His first Strat was given to him by Clapton. Eric didn't miss it because it had inch high action, probably mostly why Richie had trouble playing it.Originally Posted by GuitarGeek
My favorite Live in London moment was Jon's one-liner, introducing himself as "Rick Emerson."
"Well my son, life is like a beanstalk, isn't it?"--Dalai Lama
I've never actually heard Made In Europe, largely because I just know when I finally break down and buy it, as soon as I've pull the trigger, they're gonna announce some deluxe edition with the full show on it.
But as I said, I've got the two shows that were on either side of it, Graz and Paris, and they're both good shows. Very good shows. Course, there's Glenn's shrieking, which as we've discussed, get a bit much, especially on something like Burn where he gets to a certain point where he stops singing the actual words and he just screaming, "YOW! YOW! YOOOOOOOOW!". Is this what happens when you're snorting cocaine off strippers' bottoms?! (shrug) BUt apart from that, I think the band sounds great on both shows.
But I agree that Made In Japan is one of the definitive live albums, by anyone!
Roger Glover was a pop music guy. Have you ever heard the stuff he's done outside of Deep Purple? I know there was the Butterfly Ball, which is basically a rock musical. But in the mid 80's, I think around the time Rainbow finally bit the dust, he made a solo record called The Mask, which is a total pop record. I mean, I like, I remember seeing the video for the title song on MTV, and thinking it was a good catchy tune.
I think that's why Glover got kicked out of Deep Purple in the first place. Ritchie wanted to make "heavy music" and Glover was leaning a little more toward MOR. But then Ritchie invited Roger into Rainbow after Dio quit, because by that time, Ritchie decided maybe being a little more radio friendly wasn't a bad idea.
^ While I find it altogether very cheesy, Butterfly Ball has a few intensely charming tunes and some ace performances by Michael Giles and Ronnie Dio in particular; the latter would always claim to despise having to sing ballads, but truth be told he was usually excellent at it. Still, Butterfly Ball as such is more of a half-orchestral pop opera than a rock one.
Mask is a quite dreadful newwave attempt to my ears. His earlier effort Elements was a better effort at merging space-pop, jazzy glide-disco and hard rock. His Accidentally On Purpose with Gillan was again an ill-advised try at a quasi-naive pop formula which really didn't sit well with his fair talents as producer. It amounted to a sort of cult curiosa for some listeners, though.
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
It was his production which made Perfect Strangers sound like later Rainbow, IMHO...he took exactly the same approach as he'd done with Rainbow. I like Down To Earth with Graham Bonnet, but I'm not a fan of Joe Lynn Turner-era Rainbow.
I don't like everything on Perfect Strangers but I think the second half is strong. It sold well and they re-established themselves commercially, but the friction between Blackmore and Gillan started to become a real problem further into that decade.
Even beyond the production aspect, the reunion era albums with Blackmore share a common DNA with JLT-era Rainbow, Slaves and Masters being the most obvious example of course.
One gets the feeling that Blackmore viewed the DP reunion as a vehicle for carrying on with Rainbow-style music with a more successful brand.
Having said that, I think that those reunion albums with Blackmore, whatever flaws they may have, are all much better than JLT-era Rainbow albums.
Deep Purple really felt like a band again after Blackmore left, IMHO. (And they immediately put Fireball tracks, especially No One Came, into their set.)
Wow, I missed this thread
Burn is right up there with In Rock and their third album. Because there is very little filler stuff, which is more than I can say about most of their other studio efforts; and clearly Coverdale & Hughes brought fresh blood that G&G didn't anymore... But ot ddn't last long, cos Stormbringer is a real dud.
Just like Made in Europe is right up there with Made In Japan (just wished they'd expanded it with bonus tracks, though)
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
If anyone thinks that Purple was through after Richie, watch the DVD "Perihelion". Maybe the best concert video of a rock band I've seen.
Regarding "Who Do We Think We Are", I realize the record has its flaws, but my love for it is based upon it being the first Purple record I bought as a pre-teen. "Made in Japan" was my second. I'm sure many of you have had ill-advised adolescent love affairs with other records, but the feelings for those records linger even into ripening old age!
"Burn" is a tight, rocking record with a lot of great songs. I always unfairly maligned it because of the Gillan/Glover departure. It really is one of their better records, to me! I still have to listen to the s/t third one.
John Lawton-era Uriah Heep for me. And this is decades after the albums were released! I remain very fond of all three (and much of the still-unreleased fourth!) and think Lawton was/is an exceptional vocalist. But there are those who have no time for this period at all.
Incidentally it has been said (by Ken Hensley and others) that Coverdale auditioned for Heep in 1976, the job that Lawton got. I guess the timeline would fit? 1976, Deep Purple were over and David Byron was sacked from Uriah Heep. But I'm not sure.
