Thanks for reminding me why I stopped uploading album art.

[edjgraphix]

Well, considering that Fanart didn't correct the issue in their recent moderator meeting I wonder how many others already gave up on this place. It's no longer about the album artwork, it's now a shrine to glorify one of the moderators - HAIL THE KING! Contributors are now lowly peasants who have no right adding images to these pages. This kingdom is now in the process of scrubbing the pages clean of actual album artwork and replacing them with overly processed images that look nothing like the actual album covers. Check out some of the "artwork" on the "In Through the Outdoor" images: https://fanart.tv/artist/678d88b2-87b0- ... -zeppelin/ I have had MANY copies of this album on vinyl, cd and cassette, and I've never seen such a dark and sharp image. The album cover is more of a soft, light brown sepia tone. Only one of the many covers on this page even comes close. This is happening on an album to album, artist to artist basis and it's really turning this place into crap. It's really a shame too, because a couple of years ago, maybe a little longer than that, this place had all the best album covers. Moderators actually did research on what the covers looked like - at least the moderators I would talk to. I remember one of them asking me which of the links they had looked closer to the actual artwork. Others would ask questions if they weren't sure about pixelation, or blurry images - they didn't pretend to know. Not anymore. Now the moderator knows what's best based on what they think it looks like, whether they have seen an actual release or not, they are the professionals when it comes to interpreting the artwork. Combine that with the fact that we are all peasants - what the hell were we thinking trying to contribute our sad little pictures?

[KLFofLegion]

And if you try to explain the real look of a cover you get the answer: "no debate" plus some aggressive and arrogant sentences that make you feel like a slave and idiot. He told me once, that he uses a program that find the best covers in China and Russia and that i dont have a clue about it. But most covers of him are obviously from AAX.

I own the original TIFF master art source of this cover:
http://www.albumartexchange.com/covers. ... sin+murphy

But i dont think of uploading it because it consists of lines intentionally. I know that it doesnt matters, how the original looks like or what the intention of the cover artist is ...
The king decides - and the king doesnt like lines.

[Silverfox]

Check out some of the "artwork" on the "In Through the Outdoor" images: https://fanart.tv/artist/678d88b2-87b0- ... -zeppelin/

Now the moderator knows what's best based on what they think it looks like, whether they have seen an actual release or not, they are the professionals when it comes to interpreting the artwork.

Heh, how ironic you mentioned that particular album by Led Zeppelin! It was either over the weekend or sometime in the middle of last week that I did a quick pit stop here on Fanart in order to scope out *and* hopefully download some Led Zep covers for my MP3 folders on the band within two 1TB external hard drives. I saw his Fanart name on several of the images and decided not to bother until another time. In any event, I should have been paying attention to the band I was working on first (Shriekback) and merely got side-tracked. So much for my ADHD-like symptoms, or whatever it is I go through at times when working on my music folders.

Don't remind me! Examples abound but one that readily comes to mind is when I put up a front cover for a remix CD from Depeche Mode. Mr. James T. Kirk and his doppelganger, Dr. Spock, proceeded to cite me a link to the *PROPER* front cover while informing me of why my image was denied. Here's my exact word for word response.... Phasers on stun? Screw that! Next time I'm going in for the kill.

"I have to wonder why you cited a link that showed the *6-LP* version as opposed to the *CD* version(s)? Not only that but didn’t you notice that the front cover for the vinyl LP box set is different than the one for the various CD sets? Here is a link from the Discogs site. I’m only including the one for both the U.S. & Canada. This cover is also utilized by the Japanese version. The same goes for the U.K. & European version with a slight difference: The little green tab or tape (for lack of a better way of describing it) at the bottom and a bit towards the left is not present."

[Silverfox]

And if you try to explain the real look of a cover you get the answer: "no debate"

He told me once, that he uses a program that find the best covers in China and Russia and that i dont have a clue about it. But most covers of him are obviously from AAX.

I own the original TIFF master art source of this cover: http://www.albumartexchange.com/covers. ... sin+murphy

The king decides - and the king doesnt like lines.

Yeah, I have gotten that a few times. I had to more or less spell things out for him (i.e., what the word 'debate' means) since he's basically citing what ArieS said once here on Fanart. Even taking into consideration the mere notion of debate, it's clear that he can't really engage in one let alone an honest to goodness discussion. At least that's been my experience. Speaking for myself, I don't care for his terse *and* atrocious writing style! I'd sooner be a verbose, long-winded chatterbox capable of putting together several coherent sentences than failing miserably 8, 9 out of 10 times while responding to someone.

Whoopy-fuckin-do! Putting aside a sizeable number of Russian sites that I'm familiar with that have a fair amount of good to really good images (that includes torrent sites to boot) why would I bother with sites out of China since the latter probably isn't worth spit? In other words, that part of the world and other areas in Asia are a hot-bed for bootlegged CD's in addition to having so-so to godawful cover artwork on top of things. I should know since a friend of mine has purchased a number of discs on the streets of Bangkok and elsewhere during his many travels to that part of the world. 'The Wall' by Pink Floyd, some 2-disc set by the pianist Lang Lang, and a few others I won't bother citing come to mind.

Well, similar to the emperor someone needs to tell the king that he has no clothes on. I'd sooner go the distance and cut off his you know what with a pair of rusty scissors.

[KLFofLegion]

Look at this!

He plans to replace almost all images of this artist!

https://fanart.tv/artist/5533fa1c-4102- ... -to-sally/

[KLFofLegion]

Several images of this artist pending already.

[Silverfox]

Several images of this artist pending already.

