Fish, Frogs and the Future

Fish at the Ramblin' Man Fair in Maidstone, 2018.

 Fish has announced his retirement for next year. He will also close his label Chocolate Frog Records. He said he would sell the rights, likely getting on the bandwagon started by Bob Dylan and just peaked by Queen. Fish already sold his share of his Marillion tracks from 1982-88 to Primary Wave, one of the leading independent music companies who have Stevie Nicks, Def Leppard, the late Olivia Newton-John and many others on their roster. Primary Wave could have Fish's solo catalogue on their label as they have the Cambridgeshire-born Australian legend in a deal she signed before she passed. Fish only just reissued his first two albums on LP and CD. He has expressed the difficulties of dealing with the manufacturers and the post after Brexit for EU fans. He and his wife Simone have been running the label themselves and have been moving house to the Outer Hebrides from Midlothian. They have been downsizing like many people their age. I'd love to buy the LPs except for the first, which I have the original of already, but the fish here aren't biting! Going to see him is even more elusive than his former colleagues coming to the US again since it's not like forty years ago. We'll just have to keep an eye on things for the next year and a half and see where this goes.

Retrospect Records: A Retrospective

 

Logo appears under fair use and label may no longer exist. Courtesy Discogs.

    Retrospect Records, an indie label and seller based in Las Vegas and St George, UT, seems to have gone out of business. They were once one of the biggest independent metal labels in the world. I also knew them for selling used CDs like anyone else. They offered bootlegs and Russian pirates, as well as artists not easily found in the US like Gary Moore and Magnum (which led me to write this). I've bought IQ, Pallas, Yes and solo Rick Wakeman for myself and Queensrÿche and maybe Billy Squier for Boris (I would've bought even more if money weren't an object!). Whether the pandemic or just the economy since did them in, it's an all too familiar scene these days across the board. As a label, they may not have had the resources that even other indies have. Fish and his label are one thing since there's no one else on it. Retrospect are another since they signed dozens of obscure artists like Mystery (not the French-Canadian band that I know, since generic names can mean two or more people with a conflict).

    Like a regular news outlet, I reached out to the owner for comment, something I don't typically do. I simply asked what happened as a past customer and not as a blogger. I haven't ordered from them in over ten years time and they haven't had anything new since at least April of last year. The owner told me that he stopped renewing his subscription to the host service, thinking it wasn't worth a bother anymore. Even a free service is not on. We'll just have to let this one go as there are plenty of other places to order from and there's nothing on the label even worth reselling if you ask me.

JMA Dome: Carrier No More

JMA Dome after the new roof was installed

 While other sports and live venues change names every so often, this one is unprecedented (that word is thrown around a lot these days).  The Carrier Dome, as it's been called all my life, will now be the JMA Dome due to a rift between SU and the air con trailblazers.  The local mobile company bought the naming rights as their new plant can see the stadium just over the horizon from their window.  It will take some time for everyone to adjust, though many will never let go, I'm sure (you know how it is).

I'm no sports fan, so I seldom set foot in there, even though the Dome is close to home, and the school is a big part of the local economy.  I tagged who has played there over the past four decades.  Prince closed the place in 1985.  I'll see Paul McCartney once again and Elton John at last later this year (wonder if he knows about L. Frank Baum being from the area when it comes to Goodbye Yellow Brick Road).  Non-Orange events can only be held off-semester or when there are away games during term.

There have been renovations and there will be more.  The new roof reminds me of Wembley Stadium getting done up, changing its character.  The I-81 project just down the hill will also be a game changer (did see Jim Boeheim drive by one time).  Just one sign around the corner needs to have the old guard taken off now.  Another on the new structure at the Loud House has been put on top since then.

Def Leppard remasters

Cover by Hipgnosis (Pink Floyd, Renaissance, Yes, Rainbow)

On Through the Night
Ride Into the Sun (original version)
Getcha Rocks Off (EP version)
Overture (EP version and demo)
Heat Street (originally on a bootleg)
Rock Brigade (Nick Tauber version)
See the Lights (previously unreleased)
Warchild (same)
Glad I'm Alive (demo and Tauber versions)
Wasted (single version)
Hello America (B-side single version)
Good Morning Freedom (studio and live versions)
When the Walls Came Tumbling Down (demo)
Travellin' Band (live)

High 'n' Dry (pictured)
Bringin' on the Heartbreak (1984 synth remix)
Me and My Wine (original and remix despite little significant difference in sound albeit Mutt Langes)

Slang
Last years US deluxe edition should receive an international release as I just bought this myself.  Also put the LP out abroad.  "When Saturday Comes" can be the designated bonus track in Japan.

