Going Ghibli

Jadis jump in on Ghibli-mania. Courtesy xAi/Grok.

 I don't know too much about anime, let alone Studio Ghibli, but I do know a good trend when I see one, and I became intrigued by the latest AI flavour of the month of turning any given photo into the Japanese animation powerhouses distinct style. Several bands I know don't have freely licenced images I can use on Wikipedia as I have pointed out before, and now there's this legal loophole that is questionable, but allowed for now. ChatGPTs Open AI initially just had it for paid subscribers, but I can't afford that, so I went to xAi/Grok after they bought X, if that makes sense and they did a poor mans version for me of Jadis. I wonder if Martin Orford (far right in drawing above, late of IQ) would slate AI the way he did illegal downloading since there may be some parallels. Would make interesting discussion. Then ChatGPT got it to work for everybody and the floodgates opened. I had a go with Pallas and It Bites original lineup (later one with John Mitchell of Arena, Asia, and so much more), and now I will do Savoy and even Magnum spinoff Hard Rain. I did the cover of Magnum propers 1983 album The Eleventh Hour!, which a bootleg label stole for a 1985 Marillion concert released as Childhood Mysteries from their Misplaced Childhood tour, which I covered last year, so I Ghibli-ed it to make it a new scene not from Rodney Matthews himself. I could even do this with the kid from the other cover. I can go on all day. Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki however is no fan of AI.
    I've been using AI this past year. Initially, it was for the sister blog, so go over there for more. As for here, I'm not as good at drawing people. Doing a whole person isn't a strong point with me as I can with other species. Some of the Status Quo can't even draw "Pictures of Matchstick Men", but AI can let you create "Whatever You Want" (even Francis Rossi et al are getting the Gene Shallit treatment here). We'll see how long this one sticks around before the next craze comes along just like everything else.

Pallas in colour since this was done from black and white.

It Bites. Courtesy ChatGPT Open AI.

With apologies to Rodney Matthews and Magnum.

Doggy also joins in on the fun!

Magnum take back their sleeve once again.

Savoys Ghibli-savvy is now tunnel vision!

xAi Groks version of Savoy didn't work out as well.

    Turns out I can't use these on Wikipedia if they're derived from copyrighted works, so that's it for this new sensation. I would have to go see these bands in person and sneak in photos to get my own free images or wait for them to break up or have press photos old enough to qualify, even from within my lifetime, whichever comes first. I did draw Savoy and the 2010-24 lineup of Pallas, but that just won't work on Wikipedia as they're too incomplete, crude and amateurish to be on there, and much of my work has disappeared over the years anyway. There are ways I could get permission to licence photos, but it's too much red tape. I just want something I can use straight away. If I could have AI make an original photo of any of these people, that would be great, but it's just they're not as well known as when I could even get last minute ones of Trevor Horn or Elton John for Facebook memories or Bluesky. I wind up with people who don't even exist, even when I submit a source photo. This is why AI gets slated on a daily basis, even though it's only going to get bigger like sci-fi had predicted.

Identity crisis

The real Arena, 2019.

kitmasterbloke, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

 If an artist or group has a common or generic name, chances are someone else will have it too. Before the internet, that was the case. If one makes it big, the other may contact their solicitors and settle out of court. I wrote a similar post years ago on our sister retail blog. In recent years, when I try to look up some people, I find mp3s from the wrong ones, who may not realise that the "real" one even exist. Spinoffs and disputes over use of the name by former members isn't exactly what I mean since that's a different post entirely. These are the ones I know off hand, but there are tonnes more out there.

Asia (my Asia settled with lesser known mid-West band and lesser knowns come up for mp3s)

Duran Duran (there are an obscure band called Duran Duran Duran)

Fish (can even be confused with Phish)

Tony Banks (once found an unknown artist with same name)

Ray Wilson (same)

Justin Hayward (there's also a DJ)

Brian May (Queen guitarist and late Australian film composer)

Roger Taylor (drummers for Queen and Duran Duran, which would probably have caused issues back at EMI)

Rush (even the boys have some chancers that are really fly by night calling themselves that, as well as Big Time Rush [please!], Mahogany Rush [also Cancon], Tom Rush, Jennifer Rush, films called Rush)

Savoy (can also get mixed up with Savoy Brown with late Oswego County resident Kim Simmonds)

Jim Diamond (was once a Diamond Jim out there)

PhD (his duo had to contend with a hip-hop one)

Bandit (his earlier band with AC/DCs Cliff Williams and Kate Bush's husband Danny McIntosh)

Status Quo (not to be confused with hip hop artist Stat Quo or song from High School Musical)

IQ (you have to have one to know who the real one are)

