Purple For A Day

Purple Update

2007-06-07T13:10:00.000-07:00

The latest in Purple, since it's been awhile...

I got the Rainbow Dusseldorf 1976 CD set. Another great performance from the band's peak era. Recommended. I also picked up Gillan's Future Shock. A bit of a letdown compared to the other Gillan studio albums I've picked up, but not bad, really.

This week I preordered the CD and DVD for They All Came Down To Montreux. It will be nice to finally have an official Mark VIII release. I'll post my thoughts when it comes in.

Finally, it was cool to read about the record setting performance of "Smoke On The Water" in Kansas City this week. Always nice to see the DP name out in the mainstream press, even if there's no mention that it's still a vital and ongoing band.

Deep Purple Day

2007-04-20T06:23:00.000-07:00

Happy Deep Purple Day!

It was on April 20, 1968 that Deep Purple made their live debut at Vestpoppen, Tastrup, Denmark. Celebrate 39 years of Purple today with a Deep Purple album!

1980

2007-04-17T06:52:00.000-07:00

Yes, 1980... perhaps one of the best year in Purple history, and Deep Purple wasn't even active!

I mentioned in my previous post I thought 1980 was a great year for DP fandom even though the band was still defunct, and now I'll try to make my case.

Exhibit A: Rainbow (featuring ex-DP members Ritchie Blackmore and Roger Glover). While the classic lineups with Ronnie James Dio were now a thing of the past (Dio himself having moved on to Black Sabbath, where the Sabs would release their best ever album this year with Heaven and Hell), Rainbow was still a force to be reckoned with. The previous year saw the release of Down To Earth, and while that album was definitely a move in the direction of the more commercial sound of latter-day Rainbow, it still rocks plenty hard. Cozy Powell was still on board, the ever-solid Roger Glover was now lending his bass playing, songwriting, and producing skills, and Don Airey was providing the best keyboard playing Rainbow ever had. Add in to the mix new vocalist Graham Bonnet, one of the most powerful singers I've ever heard, and you've got quite a lineup. Of course, it doesn't hurt that Ritchie Blackmore was also at the top his game.

Rainbow toured Europe throughout 1980, and based on the boots I have this lineup was a powerhouse live. It all culminated with a headlining gig at the first ever Donington festival - Rainbow was huge in 1980, and they had the talent to back it up.

Exhibit B - Whitesnake (featuring ex-DP members David Coverdale, Jon Lord, and Ian Paice). Whitesnake released one of their best albums, Ready an' Willing, in 1980, and featured their best lineup that year, with Coverdale, Lord, Paice, Murray, Moody, and Marsden. They were also a great live band as evidenced by Live... In The Heart of the City recorded that year.

Exhibit C - Gillan (featuring ex-DP member Ian Gillan). Gillan had really come into their own in 1979 with the formation of the Gillan/Towns/McCoy/Torme/Underwood lineup, and the release of 1980's Glory Road showed a band with a lot of fire and energy. Even more impressive, however, was their set for the BBC's In Concert series (available on Live at the BBC 1979-1980). Live, Gillan was a force to be reckoned with.

So there you have it. In 1980, Deep Purple may not have been together but most of the former members were doing some of the best work they ever did outside of Purple. Plus, that year saw the release of the excellent compilation Deepest Purple: The Very Best of Deep Purple, which would serve as my introduction to the band 15 years later.

Of course, it wasn't all roses that year - there was the Rod Evans debacle, but that aside I'd still say 1980 was a very good year for Purple People.

Glory Road

2007-04-10T07:37:00.000-07:00

The new rerelease of Gillan's third LP, Glory Road, arrived in my mailbox yesterday. What a great album. I'd heard almost all of Glory Road proper via live versions before (but almost none of the studio versions), and almost none of the For Gillan Fans Only bonus disc, so I've been enjoying listening to them last night and this morning. Gillan (the band) were definitely in top form at this point in their careers, and its easy to see how the UK fans rewarded them with the #3 spot on the British album charts. Hopefully Mr. Universe will arrive in a day or two. I'm already thinking I may not be able to wait much longer before I order Future Shock - thank goodness for these new rereleases!

