Hello Readers again!

It seems that every time I post it's always an updated post, it seems I've gotten more busier than I thought. I've been currently working on scriptwriting, book illustrating and also of course college. There's two things I want to focus on, one being that the last issue of Classic Pop Magazine, I will also discuss this on my collections blog, this particular issue I truly believe is a nice one because it focus on more brilliant artist and bands and furthermore, I don't think any pop magazine that I know of, have focused on a life of a deceased artist. There's a nice description on Eric Watson, I feel like I understand who this artist was and I always love when anyone show respect for an artist behind the scenes, it really shows how they care. I gotten this about two weeks ago but I've been having writer's block and again been busy with other things. I have more items for my collection but since I've not finished observing them, I can't really discuss them yet. Sorry for the quality of this photo, it's my instragram photo I took from my iPhone. I know that's very unprofessional but I'm okay with it.

Also breaking news is that Pet Shop Boys have left Parlophone after 28 years!!! I SERIOUSLY COULDN'T BELIEVE IT!!! But I was glad for them, honestly I wished they would do their own label  Spaghetti Records, but I guess this is still as good! Now as I see this happening, the single choice for Elysium made sense! And in the following sentences I will explain what I thought about that!

Well "Invisible" wasn't the single but it was the leaked song that a lot of people were wondering was it a demo or what. But I think the symbolism for it was that to Pet Shop Boys, they were "invisible"  to Parlophone, meaning that whatever they wanted to do, the company didn't care or whatever the reason. That was like a prequel to strike 1 on this "leaving"

"Winner" I think they felt victorious rather they released the album or not, with the chosen singles or what have you. They I guess knew that they was going to get the upper hand soon enough. The selling out part, I didn't understand, and I still believe it was the company's fault for that but who knows maybe PSB wanted the exposure, but I honestly think that's going against their own ethos if that makes any sense.

"Leaving" a lovely single, I guess it does have to deal with death and "memory" but I think it also was subliminal on their official leave and break away from Parlophone, they are artist for crying out loud! They have to be liberated and not control, well in today's society, you really can't make a choice can you? And the tempo itself it seems like it was in a positive tone so it might have been a good sign they were really well on their way!

"Memory of the Future" or should I say "Memory of the Past" since personally it's a good track but not really a single track in my opinion, I think this was another subliminal message that all of what they done in the past with Parlophone will be nothing more than a mere memory and they are starting off fresh, I heard that Kylie Minogue left Parlophone too, so who knows what they have done to wonderful artists!! And have anyone noticed that the Boys didn't really stay too long with the Elysium era? it was so rushed off, it's barely an era! I mean no video for the third single?? I was actually kind of ticked off. A good friend of mine, told me previous they should but unfortunately didn't, but now I can understand the reason now. They had something better planned in mind! And the last couple of videos minus the "Invisible" one I actually like that one, "Leaving" video was so much better than "Winner" I still believe they could have done something better because, it's kind of insulting for someone in the LGBT community, it's not a strong message and honestly I can't really feel like a "winner" when I hear it. 

I don't know if this make any sense at all to you guys but that's what I'm getting from all of this! By Pet Shop Boys choice, I think they are liberated from this and are releasing a brand new album also with the tour name called "Electric" I heard the teaser and I heard a clash of Kraftwerk and bit of their older demos and previous Disco compilations in other words, vintage and modern are into this chemical bond and will create a special work of art. I know they are working with Es Devlin that also did their previous concerts Pandemonium and the Fundamental tour and the album is produced by Stuart Price ( which also worked on other artists similar to PSB and and associate acts of them) that also did producing work for them and if I'm not mistaken did the new single mix and/or produced it. Sorry if my facts are rusty, it's been awhile. But now as this came out, I really can't wait for the new tour, hopefully they will release the US tour dates soon, I still want to take my mother to see them. I don't know but some reason this new tour sounds like it's going to symbolize one of their previous tours and add a new zip to it! Can't wait! 

Gifts beyond the grave or pure coincidences

In my recent collections, I have been noticing a bit of a pattern of what I have been buying without even noticing too much since I love these songs and materials anyway. A lot of the items the photos were done by the late Eric Watson and some weren’t, but the videos were done by Watson and some were both photos and videos done by him. There’s more of course but I’m only speaking for what I have gotten thus far. 

