DVD Review: Ritchie Blackmore – The Ritchie Blackmore Story

DVD Review: Ritchie Blackmore – The Ritchie Blackmore Story
Eagle Rock Entertainment
All Access Rating: A-

Ritchie Blackmore - The
Ritchie Blackmore Story 2016

Enigmatic, demanding, quick to anger and evidently fond of pulling off elaborate pranks, the iconic Ritchie Blackmore has always jealously guarded his privacy. Though rather stodgy and a little dry, a revealing new documentary titled "The Ritchie Blackmore Story" finds the dark lord of rock guitar sorcery in a more open and talkative mood than usual.

Offering as much access to Blackmore's inner-most thoughts and memories as anyone ever thought possible, the film relates Blackmore's story in a dry, straight-forward fashion, going chronologically from birth through his time with pop act The Outlaws, his early session work in the '60s and then exploring in more detail the triumphant highs and disappointing lows of his glory days with Deep Purple and Rainbow. And with his wife Candice Night by his side, Blackmore recounts how his passion for traditional Renaissance music evolved, leading to the formation of the project that has consumed both of them in recent years, Blackmore's Night.

Professionally pieced together, "The Ritchie Blackmore Story" takes us inside the making of such landmark records as Deep Purple In Rock, Machine Head and Burn from Blackmore's point of view, and with frankness and soul-baring honesty, he talks of the lineup changes in Deep Purple and why he left the band on multiple occasions. Discussions with Glenn Hughes, Roger Glover and David Coverdale flesh out what happened behind the scenes, adding more meat on the bone.

What emerges from the video biography from Eagle Rock Entertainment is a revealing and in-depth portrait of a restlessly creative, if curmudgeonly and downright prickly but occasionally funny, artist who's authored a slew of original and memorable guitar riffs and rained down torrents of lightning-fast, yet tasteful and classically inspired, soloing like an angry god. Tributes and insightful commentary on Blackmore's brilliance come pouring out of admirers such as Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson, Queen's Brian May, Metallica's Lars Ulrich, Joe Satriani, Gene Simmons of KISS and Toto's Steve Lukather – to name a few – and their observations are sincere and thoughtful, with some making him out to be a caucasian Jimi Hendrix. And there's 40 minutes of additional interview material tacked on to the DVD, packaged with informative and well-written liner notes and great vintage photos.

The best stuff, though, comes straight from Blackmore's mouth. In a series of casual interviews over beers, Blackmore pulls no punches, talking candidly about his temper, his belief in ghosts and dalliances with the supernatural, and his stormy relationship with Ian Gillan – including recollections of a restaurant fight that ended with him throwing a plate of pasta into the singer's face after Gillan had doused it in ketchup, as bandmates cringed.

In the end, however, what matters most is the music, and an abundance of sensational vintage live footage from various periods in his career speaks to his wild, unpredictable showmanship, boundless creativity and incredible talent. Segments of performances of such classic material as "Highway Star," "Smoke on the Water," "Black Night," "Mistreated" and "Long Live Rock 'n' Roll," among other favorites, are strewn throughout the film, and much is made of Blackmore's explosive meltdown at the infamous 1974 California Jam event. All of it is tightly edited so that the movie doesn't come off as some hastily thrown together patchwork. Ever the perfectionist, Blackmore would undoubtedly be livid if it had.

As it is, its contents comprise an essential dossier of Blackmore's life and career to anyone with even a passing interest in him, his bands and rock history in general.
– Peter Lindblad

The stars are out for Martin Turner

Wishbone Ash founder talks new studio album, making of 'Argus'
By Peter Lindblad

Martin Turner

Feet still firmly planted in the rich, fertile ground of progressive-rock, Martin Turner also has his head in the stars these days.

A founding member of Wishbone Ash, one of the U.K.'s most internationally renown prog-rock acts of the '70s, Turner was the band's lead vocalist, bassist and songwriter. Instrumental to the band's success, Turner's seductively melodic bass lines and intelligent, deeply philosophical lyrics were just as distinctive as Wishbone Ash's innovative and beautifully sculpted twin-guitar leads and vocal harmonies.

Turner's artistry was a crucial factor in the success of such classic early '70s LPs as Wishbone Ash, Pilgrimage, Wishbone Four and There's The Rub – not to mention 1972's crowning achievement Argus, still considered one of the touchstones of Britain's progressive-rock movement. Experiments in musical direction and personnel changes occurred, stunting Wishbone Ash's momentum. Finally, things came to a head in 1980, when – under pressure from the record label to make more commercial music – three of the other members told Turner they wanted a new frontman, leading to a divorce between Turner and the group he'd started.

All these years later, Turner has released a new studio album entitled Written In The Stars, an album full of astronomical allusions and beguiling, shape-shifting melodies that he seems to have snatched from the heavens. Working off the templates he drew up for Wishbone Ash way back when, Turner and company have crafted an appealing set of diverse and engaging songs that merge elements of folk, classical and rock into a sound that's both fresh and familiar.

After spending so much of his time recently on the road performing the music of Wishbone Ash with his touring band, consisting of guitarists Danny Willson and Misha Nikolic and drummer Tim Brown, Turner seems reinvigorated on the Cherry Red Records release Written in the Stars, and he was eager to talk about his latest record and his days in Wishbone Ash in this interview.

I know you've been touring the classics of Wishbone Ash recently. How did that influence the making of this album?

Martin Turner: Well, really I’m just doing what I’ve always done. I mean, in the ‘70s, I was the main songwriter really and singer, so what I’m doing now really is just more of the same – especially, for instance, the harmony guitar thing, which was one of Wishbone Ash’s identifiable … well, they call it a signature sound, don’t they now? The sound you recognize immediately. Because I was brought up on classical music, it was very easy for me to sing what I call pseudo-classical melodies, which if you sang sounded good with harmonies. But if you transposed it onto guitar and then put together and sang harmonies to it, and then transposed that onto guitar, then you ended up with the harmony guitar that Wishbone Ash was known for, which was very distinct. It wasn’t what a guitar player would normally work out. And the reason for that was because it started out as a vocal melody. And you know, we still do that now really.

Martin Turner - Written in
the Stars 2015

Just listening to this album, and Wishbone Ash’s stuff was always this way, too, do you feel like this album has a real accessibility to it, along with some of the complexities you’re known for?

MT: What, the album? I don’t know. The press has been good. Everyone’s been making fairly positive comments. Some people love the album. What it is is another thing which is in the Wishbone Ash tradition as an album, where you’re not recording a couple of songs that are maybe singles and then you’ve got a bunch of filler. All the songs are decent songs. I’ll put it that way. You know, if people like it, great. Good for them. I can’t make that happen, but if they do, then I’ll be very happy.     

Did making this album remind you of making any of the Wishbone Ash albums?

MT: Well, they’re all different really. I mean, they were all made in different locations. We were all over the place, sometimes in America and sometimes in Britain. Yeah, if you remember back in the olden days, as my children call it (laughs), there was something called a record and actually a record is quite a good title for it because it’s a record of where you’re at at that time and what’s going on at that time and given place. With this album, because I’ve got a band and we’ve been for the last God knows how many years playing mainly the Wishbone Ash catalog and there’s a lot of songs to choose from, any song that we had a look at we seemed to be able to make it work. So, I kind of made the mistake of thinking of these guys as performers primarily – not so much as creative people. But when we got down to it, I was amazed that between my drummer (Tim Brown) and Danny Willson, one of the guitar players, they really surprised me with their creativity. And when you’ve got that going on as a band, it’s great because you’re feeding off each other and inspiring each other. And the process really worked well.

It sounds like a lot of these songs came together in the studio then?

