Following The Battle trilogy, we now get the Berezina trilogy. As Napoleon´s Grande Armée captures Moscow in September 1812 with very little resistance, the Emperor thinks that the war is over. Within a week, three quarters of the city has burned down and the French are forced to retreat. Based on the 2000 novel “The Retreat” by author Patrick Rambaud, Frédéric Richaud and Ivan Gil gives us the comic book version. They manage to depict these historic events in scary detail. The first book in the trilogy does not disappoint.
I will not be selling any of the old fanzines (Deep Purple Forever!, SLICE, Retrofuture, Lucy In The Sky etc) for some time. I will trade for Babymetal, but that is it. If you really want something from the back catalogue, I will direct you to something that I have an interest in from eBay for trade.
(My shot of SLICE 2003 – cover shot by Michael Johansson)
The video for the 1986 hit “The Final Countdown” by Swedish rockers Europe has reached a staggering 1,000,000,000 (one billion!) views on YouTube. The video was added to the official YouTube channel on October 25 2009. Pretty cool I would say.
Not sure when this 1976-1977 PAL (Paice Ashton Lord) documentary saw official release on DVD (Gonzo Multimedia), but I just found it here in Sweden and the release date I can see on the store was January 31 2020. Saw “Lifespan” on video a long time ago but it is nice to finally be able to add it to the old collection. Paice Ashton Lord was the band that Jon Lord and Ian Paice formed with Tony Ashton after the demise of Deep Purple. They decided to film the auditions and the recording of their debut album “Malice In Wonderland”, as well as the first concert. The band only ever did one short UK tour and they decided to end it in early 1978. Not long after, Jon Lord joined his former PAL mate Bernie Marsden in Whitesnake and Ian Paice followed suit a bit later on. The documentary is interesting. You see some familiar faces from the Purple days, like producer Martin Birch and some of the old crew, as well as girlfriends etc. Apparently, by the time “Lifespan” was cut, it was all over as you can hear a speaking voice claim (as the credits roll) that the success that Jon and Ian had experienced in Purple did not happen to PAL, and that the band did not exist anymore. The video craze had not happened when this was put together so maybe it was aimed at theaters and television. The fact that I saw it on VHS tape a long time ago certainly suggests that it did air somewhere back in the day. Glad that it has survived and that we can all own a copy now.
(My shot of said DVD, pictured on top of the 2019 rerelease of “Malice In Wonderland” with a picture of Jon Lord that Simon Robinson sent me back in the day, taken on the day of the first concert it says on the back)
Just got this and it is good to see a special release of this classic 220 Volt album. Limited Edition (1,000 numbered copies). Originally released in 1988 and produced by Max Norman, “Eye To Eye” is a great rock album. Certainly one of the best of that era. My number is 000860.
And from Norway we have this book by Atle Nielsen and (Pondus creator) Frode Överli. The title translates roughly to “Elvis Did Not Like Fish, And 999 Other Things You Do Not Want To Know About”. Published by Schibsted Vorlag in 2012. 404 pages. Good fun actually.
(My shot of said book – cover art by Frode Överli)
Finally got my hands on ABBA Agnetha´s second solo album “Vol.2” (originally released in 1969, re-released in 2020 (2,000 copies from Music On Vinyl, a Sony Music imprint). Looks good. My number is 001810.
Watched the first season of The Crown this weekend and I have to say that it is very good. Claire Foy portrays Queen Elizabeth II like she was born for it. In fact, the entire cast is good. Trust the British to come up with the goods. Best drama series I have seen in years. I have ordered seasons 2-4.
I run into a copy of the 2020 Flying Colors Triple LP (Orange Vinyl) “Third Stage: Live In London” in a local music store the other day. Really nice cover and gatefold sleeve too. Flying Colors consists of Steve Morse, Mike Portnoy, Neal Morse, Dave Larue and Casey McPherson and they are labeled as a Prog/Pop/Rock Supergroup on the sticker on this package. In time, maybe this project will expand a little now that Steve is not busy with Deep Purple anymore? We shall see.
(My shot of said release – photography on this is credited to Victor Peters and Carsten Windhorst)
trinkelbonker 