Deep Purple - Burn Burn Weeks Charted: 30 Certified Gold: 3/20/74 Deep Purple's first album since last year's departure of original vocalist Ian Gillan and bassist/composer Roger Glover is a passable but disappointing effort. On Burn, new lead singer David Coverdale sounds suitably histrionic, like Free's brilliant Paul Rodgers (rumored to have been Purple's first replacement choice). But the new material is largely drab and ordinary, without the runaway locomotive power of the group's best work. The title track is a notable exception, attractively energetic, with appropriately speedy breaks. And "Sail Away" is a Free-like mesmerizer. "Mistreated" again sounds like that lamentedly extinct group, but is flaccidly lengthy (7:25). They fill out the LP with the relentlessly mediocre single "Might Just Take Your Life," the stodgy blues-rocker "What's Goin' On Here," the commonplace Cream-like funk riffs and harmonies of "You Fool No One," and with a tedious Moog/bolero instrumental retread applying the coup de grace.

Much of the LP is skillfully wrought and likable, and the new line-up has potential. But the Gillan/Glover spark that created "Highway Star" and other memorable Purple smokers is regrettably absent. - Ken Barnes, 4/25/74. Bonus Reviews! Deep Purple is back after a restructuring, with new lead singer David Coverdale doing a commendable job replacing Ian Gillian. Glenn Hughes also works well on bass and as an added singer. This set varies somewhat from the band's recent efforts, with a little less "pin the people against the wall" music and some interesting blues numbers like "Mistreated." "Burn," the current single, is also a highlight of the album. Many groups lose a lot when two members leave, but Deep Purple are as excellent in their field as ever. - Billboard, 1974. Cream was schizophrenic. Like so many Sixties' British bands, they derived their instrumental style from American bluesmen. But they acheived their contemporary sound by recording the rock songs of bassist Jack Bruce.

These were painfully humorless compositions, often devoid of intelligible melody, and sung in an oppressive style that overemphasized not just an occasional word, but every word. Cream was one of the most influential of all rock bands, but Bruce may have influenced as many singers as Clapton has guitar players. Many British rock-band vocalists sing (to one extent or another) in that same insensitive manner -- which is why I have trouble listening to some groups whose instrumental work I admire. Deep Purple has been around a long time, but in their current state they perpetuate Cream's schizophrenia. They display considerable command of their instruments (if little originality). But it's wasted behind the caterwauling of new vocalist David Coverdale, who sings some of the most godawful lyrics yet pressed onto vinyl with idiotic seriousness. On the group's behalf I note that they avoid the flip side of the worst of British rock, the wimpoid ballad. In fact, when they are burning instrumentally and everyone sings together (making the words easier to forget) they come up with a handful of acceptable, even pleasurable moments. - Jon Landau, Rolling Stone, 6/6/74.

First off, I must get something off my chest. Please Mr. Warner Brothers...why was there a Doobie Brothers poster in my Deep Purple album? There, now that it's been said we can get down to business. Another Deep Purple, another day. Dave Coverdale, the new lead singer, sounds a great deal like Rod Evans. Do you remember Rod Evans? He sang the lead on Deep Purple records in the old Tetragramaton days. They tell us that a few months ago Dave Coverdale was a shop assistant, singing for free beers. He must have drunk a lot of beer because this record shows he's done a great deal of singing, if not on stage, then in bathtubs. It seems very obvious that he loves to sing, and he does it very, very well. Glenn Hughes, the other new Purpler, is a welcome addition. His bass guitar work and vocalization adds yet another level of life to this old and well established band. From the very beginning of the title track "Burn" it seems very evident that Deep Purple has been given a whole new enthusiasm by their personnel changes. Many fans worried when they heard about the departing Glover and Gillan.

Soon both names will be foggy and a member of the past, just like Rod Evans. The new Purple sound is a much cleaner, less muddled sound. The vocals are rich and throaty, very soulful, but never really dirty sounding. "Might Just Take Your Life," for instance, is a mid-paced soulful number with a great deal of simple and forceful keyboard work, compliments of old friend Jon Lord, mixed with tight vocal harmonies. It's really very encouraging. The raw gutsiness of the new Purple sound can only be compared to very early Steve Marriott/Small Faces days. "Lay Down Stay Down" features the distinctive drum technique of Ian Paice, coupled with more of these incredible soul chorus style vocal harmonies. This is beautifully tied together by Blackmore's fine, clean guitar work. None of that onstage simplistic thudding that is so typically Deep Purple is evident here. "Sail Away," side one's closer, is filled with still more vocal excitement. If you were a devotee of Ian Gillan's tuneless, discordant screeching you'll be in for a huge disappointment. What Deep Purple has here is a funky, slightly grittier version of the mid-sixties Walker Brothers sound and it's incredible.

The frenzied, fast-fingered guitar sound of "You Fool No One" coupled with the pulsating, driving rhythms of Hughes' bass start side two off with a vengeance. Though Jon Lord is not as evident on this album as on previous ones there's some lovely piano work in "What's Goin' On Here." Obviously the newness of the other members has pushed them into the foreground; presumably by the next album a balance will be achieved. Side two peaks with a stunning vocal performance by the young Mr. Coverdale. Heralded by some really neat guitar riffs and the simplicity of the bass drum, the Rod Stewart-like sounds of Coverdale's voice soon majestically fill the room. A whole new side of Deep Purple is emerging here. No more Black Sabbath sounds of driving furious chaos, instead there's a well tempered, but enthusiastic musician. Deep Purple, totally rejuvenated. - Janis Schacht, What can you say about a Deep Purple album that hasn't already been said before? Burn 's music is neither a step forward nor a backward for the deafening bunch of thunder-rockers and the standard sounds of Purple are again led by the assaulting waves of Ritchie Blackmore's guitar work.

Burn is yet another exercise in exaggerated riffing. - Ed Naha, Circus, 6/74. The hot poop is that after ten albums the Purps have a lead singer with soulish roots who can actually write songs. The cold turd is that the music sounds the same, as ominous and Yurupean as a vampire movie, only not as campy. C+ - Robert Christgau, 1981. Burn is Deep Purple's first album with lead singer David Coverdale. While it's not quite up to the standards of 40 Years Ago: Ian Gillan Quits Deep Purple 40 Years Ago: Ian Gillan Quits Deep Purple By Dave Swanson June 30, 2013 5:50 PM REDDIT deep-purple.net/DPAS Archives By mid-1973, the bloom was off the rose for Deep Purple . Internal issues had risen to the top and long-standing lead singer Ian Gillan opted to leave the band. At the same time, bassist Roger Glover was told his services were no longer needed, by direct order of guitarist Ritchie Blackmore . The Deep Purple lineup known as Mark II, was no more.

The band had been at it since 1968, but once Gillan joined up in 1970, things really took off. By 1973, the band had a string of classics under their belt, including such landmark LPs as ‘In Rock,’ ‘Fireball’ and ‘Machine Head,’ which spawned their massive worldwide hit ‘ Smoke On The Water .’ Egos and other factors got in the way, and the band were quickly falling apart. “There was a very strong suggestion from my part to call it a day,” keyboardist, the late Jon Lord told Classic Rock magazine in 2002. Though drummer Ian Paice was unsure what direction, if any, the band should take, Lord had his own thoughts. “I think had it not continued as Purple, Ritchie would have grabbed one or the both of us and done something else.

