I am offering this cassette tape (with issues - see below) because it is not just an ordinary cassette version of the vinyl album but is the cassette tape version of the special double vinyl release (Australia & New Zealand)
Thompson Twins - Into The Gap
Arista Records
Cat# RMC 53128
Australian release
Dolby encoded
1984
Cassette tape packaging is in very good condition.
Before playing I repacked the tape, and visually inspected carefully the clamshell, rollers and head pressure pad - no issues with the shell or tape at all
This is a heat weld type clamshell so if ever it was required to "get inside" to relube etc..., the best of luck to you! Heat welded clamshells are dogs to get inside and more often than not, you will end up destroying the whole cassette.
I have then played this tape ENTIRELY, crisp clean sound (plenty of highs and lows with great dynamic range) and no problems at all with no "drop outs" or high frequency loss heard and nice smooth tape travel.
HOWEVER!!!
There is something strange with this tape, please read on ... this is important.
While each and every song is a great play, actually a very good playback, there is this most peculiar sound which happens infrequently throughout the tape.
It is hard to describe, something like someone is tapping - a low level percussive sort of sound. It is not all the time (random periods but repeatable) and is always the same sound, like someone is tapping the clamshell while it is playing! I have only heard this type of thing once before when we undertook audio production, leaving a 1/4" tape too close to an unshielded loudspeaker and some of the magnetic domains on the tape were upset by the speaker resulting in strange sounds being punched through to the tape media.
I have played this tape through multiple times, it is always the same sound and always in the same locations - it doesn't "move".
Most of the time this "weird sound" is buried by the music but it can be heard during the lead-in and during the inter-track periods of silence.
The level of the "foreign" sound has a peak of -15dB, well below the music content which runs between -6dB and 0dB (highly compressed)
The sound is on both tracks at the same time.
This is not a physical tape problem, the tape does not slip or change speed, the pitch of playback remains unaltered throughout and the frequency response does not change (such as might happen if the tape had twisting) and after a lot of investigation I feel this is "print through" from an external magnetic source some time in the past.
With all that said, this tape still has very listenable music and is most enjoyable (if you like Thompson Twins!)
Tracks: Doctor! Doctor!, You Take Me Up, Day After Day, Sister Of Mercy, No Peace For The Wicked, The Gap, Hold Me Now, Storm On The Sea, Who Can Stop The Rain?, Leopard Ray, Doctor! Doctor! (Extended version), Panic Station, Down Tools, Hold Me Now, Funeral Dance, Compass Points, Still Water
