Amsterdam Russ

Happy to share as I know they'll be greatly enjoyed here. Now where's my all-weather gear and waterproof hood for my camera...?

Weather Photographer of the Year: only a small selection of pics to look at, but they are stunners, especially the overall winner - which shows Blackpool's iconic tower, pier and ferris wheel against an impressive backdrop of a lightning storm. Check them out: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-46223996

Autumn leaves...

Not interested in tunes with the same or a similar title, to be honest. But thanks anyway. More interested in the legal boundaries surrounding whether it’s legit to “edit” a track in some way (so it’s an enhanced version of itself?) or whether it’s just bootlegging. I appreciated that in law it’s entirely possible to creatively redesign an existing work to the degree that the new work becomes something unique, and thus is deemed to be an original, but are the differences in this tune enough? I can’t see that editing a track down and fiddling with the EQ is enough to make it an original work (and I also appreciate some of the nuanced differences between US and UK/EU law relative to this type of scenario). I don’t make any statements or claims about the legal validity, I’m only after clarification about what they might be here. Anyone?

Well, we have bit of an unusual situation when it comes to the "Most liked photo" for the month of October. We have a tie – with two photos getting the same number of "Likes". But (and here's where it's a bit unusual) both were taken by the same person! So, double congratulations to @Winsford Soul for the brilliant close up of a young badger, and for the kingfisher sitting on a branch. Well done, Steve... twice!

Bob Abrahamian Collection Preserved View full article

No idea if this particular owl is doing a good job or not, but shoo-ing the birds away just might be the most effective thing it's ever done. 😂

The owl is perched on top of an industrial greenhouse and used by the owner, who breeds racing pigeons, to scary away birds of prey and other predators that might take a fancy to the pigeons. The owl's raised wings came about as a result of a storm the previous night - in the high winds they'd become detached from the body. I just had to capture the comical effect! 🤣

Been after a decent photo of an owl for years and finally got one!!!

Not a great shot, but this looks like a lot of fun! The guy was out there practicing for a night-time performance at our local firework display (one of the biggest in the country), and was doing all sorts of acrobatics with the board while a couple of metres above the water. Reminded me of Spiderman's arch-enemy, the Green Goblin!

Thanks for the info, Greg. With no artist/writer/publisher credits on the labels at all, and a made-up song title, I take it this isn't an officially licensed release! Isn't this just bootlegging?

White label demo, no bars, and same layout and font combinations as the yellow one posted by The Yank. Record has a flat outer edge, rather than coming to a point, indicating styrene rather than vinyl. But if that's correct, it's very heavy duty styrene. Run-out grooves: Love is the greatest: 4 - BROS - 10466. AT and W (or is it 3?) scratched in. Plus two tiny rectangular stamps with a line in the middle. Just before the "AT" there are two feint letters that look like "3L" written backwards, or it could be "ET", but with the "E" looking like a reversed "3". IGSG: 4 - BROS - 10467, and the rest is the same as the other side, except that the two very small stamps can only just be made out. Bought from Guy Hennigan about 30 years ago.

Wow, that’s epic! Thanks for that. It’s obvious to hear the purpose of the edit, but what a monumental track in full. Now where do the vinyl 12”/7” and the JLM releases fit in to the equation?

Ok, having the name of the album and the real song title, it doesn’t take much to find out the original LP was reissued on CD by Essential Media Group in 2016. https://www.discogs.com/Greene-Sisters-Whatevers-Fair/release/11150205 It’s taken for granted that includes the full version and not the 7”/12” edit on Moton. But is that right? So the track on Steve Clancy’s playlist, is that the Moton edit, the CD version, or a version on this JLM label? <added>Doh! Suddenly remembered it’s possible to tag members, so calling @Mister Fish

Brilliant info - thank you! I half thought the “Beautiful world” title wasn’t accurate and based on that listened to as many tracks by both the artist and the group as I could find online in the hope of finding it - but with no success. So it appears someone’s decided to press a dance-floor edit, so to speak, aimed at DJs specifically. Would love to hear it’s a legit release, but with no artist, songwriter, or any other credits on the 12” and 7” Moton releases, it does appear to have bootleg written all over it. Perhaps someone in the know can correct or clarify. And can anyone offer up anything about the JLM release? Bought a copy of the Moton 7” yesterday thinking it was perhaps an issue of an unreleased track (especially having seen the names associated with the label on their Facebook page), but seeing nothing could be found to substantiate that (and being unable to find any info at all), I can’t help but feel there’s bit of a dupe going on. Someone please tell me I’m wrong.

Song here, and a mention of it being an album track (JLM?)

