Author: Mike Seay

Dolly Parton “Rockstar” On Cassette (Kinda)

Mike Seay 2 Comments

Is There a Cassette of Dolly Parton’s Rockstar?

Well, yes, there is a rare cassette of Dolly’s new rock album. But it’s weird and I need to sort it out.

First off, I did not know that Dolly Parton made a rock covers/originals album until reading a recent issue of Stream N’ Destroy.

The album is called Rockstar and is a sort of response to her being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame.

What struck me funny is the description of Dolly’s cassette sales of this album:

(As reported by Ryan J Downey):

“The album did 118,500 in pure album sales and 128,000 in total activity. That breaks down to 78,000 CDs, 18,000 vinyl LPs, 22,000 paid digital downloads, 9500 in streaming-equivalent albums, and a negligible amount of cassettes.”

A negligible amount? Ha!

The funny thing is that I am happy cassette sales got a mention. I will take a ‘negligible tape sales’ shout-out, any day.

Even the small amount of tape sales at least means there is at least a tape released. Cool (even if I don’t think I will be buying it.

Except there is not (at least one that I can find) a regular version of Rockstar on cassette tape. But there is a version.

I guess it’s sort of a version of this 4 LP Pink Rockstar on Amazon. (This is as good a time as any to give you a heads-up that I am an affiliate of Amazon)

So there is no normal cassette version of Rockstar, but there is a limited edition version floating around out there.

Where do you purchase Dolly’s “Rockstar” cassette?

I found one on eBay. One. And it’s probably gone now but take a look to see if it’s still there. Going for $45 (at the time of me writing this).

You would think it would be on here website and it is nowhere to be found.

Sort of bizarre. I am tempted to ask the eBay seller where they got theirs but I am too lazy.

My working theory on this seemingly rare Dolly Parton tape, is that was sent to radio stations as a promo package of some sort, but there isn’t a regular cassette of Rockstar out there to buy.

Guess I will preview some of the music and call it a day for now as I get weirded out listening to Dolly Parton singing Purple Rain:

Okay, good looking out for some Dolly. BTW, one of Dolly’s friends (Willie Nelson) has a lot of cassettes that you might want to check out too.

Blank Cassette Tape (where to buy the Best)

Mike Seay 1 Comment

Getting back into tapes recently has opened me up to the blank cassette tape market. So I thought I would get a quick post up to help guide you on the easiest places to buy blank cassette tapes.

There are more blank cassette tapes out there than you would think. And it’s glorious. The freedom of being able to record something onto physical media for dirt cheap, has always been a major selling point of tapes in general.

If you are looking for places to buy blank cassette tapes, my starter recommendations are:

  • Look for some at your local thrift shop. You might be surprised at the amount of cassette tapes (blank and old albums) you find. Not a crap ton, mind you, but some.
  • Cassette tapes on Amazon (I have filtered options further down the post): I have already bought some blank ones that I want to put my music on. I haven’t done anything yet because I suck I music, but I still like having them. The FYDELITY tapes (like these glorious red ones that are pictured above) are especially nice to hold and satisfying to look at.
  • Blank cassettes on eBay. Be careful, you might be like me and go nuts buying blanks on there.

Speaking of nuts. I am now fascinated with this blank tape in particular:

That is the Tascam Master 424 High Bias Type II Cobalt Studio Cassette Tape. Doesn’t it look everything!? I don’t know that I have something serious enough to put on it, but I want one just the same.

BTW, just something to think about, you don’t always have to put music on tapes. I totally want to put my podcast episodes on cassette too – again, another thing I have been wanting to do forever but have not done yet.

You name it: Blank cassette tapes wholesale, blank cassette tapes cheap, blank cassette tape bulk… I WANT IT ALL!!

Highest Rated Blank Cassette Tapes (on Amazon)

If you’re just looking for the simplicity of buying blank tapes on Amazon, these are the top-rated ones I found:

I mean, COME ON with the RTM C60, love that freaking little case:

Blank Cassette Video Section

I found a couple of blank cassette tape videos that might help you out:

Don’t forget to pick up some clear cassette tape cases to replace all your broken at cracked ones.

