard them.
EDIT: Just listened now thanks to Youtube. Takes me back to University days too Scott. We (me and the future Mrs. FMF) must have listened to this one evening when Sarah was reading about Sun Yat-sen and I was doing some Comms Theory homework as my mind filled up with the maths for working out link budgets on satellite uplinks/downlinks.
Still good songs but they do sound very much a product of the early 80s.
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Does the present Mrs FMF have a view on this, Mr FMF? 
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And again, then there was only one…
Michael Nesmith formerly of The Monkees dead at 78. Being a kid in the 60s, The Monkees TV program was a riot as it wasn’t at all serious and thus was great when you were a kid. Speeded up motion, music and car with a scoop and supercharged V8 sticking out of the bonnet, what more could you want as a child? (More choclate and less school!)
My sister had the single I’m a Believer, she got it as a Christmas present in 1966. It’s not a bad pop song and the Vox Continental organ is definitely a sound defining the period. The B side was a seriously full on Mod song, “I’m Not Your Stepping Stone.” Here for your pleasure, no Michael Nesmith on this but Mickey Dolenz, the last Monkee remaining.
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I wondered if the Monkees show ran on UK TV – glad to hear it. I was in the pre-teen demographic the show was deliberately aimed at, and I enjoyed it immensely at the time. The band’s hits, some of which I still listen to on a “best of” compilation CD, were written by some of the top tunesmiths of the day including including Carole King, Neil Diamond, Neil Sedaka, Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart.
Mike Nesmith wrote a song for the band but the producers turned it down. So he gave it to his friend, Linda Ronstadt, who recorded it with her first band the Stone Poneys. The song was “Different Drum” and became her first hit. Oddly enough, I didn’t hear it until years later. Nesmith’s own country-western recording of it can be heard here. YouTube has other recordings, including Nesmith and Mickey Dolenz performing it during a reunion gig. 73, Michael.
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And so no more for Bat Out Of Hell man Meat Loaf (aka Marvin Aday)
I had already written when Jim Steinman left us how I hated his songs and Meat Loaf’s delivery of them. This morning the news was announced of Meat Loaf’s passing and he was true to his maybe most famous song, “Like a bat out of hell I’ll be gone before the morning comes.”
Again, when Bat Out Of Hell came out there was scant air-time in the UK for rock music and the last thing I wanted was the air time wasted on this rubbish. But wasted it was, with songs from Bat Out Of Hell being played relentlessly. That was such a waste of so precious a resource. Whenever I hear any songs from Bat Out Of Hell I quickly change channel but not before I am transported back to the late 70s and my teenage years where I’m doing homework for my O and A-levels.
Now Meat Loaf sold 65 million records/CDs and allegedly (wikipedia fact!) Bat Out Of Hell still sells 200000 copies a year. I find it hard to believe there are so many deaf people buying music worldwide 
However, the serious bit. I hated the songs but not the man. He could have been a brilliant singer (you may say he already was) given the right music. Much like Tom Jones, he had a great voice but the wrong music. I’ve seen him in many films and seen him interviewed many times (always turning off before he sang a medley of oldies!). He seemed a good guy and I reckon that a night out on the town with him would have been enormously enjoyable although probably damaging to my health.
The great thing about on-demand TV and radio is that, in my case with Spotify, there’ll be no Meat Loaf songs playing in the playlists I listen to.
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I feel exactly the same - good guy, good voice, nothing for me in the songs.
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I was never a fan either Andy, but definitely in the minority as he was incredibly popular. Not to your taste or mine, but to describe the music and aspects of it as “rubbish” is frankly ridiculous. The songwriting, the lyrics, the production etc were all of the top order.
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Can’t quite agree, Tom. The lyrics are OK but the melody and the harmonies are a bit pedestrian. Even so, a more gutsy delivery would have made a big difference. Just one man’s 2p worth, he was right for his punters.
It’s a musician / non-musician thing Tom. As a non-musician, I find it difficult to listen to songs I don’t like and can quite understand that you will asked to perform tracks you don’t like and thus you will always be analysing the song. I’m desperate for them to finish and something better come on. I don’t deny there may be good musicianship and production standard etc. But if the tune grates, it grates and as I wont be asked to play it, it’sI just a pain until it ends.
Back in the 70s we had no decent rock music on the BBC or commercial stations during the day. The BBC had a 40min music show for adults, The Old Grey Whistle Test, but that was for 13weeks a year and had cover a vast range. Still no bloody ABBA on it!. My local radio station had a 3 hour rock show Mon-Thu. It’s where I first heard Van Halen, AC/DC, Robin Trower etc. etc. and even then I only liked under 50% of the tunes. Regularly on Wednesday there was a football alternative where there were regular reports from evening matches featuring local teams. But the station swapped out the rock for chart music. No reason why they couldn’t play the same music as normal around the match reports. But they didn’t. And so when you only get 3.5 days x 3hrs (minus news and adverts) to have significant periods wasted on Meat Loaf was a crime. The songs went on forever making prog rock songs seem like 2m45 pop ditties. More so because Meat Loaf was in the charts and was played relentlessly during the normal output. To make it worse “my” rock output time was robbed of significant air time playing these rock dirges.
So technical achievements they may be with great arrangement and playing and powerful singing. But they still grate and I loathe them as much now as I did 45 years ago!
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Tolerance is almost my middle name. I enjoy a wide range of music and confess that although it isn’t my favourite, I don’t mind listening to Meatloaf. It’s infinitely better than some other forms! Strange how age changes your tastes. I used to regard Kate Bush’s music as horrible screeching and wailing. Now I quite enjoy some of her songs! Either I’ve mellowed or my hearing has “softened” after decades of more “meaningful” music!
These days I reserve my ire for some of the trash TV shows my wife enjoys (various iterations of “housewives of…” 
). Thankfully we have more than one room in the house.
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A perfect example. Not in my record collection - but perfect pop music, great composition, great arrangements, top production (considering the technology of the era) and the best session musicians in the business playing the parts.
The Abba songs are really enjoyable to play too - great basslines - even though I wouldn’t choose to listen to it in my down time!
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