He’d already experimented with Phil Lynott and Paicey as a trio.” Gillan wanted out and actually submitted a resignation letter to the band while on tour promoting their 1973 album, ‘Who Do We Think We Are.’ “The letter from Ian Gillan was a dreadful shame,” continued Lord, “He felt something wasn’t right, and I personally would have been happier if he’d stayed and fought from within. It was really just beginning to take off in the States in a big way, which is what we’d been working so hard for. Maybe if we’d taken some time off it might have been a different story.” However, Gillan’s mind was made up and after the tour, he was gone. The band already had someone in mind to take Glover’s place on bass. Lord and Paice had been highly impressed with Glen Hughes upon seeing his band Trapeze, but finding a replacement for their stellar vocalist would prove another matter. “We got boxes and boxes of tapes and didn’t hear anything we liked,” said Lord. Ritchie Blackmore wanted to try and nab Paul Rodgers , but the others didn’t agree. Eventually they found David Coverdale , whose vocal style was similar enough to Rodgers to please Blackmore.

The band were less impressed with another aspect of Coverdale on first meeting — his fashion sense. “He was wearing disastrous flares — loon pants, I think they used to call them — it was a dreadful sight,” said Lord. “And he had this wandering eye, which we had fixed quite quickly, and he grew his hair, because he had this strange bouffant style that didn’t suit him. He also had this slightly transparent caterpillar on his top lip. I said, ‘There’s only one fucking moustache in this band, and it’s mine!'” The Mark III lineup would take on a life of its own with ‘Burn,’ but wouldn’t last very long. Soon Blackmore himself would exit the band. Ian Gillan | Classic Rock Review Classic Rock Review Rock n Roll from the vinyl era Menu Buy Deep Purple In Rock The famous Mark II lineup of Deep Purple launched their first pure rock album in a big way in 1970 with Deep Purple In Rock. This output was filled with dynamic and energetic songs which gave plenty of space for musical and vocal virtuosity while still sustaining the root rock and blues elements to attract the hard rock base the group built with their late sixties outputs.

The result was their breakthrough album in Europe and the launch of the band’s short reign as hard rock superstars. While the Mark I version of Deep Purple had some success in the US, their three albums had failed to break through in their home country of England. Lead vocalist Rod Evans and bassist Nick Simper were replaced in June 1969 by Ian Gillan and Roger Glover respectively. This new lineup’s first actual recording was the live Concerto for Group and Orchestra, a classical work composed by keyboardist Jon Lord and performed by the band along with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Recording for the self-produced Deep Purple In Rock began in late 1969. Preceding the album’s release was the single “Hallelujah”, which failed to chart. “Black Night” was a second single which was released at the time of the album’s release (although not included on the album). This fared better and peaked at #2 on the UK charts, making it the first real hit for this version of the group.

In Rock by Deep Purple Released: June 3, 1970 (Warner Bros.) Produced by: Deep Purple Roger Glover – Bass Ian Paice – Drums, Percussion Lord’s opening church-like organ masks the rock frenzy which suddenly launches into an unabashed pre-punk rock rant of “Speed King”. The song does come down for a building lead section where keyboardist Lord and guitarist Ritchie Blackmore trade lead licks before joining together in the riff that brings the track back up at the end. While the song is not a cover, Gillan borrowed several lines from popular oldies such as “Good Golly Miss Molly”, “Tutti Frutti” and “The Battle of New Orleans”. “Bloodsucker” is a more moderate rocker and a bit less impressive than the opener, while still containing many areas for musical improv leads. “Child in Time” is a true masterpiece throughout the entirety of its ten minutes of rock theatrics. From Lord’s jazzy organ intro to the building, séance like verses and vocal wails by Gillan, to the incredible middle jam section with a bluesy guitar lead by Blackmore.

Lord adapted the track from a song called “Bombay Calling” by a group called It’s a Beautiful Day, which Deep Purple made completely its own with their impressive rock instrumentation. But the real focal point is Gillan’s voice, as his wails are orgasmic early and almost painful in the final stanza. While the most famous songs reside on side one, the true heart of this album is on side two. This all starts with the incredible “Flight of the Rat”, featuring fantastic guitar riffing in a pure rock frenzy, especially Lord and Blackmore during the middle jam section where they each have extended leads while Glover consistently holds it all together. A choppy, funked-out section follows the long section with everything stopping for two full seconds before starting over with a fourth verse. And as if that all wasn’t enough, it all concludes with a drum solo by Ian Paice, making this track a real band showcase. “Into the Fire” has a doomy, King Crimson inspired intro and slow rocking through the slightly bluesy verses. Blackmore performs a slow, phased guitar solo on this track.

“Living Wreck” starts with an excellent drum beat by Paice and sneaks a peek of a future Deep Purple sound as demonstrated on their 1971 album Fireball . The cat like, organ effect between verses can be a bit abrasive, but this is quickly forgotten by the fine musical interludes of the bridge. Of course, this dramatic and theatrical album must end in dramatic and theatrical fashion. “Hard Lovin’ Man” starts with a building jam based on Glover’s bass riff and, after a few standard rock verses, Lord’s piercing organ solo is almost beyond the sonic bounds and builds an uneasy tension as the rest of the band rocks behind. Following the release of Deep Purple In Rock, the group went on an extended world tour, which established the group as one of the top hard rock acts in the world and set them up for much further success with later albums. ~ Part of Classic Rock Review’s celebration of the 45th anniversary of 1970 albums. Buy Perfect Strangers Through the past half century of classic rock and roll, there have been scores (if not hundreds) of major group reunions, with very mixed results.

However, there have been very few groups that returned with the same potency contemporary relevance as the comeback of Deep Purple in 1984, which commenced with the composing and recording of the Perfect Strangers album. Here, the classic “Mark II” lineup, which had not been together in over a decade, struck a “perfect” balance between their indelible classic sound of the early seventies and the emerging 80s hard rock sensibilities, such as the great clichés embedded within its lyrics (i.e. “it’s not the kill, it’s the thrill of the chase…”). The prior album recorded by the successful and popular “Mark II” lineup, was the rather forgettable Who Do We Think We Are in 1973. The dissatisfaction with that album, ultimately led to the departure of lead vocalist Ian Gillan and bassist/producer Roger Glover. Glover was replaced by bassist/vocalist Glenn Hughes, and the group briefly debated continuing as a four-piece band, with Hughes also acting as lead vocalist. However, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore discovered the (then) unknown David Coverdale and liked his blues-tinged voice.

This new (“Mark III”) lineup recorded two albums and embarked on a very successful tour in 1974, with the album Burn becoming only the second Top 10 album by the band. However, Blackmore was growing dissatisfied with the new funky and soul elements, and decided to leave in mid 1975. Still, the two original members, keyboardist John Lord and drummer Ian Paice decided to carry on and replaced Blackmore with Tommy Bolin (“Mark IV” lineup) for the studio album Come Taste the Band, which was released mere months before Deep Purple officially announced their break-up in 1976. Bolin tragically died of a drug overdose later that year. The fact that Deep Purple reunited nearly a decade later is all the more remarkable due to the vast success of the individual members in the intervening years. Starting in 1975, Gillan formed the Ian Gillan Band and later formed a separate group named “Gillan” which put out several albums and had considerable success into the early 1980s. In 1983, Gillan joined the original members of Black Sabbath for a single year and single album, with the arrangement ending with the Deep Purple reunion.

In Black Sabbath, Gillan replaced Ronnie James Dio, who ironically was the original singer of Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, starting in 1975. Blackmore steered Rainbow through seven albums in eight years, with Glover joining on as bassist and producer for the final four of these albums in the early 1980s. Glover had earlier released two post-Deep Purple solo albums in the late 1970s. Lord and Paice formed the short-lived super group Paice Ashton Lord, which released the album Malice in Wonderland in 1977, before each moving on to other projects. Paice became the drummer for bluesman Gary Moore, while Lord joined Coverdale’s post-Deep Purple project, Whitesnake, recorded several albums with the band right through Slide It In in early 1984. Rural Stowe, Vermont, USA was the unlikely location for the reunion of these five English rock stars. Here, the tracks for Perfect Strangers were composed and recorded in less than a month.

