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Personal – Joe seeing only BRO tour in TX – only US gig and Morse’s third
Personnel
Don Airey
Ronnie James Dio
Craig Gruber
Vinny Appice
Ian Gillan
Jeff Fenholt
Glenn Hughes
Bob Daisley
Neil Murray
Bobby Rodinelli
Cozy Powell
Projects
Born Again
Seventh Star
Who Cares
Eighth Star
Other
Contacting Coverdale after Dio left
The End
Black Sabbath
Deep Purple
Deep Purple Trivia
Listener Mail/Comments Comments about the show? Things you’d like us to cover? We’d love to hear from you. Send us an email at info@deeppurplepodcast.com or @ us on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
Disclaimer: The video used on YouTube is a byproduct of producing our audio podcast. We post it merely as a convenience to those who prefer the YouTube format. Please subscribe using one of the links below if you’d prefer a superior audio experience.
I have just been listening to your episode on Made in Japan by Dream Theatre. I was so impressed by it that I had to find a copy . My Wife Dawn scoured the net bless her, and found me a new copy on EBay in Canada. I can’t believe how good it is. When you consider it is my favourite live of all time. The fact that they stay faithful to the album is a testament to the fact they are fans, and what great musicians they are. I thought I knew a bit about Purple until I heard what Jorg Planer comes up with. The guy is an encyclopaedia on Purple. Love the podcasts, I’m learning something new every episode cheers.
Chris
Pittsburgh Rocks – Who is “Jimmy Page” at the Butterfly Ball Concert?
It’s none other than Mark Nauseef!
Q&A Round Table:
Oiedude2013 on twitter asks:
My hypothetical question, what if Ritchie Blackmore didn’t leave after the ‘Stormbringer’ album & tour?
What would the future had been?
How long could Mk 3 have gone?
Would Rainbow have ever existed?
Laura Shenton asks:
Out of any lineup, what’s the dream team when you’re allowed to mix and match?
What’s your favourite other band to come from the DP family tree?
ConradCSteeves on twitter:
What happened to the SONIC ZOOM CD series which released live DP recordings? I was hoping for more rarities to come to light.
Robert Pontzer on Facebook:
Deep Purple is considered one of the Unholy Trinity of British Heavy Metal along with Zeppelin and Sabbath. I’m 38 and live in the U.S., but it doesn’t seem that Purple’s popularity has carried over to younger generations (under 50) the way it has with Zep and Sabbath.
I think the multi-decade delay in Hall of Fame recognition is related to this.
Why has Purple not retained relevance with younger (U.S.) audiences? Is their sound more dated (I’ve heard people point to the Hammond organ sound, for instance)?
Furthermore, there seems to be a much stronger present-day fanbase for Purple internationally than in the U.S.
Mary deeppxrple on twitter:
Do you know how Ritchie got scar on his mouth? Always wanted to know but never found answers
Brayden_11.30 on Instagram:
Could you discuss the what if scenario if Ritchie left the band instead of roger glover?
Norman Weichselbaum on Facebook:
Here’s a tricky on: Do you have any idea how Deep Purple is set up as a company? Who are the rightholders in the trademark DP? Do former guys like Ritchie still anticipate in the ongoing DP performances?
Jim Massa on Twitter asks:
What if Purple got Paul Rodgers to be vocalist after Gillan?
How would have Purple’s Musical direction changed?
Does Ritchie stay in Purple and thus no Rainbow?
Artsmithdrums on Twitter:
What if they’d taken some time off after the Machine Head Tour cycle and hadn’t been forced into yet another album for at least a year?
Simon_berglund on Instagram:
Tracklist for a hypothetical 2nd album by Mark IV? Taking songs from their solo projects.
Stephen Somerville on YouTube:
Here’s my question to yous which is a very interesting topic to know as well. This involved Ritchie and David Coverdale during the 80s. Rainbow we’re doing a show and the promoter had invited David Coverdale to come backstage in which David was really uncomfortable with it thinking that there could be trouble involved. Now your thinking that David and Ritchie never had any sort of beer, well here’s the meaning and truth behind it. During between 1980-1983 Whitesnake and Rainbow were topping the charts non stop with there outstanding rock music and were rivalring a wee bit in terms of numbers of fans there were from each party in which David loved it because he knew it would get at Ritchies nerves. So when David was backstage at this rainbow show, he could sense something weird happening by smelling something he knew before in the past during the Purple years and then out of nowhere, he got jumped on the back by a certain guitarist he knew from Purple saying to GET OUT NOW OR ELSE ILL HAVE YOU THROWN OUT. 100% certain that’s Ritchie in which they argued for a long period of time in front of people who were also backstage as Wife’s, Groopies, Managers and Fans who had VIP passes in which the argument was stopped by a rough security guard and told them to go there separate ways. So that’s a story topic I wanted to share with yous and hopefully you can use this on the Q & A video.