I should also mention I love the packaging on this release. A nice slipcase design with some notes on the back, full liner notes on the inside, some notes from IG himself, lyrics, photos, press clippings (including some bad reviews!). I definitely give Edsel full marks for this job.

Another thing that occurs to me while listening to this album - it seems to me that during Deep Purple's hiatus from 1976-1984, the year 1980 may have been one of the best years to be a Deep Purple fan. More on that in an upcoming post.

What's new in Purple

2007-04-03T06:56:00.000-07:00

Here's what's currently happening in my Deep Purple listening experience:

This weekend I popped in the Live In Montreux 1996 DVD. I bought this when it came out but I've not watched it much. I was reminded that it's a really great show. The version of "Fireball" is great, and although I didn't watch it over the weekend, I remember really enjoying "Speed King" as well. When work dies down in a couple of weeks I'll have to go through the whole thing again.

Last week I finally got the Rainbow Live In Cologne 1976 set. Great show. I'd put it off for a little while since I had plenty of 1976-era Rainbow on disc (including Live In Europe, compiled from the same German tour). That was probably a mistake. I love this show. I need to order Dusseldorf before too long.

I did order the rereleases of Gillan's Mr. Universe and Glory Road last week. I'm looking forward to their arrival. I'll post my thoughts on them when they come in.

In terms of the larger Deep Purple extended family, I'll be getting Black Sabbath: The Dio Years today. I always thought the Sabbs were at their best with Dio, and it will be nice to have this collection, along with the new tracks. I'm interested to see how the digital remastering improves the sound.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to listen to Shades of Deep Purple.

Don't need a dark tree

2007-03-20T16:44:00.000-07:00

I'm listening to "Black Night" right now and it occurs to me that that song may have the greatest nonsense lyrics of all time.

Writer, write me out a blog

2007-03-03T05:43:00.000-08:00

Ever listen to a song you're very familiar with, and find that for some reason it just hits your ear in a different way?

I had that experience last night while listening to DP's self-titled third LP in my car. "The Painter" came on, which I've heard dozens of times before, and for some reason I found that Richie's guitar work on that track really impressed me in a way I hadn't noticed before. Maybe I'd been more focused on Rod's vocals or Jon's organ in previous listens, I don't know. Anyway, my appreciation for this song is at a new level. That's one of the joys of music for me. You can listen to a song for years and still find things you like about it you'd never really thought about much before.

The Revolution Will Be Digitized

2007-03-01T16:32:00.000-08:00

I am a technophobe, I think. I'm generally resistant to new technology (although I was a quick adopter of DVD and CD) for whatever reason. I have avoided iTunes and iPods like the plague. In this case, a lot of my problem has to do with lossy music formats. However, I often find that once I actually try new technology, I like it.

I recently started playing around with iTunes for the first time, so I could stay caught up on 24. After I actually played with it a little bit, it occured to me that music in a lossy format wouldn't make much difference to listen to at work since I can't crank it up and probably wouldn't notice much difference on computer speakers anyway.

So, last week I decided to import all of Deep Purple's studio albums into my computer's iTunes. I now have just over 18 hours of Deep Purple on my computer taking up just under 1 gig of my hard drive. And I am loving it.

Normally I like to listen to albums straight through but today I put my DP play list on shuffle, and it's an interesting listening experience - like having my own private DP radio station. With the various lineups and styles the band has had over the years, you can get interesting combinations. For example, here are the last five songs that have played on my computer: "Girls Like That", "Rat Bat Blue ('99 Remix)", "Truth Hurts", "Bad Attitude", and "You Keep On Moving." Up next: "Somebody Stole My Guitar." This is a lot of fun and it's re-energized my DP listening experience. In fact, I'm thinking about importing my Rainbow albums soon.

I'm still not buying an iPod though!

Unchain Your Brain

2007-02-09T15:12:00.000-08:00

Long time no blogging, I know. What can I say? I'm busy these days.

I'm pretty excited to see that the Gillan reissues are apparently forthcoming at long last. I actually don't have any of the Gillan studio albums except for the Japanese album, so I'm looking forward to getting these.

