Great Lost Beatles Album?

I'm not going to make anyone read all this under the illusion that one has been discovered. So straight up, no, I don't know of one. But I do wish there was a lost unreleased album.

Over the years there have been rumours. Hot As Sun was one such album, apparently recorded somewhere between Let It Be and Abbey Road. The master tapes were stolen and held to ransom, before being accidentally erased when carried through an airport X-ray machine

It is, of course, too good to be true. But bootleggers have created editions of this "lost album" using rehearsal tapes, mostly from the Get Back sessions.

Over the years I have been thrilled to discover unreleased tracks. Back in the 90s it was That Means a Lot, If You’ve Got Troubles and 12 Bar Original. And, over time, there have been a few others. It was wonderful hearing "new" Beatles songs. Of course there is a reason they weren't released at the time, and they generally don't get played too often. 

There are tracks we know are still in the vaults. At this time they are nothing more than titles. And, for the most part, I imagine they are not tracks we would play too often. But as fans and collectors, we would still love to hear them.

Unlike Neil Young or Prince, for example, I don't for one minute believe the Beatles have an unreleased album hidden away. Their time throughout the 60s is very well documented, and it's unlikely they would have had time to record a missing album. I think the best we can hope for a track or two hidden away which perhaps even they had forgotten about but might pop up on an acetate somewhere.

No, there isn't a lost album. But I can still dream.

A Time of Change

2023, the year of the Rabbit. A year of peace and patience, according to my Chinese friend.  He also mentioned prosperity, but he says that to me every year.  I'm not sure if the prosperity thing is a Chinese thing, or just him. But overall, apparently, 2023 is a year of hope.

It certainly feels like a time of change.  The weather has mellowed, we're in the middle of renovations, there are a few long-term colleagues moving on from my team at the moment, one of my favourite magazines is closing down, and several TV shows I like are not being renewed.

I suppose that is true every year, but this year it seems more obvious to me, more of these factors aligning and occurring at the same time. Even a couple of my friends have commented on it.

I'm not one to make New Year resolutions, and I don't plan to start now. But beneath the pain that accompanies pain, there is a sense of hope. I can feel it deep down.

There are also some changes I want to make. Nothing drastic or life-changing, but a few things I am working towards. Baby steps.  Which is where the 'Patience' part probably comes into play. These changes will take time to come into effect, but I think I will be pleased with it all.

I wouldn't mind some of that prosperity happening either.

Gong xi fa cai.

Machine Creativity.

A couple of months ago I wrote about AI generated artwork.

Since then, as part of my job, I've been looking at the functionality of some AI creators. And they can be scarily good. In one instance, with only a few key words, I asked one to create a document for me. It was pretty good. An hour later, with the same key words, I asked once more. And the document was much improved. It had trained in the space of an hour, and I doubt many people would have requested a similar document in that time.

This week I've been involved in three separate conversations about AI generated artworks - art, writing, film and music. I did not instigate any of these conversations so it's obviously something people are thinking about. In two of these discussions, my friends were convinced that AI could never create real art, as a machine can't have creativity. I disagree.

I've seen examples of accidental art, where someone has accidentally spilled paint on a wall. They may not have recognised it as anything more than a mistaken mess, but I saw the beauty and took a photo. It really is a lovely piece of art.

After all, don't they say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder?

It's coming. We will, in a few years, have films and albums fully created by AI based on scripts and lyrics written by a human. And then how long until the AI is writing those as well.

Personally, I don't mind. I look forward to seeing and listening to AI created works. And some of these will resonate with me, others won't. Some will be considered masterpieces.

A Strange Christmas.

A strange festive season indeed.

We had a week or so of cold weather, with a very light snowfall, but apart from that it has been quite mild. A couple of days I've even been out in my t-shirt. 

But for some odd reason it just doesn't feel like Christmas. I don't know why this should be. Perhaps it's because I've hardly been in town, especially when the lights have been on. But we have our tree up, our cards on display, our decorations and so on. But I just don't feel Christmassy yet.

I have, against my better judgement, bought a Christmas jumper. I always vowed I wouldn't, but it is a thing here.  Maybe I'm acclimatising in more way than one.

I'm looking forward to the Christmas break. I hope to have a relaxing time. To refresh, recharge and renew.

Here's to a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Been There. Done That. All Different.