MT: No, I think with Tony and with me and the other guys, too, we tend to make what we call sketches. It’s like a pre-drawing, and then when you go into the studio, you want to make it into a full Technicolor, stereophonic experience. So, yeah, you can do that on anything really. You can do that on your iPod, a cassette machine, a small, multi-track recorder – that’s the way I tend to work. The other guys they’ve got little 8-track recorders that will fit in your pocket just about. So everyone makes sketches, brings them into the studio, and then we take it from there really – see what everyone can contribute. And the process on this album was very raw, which is why we want to get back into the studio and do some more.

I wanted to ask you about some of the songs on the album, and one that I really liked a lot was “Lovers.” It’s really a nice folk-pop song. How did that one come about?

MT: Well, that one was written about my current wife (laughs), who at one stage … well, we kind of fell in love. The problem was I was already married to someone else. I asked her to leave me to sort my life out. And she got shacked up with another musician (laughs), quite a well-known one. I best not mention who. No, she’ll be angry with me, but I would still see her now and again – you know, check on her to see how she was doing. Make sure that this dude was looking after her. And basically, that’s what the song is about, while all the time, I had this feeling we were meant to be together, and that’s the way it turned out. She’s sitting in the next room right now. And we’ve been together a long time.

How about making “The Beauty of Chaos”? That has a real Western feel to it.

MT: Yes, really I wanted to try and imagine a kind of musical interpretation of the heavens, the stars. You see these phenomenal pictures that they come up with nowadays, astronomical arrays that are looking up at the heavens. I mean, when you look at some other galaxy where stars have exploded and there’s this huge wave of gas in the air and fragments … I mean, from where we’re looking at it, it looks absolutely beautiful. But if you were actually in there in the middle of it, it would be complete chaos. The juxtaposition of that really, how beautiful it looks from a distance and how crazy it must be if you’re in the middle of it. So, what I was trying to do was create a musical interpretation of that, as the kind of opening of the album.

I suppose the same could be said of “Vapor Trail” and “The Lonely Star,” these very celestial songs.

MT: Yes, this again. I mean, the thing with “The Beauty of Chaos,” a couple of people walked in the studio and one guy said to me, “The guy who’s playing that guitar sounds like he’s drunk,” which is exactly what I asked the guitar player to do. I went, “No, no, no … it’s all about chaos.” (laughs) Sorry, you asked about “Vapor Trail” and “The Lonely Star.”

Yes.

MT: Well again … I mean, “The Lonely Star” is an instrumental, and it’s a song that mainly came from Danny. It’s a song but an instrumental, too. It’s a tie-in with the rest of the album, just on the star theme really. And the great thing about it was that as he was putting the thing together, and … because it was an instrumental and there were no vocals, he just wanted a little bit of speech in there somewhere saying, “The lonely star.” And he was at home actually, my guitar player Danny, trying to put it together and couldn’t get it to sound right, and then his little lad walked in. He’s 7 years old and asked him what he was doing. He said, “I’m saying, ‘The lonely star.’ I tell you what. Why don’t you have a go?’” And he did. The boy spoke it kind of low, he kind of whispered it. And we heard it, and we stuck it on the track. It sounded like it really fit it. And that’s the only vocal on it – three words (laughs).

Martin Turner was a founding member of
Wishbone Ash, serving as the lead
vocalist, bassist and songwriter

It sounds like the making of this was a real collaborative process.

MT: Yeah, yeah, yeah … it was a delight. You know, hard and long … I think getting all the songs together and the recording process, because I wanted to try a live room, and we did that, and it sounded okay. But we wanted to try another way to see if it would sound better, so we transferred to a radio stage studio room. And we changed the mic-ing of the drums, so that we recorded the drums as kind of one big piece, rather than trying to individually mic everything. And that changed the equation and made it sound good, but the whole thing was nine months. It’s a bit like having a baby, sort of like having a baby.

You mentioned your guitar players. In what way do they remember you of when you heard Andy (Powell) and Ted (Turner) for the first time play together?

MT: Well, you know the world is full of great guitar players. There’s so many of them around, and they have a little bit of a tendency to be technicians. They’re performers, but if you can find the guys who can get creative and have got the patience for it, the ability to do that, which the two guys who are with me now … Danny and Misha (Nikolic), they’re both what I call creative musicians. They can think in terms of the song and what’s right, rather than trying to play a bunch of licks. But, the world is full of good guitar players. There’s so many of them out there.
       

What was the most important factor in Wishbone Ash’s ascent in the early ‘70s?

MT: It was partly the time. We were all young lads. I think we were fairly unusual. We were signed to an American record label, Universal in Los Angeles. And, indeed, we had an American manager (Miles Copeland III). He lived in England, but he was very much an American. So from day one, we went backwards and forwards and worked our way up from ground zero to becoming successful in both the European market and also in the States. In fact, in the early days in America, I can remember a lot of people thinking we were an American band. And then with me talking to them, they realized we were English (laughs). But, it was the time. We were young guys. We didn’t have kids or mortgages and were free to work all hours of the day and night, which we did – we regularly did six-week tours in America.

And I think we accomplished a lot by playing live, really. I mean, I don’t know if you’ve ever been on a tour in the U.S., but you’re talking six weeks where you’re playing virtually every night. And, when you’re in a new city each day, you fly in and all you really see is the airport, the hotel and the gig. I mean, you end up not knowing where the hell you are (laughs). It’s quite … you know, you have to be the kind of person who can deal with that. Some people walk into a hotel room and they can’t figure out how the bloody tap works, and it freaks them out. Other people like me, I’m getting down on my knees and trying to figure out how is this designed? This is interesting (laughs). So, you know, it varies. We were very good at that, the original band with Ted Turner. I think we had – what would you call it? – a newness, a freshness about our approach to music. We dabbled a lot in folk music, especially jazz but mainly rock, and we had a great time doing it. And really, the Argus album that went out in 1972 was very popular. I think it got “Album of the Year” award in Britain. People loved that album, and they’ve bought it ever since then.

Was that the most fully realized version of what Wishbone Ash was all about?

MT:  Yeah, it’s probably the most loved album of ours, and the sales reflect that really.

A shot of Martin Turner
performing live

Was it an easy album to make? Did it come together smoothly?

MT: It was a strange one. I spent a lot of time working on it, and there were big, big themes – struggling with the concept of time. We live in a world that’s confined by time and space. "Sometime World," "Time Was" … these things. And then the idea of war – young men. Why is it that these old warmongers seem to be able to harness the energy – what I call “kill-f**k” energy – of young men and cause wars all over the place? I wrote the song “Warrior,” which was very much about that. And being a typical Libran, I thought, “Well, wait a minute. People will think I’m advocating it. I need to write another song to counter-balance it. So I got stuck into "Throw Down the Sword," which is kind of a peace song really, and the two of them fit together like a glove. And “The King Will Come,” that was another peace song which is basically pretty much straight out of the Bible and a Muslim book – not word for word, but the idea of a savior coming to rescue the world. So that was the idea.