As you might have guessed, so far eBay and Amazon are the easiest places to buy a blank cassette tape. I will keep looking for more places and check back.

For more about cassette tape collecting, check out my beginner guide.

-Mikey The Tape Player

The New ‘Idles’ Dancer Video Has a Tape Player…so that’s cool

Mike Seay

English post-punk badasses, Idles, has a new album TANGK (February), and a new song that features somebody using a Walkman… at least I think it is. Actually I don’t think it is. Well it’s rad either way, yes?

Check it for yourself, you’ll see:

It just says “detachable cassette player” on her tape player. Not sure if that what the actual player says of if that is a prop. It might be a Jensen, but I couldn’t find a match.

But do they have a cassette tape version of their new album?

No. It does not appear they do. A quick check of their website reveals no cassette tape being released for TANGK.

Are there tapes of any previous Idles stuff?

Yes. Well, actually, their website has a tape available in December called “Crawler” (a previous album) and it looks pretty nice and I want it.

There is also a tape that exists for Ultra Mono but it’s currently not available on Amazon.

And I looked for it on eBay but it isn’t there at the moment. Gotta add it to the list of tapes to look out for (which is kinda fun anyway).

*Related reading: A new Doly Parton cassette that is hard to find.

The New Queens of the Stone Age Album NOT on Cassette?

Mike Seay

“In Times New Roman” the new Queens OTSA is out. I have been pretty excited about. Although it’s getting lukewarm reviews:

Even if it’s room temp, I still want it. They are simply an excellent ass rock band and I refuse to not have a copy of it.

Really the only question is should I buy it on cassette or tape or CD or vinyl?

Ideally, all three. But I don’t have even enough cash to buy one format (if I am being honest), let alone three. So, I choose cassette (after all, this isn’t the CD Player blog).

But wait… [after much searching of the Internet] it appears a cassette of “In Times New Roman” was not released. They simply didn’t make one. This is weird to me. This is the kind of band that you would think would be all about tapes – I am not sure why I think that, but I feel I am right.

I guess a CD, or record will have to do. They can be found on Amazon (the Green and Silver – they might be gone now) or through QOTSA’s Bandcamp page – only the CD and standard record is still available.

Bummer, man.

Riot Fest Tape Pull: Volume #1

Mike Seay

The lineup for this year’s Riot Fest in Chicago looks amazing (better than any Coachella, if you ask me). It has inspired me to start looking for tapes from bands playing this year.

Here is a quick pull of the first batch:

Foo Fighters

Their first album and I was hella surprised to see that (at the moment of writing this) it’s $55.05 on Amazon. I am going to assume there are not many copies around.

Turnstile

At the moment I have not found any Turnstile tapes to buy. I am going to assume they pop up on Discogs and Ebay from time to time, but that is it. All I know is I would love to find the tape above someday. You can at least check it out on Discogs – it looks freaking magical.

Pennywise: About Time

Another one I wasn’t expecting to have such a pricey cassette. Running $24.90 right now on Amazon. It’s hard to find on eBay so finding one on Amazon is a little surprising.

Bowling For Soup: Let’s Do It For Johnny

Of course, a rare find, “Let’s Do It For Johnny” a sampler. At the moment of posting, it is on eBay for around $20.

This one is the only Bowling For Soup cassette I could find. The Great Burrito Extortion Case – Indonesia Cassette. It’s currently on EBay for around $29 bucks. This looks to be something only a completest would be interested in though.

Tegan & Sara: Hey, I’m Just Like You

Oh, this is kind of exciting. On eBay I discovered a rare cassette by Tegan & Sara, “Hey I’m Just Like You” – Tape Sire PURPLE Tape SEALED. Going for $100 bucks, if it’s still there. Seems like it would be a must-have for a Tegan & Sara fan.

There are so many good bands. I won’t be going but I will be posting more of these all Summer. Plenty more tape finds to pull.