Euphoria
Promises (video mix)
Immortal
Under My Wheels
I Am Your Child
("Burnout" and "Worlds Collide" from the Australasian edition or EU B-sides are already on the Slang remaster as they were taken from that albums sessions)

X (the most recent original album of the lot that needs an upgrade)
Kiss the Day
Long, Long Way to Go (acoustic version)
10 x Bigger than Love
Gimme a Job
Perfect Girl ("Gravity" demo)
Love Don't Lie (demo)
Let Me Be the One (demo)

Yeah!
How Does It Feel?
Action (live) (studio version of Sweet cover on Retro Active)
Dear Friends (Queen cover by Sav)
Space Oddity (RIP David Bowie)
Rebel Rebel (also a Bowie cover although from the X period this fits the pattern here better)
When I'm Dead and Gone
Elected (live) (Alice Cooper cover recorded during Adrenalize tour)
No Matter What (live) (studio version of Badfinger cover also on Rock of Ages Pan-American comp)
Little Wing (Hendrix cover with Hothouse Flowers)
Winter Song
American Girl (Tom Petty cover)
Search and Destroy
Heartbeat

It remains to be seen whether or not these will come out in the forseeable future as the band are in a bit of a row with Universal over the rights and have considered re-recording their hits note by note (which other people have done in the studio with their songs in the past) and a couple are now available on mp3.  The rights to Slang were reverted back to the band and they reissued it recently in the US through their label there Mailboat (founder Jimmy Buffett also left Universal when his new label became sister to the old one when Universal bought PolyGram, Leppards former home).  Also focus now is on the bands new long-awaited new studio album now available.

In Memorium: A Posthumous Wishlist

Keith Emerson, Greg Lake and Cozy Powell.

There are artists on mine and Boris's* wishlists who are no longer with us. Many of their CDs and LPs are hard to find. Some cultures keep in touch with the deceased so I call on these legends for their guidance finding what they left behind:

Keith Emerson (ELP)

Martin Birch (Fleetwood Mac, Black Sabbath, Rainbow)

Nazareth (Dan McCafferty, Darrell Sweet, Manny Charlton*)
Greg Lake (King Crimson, ELP and solo)
Rupert Hine (Anthony Phillips, Stevie Nicks, Rush)
Cozy Powell (Brian May solo, Black Sabbath)

Keith More (Arena)

Ian McDonald (King Crimson)

John Lennon (solo and the Beatles proper)
Kex Gorin, Jimmy Copley, Tony Clarkin (Magnum)*
Ray Thomas (Moody Blues and solo)

UFO (Pete Way)*
UK (John Wetton and Allan Holdsworth)
George Harrison (both solo and Beatles)

Mark Hollis (Talk Talk)
John Wetton (King Crimson, UK, solo et al, Asia)

Geoff Nicholls (Black Sabbath)
Syd Barrett and Richard Wright (solo and Pink Floyd)
Freddie Mercury (solo and Queen)
George Michael (solo and Wham!)
Christine McVie (née Perfect), Peter Green, Danny Kirwan and Bob Welch (solo and Fleetwood Mac)

Daevid Allen (Gong)*
Cockney Rebel (Steve Harley, Paul Jeffreys, who was on Flight 103 with his wife and both Syracuse students and townies; George Ford and Lincoln Anderson)
Rush (John Rutsey and Neil Peart)
Michael Hutchence (INXS, Max Q, solo)
Ronnie James Dio (Black Sabbath, Rainbow, Dio, Elf and Heaven & Hell)

George Martin (The Beatles)
Def Leppard (Steve Clark)
The Sweet (Brian Connolly, Steve Priest, and Mick Tucker)*
Travelling Wilburys (George Harrison, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty)
Gary Richrath and Gregg Philbin (REO Speedwagon)
Bon Scott (AC/DC and Fraternity)
Paul Young (Sad Café, Mike & the Mechanics; not the one who sings "Come Back and Stay" or "Oh, Girl")

Vangelis (Jon & Vangelis)
Renaissance (Michael Dunford, Jon Camp, lyricist Betty Thatcher-Newsinger and John Tout)
Moody Blues (Clint Warwick, Ray Thomas, Graeme Edge, Denny Laine and producer Tony Clarke)
AC/DC (Bon Scott, Bruce Fairbairn, Malcolm and George Young)
Yes (Peter Banks, Bruce Fairbairn, Alan White and Chris Squire)

Depeche Mode (Andrew Fletcher)
Jim Diamond (Bandit, Bacco, PhD, solo, etc.)
Wings (Linda McCartney [née Epstein/Eastman], Denny Laine, Henry McCollough, Jimmy McCulloch)

Ozzy Osbourne (Black Sabbath and solo)

Dearly departed, please help me find the work in which you each have been immortalised. May you all rest in peace. We the living miss you all. In loving memory. Bless you all!
Names I've deleted from the lists must've gotten the message! Must be working then.

Honourable mentions: Mariska Veres from Shocking Blue, who I didn't know qualified for the list until after I found their CD.* Then original Gentle Giant drummer Martin Smith as I found their first two albums on CD and forgot to put him here knowing that he's gone too. Then Peter Haycock from ELO Part II as I finally found that as well.*

Pictures needed for Wikipedia

John Jowitt (late of IQ) and Gary Chandler of Jadis which I can't use on Wikipedia

Several artists are in need of free-licenced photos for Wikipedia. If the band are still together or the artist is still alive and kicking, then it has to be under an adaptable Creative Commons licence. Flickr sometimes have what I need, but people fall through the cracks. If you own original photos of any of these fine folks, are you willing to upload to Commons and/or Flickr? OTRS is too much trouble. Also tell me who else could use pictures.

Savoy
Pallas
Robert John "Mutt" Lange (hates having his photo taken more than me!)

Jadis (pictured)

Michalis Rakintzis

It Bites

Shadowland

Hard Rain (Magnum spinoff)
Geordie
Max Q
Kerry Minnear (Gentle Giant)
Big Country (current)
Berlin
GPS
Matt Bianco