Ok @DeepPurplePod what’s the story with Jon’s Hammond? It looks like it has been sawed off or something? And there seems to be woody things to reinforced it? Was this tale ever told in the podcast and I totally forgot about it?
Bravo Delta on Twitter:If tommy bolin would have.lived on, what kind of music would the band have produced?Kev Roberts on Twitter:Why is HOBL so underrated? I love Black and White and Strangeways in particular. Album never seems to get any affection.Ryan M on Twitter:Favorite bands that Deep Purple have shared the stage with.Steve Hunt on Twitter:What if the “Rising” lineup of Rainbow had stayed together? Could they have been as big as Deep Purple?What if Gillan had accepted Blackmore’s offer to join Rainbow in 79? You would have had Ritchie, Ian, and Roger in Rainbow and David, Jon, and Ian in Whitesnake! How awesome would that have been?!Steve Hunt on Facebook:What if Blackmore, Turner, and Glover kept Rainbow going in the 80s?
Purple_blackers on Instagram:
Was This Time Around material from Sarabande that Glenn wasn’t supposed to hear?
Dino (@deeprainbowsnak) on Twitter says:
You guys have to talk about the Babyface project.
Peter Gardow via email:
Nate – Hope you are having a restful Memorial Day weekend. I cringe at the thought that I might be too late for the “question and answer” DPP. Well, here they are, in no particular order:
1. Strawberries, Zarye, Caldor, Newberry Comics or other place for the best place to get new stuff (in the ’80’s or ’90’s)?
2. Your father’s feet, or your father’s back?
3. Misquamicut Beach or Watch Hill Beach or “other”?
4. Best show @ Greatwoods (or Tweeter Center, or whatever it is now)?
5. Did you ever see a show at “Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel” in Providence?
6. Chock Full o’Nuts or Sanka?
7. If President Trump (or any other knucklehead) nominated Joe Lynn Turner for the post of “United States Rock’N’Roll Protector”, would you object?
8. If Carlos Santana replaced Richie Blackmore in DP in 1994 (or so), would they have renamed the band “Deep Santana” or “Purple Santana”? Would it have worked?
9. Is there a link, like to the Benny Goodman Band to DP (“Clear Air Turbulence”), to Frank Zappa (one of my favorites) at all? I have been thinking about it, oh, just figured it out, yeah, Steve Via via Coverdale (never listened to that or any other Coverdale prior to DPP)- never mind.
If I am too late, save it for later. I probably forgot a few questions that have been rattling around my head for the past 4 days. Otherwise – be safe, ave yourself a coffee milk, some Rhode Island clam chowder and a cup of coffee.
Pete Gardow
Listener Mail/Comments
Comments about the show? Things you’d like us to cover? We’d love to hear from you. Send us an email at info@deeppurplepodcast.com or @ us on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
In this episode we are joined by none other than Don Airey! We discuss the upcoming Whoosh! album, working with Bob Ezrin, his time with Ozzy and Black Sabbath, playing with Randy Rhoads and Gary Moore, Hammond organs, Ritchie Blackmore, working with David Coverdale and Whitesnake, winning the Eurovision song contest and much, much more!
Don Airey shows off his 1984 Ozzy Osbourne tour itinerary.
It was a huge thrill for us to talk about a keyboardist we’ve admired since we were kids. Imagine our reaction when he whipped out this little gem during our chat!
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Cozy left the band, not happy with the commercial direction they are going.
Bobby Rodinelli came in to replace Powell.
Graham Bonnett says that rehearsals for their fifth album were really unproductive. The only song they really had was “I Surrender” and they were just getting nothing done. Ritchie was rejecting anything they brought to him so Bonnett just decided to leave the band.
Jon Lord was publicly critical about Blackmore’s “hire and fire” approach. In Jerry Bloom’s “Black Knight – The Ritchie Blackmore Story.” Lord: “I will never understand why he had to change it. Cozy Powell was a great drummer and Graham Bonnet is an amazing singer . . . He [Ritchie] doesn’t have to fight anymore. The moment he encounters another opinion, he changes the band. So the energy might get lost in that situation. He just avoids conflict now, like the one he had with me in Deep Purple. I wasn’t about to let him have all the spotlight and that resulted in all the duels that we had, which became a trademark for Deep Purple. He doesn’t have that now in Rainbow. The only guy that used to be like that in Rainbow was Cozy Powell.”