Eight of these tracks made it on to the original record, with two more, the straight-up rocker “Not Responsible” and the extended instrumental “Son of Alerik”, appearing on later versions of the album. Perfect Strangers by Deep Purple Released: September 16, 1984 (Mercury) Produced by: Roger Glover Ian Gillan – Lead Vocals | Ritchie Blackmore – Guitars John Lord – Keyboards | Roger Glover – Bass | Ian Paice – Drums Lord’s dramatic keyboard intro by Lord, borrowed heavily from the “Jaws” theme, is accented by a pulsating rhythm during the dramatic intro to “Knocking at Your Back Door”. This seven-minute album opener was quite the breath of fresh, classic rock air during the mid 1980s rock scene, and made an immediate impact with its classic yet modern (for 1984) sound. In all, the performance, rudiments, and picturesque lyrics are all excellent as is the long guitar lead by Blackmore to finish things up. “Under the Gun” is almost as equally impressive as the opener, albeit much less heralded.

The thundering motor-drive of rhythm by Glover and Paice supports the repeated call-and-response between Blackmore and Lord, followed by the strong, harmonized riff through the verses. “Nobody’s Home” is the only track on the album credited to all five band members (Lord and Paice rarely composed). A short synth intro is interrupted by another classic Deep Purple riff and a good lyrical catch line. While mainly vocal-driven by Gillan’s dynamic crooning, it contains that great old Blackmore-Lord dueling and a later organ solo which is wisely given much room to breathe. “Mean Streak” is the only song on the first side which is not completely excellent and, really, the lone weak link on the entire album. There is a nice upbeat chord progression, but it unfortunately all points towards the rather ho-hum hook. The beginning of side two returns to classic mode with the deep and profound title song “Perfect Strangers”. This song contains a quasi-heavy-metal drive but with great melody and a really cool and subtle passage to the post-chorus Eastern-style phrasing. The rhythm is steady throughout, leaving Gillan the room to vocally paint the pictures of the rich scenery of the lyrics about reincarnation and passing through time.

“A Gypsy’s Kiss” comes in with a rhythm almost like rockabilly but quickly breaks into a frenzied beat. The most interesting section here is the multi-part instrumental, with Blackmore’s guitar lead over some very interesting rudiments before Lord doing both a synth and organ lead. This frantic track is reminiscent of those found on the group’s 1972 classic Machine Head . “Wasted Sunsets” calms things down a bit as a dramatic ballad with long and moody guitar notes and leads and slow but effective riffs. The deep organ notes guide the moderate and measured rhythms on this track which is really a great showcase for Blackmore’s bluesy guitar. “Hungry Daze” finishes things up strong as an upbeat rock retrospective of the band’s earlier years. Here Gillan’s vocals are most dynamic and Paice provides a great drum section during an extended psychedelic section. Perfect Strangers was a commercial success, charting in the Top 20 in the US and the Top 10 in six European countries, including the UK. This was followed up with a highly successful world tour that saw Deep Purple out-grossing every other artist except Bruce Springsteen in 1985.

The Mark II lineup remained together for several subsequent years, releasing another studio album The House of Blue Light in 1987. However, the personnel shifts resumed near the end of the decade, resulting in even more “Mark X” lineups. ~ Part of Classic Rock Review’s celebration of the 30th anniversary of 1984 albums. Jesus Christ Superstar, a Rock Opera Before it was a theatre act, Broadway play, or motion picture, Jesus Christ Superstar was simply a 1970 rock album produced by composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyricist by Tim Rice. The work is loosely based on the four Gospels’ accounts of the last weeks of the life of Jesus Christ, but takes much liberty in interpretting the philosophical and interpersonal dynamics between Jesus and his apostles, especially Judas Iscariot, the man who would ultimately betray him. The work largely follows the form of a traditional passion play but with a twentieth century interpretation with a focus on the psychology of Jesus and the other characters.

Webber and Rice had collaborated on several previous projects, starting with the 1965 musical The Likes of Us, which was actually shelved for four solid decades and not publicly performed until 2005. In 1968, the duo was commissioned to write a piece which became Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, a retelling of story of the biblical figure Joseph, set to several musical styles. In 1969 Rice and Webber wrote a song for the Eurovision Song Contest called “Try It and See”, which was later rewritten as “King Herod’s Song” for Jesus Christ Superstar. Webber says has said the piece was written as a rock album from the outset and set out from the start to tell the story through the music itself. Musically, Webber took delight in exploring different keys and time signatures, while Rice came up with some clever wordplay which fused modern phrases with traditional terms. On this original album, the part of Jesus was sung by Ian Gillan, lead vocalist of Deep Purple, while Judas Iscariot is performed by Murray Head. Both Englishmen were in their mid-twenties and had several years in the music business with limited success.

After declining an invitation to join the band upon their formation, Gillan joined Deep Purple in mid 1969. A performance of the song “Child in Time” caught the ear of Rice, who contacted Gillan and offered him the role of Jesus. After just a few rehearsals with Rice and Webber, Gillan recorded his entire vocal contributions in one three hour session. Beyond his singing and songwriting skills, Murray Head was also a seasoned actor who won a leading role in the Oscar-nominated film Sunday Bloody Sunday in 1971. For the role of Mary Magdalene, a then relative unknown Yvonne Elliman was chosen. Elliman had just begun performing in clubs the previous year and would be one of the few players and singers to join the cast of the Broadway production in subsequent years.

Jesus Christ Superstar, Original Rock Opera Released: September, 1970 (Decca) Neil Hubbard – Guitars | Henry McCulloch – Guitars | Allan Spenner – Bass Peter Robinson – Piano, Organ | Bruce Rowland – Drums, Percussion The album starts with a heavily distorted guitar, setting the pace for the “rock” part of the rock opera before the actual overture kicks in with a musical sequence later repeated in the climatic “Trial Before Pilate”. “Heaven on Their Minds” a total funk/rock masterpiece sung solo by Murray Head as Judas with some great piano and organ by Peter Robinson and just a touch of strings for color. The story starts with Judas expressing concern over Jesus’ rising popularity and the inherent danger that brings in a land occupied by the Romans. “What’s the Buzz” introduces Jesus and the Apostles in a hippy-dippy kind of pop/hip song, absurdly bringing the scene into the (then) modern age. Musically, the stratospheric bass by Alan Spenner brings the hyper jazz/funk to an extraordinary level.

Judas and Jesus have their first heated debate over the course of two tracks; “Strange Thing Mystifying” and “Everything’s Alright”. This debate concerns the appropriateness of Jesus consorting with Mary Magdeline, as Elliman offers a soft counter-balance to the argument with the verses of “Everything’s Alright”. The song is in a 5/4 time signature, offering the perfect rhythm to push it forward at a brisk pace for full effect and the vocal contrasts between Gillan, Head, and Elliman makes it a masterpiece. To close the original first side, the dark “This Jesus Must Die” is the most theatrical to this point as the conspirators are given dark and sinister vocals performed by Victor Brox as Caiaphas and Brian Keith as Annas and other performers as high priests. Halfway, the song picks up with a rock beat and the dialogue speaks of Jesus’ cousin John the Baptist who was put to death for his believes, a fate that the conspirators wish on Jesus. The upbeat “Hosanna”, driven by strings, chorus, and a soaring melody begins Side 2 and symbolizes Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem. “Simon Zealotes” and “Poor Jerusalem” reflect more of the competing philosophical vision.