Again, I’m not advocating it or saying it must be right. I’m just putting it out there as an idea, and then the song that probably was the most commercial-sounding tune was a song called “Blowin’ Free,” which I’d actually put together the lyric in the ‘60s, late ‘60s, about a Swedish girl I’d met. And we were kind of fascinated by each other, but it was like she’d come from another world to me. I mean, I was like a little rock ‘n’ roll rat, staying up half the night, diving in and out of clubs and bars. She was a healthy Swedish girl with beautiful hair and skin, who went riding, and her dad was a professor – you know, it was like, “How the hell did we ever get together?” (laughs) And I wrote this strange song about it called “Blowin’ Free,” but the thing of it, the mood of it, was celebratory, it was up … you know, it was a joyous little anthem. And that had quite an impact on everyone else. Incredibly, when we were in the studio and we were putting all this stuff together, we tried to record that song a couple of times before, and I couldn’t get it to sound right. And finally, we recorded it on the Argus sessions, and you can hear if you listen to the bass on it, it is so pushy. It’s like an engine. It’s kind of saying, “This song will bloody well work this time.” I’m really pushing the song along, and it sounded really good. And the producer said to me, “Martin, listen, we’ve been traveling about this tune, and it’s really good, but it doesn’t really belong on the album.” And I said, “What?! You’ve got to be joking.” And he said, “Well, the other stuff is serious … you know, ‘Warrior,’ ‘Throw Down the Sword,’ ‘The King Will Come’ and this one is a totally different mood.” And I said, “Yeah, well, that’s exactly why it needs to be on the album. It’s not all serious. It’s like a counter-balance. It’s a bit of a relief.” So I had to fight to get it on the album. I said, “It’s going on there.”   

How do you think the first two albums, Wishbone Ash and Pilgrimage, prepared you to make Argus? Was there a progression with those two?

MT: Yeah, I think we were working with a producer called Derek Lawrence, who – I don’t know if you remember a song from the ‘60s called “Hush”? That was a song by Deep Purple, it was a single, a pop song really. We did a gig in the very early days supporting Deep Purple in England, and I noticed Ritchie Blackmore was really checking us out. He was watching the band for a long time. Never said anything, but clearly, he liked the band because he rang up his producer, Derek Lawrence, and told him we were a really good band and to check us out, and he loved the band and said he knew a guy in L.A. who was looking to sign bands out of A&R for MCA/Universal, and that’s actually how we got our record deal. So Derek was written in on that, and he produced our first three albums. And we also used the same engineer, who went on to become a producer in his own right. That was Martin Birch. And they basically were a really, really good team. And we worked together great with them, and that team did the first three albums. And then we did everything differently on the fourth album, which sounds poor. Although it sounded great in the studio, when it finally came out on record, it lacked balls and sounded very small for some reason. I think the engineer made a mistake there somehow. But yeah, it was a good team in the early days.
   

With your bass playing you’ve always had a really melodic style. Do you think that’s a lost art among bass players these days?

MT: Yeah, I, as I said to you earlier, if you’ve been brought up on classical music and that sort of thing, and then singing in the choir as a lad, it gives you a very strong sense of melody. To me, music, if it’s going to last, if it’s going to have any longevity, any long-term appeal, it needs to contain memorable melodic content. I don’t know. I mean, I’m analyzing it, but when I write music, that sort of thing just seems to come naturally. It’s just something that I do, and with my bass playing, it’s the same way. I don’t know if it necessarily needs to be a melody on its own, if you know what I mean. But sometimes if I’m stuck for a bass line, I’ll resort to again singing it, working it out vocally and then figuring it out on the guitar. You know, everyone has their own way of doing things. That’s what I do.
     

The last question I have for you. What worlds are left for you to conquer in music or maybe outside of music?

MT: Well, one of the reasons I got into music in the very, very days is because I wanted to see the world, and I’ve certainly done that, because I’ve traveled the world and played North America, South America, Mexico, Japan, Australia, all the countries of Europe – except I’ve not been to Russia yet. I was in Moscow airport en route to somewhere, but I would like to see Russia. It’s such a huge country in the world and I particularly would like to shore up on Russian music – Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff. I’d love to go there one day and check them out. So that’s an important thing for me, and still today, I love traveling. We were just in Holland last week, and we had a great time out there, great to meet the local people, make contact. It was lovely. That’s the main thing, and then obviously, as much as I like getting out on the road, I’m also a big-time studio man. I love working in the studio. I did it for years and years when I was off the road, and that’ something that’s really important to me. But, away from music, I have other interests. I like car racing. I like reading books.

I’ve got a couple of fantastic old 17^th century books that I bought years ago that were written in Old English about the history of the kings and queens and the courts in England ... they’re a heavy go. Love reading stuff like that. And other stuff, like I’ve become fascinated, and maybe this had an impact on me with this Written in the Stars album, [with] astronomy and all the incredible things they’re finding out with the advent of incredible telescopes and everything they can send up, this huge array of dishes … they found out a lot of stuff, and it’s really fascinating the way our universe works. When I say Written in the Stars, I think that everything in written in the stars – the fate of our planet, our solar system – well, we know that one day that the star that keeps us warm and gives us light and energy, that will one day grow huge and then collapse. So that’s going to be a big change, and on the same level, on an individual level, for our little life spans 70 years or more, there’s a blueprint that’s written in the stars. We have choices to make, as we go along our spiritual journey, physically. But also, it’s all written in the stars (laughs).      

CD Review: Lucifer – Lucifer I

CD Review: Lucifer – Lucifer I
Rise Above Records
All Access Rating: A

Lucifer - Lucifer I 2015

Having buried The Oath a year ago, witchy singer Johanna Sadonis ran straight into welcoming embrace of Lucifer, demonic necromancers that have resuscitated the hoary corpse of '70s proto-metal and tortured blues for nefarious purposes.

A three-piece she formed that includes Garry Jennings, formerly of U.K. doom-metal mongers Cathedral, as co-songwriter and studio guitarist, Lucifer is the cover subject of the latest issue of Decibel magazine and Lucifer I, from Rise Above Records, is the first spell they've cast.

Heirs to the fuzzed-out, doom-laden stomp, sinister swing and distorted propulsion of Black Sabbath, the "occult-rock" revivalists also pay their respects to Deep Purple, Blue Oyster Cult, Blue Cheer and Led Zeppelin on a spectral, yet ruggedly heavy, debut album cloaked in gloom. Seeming to ring out from beyond the grave, Sadonis's distant, haunting vocals only enhance the chilling effect of Lucifer's sinister lyrics, and for everything else about Lucifer's birth that make black masses salivate, it's her singing that calls us to worship.

Lucifer's Decibel magazine cover

Their hotly anticipated maiden voyage of the damned is full of dark, slowly churning dirges, such as "Purple Pyramid" and "Sabbath," where eerie church bells predict a funereal descent. What separates Lucifer from the horde of Sabbath pretenders is the songwriting wizardry of Lucifer I and its ability to authentically conjure the black magic of influences such as Pentagram, as they wickedly unleash the hellhounds in the gathering momentum of opener "Abracadabra" and "Izrael" embeds the mournful, spine-tingling wail of Sadonis in solemn, melodic sacraments and seductive hooks.

What lessons Lucifer learned from grandfathers Tony Iommi, Bill Ward and Geezer Butler are ingrained in "Morning Star," "Total Eclipse" and "A Grave For Each One Of Us," all of them blustery cauldrons of evil riffs that suddenly, but artfully, shift gears and hijack these songs, demanding they go to places – driven in a hearse, of course – that are similar, but different, from those already marked on whatever map they're following. In the process, the tracks complete metamorphoses into strange, compelling new shapes and personalities. Somebody has made one incredible deal with the devil.
– Peter Lindblad

CD Review: Uriah Heep – Live at Koko

CD Review: Uriah Heep – Live at Koko
Frontiers Records Srl
All Access Rating: A-

Uriah Heep - Live at Koko 2015

Most of the face of that clock on the cover of Uriah Heep's upcoming two CD/DVD concert release Live at Koko is gone, revealing rusty gears and a shoeless man walking the rim, his arms mimicking the hour and minute hands above him and seemingly struggling against time like a mime pretending to be at the mercy of a strong wind.