I will admit, it's a rare event I listen to very much 'heavy metal' (beyond Sabbath) these days, but hard rock bands like Purple/Heep etc., I still love.
Remastered with some BBC bonus tracks.
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
I love Perihelion. One of the last tours with Jon Lord, the band is tight and clearly having fun, Gillan's not perfect of course but in rather fine form. And it is sweet to have "Fools", "No One Came" and "Mary Long" in the setlist, along with some Purpendicular songs.
I have a couple of other ones that are desert islanders for me: Uriah Heep's "Demons and Wizards" and Three Dog Night's "Captured Live at the Forum".
Which plenty of people do, unfortunately, but certainly not me, as much as I love Ritchie's playing. Steve Morse injected new life into the band, and I think those dark clouds that hung over them during Ritchie's tenures disappeared with him, and it shows in the music. Purpendicular was a great album, there have been great tours since, and as I mentioned, the two most recent (Now What?! and Infinite) are my favourite DP albums outside of (what I consider) the classic run of 1969-1973.
One cannot overlook the colossal importance of Morse and Airey in maintaining DP's career. Without such extraordinary musicians, I think they would have sunk following the loss of such key members as Blackmore and Lord. Add to that Bob Ezrin's production role on the last two albums and it's a recipe for continued success in my view. I know a lot of people nowadays ignore the modern works of bands of this stature, and in some cases that's understandable, but not in DP's. IMO.
Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.
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Three Dog Night never really translated to the UK, beyond 'Mama Told Me Not To Come'.
RE; Morse-era Deep Purple. They've had their moments. Purpendicular is a good album, I like the track 'Soon Forgotten'- some don't, but I'd have liked them to have gone in that more adventurous direction more often. Now What? was surprisingly strong, I thought. I don't think the more straight-up rockers are as strong as they used to be, because they don't have Blackmore's riffs.
Straight-up rockers are indeed not Morse-era Purple's strong point, and it may reinforce the disinterest that some people show them, especially since Blackmore is identified as the one who gave them the most iconic riffs.
I think Abandon suffered from them trying to create a more basic hard-rocking album, and some tracks from Infinite suffer from that too.
I had that on 8 track!Three Dog Night's "Captured Live at the Forum"
I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down.'- Bob Newhart
Yup to pretty much everything you wrote. I also love the recent records, although Banannas is so overcompressed and brickwalled, it makes my ears bleed!
What determined whether I bought JLT era Rainbow albums in the 80s was whether it had instrumental tracks. I bought Difficult to Cure for the title track and Vielleicht Das Nächste Mal. I bought Bent Out of Shape for Anybody There and Snowman. I skipped Straight Between the Eyes because it had no instrumentals.
"Well my son, life is like a beanstalk, isn't it?"--Dalai Lama
ISTR finding 'Difficult To Cure' the track a real cheesefest. Corny old 'rocking the classics' stuff.
Just listened to the s/t Third record. It's very proggy, there's mellotron, some orchestral arrangements,and great instrumental work. The sound is a little bit reverb-heavy, but overall nice definition, particularly with the percussion. Maybe the most nuanced playing I've heard from Ian Paice. Richie sure sounds different playing that ES-335 with the wah-wah pedal. You can hear the strat in a couple of places, but boy did he and the rest of the band put on a new set of clothes with "In Rock". I can't think of a band whose sound changed so much between two albums, this one and "In Rock". Very nice, if a little bit wierd given what they later became. There is a lot more on the plate on this record than the meat and potatoes they served up later! (I should say, that I love meat and potatoes!)
Last edited by Guitarplyrjvb; 08-02-2019 at 03:52 PM.
Well, I love Lawton's work with Lucifer's Friend. Well, the first Lucifer's Friend album, anyway. I know I've heard talk that the second was supposed to be pretty good too, but I've never heard it. I do have one slightly later album, still has the original lineup, I thikn it was called I'm Only A Singer In A Rock N Roll Band or something like that. O! MY! GAWDESS!!! That record stuck to high heaven!
When I realized he had joined Heep at some point (keeping in mind, this is like 2 decades after all this entered the history books), I thought, "AWRIGHT! This'll be awesome". Unfortunately, the only one of those three (or four?) albums I've heard is Innocent Victim, which I don't think is very good. I've heard reports that Firefly is much better, but I've never got around to hearing it. I should have picked up that LP copy I found of the third one (the one with the barbarian queen on the cover) when I saw it a used record store, but I passed on it for some reason.
The thing about Innocent Victim is, it's way to MOR for my tastes. I don't know what was going on in the band at the time, but Ken Hensley later said he was interested in "experimenting" with his songwriting, instead of "just re-writing Easy Livin' again and again". I can see his point, especially, really, Easy Livin' ain't all that great of a song. I mean, it's a decent song, but like with Thin Lizzy and Boys Are Back In Town, it only scratches the surface of the given band's brilliance.