Edna Isaac and the Greene Sisters - It’s a beautiful world. A fantastic, uptempo and uplifting gospel number, and new to me until recently, but what’s the story with it in terms of releases? There are only two clear mentions I can find of it online. One is in a Steve Clancy/Mr Fish playlist on here in which he lists it as being on JLM. The other is on Discogs where the artist’s name is given in the comments under a three-track 12” release on the Moton record label from 2009 where the artist/group isn’t named at all. The person providing the comment identifies it as being Edna Isaac & the Greene Sisters, and points out that it was also released on Moton as a 7”. The Moton releases are described on Discogs as being “unofficial”. Does that mean bootlegged? Further, from the Moton Facebook page, it appears Greg Belsen is involved in some way. Anyone able to provide some clarity here about the JLM release, which I can find no actual reference to beyond Steve’s playlist, and the validity of the Moton releases?

No sign of NSoulchris anywhere now. According to YouTube... This account has been terminated because we received multiple third-party claims of copyright infringement regarding material the user posted.

Sounds like it could be in customs control for inspection. Once processed, you'll then get a demand for payment of duty - if it's deemed to be due. Otherwise it might just be a random check for illicit/illegal contents. Not had it happen for a good while, when it has it usually took about a month to clear.

I went on a school trip to the big paper mill in our town where the paper pulp smelled like vomit on an industrial scale!

As you're probably aware, I've clarified matters with Mike, and all is good. Agreed, I read your comments in the light of your moderating duties and should have seem them as a response from a member instead, such is the nature of ambiguity. Onwards and upwards...

That's sad to hear. You talked earlier about being able to define the music so it could be commoditised. Why? Are you talking about commercial Alchemy here, or do you mean the modern day creation of good soul music? If the latter, aren't there already huge amounts of people and labels out there doing exactly that? Or do you mean how to make new pop hits out of old bottles? You've mentioned your music experience many times now (in this and other threads). Given that most on here won't have any musical training at all, I'm a bit vague about what it is you're after, and what it is that makes you feel you can rate (disappointed - 2/10) the contributions of Soul Source members in any way at all, especially when you asked out of "personal curiosity". Even as a moderator, the contributions of Soul Source members aren't yours to judge.

Chapter Three: For a while the tribes were united. But as time moved on the tribes found that some members, the elders of the community in particular, couldn’t keep up with the pace of progress taking place within their small and often inward-looking society. The elders increasingly reminisced about the days of their youth. For some of them it felt as if their culture was being diluted. One reason repeatedly cited by certain elders is that the Shamen DJs in these new times just weren’t butch enough. Yet still the younger folk worshipped. Indeed, many more joined their numbers - not just locally, but eventually from all over the world. While OVO remained in their hearts, their god appeared less frequently than in the years gone by. With OVO being so elusive, the younger folk found themselves worshipping instead the voices from “Long-Ago” that were responsible for their mystical trances. Debates ensued that threatened to tear the community of tribes apart. Whom should they worship - OVO or the voices? It’s true, they argued, that without OVO they would not have heard the mighty voices, but at the same time, they could worship the voices without the presence of OVO. It was a godly dilemma, one to which no answer could be given that would appease the opposing factions. The tribes fought over their gods. Deadly wars inflicted huge casualties on the battlegrounds of social media and beyond. The elders continued to shake their heads and dream about the old days. But there was no going back: their numbers had populated the Earth and they were many. Chapter Four: In the year 2525, the people are gripped by waves of nostalgia. Moon-base Alpha holds a festival in celebration of the historic cultures of the dying planet Earth. One small corner, called the Wigan Mecca Torch Wheel, is devoted to the ancient cult of OVO. Although archeologists are still not able to understand who or what OVO really was, or the roll baggy trousers sometimes played in worshipping it, over the centuries, and thanks to the multitude of advanced recording methods used for archiving and preservation, they had been able to amass a huge database of ancient spiritual chants sung by the now long-forgotten people who lived in “Long-Ago”. The songs sung by those voices, so filled with devotion to OVO (so says the exhibition catalogue), touches the hearts of those who come to visit the little Wigan Mecca Torch Wheel exhibition. OVO must have been a great god to be so filled with such spirit, the curators say. Some wonder to themselves whether there was in fact any connection to any god at all, by whatever name, but whether the rapturous embracing of these distant, time-capsuled echoes is entirely down of the depth of the emotions exuded so richly by the wonderful voices on the fantastically preserved and restored recordings. Who or what the god OVO was is unlikely to be understood, but thanks to technology the most emotionally soulful sounds ever to come from mankind have been preserved for future generations across the centuries to come. T-shirts and baggy trousers available to buy in the shop on your way out.