One of the flagships of '70s progressive hard-rock, although they were actually formed in 1969 by guitarist Mick Box and vocalist David Byron, Uriah Heep has better things to do than count the days, weeks, months or even years until its certain end, as the invigorating and unbridled Live at Koko resuscitates their reputation as a driven and powerful concert act – no matter their advanced age.

While their middling 2014 studio album Outsider indicated that maybe they were running out of ideas, this career-spanning set from Frontiers Records Srl at the very least confirms the notion that Uriah Heep's combustible band chemistry has never been more dynamic – the pulse-pounding, one-two punch of opener "Against All Odds" and "Overload" hitting listeners right in the chops and buckling their knees. Their skillful brilliance is still miles ahead of most of the competition, with Box's solar-powered, squealing guitar forays and Phil Lanzon's smoldering, storming organ making roaring sonic furnaces out of "Between Two Worlds," "Can't Take That Away," "Free and Easy" and, of course, the driving, ever-popular closer "Easy Living."

"Sunrise" and "Stealin'" – the latter a major Top 40 hit in both the U.K. and the U.S. off 1973's Sweet Freedom album – emerge from their condition as slumbering legends and grow into tuneful awakenings in the this sultry London 2014 performance, raising up with sweet vocal harmonies and dewey, yearning melodies. On a quiet and calm "July Morning," the crowd can be hearing singing along joyously, just before the song surges with power, transforming into a fervent and glorious hymn. Poetic and deeply reflective, "Lady in Black," so beautifully written by former member Ken Hensley, drifts in next, with its infectious acoustic guitar strumming and expansive instrumentation enhancing the telling of this lyrical tale through the superb interpretation of vocalist Bernie Shaw, who is absolutely sublime here.

Contemporaries of iconic bands Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, the durable Uriah Heep never quite seems to get its due from critics and rock historians. The sweltering Live at Koko offers them a chance to reassess what has always been an underrated catalog, with few missteps.
– Peter Lindblad

DVD Review: Deep Purple With Orchestra – Live In Verona

DVD Review: Deep Purple With Orchestra – Live In Verona
Eagle Rock Entertainment
All Access Rating: B+

Deep Purple With Orchestra -
Live In Verona 2014

Any list of the world's most spectacular outdoor concert venues would be woefully incomplete without an entry for Arena di Verona.

Originally built in 30 AD, the beautifully preserved Roman amphitheatre provided a dramatic and elegant backdrop for a glorious 2011 performance from hard-rock giants Deep Purple, backed on this enchanted evening by the full instrumental might of the Neue Philharmonie Frankfort and lushly filmed for a new DVD "Live in Verona" released by Eagle Rock Entertainment.

Lending added weight, complexity and richness to a set loaded with familiar classics, the orchestra – obviously relishing the moment, playing with both passion and precision – pushes and prods Deep Purple to go for broke and drive "Highway Star," "Strange Kind of Woman" and "Woman From Tokyo" like getaway cars used in a daring bank heist. It is, indeed, the thrill of the chase that still moves Deep Purple.

Quick cutaways make the action onstage come alive, the cameras expertly capturing Ian Gillan's expressive wails and honing in with artful subtlety on the virtuoso chops of guitarist Steve Morse, drummer Ian Paice, keyboardist Don Airey and bassist Roger Glover – Morse's fluid soloing brilliance drawing most of the attention, and rightly so. And while they plow through "Knocking at Your Back Door," "Space Truckin'" and "Smoke on the Water" with the usual organ-fueled horsepower of a dependable, rugged vehicle that has a lot of miles on it, Deep Purple is at its best here when swimming in the sonorous, mystic oceania of a breathtaking version of "Rapture of the Deep" and giving a soulful rendering of "When A Blind Man Cries." Bonus versions of "Hush" and "Black Night" make this a package worth getting.

Of course, this isn't the Deep Purple of old, some of the fire of youth having understandably diminished over time, although the visually stunning "Live In Verona" proves they're still eminently capable of burning this lovely setting to the ground when properly motivated. And they are in fine form here, even if the bloom is off the rose, so to speak, when it comes to seeing Purple once again perform with an armada of strings and other classical accoutrements.
– Peter Lindblad

CD Review: Rated X – Rated X

CD Review: Rated X – Rated X
Frontiers Records
All Access Rating: B

Rated X - Rated X 2014

The old Blue Murder rhythm section is back together, only this time they're backing former Rainbow vocalist Joe Lynn Turner in a new supergroup called Rated X.

Cobbled together by Frontiers Records' Svengali Serafino Perugino, old partners Carmine Appice (drums) and Tony Franklin (bass) join Turner collaborator Karl Cochran – a guitarist known best for his work with Ace Frehley – in doing much of the heavy lifting on what is a fairly straightforward, thick-bottomed set of good, solid melodic hard rock that's often both blustery and ballsy, but can also transform into something more expansive and smokey.

At times reminiscent of full-throttle Deep Purple, with an organ spewing out swirling clouds of exhaust, this eponymous release roars out of the gate with "Get Back My Crown" and slams into the rebellious declaration of self-actualization that is "This is Who I Am," before gathering itself for another barreling charge through "I Don't Cry No More." Smoldering darkness creeps into "Lhasa" and "Maybe Tonight," two slow-burning relics from Turner's days in Rainbow that suggest his recent stated interest in a reunion with Ritchie Blackmore is to be taken seriously. And in the transcendent "You Are The Music," Rated X are awed by life's mysteries and the boundless capabilities of the human spirit in an uplifting piece of music carried on choral vocals and soaring guitars.

The musicianship is stellar, as one would expect with Appice's powerhouse drumming, Franklin's thick bass groove and Kochran's searing guitar work, not to mention Turner's still dynamic and expressive singing. Unfortunately, the songwriting is not always up to snuff, as the amalgam of tough melodies, dull hooks and faceless riffs doesn't leave much of a lasting impression. For all the sublime talent gathered together here, Rated X is missing whatever sort of glue or chemical element it is that makes for a cohesive, well-coordinated and energized unit, as Rated X plods along looking for a spark and fails to find one. There nothing terribly embarrassing about it, except for some cliched lyrics, but on the other hand, there's little here that generates much excitement either.
– Peter Lindblad

CD Review: Various Artists – Jon Lord, Deep Purple & Friends – Celebrating Jon Lord

CD Review: Various Artists: Jon Lord, Deep Purple & Friends – Celebrating Jon Lord
earMusic and Eagle Rock Entertainment
All Access Rating: A-

Various Artists: Jon Lord, Deep Purple
& Friends - Celebrating Jon Lord

It had to take place at the Royal Albert Hall, didn't it?

After all, that was where Jon Lord and Deep Purple, in 1969, famously performed the revolutionary "Concerto for Group and Orchestra," a groundbreaking work that joined the forces of rock and classical music in a surprisingly natural and organic marriage that showed the two forms are not exactly oil and water.

Just weeks prior to his death in 2012, Lord finished his remake of the composition, a labor love for Lord and an all-consuming passion that, some years earlier, made leaving Deep Purple once and for all a little easier – well, that and the fact that he'd had enough of touring.

No other setting then would do then for this extraordinary tribute to an uncommon man in Lord, as this 2014 version of the much-ballyhooed Sunflower Jam rounded up a veritable "who's who" of rock royalty for a gala all-star jam, backed by a full orchestra conducted by Paul Mann.

Cleaved into two halves, the concert, captured on a new release entitled Jon Lord, Deep Purple & Friends – Celebrating Jon Lord, offers a resounding and joyous examination of his remarkable career, in between jokes, stories and heartfelt expressions of love for the man. Two hours were reserved for a stylish, beautiful and wonderfully arranged renditions of Lord's classical music explorations, given new life by Mann and the Orion Orchestra, that comprises Jon Lord – The Composer and features three pieces from Sarabande, including a guest turn from keyboard wizard Rick Wakeman on the title track.

