Is that Black Sabbath?

No it's offically Heaven and Hell who are actually Black Sabbath with Dio on vocals circa 1980.

They are touring under the moniker Heaven and Hell and I went to see them at the NEC last night.

Set list

E5150/Mob Rules
Children of the Sea
I
Sign of the Southern Cross
Voodoo
Computer God
Falling of the Edge of the World
Die Young
Heaven and Hell
Neon Knights (encore)

Whilst it was good, it was a little disappointing that the set list was quite a bit shorter than their earlier concerts in the US.

Not as good as Y & T that I recently saw in Nuneaton.

We were only there in time to catch the second support band, but we could tell from the sound check that they were going to be awful! So we left the main arena to save our ears - and were passed in the concourse by a few footie celebs and their WAGS.

New Purchases

It's been a few days since I last found time to add to the blog so I've a bit of catching-up to do.

I've started with the review of a few Spidey back issues but I should also mention that I've received via Amazon the next Daredevil trade by Brubaker; "Hell To pay Vol.1" and a couple of CDs.

"Premonition" by Survivor. This means that I've got all their CDs now.

"Edens Curse" by Edens Curse. A recommendation from Melodic Rock.com. I've listened to this a couple of times now and it's good especially the first few tracks. But it sounds like it will be a "grower" as all the best albums are.

I'm also enjoying watching "Californication" on Channel Five.

Y and T Rocks Nuneaton again

13 months after an amazing gig at Queens Hall , Nuneaton, Y&T returned to play yet another great concert. They changed the set list around quite a bit and I think they played

01 Open Fire
02 Hungry For Rock
03 Hard Times
04 Dirty Girl
05 Masters And Slaves
06 Mean Streak
07 I'll Keep On Believin'
08 Straight Thru The Heart
09 This Time
10 Hurricane
11 Midnight In Tokyo
12 Black Tiger
13 I'll Cry For You
14 Eyes Of A Stranger
15 Rescue Me
16 Summertime Girls
17 I Believe In You
18 Forever

The Queens Hall is such a small and intimate venue - I love it. I forecast that this will be a better gig than Sabbath in a fortnight!

New Comics and Music

I came home with the following after a trip to Forbidden Planet Coventry

Powers Vol. 2 26
Wolverine Annual 1
Friendly Neighborhood Spider-man 24
Wolverine (2003) 58
Fantastic Four 550
Wolverine:Origins 18
Captain America (2005) 31
Mighty Avengers 5
New Avengers 35
Avengers: The Initiative 6
All Star Batman And Robin 7
Highwaymen 5

But I've also got some a new music DVD with bonus CD - Y&T live from October last year. Not from the gig I went to - but in the same week. I'm going to see them again on 30 Oct so its a timely arrival.

Music Update

I've been "spending time" with my music collection over the last few days.

Thanks to martin and Teresa, my friends with the clever record turntable, I am able to covert my old vinyl albums into CDs. They have kindly lent me the kit until December so I've got a few months to do as much recording as I can.

At first, I am concentrating on those albums which I can seem to find on Amazon etc. cause they have been deleted.

As I'm writing this I'm recording Tyketto's "Don't Come Easy". It's an album I've not heard for years. Great stuff.

On the music front, I've already received in the post today Joe Lynn Turner's debut solo album from 1985 "Rescue You".

What to do with those old vinyl LPs

Besides having a top HD telly - our friends that we stayed with also had a nice bit of hardware which was basically a record player linked to the PC via a USB.

Using this kit and appropriate software it's possible to convert old vinyl to audio CDs.

I'd brought along a few albums to try out. I choose a few which I'd been struggling to get on CD. The software was a little tricky to use and I probably needed longer to get things perfect to take out various bits of noise and make sure the gaps in between songs were short etc.

After recording the album (in real time - how frustrating!) I learnt how to separate each track and label it after doing a bit of editing. I then exported the files to the hard disc before using Roxio to create a music CD.

I then had to rip the CD back onto the hard disc for Windows Media Player to work as it didn't recognise the exported files. It was a bit of a lengthy process but ultimately worthwhile. The sound quality is good too.