John Gustafson makes his only appearance on the album as Apostle Simon the Zealot, who suggests a revolution led by Jesus, offering power and glory to Jesus after a successful overthrow of the Roman occupation in an upbeat section backed by funk rhythms, led by piano and bass. Gillan’s reply as Jesus in “Poor Jerusalem” is more of a short piano ballad where Jesus rejects this suggestion, stating that none of his followers understands what true power is, nor do they understand his true message. A bit of filler is thrown into the middle of the second side. “Pilate’s Dream” is a short, acoustic song that features Barry Dennen as Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor of Judea, who foresees the trial and execution of Jesus along with the coming spread of Christianity. On “The Temple” the album gets a little lethargic and repetitive with the story of usary in the temple being a bit superfluous followed by Jesus being accosted by lepers, cripples, and beggars, all wanting to be healed.

One of the highlights of the first act, and the peak of Elliman’s involvement on the album is the short reprise of “Everything’s Alright” which leads into the soulful folk song “I Don’t Know How to Love Him”. Led by the dual acoustic guitars of future Roxy Music member Neil Hubbard and future member of Paul McCartney’s Wings Henry McCulloch, the song contains a laid back arrange which provides the perfect canvas to compliment Elliman’s fantastic vocals. The song itself became a Top 20 pop hit. “Damned for All Time” / “Blood Money” begins with a free form, distorted solo electric guitar followed in sequence by a chorus of flutes before a riff-driven rock section with Head on lead vocals. Accented by great horn sections, this production masterpiece aptly closes the first Act, even with some abrupt changes between the two parts of the medley. Thematically, the song deals with Judas’ betrayal of Jesus to the high priest conspirators along with his internal conflict over the situation and hauntingly ends with an-almost Greek chorus speaking to Judas’ conscience. Act II begins with “The Last Supper”, a self-contained, multi-part suite which masterfully blends the rock and theatrical elements.

Alternating between the folk chorus of the Apostles and several other parts consistng of another spirited dialogue between Jesus and Judas, with Gillan and Head at top vocal form, accompanied by a great electric piano and more exquisite bass by Spenner. While dealing with Gospel text, Rice also uses drug references “What’s that in the bread, it’s gone to my head” and slows the Apostles chorus as they fade from drunkenness, unaware of the profound proclamation made by Jesus. “Gethsemane” is the real showcase for Gillan and the most like “Child In Time”, the Deep Purple song which got Gillan the gig in the first place. Starting with great acoustic guitar and bouncy bass, the song soon builds with much orchestral accompaniment and is, perhaps, the most dramatic part of the entire album dealing with Jesus’ own crisis of faith as he faces his immanent demise. “The Arrest” starts a long sequence in the second act where Jesus faces an all night ordeal leading to his crucifixion.

The apostles slowly wake to find Jesus under arrest to the tune of “What’s the Buzz” followed by various vocal members playing almost like reporters and nice rock passages travels along with the movement of the arresting party as they go before the high priests. A slight deviation is taken in “Peter’s Denial” featuring Paul Davis as Jesus’ closest apostle confidant but distancing himself when confronted on three separate occasions. The end of the Side 3 is the most sticky sweet, show-tune-ish section of the album, as well as least rock oriented. Dennen returns as Pilate in an exaggerated, jazzy version of “Hosanna” named “Pilate and Christ”. Pilate “washes his hands” of the situation and sends Jesus to the Jewish King Herod, leading to the rendition of Webber and Rice’s ragtime “Try it and See”, performed by Mike D’Abo as Herod. The final original side started “Could We Start Again Please?”, the only showcase for Elliman during the second act which doesn’t quite measure up to those in the first act and is almost set up like a pop song off the beaten path.

“Judas’ Death” is a reprise of “Damned for All Time” and “Blood Money” with the same vocalists and Head’s vocals at top form as Judas’s guilt becomes overwhelming; I have been splattered with innocent blood, I should be dragged through the slime and the mud…” Head then does his own version as “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” before committing suicide to0 the sounds of the haunting Greek chorus. The climax of the story is “Trial Before Pilate” which returns to the “Overture” a great sequence with wild, off key jazzy strings, synths, and horns and an intense dialogue between Gillan and Dennen with the crowd joining in as Pilate’s various thoughts on whether to release or crucify Jesus. A short rock break is taken with “The Thirty-Nine Lashes”, ending with a nice drum fill by Bruce Rowland.

A final dialogue between Jesus and Pilate ensues with the crowd convincing Pilate to ultimately crucify Jesus; “I wash my hands of your demolition, die if you want to, you innocent puppet…” Although “Superstar” is supposed to be the focal point of the opera, it really pales in comparison to some of the other finer tracks. It does some nice chorus-driven hooks cut by one last funky track musically and a posthumous reappearance of Head’s Judas, now a ghost and some soulful female backup singers. The song, which is almost mocking in tone, did peak at number 14 on the Billboard pop charts in 1971. The album then kind of whimpers out in an anti-climatic fashion with the nearly psychedelic synth-experimentation of “The Crucifixion” followed by the calm, orchestral reprise of “Gethsemane” in “John Nineteen: Forty-One”. Andrew Lloyd Webber originally thought the production would be limited to a niche audience, blocked out on either side by young people thinking it was uncool subject matter and religious people who would think it was too controversial.

Then unexpectedly it rose to the top of the album charts, sparking a short arena tour and what Webber called “one of the worst productions he had ever seen on Broadway”. In fact, the only reason it was put on Broadway was to head off the various small theatre and school productions which had begun to sprout up in 1971. Webber and Tim Rice collaborated once again with Evita in the late 1970s and Webber would go on to produce two of the most successful Broadway productions ever with Cats and The Phantom of the Opera, both debuting in the 1980s. Ian Gillan went on to meteoric success as frontman of Deep Purple, climaxing with the 1972 album Machine Head (our 1972 Album of the Year) before abruptly leaving the group in 1973, although he would reunite with Deep Purple several times in the future. Murray Head continued to act and record songs, with his biggest charting success being “One Night in Bangkok” in the mid 1980s.

After her Broadway performances and role as Mary Magdelene in the 1974 Hollywood film of Jesus Christ Superstar, Yvonne Elliman sang on several Eric Clapton albums, most poingnently Slowhand in 1977, before a brief but successful disco/pop career, which included several Top 20 hits. She decided to dedicate herself to her two children in 1979 and has pretty much stayed out of the public spotlight since. Over the past four decades, several different versions of Jesus Christ Superstar were produced spanning the entire spectrum of media, on every corner of the globe, making it one of the most popular universal productions ever. In May 2012, Webber launched a reality television show called Superstar where the UK public decided who would play the role of Jesus in an upcoming arena tour. Ben Forster was chosen and the arena tour, which began September 2012 and continues to this day (March 2013). Webber claims this tour most closely represents the original vision for the rock opera. ~ A Classic Rock Review Special Feature . Machine Head by Deep Purple Deep Purple is often overlooked as one of the truly great classic rock acts.