Reason the titled mentions gifts beyond the grave was because I did a post about Eric Watson on here not  too long ago, a good friend of mine told me of his passing. I was sad but I didn't know much about him and still clueless besides of what I know of his work and all. From what I read he was fantastic only wished I knew who he was as a person, like a lot of the artists I like or starting to adore. Ever since I did that post, a lot of his items wind up coming out of nowhere in Amoeba Music    and we aren't just talking about these items, rare and limited ones for that matter and the best part they were actually pretty affordable! I have so much I can decorate my room with a bunch of art. The rarest of the items I have that Eric done are: The two "West End Girls" vinyls, The Further Listenings, Smash Hits Yearbook 1983, and the remixes (he did the video though, not the design) and I guess also the 45s too of "Suburbia" and "Heart" and the 2000 collection compilation( the Nightlife era photo was by him), The CD maxi single (4 discs) and Essential and the Lenticular casing of Alternative. Out of all the further Listenings, Actually was the only one I didn't buy from Amazon, I gotten it from Amoeba. I was trying to help someone with their post about the conflicting info about Allison Watt's painting of Eric Watson's photo that was originally the idea of Actually and wouldn't you know it, it was right in the store! Someone was portraying Chris Lowe from the Love Comes Quickly photo very poorly and I mean this person didn't even try to get it close to the photo, I'm not an expert but there is a such thing as effort and the person didn't have no effort at all. For one using a different color for one thing it was such a view to see! Hey I'm a critiquer, I have to say it like it is. Wouldn't you believe that the Love Comes Quickly( he did both the video and the photos) vinyl popped out of nowhere? I'm telling it's very bizarre! I even developed liking the Pet Shop Boys at their early career and funny thing moments after that, The Maxi CD Single and the two "West End Girls" vinyls I found them, for one I was listening to "Pet Shop Boys" one of their early experimental work and I found the 12 inch version of it? I'm telling you it's very strange! One thing I do regret was not getting the vinyl of "Always on my Mind" but the image was so tiny; it was smaller than the Please image. The "I Don't Know What You Want But I Can't Give It Anymore" single was still hanging in there so I finally gotten it, then later on or before I can't remember but Essential (like the Further Listenings some of the photos were done by him) was in my midst. I'm still not over finding the rare version of the Alternative casing even though Eric only did the portrait photos in the inside of the booklet. Then being  constant like I am, this guy was telling about another section they had in the back of the store where 12inch vinyls were and "So Hard" was one( he did the video and the photo), limited edition of "New York City Boy"( he did the photo series, not the design) "Domino Dancing" (he did the video, not the photo, and Clare told me on Wayne's site that this song Neil mentioned that it was a reference from Soft Cell's "Numbers" which funnily that's not my favorite Soft Cell song, but I love "Domino Dancing"). The 45s I was even shocked they had those in Amoeba and out of the ones they had were "Heart"(only the photo series)and "Suburbia"(he did the video and the photo series) which were photos done by Watson himself. Recently I gotten a CD version of "Was it Worth It?" to match my vinyl he did the video of the song. DJ Culturemix was one I gotten from Amazon, Clare told me that the Grid (Dave Ball and Richard Norris) did a remix of "DJ Culture" wouldn't you believe that he did the photo series and the video to it? and lastly the Smash Hits Yearbook, you do see my Best of Smash Hits the 80's, it was just a brief reminder he was one of the photographers for the magazine. The 1983 Smash Hits yearbook I would have never guessed there was something Eric Watson did right before you hit the Soft Cell photo, and it wouldn't you guess it had the Smash Hits team in their favorite art logo or item on their t-shirts and it included Krysia and Neil too! It shocked the hell out of me, I didn't think you can find that in the Smash Hits Yearbook! And Catalogue there's more Eric Watson references and we aren't just talking about in the book, but really the "Suburbia" glossy case and the the peach/pink/salmon color you can see the "I Don't know What You Want But I Can't Give It Anymore" photo! 

I swear it's so weird, you'd think I had some kind of connection or something but I don't and yet I wind up with so much(well to me it's a lot) of his work! I guess it doesn't suck to give out tributes to artists who have an actual passion or interest in the material! 

Smash Hits Yearbook 1983

This is another addition to my Smash Hits collection, this is the 1983 yearbook of Smash Hits! I read that Neil Tennant edited this one along with the 1982 and the 1984 year book. And Editing is a form of art believe it or not. I will do another post about this one as well! This book is really more than I expected which is really good because, I gotten my money's worth for this! It had Marc Almond as one of the photos and then this was only one of the ones I can get that's cheaper and easier to find of the three. It consist of a photo of Soft Cell, the Stevie Wonder Story, Simon Le Bon about his best ideas and the color of his socks, The Smash Hits Diary 1983, Martin Gore as Sherlock Holmes,  The Best-dressed Chests/On the Button,The Police: 1977-82 and so much more! The thing that struck me as more than expected right before the Soft Cell photo, The Best-Dressed Chests were photos of what it seems to be the Smash Hits team, Tee Set in their shirts of bands and different art or artists, and the fact it was done by Eric Watson too! And two of the photos were vaguely familiar one of Krysia of a WAH! shirt which is also  can be found in the Pet Shop Boys, Annually book and the other one was of Neil in a Mao art looking shirt, it's a photo I see from various internet pages which I thought was pretty cool to see familiar photos  from this book! And what's funny is that the two photos are vertically from each other! I can tell right now, I am going to really enjoy this book as well as the Best of Smash Hits books! So much art it's mind bottling! 

