Busy updating this blog with more tags and 2020-2024 is done (which means 2012-2019 is still work in process). New tags are “220 Volt”, “Black Sabbath”, “DVDs & Blu-rays”, “J-Pop”, “Japanese rock & metal”, “Tarja & Nightwish”, “Vikings”, “Tommy Bolin” and “Xena Warrior Princess”. A tag basically means that you have blogs within the blog. Way easier to find stuff. To follow special interests only, if that suits you. It will probably take a week or two before it is all done.
I did write an article about Japan in my publication SLICE 2006 (published in February 2006). Tarja Turunen with Xena chakram on the cover (very exclusive shot by Michael Johansson). I was not very interested in the music scene at that time so the bits in the article that covers this subject is about stories I have catched from European artists that have toured over there. The rest is basically an historic look at Japan (including conflict, social, sexual, cinematic, criminal, tourist). It is not your average PC article. It was a fun piece to write and it still holds up pretty well as good entertainment (which was the goal for everything I ever published). When I quit publishing magazines in 2015 (after having published over a hundred editions, of which 60 had been dedicated to Deep Purple) I had not returned to the subject of Japan. It kind of bugs me now that I only discovered the Japanese rock scene again thanks to Babymetal in 2017. Had I published magazines now I would have highlighted this scene in a big way. Printing magazines is expensive, and I did walk away from it all pretty content with what I had achieved. I can feel now that it would have been great fun to dive deep into Japan again though. The music scene is fantastic, and still very underground over here. Well, it is what it is. Trinkelbonker is my outlet now.
(My shot of said article, cover shot by Michael Johansson – check out the fanzines and read up on them on the “Fanzine History” tag on this blog)
I have been thinking about creating a Nightwish poster for the purpose of having it framed for some time. Today I collected some Tarja-era stuff and made it happen. Everything except one cutting is from my own magazines (SLICE, Retrofuture, Pizza, LE), but every single picture here was shot by my friend Michael Johansson. Thing is, I still have some awesome stuff just like this that was not used here so I will create a second poster as well. The idea is to hang them side by side, so I will have that in mind when I work on the second one. Framing these will cost me an arm and a leg, but what the hell…
(My shot of said Nightwish poster – all shots by Michael Johansson – also, note the photo passes)
Got to love Tarja. Her “Dark Christmas” release is a thing of beauty in all imaginable ways. Here is the Coloured Vinyl edition. Christmas Album Of The Year in my book.
Got to love this. Tarja Turunen has revealed the real cover for her new release “Dark Christmas”, and it looks stunning. Out this week. Check out the new song “Jingle Bells” on YouTube (just stunning!). And we have an official Soundtrack of the 1979 movie “The Warriors” (Red/Rust Vinyl). Pretty cool.
We have new releases from 220 Volt guitarist Mats Karlsson and Tarja Turunen. Mats second solo album “Mood Elevator” is out now (LP is on the way) and Tarja has a new live album called “Rocking Heels – Live At Metal Church, Germany” coming up on August 8.
Good week as far as my love for rock is concerned. Got German publication Rock Hard (428) and UKs Metal Hammer (371) in the mail and I enjoyed both. Good interviews with Don Airey (RH) and Floor Jansen (MH). Also, the new Uriah Heep album “Chaos & Colour” turned out to be one of their strongest ever (I will listen to this for a while now for sure). The unofficial Nightwish live CD from Sweden 2003 is pretty decent, apart from some weird editing in between songs. Sound quality and live performance is OK and for once I am fairly happy about one of these dodgy releases. However, the big surprise here was how good Uriah Heep is at this moment in time. That makes me very very happy.
Fans of Nightwish will be pleased to see two releases from the Tarja years in the first quarter of 2023. “From Wishes To Eternity – Live” will see a Limited Edition release on LP/CD on February 10. The most exclusive of these will be in Red Vinyl (300 copies!). So that might be of interest right there. And any day now we will see the release of a slightly more dodgy Radio Broadcast Recording (that is usually code for unofficial product) titled “Hultsfred / Sweden, August 02, 2003”. Hard to say how good sounding this one will be, but one can hope for the best. In any case, good times if you love old school Nightwish.
EDEL/earMUSIC has allowed Tarja to put together a number of exclusive Limited Edition boxes throughout her solo career and here we are again as we get the “Best Of Tarja – Living The Dream” set. Needless to say, a lot of thought and effort has gone into this and it is clear that Tarja herself has been an integral part of this project. The overall impression I get is that it is a success that generates renewed interest and drives home the fact that she is a very special artist. What you get here is three CDs (the third being exclusive for this set), one DVD (full concert plus 16 official videos), four LPs (all Picture Discs, of which two comes in a nice Gatefold Sleeve), six Art Prints that represents her solo albums, two Posters, a nice LP sized Book with information (and the CDs/DVD), and to top it all off, a Signed Art Print by Tarja herself. All in all, a nice set well worth its place in the Tarja Cannon. Here is some images.
(My shots of said box – see also yesterdays post about the Standard CD & the Limited Edition Double CD/DVD set)
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