Episode #115 – Eddie Hardin – Wizard’s Convention

Link to video on Cocoscope here: https://www.cocoscope.com/watch?v=89163

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    • I’m just happy to support the show. Unlike Pod of Thunder, where I went into it as a die-hard KISS fan (as noted by my careful use of all-caps), I’ve always appreciated Deep Purple, but know very little about their history. I actually know more about (and own all of) David Coverdale’s post-Purple adventures, so going back to the beginning is proving to be an education.
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    • Flight of the Rat Bat Blue Light
      • I’d like to share an anecdote.
      • I was born in 1975, and became a huge Purple fan since in 1990.
      • Sometime in the early 90s, a man came to my parents’ house to do a paint job. He was in his late 30s, so was born in 1955 or so. 
      • When he walked in the house, he heard me playing “Made in Japan” on my bedroom stereo, and so he told me that he was a huge Purple fan back in the day and had seen them in the 70s in Québec City.
      • I asked him how the show was, and he said he was disappointed because Deep Purple had tried to “do the violin thing” at some point, and somehow screwed it up, which ruined the show for him.
      • I didn’t process this right away but it stayed with me. What could he possibly mean by “doing the violin thing”, and how could thet possibly screw it up ? 
      • I thought of Jimmy Page playing with a bow in that “Dazed and Confused” 1969 TV performance, and that perhaps, this painter had mixed up his Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin show memories; after all, there were many drugs of choice in the 70s and he looked like he had been on a few of them.
      • I kept paying attention to whether Blackmore ever used a bow on stage, in everything I read on Deep Purple. and when I got online several years later, I asked the question on some newsgroups, and learned about Randy California playing that infamous Québec City show in 1972.
      • So perhaps Randy California had used a bow on stage ? Or something that looked like it.
      • So when Robert Lafontaine’s Québec City bootleg came out on YouTube I was really psyched to finally hear this “violin thing”. It never happened. However, in one of the newsclippings, a journalist says that Jon Lord pulled some violin sounds from his organ during The Mule (collections.banq.qc.ca/ark:/52327/2639102). I listened to The Mule over and over again, and I do hear indeed all kinds of sounds, but nothing that stands out like violins. I also listened to your podcast on the subject.
      • This will forever remain a mystery – unless you heard of anything along those lines.
      • A buddy of mine (also a DP fan) and I have kept this as an insight joke all these years, so it has remained very well alive.

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Social Media Update:

A Note From Jeff Breis:

  • Butterfly Ball & Wizard’s Convention CD release from “Darker Than Blue” in 1989:
    • Originally Simon Robinson had considered doing a double album of the CD and the live concert.  The challenge was that with so many performers the royalty payments to them all would have been “financially impossible.”  He also stated that this was also an album that would have very limited interest.
    • It was decided to add “Little Chalk Blue.”
    • The decision was made to get rid of four tracks from Wizard’s Convention and feature the six tracks that featured members of Deep Purple.

Lead up to the Album:

  • The album was written or co-wrote almost entirely by Eddie Hardin.
  • The idea was to bring in a lot of friends and session musicians and make the album feel like a jam session.
  • Eddie wanted to have a lot of different people involved to help him record rather than making this like a traditional solo album.
  • In his book, ALAB, Eddie Hardin writes of the Purple Records management putting them all up on a Yacht and hanging out in Dijon and Cannes.
  • Eddie had developed a close working relationship with John Craig during the making of The Butterfly Ball and he arranged a deal with John to begin work on a solo album.
  • Eddie had hoped to work with Steve Winwood (who he replaced in Spencer Davis Group many years previously) on the album.  Eddie confesses that Steve didn’t have any idea of this and thusly he never ended up appearing on the album.
  • In “Darker Than Blue” magazine in 1994, Eddie said:
    • “During a meeting . . . I announced that I had Steveie Winwood busting to sing the first of the songs. I can only put this down to a mental aberration since at this stage I had no new songs, and hadn’t spoken to Steve for nearly eight years.”
    • He goes on to state that Purple funded these initial recordings and that he recorded the backing tracks as he wrote them.
    • He also states that he and Roger would work about three months on the album ending each evening with a party on a yacht he had purchased which was docked nearby at St. Katherine’s Dock.
  • Eddie says that the name of Winwood seemed to snowball and get other interested until the point that you get this final product.
  • In ALAB Eddie talks about recording at Kingsway, Ian Gillan’s studio (formerly De Lane Lea) and speaks very highly about Ian as a person and as a singer.  He says, of Ian: “I really liked Ian, though always found it hard to ascertain whether he actually liked me in return.”
  • Eddie describes the album as having all the instrumentation laid down and bringing in the vocalists after the fact to lay down vocals.

