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I was really pleased to have got this, just before Christmas, off ebay. Both cassette and inlay/box are in near perfect condition and look and sound great. I was amused that they have called it Spec's Appeal on both the labels and inlay! As you will notice, the track running order is somewhat different. I prefer the original LP running order, but this actually isn't bad and works quite well. Anyway, a nice 'surprise' present at Christmas which I hadn't expected... much like the sweatshirt!

Another gem. Music cassettes of albums never used to bother me very much, but since you have shown a couple of pictures of them of The Shadows' albums on this forum, I'm beginning to change my mind! I still have a Sony double cassette deck, bought for my birthday back in 1994 and had it serviced a couple of years ago, so it works perfectly. I forgot about the warmth of the sound of an analogue cassette (in good condition of course).

What about the sound quality of the "Specs Appeal" cassette? Does it still sound warm and bright after almost 47 years? And does it sound better than the vinyl issue and/or the CD issue in your opinion?

Like any cassette that old, it probably doesn't sound quite as good as it did at first. However... on a scale of 1 to 10, I'd put the sound quality easily at 7. It sounds very, very good. The CD that I have (the Magic release from 2004) sounds 'brighter', but it always annoys me that they fade out the final note/chord of 'No, No, Nina' for no obvious reason. It's nice to hear it with the final note held until the end. I haven't played the actual LP for a long time. All in all, the cassette sounds as good as, if not better than, I had hoped.

I love these old cassettes. They DO sound different to the CDs and the (often) altered running order makes them an interesting experience. The covers sometimes vary from the original LP sleeves and you'll get the odd one (such as Somethin' Else!!) in a coloured cassette shell. I note that cassettes are starting to come back in, as it were, so now would seem to be a good time to collect them. Most of that also applies to the 8-track cartridges, although it might be a while before they come back into vogue!