There is a lot of love for DP here in PE "off-topic" so I thought I would post this great DP show from August. Watched the whole damn thing and it made me very happy.
The band sound as inspired as ever and Ian Gillan (at age 68!) has gotten his voice back. Best "Into the Fire" I've ever heard.
Hopefully they will come to the USA sometime soon.
Man, I'm still tryin' to wrap my mind around the fact that Steve Morse has been in this band for nearly two decades!
Uli Jon Roth? Fuck me!
Thanks for sharing this!
They are fantastic! New album is excellent. I'll be checking this out soon. Thanks. Steve rules and so does DP.
Supposedly, the Wacken performance is coming out on DVD/Blu-Ray.
Wow, great show! Good to see them on the Wacken stage. My guess is Eagle Rock puts that out sometime soon.
And it still doesn't work.Originally Posted by Banquo
For you maybe.
Morse works just fine for me. Blackmore is great. But the band can't get along with him. They are very happy with the current line up, they are making great music and are still kicking ass live. What's not to love?
Bill
She'll be standing on the bar soon
With a fish head and a harpoon
and a fake beard plastered on her brow.
That's it Kirk! Steve is a trained musician with a great attitude. Richie has very little training and a shitty attitude, though I do like his playing.
Steve is great for Deep Purple, so is Don Airey, who channels Jon Lord just fine. Saw the video this evening. I hope they tour the US.
One of the best concert videos I've seen is "Perehelion". Any doubts as to Purple with Morse are quickly dispelled! More than any other band from the 60's and 70's, these guys are still relevant and putting out great new music!
Since I can't offer an objective opinion on a subjective topic, that would be obvious, no?
Steve Morse is often just about clueless as regards how to attack this music, even after all of these years. I just don't understand how anyone can stomach Deep Purple being reduced to this. The band sounds very good but they just have no balls because Morse sounds straight out of a Guitar Center showroom floor.
That Octave Divider tone he keeps pulling out on leads ... is he serious?
I was able to accept Bolin for some reason. Maybe because that band was playing a lot of material that was not prime Mark II stuff.
But this band needs Blackmore and their fan base dancing around that makes it all the more frustrating for some reason. I realize he doesn't want to be in Deep Purple, but that doesn't change the fact that his sound is really missing when they play material of which he was a part.
Could Steve Morse replace Jimmy Page in Led Zeppelin next? Seems only slightly less logical. Hey, he pulled out the "How Many More Times" riff here so maybe ...
Cool to see Uli up there with them though!
I think we all would agree that Blackmore played a vital role in developing the original repertoire. But in addition to watching the Wacken vid above I recently watched the just-released Perfect Strangers Live DVD from an '84 show down under. That is a very good show, too, but Blackmore's got nothing on Morse regarding ongoing performance and interpretation of the original classics. The two players are obviously different, but so what? Both good to my ears.
Can't agree with you at all about Steve but that's a pretty good insult (the showroom part that is)... I'll have to remember it!
I agree, that one is probably my favorite DP video. Montreux '96 is very good too particularly with all the Purpendicular material they do. Love that record.
Purpendicular still gets lots of play at my house. It's still my favorite with Steve Morse.
Really? Even limiting myself to video footage, I'd pick this 1,000 times out of 1,000:
I guess I'm on the fence about Steve Morse. I appreciate the fact that he was instrumental in breathing new life into the band when they were clearly in need of it. I still think "Purpendicular" is one of the finest albums in Deep Purple's discography and I think the new album "Now What?!" is really great too.
But on the other hand, Ritchie Blackmore is probably my favorite rock guitarist of all time. For me, he was the perfect combination of technique and emotion. Morse tilts closer to being a more technical type of player and I confess I don't get the same buzz out of the classic tracks when he performs them. Some of those songs aren't able to hit my gut the way they did with Blackmore. And it seems like he makes every solo sound samey.
Would I love for Blackmore to be in the band again? Of course. Is it ever going to happen? Highly unlikely. So I'm willing to accept what Morse brings to the table even though I find his playing not nearly as moving as Ritchie Blackmore.
Blackmore was one of my biggest influences as a guitarist, but I'll be first to say that he started mailing it in after Perfect Strangers, both in the studio and on stage. He had his good nights, but it was clear from '87 on that he'd rather be doing just about anything else besides playing hard rock. It's telling that he's never gone back to rock since forming Blackmore's Night with his wife.
