At last I've got my hands on the newly released Japan-only album "Jigoku-Retsuden". Roughly translated as either 'Glorious Tale of Hell' or 'Biography of Hell' this album features 15 tracks that have been rerecorded by the current line-up. Lots of people are pretty mad with this thinking it's completely pointless - was it really necessary to fix something that was never broken in the first place? Well in my opinion I think it's well worth buying, Gene isn't stupid, by doing this KISS now retain the rights to these recordings meaning they can be used anywhere and they'll now get a cut of the profits (for example in future editions of Guitar Hero etc). And apart from that it's pretty damn good too.

First thing you'll notice is that a lot of the recordings are kept faithful to the originals, with the audio quality benefiting with a far clearer mix. I'm not saying by any means that these are better than the originals but they are very very good, definitely a great album to have if you're new to KISS. Highlights for me were Heaven's On Fire, Black Diamond (with Eric on vocals) and Forever (not as bad as I was expecting seeing how the Bruce version is one of my favourite KISS tracks).

Will this ever get an official UK release? Well, who knows, it was expected to be given away with the Mail on Sunday a few months back but that never happened. Judging by the fact it's now number one on the CdJapan website I think a lot of people over here have already imported it... I bought my copy from CdJapan here and it took less than a week to arrive: http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=DFCP-56 (you can also listen to clips here).

The track list is as follows:-

1. DEUCE
2. DETROIT ROCK CITY
3. SHOUT IT OUT LOUD
4. HOTTER THAN HELL
5. CALLING DR.LOVE
6. LOVE GUN
7. I WAS MADE FOR LOVIN' YOU
8. HEAVEN'S ON FIRE
9. LICK IT UP
10. I LOVE IT LOUD
11. FOREVER
12. CHRISTINE SIXTEEN
13. DO YOU LOVE ME
14. BLACK DIAMOND
15. ROCK AND ROLL ALL NITE

The latest series of Family Jewels has just started airing on The Biography Channel. Tonight's episode saw Gene's dog Snippy go missing and also had some footage of the San Jacinto show in July last year when Paul Stanley had to be rushed to hospital with a rapid heart rate.

It can be seen this week Mon, Tue, Wed & Fri @ 10PM.

http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/series/3/Gene_Simmons_Family_Jewels.htm

Many thanks to Bill Baker for donatining this exclusive photo to the site - the photo is an outtake from Bill's upcoming book about Ace which is now due for release in October. In Bills own words:-

"I realised as I was putting this book together that all of this Ace material (audio, video, photos) was wasting away in boxes and on shelves and that I should do something with it on my site and on youtube. So, now the book is at the printing company, and I'm ust waiing on the proofs. When I ok them, they will start printing. There will be 2000 signed and numbeed books. I will start taking orders once I ok the proofs. I hope to have the books in October. I will let you know. I have attached an exclusive picture that is an outtake shot from one I used in the book. (I still have that Hendrix shirt  in my collection.)"

Note picture is copyright Bill Baker.

SplitScreen Entertainment has announced the late addition of a bonus track to its upcoming tribute album "KISS MY ANKH: A Tribute To Vinnie Vincent."

Rock & roll comic C.C. Banana, known for his outrageous interviews with rockers and other celebrities, has written a new song parody exclusively for this project. The song is a comedic take on the Gene Simmons/Vinnie Vincent classic "Unholy," rewritten as a roast of Danger Danger vocalist Ted Poley. Despite its humorous overtones, the track is an appropriately heavy recreation of the Kiss original, featuring a guitar solo by Chris Caffery (Savatage, Trans-Siberian
Orchestra), guitars and bass by Paul LaPlaca (Zandelle, Z02, Chris Caffery solo band), drums by Dennis Leeflang (Sun Caged, Epica, Bumblefoot solo band) and background vocals by Kelli McCloud (Queen of the Reich) and Vic Rivera (AdrianGale, Crunch, Poley/Rivera). A sample of the parody is now available at the official "KISS MY ANKH" MySpace page, along with samples of all other songs on the tribute.

The news blog at StarWars.com (the official Star Wars website) has posted a new interview with former Kiss guitarist Bruce Kulick. The article serves as an epilogue to his recent onstage interview with the mysterious Maul Stanley (the parody hybrid of Star Wars character Darth Maul and Kiss guitarist Paul Stanley). Whereas their original discussion dealt primarily with Bruce's experiences in Kiss, the follow-up focuses on his lifelong appreciation of the Star Wars saga (and its historical similarities to Kiss). A few excerpts from the interview follow. Also included is a link to Maul Stanley's appearance in the latest episode of the Talking Metal podcast.