This may be because they reigned during the prime of so many other great British rock groups who crowded out this band’s accomplishments. Or, perhaps it is because of the dizzying amount of lineup changes and their various “Mark XX” phases. In any case, this was a top-notch act and they were never better than they were on their 1972 classic Machine Head. This was the sixth overall studio album by the band and the third by their classic “Mark II” lineup, which consisted of Ian Gillan, Ritchie Blackmore, Jon Lord, Roger Glover, and Ian Paice. The album is famous on several fronts, but mostly due to circumstances surrounding its planned recording at Montreux Casino in Switzerland, a large arena built in a complex of casinos, restaurants and entertainment facilities. The Casino was slated to be closed for the winter after a final concert by Frank Zappa and the Mothers on December 4, 1971, after which Deep Purple would begin recording. However, an audience fired a flare into the roof, sparking a fire which left the Casino in ashes.

After an aborted attempt to record in another theatre, the band ended up recording the album in a couple of adjacent hallways and a bathroom at The Grand Hotel, outside Montreux, with the mobile recording unit owned by the Rolling Stones. The whole experience was memorialized in the hit song “Smoke On the Water”. Musically, the album seems to strike the perfect balance between accessible hard rock and instrumental jams. Just about every track contains multiple leads showcasing the musical talents of guitarist Ritchie Blackmore and keyboard virtuoso Jon Lord, while remaining relatively short. upbeat, and melodic. This proved to be a potent formula for 1972 hard rock. Machine Head by Deep Purple Released: March 1972 (EMI) Ian Gillan – Lead Vocals | Ritchie Blackmore – Guitars Jon Lord – Keyboards | Roger Glover – Bass | Ian Paice – Drums The ultimate car song. “Highway Star” kicks off the album, taking the traditional Beach Boys’ subject matter of cars and girls to a whole new sonic level. The song was born when a curious reporter asked Blackmore to demonstrate how he composed a song.

Both Blackmore and Lord have extended lead sections, with Lord’s borrowing heavily from Bach, all above a pulsating rhythm which would influence hard rock and heavy metal for decades to come. Vocalist Ian Gillan shoes off his dynamic singing, which rivaled anyone from the day save Zeppelin’sRobert Plant. Speaking of Zeppelin, that band’s influence is definitely present in “Maybe I’m a Leo”, a riff-driven tune with deliberately slow but powerful drumming by Ian Paice. The curious thing here is why Gillan was so reserved on this palette which was custom made for high-pitched vocals to soar. Although all songs on Machine Head are officially credited to all five band members, this one was written mostly by bassist Roger Glover. “Pictures of Home” is Deep Purple at their most poignant, a driving rhythm topped by sweeping vocals pushing out deep lyrical motifs, all accented by the distinct, distorted Hammond organ of John Lord. Glover even gets a short bass solo in the middle section before Blackmore warms for lift-off before a surprising false stop and comeback makes the song all the more interesting.

Side one concludes with “Never Before”, which has a funky intro that breaks into a pure riff-driven rock verse and a pretty standard hard rock song. One of the most popular songs by the band, “Smoke On the Water” also contains one of the most famous riffs in rock history. In fact, the band would play this up in concert by going through a short showcase of the “most famous riffs” before landing on this one as an intro to “Smoke On the Water”. The song intro builds with each member coming in at separate times before breaking into the verse with its literal story telling of the recording of this album. The title of the song was coined by Glover after he dreamed of smoke from casino fire spreading over Lake Geneva. The lyrics pay homage to “Funky Claude”, who is director of the Montreux Jazz Festival, Claude Nobs, who helped some of the audience escape the fire. A sculpture along the lake shore has been erected in Montreaux with the band’s name, song title, and the famous riff in musical notes. “Lazy” is the most jam-oriented song on the album, with a long four and a half minute instrumental before finally reaching an upbeat blues arrangement during verses and choruses.

The very start of the intro organ sounds a lot like the psychedelic Deep Purple of the late 1960s, but breaks into a very bluesy riff complete with boogie-bass by Glover. Naturally, Lord and Blackmore have their own lead sections during the jam and Gillan even adds a harmonica solo between the verses. The album concludes with the fantastic “Space Truckin'”. The theme and lyrics sound like they describes a Saturday morning cartoon for cool kids and the music has contains choreographed parts during the verses and some frantic riffing during the chorus. But it is Paice who outshines everyone else with his top-notch drumming throughout this song. There is a very slight guitar lead during the bridge which quickly gives way to the percussive potpourri, as if Blackmore knew to step out the way of an oncoming train. The song leaves the listener begging for more as it fades out to finish the album. Machine Head reached number 1 in the UK and number 7 in the US, remaining on the charts for over two years. More importantly was its influence on several rock bands spanning many genres and years.

Deep Purple was at the top of their game but followed up with a weak 1973 effort, Who Do We Think We Are before Gillan left the band (for the first time) later that year. ~ Part of Classic Rock Review’s celebration of the 40th anniversary of 1972 albums. Buy The House of Blue Light Through the years, Deep Purple went though a bunch of lineup changes with only drummer Ian Paice remaining with the band throughout all phases. In fact, there have been so many different versions of the band that a labeling system (MarkI, Mark II, Mark III, etc.) has been established, with most rock historians agreeing that the “Mark II” lineup was the most potent and significant. This Mark II lineup itself had three different phases, the first during the band’s most popular period 1969-1973, and the last for a single studio album in 1993. In between, the Mark II lineup had a significant “reunion” period from 1984 to 1988.

The House of Blue Light came right in the heart of this Renaissance period for the band, adding a strong dose of classic rock legitimacy to an area dominated by modern trends and hair bands. Following the surprise success of 1984’s Perfect Stranger, the band ran into difficulty getting the follow-up album recorded, with much of it re-recorded after unsatisfactory initial attempts. Bassist Roger Glover had spent much of the late seventies and early eighties working as a producer and began providing this service to the band once the Mark II lineup reunited. He chose a remote theatre in Northern Vermont to record the album using a mobile recording unit to try and find the appropriate atmosphere for the creative process. Still the band struggled to gel during recording and production and some earlier personal rifts began to resurface. When the album was released in early 1987, there were distinct versions between LP/cassette and CD releases with the CD version offering some extensions to song lengths. Curiously, when the album was remastered for further digital publication, the shorter LP versions of the songs were preserved for future listeners.

Ian Paice – Drums, Percussion On the first side of The House of Blue Light, the band seems to make a concerted effort to nail an ’80s-flavored rock radio hit and many have compared these songs to those by guitarist Ritchie Blackmore‘s band Rainbow, which had a lifespan between the two major Mark II runs. This is especially true with the bouncy song “Call Of the Wild”, an accessible keyboard driven tune with refined vocal hooks. “Mad Dog” and “Black and White” further this trend as upbeat, straight-forward eighties rockers that, frankly, could have been done by scores of bands less talented than Deep Purple. One song that stands out is “The Unwritten Law”, which is intense, drum-driven, and dramatic. Vocalist Ian Gillan hearkens back to his dynamic younger years with vocal improvisation while Paice carries the day and adds further evidence that he is one of rock n roll’s most under-appreciated drummers. The album’s opener “Bad Attitude” features keyboardist Jon Lord and his signature sound of playing a Hammond organ through a Marshall stack to form one of the coolest rock tones. The second side of the album is actually much more interesting.

After the intense, riff-driven opener “Hard Lovin; Woman” comes the excellent “Spanish Archer”, with a surreal Eastern flavor provided by Blackmore. With all members player and singing with an intense, reckless abandonment, this song is a bona fide classic for any era of Deep Purple. “Strangeways” follows as a lyric-driven screed on society, which is cool and entertaining nonetheless. The bluesy “Mitzi DuPree” is one of the more unique songs on any Deep Purple album as Gillen guides the listener through a literal story about an exotic woman over some tavern-style piano by Lord and cool bass by Glover. Although the album was ultimately a commercial disappointment. the music of The House of Blue Light has stood up to the test of time well. Deep Purple kept their momentum through 1988 with the successful live album Nobody’s Perfect, before personal issues lead to Gillan leaving the band again for a short spell. ~ Part of Classic Rock Review’s celebration of 1987 albums. Buy Fireball I started this review planning to explain how this album set up Deep Purple for its, presumptively superior masterpiece, 1972’s Machine Head .