And then there's the Jon Lord – The Rock Legend set, where friends, colleagues and admirers remember Lord's extraordinary contributions to popular music, starting with Paul Weller and his bouncy, sweaty, horn-swaddled revivals of R&B rousers "Things Get Better" and – with a little help from Micky Moody – "I Take What I Want," recalling Lord's time in the early '60s with The Artwoods.

Glenn Hughes comes aboard for a soulful, smoky reading of "You Keep on Moving" that simply smolders with dark sensuality, following an especially poignant version of "Soldier of Fortune," with Steve Balsamo, Sandi Thom and Moody lending vocals. Perhaps predictably, a full-throttle, fiery "Burn" sets the venerable house ablaze, as Bruce Dickinson, Ian Paice and Don Airey join Hughes and Moody let it all hang out while roaring through the Deep Purple Mark III chestnut like a freight train.

Speaking of Purple, the current incarnation of the band – Airey, Paice, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover and Steve Morse – closes things out with 45 minutes of spectacular virtuoso jams, Airey in particular relishing the opportunity to grab "Lazy" by the throat and heat that Hammond organ up until it glows red. And for a finale, Dickinson, Wakeman, Moody, Phil Campbell and Bernie Marsden return to the stage with Purple to bring the house down with an invigorating take on "Hush." Somewhere, Lord is still smiling. http://www.ear-music.net/en/news/ http://www.eagle-rock.com/
– Peter Lindblad

Deep Purple tour heads to North America

Proto-metal icons out supporting 'Now What?!'

Deep Purple - Now What?! 

New York, NY (July 8, 2014)—Deep Purple, fresh off a European tour to support their 19^th studio album NOW What?!, is heading stateside for a North American trek! The tour kicks off August 4 in Scottsdale, AZ (all tour dates below).

NOW What?! was originally released in North America in April 2013 via earMusic / Eagle Rock Entertainment. The album marked the next great chapter in the band’s 40-plus year career, blending the classic '70s Deep Purple spirit with modern production and a progressive mindset. 

Having reached #1 in Germany, Russia, Czech Republic and Austria, charting Top 5 in 7 countries and Top 10 in 10 countries, not to mention hitting the British Top-20 for the first time in 20 years, Deep Purple celebrated with the release of NOW What?! Gold Edition earlier this year, which included additional songs and a live bonus disc.

In anticipation of their return to North America, Deep Purple will release their next single to radio: “All The Time In The World.”

Blazing off the success of NOW What?!, Deep Purple is ready to bring the sizzle to the States this summer!

For more information regarding this and other Eagle Rock Entertainment releases/projects, contact Carol Kaye at Carol@Kayosproductions.com. Follow us on Facebook at  http://www.facebook.com/KayosProductionsInc.

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Deep Purple US / CANADA Dates:

08/04/14    Scottsdale, AZ                  Talking Stick Casino         8:00pm

08/05/14     Ventura, CA                      Ventura County Fair       8:00pm

08/06/14    Costa Mesa, CA               Orange County Fair          8:00pm

08/08/14    Lincoln, CA                       Thunder Valley Casino Amphitheatre          8:00pm

08/09/14    Roseburg, OR                   Douglas County Fair          8:00pm

08/10/14     Snoqualmie, WA             Snoqualmie Casino             8:00pm

08/13/14     Saratoga, CA                     Mountain Winery               8:00pm

08/14/14     Valley Center, CA             Harrah’s Rincon Casino Event Center           8:00pm

08/15/14     Las Vegas, NV                  Fremont St. Downtown    8:00pm

08/16/14     Wendover, NV                   Peppermill Casino Concert Hall           8:00pm

08/20/14    Elgin, IL                             Festival Park                       8:00pm

08/21/14     Windsor, ON                     Caesars Casino                    8:00pm

08/22/14    Rama, ON                          Casino Rama                       8:00pm

08/24/14    Morristown, NJ                  Mayo PAC                            8:00pm

08/25/14     Englewood, NJ                  Bergen PAC                         8:00pm

08/26/14    Westbury, NY                     NYCB Theatre at Westbury           8:00pm

08/29/14    Biloxi, MS                          Hard Rock Casino              8:00pm

08/30/14    Orlando, FL                        Hard Rock Live                    8:00pm

08/31/14     Hollywood, FL                  Seminole Hard Rock Live Arena  8:00PM

California Breed strips down, makes musical 'Sweet Tea'

Glenn Hughes on life with his powerful new trio

By Peter Lindblad

California Breed is Jason Bonham,
Glenn Hughes and Andrew Watt

Those still mourning the death of Black Country Communion can throw away their black armbands. California Breed has arrived.

Eager to try something different in the aftermath of Black Country Communion's breakup, legendary vocalist/bassist Glenn Hughes and drummer Jason Bonham teamed up with precocious hotshot guitarist/singer-songwriter Andrew Watt to form a trio that makes swaggering, rough-and-tumble '70s-style hard rock with earthy soul and a touch of blissful psychedelia.

Tongues have been wagging about California Breed for some time now, and the interest only intensified with the video release for the strutting, Zeppelin-like first single "Sweet Tea," a sexy, riff-heavy number with strong hooks that exudes machismo. More leaked out, as the stormy, R&B-fueled "Midnight Oil" suggested a "Gimme Shelter" for the new millennium. 

California Breed - 2014

Out now on Frontiers Records, California Breed's debut album was produced by David Cobb at his Nashville studio, and Cobb's input was crucial to cultivating a forceful new vibe for these two rock veterans and their young charge, taking those elements that made Black Country Communion such a vital breath of fresh air and packaging them into something even more intoxicating and explosive. Not only that, but he somehow coaxed a wild fervor from Hughes's vocals that's animalistic and primal.

Hanging out with his five dogs in the garden, life is good for Hughes, having come through his period of addiction clean and hungry to explore new frontiers. Hughes talked about California Breed and the making of their sensational new record in this interview, while also touching on the 40th anniversary of Deep Purple's Burn and the biggest concert event for Deep Purple Mark III, 1974's California Jam Festival.

You have to be pretty excited about the new record.

Glenn Hughes: Look, Peter, if you know anything about my career, you’ll know what I’ve done, but if we look at the albums I’ve done, starting all the way from *Cathedral all the way to now, I’ve never repeated myself. Every album has been rock … okay, rock, but slightly different in content. Although Jason and I were in Black Country Communion, we wanted this band to be different in tone and recording. Although it’s rock, it just sounds different. 

In what ways does California Breed build off what you did with Black Country Communion?

GH: Listen, I’m very white. When I was 22, I wasn’t white. I was colorful, but I wasn’t white (laughs). Look man, (Joe) Bonamassa, a gentleman – no anger, no resentment – it would have been ridiculous for Jason and I to have found a guitar player who sounded bluesy like Joe, or ridiculous to have a Hammond organ player in the band, so we stripped it down. Whoever was going to play guitar, whether it was going to be this guy or you – you know, the guys I’m talking about ... we decided, “Hmmm, that would be ridiculous, because we wouldn’t be able to tour.” So I met Julian (Lennon) at – well, I’ve known Julian for 30 years – a party last year before the Grammys. He had a party and at this party was Andrew Watt. Because Julian introduced me to Andrew, and I really liked the way he was talking, I invited him to my home to write. And when he came to my home, we wrote two songs, and Andrew Watt and Joe Bonamassa are two completely different types of guitarists. You can hear that, right?

Right, absolutely.

