Fabio from Rio has been increasingly helpful with this blog. Lately, he's been encouraging me to change the background image of various album covers. He thought that instead of random officially released albums, it should consist of covers I've made for this blog. I had to agree with him. So he helped me make that change. I selected some covers more or less at random. The only logic was that I tried to include the most popular musical acts on this blog.
So that's one change. Another is that Fabio designed a new header for this blog page. He came up with the vinyl record logo on the left, using AI. On the right, he and I agreed we could have what looked like part of a shelf of CDs. At this point, they're all albums that have been posted here, randomly selected. But we may change what albums are there. We'll see. We're open to suggestions.
One more thing. If you look closely at both the background image and the stack of CDs, one album that can be seen is "The Maximum Wall" by Pink Floyd. I've been talking about posting that for... well, let's just say a very long time now. But it's close. It's all finished, and I'm just waiting for a little feedback from a few people. So expect that in the next few days, knock on wood. In the stack of CDs it's very thick, because it's actually a quadruple album!
Our priority was always to use art created by Gerald Scarfe, who did all the art for the 1979 album. But in a majority of cases, we couldn't find a fitting image for a particular song, so Fabio made one, again using AI. Or, sometimes, we were able to find other art, such as screenshots from the Wall movie.
Anyway, I hope you like the new background and header. And look forward to the "Maximum Wall" appearing here very soon.
Wow that is SO cool [and really interesting . . . . ] way to go Paul
ReplyDeleteCan't wait! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThis looks amazing! And I like the new look a LOT!
ReplyDeleteIt is a pleasure and a joy to be able to collaborate with Paul. He does a tremendous service to music fans (and to the artists themselves, I believe) with this blog, sharing great music that might otherwise be lost or rarely heard, and helping to keep the work of both established and new artists alive.
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ReplyDeleteFor the new background, I asked Paul to share 81 of his favorite covers with me. He provided 76, and I added a few of my own collaborations as well. All 81 covers are represented here, but due to the way this blog is configured, most of them are hidden behind the main image.
ReplyDeleteSo, if you're curious to see the other covers we used, it's easy: just zoom out on the page (you know, roll the little scroll wheel on your mouse while holding down the CTRL key to make the text smaller), and the other covers will become visible.
And a small correction: Paul mentions that all the album titles that appear on the CD spines are releases from "Albums That Should Exist" that are already available here (with the temporary exception of The Maximum Wall, which is coming soon). But there is one more exception: I intentionally included a "dream album" that doesn't exist and probably never will, at least not in this reality. It is a little symbol of all the albums that could have been but never were, as well as future releases here at ATSE.
(Let's see if you can spot the dream album! Feel free to reply with your guesses).
Here's a hint: all the CD titles on the CD spines (except for the dream album) are from albums whose artwork is included in the blog's background image. So, one more reason to zoom out (or zoom in) and check out all the covers!
DeleteEdit: i'm working with Paul with a possible way to edit the background image so all the 81 covers we selected will be visible without the need to zoom out. I'll let you know here if we are able to manage it
Deletelooking fab. what a great project. can't wait ... thanks for all U do.
ReplyDeleteAs for the upcoming Maximum Wall project, I guarantee you will be amazed by both the music and the accompanying 180-page booklet. I didn't touch the audio (Paul has literally been working on that for years), but I helped a lot with the booklet design. There will be exactly 120 images (yes, I counted them!), many of them rare or original.
ReplyDeleteI designed the booklet format so that those who like to have a physical copy will actually be able to print it. And if you have it professionally printed and use a hardcover binding, you'll also be able to have four physical CDs of the collection (if you're an old nostalgic dinosaur like me, who still burns CD-Rs). Actually, we also designed four original CD labels, so make that 124 images!
Just to make it clearer: what I meant is that those who burn the CD-Rs with the music will be able to also print cd-labels, and to store the cds inside the booklet, attached to foam hubs in the back of each cover, like you can see at this page. You will have to buy some of these cd foam hubs, though (they are cheap)
Deletehttps://cdspider.wordpress.com/2014/08/08/cd-spider-cd-clip-self-adhesive-cd-foam-button/
Fabio and Paul: LOVE IT! Yes, I scrolled out to see the entire tapestry of cover art. Recommended to all!!!
ReplyDeleteLet me take this opportunity to thank Paul for his dediation, to a dream I've always had, to have the time to search out and find these musical treasures and using technology to "improve" these electronical works of art.
ReplyDeleteSince discovering this site, I have found a site that really appeals to my personal musical "hobby". A daily adventure, like when I was a kid, waiting for the mailman to deliver my prize, after I sent my boxtops and quarter in the mail. Can't wait now to see what Paul, the musical mailman, delivered today.
I haven't always had the time to thank you for each d/l. So, let me thank you now and will do better to thank you in the future.
And now, Fabio, your work, so far, has been phenomenal. I hope there is more musical endeavors from Paul and you.
Once again, to all, Thanks.
Thanks for your kind words, Zeeb!
DeleteIndeed, thanks for that. It's great to hear that. Let's hope us mailmen can keep delivering for a long time to come.
DeleteMe too Zeeb, exactly this. No matter how much music I listen to, this site always has surprises, many of them mind-blowing. In fact, if there were a thread where regular followers could publish their top10 ATSE mindblowing songs, that could be interesting
DeleteEverything looks great. And thank you for all the wonderful music!
ReplyDeleteThis may also be a good opportunity to mention that, some time ago, Paul reached the milestone of 4,000 albums released here, having started in April 2018.
ReplyDeleteThere are more than 4,000 posts on this blog at the moment (including the one I am commenting on, which is exactly the 4,096th post — or 2¹², for the geeks among us). Some of these posts are announcements like this one, but the vast majority are related to releases. So, my guess is that the 4,000-album mark must have been reached sometime in late May or early June.
4,000 albums in roughly eight years is an amazing achievement (and possibly a world record). That's around 500 new albums per year, or about 10 every week!
I also counted all the artists represented in the Labels list that you can find to the right of this comment. There are exactly 1,215 artists listed there as of today (August 8, 2026). And since there are several additional artists featured in the Covered projects with just one track who aren't individually labeled — for instance, our next big project, the ongoing Covered: Dylan collection, will feature about 250 different artists — I estimate that the real number of artists represented across these 4,000+ releases must be close to 1,800, if not more.
So, kudos to Paul for all his dedication to so many artists and their work!
Bravo!!!
ReplyDeleteLoving the new look. Great. Thanks DD
ReplyDeleteReally like the new look! Great job!
ReplyDeleteLooking good, Fabio & Paul! They say a change is as good as a holiday ...
ReplyDeleteIt looks great!
ReplyDeleteThe new look is pretty cool!
ReplyDeleteLooks awesome...great job guys... I've been waiting for this post for years...literally!!
ReplyDeleteLove the new look, and perhaps seeing an album cover in the background will encourage people to try a post that they might have missed the first time round.
ReplyDeleteAlso hard to believe that between our two blogs we've posted 6,500 albums that don't actually exist! We're putting the actual records companies to shame.
ReplyDeleteFicou bem legal. Parabéns!
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