Oh, are you too YOUNG to remember tape cassette and breaking the tape, and repairing it cause you were all clever? If so, I’m sad for you. Not for that, but for the fact that you don’t even understand what shitty fidelity is like with your beloved little Justin Bieber mp3s. Let me explain:
In the modern era first came vinyl. Sounded amazing, was bulky, the kids couldn’t drive to it. Next came 8 track tapes – horrible idea, horrible execution, horrible sound. Next up? Cassette tapes. These guys had a good foot hold because:
1. Small size
2. Cheap.
3. Columbia House Record Club would send them to you unannounced (illegal, turns out) and just like that-you’re on the hook to buy 4 more over the next 2 years for a ridiculously bloated price that included like 10 bucks in”handling”. I digress though…
Cassettes sounded horrible. HORRIBLE. Flat, susceptible to getting dropouts, just a mess. Anyhow, you kids don’t have to deal with these things, but what format did you flock to? You adopted mp3s as your standard? MP3s??!?! Compressed, pulverized music, usually under 160Kbps (yes I’m a nerd)…welcome back to cassettes, idiots. You have lossless music available, at vinyl and CD quality, but you OPT for shit sounding mp3s? Well then, I guess you DO know what it was like back in the day for us losers toting around the latest releases by The Fixx, The Smiths, and OMD. We have more in common than I thought.
What were we talking about? Rowntrees Pick & Mix? And somehow this related to a mix tape? Ah….right. yes. The Mix. The all-important mix. See, that awesome mix was so good, you jut had to play it again and again. And because you did that, the tape broke. So you’d repair it. Again and again. The sound would get worse and worse. A cycle of violence. These things are nothing like that, but they ARE like that mix tape-the thing you just can’t reach past when you need a fix. You want them, you need them. Behold:
Pick & Mix is made up of three excellent Rowntrees candies:
Fruit Gums (tangy, chewy, delish flavors):
Pastilles (crunchy, chewy, sweet, complex):
Tooty Frooties (Skittle-esque but harder, chewier):
We’ve reviewed their fruit gums here before, and they rank as one my all time favorite candies. The pastilles are amazing as well. They’re like a crusty, slightly crunchy, chewy gummy. Not sour, but they have the same natural flavorings that Rowntrees uses, so you get those same natural tart notes. Word of advice: the black currant pastilles are semi life changing.
Finally, you get a bunch of Tooy Frooties, which are essentially chewier and tougher Skittles. Dreamy.
Individually, all three of these candies are outstanding. But together? For whatever reason, the combination is truly stellar. Eating a Tooty with a fruit gum? Yummy. Pastille with a fruit gum? Yummier. All three together? Just plain naughty.
The combination of excellent flavors, good, unique consistencies, and a smallish bag (so you can eat the whole damn thing in one sitting and not feel TOO lardy) is just winning for me. Every time I procure these, they’re gone within days. I don’t share these. Get it?
What I’m saying here is that I can’t rate candies higher than I’m rating these. Click the purchase link below (they’re very hard to find in the US, but I’ve found a supplier with VERY reasonable shipping!)
For me, it doesn’t get better than this. Great flavors, great consistencies, great alone or together. Just great. Now stop listening to Coldplay on your damn Zune at 128Kbps, and buy some of these. And after they arrive, PAY for the lossless version of your favorite album, listen to it on headphones, and I dare you to tell me that it doesn’t sound a million times better.
Double dog dare ya!
I miss OMD. a little. And “red skies tonight” was one of my skeletons in the closet for years. Until I was saved by zero.
I’d rate these candies but I never had them because NO ONE EVER SAVED ME ANY