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Loved your podcast burn isolated tracks. Always loved this album and have hear it thousands times but I hear parts of the song I never hear before. Keep up the good work
Marlon
Neil Priddey says in his book “Purple Records 1971-1978”: Roger Glover collaborated with guitarist Ray Fenwick for an attempt on the charts with a disco track. Needless to say it didn’t achieve its objective.
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Nate guest hosts on upcoming episode of “Gain it for Riffs”
Apple Podcasts Reviews
From the UK!
2020-05-02
Karvek
5 Stars!
Lockdown Living
Connected with the DPP over the last few months through the podcasts and twitter. Listening during my journeys to and from work have given way to easing the monotony of lockdown fever. Not much is more fun than discussing all things Purple so really enjoying catching up on all the episodes. We seem to have a different take on what appeals to us most, I’m more into the MkII and III era than Mk IV and beyond though I do love that stuff. Just think it’s moving further away from what I see as being classic purple. Anyway, after so many requests for reviews I thought I should front up and submit one. Loved the Rising episode so much as John reached excitability levels that made me concerned for his well being. I don’t blame him though as I completely agree. Keep doing your stuff guys.
Lead up to the Album:
In the Fall of 1967 David Givens met Candy Ramey in Aspen Colorado. She was the washboard, harmonica player, and singer for the Piltdown Philharmonic Jug Band. They were playing at a location known as The Abbey and another known as The Leather Jug in Snowmass Village.
David didn’t think much of it until one of his roommates told her she’s found a new hero who happened to be Candy from the jug band. David went to see her again with his roommate and was remembered their previous meeting.
In 1968 David was arrested in connection to the death of one of his friends. First he was charged with his murder then later with possession of marijuana.
On February 29, 1968 he met up with Candy again. A friend had offered to get him out of town in relation to the charges he was facing but he wanted to stay and see how things went with Candy.
They stayed together for the next 16 years. David was 19 and Candy was 21.
They started playing together and jamming. They met Tommy Bolin when he was traveling through town.
Candy and David decided to get married after being together just a few months.
One night Tommy came to see their band play and sat in with them and David said it just clicked.
They met up with a drummer named Robbie Chamberlain.
John Faris joined Tommy. They’d had a band named Ethereal Zephyr. They decided to drop the “ethereal” part.
They started playing 6-7 nights a week. The band did a lot of charity work early on.
Barry Fey became involved when they went to play for him at his partner’s club. Barry told them they were great and assured them they were on their way to success.
Barry arranged for them to play in San Francisco in a couple of weeks then L.A. where some “big shots” from the music business would be there. Barry wanted to be the band’s manager at this point as he was beginning to work on concert promotions.
“We were diligent, we worked hard. We recorded basic tracks which Bill edited down to acceptable lengths and then we started overdubbing vocals, guitar solos and B3 solos. Tommy and Candy performed take after take. We had fun, Tommy, Candy and I sang backup vocals together. And then we mixed it. Bill was falling asleep at the console night after night and the resulting mixes lacked focus, to say the least. We were not happy with the results.
And for forty some years, I’ve been angry about it. Then, earlier this year (2013), producer Greg Hampton called me up to discuss his idea that we should fix the album and re-introduce Zephyr. He fixed the mixes and now, for the first time, you can hear what we heard before everything went wrong. I’m happy with the reults [sic].”
This was written while they set up in a night club during and early club gig. Candy always called David “Huna Buna” and Tommy thought it was funny. Tommy and Candy started trading verses.
Hard Chargin’ Woman (Tommy Bolin, Robbie Chamberlin, John Faris, Candy Givens, David Givens)
Based on a Zap Comix character named “White Man” or “Whiteman” who was a parody of a white-middle-class businessman. One of his sayings was “I’m a real hard charger.”
Givens says this song gave birth to Tommy’s Echoplex.
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Reception and Review
David Givens says that on the first album they listed Barry Fey as a “friend.” They thought this was a nice way to honor him. He said Barry was furious and never forgave them. David says Barry expected to be credited as executive producer.
Givens says they were a live band and had a hard time adapting their set to the studio.