It's been three years, but I've just been back in Australia.

As always, it was wonderful to see family and friends. I spent a lot of time talking, laughing and eating with them. Great stuff. And, as always, not enough time to catch up with everyone I had hoped to see.

I visited the school at which I taught prior to moving here. In that time I've lost a couple of close teaching friends to cancer while others have moved on to other schools. In the past six years I have visited that school a couple of times, but this was the first time where I felt I had truly moved on. It will always have a huge place in my heart, but I no longer belong there.

I also realised that none of the current students were there when I was teaching.

I didn't go "sightseeing" too much - a day in the Yarra Valley, in the company of my best friend, and another in the city. I went to a favourite street - a place that was quirky and alternative - and I was so disappointed to see the weird little shops had been pushed out by increasing rents in favour of upmarket cafes, restaurants and hairdressing salons.

So sad.

Melbourne is a wonderful city but I was surprised but just how many changes there have been in the past six years.

It's true, you can't go home. Not completely.

Put the "Hell" back into Halloween

Growing up in Australia, Halloween was never really a thing. We might have drawn pictures at school, or a spooky party at Scouts. We may even have dressed up for that evening. But I don't recall anyone decorating their house or any other special events.

To us, Halloween was a very American thing. We saw it on TV, usually in dramas and comedy shows. We saw people dressing up, kids going Trick-or-Treating, and so on. I never even knew there was a potential "trick" element to the event - simply people gave candy to kids. We certainly never did this.

But like so many other things - language, slang, proms - Halloween has now taken root in Australia, and here in the UK. Supermarkets are filled with plastic pumpkins and ghosts, local retailers have real pumpkins, houses decorate, and lanterns are made. And then, of course, kids start to arrive to collect sweets (or candy, or lollies).

This doesn't affect us too much. We live in an older part of the village, and so last year, despite purchasing sweets, we had no knocks on the door.

I don't really begrudge this infiltration. If kids have fun, then I'm all for it. But the one thing that surprises me is that it's no longer a "spooky" event.  On the few occasions we did dress up for a Halloween party as kids, there was usually some scary element to the costume. A ghost, for example. or a vampire. But these days the costumes can be anything at all. And I don't really get that. If you're going to have a spooky event, at least make it spooky.

This year, maybe I'll dress upas a grumpy old man and sit out on my lawn.

Who's the Artist?

Some AI generated art recently won an art competition at the Colorado State Fair. The winner has defended this, and claimed that he made no secret of using an AI. Other entrants have responded with anger. The art was entered in a Digital Art category, and the organisers and judges had no problem with it being included or winning.

There have been controversies in the at world before. There was some backlash against photography many years ago, as it was deemed as not requiring the skill and experience of a "true" artist. And then it happened again more recently when digital tools were becoming more commonplace.

I suppose the difference this time is that anyone can type a few words into an AI generator and achieve reasonably impressive results in a few seconds. Hit re-enter, with the same words, and you receive a different result. And again, and again, and again. And in a very short time, it's very easy to produce literally hundreds of artworks. And by changing the words and parameters, you can change style, lighting, setting and so on.

Out of all those hundreds of pieces, several will be special - a cut above the rest. All by typing a few words and hitting the enter key.

I tried this myself the other day, and was thrilled by some of the artwork I generated. And this was only using a general, free online version. I can only imagine the potential of some of the higher-end generators.

I also saw someone post a picture they had generated. They were asked if they'd drawn it. They responded that it was complicated, that there was some controversy, and they'd used some software.

I don't think it's complicated, or controversial.

I'm not going to pretend that my efforts using the AI in anyway requires any artistic skill, talent or ability except, perhaps, in having some critical artistic eye in determining the merit of the resultant piece. The real skill is practice in determining the words to use, how to phrase them, the order and so on. In the few days I've played with the generator, I have improved my results dramatically by playing with these variables. There is some skill needed there. I notice the winner of the above competition did not reveal the words he used. 

And we can control the styles. I found the words to create art in the style of one of my favourite artists.

We can enjoy and appreciate this art. Perhaps we just need to be more open about how it was created. Competitions and the like need to be clear and specific in whether AI art can be entered, and in which categories.

It's here. We can't go backwards. And it won't be long before we have AI generated novels, movies and music. I, for one, look forward to hearing new "Beatles" songs.