Personnel:

Technical:

Album Art & Booklet Review

  • In Eddie’s book he talks about having preconceived the cover: “… something along the lines of ‘A Hard Day’s Night’, with rolls of informal shots of all the musicians and singers involved. With this in mind I employed and up-and-coming socialite photographer called Corinthia [sic] West . . . who subsequently filmed the goings-on from beginning to end for a fee of £250.”
  • Eddie describes Carinthia as “Amazonian woman” who wore outrageous clothing but very little. Eddie says, “…she contorted herself into the most unusual positions to get the shots she was after. She was so sensual and frighteningly striking in appearance that not even the die-hard lecherous musicians working on the project dared make an approach.”
  • Photography By – Carinthia West
    • http://carinthiawest.co.uk/
    • Actress, model, photographer.
    • “Seventies IT girl, model, actress, journalist, photographer.”
    • Looks like she briefly joined social media (Twitter and Instagram) in 2016 then never posted again.
  • Photography By – Richard Bush (5)
    • A few other Discogs entries.
  • Original album cover
  • German reissue with wizard on front
  • 1986 (85?) UK release “Money to Burn”
  • CD reissue in 2003 remaster with new cover

Recorded at Kingsway Recorders, London. April/May 1976 (despite excess alcohol)

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Album Tracks:

Side One:

  1. The Craig Song
    • From Eddie’s site here: “The first song to be recorded was ‘The Craig Song’, this was about John Craig, a friend of mine, who assisted from conception to fruition, though I think he had reservations as to when or even if the album would ever be completed.” This is contradicted in “ALAB” where he mentions that “Swanks and Swells” was the first track recorded.
    • Lyrics seem to 
    • Vocals, Piano, Written-By – Eddie Hardin
  2. When The Sun Stops Shining
  3. Loose Ends
    • He says he convinced Roger to play bass on this track but he was “extremely put out by the presence of Corinthia [sic] West . . . who was by now literally hanging from the ceiling in her quest for an interesting and unusual angle.
    • Bass Guitar – Roger Glover
    • Drums – Les Binks
    • Lead Guitar, Acoustic Guitar – Ray Fenwick
    • Piano, Backing Vocals, Written-By – Eddie Hardin
    • Vocals – Jimmy Helms
  4. Money To Burn
    • Eddie wrote this with Ray Fenwick.  He sent David Coverdale a demo and he agreed to come and sing it.  Eddie says that “Unfortunately, he re-rwote bits of it on the plane over what started out as a melodic piece turned into Barry White kind of thing.  Still, it has proven to be one of the most popular songs on the album, so what do I know?”
    • Hardin says Coverdale demanded “mood” lighting and that he wanted to hold the microphone while he sang rather than have it on a stand. From his book: “Unfortunately, the mood lighting was so moody that he couldn’t see across the room (his eyes not having been fixed at that stage). HE careered round the studio while he sang and landed in a pile of mike and music stands during the course of the performance. In case anyone doubts this, I have it on tape! Nevertheless, David had a fine voice and the results speak for themselves.”
    • He also tells the story of Louie Austin gluing grommets and rubber things onto plate with intricate designs and threading recording tape around them.  Then he’d give them names such as “Hyperbolic Thrumplethrottler Vocal Tansducer.”  These items didn’t do anything but on one occasion he was able to convince David Coverdale who’d been unhappy with his vocal sound to use it after which Coverdale was satisfied.
    • Bass – Mo Foster
    • Drums – Henry Spinetti
    • Guitar, Written-By – Ray Fenwick
    • Percussion – Mark Nauseef
    • Synthesizer, Written-By – Eddie Hardin
    • Vocals, Written-By – David Coverdale
  5. Who’s Counting On Me
    • Eddie says Mike Smith had a great voice for rock songs and he wished he’d used him on a song of his own.
    • He said Mike D’Abo took over the reproduction and began fiddling with all the faders on the mixing board which John Acock had all set up and they lost an entire day of work.
    • Backing Vocals, Guitar – Ray Fenwick
    • Backing Vocals, Written-By – Eddie Hardin
    • Bass – Mo Foster
    • Drums – Henry Spinetti
    • Piano, Percussion – Eddie Hardin
    • Vocals – Mike D’Abo, Mike Smith (16)
  6. Make It Soon