Reviews:
Concerning reviews of Zephyr‘s debut: I only have one, written in the 90ies by Jim Sheridan. Sadly no contemporary review. Here it is:
ZEPHYR (1969 self titled)
Zephyr, the self titled debut from the legendary Boulder band was Tommy Bolin’s major label recording debut. The band’s youth, and the limited nature of the recording capability, is somewhat apparent, as is lead vocalist Candy Givens’ flamboyant Janis Joplin fixation. Though barely 19 at the time of recording, Tommy’s precocious musical capability is very apparent on this album, in his playing AND his writing. He gets co-songwriting credit on 5 of the 8 cuts, including the album’s epic 7:43 opener “Sail On” and the equally grandiose closer, the 9:18 “Hard Chargin’ Woman.” “Sail On” travels all over the place, veering into heavy progressive rock/ jazzy sections that recall the Allman Brothers, Vanilla Fudge, and, interestingly enough, Deep Purple, in the wailing vocals and grandiose B-3 Hammond organ stylings. Fans of San Francisco acid-rock sounds will find this release very appealing. The blues are given an electrification of serious proportions! “Boom-Ba-Boom/Somebody Listen” begins with a VERY tasteful instrumental and leads into a Led Zep/“Since I’ve Been Loving You”-ish blues. When compared to anyone, Tommy is usually compared to Jimi Hendrix, but this work finds his playing and arranging perhaps closer to Jimmy Page and the British school of blues playing. However, one listen to the outro solo of “Raindrops” makes it clear that already his own distinctive playing voice had emerged.
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.
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.
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Patron News:
JJ Stannard
Nah I’m kidding. Tell you what though, something you might find interesting. My dad Terry (who passed away a couple of years back) was a drummer, and one of the records he played on was the 1977 album by Young & Moody (Bob Young and Micky Moody) which was produced by Roger Glover. Dad was also in the band Kokomo with bassist Alan Spenner, who worked with David Coverdale and played on the 1970 Jesus Christ Superstar album. Small world, eh? Love the podcast, keep up the good work!
Nate guest hosts on upcoming episode of “Gain it for Riffs”
Apple Podcasts Reviews
2020-05-11
From the UK!
5 Stars!
Gus_McCrae
Highway Stars
Deep Purple In Rock is where it started for me – I built a record collection by exploring the influences of the best hard rock band of them all. Purple were head and shoulders above Zeppelin and Sabbath and the rest – and these guys get it. Really enjoying hearing a US perspective on Deep Purple from presenters who understand there is more than Smoke on the Water. And, a year late to the party, there are over 50 episodes for me to catch up on. Great stuff.
Lead up to the Album:
Ian Gillan was out to rejoin Deep Purple.
Bill Ward had worked hard and gotten himself out of the depression he had been in.
The thought after Gillan left was to get a virtual unknown on vocals. One name thrown about was Ron Keel of the band Steeler.
David Donato was also given a shot but only got as far as recording a few demos.
Jeff Fenholt was also considered.
Bill decided after getting sober that he needed to leave for good.
Eric Singer was recruited to take his place as drummer.
Geezer, who admitted to boozing pretty hard during the Born Again tour was also out.
So now Tony realized that this group of musicians assembling was not really Black Sabbath at this point.
Dave Spitz, who had worked with producer Glixman in the past joined the band as bass player.
Iommi says the original idea was to use ten different singers but he “ended up using Glenn on all of them.”
Iommi says he and Glenn were both going through pretty major drug problems at the time.
Glenn and Geoff Nichols didn’t get song writing credits for the most part. Glenn was because of contractual reasons.
Glenn says Dio and Halford were also considered when Iommi was considering multiple singers for the album. David Coverdale and Robert Plant were also considered.
Glenn says Glixman was also undergoing a huge drug problem and that he and Glixman didn’t get along.
Glenn claims to writing a bulk of the lyrics with some help from Nichols and Glixman.
Engraving was done on copper and was called “The Temptation of Saint Anthony.”
