Koiai Rising

I first heard of Koiai when Muses drummer Kanade Sato joined them not that long ago. The band was formed in December 2022 and they have released two EPs so far (the second, “Deep Love” can be seen here) and on May 22 they will release their first Blu-ray, “1st Live In Japan”. Formed by established guitarists Li-sa-X and Hazuki, the duo picked unknown singer Kotono to handle vocals and when Kanade eventually came in to the picture they had one hell of a band going. Apparently, the bass position is fleeting at the moment, but they obviously has somebody to fill in on shows. This is a terrific outfit well worthy of your support. Early days, but this is very interesting.

(Band image, EP and Blu-ray is from official platforms)

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The Art Of Angus McKie

Spotted this Sci-Fi novel by Brian Stableford in a second hand outlet and saw the potential for a good blog post. “Rhapsody In Black” (Pan Books, 1975) shares the same cover art as the 1984 hard rock album “Steel The Light” from Seattle rockers Q5. I have inserted their album cover here. I had this on LP once but not now. Anyway, the artist in question is Angus McKie, also known as “Mez”, a British illustrator born in 1951. I always liked this art. As for the band, the title track of this album is really good. The book I still have to read but it will find a safe place in the old library for now.

(My shot of said book, Q5 album cover inserted)

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Lovely Super Box From Atlantis Models

Just love this box from Atlantis, US Combat Task Fleet. 12 famous Ships in 1/1200. The art on the box is pretty cool too. My guess is that this is a new run of a kit that was originally out there 50 years ago or so.

(Image of said box is from official platforms)

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Fooling Jerry

Watched this old WWII drama yesterday, “I Was Monty´s Double” (1958). Based on real life events, what happened was basically that the British engaged an unknown actor to play the role of Montgomery in order to trick the Germans on just where they would invade Europe. Good old yarn.

(My shot of said DVD, got a bunch of them ready to go)

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Babymetal Making Waves

Babymetal will have the cover of Japanese publication Young Guitar 6 2024, which is nice. They are currently doing shows in America and tonight they will perform at the Sick New World Festival in Las Vegas. This is followed by their own Fox Festivals at the Saitama Super Arena back home on May 25/26 and then they head over to Europe again (first gigs are the Rock Im Park and Rock Am Ring festivals in Germany on June 7/8). This high profile trek will take them through June, then they will perform in Thailand at the Summer Sonic Bangkok Festival on August 24 (final show that we are aware of right now). Also, a film called “Babymetal World Tour 2023-2024 Tour Final In Japan Legend 43” (shot in Okinawa) will be screened in theaters across Japan this summer (trailer is up on YouTube). It would be very nice if they could release this on DVD for us all to enjoy later on. Stay tuned for more news.

(My shot of Babymetal in Stockholm 2023, Young Guitar cover inserted)

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Old School Nostalgia

Added these to the old collection recently, Swedish adventure books for young readers back in the day (there were thousands of titles over a long period of time). The original title for the Carolyn Keene book was “The Hidden Staircase”, and the W.E Johns title “Worrals Flies Again”. I just enjoy to own a few of these books for historic purposes, and I like the cover art.

(My shot of said books, published by B.Wahlströms in 1953 and 1944)

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1976

Swedish publication POSTER, 2 1976. Classic Agnetha Fältskog cover by Editor In Chief Hans Hatwig. This photoshoot of Agnetha is one of the best out there, maybe the very best. Hatwig actually sent me an unpublished shot from this session about eight years ago and I lost it in a computer crash… I did interview him for my last ever publication (Retrofuture 8, published in 2015). You can find it on this blog as well (and he even talks about this very session in it). Auction sites sell back issues of POSTER for hundreds of dollars/pounds these days. I absolutely loved this publication. Still do (awesome nostalgia).

(Cover shot by Hans Hatwig)

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Nemophila Budokan Blu-ray Cover Art Revealed

We now have the cover art of the upcoming Nemophila live Blu-ray and it looks pretty cool. The Blu-ray can be pre-ordered now. Release date is June 5th. The complete title of the Blu-ray is “5th Anniversary – Jigoku No Yurufuwa Live At Nippon Budokan”. It was filmed back in February 17 at the classic venue and it turned out to be the final concert with guitarist Saki. Lucas da Silva, that took this shot outside the Budokan on that day, reviewed the show on this blog on February 18. Ordering my copy today.

(Photo by Lucas da Silva, Blu-ray cover inserted)

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1977

I stumbled across AC/DC jamming on the old George Benson song “On Broadway” (written by Cynthia Well and Jerry Leiber) a couple of weeks ago so I checked out Benson doing it. There was a live version recorded at the Roxy in Los Angeles in October 1977 that caught my imagination (it is on the live album “Weekend In LA” that I have since secured as part of the Original Album Series). What astounded me was that it sounded exactly as a late Deep Purple (Tommy Bolin era) jam. Purple could easily have slipped in this tune in one of their prolonged versions of any of their songs on stage. Benson even sings pretty much like Glenn Hughes. The groove suits Hughes and Ian Paice down to a tee. It really is quite remarkable. Having said that, I have to say that George Benson is a great performer. He must have been an inspiration for Hughes at some level.

(My shot of Deep Purple MK4 page from a Japanese publication with the Benson release)

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Beetle Bailey In Our Hearts

Beetle Bailey has had a comic book called Knasen going here in Sweden since 1970. In 2014, Egmont published a book with the complete first year, eight issues from 1970, plus history. Apparently it did not sell enough to warrant a continuation, but it certainly was a good try.

(My shot of said book)

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