Other current DP reflections:

I've been listening to some old Whitesnake lately (Lovehunter, Ready an' Willing, Live... In The Heart of the City). Too bad that version of the band never caught on in the states. Much better than the late 80's version of the band, although I confess I like some of that material too.

My car's changer currently has Dangerous Express in - it's a boot from Rainbow's Down To Earth Tour. That line-up (Airey, Blackmore, Bonnet, Glover, Powell) was a powerhouse live. I'd be up for a DVD if there's any footage available. And by the by, pick up the Rainbow Live in Munich 1977 DVD if you've not done so.

Is the Rapture of the Deep tour ever coming to the US? I want to see the band again!

Hush - Playboy After Dark.

2006-12-20T13:55:00.000-08:00

Man, I love YouTube.

Maybe I'm A Leo

2006-12-04T14:33:00.000-08:00

Part two of my thoughts on Machine Head, track by track.

When I first purchased Machine Head about 10 years ago, I believe it was the third DP album to enter my collection. I had previously gotten started with Deepest Purple and Made In Japan, so by the time I got Machine Head I was certainly more than familiar with "Highway Star", "Smoke On The Water", "Lazy" and "Space Truckin'". The other three tracks I heard for the first time when I got the album.

"Maybe I'm A Leo" grabbed me immediately. It has a great bluesy riff (courtesy of Roger Glover) and a really nice groove. It's simple, but in the best rock'n'roll tradition it has a great feel. Also, it has great solos (of course) from Blackmore and Lord - who employs his electric piano on this number to great effect.

Gillan sings brilliantly on this one, and it's one my favorite tunes to (attempt to) sing along with. I also really like the lyrics. It's the first of two "breakup songs" on side one. This one is about a split where the guy is at fault. Certainly we've all been in a situation where we thought we blew it. I think the lyrics capture that feeling pretty well without resorting to melancholy.

Also, this song is one of my favorites to play on the guitar. It's a great tune to jam on while sitting on the back porch on a spring day while enjoying a cool beverage. And if I ever get the stones to perform on open mic night, this will most likely be in the set list.

While "Highway Star" has been a staple of DP's live shows since its introduction in the fall of 1971, "Maybe I'm A Leo" was only performed by the Mark II lineup on one occasion I'm aware of, that being their set for BBC's In Concert series just prior to the release of Machine Head in 1972. That version is available on the highly recommended In Concert 1970/1972 2 disc set. Gillan flubs the lyrics, but Blackmore provides some nice soloing. Since then, the song has been performed at various times by Marks VI, VII and VIII, and there are plenty of versions available both officially and on bootlegs. Always a good live number, in my opinion, and I wouldn't mind seeing it return to the setlist at some point.

Got Live If You Want It

2006-12-04T09:15:00.000-08:00

It's been a busy few weeks, hence the no blogging.

However, last week I did get in some new DP CD's. Several months ago, I discovered that through some unknown happenstance, Disc One of my copy of Live In Japan had a hideous scratch that made "Space Truckin'" unplayable. Also, I had a few scratches on Disc Two that caused some skips. Probably caused by the carrying case I'd had them in when I was carrying them in my car. Anyway, I finally got around to replacing them last week.

Listening to the three shows again, I was again reminded of just how unbelievable the band was on that short three-date Japanese Tour in the summer of '72. Powerful is putting it mildly. The Mark II lineup had always had an agressive live sound, but for some reason they were absolutely pummelling on stage in Japan that year. Of course, the live album the shows originally produced, Made In Japan, is an all-time classic. However, this three disc set provides valuable insight into just how much the performance could change on consecutive nights while retaining high quality.

If you've not picked up the Live In Japan 3 Disc set, I heartily recommend it.

Now when's my copy of Live In London coming out?

Highway Star

2006-11-09T14:25:00.000-08:00

Here's the first in my promised series of Machine Head commentary, track-by-track.

Roger Glover described "Highway Star" as the ultimate Deep Purple track. Who am I to argue? While the backing track is fairly straightforward, it is nonetheless powerful for it. The lyrics speak to things every red blooded male can identify with (love of cars and love of women) and the solos are classics. It's also the perfect set opener, as evidenced by Made In Japan, amongst other live recordings.

But to get a bit more personal...