This Wacken video isn't a good example of what Morse is/was capable of in DP. I am wondering whether he's having problems with his hands/wrists, since his soloing seems very limited. He's admitted before to having symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome. His playing style lends itself to repetitive stress injuries. Despite that, I love the new DP album and think he's done great work with them. In some ways, it's a different band, and you have to take it in that light.
I have to agree with Jeff -- DP with Steve Morse just doesn't work for me. Morse is a great player, but somehow has always left me cold.
I'm glad it works for some people though.
Last edited by Plasmatopia; 10-31-2013 at 08:27 AM.
<sig out of order>
I still think they're as good as most bands out there and have been able to hold onto most of their respectability. And Morse plays a big role in that. That being said, Morse's playing always sounds to cold and clinical to me.
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
They're both energizing and inspiring, dunno which one I would pick and how many out of 1000 times. I prefer Gillan's vocal in the Wacken performance, but I admit Blackmore pulls off quite a tasty solo in your version. That may sound like a cop out but it isn't. Just a really good live band, then and now...
It's also amazing to think Morse has been in DP longer than Blackmore. In regards to Blackmore, I believe I'd rather look at his wife's backside than Ian's any day of the week. That woman is gorgeous. I understand why people miss the guy in Deep Purple. Much like the old Jon Anderson argument with Yes. Still, I like Morse better with DP than I did with Kansas. Morse seemed to really enjoy playing with Jon Lord too. Don Airey has done a fantastic job on keys for DP too.
Bill
She'll be standing on the bar soon
With a fish head and a harpoon
and a fake beard plastered on her brow.
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
Blackmore is my favorite guitar player of all time, and the stuff he did with Purple over the years is untouchable for the most part in my opinion. That being said, he's been gone for a LONG time, and he ain't coming back. He doesn't like them, they don't like him, end of story. Deep Purple is my favorite band, and I've supported them throughout their career, and I happen to really like the Steve Morse era. Now What, Purpendicular, Abandon, Rapture of the Deep, and Bananas are all fine albums, and while they might not be In Rock, Fireball, or Machine Head, there aren't too many bands from that era who are still around and making new music of that high quality. Morse has long been one of my favorite guitar players of the past 25 years, ever since I first heard the Dixie Dregs & the Steve Morse Band back in the mid 80s. He fits in with DP very well in my opinion-do they have that 'dangerous' edge that they had with Blackmore? Of course not-that will never happen again, and you know what, I think the band prefers it that way. I saw the band with Ritchie a few times in the '80s & early '90s, and other than the Perfect Strangers tour, you could tell he was phoning it in for the most part and was itching to do something else. Morse gives it his all each night and plays consistently, which I think is key. Would he rather be playing more complex, instrumental music with his band or the Dregs? I'm sure he would, but he's a professional, and is making good money, so he goes out and does what needs to be done night after night. I've often read, especially from Roger Glover, that they really try to keep Morse focused, especially on solos, so for those who say that he comes across as one-dimensional with DP, you have to wonder if that's not altogether his fault. The joy of Blackmore in the '70s was that you never knew what to expect from him-that is partly due to the nature of the era and Ritchie's personality. Morse is a completely different beast. His still is what it is-he's technically a much superior player than Blackmore, but Ritchie has that certain 'something' that Morse will never have. I think both eras of the band are great, but for different reasons. It just seems that some people don't seem to want to accept Morse in the band because he isn't Ritchie, and can't get past that and give the music a change and accept that they are different band now. And, it just seems to me when I talk to people about Morse in DP, and they complain about how he plays too many notes in the same style, these are the same people who previously gushed about him in the Dregs, SMB, and Kansas, yet, Steve's never changed his style, and to me sounds exactly the same today as he did 20-25 years ago. Perhaps the opinion of these folks is that his style just doesn't work in DP for them, and I can accept that. But if not, who then would work better, considering that Blackmore isn't coming back? For me, the band is happy, they are making good new music, and the longer I can keep hearing new music from my favorite band, and see them play those and the old favorites live (quite competently I might add), then I'm a happy camper.
Jeff, I'm actually surprised at your stance here, seeing as how much of a chance you give the various incarnations of Black Sabbath over the years (opinions I share with you as well). These are my 2 favorites of all time, so I'm really lenient when it comes to this sort of thing with both bands.
I admit, insofar as Steve is one of my 5 favorite guitarists ever, I've had real trouble embracing him in Purple. I do think his performance of the Concerto for Band And Orchestra was terrific, and more recent performances I've seen are starting to click with me. It's definitely a prejudicial thing on my part. That last album sounds good though, what I've heard. I haven't liked a DP album since Perfect Strangers.
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