Jadis (even them, but could even get conflated with character on The Walking Dead)

Pallas (founder Graeme Murray originally called his band Rainbow, but that's in the same boat)

Magnum (I recently got a CD from the wrong Magnum, which I got rid of)

INXS (was once a shop in the Mohawk Valley)

Visage (was spa run by my doctor likely stopped by Steve Stranges estate if not the state)

Genesis (was once obscure band in the US at the same of the one I know being formed and another in Colombia, and also the late Genesis P-Orridge)

Alan Williams (because of others with the name, the one I used to know used the name Al Chantrey)

Toyah (not to be confused with Toya)

Slaughter (Clark County and Canadian bands)

X (US and Japan)

The Beat (Paul Collins's Beat and The English Beat)

Earth, Wind & Fire (not to be confused with Earth Fire, who Boris wants me to find)

Cinema (short-lived Yes spinoff settled with other Cinemas after becoming Yes proper again)

Tony Kaye (original Yes member and fellow UK pat and director)

Jon Anderson (not to be confused with country artist John Anderson)

Michael Jackson (even the King of Pop had two others with the same name)

Joe Jackson (his dad and the pop/jazz artist)

Paul Young (solo artist and late Sad Café/Mike & the Mechanics vocalist)

Rainbow (Ritchie Blackmores band; original name for Pallas; Sissy Spacek once recorded as Rainbo)

Velvet Underground (band with SU's own Lou Reed; early band with AC/DCs Malcolm Young)

Vanessa Williams (SU alum, Melrose Place co-star [both did Soul Food], and gospel artist)

Bush (UK and Canadian bands)

Arena (pictured; UK band and over a dozen or so different artists with that name)

Hootenanny Singers (Swedish folk band with ABBAs Björn Ulvæus and obscure US band)

Musify/Myzuka

Courtesy Round Hill Records

 By the cover art can be obtained from Round Hill Music / Zuma Rock Records., Fair use, Link

    It seems like sister pirate mp3 sites Myzuka.club and Musify.club have lost the plot. After uploading dozens of albums to both simultaneously (it's a package deal) for over a decade, it seems they don't want anymore from me. I uploaded two albums they don't have yet, The Messenger from Pallas and Loaded: The Greatest Hits 1994-2023 by Bush (pictured). For the latter, I worked around it by going to an unofficial compilation by updating tracks that had a lower bit rate and adding ones not already there. I had downloaded the new official one legally from amazon since I got it free when I bought the CD from them around the time of Gavin Rossdales birthday and the bands most recent show in my area last fall. Pallas on the other hand are more limited by comparison. Had to go to another site for them. Can't afford Bandcamp too. To boot, band leader and manager Graeme Murray is also a barrister (albeit in criminal law rather than civil), so it may be karma for both bands; also considering neo-prog contemporaries' IQ and Jadis' Martin Orfords war or piracy. Since I can't access Pallas' new album on Musify or amazon at this stage, I had to put those mp3s on my Google drive to stream them from my phone. I would rather have the CD anyway, and I'll get it when it's available affordably. I may have invested heavily in Jadis and Denny Laine due to their catalogues' scarcity, but that's for another post.

    It's too easy to download or stream these days. Vinyl is back (like it never left, but again, for another day). It's like trading in something at the shop. Even if it's something they don't have and not on every corner, they still may not want it. I'm not going to waste time, money or data trying to upload them again. I tried contacting them, but have not heard back. Anyone looking for either of these albums on those site are on their own. File-sharing networks (Warez) like the old Napster, Limewire, BitTorrent, Kazaa and the Pirate Bay aren't as common anymore and can still cause damage to your devices. I actually don't upload or download as much as I used to nowadays. I don't even stream much TV. As for those sites, if I upload one more album and they don't do a thing, they'll never get another from me again. No one makes one ruble from it anyhow, which proves a point. Most of my old files have been wiped or disappeared over the years. Some are off of CDs I still have, but I can't rip them like I used to. Better to cut my losses and lossy files and just move on. (UPDATE: The Pallas one was uploaded by another person already, yet is not recognised in the bands discography.)

Warner Records

Not your parents' Warners!