On the back of the album cover, you can see a copper-plate engraving print by the 16th century German painter Lucas Cranach the Elder. The engraving was calledThe Temptation of Saint Anthony and shows, of course, the story of the Saint in the desert.
Lucas Cranach the Elder (German, Kronach 1472–1553 Weimar) The Temptation of St. Anthony, 1506 German, Woodcut; second state of two (Hollstein); sheet: 16 1/16 x 11 in. (40.8 x 28 cm) The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Junius S. Morgan, 1919 (19.52.17) http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/404502
Iommi stands saddened on the album cover, as a parallel to his namesake Saint Anthony standing alone in the desert of Egypt.
All music and lyrics by Tony Iommi with additional lyrics by Geoff Nichols, Glenn Hughes, and Jeff Glixman.
Side One:
In for the Kill
7/4 time signature.
Lyrics are about Vlad the Impaler and Armageddon.
Glenn said this wasn’t one of his favorites. Called it “demon and drug stuff.”
Could be he’s comparing the battle with drugs to a battle with demons.
No Stranger to Love
Gordon Copley plays bass on this track.
This song was issued as a single.
They shot a video for the song and that’s where the shot of Tony on the cover of the album comes from.
The video has Bing Crosby’s niece, Denise, in it.
Turn to Stone
Sphinx (The Guardian)
Lyrics from Nicholls.
Seventh Star
This song was most inspired by the Egyptian Saint Anthony (251-356), who developed Christian monasticism, leading the ascetic life of a hermit in the desert, in an endeavor to rid himself of the temptation to sin and attain spiritual peace and oneness with God.
Geoff Nicholls wrote lyrics for this song about the death of his mother.
Glixman wrote lyrics about the death of his dog in place of Nicholls’s lyrics.
Tony Iommi opted to go with Nicholls’s lyrics instead.
In Memory
Written about Tony’s father who had just passed away.
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Reviews:
Hughes tells a lot of contradicting stories about himself writing more of the lyrics than Nicholls claims. He also admits to being in very poor health and very foggy so there’s probably a lot of inaccuracies. He also admits to only really remembering showing up in the studio and singing the parts.
The ensuing tour only lasted five shows.
Hughes got into a fight with John Downing, Black Sabbath production manager, that dislodged Hughes’s eye socket sending it into his sinuses, bruising his face, and damaging his throat.
Hughes says “Somebody asked me, ‘Is there anything in your life you would like to erase?” He said that he would erase those five concerts.
Hughes says he was having issues with his voice and the injuries from the fight made it worse and he felt horrible going on stage singing in front of more than 10,000 fans knowing he couldn’t sing and he couldn’t cancel the show. He says he was very grateful to Ray Gillen for stepping in and saving him the embarrassment.
Hughes says he also didn’t like singing the old Sabbath stuff because he doesn’t believe int he devil and he doesn’t like singing about the devil.
Hughes also says that he believes that Black Sabbath belongs to Ozzy Osbourne and it doesn’t sound right when other singers sing his songs.
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.
Nate guest hosts on upcoming episode of “Gain it for Riffs”
Apple Podcasts Reviews
2020-08-11
Willy P65 – 5 Stars!
From Great Britain!
Think you know all about Deep Purple? Think again!
These guys (host, Nate Beaudry and “sidekick/wing-man” John Mottola) come at the catalogue, history and appreciation of Deep Purple from a very different place than I do. Being Americans, a decade or so younger than me, and predominantly Coverdale/Mk.3/Mk.4 fans, this 50-something Brit, most fond of all the Gillan eras, does find himself raising an eyebrow at their outlook on a regular basis. But for every opinion I disagree with (nothing wrong with that!), or incorrect fact (few and far between really – and the guys don’t profess to be experts, just passionate fans) there are 4,5, or 6, nuggets of information that I wasn’t aware of, plenty of nods of shared appreciation for Deep Purple’s brilliance, and tons of minutiae around the product, people, and places related to the wider DP family output. They’re like a couple of buddies I’ve never met (Perfect Strangers, if you will) that I thoroughly enjoy spending time with, shooting the breeze over our mutual passion.
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