I did not spring forth from Zeus' brow a fully formed DP fanatic. Rather, my journey to Deep Purple fandom actually took several years. But it did start with "Highway Star."

As a lad, I'd certainly heard some DP tracks. I was familiar with staples like "Smoke on the Water" and "Woman From Tokyo", but I didn't have much knowledge of the band. As I began to become a rock enthusiast during my high school years, I began to slowly branch out from the American hard rock and metal bands into bands that had influenced them.

One day during my senior year, I was in my local record store and spotted the soundtrack to the film Dazed and Confused. It looked like a good collection. There was Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath, Kiss, Ted Nugent... several 70's rockers I liked but had not, at that time, added to my nascent musical collection. (Incidentally, I still recommend that soundtrack.) There was also a song by another band I'd heard of - Deep Purple. I'd never heard that song though. It was "Highway Star."

Honestly, I didn't know what to make of it. The classical influences were very different from the types of things I was listening to at the time (I was a big Aerosmith fan in those days, for example) and I really wasn't sure what to make of it, other than I thought the solos were good. It took a while for me to really get into it, though, but it definitely planted a seed.

Over the years, I've found that the best way to experience "Highway Star", unsurprisingly, is while driving. I've remarked on more than one occasion that if you listen to the studio version at full blast while driving down the Interstate at speed, you can literally see testosterone ooze from your speakers at the beginning of the organ solo. I also recommend listening to it while in a car with a V8 engine. That way you can really feel it when you sing along with Gillan: "Eight cylinders all mine!"

Perhaps I've been a bit silly here, but it really is one of the great car songs of all time. Listen to it loud, and celebrate the astonishing musicianship of Messrs. Lord and Blackmore.

Slaves and Masters... not that bad!

2006-11-02T12:51:00.000-08:00

After a bit of a busy spell, I'm back with a new entry. I'm still planning on doing some track-by-track commentary on Machine Head, but in the meantime I thought I'd comment on a DP album that made it into my car's CD player a couple of weeks ago: Slaves and Masters.

If you're bothering to read this blog, you're probably a DP fan and you don't need me to tell you that Slaves and Masters was the only studio release by the Mark V lineup (Ritchie Blackmore, Roger Glover, Jon Lord, Ian Paice, Joe Lynn Turner) and is pretty much universally hailed as the band's weakest effort.

I won't disagree with that assessment. Compared to the rest of the band's catalog, I like every other album they did better than Slaves and Masters (although I don't think House of Blue Light is much better). Still, DP at its weakest is better than many other bands.

S&M does feature one bona fide classic in my opinion: "The Cut Runs Deep." Great riff, great keyboard intro, good solos, and the lyrics are good enough. This is a song that definitely deserves to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the rest of the Purple catalog.

There are some other tracks on the album that are quite good: "King of Dreams", "Fire in the Basement", "Truth Hurts", "Breakfast In Bed" (probably would have made a good Paul Rogers/Bad Company tune), "Fortuneteller" and "Wicked Ways." None of these songs may be classics, but they're all enjoyable enough to give a listen every now and again.

The other two tracks I don't particularly care for. "Too Much Is Not Enough" is often slagged by DP fandom. I don't care for the song but I don't think it's nearly as bad as it's made out to be. "Love Conquers All" is not my cup of tea. Frankly, if these two songs were left off the album and replaced by the other two studio tracks of the era, "Slow Down Sister" and "Fire, Ice and Dynamite" I think the album would be reasonably strong. Not a classic, but a solid listen nonetheless.

The bottom line: even though Slaves and Masters may not acheive the heights of DP's finest efforts (or even latter-day Rainbow, for that matter) it's still worth a couple of listens a year.

Thoughts on Machine Head

2006-10-13T11:32:00.000-07:00

"It's a dark album. The sound is dark." - Jon Lord

It may be somewhat cliched to say, but Machine Head is my favorite Deep Purple album. It is a dark sounding album - very focused and intent, and some of the lyrical themes are less-than-happy (most notably "Pictures of Home"), but I find this album inspiring on many levels.