Side Two:

  1. Until Tomorrow (Parts I-IV)
    • Eddie lists the two Glenn Hughes tracks as his favorites on the album.
    • He describes working with Glenn in his book: “Glenn was undergoing treatment in Birmingham for cocaine, alcohol and just about every other addition one could imagine. As far as I could make out, the cure consisted of simply keeping him asleep and constantly supervised during his few waking hours.
    • The  Purple office was terrified of letting him loose on a session outside of his isolated world, especially with me
    • Eddie says he was given a hard time by the office and it was suggested that he ought to find someone else to sing the tracks but he had his mind set on Glenn.
    • Eddie felt that Glenn was being totally manipulated.  He also said the irony of the situation was that Glenn was allowed drugs if it would get him through a show.
    • Eddie said that Glenn demanded whiskey and fish and chips which Eddie thought an odd combination but gave it to him and Glenn drank the shiskey straight out of the bottle.
    • He played the track for Glenn a few times and sang the melody with him.  Eddie said he sounded so good he decided to use him on the next track “Light of my Life” as well.
    • He said the sat in amazement watching him record the vocal tracks.
    • Part I
    • Part II
    • Part III
    • Part IV
  2. Light of My Life
    • Eddie lists this as one of his favorite tracks on the album.
    • Eddie says that Glenn was really happy with his performance and decided to do some harmony tracks but he’d had so much whiskey that they talked him out of it.
    • Percussion – Mark Nauseef, Pete York
    • Vocals – Glenn Hughes
    • Vocals, Written-By, Instruments [All Except] – Eddie Hardin
  3. She’s a Woman
    • Eddie describes this as a “monstrously complicated song to record.”  There were tons of edits, which you can hear if you listen.  There were several piano solos and Jimmy had vocal bits stitched together.
    • Jon Lord recorded his solo “aided by a bottle of Bells whisky.”  Tony’s solo was done with “two bottles of Bells plus a few lagers.”
    • Hardin says Ashton’s solo was a little too abstract so he brought in Rick Van Der Linden of the band Focus and they two of them shared a solo.  HE says he flew in from Holland with piles of keyboards seemingly not aware that he was only doing a sixty second solo.  However there were some interesting keyboard sounds they used on the rest of the track.
    • Bass – Mo Foster
    • Drums – Leslie Binks*
    • Guitar – Ray Fenwick
    • Synthesizer, Written-By – Eddie Hardin
    • Vocals – Jimmy Helms
    • First piano: Jon Lord
    • First piano solo: Rick van der Linden
    • Second verse piano: Eddie Hardin
    • Final piano solo: Jon Lord
  4. Swanks & Swells (Parts I & II)
    • In Eddie’s Book, “ALAB” he mentions that this is the first track they recorded for the album though he contradicts that on his website here.
    • “The second to be recorded was ‘Swanks and Swells’, this was reported at the Marquee Studios in Wardour Street with an entire Chris Barber Band and Tony Ashton’s vocal was later added at Kingsway Recorders.”
    • He describes things as having gotten a little “tetchy” between him and Pete at this point who’d joined the Chris Barber Band full time.
    • Since he used the band for the album he wanted to use a picture of Pete who asked for £1000 for permission.  Since no one else had asked for a penny Eddie left him off the cover. He says they were just happy to have Carinthia look at them even from behind the camera.
    • Eddie says he co-wrote the lyrics with Selwyn Roberts who was a close friend of Robin Nedwell, an actor on the show “Doctor.”  Selwyn came up with the title but Eddie said he’s have preferred to leave it there. He says they didn’t use much of Selwyn’s lyrics.
    • He says when he first played the backing track to Tony Ashton that “he was even more confused than usual, but after a bottle of whiskey, he threw himself into the song and came up with a unique performance.”
    • Part I
    • Part II