GH: I wanted him to sound, in a trio … I wanted it to be, for all intents and purposes, Townshend, Richards, Young – right-handed guitar players. Van Halen, Malmsteen … you know, other guys are left-handed, hammer-on dudes who are really great, but I wanted to go back to an earthy playing guitar player. We didn’t know it was going to be this kid. We didn’t know this. We didn’t know he was going to be a 22- or a 60-year-old guy … didn’t know. We just got lucky. Let’s just call it “the hand of fate” that Julian introduced me to Andrew. 

What do you like most about working with him?

GH: So, he’s ambitious, New Yorker, very intelligent, great writer, great player, good singer – very, very strange combination these days to find a guy that could do all three. You know anything about me, you know that I love sharing the mic with other people, whether it’s Coverdale or Bonamassa, or anybody else I’m working with. I always try to tempt them to sing with me, and Andrew doesn’t have a problem with that. He’s a really good singer. And also Jason’s also a really good singer as well. And Jason and I didn’t want to make Black Country Part II; we wanted to make a brand-new bag, wanted to start all over again. Man, I don’t care what age you are. You can do whatever you want in today’s musicality. It’s not like you’re going to sell 10 million albums anymore. An album is a postcard for the tour, you know. It would have been ridiculous, Peter, for us to go get a famous guy to play in the band with us, because that famous guy has got his own band or his own repertoire to do. I just got really lucky the card that Julian dealt me that night – very, very lucky.        

Glenn Hughes says producer David Cobb
captured his vocals live for the
first time since 1969

Talk about your vocal performance on this record and what producer Dave Cobb did to bring it out of you.

GH: We knew Cobb was going to produce us six months before we went to Nashville. We got him in, because Dave is a fan of my band Trapeze. He’s also a Zeppelin fan, as you can imagine. And then I started talking to Dave every couple of weeks on the phone in Nashville, and he’s in L.A. I’d play him stuff over the phone. I wouldn’t send him any stuff on e-mail, I’d just play him stuff organically over the phone, kind of old school. He asked me, “Well, what do you want to do? Do you want to record this on to tape, or do you want to go …” And I said, “Let’s make that decision when we get to Nashville.” 

And we made that decision the morning of the session. We had a decision to go analog, and we all said sort of, “Let’s go analog.” And Dave said to me, “You got the lyrics?” I said, “I do.” He said, “You got the melodies?” I said, “I do. Yeah, yeah, I think I’ve got all the melodies and lyrics.” He said, “Good. How do you feel about Jason and Andrew cutting, and then you overdubbing later on the bass?” I said, “Sure. Where’s the microphone?” And he said, “You’re going to be in a booth, and let’s go record.” 

And basically, Peter, I sang to the tracks, and if anybody knows anything about Glenn Hughes, it’s never more than two takes of vocals for me. There are singers – I won’t name names – who have to sing 60 or 70 times on a song. I’m not that guy. Any more than three times, and it’s like a job, and I don’t want it to be a job. Trying to write songs is a really huge art form for me, and I like the spontaneity of making that first take. So long story short, we recorded the songs, and then I overdubbed the bass, and then I went to bed. And the next morning, I went to the studio and I said to Dave Cobb, “Now, I’m going to sing.” And he said, “Oh no, you’re not. You’ve already sung the album.” Now, he wasn’t tricking me. I knew I was recording, but I never actually questioned to myself whilst I was singing, “I wonder if this is good enough?” I was just singing, just singing, like The Beatles used to do in 1964 on a four-track. To me, when I sing … I mean, I write this shit, and it envelopes inside of me, and it just lives inside of me until I record it. Normally, Peter, the way I’ve been recording for the last 20 years, when I sing it for the first time, it’s normally the way I want it to be, whether it’s something I’m overdubbing later or whether it’s like it’s this instance where it’s done live. Hats off to Dave Cobb, full marks from me, two thumbs up from me – he really captured me completely live, and I want to thank him for that. 

There's a real swagger to this record, especially with "Sweet Tea." From your standpoint, is that what's missing from a lot of rock music today?

GH: Look, look, look … none of this music was written for Black Country. When Black Country disbanded privately behind the scenes in September of 2012, these songs were written … I think I came up with three, and “Sweet Tea” and “The Grey” the first week of March, and then I sent them to Andrew and then he would complete them, and then he would send me something that was obviously his, and then Jason would … and I said, “Guys, a band is a collaborative effort.” Black Country really wasn’t. I was working a lot of it alone. Joe was too busy, you know, and I understood that, but I think really bands, I don’t care what age you are, have got to collaborate. We’ve got to talk. I don’t like to call it rehearsing. Let’s go play, let’s go down to a room and play for a week. Let’s go to L.A. and play for a week. That’s the way we got this band together.   

What song came together the easiest on the record and which one was the hardest and why?

GH: I think “Sweet Tea” was … God, “Sweet Tea” … Look, Peter, I’m going to be honest with you, man. There was nothing technical about this album. When you listen to the songs, (sings a riff), it’s pushing full. We’re not Led Zeppelin, but Led Zeppelin was push and pull. This is life and shape and push and pull, and it’s breathy and it’s aggressive, it’s soulful, it’s harsh, it’s brash, it’s sensitive – it’s everything it started out for me in 1969. 

This album was written in the wind for me to record, with these two guys. It’s not me. This is what they’re saying. This is what you guys are saying. This could be the greatest Glenn Hughes moment in a long time, and that’s from working with these two fellows. It’s a really great moment. How can a guy who’s 62 sound even better than he was at 22? Hey Peter, I don’t know. I have no freakin’ ego. When I’m singing, I’m singing. I’m a singing fool. I’ll see for free and for fun, anywhere at any time. It just so happens that I’ve captured it. 

A lot of the stuff you’re asking is, “How do you sing that?” I was just going for it. Listen bro, we’d probably try to recapture it later, but not all of it, and I’d say, “Hey, can I sing that again?” And he said, “Don’t try it.” And, you know, he was right. The first take of Glenn Hughes is going to be that moment. If you go back and look at Jagger in the late ‘60s, he wasn’t f**king around, prancing around the microphone for hours. He was doing that sh*t live! That’s what Robert did on Led Zeppelin I, and (Steve) Marriott in f**king Humble Pie. I mean, this is my peer group. These are my friends, and what David Cobb did, he’s 43, he f**king captured me for the first time since 1969 completely live. 

I knew Steve Marriott really well. We’d talk as musicians, and we’d talk as friends. When he sang at Fillmore East, the last year he sang at Rockin’ The Fillmore, that to me is the greatest, and when he sang “Black Coffee,” that is like the shit – that’s live f**king singing, and I’m never going to be able to go back to doing it overdubbing again – never going to be able to do it, man. I’m sold on the way Cobb did it. Listen, man … Dave Cobb, two thumbs up, man. Got to be – not just for our record – but what he’s done for Rival Sons, and other people, he’s got to be producer of the year, man. He’s been great.

Take me through the day of your performance at the California Jam Festival. What are some of your strongest memories of that day and looking back, where does it rank as far as your career achievements?

GH: You know, man, we got there the night before and I’m really good friends with, because I come from the same part of England, Tony, Geezer, and Bill and Ozzy. We stayed up all night doing drugs and chicks and stuff the night before, and we went on after them that afternoon. But for the first time in history, that f**king festival … the festival was running early. So, of course, the problem we had with the Marshall stacks, we get up onstage and Ritchie had locked himself in the bloody trailer, and we had to go on, and there was a lot of aggression from Blackmore. 

