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BreisHeim with the rare Shades of Deep Purple release from 1987
All 5s!
80s Hit
John
“Faith” by George Michael – 1987
Nate
“Ain’t Nobody” by Rufus (featuring Chaka Khan) – 1983
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ain%27t_Nobody
Recent Track within the Last 5 Years
John
Harry Styles – 2019
Nate
“Baby I Don’t Know (Oh Oh) by Vulfpeck
Wild Card
John
“Santa Lucia Luntana” by Giuseppe Di Stefano
Nate
“Numbers” by G. Love and Special Sauce – 1999
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphonic
Q & A
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.
Hi guys! Just wanted to check in and let you know you I just discovered the podcast and have downloaded every episode. Obviously I’m a big Purple fan, as well as, all the branches of the family tree. Already listened to the first two episodes and now I have to keep going and refresh my memory on the early Purple that I don’t really reach for often.
One other thing…..you guys have to be from Rhode Island. First episode I heard you guys mention Great Woods, The Strand and that record shop in Apple Valley near the old movie theater I think. I’m a Pawtucket native so its cool to hear a local podcast.
Looking forward to getting through the episodes and rediscovering all the Purple.
Here’s a shot taken in the Pub at Stowe of the band playing and singing Christmas Carols for whoever cared to listen. There was a little drinking involved, of course!
This was during the writing sessions for House of Blue Light in December 1985. The album was recorded at the Playhouse in Stowe a few months later.
Roger, Ian G., Jon and Ritchie. Charlie Lewis in the background.
Christmas card… No its a deep purple non official release from Poland. Its a flexi disc in mono and playable on one side. You fool no one & a track by Demis Roussos. Comes in 4 different designs
Back in the early 80’s I bought a Teddy bear for my 3 year old sister for Xmas. I told her it was called Ritchie Blackmore. Over the next couple of weeks my young sister would climb into my parent’s bed at night with Ritchie Blackmore in tow….
One day in a local small grocery stall, as we stood in a queue to by sister, very loudly proclaimed ” Would you like to sleep with Ritchie Blackmore mammy? I don’t mind if you want to sleep with Ritchie Blackmore, ‘ Most of the people who turned around knew my dad Geraint
Deep Purple are a Christmas band for me. I got so much Purple for Christmas. Battle Rages On may not be a Christmas tune to you… so why can I always picture myself listening under the tree?
Isn’t Pictures of Home the ultimate Christmas Covid song? I’m alone here With emptiness eagles and snow Unfriendliness chilling my body And screaming out pictures of home
In 1978, as a ten-year-old boy, my parents made me a wonderful gift for Christmas. It was a small radio recorder. Instanty I started to discover the world of rock music. Two days Iater I listened to my first DP song: Child in Time. I’ve been in love with the band ever since!
Rich Shailor: Nothing at All sounds like a Christmas song
Nate – as I was driving home this evening I was thinking, I can share something I make, using my grandfather’s coppersmith tools and supplies – a Deep Purple Perfect Strangers logo ornament. It is not done yet, but will be ready for when Santa comes and visits on Christmas. Hope I make the cutoff – Pete
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.
Firstly, I hope you and your families are keeping well in these troubled times. We will all remember 2020 as a really terrible time for everyone but hopefully next year will be when we can get back to normal.
Firstly, I am 62 years old and I have never been on Facebook, Twitter or any other social media site so it is quite a leap for me to contact you. I was prompted to do so after the last couple of your podcasts during which you mentioned the lack of recent reviews on Apple podcasts. I posted one on 19th October and I noticed another fan ( named “ Well Disguised“) had also posted a review recently. By following the link to Apple podcasts on your site, there are a number of reviews, but if you go direct via the Apple app, there are a number of other reviews. This seems strange to me, but maybe this is the way Apple works.
In any case, I gave a very positive review as I have enjoyed your podcasts tremendously during this difficult period. I first became seriously interested in the music of Deep Purple (and a lot of other bands) at the relatively late age of 15, in 1973. Your reviews and discussions of all the “old stuff” I used to listen to have renewed my enjoyment of this great music. Personally, I prefer The Mark II version, but I also rate “Burn” as the equal of anything that the Gillan/Glover era produced (sorry but I think “Stormbringer” is Burn’s evil twin. I know you like this album a lot but I remember the disappointment I felt at the time when I first listened to it in late 1974).
Your podcasts have really been one the few positives for me this year, as I have gone back to the start and listened to almost every episode. Growing up in a working class area of Glasgow in the early/mid seventies was not always great and whilst as kids we weren’t exactly forced to work up chimneys, we weren’t rich either. Sport and music were really important and I know now that I was really lucky to live though a time when a huge amount of creative music was being released. For me, it was all rock music and not at all defined by genres the way it has been for many years. So, it was easy to like diverse music by Deep Purple, Genesis, Pink Floyd, Free, Bad Company, Jethro Tull, Yes etc. It was all just great music.
I have tried to be as brief as possible ( I could have said so much more!) but I wanted to let you know much enjoyment I have taken from the Deep Purple Podcast. I really like to listen to you go off on tangents. You are obviously long time friends and it’s nice to hear you talk about your shared experiences in Providence, Rhode Island. I was watching a quiz show on TV recently and one of the questions concerned a Providence tourist information film in 2016 which had to be withdrawn because it showed footage of landscapes in Iceland instead of Providence. That made me laugh.
Please keep up the great work and stay well and safe.