I've only completed one CD so far, "The Pack" by Alaska but I've got the exported files for "Land of the Gun" by Legs Diamond and "Blue Murder" by Blue Murder. All obscure albums which Amazon and like don't sell.

Speaking of which, my latest CD purchase arrived on Friday "Humanity Hour 1" by the Scorpions. I've listened to it a couple of times now and its quite good. I suspect it will grow on me as well.

Magnum at The Palace Tamworth

I went to the first of three rock gigs which I've got tickets for over the next few months.

Magnum played a warm-up gig for a European Festival gig in Tamworth. It was a good gig even if it was two songs shorter than the set they played on their last UK tour in the spring. The didn't play "On A Storytellers Night" or "We All Run".

It was a minor quibble as I had an excellent view.

I've not seen them since 1992 - which I couldn't believe when I checked - and they still deliver a solid set even though they're getting a little long in the tooth. Bob Catley's stage act is getting even more pronounced and keyboard player, Mark Stanway, is starting to look like Gollum after he's had the ring for a bit.

Best songs on the night - Out of the Shadows, Les Mort Dansant, Vigilante, The Spirt

Journey

Whilst getting stuck into the Harry Potter books, I've also been listening to a lot of Journey recently.



I've had a handful of their albums for quite a few years now, but I'm just starting to appreciate them a bit more.


I got "Escape" remastered with bonus tracks last Saturday, "Frontiers" a week or so ago and I'm due to receive "Trial By Fire" in a few days time. I've had escape on vinyl for years but it was after buying a dvd of the Escape tour that my interest was rekindled. That was an excellent dvd and as it came with a cd of the gig I've played it a great deal.

However, Journey have done quite a number of albums since Escape was released in 1981 and it has been those I've been catching up on. I was especially interested in the tracks that they still play live. This is the set list from their recent UK tour (which I'm still gutted I couldn't get to see - but it just wasn't convenient.


Message Of Love – Trial By Fire
Rubicon . - Frontiers
Stone In Love . - Escape
Ask The Lonely . - Frontiers
Wheel In The Sky . –Infinity
Edge Of The Blade . - Frontiers
Only The Young . - Frontiers
Who's Cryin Now -Escape
Open Arms . - Escape
Open The Door . -Infinity
I'll Be Alright Without You . – Raised on Radio
Chain Reaction . - Frontiers
Lights . –Infinity
Escape .- Escape
Mother Father . - Escape
Be Good To Yourself . – Raised on Radio
Where Were You . - Departure
Faithfully . - Frontiers
Don't Stop Believin' . - Escape
Anyway You Want It . –Departure
Separate Ways - Frontiers

New CD's

I've been really busy over the last few nights with work & household stuff.

Also been reading a load of Hulk issues which make up the Planet Hulk storyline. I'll review the whole story in one post.

I've got a couple of new/old rock CD's via Amazon in the post

Frontiers by Journey. An album from 1983 which I hadn't got on vinyl or tape.
Trouble by Whitesnake which I had.

Both CDs had good bonus tracks which made them worthwhile.

In addition, I've downloaded from HMV digital about 10 individual tracks from various albums which is an economical way of getting certain songs without shelling out for the whole CD.

We've also started watching "The Dresden Files" which I recorded from Sky One earlier this year. The first two episodes have been enjoyable but not spectacular.

More soon...

Seven Ages of Rock

There have been 3 more episodes of the 7 Ages of Rock on BBC since I last discussed it. One on Punk, another on Metal and the latest on Stadium Rock.

Except for Punk, I can consider myself reasonably knowledgeable about the other two genres and so I learnt little from the programmes but still found them enjoyable.

There were a few errors but on the whole the history was reasonably covered. In the stadium episode the bands featured were Queen, U2, The Police, Dire Straits, a bit of KISS and Bruce Springstein???

The inclusion of Springstein seemed a bit tenuous to me. Sure he might have played a stadium or two but he seemed to be included because his music contained a political message.