The four remaining musicians continued to work together to write for the album without a vocalist. This may account for why each side is ended with an instrumental.
They recorded all the instrumentation in Denmark at Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen with Joe Lynn Turner recording his parts at Kingdom Sound in Syossett, New York.
Most of the backing tracks were recorded but they still didn’t have a singer. Ritchie talked to Barry Ambrosio, the same person who’d introduced Rodinelli to Blackmore, and he said, “I know this guy Joe.”
JLT, when Ambrosio asked if he was familiar with Rainbow: “To be honest with you I was completely into other genres of music. I was studying jazz guitar and I was into more like the Eagles and stuff like that . . . “
The truth is Joe didn’t believe Ambrosio at first, thinking he was playing a prank.
According to Joe Lynn Turner none of the band was around for the photo shoot and it was just members of the Hipgnosis design team dressed as doctors.
This cover was rumored to have been offered to Black Sabbath for the cover of “Never Say Die.” Apparently this company routinely would have covers they really liked and they would offer them to bands. So it had been around for a few years at this point.
Of the album title, Joe Lynn Turner says in Martin Popoff’s book “Sensitive to Light”: “We were difficult to cure; everybody in this business was, you know? IT was almost like we had this disease and really couldn’t get around it.
Glover says that it came from a dirty joke and there was nothing else behind it. Glover also claims that the title “Down to Earth” was about the band literally returning their subject matters to things of this world, boy/girl stuff, not wizards.
The lead surgeon on the cover is George Galatzin, while the back up surgeons are Peter Christopherson, Storm Thorgerson, John Blake, George and his mate. The nurse is Jill Furmanovsky.
Songwriter behind “Since You Been Gone” and . . . “God Gave Rock and Roll to You”
Peter Criss recorded “Let Me Rock You” and “Some Kinda Hurricane “ on his 1982 album “Let Me Rock You.”
Ace Frehley covered “New York Groove” on his self-titled solo album in 1978.
Bonnett says he had done vocals to this song and backing vocals before he decided to leave.
JLT says he heard Bonnett’s vocals being wiped before each track he did.
This ended up being Rainbow’s biggest hit reaching #3 in the UK charts. It reached #19 in the US charts.
Ritchie described this as “a classical chord structure, more of a Bach structure or a Handel.”
Spotlight Kid (Blackmore, Glover)
Joe Lynn Turner said that Roger Glover told him the song was about him.
No Release (Blackmore, Glover, Airey)
Blackmore acknowledges Zeppelin influence as well as Hendrix’s “Gypsy Eyes.”
Magic (Brian Moran)
According to Jerry Bloom’s book, “Black Knight” Moran was a friend of Ritchie’s
Vielleicht Das Nachster Zeit (Maybe Next Time) (Blackmore, Airey)
This was a mis-translation from the German. Later it was corrected to “Vielleicht Das Nächste Mal (Maybe Next Time)”. This is still not correct. The proper German for “Maybe Next Time” is “Vielleicht beim nächsten Mal”.
Inspired by Ritchie’s love of Germany. His first two wives were German and his first son, Jurgen.
Ritchie said it’s a very sad song about a woman who has been left high and dry and is miserable.
Side two:
Can’t Happen Here (Blackmore, Glover)
There’s a video for this one but JLT admits to them not really getting the video medium at this point. It is basically them playing live interspliced with video of weird war footage and cartoon hijinx.
Wonder if it was related to the Sinclair Lewis book.
Oddly reminds me of the “Holy Wars” video. Probably using some of the same footage.
Song is about environmental concerns.
They won an award at Cannes for the video. In Martin Popoff’s book “Sensitive to Light” Joe says he got the call back stage after a show that they’d won. He yelled over to the band to tell them and they all yelled “Fuck off!” back to him. So he yelled “Fuck off!” into the phone and hung up.
Freedom Fighter (Blackmore, Glover, Turner)
Midtown Tunnel Vision (Blackmore, Glover, Turner)
Difficult to Cure (Beethoven’s Ninth) (Beethoven, arranged by Blackmore, Glover, Airey)
Song ends with a sampled laugh from Laurel and Hardy’s “Way Out West” from 1937. It fades but on the record it was supposed to loop endlessly in the play out groove.
Reception and Review
Glover said he wasn’t quite happy with the album. He thought that the fans may not like it either. It wasn’t fully developed.
Ritchie had expressed his appreciation for Foreigner.