Anyway, I just couldn't figure out what "experimenting" was going on here. I want my rock bands to rock out, not try to compete with...geez, I have no idea who they'd have been competing against on the British pop charts of 1978...Cliff Richard maybe? I dunno, I just don't think this "experiment" was very successful. But maybe I should give it another listen. I mean, it wasn't until after Wetton passed away that I got to appreciate Return To Fantasy.
Hmm, I've never heard that before. Coverdale formed the original Whitesnake in 1978, and he had done two solo albums before that. I guess it could have been possible that David might have been trying to figure out what to do at some point before he got that first Whitesnake together, so a suppose a Heep audition is feasible.Incidentally it has been said (by Ken Hensley and others) that Coverdale auditioned for Heep in 1976, the job that Lawton got. I guess the timeline would fit? 1976, Deep Purple were over and David Byron was sacked from Uriah Heep. But I'm not sure.
BTW, talking of Coverdale, one thing that kind of amuses me is, I remember back in the early 80's, seeing a photo of the MK-III lineup, and seeing David with these big glasses on. At the time, I was going through this thing of being upset about finding out I had to wear glasses (I was like 9 or 10 at the time), in part because they didn't look "rock n roll" or whatever. I then kinda forgot about, until about three decades later, when I got the deluxe version of Burn on CD. I found out that photo was from the very first photo shoot the MK-III band had done, during their first writing rehearsals, and soon afterwards, their managers had David fitted for contacts (or as they call them in Italy, lenzo contacto). I guess someone at the home office or whatever, decided David didn't look "rock n roll" enough with the glasses!
Keeping in mind, some people define "heavy metal" at least when talking about the early stuff, in such a fashion as to include Heep and Purple. Once you separate those bands out , along with Lizzy, etc and call them "hard rock" or "heavy rock" or whatever, I admit heavy metal has limited interest for me too.I will admit, it's a rare event I listen to very much 'heavy metal' (beyond Sabbath) these days, but hard rock bands like Purple/Heep etc., I still love.
I love Priest and Maiden and a few other bands, but especially as we got into this thing where everyone was trying to be "heavier than thou" or they got more and more into being "shocking" or "evil" or whatever-the-frell some of those bands were supposed to be trying to accomplish, I just find myself saying "Next!".
One thing that people forget about a lot of those late 60's and 70's bands was the drumming. In particular, a lot of the drummers seemed to be more influenced by jazz than they were by any of the rock n roll drummers that preceded them. I've heard the word "swing" applied to everyone to guys like Ian Paice, Bill Ward, Brian Downey, etc. I know Paul Stanley once suggested that Peter Criss was more of a "big band/swing drummer" and Peter's admitted to being a Gene Krupa fan.
And I think somewhere along the way, sometime in the 80's, that sort of went away. Someone decided "the way forward", was to crank up the tempi, bringing in the double bass drum stuff and try to fill every nook and cranny with intricate fills or whatever. And though they were trying to be "heavier than thou", I think they really weren't. Then you add in the cookie monster vocals, the ugly guitar tones, the nonsensical guitar solos (and then later, no guitar solos at all), you start to wonder if you're listening to a "serious" band, or someone who's trying to make fun of the music, except they're the only ones who get the joke (possibly, the only ones, I'm not sure if the death metal guys are aware how absolutely goofy they are).
I'm glad this thread has resulted in a few people checking out what is one of my favourites from the Purples. I've long thought it was quite an overlooked album. I suppose both the prog/orchestral side and the rockier side of this one were quickly eclipsed by the popularity of Concerto... and In Rock not long after (not to mention the lineup change), and it was quickly forgotten. I believe some of it was played live only briefly in mid-1969, and never again thereafter. The band certainly never comment on it, from what I've ever seen in interviews. In fact, Gillan is the only one I've heard mention it (he liked the first three albums from Mk. I a lot before he joined, apparently). Other than that, I believe I've only heard Paice talk about the non-album single "Emmaretta", and that was because Rick Wakeman loves the song and asked him about it on his Gastank show back in the 80s.
Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.
*** Join me in the Garden of Delights for 3 hours of tune-spinning... every Saturday at 5pm EST on Deep Nuggets radio! www.deepnuggets.com ***
Mark 2 Purple never acknowledged the Mark 1 stuff and, after the reunion, never acknowledged the Mark III/IV stuff either. I believe Gillan has said it wouldn't be right to sing Coverdale's songs (and wouldn't get performing rights royalties either).
MkII played MkI songs with Gillan. They played at least four of their songs I can think of off the top of my head ("Hush," "Kentucky Woman," "Wring that Neck" and "Mandrake Root").
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
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