View Full Version : 1980s children audio cassettes Well Loved Tales
Does anyone remember the kids audio cassettes : Pickwick International 'Tell-a-Tale', that were produced in the 1980s?
I have been looking for ages for the ‘well loved tales’ series of cassettes. These were produced as a companion to the ladybird books between 1979-1993 and are not either the ladybird ‘favourite tales’ produced from 1994 onwards or given away on CD with the daily Mirror. Does anyone know if this stuff is archived on mp3 anywhere? Ladybird and Pickwick (at least the versions of the company that produced these tapes) no longer exist and there are no audio archives.
2 other queries regarding audio tapes :
Am looking for a 1982 Enid Blyton Tape, a double cassette called Happy Adventure Tales.
Am trying to track a Postman Pat cassette from the mid-1980s but doo not know the title, it centres on Postman Pat going on holiday.
Any information on the above would be greatly appreciated!
Jay
Retro Ghoul
19-07-2010, 22:58
Back in the early 80's I bought from W.H.Smiths the Ladybird horror classics books and these came with a tape each which were a dramatisation of the Ladybird story. These were actually very good too.
I had forgotten about those. Do you still have them?
BlitzKid
20-07-2010, 01:20
Back in the early 80's I bought from W.H.Smiths the Ladybird horror classics books and these came with a tape each which were a dramatisation of the Ladybird story. These were actually very good too.
Wow! I loved the Ladybird Horror Classics, I was about 5 when I got into them and they began my obsessive love of Gothic Horror which remains to this day... I never got to hear the tapes, but I bet they were amazing. The tapes that came with most other Ladybird books were awesome, very atmospheric and well read/acted, so I bet the Horror classics were done great justice. Would love to find them and hear them now!
I am on a quest to find all of the ladybird audio. If I find the horrors, you will be welcome to a copy!
Richard1978
20-07-2010, 12:59
My sister had 1 or 2 of those.
sure Rich! your 'sister' had them!:D
Richard1978
20-07-2010, 13:13
sure Rich! your 'sister' had them!:D
Yes that's true, though me & my brother had some of the Rainbow talking books.
Rainbow!!!!!! As in Geoffrey, Bungle, Zippy and George?
sixtyten
20-07-2010, 13:29
Ghost Stories here..
http://scarstuff.blogspot.com/2006/02/wade-denning-famous-ghost-stories-with.html
MegaUpload link halfway down the comments ;)
Richard1978
20-07-2010, 17:40
Rainbow!!!!!! As in Geoffrey, Bungle, Zippy and George?
No they were a company who made many talking books in the 1980s, mostly film-TV tie ins. Most of mine went to a friend of the family when I got too old for them but I have at least 1 tape around still.
Retro Ghoul
20-07-2010, 22:16
Yes I do still have them, I made covers for them and put them in tape cases, I just photocopied part of the book covers and wrote on other parts of the cover.
I had forgotten about those. Do you still have them?
Which of the horror tapes do you have Retro? Do they have Pickwick Tell-a-Tale on them and is the year indicated? Any chance you would do a rip and share with us? :-)
Well I am still no closer to finding any of the Tell-a-Tale Well Loved Tales Cassettes. It seems that unlike books, comics,Vhs etc. this stuff has not survived.
Many thanks to the posters who have helped out or sent me copies of the stuff they have. I will keep searching and hopefully track it all and make an archive!
Retro Ghoul
08-08-2010, 21:56
I have all 4 of them which are 'Dracula', 'Frankenstein', 'Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde' and 'The Mummy'. They do have Pickwick Tell-a-tale on them and are dated 1984. I wish I could do a rip for you but I'm not sure how to do it as I don't have the facilities to do so. Any ideas of a way I can do this please?
Which of the horror tapes do you have Retro? Do they have Pickwick Tell-a-Tale on them and is the year indicated? Any chance you would do a rip and share with us? :-)
Hi Retro,
A friend of mine is going to show me how to do it this week (as I have 2 tapes I want to copy!)
He told me briefly. It involves having a cable. One end of the cable has a USB connection to fit into your PC/Laptop, the other end has a pin that fits into the headphone socket of whatever plays the cassette. You have a software program on the PC (downloaded for free). 'Audacity' is one such example and once the cassette player is hooked to the laptop you switch it on, switch on the record button of the audacity program and literally feed the recording through.
I think this is the gist but will know more next week. Perhaps other posters can suggest easier ways? Perhaps you have facility to copy cassette to cassette? In the long run it is better to rip if you want to keep recordings as cassettes tend to degrade in quality as the years go on. I really want to collect and archive all of this stuff and preserve it! Am also willing to share whatever I get with anyone who is interested. :-)
Retro Ghoul
09-08-2010, 22:37
Hi Jaygon
I have heard that you can rip by using a lead from the computer to stereo, rather than having to buy a proper cassette player made for this purpose. If its easy enough to do it the way you said then I shall certainly have ago and get my tapes ripped and also put onto CD. I guess you can also rip records too this way.