All the best,
Robert (OldBloodsuckerBob) Smith from Glasgow, Scotland.
Glover had been so busy producing and with Rainbow that he didn’t have much time for anything else. However, in 1983 he found some time to get into the studio and get to work on Mask.
This seems to be called “The Mask” almost exclusively, even in the CD release liner notes, despite the fact that it says “Mask” on the original album cover.
The album was released in June of 1984.
The label put some heavy promotion behind it and the title track saw release as a single. However, it was launched a few months ahead of Perfect Strangers and got a little lost in the mix.
Personnel
Bass guitar, lead vocals, other instruments – Roger Glover
From the album Mask, this song was written whilst Colin Hart was driving me to Le Studio, near Montreal. Rainbow had recently recorded there and Nick Blagona, the resident sound engineer, having seen some of my poetry, encouraged me to do a solo album. At first I demurred but he offered me four days of studio time on the understanding that only if something came of it, I would have to pay them. I took with me a few guitars, a sequencer, drum machine, and some half-baked ideas. It became obvious that I needed help so Nick introduced me to two local musicians, Joe Jammer on guitar and Jean Roussel on keyboards, who played on a couple of tracks. Eventually, I completed the album in New York. I couldn’t quite believe that the record company then offered to make a video (it was a time when MTV was huge), so I wrote the storyboard for it. Colin Hart and I flew to Los Angeles where I met some great people who helped make the video. Shot in two locations; the swimming pool of a house overlooking the city, and then at a wild animal training park a couple of hours from LA. I spent an amazing four days pretending that I was a film star. As you know, that fantasy didn’t last long. But the memory has.
RG
Fake It (Glover)
Side Two:
Dancin’ Again (Glover, Gellis)
You’re So Remote (Glover)
Hip Level (Burgi, Gellis, Glover)
Don’t Look Down (Glover)
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.
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We last left off with the “Clear Air Turbulence” album.
Gillan found himself at Island Records (we talked about Gillan playing pool with Bob Marley). Former Uriah Heep singer, John Byron, also found a home there.
There seemed to be a distinct effort to make a harder rock approach after “Clear Air Turbulence.”
Scarabus came only six months after Clear Air Turbulence.
The goal on Scarabus was to bring a harder-rocking offering. Clear Air Turbulence focused a lot on the musicianship, Scarabus was to put more of a focus on Gillan’s vocals.
Covers for XTC, Sex Pistols, Phil Collins, Wham!, Peter Gabriel
The witch on the US sleeve comes from a movie poster for a 1976 horror movie called “The Witch Who Came From The Sea.” That was based on a painting by Frank Frazetta.
Did covers for Molly Hatchet, Nazareth, and Yngwie Malmsteen.
All songs written by Gillan, Towns, Fenick, Gustafson, Nauseef.
Side One:
Scarabus
Twin Exhausted
Poor Boy Hero
Gillan takes a look and processes the death of Elvis Presley, one of his childhood heroes.
Mercury High
Single with Mad Elaine as the A-side. Released in January of 1978. Did not perform well.
Pre-release
Side Two:
Slags to Bitches
Apathy
Mad Elaine
Single with Mercury High as B-side. Released in January of 1978. Did not perform well.
Country Lights
Fool’s Mate
Reception and Review
Scarabus didn’t have a huge splash when it was released. 1977 saw punk and disco coming to a rise and hard rock had fallen a little out of favor.
Mad Elaine/Mercury High single did not perform well being released in January 1978 getting lost in the post-Christmas time period.
A five-track single-sided sampler was released to radio stations featuring Scarabus, Twin Exhausted, Slags to Bitches, Mad Elaine, and Fool’s Mate.
After the album release only Gillan and Towns would remain and they would reform as Gillan, focusing on the harder-rock direction they started with Scarabus.
In Child in Time Gillan says: “Although I was with fine musicians and great mates, the only thing they did not take seriously was rock ‘n’ roll, the whole group idea seemed to be about making music in a complicated and tricky way, instead of dealing with rock the way it should be — simple.”
Gillan admits that he had “no real control over the band.”
Nauseef would go on to work with Thin Lizzy, Gary Moore, and Phil Lynott solo.
Gustafson left to work with Gordon Gilstrap, who interestingly enough did an instrumental album called “The Peacock Party” which was based on the sequel to “The Butterfly Ball.” Gustafson also worked with The Pirates and many other groups. Additionally he’d recorded a solo album called “Goose Grease” in 1976 which didn’t see an official release until 1997.
Gillan speaks fondly of Gustafson, referring to him as one of his heroes from the Mersey Beats and complimenting his writing of the bass line on “Love is the Drug” by Roxy Music.
Ray Fenwick continued to be a prolific session guitarist.
Gillan tells a great story about Ray Fenwick being asked in Japan to sign a baby.
Island records, which had the rights to the Ian Gillan Band material, took advantage of Deep Purple’s reunion in 1984 buy issuing a best of album in 1986 called “What I Did On My Vacation.”
When Scarabus was released on CD it featured a nine-minute live version of “My Baby Loves Me.” It featured Ian Gillan Band and Gillan material.
Gillan says that the critics seemed to like Mercury High, Twin Exhausted, and Slags to Bitches but that the band was having trouble shaking the “jazz fusion” description.
Island was not pleased with the sales for Ian Gillan Band. Part of the deal in leaving Island was that Gillan got to recover his catalogue and put it into Clear Air Music Publishing.
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.