Ritchie didn’t care for JLT’s theatrics right off the bat. JLT says, “. . . still like to get in the audience’s face, like an American. As opposed to the English pompous Coverdale twirling mic stand routine.”
Ritchie says: “. . . he was a little bit effeminate with his projection on stage. Most of the fingers we had in the band were more hard-edged. And Joe had this way of skipping across the stage, and laying on speakers. We used to call him Judy now and again, as in Judy Garland. We’d tell him, don’t do that because it looks a little bt Liberace-ish, you know?” Ritchie goes on to say, “I uch preferred him in the studio.”
Comments about the show? Things you’d like us to cover? We’d love to hear from you. Send us an email at info@deeppurplepodcast.com or @ us on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
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I love listening to these guys. They are deep (sorry) fans, but they don’t just say everything is great. They are honest and smart and fun to listen to — every DP will enjoy this.
A Word from Our Sponsor:
Joe Lynn Turner & . . . Animals?
Lead up to the Album:
Began recording in April of 1977 at Chateau d’Herouville, in France. They ended up here because Musicland, where Ritchie had recorded his previous albums, was booked.
Tony Carey initially played keyboards and Mark Clarke started on bass.
Carey was allegedly let go because Blackmore didn’t think his improvisation was up to snuff.
Jimmy Bain was also let go. Of course Bain had been pranked by Blackmore including having his bed set on fire . . . while he was in it! Bain leapt out of bed and threw the burning sheets out the window.
In Colin’s Hart’s book “A Hart Life” he paints a different picture of the bullying of Carey. He’s a little more sympathetic to Ritchie stating that Carey was very much into drug use and that Ritchie hated drug use. He says that they more that Carey’s drug use increased, the more Ritchie tormented him. But it could been the other way around.
Jerry Bloom says in this book that Carey would be out of his room from 7am to 3pm then back to his room with the door bolted shut while everyone else recorded.
After firing Carey they couldn’t find a replacement so Blackmore hired Carey back as a session musician for the album.
Clarke was let go from the band and Blackmore played the bass on a series of demos of seven tracks. Clarke was a fingerstyle player and Blackmore insisted that a pick be used.
Australian bass player Bob Daisley and Canadian David Stone were hired as replacements where they went on a tour of Europe in the summer and fall of 1977.
They recorded and released “On Stage” before returning to the studio to finish this album.
Gruber was re-hired for about a month until Daisley came on board.
Daisley recorded three songs and Stone recorded four.
The studio, Chateau D’Hereuville was in Paris. Jethro Tull had used this studio and renamed it “Chateau D’isaster.”
It was a spooky castle and there were lots of Ouija boards and seances taking place.
Insert was a picture from a Rush concert. The banner originally said “Plymouth welcomes RUSH, touring North America 1977.” This was altered and the Rush T-shirts were airbrushed to remove the logos.
Why they didn’t photograph an audience at one of their own shows is confusing. Especially since they’d even managed to use live shots for Blackmore and Elf on their first album to give the appearance that that lineup had ever appeared live.
In Martin Popoff’s book “Sensitive to Light” he says Geddy Lee “Flipped his lid” when he heard about this.
Visit my website https://vinyl-records.nl for complete album information and thousands of album cover photos
Side one:
Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll (Blackmore, Dio)
Blackmore on bass.
Carey on keys.
This was a fixture of the live set starting in 1977.
It was released as a single with “Sensitive to Light” as the B-side. Made it to #33 in the UK charts.
Ritchie says he came up with the riff then asked Dio to sing “Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll” because it fit with the riff. He said Ronnie would probably come up with something better but he kept it. Ritchie said he was proud because he came up with a lyric for a song which was very rare.
Blackmore said he didn’t reject anything as far as lyrics.
Lady of the Lake (Blackmore, Dio)
Blackmore on bass.
Carey on keys.
Pilkington describes it as a “Fantasy Femme Fatale” tale.
Blackmore slide solo.
Blackmore does slide during the second and third verses (before and after the solo) which actually sounds almost like backing vocals.
L.A. Connection (Blackmore, Dio)
Blackmore on bass.
Stone on piano on the outro.
Thought to be written about Tony Carey leaving the band for a second time.
Was released as a single and made it to #40 in the UK charts with “Lady of the Lake” as the B-side.
It was the only other track from the album to make it to the live set.
Daisley said this song was Rainbow trying to be Bad Company.
Song was about Tony Carey leaving the band. Dio said that he and Powell had to beg him to come back. They resumed playing vicious pranks on him and he was stopped at the airport when he left by an anonymous tip someone called in that he had a kilo of cocaine on him so he was stopped for hours.
