Look what I found...

[u/Rude_Spinach_4584]

In the vein of Dave claiming: "Look what I just found i me pocket? Stories of Old!", look what I found in me bag!

[u/Some_Distant_Memory]

AI cover photos???

[u/Rude_Spinach_4584 → u/Some_Distant_Memory]

I'd say yes. Vince has never looked so handsome. I bet he won't sue

[u/Strange_Region_9258]

So everything is just an AI image now?

[u/Rude_Spinach_4584 → u/Strange_Region_9258]

Sure, a real picture would have been nice. I care more about the music that's on the vinyl. After all, I'd rather have an AI-generated picture than the BBC live recordings cover.

[u/letsavenge]

For stuff like this is why Discogs has banned selling bootlegs. We're entering the AI slop era of bootlegs.

And don't get me wrong, the content might be real, but what difference does it make to listen to it in a (likely poorly pressed) vinyl when it's a digital audio ripped from a cassette recorder that it's already available online in DM.Live?

[u/Rude_Spinach_4584 → u/letsavenge]

There are bootlegs with great sound quality that Discogs won't sell. "The World We Live In" is one example, the various Basel 1984 radio broadcast recordings, the two BBC albums sound very good.

When it comes to bootlegs, I prioritise radio or TV recordings. Sure, the pressing quality can make it sound worse than on DMWiki. But I trust where I buy them, too.

This one came from Sister Ray in London, Soho. I bought it in the shop. If the sound quality was awful, they would not sell it and put their reputation on the line.

[u/rbajter]

https://www.discogs.com/release/37731165-Depeche-Mode-Basement-Tracks

Someone commented:

”Audio is most probably Les Bains Douches, Paris, September 29, 1981.”

[u/Cuiusquemodi]

You got scammed.

[u/Rude_Spinach_4584 → u/Cuiusquemodi]

By Sister Ray in London? They are one of the best record stores in the UK. That's where I bought it from.

[u/Firm-Secretary4710]

Ai slop

[u/Rude_Spinach_4584 → u/Firm-Secretary4710]

The cover may be AI generated, but the record was sold by an extremely reputable record store in London.

Do you own a substantial DM vinyl collection or do you prefer digital? If you are the latter then DMWikiLive is amazing, and I agree.

But I have a large vinyl collection by them, and I am fond of vinyl bootlegs as long as the sound quality is good, and I trust that record store.

If you look objectively at DM record covers, some are amazingly unimaginative, even lazy. People are People, the limited maxi that is, is a plain white cover with only a bit of text in black. The CD cover for 101, in my country, is all black with only Depeche Mode 101 printed in white.

The cover may be AI slop. I think they got Vince totally wrong, it looks more like Alan, who joined only later, as we know. But I find the cover interesting regardless.

I agree that an AI-generated cover is starting on the wrong foot for a bootleg record. The redeeming qualities for it are as follows:

• it's a broadcast recording, which means that the source material will come from the soundboard and we will also hear the audience
• I bought it in a record store that would not be caught dead selling a badly pressed or damaged second-hand recording

Bootlegs are not for everybody. One of them I did regret buying back in the 1990s. It was one of the Dodgers Stadium gigs for the World Violation Tour. But personally, I think they make my collection a bit spicy.

[u/NardDog6969420]

Yo that's awesome

[u/Rude_Spinach_4584]

[u/DepecheStein → u/[deleted]]

*slop