You could see him looming toward the camera at one point. That camera cost us like $30,000, and that was a lot of f**king money. But there was aggressiveness to that performance, wasn’t there? There was a real brash, aggressiveness to … I mean, when the stage was on fire, and that shit went up, I didn’t actually see it, but it broke in places and glass blew him off the stage. It was really f**king gnarly. It was like … hey, we were pissed off. And lo and behold, it was just captured live on ABC, "Dick Clark Presents" … (laughs). So what are you going to do? And it’s like, some people say, “That’s all Glenn Hughes talks about.” No, I don’t. I don’t really talk about yesterday. You asked me the question. It was a really vital experience from a … we tried to … our contract says, “The band will go on at 11 minutes past 7 p.m. on April 6,” or something like that, and it was f**king six o’clock and it was still light. So it was one of those moments.    

Glenn Hughes in the studio

In 1974 you recorded Burn with the new Deep Purple lineup. What were studio sessions for that album like? 

GH: A weekend at a 600-year-old castle called Clearwell Castle in Gloucestershire, and it all sounds very King Arthur, doesn’t it? So we were the fucking … we were the first band to ever go to the castle environment and write. If you want to Google it, Clearwell Castle is in Gloucestershire, and it’s a haunted place. And we wrote – because Blackmore is nuts – we wrote in the f**king dungeon. You know, the song “Burn” is about a witch, and it’s like, “Well, how dark do you want to go people?” I’m having séances with Blackmore in my f**king bedroom, and the lights were f**king going off and on. It was f**king gnarly, man. You know, that band, with two new guys, me and Coverdale … that’s what they needed at that time. You know, if he couldn’t stand people after two or three years, he was going to get rid of them. So the plan was new. After Machine Head, they were selling more albums than anybody else, but that album was a crucial moment. You’ve got a guy in Coverdale who’s never actually been onstage before really, right? And then you’ve got me, the new guy who’d been playing with Trapeze like in America for three years, and it was quite interesting, wasn’t it? 

In what ways was it different from albums you'd record later with Purple? 

GH: Listen, Peter, you’ve got to remember what I talked about six minutes ago. Ritchie … it was difficult to work with Ritchie. It wasn’t so much that he was the leader. It was like, by the time we got to Stormbringer, he hadn’t really written much. He’d written “Stormbringer,” the track, and he hadn’t really written any more riffs. So me and David and [keyboardist] Jonathan [Lord] would like write a lot of the record, and I think Ritchie at this point is thinking about forming a band with Ronnie (James Dio). I think he was done. I think that my blues and soul influences, and David’s bluesy camaraderie put him off. I think he was going to the woods with his medieval costumes back then. I think he was into that Bach-influenced music. Of course, me and David are from the north of England, and grew up listening to Otis Redding. And Ritchie knew this. All the gang in Purple knew that David and I were soul fanatics, as Robert Plant and Paul Rodgers are blues fanatics. And they knew this going into it. And, of course, Ritchie really, really, really wanted to make Bach-influenced music, and he really didn’t come prepared for Stormbringer. So, after Stormbringer, he left. 

Had you ever worked with a mobile studio?

GH: That was the first time, and that was the only time.

Did you find it difficult?

GH: It was great, but it was a bit of a pain in the ass, too, to keep walking down flights of stairs from this like warehouse in Montreux, Switzerland. Look, look, Peter. Burn, after Machine Head ... we had to come up with something new and special. And you know, I’m so close to Burn, you know. I mean, I’m part of the album, so people talk about that album like, oohhh, you played and sang on Burn. Yeah, I did. Great, you know. I’m glad people like it. 

How does California Breed fit in the history of Glenn Hughes and what are you looking forward to most in working with this band again?

GH: Here’s what I want to do Peter, and this is what we couldn’t do with Black Country because of Joe and with fellow artists. I formed this band to make records, at least two albums. I look at things in two, I never look at things in one – though, sometimes I look at them in threes. I’m in this to make records, and I want to promote it. Me talking to you, I want to get on holy ground, which is the stage. I am, for all intents and purposes, a live – I’m a studio guy for sure – but I am a live singer. I am a live performer, a performer that lives and breathes the stage. So I found some guys that want to do the same, you know.   

Glenn Hughes says he's an "actor"
in the studio

How did “Midnight Oil” come about?

GH: Listen, you’re asking some really cool questions. “Midnight Oil” was written, and I called it “I Want to be Free,” and we felt, you know … we were going to cut the track, and then Cobb said to me, “There’s something with this track. It needs a little … maybe you should write a new lyric for it?” It’s the only song he said you need to write a new lyric for. I think I wrote a pretty good freedom track, you know, for “Midnight Oil.” Nobody’s asked this question, so it’s kind of an exclusive. I said, “Okay. So what are you thinking?” He said, “Well, what would you think about singing something with ‘burn’ in there?” And I said, “Well, it’s been 40 years since I’ve sung that.” Of course the tracks “Midnight Oil” and “Burn” don’t sound anything like each other. I just went … where it said, “I want to be free,” I sang (sings), “Let it burn, let it burrnnn,” instead of “I want to be free, ffrreee.” And it just made f**king sense. And then the verse where, you know, “I don’t stick aaarrrrouuund.” It was just fucking 1967, wasn’t it? Look, look. I wasn’t trying to be Jim Morrison, but I just put a different code on it. I like to think, when I’m in the studio, I become an actor. I can be this, I can be that. I am afraid. I am fucking fearful of a lot of things offstage. I’m clumsy, I’m a klutz, but when I’m in front of a microphone, you gotta get out of the way, ‘cause I know what I’m doing. It’s like fire, man. I just know. It ignites it. I’m not saying I’m the best or the worst, or whatever, I just know that if I’ve got a microphone, get away from me, get out of the way. And that means anybody, just because I know I’m going to deliver. This is what I’m supposed to do. 

You can hear that on “Spit You Out,” too.

GH: Yeah, it’s … look, Peter, I’ve been doing this for 45 years. I’ve been recording for 45 years and touring for 45 years. I don’t think I’ve ever been this excited. I don’t think so. Who would have thought this would happen now. And hopefully, it’ll help other members of my peer group who’ve taken the foot off the gas, whether they want to do this or not. I have an urgency in the sound of this album and the writing, you know. I don’t sing about fairies and goblins and dwarves. I sing about the f**king human condition. I sing about lust, I sing about hate. I sing about distrust. I sing about f**king gluttony, f**king fear, f**king resentment – all of it. You know, life, death, what happens in between. “All Falls Down” … that f**king song, Andrew and Jason said, “Why don’t you talk about that moment you almost died”? I’m going, “Do you really want me to do that?” And I did. And it turned out great. Give me a suggestion, I’ll f**king run with it. So I really love being in a room full of very creative people, and Cobb – call him the “fourth Beatle,” call him “member No. 4” – he was f**king insane! The guy deserves f**king producer of the year. Ask other people he’s worked with. They feel the same about him. I’m all about giving the producer some love.   

CD Review: Deep Purple – Live in California '74

CD Review: Deep Purple – Live in California 74
Eagle Rock Entertainment
All Access Rating: A

Deep Purple - Live in California 74

To borrow a phrase from Hunter S. Thompson, 1974 was the year the Mark III version of Deep Purple "stomped on the terra."

In February, after welcoming then-unknown blues howler David Coverdale and Trapeze artist Glenn Hughes into the fold, Purple released the explosive pressure-cooker of crashing rock 'n' roll and hard-bitten British soul that was Burn, which lived up to its name and then some. The old masters had learned some new tricks.

Then came a triumphant promotional tour, capped off by a rousing co-headlining gig in the spring at the California Jam Festival with Emerson, Lake & Palmer, although it's Purple's wildly energetic, high-voltage performance – previously released on DVD in 2006 and now out on CD and in digital forms from Eagle Rock Entertainment to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the event – that everyone still talks about.