But the more I’ve listened to Fireball in preparation for the review, the more I began to think that it may be just as good as it’s more famous and heralded successor. On this album, the band fuses influences from diverse contemporaries like Black Sabbath and The James Gang while perfecting their own distinct style, which they had started on the preceding album, Deep Purple In Rock . Fireball contains seven songs, many of which are built around a basic riff and theme but extended by instrumental solo sections that are, in no way, boring or mundane. In most cases, these instrumentals are traded between guitarist Ritchie Blackmore and organist John Lord, both virtuoso players with well-refined sounds. Bassist Roger Glover also gets involved with a solo of his own in the opening title song, “Fireball”. However, the musician that shines the brightest on this album is drummer Ian Paice. Perhaps the most underrated drummer during the classic rock era, Paice may not quite reach the talents of Keith Moon or John Bonham, but he is certainly not too far behind.

The 1971 album is far ahead of its time, as many of the styles and techniques would be echoed by countless “hair bands” in the 1980s. But Paice’s drumming gives Fireball an edge that those future efforts would not contain, as few drummers can match such skills, something that apparent right from the very start of the album with his double-kick beat that introduces “Fireball”. Ian Paice – Drums One of the signatures of this “Mark II” version of Deep Purple is that the songs possess great ambiance, Lead by the Blackmore/Lord, heavy guitar/distorted organ riffs. This ambiance makes a great canvas for the dynamic vocals of Ian Gillian. Although the “Mark I” version of the band put out three fine albums prior to his arrival in late 1969, Gillian proved to be the missing piece that completed the band and launched them into their finest run through the early seventies. Surprisingly, the only “hit” song that came from these same recording sessions, “Strange Kind of Woman”, was left off the original album (it was added as a bonus track in later CD issues).

Amazingly, aside from the title song and the bluesy “Demon’s Eye”, most of the original songs on Fireball remain unknown to anyone who doesn’t own actually the album, with little to no airplay on classic rock or AOR stations. So there are definitely some hidden gems to be discovered by the average listener. “The Mule” is way ahead of it’s time. It fuses some clam 60s psychedelia with a wild, almost uncomfortable drum beat by Paice. “Fools” begins with a very calm, tension-building intro that harkens back to the earliest Deep Purple albums before launching into a crisp and heavy riff. It is surprising that this has not been redone. “No One Came” is a catchy, traveling-type groove, while “Anyone’s Daughter” is a surprising departure into country-rock with some slide guitar by Blackmore and an impressive, honky-tonk piano by Lord. So, upon further review, Fireball is more than a mere stepping stone on the way to the masterpiece Machine Head , but is in fact a classic in its own right.

~ Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow history with final vocalist Doogie White Band History The Dio years In 1974, Blackmore became infuriated at the funk/soul elements being introduced to Deep Purple by David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes, as well as with the rejection from his bandmates of his suggestion to record a cover for inclusion on Stormbringer. Blackmore had originally intended to record Steve Hammond's "Black Sheep of the Family", a song recorded by the band Quatermass, as a solo single to express that his ideas were being suppressed in Deep Purple. During the final US tours, Deep Purple's support band had been Elf, and Ritchie had been impressed by Elf's singer, Ronnie James Dio. Blackmore and Dio found they had such a creative rapport that a full album's worth of music was soon composed, and they recorded it with Elf as a session band. Emboldened by the experience, Blackmore decided to leave Deep Purple and form his own band around Elf, effectively taking it over minus their guitarist and renaming it Rainbow. The name of the band was inspired by the Rainbow Bar and Grill in Hollywood that catered to rock stars, groupies and rock enthusiasts.

Rainbow's debut album, Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, was released in 1975 and featured the minor hit "Man on the Silver Mountain". Rainbow's music was different from Deep Purple's. The music was more directly inspired by classical music, and Dio wrote lyrics about medieval themes. Dio possessed a versatile vocal range capable of singing both hard rock and lighter ballads. Although Dio never played a musical instrument on any Rainbow album, he is credited with writing and arranging the music with Blackmore, in addition to writing all the lyrics himself. Blackmore fired everybody except Dio shortly after the album was recorded due to Gary Driscoll's R&B style of drumming and funky bass playing of Craig Gruber. Micky Lee Soule quit due to Blackmore's decisions and an opportunity to play in the Ian Gillan Band Ritchie Blackmore then recruited Cozy Powell (then Jeff Beck's drummer), bassist Jimmy Bain, and American keyboard player Tony Carey. This lineup went on to record the next album Rising. This line-up also commenced the first world tour for the band, with the first US dates in late 1975.

By the time of the European dates in the summer of 1976, Rainbow's reputation as a blistering live act was already established. Blackmore subsequently fired Jimmy Bain in January 1977. The same fate befell Carey shortly after. However, Blackmore had difficulty finding replacements he liked. On keyboards, he finally selected Canadian David Stone, from the little-known band Symphonic Slam. For a bass player, Blackmore originally chose Mark Clarke from the band Tempest, but once in the studio for the next album, Long Live Rock 'n' Roll, Blackmore disliked his playing so much that he fired Clarke on the spot and played bass himself on all but four songs: "Long Live Rock N' Roll", "Gates of Babylon", "Kill the King", and "Sensitive To Light". For these tracks, he finally settled on Australian Bob Daisley. After the release and extensive world tour in 1977–78, Blackmore decided that he wanted to take the band in a new commercial direction away from the "sword and sorcery" theme. Dio did not agree with this change and left Rainbow.

He would go to replace Ozzy Osbourne as the lead singer in Black Sabbath Commercial success Ritchie Blackmore attempted to replace Dio with Ian Gillan, but Gillan turned him down. After a series of auditions, former vocalist/guitarist of The Marbles, Graham Bonnet was recruited instead. Gillan would replace Dio later in his career, in Black Sabbath. Powell stayed, but Daisley and Stone were both fired, replaced by keyboardist Don Airey (later in Deep Purple) and former (now current) Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover. The latter appointment was somewhat surprising, as Blackmore had instigated the sacking of Glover from Deep Purple in 1973. The first album from the new lineup, Down to Earth, featured the band's first singles chart successes, "All Night Long" and the Russ Ballard penned "Since You Been Gone". On stage, Bonnet possessed a powerful voice, but struggled with the band's quieter numbers. In 1980, the band headlined the inaugural 'Monsters of Rock' festival at Castle Donington in England. However, this was Powell's last Rainbow gig, as he had already given his notice to quit.

He would go on to play for Michael Schenker, Whitesnake (founded by Blackmore's former Deep Purple bandmate David Coverdale) and Black Sabbath. Bonnet was also fired the night Powell quit. For the next album, Bonnet and Powell were replaced by Americans Joe Lynn Turner and Bobby Rondinelli, respectively. The title track from the album, Difficult to Cure, was a version of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. The album also contained the guitar piece, "Maybe Next Time". After the supporting tour, Don Airey then quit and was replaced on keyboards by David Rosenthal. The band attained significant airplay on Album-oriented rock radio stations in the US with the track "Jealous Lover", reaching #13 on Billboard Magazine's Rock Tracks chart, which tracked AOR airplay. Originally issued as the B-side to "Can't Happen Here", "Jealous Lover" subsequently became the title track to an EP issued in the US that featured very similar cover art to "Difficult to Cure". Rainbow's next full length studio album was Straight Between the Eyes. The album was more cohesive than Difficult to Cure, and had more success in the United States.

