I quite enjoy the very British The Rest Is History Podcast on YouTube. I have just enjoyed two episodes in which these gentlemen talks about The Rolling Stones (you can find the first episode archived in April 2025 on their page). Find out who collected toy soldiers and many other interesting facts (as I said, very British). I will add a tag for posts about podcasts on the blog today. Loads of good stuff out there.
(My shot of vintage Airfix toy soldier box, inserted images are screenshot from said show and late 1960s Rolling Stones album cover)
Strangely hot today in these parts, very rare indeed in mid-january. The snow is melting from the rooftops in the village. The daily walk then was quite lovely. Tomorrow is likely to be grey as usual. More snow promised next week. Not a bad winter so far.
The new book on Deep Purple by author Martin Popoff popped up in the mail today. He has written several books on the Deep Purple Family before, but this one is pretty darned final as far as Purple is concerned. Maybe a chapter can be added once the band is over for a later edition, but this is pretty much all you need. “Seven Decades Of Deep Purple – The Unofficial History” (Schiffer Publishing, 2025) is quite heavy, you may want to sit in a comfortable chair when you take this one on. 644 pages.
(My shots of said book, main front & back cover photographs by Martin Popoff and Richard Calbraith)
I catched the tail end of a Roselia livestream on YouTube this morning. Just a one camera set-up. Pretty sure that we will get this on DVD some day. The show was billed as “Neuweltfahrt Day 2”. Good to see them out there doing their thing.
I covered the loss of John Bonham in this piece (October 8 1980) and whether it would spell the end for Led Zeppelin or not. My guess was that it would be so but I left the door open for a second chapter coming up given time (maybe with ex-Rainbow legend Cozy Powell). In the end they never reformed, apart from a few one-off affairs. How they would have fared in the 1980s and beyond is anybody´s guess. My take now is that they would have been one of the big bands over time, standing above trends and so on. Once you have created that bubble, you are pretty set. As long as the music is there.
Swedish comic 91:an continues to be a nice component in the domenstic output. The comic itself has been around since 1932, the actual comic book since 1956. Here is issue 2 for 2026.
(My shot of said comic, cover art by Jan Gissberg)
I blogged about the new Babymetal Blu-ray “Live At The O2 Arena” yesterday and I also forked out a bit of spare cash on this more expensive LP sized edition. Babymetal always have really cool covers and I will showcase this one in this post. Nice gatefold cover, four page insert with live pictures and general information. Produced by Kobametal. Same tracks as the regular Blu-ray: “Babymetal Death”, “Megitsune”, “Pa Pa Yah!!”, “BxMxC”, “Metali!!”, “Kon! Kon!”, “Sunset Kiss”, “Song 3”, “Headbanger!!”, “Ratatata”, “Gimme Chocolate!!”, “From Me To U” (featuring Poppy in real life and boy is she cool!), “Karate”, “Ijime, Dame, Zettai” and “Road Of Resistance”. Multiple camera drone action for maximum enjoyment (pretty much pioneered by Babymetal), superb show. We also get the outro by Rob Halford, wishing Babymetal good luck on the then upcoming American tour. All in all, there really is no reason why this could not be released outside of Japan. Having said that, all Babymetal live releases are awesome and they really should have been out there. With Babymetal, the optics are just as great as the music.
(My shots of said release, standard variant can be seen in the third image, now go and buy it!)
Word is out that Steve Lukather is indeed working with Alex Van Halen on an album, which is very exciting. Loads of stuff with Eddie Van Halen exists and could be part of all this. And both Steve and Wolfgang Van Halen (should he be involved) are good singers. And who would say no to participate? Looking forward to this very much.
IAN GILLAN
There is a film online about an organisation called B Sharp Music that is supported by Ian Gillan, with a bunch of kids being allowed to see everything backstage (and a show) with Deep Purple. You can find it on the B Sharp Music YouTube channel, titled as “Ian Gillan & B Sharp – Between Hard Rock & A Beautiful Place”. I do love to see stars giving back, and it is easy to see that Ian is enjoying himself very much.
HAGANE
Japanese rockers Hagane dropped a video today in support of the current tour that features scenes from the road. It is called “Full Album Release Tour (Top Of The Tower)”. Very nice.
(My shot of Steve Lukather, B Sharp Music/Gillan and Hagane images are screenshots from said videos, no malice intended)
Enjoyed the current Babymetal Blu-ray “Live At O2 Arena” today and it is amazing. No surprise there. Babymetal are just next level, you have them and then you have everything else. I also got the new issue of Metal Hammer (408), the big 2025 extravaganza. Some good stuff, not least Babymetal (new interview), Ozzy, Ghost, Iron Maiden, Metallica and Arch Enemy.
(My shot of the Babymetal feature in said magazine, plus the new Blu-ray)
We still have new Buck Danny adventures coming out and this is book 15 in the current series. “Air Force One” deals with a plot to shoot down the aircraft of said name with the American president in it. Not bad at all, good to see that this is still out there.
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