Where Woodstock was a chaotic melting pot of bad acid, unabashed nudity, peace and love, gridlocked traffic, dancing flower children and stirring performances, California Jam was all business. It didn't lose money, like Woodstock did. It was the highest-grossing music festival of the time, attracting around 250,000 people. And it was orderly and went off without a hitch, serving as a template for more corporate festivals that were to come. Perhaps that's part of the reason why history seems to forget about California Jam 1974, as it goes on and on about 1967's Monterey Pop Festival or the Love Generation-killing tragedy of Altamont.

Whatever its cultural significance, there was no doubting California Jam's commitment to heavy volume, as the festival boasted what was considered the loudest amplification system ever. What better band then to test the limits of that audacious rig than Deep Purple, as hungry and as savagely brilliant as ever in this raw, but potent and lusty, recording of that momentous occasion.

Smashing through the gates, Purple plows through the frenzied title track from Burn as if intent on leaving nothing behind but smoldering wreckage, the blustery organ of Jon Lord and the tenacious guitar riffs of Ritchie Blackmore – all of it designed with bewildering complexity – trying their best to drown out Hughes' falsetto screams. It's a thrilling beginning, and Purple doesn't stop to catch their breath.

Grueling and pained, "Mistreated" writhes in its own deep and hopeless sense of loss and betrayal before turning its face to the sun, as Purple transitions from anguished growl to expansive, dream-like alienation and then opens up to slowly brightening skies. Crazed, complicated jams, like the manic episodes of a 19:32 "You Fool No One/The Mule" that find Blackmore and Lord dueling like psychotic swordsmen, are captivating and electrifying, but Deep Purple really goes to work on the earthy "Might Just Take a Life" and a fevered "Lay Down, Stay Down" – both off Burn, and both have sweat just pouring off them. Their stamina is put to an even more rigorous examination on a 26-minute "Space Truckin'" that keeps driving long after the tank has emptied, Purple growing quiet and almost jazzy before erupting like a volcano.

Live in California 74 is a vital piece of history, but it also captures, in stark relief, the creative tensions that were fueling this rebirth, with the primal, blue-collar R&B wailing, churning grooves and emotional weight of Hughes and Coverdale's burgeoning partnership fighting off the blazing horsepower of the original Purple, the Purple of Lord and Blackmore clinging to tradition and stubbornly drawing and redrawing classically inspired figures and shapes. Nowhere is this conflict more apparent than in the charged atmosphere of a sweltering, shape-shifting "Smoke on the Water," where the old guard and the new seem hell-bent on carving out their own territory and aren't above committing acts of trespass.

It would only intensify in the coming weeks and months, forcing Blackmore to reevaluate his priorities and eventually leave to form Rainbow. For this occasion, however, at the Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, Calif., of all places – ironic considering Purple's love of driving songs – they were jubilant, inspired and full of piss and vinegar.
– Peter Lindblad

Deep Purple 'Live in California 74' coming soon

Legendary concert made available on CD, digital audio

Deep Purple - Live in California 74

Deep Purple had the world by the tail in the mid-1970s. Bigger than just about anybody in hard rock, with some exceptions, of course, they co-headlined the historic California Jam Festival 40 years ago. To mark the anniversary of that life-changing event, Eagle Rock Entertainment is issuing Deep Purple Live in California 74 for the first time on CD and digital audio on April 1. 

One of the most in-demand live acts in the world at the time, Deep Purple was finishing up a 28-date tour promoting Burn when they hit the Golden State. The CD showcases the band performing before 200,000 people at the Cal Jam Festival. It was a triumphant coda to a glorious march, as the thunderous lineup of Ritchie Blackmore (guitar), David Coverdale (vocals), Glenn Hughes (bass), Jon Lord(keyboards), and Ian Paice (drums) blew the crowd away with a fiery set of songs from Burn, as well as classics like “Space Truckin’” and “Smoke On The Water.”

A legendary performance, the storied concert was previously released on DVD in 2006. The Live In California 74 album is essential stuff. To keep updated on this and other releases from Eagle Rock, visit www.facebook.com/EagleRockEnt, www.twitter.com/EagleRockNews and www.youtube.com/user/eaglerocktv.

Check the track listing. There's no filler.

Track Listing:

1.) Burn

2.) Might Just Take Your Life

3.) Lay Down, Stay Down

4.) Mistreated

5.) Smoke On The Water

6.) You Fool No One

7.) Space Truckin’

CD Review: Deep Purple – Now What?! Gold Edition

CD Review: Deep Purple – Now What?! Gold Edition

Eagle Rock Entertainment/earMusic

All Access Rating: B+

Deep Purple - Now What?!
Gold Edition 2014

At least there's still some gas in the tank. If nothing else, 2013's Now What?!, their 19th studio album, made the case that today's Deep Purple is not at all devoid of fresh musical ideas, even if they seem incapable of crafting something as instantly gratifying as "Highway Star" or "Smoke on the Water."

Shape-shifting intoxicants such as "Weirdistan" and "Apre Vous" were elaborate mazes of epic prog-rock construction, while "Out of Hand," with its sweeping strings and its exotic atmospherics, kept building and building into a majestic piece of sonic architecture. As they did in the old days, when the Mark II lineup were hard-rock royalty, Purple charged into the breach of "Hell to Pay" with youthful vigor and industrious riffs and funked up a driving "Bodyline," before falling back into the shadows with smoky, jazzy fare like "Blood From a Stone," the bluesy "All the Time in the World" and the grumbling, gnarled tribute to a horror movie icon delivered in the dark, spooky camp of "Vincent Price."  

All of these tracks made Now What?! a stylistically diverse listen, full of intriguing and dynamic instrumental passages – especially from guitarist Steve Morse, the former Dixie Dregs' six-string wizard, and keyboardist Don Airey, the two additions who weren't there in Purple's heyday. Packaged with new bonus tracks and a second disc of live recordings, a Gold Deluxe Edition of Now What?! has recently been issued, and it's available in a double CD version or a more lavish boxed set that includes a DVD with a 20-minute interview, a t-shirt, poster and sticker, and all the singles from Now What?!

The real prize here is the 70 minutes of unreleased concert performances stuffed into disc two. Also known as the "Now What?! Live Tapes," it's a rousing collection of Purple classics and newer material, played in European locales like Milan, Italy, and Rome, among others, with improvisational brilliance and high-flying musicianship that hammer these songs into sharpened weapons. Here's where the spirited gallop of "Hard Loving Man," enveloped by Airey's mushrooming keyboard spells, gathers terrific momentum, as does a driving, rollicking rendition of "Strange Kind of Woman," Ian Gillan belting it out to the back row with rawness and urgency. And it's where the slow burn of "Smoke on the Water" grows into a four-alarm fire, and a slithering "Perfect Strangers" hisses and strikes out at its prey, while "Vincent Price" turns into something more sinister and fun.

The sound is warm and clear, as Morse really struts his stuff in these live recordings, showing how adept he is at seamlessly changing character, this chameleon who can master the blues and jazz, while also riffing like a metal madman and soloing into the stratosphere. All pulling together as a powerful unit, Purple still performs with feverish enthusiasm and stunning chops. Age hasn't diminished their skills, although their bland bonus take on Jerry Lee Lewis' "It'll Be Me" may be thrown away as carelessly as expired milk, and the rare, but ultimately lackluster, B-side "First Sign of Madness" doesn't argue for being deserving of greater attention than it's already been given. There are riches to be found in this Now What?! Gold Edition, although some of its luster's been worn away. http://www.ear-music.net/en/news/; http://www.eagle-rock.com/
– Peter Lindblad