The fact that it was generally shite didn't matter.

Amusingly, many of his songs were misunderstood which proves, I believe, that it wasn't the message people went to hear. People go to rock concerts to hear good songs, be entertained and enjoy listening to music with like-minded people to be part of an event.

Queen certainly define this and I expect U2 and The Police were similar ( however the impact of a 3 piece in a stadium must be minimal).

The next episode features two of the crappest rock bands ever to be successful - Nirvana and REM. I don't think I could sit through an hour of that ( and I happily watched the punk episode and I'm certainly not a fan of that genre).

On another music note: I've now achieved another new years ambition by finally downloading music. I bought the three new tracks off Black Sabbath: The Dio years for 89p each. Saved a few pounds from having to buy a compilation album which I've got the majority of the tracks.

It was very easy and so I'll think about getting the odd track which I'd like which are from albums which I don't want to buy.

7 Ages of Rock

It makes a change when there's something other than sport on terrestrial TV that I want to watch.

The 7 Ages of Rock on BBC is an exception.

Two programmes have been shown so far and both have been interesting although they didn't feature any of my favourite bands.

The first, which concentrated on Jimi Hendrix, was really good as it showed just what an effect this man had on the industry. Other guitar bands, such as Cream, and even the Beatles were upstaged by his showmanship.

It's worth noting that Hendrix used his music and instrument as part of his show whereas, as shown in the second programme, bands like Pink Floyd, Genesis and David Bowie needed other factors to help them put on a show. Personally, I would say this was to compensate for poor songs but others would disagree.

Some of the theatrics like the building of "The Wall" during a Floyd gig or Peter Gabriel wearing a foxes head and a red dress were just crazy. I certainly didn't get it.

Cracking programme though and I'm learning a lot.

Another Amazon Order

More parcels in the post!

Received;

Captain America: Red Menace Vol. 2
Princess Alice and the Broken Arrow by Magnum.

As the Magnum CD is brand new and only released last Monday, I'll give it a few plays through and then do a review. Most of my music is old and familiar stuff which is difficult to "review" properly. I'll try with this CD in a week or so.

More new Stuff

I took the day off work to get some jobs done. One of those was to sort out my comic boxes and do some re-arranging etc. After doing that I decided to take the opportunity to go yet again to Forbidden Planet ( twice in one week!) and pick up more bags and boards. While I was there, I picked up the comics that I collect which came in on Thursday this week.

Only 2

Amazing Spider-man #539
Ms. Marvel #13.

Speaking of new stuff, I received yet another old favourite album on CD via Amazon yesterday. Nelson's "After the Rain". Another AOR classic. It was only £2.63 incl. postage as well! So much cheapness.

2007 is turning out to be a good year for finally getting all my favourite albums on CD.

Y&T Rocks

Received 3 CD's in the post today from the official Y&T website. They are remastered editions of early classic albums. They were only available via the website or at gigs. I'd picked up another at the Y&T gig in Nuneaton in October last year and was eagerly waiting for these other albums to become available. A bonus is the current $:£ ratio which made them very good value!

I got;

"Earthshaker" ( from 1981), "Black Tiger" (1982) and "In Rock We Trust" (1984). Up to today I'd only had tape recordings of "Earthshaker" and "In Rock" and "Earthshaker" was particularly dodgy. Really chuffed with the new additions to my collection.

Weekend stuff

Other bits and pieces from the weekend.

I've finally got hold of one of my favourite albums on CD - "Only Child" by "Only Child". This is a fantastic AOR album from 1988 and I've been looking to get it on CD for sometime. Where did I get it? - some German company selling through Amazon Marketplace! Really chuffed with it.

The Alex got a good away win (2-1) over Northampton. Report here.

Watched Tim Burton's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" on Saturday night. Although it was OK it just felt a little weird or something anyway wasn't quite right about it. I actually enjoyed the beginning where the golden tickets are being discovered more than the tour around the factory. I didn't like the film's "addition" to the story concerning Wonka's father. Not a film that I would want to watch again.