Great! Hopefully more Tell-A-Tales will show up! Remember that once ripped, you can save them as MP3 also, Meaning you can send via e-mail! Not very subtle, am I?
:-)
Ps. There was a fifth tape in the horror Tell-A-Tale series : The Hound of the baskervilles!
Retro Ghoul
10-08-2010, 22:10
Hi Jaygon
I have the 'Hound of the Baskervilles' Ladybird book, didn't realise there was a Tell-A-Tale tape too, have to look out for that one. Thanks for that. When I eventually get the tapes ripped I'll certainly send them as an email for you, thats if they are not going to be too big to send.
Ps. There was a fifth tape in the horror Tell-A-Tale series : The Hound of the baskervilles!
Thanks Ghoul!
I always did love the horror classics! Have lots of Horror/Ghost books from when I was a kid! Most of the 1980's Armada books were pretty good!
I had the Wally Whyton albums which I loved.Also had a big cream double album that came from Woolies,was songs and stories I think,can't remember the name of it though.
tulip
Flash Gordon
11-08-2010, 09:48
No they were a company who made many talking books in the 1980s, mostly film-TV tie ins. Most of mine went to a friend of the family when I got too old for them but I have at least 1 tape around still.
Yes, I believe it was Rainbow that produced/released The Three Investigators:), a series, as I have already intimated, I would love to hear again.
(Surely they don't just bin 'em all?)
BlitzKid
11-08-2010, 15:48
Hi Jaygon
I have the 'Hound of the Baskervilles' Ladybird book, didn't realise there was a Tell-A-Tale tape too, have to look out for that one. Thanks for that. When I eventually get the tapes ripped I'll certainly send them as an email for you, thats if they are not going to be too big to send.
Could you please send them to me too? I'd love to hear them. :)
Retro Ghoul
11-08-2010, 21:22
My Pleasure jaygon
I really love a lot of the kid's horror/ghost books from the 70's and 80's, the Armada books were great;love the covers on them. I have a lead now which is one that you plug into the microphone socket on the computer and the other end in the headphone socket on the stereo, will hopefully give it ago tonight.
Thanks Ghoul!
I always did love the horror classics! Have lots of Horror/Ghost books from when I was a kid! Most of the 1980's Armada books were pretty good!
Retro Ghoul
11-08-2010, 21:24
Could you please send them to me too? I'd love to hear them. :)
Will do, thats if I can get it working. If I do I'll let you know here.
How did the ripping go? :-)
Retro Ghoul
16-08-2010, 22:50
Hi Jargon
Funny you happened to ask today, I was just about to say that I have ripped the Dracula tape which is in 2 parts [side 1 and 2] I did try to send it as an attachment to my email but the files were too big. So I have uploaded them to Media fire where you can download them from there. I am hoping to get the Frankenstein tape done tonight. Hope you enjoy the Dracula one.
Here is the link for you and for anyone else thats fancies a listen:
http://www.mediafire.com/?5492he9wz9r4fzr
http://www.mediafire.com/?89bbthb5yvf4jv2
How did the ripping go? :-)
Thanks Retro!!!!
I appreciate it!!
BlitzKid
17-08-2010, 15:55
Loved the Dracula one! Very atmospheric and eerie and great voice acting; would have scared me if I'd heard it as a kid! Can't wait to hear the rest :)
Retro Ghoul
17-08-2010, 22:59
Glad you liked it, it is one of the best of the Ladybird Tell-A-Tale tapes. Here is the Frankenstein one, hope you all enjoy this one too.
Side 1 - http://www.mediafire.com/?2pdpv2i3ibcihb4
Side 2 - http://www.mediafire.com/?e7pbfbfw9ac94yf
Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde to follow.
Has anyone ripped the Hound of the Baskervilles one yet?
Loved the Dracula one! Very atmospheric and eerie and great voice acting; would have scared me if I'd heard it as a kid! Can't wait to hear the rest :)
They are very hard to find Retro, I have only tracked a handfull of all of the tell-a-tales and I've been searching for months now!
Of course, SOMEONE must have a full set, it's just a case of the person seeing the threads I have put up!
hay Retro,
How did the original tapes sound? The rips are quite low and hard to hear in places. I'm going to ask a friend of mine who works with audio if he can improve quality.
The few Tell-a-tales that have shown up all seem to be of this quality. This is because they are all from the early to mid 1980s and the sound had degraded.
It is great to have them. Looking forward to hearing the rest. Really enjoyed Frankenstein
Retro Ghoul
18-08-2010, 23:17
Hi Jaygon
The original tapes don't sound too bad really and I thought that when I ripped them they sounded ok. I think on the original tapes there are quite a few low bits on them. I am using Audacity but I am not really sure about how to improve the sound quality, I don't really want to start adjusting levels etc because I don't know if I will be doing the right thing. Will have to try and figure it out though sometime. Will be great if your freind can improve them.