Last weekend I was feeling a little down. Not depressed, but I had some weighty things on my mind that I wasn't sure how to deal with. I popped Machine Head into the CD player as I was driving somewhere... instant comfort food for the soul. Now, I certainly wouldn't recommend DP's music to be one's source of spiritual guidance or the only place one goes for comfort in uncertain times (it is only rock'n'roll, after all), but the music is outstanding and I think some of the lyrics speak very well to some of the truths of the human experience that are common to everyone. (More on that in subsequent posts, as I share a few thoughts about some specific songs.) There's something encouraging about that, and there's something pleasant about the temporary distraction of a well-written song played well.

As I mentioned, the album is very focused. It was recorded in a short period of time (about three weeks) under trying circumstances. There seems to be a bit of a no-nonsense attitude in the recording, and the sound of the album certainly makes it easy to imagine it was recorded by a group in the hallway of a closed hotel in the midst of winter. (As much as I love Roger Glover's more "open" sounding mixes on the anniversary edition, I do not get the same feeling from that mix.) It gives the album a sense of immediacy that I think In Rock and Fireball, despite their excellence, lack.

The next few posts I'll be giving some specific thoughts on several of this album's tracks, although I don't know if I'll do them all.

Aside: special thanks to Stewart for his work on the format of this blog.

More Picutres for My Blog

2006-10-12T11:06:00.000-07:00

Pics for the Blog

2006-10-12T09:48:00.000-07:00

Why Purple For A Day?

2006-10-12T07:16:00.000-07:00

Why is this thing called "Purple For A Day"? The title comes from a bootleg of DP's concert in Long Beach, CA 1971. I've got that show on a boot entitled "Turn Around" (and it's very much recommended, by the way). Really, it just boils down to the fact that I like "Purple For A Day" as a title. It was either that or "Flying In A Purple Dream."

Deep Purple and Archduke Francis Ferdinand

2006-10-11T11:48:00.000-07:00

I always said I'd never start a blog. And yet, here I am. Why? There's a bit of a story behind that...

Most everyone who knows me knows I'm a big fan of the English rock group Deep Purple. In fact, I'm a member of the Deep Purple Appreciation Society - probably the only one in the greater Jackson, MS area. Maybe even the only one in the state of Mississippi!

On occasion, my fanaticism (for lack of a better word) works its way into conversations that are almost totally unrelated. Example: a few weeks ago I was watching Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory with some friends and somehow The Sound of Music came up. While we were talking about the movie, I mentioned that the Von Trapp family home in Vermont was used as the location for Deep Purple's rehearsals for the Perfect Strangers album in 1984. A friend said I could probably connect Deep Purple to anything.

I was then challenged to come up with a connection between Deep Purple and the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand. I had to do some research, but here's what I came up with, and what I emailed my buddies:

I couldn’t think of any connection between the Archduke’s assassination and DP, but my research shows that the Archduke was born in Graz, Austria. DP’s concert in Graz on the 1975 European tour was the first of three concerts recorded for what would become the Made In Europe live album (Saarbrucken and Paris being the other two). These turned out to be the final shows by the Mark III lineup before Blackmore left to form Rainbow. Made In Europe is largely pulled from Saarbrucken, but several tracks from Graz turned up on Mark III: The Final Concerts.

My friend Stewart, a recent entry to the blogging world, said I should start a Deep Purple blog and list that as my first entry. I thought about it - after all, I'm in the (slow) process of going through all my Deep Purple recordings and writing track-by-track reviews, to help myself remember which shows have the best versions of which songs, and I thought at some point I'd put them on a website. A blog would probably serve just as well for that. I was leaning against doing it, but since I had to register to post a comment on Stewart's blog, I thought I might as well go ahead. So here I am.

"I'd cut a long story short, but it's much too late for that!"
- Deep Purple, "Somebody Stole My Guitar"

Anyway, I'll start posting my track-by-track commentaries as soon as I get around to typing them up. In the meantime, I'll post whatever thoughts I have about Deep Purple, its various members, and related bands (such as Rainbow, Whitesnake, Gillan, etc.). I'll probably even comment on other musical groups as the mood strikes me, but I think I'll keep this blog limited to the musical arena.

And I'll be willing to try to find a Deep Purple connection to anything my readers might suggest.