Gates of Babylon (Blackmore, Dio)
Daisley on bass.
Stone on keys.
Song is about someone getting their soul taken away from them and being sent to hell.
Song was inspired after a seance.
David Stone says that he and Martin Birch wrote the mid-section one night. He was told by Bruce Payne he’d get a publishing credit but they just gave him a check because they claimed it was too much paperwork.
Track was never played live. Blackmore claimed, much like with Stargazer, that it just didn’t sound right.
Dio would later perform this live as well as Stargazer.
Last track to be finished for the album.
Often described as “Zeppelin-eque”
Blackmore said in an interview with Guitar Player in 1978 that this was the best guitar solo he ever did.
Side two
Kill the King (Blackmore, Dio, Powell)
Stone on keys.
This was already well known from the live release the previous year.
Carey said that they had this song by the end of the Rising sessions but it came in too late to be included on that album. This is why they’d released it on their live album before recording it for Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll.
The Shed (Subtle) (Blackmore, Dio, Powell)
Blackmore on bass.
Stone on keys.
Originally titled “Streetwalking.”
Riff is comparable to “God of Thunder” by Kiss.
In Pilkington’s book he says the title is a reference to Chelsea FC’s football stadium Stamford Bridge. The area behind the goal was known as “The Shed” where the violent people tended to be. Not sure if he’s referencing the fans or the players. Blackmore was a Chelsea fan growing up. Dio did the title as a sort of in joke.
The (Subtle) is supposed to reference the guitar intro.
Sensitive to Light (Blackmore, Dio)
Song about a woman who is trouble when you’re with her.
Rainbow Eyes (Blackmore, Dio)
Blackmore on bass.
Carey on keys.
Blackmore showing his love for medieval music.
Lyrics were written by Dio about his wife Wendy. The song was about Wendy’s eyes which seemed to change color.
Allegedly Dio’s departure from Rainbow may have been party due to Wendy’s relationship with Blackmore.
Blackmore said he did not like Dio’s vocals on this song.
Ronnie apparently called Ronnie’s ballad voice “girly” which is maybe why he later resurrected this song for Blackmore’s Night.
Reception and Review
Ritchie said in an interview with Sounds that they were trying to make this a “Party LP.”
Stone only stayed throughout his one album.
Dio and Daisley talked about forming a band when they left. Instead Dio went to Black Sabbath and Daisley formed a band with the recently departed Ozzy where he wrote a lot of the music and lyrics to the first two Ozzy albums.
Comments about the show? Things you’d like us to cover? We’d love to hear from you. Send us an email at info@deeppurplepodcast.com or @ us on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
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Previous to Tommy being in the band they’d been a power trio with Joe Walsh on guitar/vocals.
The band went through six other guitar players before Joe Walsh joined. Phil Gialombardo was on keys and vocals with a slight overlap with Joe Walsh taking over vocals.
Their first album had Tom Kriss on bass before Dale Peters joined for the remainder of the band’s existence.
Jim Fox was the only original member that stayed throughout the band’s history.
When Joe Walsh left they hired Dominic Troiano and Roy Kenner to take over guitar and vocals respectively. Both had been members of the Canadian band, Bush.
They did two albums with Troiano.
Drummer Jim Fox said that they weren’t happy with the direction the band was going but Bolin joining gave them the energy they were looking for.
In interviews Jim Fox has noted that Troiano was a great guitarist but never really clicked with James Gang.
Walsh recommended Bolin. The group was familiar with him from his work in Zephyr. Later they would discover “Spectrum” and fall in love with that album as well.
Dominic Troiano was a great player but he had a strong R&B style that the others felt didn’t work well with the band. He could play rock but his heart wasn’t in it.
When Joe Walsh recommended Tommy that was pretty much good enough for the band.
Their road manager, Roland Paquin, picked up Tommy from the airport. As a joke he told Tommy that if he wanted the job he had to explain to the band how important R&B was to him and tell them that his favorite artist was Al Green. Jim Fox said in an interview that their jaws hit the floor when they heard this but they all had a good laugh.
Jim Fox said that Joe Walsh and Dominic Troiano could play anything. The difference was that Tommy could play it and mean it. The others could play it if it was requested.
The original picture was of Domenic Troiano on the right. They couldn’t reshoot the album cover because all the props had been disposed of so they simply added Tommy Bolin’s face over Toiano’s.
Listener Mail/Comments Comments about the show? Things you’d like us to cover? We’d love to hear from you. Send us an email at info@deeppurplepodcast.com or @ us on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