The band, however, was alienating some of its earlier fans with its more AOR sound.The single, "Stone Cold", was a ballad that had some chart success (#1 on Billboard Magazine's Rock Tracks chart) and the video of which received heavy airplay on MTV. The successful supporting tour skipped the UK completely and focused on the American market. A date in San Antonio, Texas on this tour was filmed, and the resulting "Live Between the Eyes" also received repeated showings on MTV. The Bent out of Shape album saw drummer Rondinelli replaced by Chuck Burgi. The album featured the single "Street Of Dreams". The song's video was banned by MTV for its supposedly controversial hypnotic video clip. The resulting tour saw Rainbow return to the UK, and also to Japan in March 1984 where the band performed 'Difficult to Cure' with a full orchestra. The concert was also filmed. Hiatus and regroup The Deep Purple management made an offer to Ritchie Blackmore to rejoin DP and by April 1984, Blackmore and Glover had joined the reformed Deep Purple "Mark II" line-up, and Rainbow was disbanded.

A final Rainbow album, Finyl Vinyl, was pieced together from live tracks and B-sides of singles. The album contained the instrumental "Weiss Heim", widely available for the first time. The follow-up Deep Purple album, House of Blue Light, was not as well received as previous albums. It was evident again that Ritchie Blackmore and Ian Gillan were not able to work together. Gillan left, and Blackmore recruited ex-Rainbow singer Joe Lynn Turner. This line-up produced a very typical Rainbow-sounding album, Slaves and Masters, which instantly raised negative criticism among Deep Purple fans. Under pressure from both management and other Deep Purple musicians, Ian Gillan was asked to re-join for the third time. One further Deep Purple Mark II album, The Battle Rages On, was released and was well received. Yet Ritchie Blackmore was enormously dissatisfied, and left Deep Purple in 1993 to form a new Rainbow with all-new members. In 1994 Ritchie Blackmore began holding auditions for the new incarnation in upstate New York.

He was given a tape by his now wife, Candice, featuring the vocals of Doogie White and he asked Doogie to fly to the USA to audition for the band. The audition was a huge success and Blackmore was impressed by Doogie White's range and capability which allowed him to play live songs from the entire Rainbow era as well as selected Deep Purple numbers. By the end of the year, the new band would consist of Doogie White (ex-La Paz, Midnight Blue and Praying Mantis) on vocals, Paul Morris (ex-Doro Pesch) on keyboards, Greg Smith (Alice Cooper, Blue Oyster Cult, Joe Lynn Turner) on bass, and John O'Reilly (Ritchie Havens, Blue Oyster Cult, Joe Lynn Turner) on drums. Interviewed for Guitarist Magazine in January 1996 Ritchie Blackmore had this to say: "The original singer, once we started playing dates I noticed that he couldn't improvise. He had a great voice, similar to Bryan Adams, but when we'd do a blues of something he couldn't improvise at all.

At first I thought he was just having an off day, but after about a week of rehearsals he's saying to me, What do you think of the drummer? What do you think of the bass player? And I'm thinking, Actually I don't know about you! It turned out he was just a copy vocalist. Great guy, great voice, but I couldn't take him. I was in the house with my girlfriend and she said, Who's on this tape? and she put it on. And I'm going, Who is this? Sounds good. Took the tape off and it said, Doogie White, call London... So I called him up and said, Look, we really like your stuff, are you interested? And he said Yes. I asked him where the tape came from and he said, Oh, I just gave it to your road manager one night in London.

And we have this box full of such tapes; why she pulled that one out, I don't know." The band released the highly acclaimed Stranger in Us All in 1995 on BMG International which demonstrated a return to their heavier rock roots, and within the first week of its availability would sell over 100,000 copies in Japan. This remarkable sales feat would be assisted by Burrn! magazine heralding Ritchie with no less than seven reader's poll awards. Including "Best Guitarist," "Best Songwriter," "Best Live Show," and "Best Song of the Year" for "Black Masquerade." Rainbow then embarked on a lengthy world tour starting in Helsinki, Finland where Chuck Burghi rejoined the band on drums. The tour proved very successful and a show in Germany was professionally filmed by Rockpalast. The tape has never officially been released but has been heavily bootlegged (and considered by many collectors to be the best Rainbow bootleg of the era); much of it is now available on youtube and demonstrates just how versatile and powerful Doogie White's voice is.

The live shows featured frequent changes in set lists , and musical improvisations that proved popular with bootleggers and many shows are still traded on the Internet over a decade later. Many who heard these concerts state that Ritchie Blackmore was playing at his most relaxed and innovative for years. The set list of these shows prove just what a range of styles Doogie White is capable of when he was asked to sing virtually completely different styles back-to-back and the order of the set changed almost every night. The band toured again in 1996 and this time visited Chile, Argentina, and Brazil. After that successful solo tour of South America, Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow would perform in front of hundreds of thousands during a European festival tour in support of such bands as ZZ Top. In 1997 they embarked on a tour of the USA and began early work on a second studio album. Again, from Guitarist Magazine, Ritchie Blackmore on Deep Purple and Rainbow: Interviewer: Finally, when Deep Purple's original line-up got back together recently it looked like we might be in for some more of the best of British rock. But sadly the fragile egos of those involved meant it all fell apart.

Is it really that difficult to work with people who are so set in their ways? Ritchie Blackmore : "It is for me," states the guitarist unequivocally. "I'm set in my ways and they're very set in their ways. But I'm 50 now and I want to do rock'n'roll for maybe another couple of years - I say that every couple of years! - and I wanted to have a last bash at being with some guys that I want to be around; some fresh guys that don't have egos. Okay, so with the new Rainbow I'm taking a chance. I could so easily have just sat back in the old armchair, but I felt it was for an honest reason that I left Purple. I wanted to play better music. Some people might think, Oh, I don't know about that... But why else would I leave? What's the point of me leaving? I could easily just have just sat there and said; Yes, I'm the guitarist in Deep Purple; I'm very comfortable thank you very much..." However, out of the blue and apparently fed up with rock perhaps for good, Blackmore turned his attention to Renaissance and medieval music, a lifelong interest of his.

Rainbow was put on hold once again, after playing its final concert in Esbjerg, Denmark in 1997. There have been many rumours since then that Ritchie will reform Rainbow one last time but to date this has not happened. Line-ups of Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow (1975) Ronnie James Dio - vocals Ritchie Blackmore - guitar David Coverdale, Biography, Whitesnake, Deep Purple, Discography, Plastic, Wife, Tawny David Coverdale Biography David Coverdale was born September 22, 1951 in Saltburn-by-the-Sea, North Yorkshire. Coverdale is an English rock singer most famous for working with Deep Purple, Whitesnake and Jimmy Page. Coverdale w/ Deep Purple 1974 'Mistreated' In 1973, Coverdale was working in a clothes shop and heard the band Deep Purple was looking for a vocalist, after Ian Gillan's departure. He sent them his demo tape and the band was impressed with his skills. He was then asked to join, but would be required to share vocal duties with bassist / vocalist Glenn Hughes (Trapeze).

Coverdale became a rock star with the albums "Burn", "Stormbringer", and "Come Taste the Band". However, in 1976 the band split up. Whitesnake - "Fool for Your Lovin" - Early Version After Deep Purple folded, Coverdale formed the band Whitesnake, which would eventually catapult him to superstar status. During the late seventies and early eighties, the band had many different line-ups and recorded several albums. Whitesnake was most popular in the UK, Europe, and Asia but were hardly known in the US. In 1982, Coverdale was considered for the lead vocalist position in Black Sabbath (after Ronnie James Dio left), but declined the opportunity. In 1984, Coverdale recruited Thin Lizzy / Tygers of Pan Tang guitarist John Sykes to bring in a new style of music to the group.