After going the way of Glastonbury this past year, I'm back.
Warner Bros Records are no more, being reborn as just Warner Records. This was a surprise, although their licence from former sister company Warner Bros. ran out, a decade and a half after Warner Music Group spun off of Time Warner (since sold to AT&T), which was orchestrated by Edgar Bronfman Jnr, who also did the same for Universals purchase of PolyGram in 1999, only for them to separate from their former parent studio.  I have tagged artists with a tag who have been on Warner or Reprise, at least in the US and Canada if not worldwide.
The label moved across town from Burbank to downtown LA propers arts district.
There have been mixed reactions to this, but I think this is a new beginning.  I'm looking forward to seeing new releases on the new label, although Duran Duran and Liam Gallagher are the only ones I know so far confirmed to have one, and Fleetwood Mac have considered one with their newest lineup.   For back releases, I still have both (Duran mostly on sister label Parlophone) as well as a-ha, Black Sabbath and Depeche Mode (North America), Alanis Morissette, and related artists to get, mainly on LP.  For anything that has yet to be reissued, it could have the old logo on it to make it look accurate.  The Smiths were reissued on it as wea was retired as a label after the sale.
With all that's going on in the world these days, this is a mere change in strategy and we should embrace this.  Several catalogue releases have already been reissued with the new label.

eMusic

Current logo.

eMusic is where I go for independent artists on official mp3.  Doesn't mean it's all there.  One artist says he didn't get too much return (Spotify pays even less) and a label head in LA says it's a ripoff.  I managed to find a number of albums for over a decade.  They even had major label releases for a period before going back to their indie roots.  I truly would rather have everything on both LP and CD when I can.  Also there isn't always something there not at the other place.  What I do find I put on that site later.  I can only suspend my account twice a year and I won't cancel as something comes up eventually if I look for people I know.  My credits usually refresh when I pay my subscription for internet, so I'm able to download by then.

UPDATE: I have cancelled my account as this is a lost cause.

Rare publicity photos

Index of //patmil007

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

Life after a-ha?

Original drawing by me.  L-R: Morten Harket, Pål Waaktaar-Savoy and Magne Furuholmen.

As all a-ha fans know, the band will come to an end by the holiday season. As hard as it is to say goodbye, all good things must come to an end. When the new year comes, we wonder what will come next for Messrs Harket, Waaktaar-Savoy, and Furuholmen. I see them having more time for their existing solo careers. New solo releases from Morten Harket and Magne F are immiment, as well as the long-awaited next studio release from Savoy with Lauren and Pål Waaktaar-Savoy. Mags also has an art career with works that are seen in a gallery or two, and the ocassional acting gig for father-of-five Harket, who sometimes appears in the Norweigian tabloids.
Many a-ha releases along with solo remain officially unreleased in North America (primarily the States where they continue to be overlooked), leaving fans here to order imports and downloads as usual. I'm hoping Rhino will reissue albums out-of-print as well releasing for the first time later releases, though the demand is low, despite a brief US leg on the recent tour (I'll have to fly to the EU when I get the dough).
Who knows? Maybe they'll get back together again in future. Others have. Surely, this is an amicable disbanding. The music will live on forever, so it'll seem like they never left.
UPDATE: a-ha have reunited in 2015 but for how long?

Savoy - Mountains of Time (1999)

Track listing

"Man In The Park"
"Star"
"End Of The Line"
"Any Other Way"
"Grind You Down"
"Bottomless Pit"
"Mountains"
"Ocean Floor"
"Everyone"
"See What Becomes"
"Break It Gently"
"Tongue Tied"

Bonus disc

"The Bovarnick Twins"
"This, That, & The Other" (alternate version)
"Feels Good (To Be This Way)"
"Rain" (acoustic version)
"Foreign Film" (rock version)

CD 1
CD 2

Savoy - Lackluster Me (1997)

Track listing

1. "Lackluster Me"
2. "Unsound"
3. "You Should Have Told Me"
4. "Foreign Film"
5. "Flowers for Sylvia"
6. "I Still Cry"
7. "Sycamore Leaves"
8. "Rain"
9. "Butt Out"
10. "This, That & The Other"
11. "Hey Luchie"
12. "Easy"
13. "If You Tell"

Download

Savoy - Reasons to Stay Indoors (2001)

Track listing

"Reasons to Stay Indoors"
"If You Won't Come to the Party"
"Face"
"Half of the Time"
"Once Upon a Year"
"Fearlist"
"I Wouldn't Change a Thing"
"Paramount"
"The One That Got Away"
"Against the Sun"
"Five Million Years"
"Overgrown"

Bonus disc

"You Should Have Told Me" (alternate version)
"I Wouldn't Change a Thing" (alternate version)
"Totally Hide"
"Once Upon a Year" (alternate version)
"D.A.R.

Download

Savoy - Live in NY (1997)

Includes tracks from Mary is Coming and Lacklustre Me.

Download

Savoy (2004)

"Empty of Feeling"
"Girl One"
"Bovine"
"Whalebone"
"Shooting Spree"
"Melanie Lied to Me"
"Watertowers"
"Is My Confidence Reeling?"
"Rain on Your Parade"
"Cyna"
"The Breakers"
"Isotope"

Download