I always go for their first three and also like In Rock.
I always go for their first three and also like In Rock.
s/t (third LP).
Hell, they ain't even old-timey ! - Homer Stokes
Just heard April. It's proggy of course, but not sure if I really like it. I like the actual rock part after the first 8 minutes of classical/proggy, keyboardy-ness. It's a fine album overall.
"Well my son, life is like a beanstalk, isn't it?"--Dalai Lama
A couple of weeks ago, I picked up DP Live in Long Beach 1976, which was release 3 years ago. It must have been a day when Tommy and Glenn were having a good day. The performances are absolutely amazing.
"Well my son, life is like a beanstalk, isn't it?"--Dalai Lama
Always thought that Glenn Hughes has a voice that could curdle milk so I've never bothered with the Purple albums he's on.
For what it's worth, I think their best album is Perfect Strangers.
No.
IMO Deep Purple has three good albums and this isn't one of them.
Pretty good cover of Lazy:
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
One thing wrong with WDWTWA? is that it's so damned short.
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
A few random thoughts regarding this topic (all IMHO of course) :
- Burn is a fine album, which showcases the freshness of that line-up, but the songs sound somehow restrained when compared with their live versions (Mistreated in particular). I understand why it sounds more energetic and inspired than WDWTWA to a lot of people, but I feel that, in spite of MkIII's renewed approach to singing, MkII had a more unique personality. There was something more generic in MkIII, and Coverdale's lyrics had something to do with it.
- DP albums often suffer from a few weaker tracks which prevent them from having a really great flow, but I feel some albums have more consistency : the third one (self-titled), In Rock, Purpendicular, Now What!? come to mind. Burn's not bad in that respect either.
- My favorite DP "LP side" is Fireball's second half. Just brilliant (and progressive).
- I also love CTTB's second half. I feel it has a special sense of melancholy and sense of impending doom (well, apart from Love Child): Drifter has some melancholy, and This Time Around / Owed to G + You Keep On Moving are a great way to end the album with unexpected gravitas. In retrospect, one can somehow feel DP's and Tommy Bolin's sad demise.
You're probably right about Blackmore. I remember reading where he said when he got the first Strat, he had trouble getting used to it, but for whatever reason, he kept at it until he got to the point where he retired the 335.
As for Iommi, I believe I read he used the Strat for a couple songs, but one of the pickups failed. He was using an SG as a backup, so he switched over to that for the rest of the session. He, then, continued using the SG as, at the time, there were limited options for dealing with a broken pickup. You couldn't just walk into any guitar store and buy a Seymour Duncan or DiMarzio or whatever that could drop right in place of the original.
Yeah! Also the greatest Doors opening tune second to the unbeatable "Break On Through". L.A. Woman is an übercool record deluxe in the first place. "Cars Hiss By My Window"? Until that point Morrison's blues cred was dubious at best (save for "Maggie McGill" and perhaps "Wild Child", which both promise of things to come); their rendition of "Back Door Man" is the one weak spot on the otherwise magnificent debut of theirs.
"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
Their Back Door Man rendition I think works well for the album, they gave it a cabaret-like approach, which chimes with Alabama song..I think Morrison's blues was like sprechstimme in pop music) His recitative-like singing is the blues he hears, best examples were shown in big things, like The End, When The Music's Over, Celebration of the Lizard. He wasn't a standard blues vocalist, of course. DP I think were under some influence of the Doors, remember the Shield from their second LP - it sounds very Doors-alike.
^ The early DP in particular were indeed informed by The Doors, as they were by other contemporary US artists like Vanilla Fudge, Iron Butterfly, It's a Beautiful Day, The Blues Magoos, H.P. Lovecraft and that first Spirit album.
Jon Lord used to speak very nicely of Manzarek, I remember - and DP included "Roadhouse Blues" as encore on several tours. I believe they did "Love Me Two Times" at some point as well. Arguably the most successful of the early Doors' attempt at playing the blues.
"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
I wouldn't disagree. Deep Purple Mark II had a real intensity which subsequent line-ups did not, IMHO. But Who Do We Think We Are has some things I find dreary, such as 'Place In Line' and 'Our Lady'. Even on the better songs, I don't think that album has anywhere near as much spark as the 1970-2 ones. I don't think it's a coincidence that so little of it has appeared in their set-lists over the years.
I've always felt that their 'comeback' Perfect Strangers, whilst blandly produced and again having questionable synths, is a better album. They reasserted themselves well with that album, but it all went wrong thereafter. Commercially, they never recovered from their turbulent late 80s/early 90s.
Our little Greek committee during drinks on Tuesday night decided that Live in London is probably the best DP live record - and way better than Made In Europe.
While Who Do We Think We Are? was certainly a weak effort, at least it was one by DP - whereas Perfect Strangers sounded disappointingly like a post-Rainbow (J.L. Turner-version) affair. At the time of release I considered myself the greatest DP fan around, and boy was I ever set back by the complete lack of inspiration at play on Perfect Strangers. "Knocking On Your Back Door" a dull powermetal semi-ballad, and those prep-blues jingles... Ugh. I remember liking the title track and absolutely nothing else, and I pretty much gave up on the band after this. I was 13 at the time and had been worshipping at the altar of Blackmore since buying a cassette of Rising at a fleemarket when I was nine; now this journey was essentially over. And with the tame performance at Live Aid by the "reformed" LedZep the following year, so was my enchanted relationship with them as myth.
I can no longer listen to most of those "classic" DP tunes; "Child In Time" was a cheap and embarrassing ripoff, as was "Black Night" (although its groove is undeniable), and "Smoke On the Water"... Well, it's tedious beyond. Still there are undercommunicated gems from In Rock, Machine Head and especially Fireball that I can not only listen to but thoroughly enjoy - such as "Flight of the Rat", "The Mule" and the above mentioned "No One Came". And "Demon's Eye" should have been one of their most celebrated tracks. Gillan was a great singer in those days.
"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
I'll have to play it again. You're doubtless right on ...Europe but I don't think it matches Made In Japan, which is one of my favourite live rock albums by anyone. I find Hughes' schtick hard to deal with.
I do like that long instrumental section of Blackmore's in 'Fools'- a different style of playing from him. There are some interesting, more experimental touches throughout Fireball.
I think Martin Birch should have been brought in for Perfect Strangers. Glover's production was very slick.
On the latest Doors tribute Gillan, with support of Yes's Wakeman and Howe, performed Light My Fire. I read about Iron Butterfly, before they've gotten a record deal, were mainly a Doors cover band. Love me 2 times, yes, sort of a decadent blues - they rarely used harpsichord, 3 times, if memory serves..( Wintertime Love, Soft Parade)
I don't like their melodic shift in the 80s..Much prefer Who Do We Think, We Are, Fireball, Concerto...Burn, last but not least..When they were original, trend setting band.
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