How many tapes have you managed to find? What are the titles? I guess the sound won't be too great because like you say they are from the early to mid 80's and are bound to lose quality of sound.
Glad that you are enjoying them, here is Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde:
Side 1 http://www.mediafire.com/?7jn4pcvglj6d7nf
Side 2 http://www.mediafire.com/?m70iw51lcc0x31s
'The Mummy' coming very soon.
hay Retro,
How did the original tapes sound? The rips are quite low and hard to hear in places. I'm going to ask a friend of mine who works with audio if he can improve quality.
The few Tell-a-tales that have shown up all seem to be of this quality. This is because they are all from the early to mid 1980s and the sound had degraded.
It is great to have them. Looking forward to hearing the rest. Really enjoyed Frankenstein
My friend wrote this :
Actually I think that (apart from the volume flucations at the beginning of Dracula side 1) the quality is not too bad for a tape. Someone (with more skill than me) could probably clean it up pretty nicely. The beginning of Dracula side 1 needs to be digitized again though - part is too loud causing clipping and part is too quiet causing lots of quantization noise.
But if this is the way that it plays on the tape there is no point in digitising again. I'm sure they can all be cleaned up and I will attermpt to have it done :
Of the Tell-a-Tales I have :
Treasure Island (needs a bit of work)
Hansel and Gretel
The Elves and the Shoemaker All 3 are 'Well Loved Tales' series and I'm keen to get more of these.
Tom Thumb
Tim Catchamouse (Puddle Lane)
He-man and the Masters of the Universe (various)
She-Ra (various)
Thomas the Tank Engine (Various)
Transformers (Various)
Retro Ghoul
19-08-2010, 00:02
Hi Jargon
Pleased to hear that your freind thought that the Dracula recording was generally not bad. How did the Frankenstein tape sound, was this just the same? Will have to try and do the Dracula one again with better sound.
Nice collection of Tell-a-tales you have collected up to now, hope you managed to get many more. I'll have a look around myself and let you know if I get any.
Well here is the last in the classic horror Tell-a-Tales tapes, well apart from 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' would love to get a copy of this.
The Mummy:
Side 1 http://www.mediafire.com/?9ch23ongbttmcfw
Side 2 http://www.mediafire.com/?69v1j0i5mlafgj1
My friend wrote this :
Actually I think that (apart from the volume flucations at the beginning of Dracula side 1) the quality is not too bad for a tape. Someone (with more skill than me) could probably clean it up pretty nicely. The beginning of Dracula side 1 needs to be digitized again though - part is too loud causing clipping and part is too quiet causing lots of quantization noise.
But if this is the way that it plays on the tape there is no point in digitising again. I'm sure they can all be cleaned up and I will attermpt to have it done :
Of the Tell-a-Tales I have :
Treasure Island (needs a bit of work)
Hansel and Gretel
The Elves and the Shoemaker All 3 are 'Well Loved Tales' series and I'm keen to get more of these.
Tom Thumb
Tim Catchamouse (Puddle Lane)
He-man and the Masters of the Universe (various)
She-Ra (various)
Thomas the Tank Engine (Various)
Transformers (Various)
Thanks Retro,
Really interested in the WEll Loved Tales series but they are very difficult to find. Ideally, I'd love to collect them all repair them, and share them with fellow fans.
Frankenstein sounded great!
Frankenstein, the Mummy and Dr. Jeckyll are perfect.
re : Dracula, my friend says :
It can be improved, but there will still be annoying artifacts unless that side is digitized again - the tape seems to be fine but information has been lost in the digitization process. If Dracula side 1 is re-ripped at the same volume as side 2, then it should be possible to fix it up to nearly CD quality.
Retro Ghoul
19-08-2010, 21:35
Hi Jargon
I'll re-rip the first side of Dracula as soon as I can, I think because it was the first one I had done it was a bit hit and miss wether I got the sound ok. I think I did alter things a little after that one. Now when I do another tape the levels stay the same, so I try not to alter them. Hoped you liked Dr.Jekyll and The Mummy.
Frankenstein, the Mummy and Dr. Jeckyll are perfect.
re : Dracula, my friend says :
It can be improved, but there will still be annoying artifacts unless that side is digitized again - the tape seems to be fine but information has been lost in the digitization process. If Dracula side 1 is re-ripped at the same volume as side 2, then it should be possible to fix it up to nearly CD quality.
I really enjoyed them and appreciate it!!!!
Keep your eyes peeled for others! I'll do the same!
Retro Ghoul
19-08-2010, 21:54
Its a pleasure, glad that you enjoyed them. I have been wanting to put my tapes onto CD for years and thanks to yourself telling me about a way that this can be done it has given me the motivation to begin them. Will certainly keep looking for others.
Thanks Retro,
In the meantime, if you get a chance, could you re-do Dracula Side 1?
Can we take this to pm now please? This is not a file sharing site, thanks.
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