He might be an asswipe, but that doesn't mean he is wrong all of the time. I downloaded all those images that need to be replaced, and with the exception of two that in my judgment are just fine, the rest are definitely in need of replacement. There's a further upshot. I also downloaded three replacement images that are pending. With the exception of one which in my judgment probably still exhibits some compression artifacts despite being a vast improvement over the initial image, the other two are *NOT* the same image as those in need of replacement! WTF!? So much for replacing like with like.

Last but not least, I'll mention the following despite it possibly being a side issue. Out of all those images that need to be replaced (with the exception of two that are just fine as I stated at the outset) I was able to fix them up in under two minutes. (It was merely a preliminary quick-fix and not a major overhaul.) The only thing that was needed was fudging with the black levels and cleaning a smorgasbord of white spots. I didn't bother with the latter for obvious reasons. Ironically enough, one of them has been replaced (though still pending as I write this) and the text *and* image itself are not sharp in comparison to the original one which is. I say we storm the citadel, round up the king, and hang him high! Who's with me?

[KLFofLegion]

Me!

Its not only because of the quality of the images, its more about the double standard.

I tried several times to replace images with better ones.

But my reports were ignored.

I asked for the reason.

And the king said to me that i have to wait for the new website.

But he doesnt have to wait.

He can replace all images instantly.

[Silverfox]

Luckily it's not a replacement image, but I noticed a bit earlier the 'King' has come down from Valhalla with a gift to bestow on us mere plebians and slaves: A Manowar image in the form of 'Warriors Of The World...'. My oh my, how fitting! https://fanart.tv/fanart/music/00eeed6b ... 4a940b.jpg Anyway, I couldn't help but wonder if there was an alignment of certain planets somewhere in our Milky Way; a Cosmic Joker wanting to have a bit of fun; or just mere coincidence. I didn't have to but after spotting it two or three days ago I was prepping (i.e., saving what I wanted and dispensing with the rest) roughly 7 to 11 versions of that *VERY* image via CD and SACD from around the world, and that I had on hand for several months. That particular Manowar image was one of several images that got denied by Mr. Odin during the months of March-May. Unless I was going through one of several depressive moods at that point in time, I do vividly recall a lacklustre attitude on my part regarding submissions to Fanart. I knew it was a sign to ease up on the throttle, and pay attention to other aspects of my life. And while honesty compels me to say it wasn't the main reason, no prizes for guessing why I felt the way I did? HINT: Draconian and perfectionist mentality on the part of a singular individual. Getting back on track....

That Manowar image was more or less -- I repeat, MORE OR LESS -- rightfully denied because it contained numerous white spots. Some faint and some quite pronounced. Normally I hit those suckers because of my own persnickety nature unless they are a part of the artwork. If memory serves well I went against my better judgement, depression and all, and let it ride thinking it was a part of the artwork. (Only a few weeks later did I get my hands on several disc versions from around the world but didn't bother my little head too much to verify if those spots were indeed a part of the artwork.) When all is said and done despite a few reservations on my part, I think he was right in denying it. A bit ironic, though, that he's putting up this very image. And a lacklustre one at that in my not so humble opinion. Simply put, it's flat as a board that's never been nailed! (Heh, we used to say the same thing about certain girls back in high school but I digress.) What would Joey DeMaio and co. say if they saw that near travesty!? Odin dear Odin, what hast thou done??? The colors need some oomph by way of a nice swift kick in the ass in terms of saturation!!! Last but not least, it's neither here nor there but since he has a habit of pointing out to folks their need to read the rules regarding stickers and PMRC labels. Does the part, 'Including Additional Bonus Song', apply here too? Personally, I say let it ride since it's similar in intent as '10th Anniversary Remastered Edition.'

[Silverfox]

It almost pains me to keep flogging this dead horse (hopefully for the last time!) but the following is worth sharing after the little discovery that I made. I noticed the other day our fearless vampire killer put up the image, "The Lord Of Steel Live" by Manowar, and thought I would look further into it. Yet another image I put up months ago which in turn got denied. Here is the original image.... https://fanart.tv/fanart/music/deny/the ... 76d85f.jpg

The reason for it's denial (I'm including the full text): "2 black dots on italy, easy fix, did you know there is another cover that dose not have Italy on it"

No, I didn't know that. But do *YOU* know that you're a bloody ultra-persnickety pest?!?! Ironically enough, I am bit surprised I didn't catch it since that sort of nonsense (i.e., measly black or white dots) rarely escapes my attention. (Seeing the date I put it up, 4/23/16, I believe I was in *or* coming out of the throes of a particular depressive mood at that point in time. That or just not giving a flying you know what let alone wanting to expend any energy on making an "easy fix" even if I had caught those two miniscule spots! Perfectionism and/or obsessive-compulsiveness in many areas of life has a way of stifling the spirit and zapping one's mental reserves.) Anyway, take a gander at the Manowar image the 'King' put up a few days ago which can be found here.... https://fanart.tv/artist/00eeed6b-5897- ... 1/manowar/

What I find interesting and just truly astounding is that the very two "black spots" he spotted the first time somehow didn't register on his quartz crystal-controlled radar screen this time around. I can also throw in the fact that the image, like the previous Manowar one I touched upon, should not just be given a swift kick in the ass but an honest to goodness '1-2' punch regarding saturation. I have in mind the flags. They are kind of flat-looking, and one or two of them (e.g., Germany) are in need of further "bitch-slapping".

Lastly, I hope to God the powers that be finally get around to doing something about this whole thing before it reaches a point of no return. This dude is a virtual candidate for serious oversight akin to some pre-school teacher presiding over the work of his or her students *and* his perfectionist "I'll make stuff up as I go" ways need to be reigned in!