The band recorded the album "Slide it in" and with help from the songs like, "Slow & Easy" and "Love Ain't No Stranger", the record did relatively well in the United States, selling over 500,000 copies (Gold Record) intially and eventually went on to go double platinum (2 million records sold). Whitesnake - "Slow & Easy" 1984 Soon after, David came down with sinus infection. He would later find out that his throat required surgery in order to fix the problem. The band had already been in the process of recording their next album, which Coverdale is said to have commented that the next album would make or break the band. As a result of Coverdale's surgery, the album had to be put on hold, however, once fully recovered, the band resumed the writing and recording process and eventually completed the record. After the album's completion, David knew that he had something great. His next step was to fire everyone in the band, with the idea of creating a supergroup to do the tour, videos and promotion. He hand-picked musicians who had already achieved some level of success.

On drums he added Tommy Aldrige (Pat Travers Band, Ozzy Osbourne, Gary Moore, Thin Lizzy, Black Oak Arkansas), on bass was Rudy Sarzo (Ozzy Osbourne, Quiet Riot, Dio), and instead of one guitarist, he added two, Vivian Campbell (Dio, Def Leppard) and guitar hero Adrian Vandenberg (Vandenberg). Whitesnake 1987 album was huge. To date, it has sold over eight million copies in the United States alone. With the success of the self-titled album, Geffen released all the previous Whitesnake albums to cash in on the current stream of success. After the tour, guitarist Vivian Campbell was said to have been fired because of a "bad attitude" and he was replaced by guitar god Steve Vai (David Lee Roth, Frank Zappa). Although Coverdale had some of the greatest musicians of the time, it could not make up for the fact that they were not great songwriters. The next album was entitled, "Slip of the Tongue" and off the previous albums momentum, went platinum immediately and then sales stalled.

After the "Slip of the Tongue" tour, Coverdale dissolved the band indefinitely, claiming he needed a break from the industry. Coverdale Page 1993 His career hiatus did not last very long though, in early spring of 1991, legendary guitarist Jimmy Page and Coverdale teamed up to write an album. In March of 1993, the two released the Coverdale-Page album, and attempted to follow up with a tour. The tour was eventually cancelled, in the United States, because of slow ticket sales. Whitesnake w/ Warren DeMartini 1994 In 1994, Whitesnake was back on the road to support their 'Greatest Hits' album. Although Whitesnake initially had a more classic rock foundation, once they released the 1987 album, they took on a more "hair band" approach and, in turn, were lumped in with the rest of the "hair bands" of the eighties. With the emergence of Grunge, all the successful "hair bands" of the eighties were considered dinosaurs by this point and Whitesnake was part of the mass extinction.

Their 'Greatest Hits' album sold poorly and, as a result, Geffen Records did not renew the band's contract. Once again, Whitesnake was put on the back burner. In 2002, David reformed Whitesnake with a new line-up featuring Tommy Aldridge on drums, Marco Mendoza (Blue Murder, Thin Lizzy, Ted Nugent) on bass, Doug Aldrich (Lion, Dio) on guitar, Reb Beach (Winger) on guitar, and Timothy Drury (Don Henley, Stevie Nicks) on keyboards. Recently, Whitesnake was touring with metal legends Judas Priest and during a concert at Red Rocks in Colorado, Coverdale's voice went out and the band had to cancel their remaining tour dates. David was also married to Tawny Kitaen briefly in the late 80's and very early 90's. Tawny starred in many of the classic Whitesnake videos. He is now happily married to Cindy Coverdale who authored the book, "A Food that Rocks". Coverdale has two children, one from a previous marriage in the 70's and one with his current wife. The couple live with their child in Lake Tahoe.

Discography Ian Gillan - Caramba! Died on Sunday 11/09/16 Lovable, affectionate, crazy, irrational, inspirational, hilarious, oh yes, great drummer too. I went around the world a couple of times with Lenny, who lived for quite a while in a fancy dress 'banana' outfit (please don't ask) while on the road with 'Repo Depo'. During rehearsals he stayed at my house and was adored by my family, and also the regulars in the pub, who had never seen - or imagined - such a contradiction to normality. Lenny Haze on athleticism "My wife isn't speaking to me. When I got back from the last Gillan tour I gave her athlete's foot." ( - search for more priceless Lenny Haze with the Carambascopic advanced search) We all miss you man, but we know where you are...see you later. Total respect. Souls, having touched, are forever entwined. Ig The Parallax Effect On Long Hair I was surprised to get an invitation to address the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy (ICD) in Berlin on 14th December 2012.

It caused great hilarity in the band dressing room; Roger actually burst into spontaneous laughter; not sure if it was the cultural or diplomatic bit that set him off. Probably both. When the director asked for the title and a copy of the speech I told him it would be entitled 'The Parallax Effect on Long Hair' and that it would be off the cuff, so to speak. Basically it's about perception or how things are viewed differently, depending on where you're standing. I was a little nervous to start with as it was unscripted and I'd never spoken publicly before, apart from the usual gibberish delivered on stage each night with DP before being gloriously interrupted by a drumist not known for his patience. But I did enjoy it and may do another, one day. ig Rhino Poo Alert RTL (a large TV station) announced the start of the sale for the Deep Purple tour in autumn 2012 in Germany. The message said that this will be the last tour of DP in Germany and therefore the last chance to see them live. what a shock! Is that true??? Is that an official/confirmed statement?

Yawning response from ig: "I must say that is an impressive heap of rhino poo!" Coffee Kiev Some things in life should just be simpler Deep Purple, Ian Gillan, Gillan, Gillan Glover.... Yes, all of them but the usual proviso of 'in due course' applies, of course. Such is the speed of this 'information age' that we could all know everything immediately but where would the fun be in that? These don't replace the Wordographies, which also continue apace. Perfect Strangers 'One Eye To Morocco' - the lyrics Caramba takes the greatest of pleasure in unveiling the complete lyrics for all editions of 'One Eye To Morocco'. These don't in any way replace the Wordographies, as these are winging their way to your screen at a speed significantly slower than the speed of light. Another, even bigger fan writes Biographies These biographies may be used by journalists. This has been updated to include edel's latest biog. This way for.... biographies . Deep Purple's official website. Click above. On sending things in to be signed: A number of people have over time sent unsolicited stuff into either Ian's or DP's management to be signed and returned.

Such things can so easily get mislaid or just simply lost in a very busy organisation, which can be very upsetting for those who have sent their items in. Please don't do this as no-one wants to feel responsible for having lost what can be, for the owner, very precious items. Thanks. Steve/ED. Can't be bothered to use the drop down menus above or the text menus below? Use the search engine, it doesn't bite very often. Mind you, if I could give it teeth I would. Click on the image above to access all the releases previously on this page. Go on, do it.... Gyumri Music School & WhoCares Previous material on the Gyumri Music School and WhoCares makes itself available on a separate page, a page accessed by clicking on the above image. Chopin's Story Likewise, in an abovewise fashion, everything on Ian and Chopin's Story is available by clicking the above pic in time-honoured fashion. an occasional series of random pics Click on the above for the full glory of the photographic moment of truth or HERE if you're feeling lazy and/or curmudgeonly. Jon Lord

Question: Ian Gillian and Dave Coverdale were both lead singers with which rock group?
Answer: DEEP PURPLE