A brief post about DJ Culturemix

I will do another on this one later since of Catalogue! When a friend of mine, Clare told me about this remix of "DJ Culture", I was shocked because Dave Ball of Soft Cell with his band The Grid, did a remix of this song!! Who would have guessed!! I know it’s not really a collaboration, but the fact that something like this happened it’s just really shocking and of course this version of "DJ Culture" is incredibly rare, like pretty much practically a lot of the Soft Cell references or relations I have been recently finding out, like today Clare told me that on Wayne Studer’s site, about “Domino Dancing”, Neil reportedly said that it was a version of Soft Cell’s “Numbers” because of the theme of casual sex. Ironically, it’s one of my least favorite Soft Cell songs; well it was one of those songs I liked but grown out of it. What’s even more shocking, you wouldn’t find that in the Further Listenings booklets! And then by them knowing a Soft Cell song beyond 1982 shocked me because that's more of their rock phase, and I know they aren't so big on rock music, so i find it quite impressive! But anyway I find this so awesome, again someone from Soft Cell that’s in another band did something for the Pet Shop Boys! And to top it off, the video of "DJ Culture" and the photographer of the series were done by the late Eric Watson! It also includes Music for Boys (Part 3) and the Overture to Performance! 

R.I.P. Eric Watson (1955-2012)(updated photo wise)

I hope this is the right photo, it's the only one that I know of that looked accurate, I'm sorry if it's not the right photo. *I found an accurate photo!!!!!!!!

here's the site I found the photo click here
I was in shock about hearing Eric Watson passing away of a heart attack! A friend of mine Clare and a few others told me about what happened. I couldn't believe it, Even though he passed on the 18th of March! Photography is an art as you already know, so I thought it was necessary to do a post dedicated to him. I would have done this post sooner, but I was in school.

"'He was born on September 9, 1955 and from Newcastle, he attended Hornsey School of Art from 1977-1980, he gotten a degree of fine art and history. After his college years, he worked with the Rembrandt Brothers(Gered Mankowitz and Red Saunders) contemporaries included Adam Ant, before working for Still Records, where he created cover photos for Madness. He continued his photography from 1981-1987 in Smash Hits(magazine) where also his friend Neil Tennant was assistant editor. He also directed many artists videos including Pet Shop Boys, Rod Stewart, Chris Rea, Holly Johnson, and Dusty Springfield, Yaz and along with many others. Also did photography for Spandau Ballet and Frankie Goes to Hollywood. After that, he continued concentrating on Television commercials.

The videos he directed by the Pet Shop Boys were "West End Girls(co-director Andy Morahan)",'Love Comes Quickly(co-director Andy Morahan)', 'Opportunities(original and co-director Andy Morahan)','Suburbia', 'DJ Culture','Domino Dancing', 'What Have I Done to Deserve This?', 'Left to My Own Devices','It's Alright','So Hard','Jealousy' and 'Was It Worth It?' *He also was the film director in the film unit in the concert Performance.

The album/sleeves/singles photography includes: 'West End Girls', 'One More Chance', 'Opportunities', 'Love Comes Quickly', Please(along with other photographers), 'Suburbia','It's a Sin','What Have I Done to Deserve This?(with Val Wilmer)',Actually(with Cindy Palmano),'Rent','Always on my Mind','Heart(Annually using a mix of the 'Heart' photos for the book image)',Introspective(with Cindy Palmano, Peter Andreas, Michael Roberts),' It's Alright',Literally(UK cover with Lawrence Watson),'So Hard',Behaviour,'Jealousy (with George Mott)', 'DJ Culture',Discography,'Paninaro '95',Alternative(the interview portraits),'I Don't Know What You Want But I Can't Give It Anymore' and 'New York City Boy.'

'He presented his photographs at the Blue Gallery in London and in the 'Icons of Pop' at the National Portrait Gallery in London, and also where his photos of the Pet Shop Boys were located during 2006.'
'During his final years, he worked as the Head of Photography in a small college in Rye, East Sussex. That is where he influenced and inspired a huge amount of younger students.'"(Catalogue, Wikipedia, www.guardian.co.uk (Facebook edition))

His art, will always be remembered in the Pop world, he is in a better place where no more suffering and flourish as a spirit. He's gone but certainly not forgotten! There are some site I cannot go on because of where I am so if you want to look more of him up, happy searching. His photos of his work can be found in Catalogue, various albums, his website, etc.