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Reception and Review

  • After all the vocals were done Eddie and Chas Watkins had to stitch it all together.
  • The album was released in December of 1976 and was lost in the Christmas rush.
  • There was very little promotion and it was quickly relegated to bargain bins.
  • The inclusion of so many Deep Purple related performers made it a collector’s item.
  • In Eddie’s own words:
    • I think a point to note is that all the artistes involved are still around and working, and that counts for over a quarter of a century! EACH! Think of the bands and singers over the past few months even… who were they?
    • I look back of these sessions with great affection, it was this time that I met John Acock, the engineer, who came in the last minute replace Louie Austin who went off to engineer for The Sweet… far more important. I still work with John to this day, and have just completed two new albums with him.
    • Ray Fenwick, my friend now for nearly 30 years, plaid guitar and assisted on songs then as now. We have a tremendous bond in writing songs together though on this particular album most of the compositions are my own. You can always spot Ray’s influence when the words ‘sunshine’ or ‘stormy weather’ appear! Sorry Ray.

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Episode #114 – Deep Purple – BBC Sessions (1968)

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Lead up to the Recording:

  • In 1980 Tony Edwards and EMI put together a Deep Purple archive called NEw Live & Rare.
  • Some of the recordings from the BBC sessions were licensed to be used but it would be 31 years until they saw a release.
  • After the band split up in 1976 the label was interested in releasing a lot of compilations and “best of” collections to try to continue to milk a profit out of Deep Purple.
  • As with what would become a lot of official releases there began to surface a number of bootlegs of Deep Purple on the BBC in 1968.
  • Typically BBC (and many other organizations) didn’t archive tapes and they were often reused.
  • A researcher named Ken Garner discovered that the engineers at the time also began recording a live recording at the same time the BBC was recording their copies.
  • Some of these discs were given out to local stations that had to return them after a year where they would be destroyed.
  • Fans sometimes would just record these off the radio by putting a microphone in front of the speaker as it aired.
  • In 2010 they discovered two Deep Purple sessions.  Along with some other surviving gaps they were able to put together this BBC Sessions compilation of their early BBC live performances.
  • Deep Purple recorded 37 songs during these sessions.  9 are lost or in such poor quality that they aren’t really listenable.
  • What we are about to look at started with recordings on June 18, 1968.  This was a full month before Shades of Deep Purple was released and about a month after they’d completed recording it.

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Album Tracks:

  1. Hush (BBC Top Gear – 18 June, 1968)
    1. Session 1
    2. Recorded June 18, 1968
    3. Aired June 30, 1968
    4. This session was discovered in 2010 and had been presumed lost until it turned up.
    5. Hush had already been chosen as a single which is why they opened with it.
    6. This session also contained “One More Rainy DAy” and “Help!”
  2. One More Rainy Day (BBC Top Gear – 18 June, 1968)
  3. Help! (BBC Top Gear – 18 June, 1968)
  4. And The Address (BBC Dave Symonds Show – 25 June, 1968)
    1. Session 2
    2. Recorded June 25, 1968.
    3. Aired July 1, 1968 (before the recordings from Session 1). Played one track per day from July 1st through July 4th.
    4. This was the only part of a second session that was not missing.
    5. The other tracks recorded during that session were Hush, One More Rainy Day, Kentucky Woman, and It’s All Over.
    6. No paperwork was found for this version of “And The Address.” There is some speculation that it was taped off-air.

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  • Liner notes to Deep Purple – BBC Sessions CD by Simon Robinson.

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Episode #113 – Early Covers of Deep Purple Songs

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    • Fantastic podcast
    • it’s great to hear these guys talk about this music I love so much – it makes me go back and listen to the albums all over again

Covers:

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Episode #112 – Jon Lord – Gemini Suite


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Lead up to the Album:

  • Jon Lord had been obsessed with performing rock music with an orchestra starting in the mid 60s in his previous band, The Artwoods.
  • The Artwoods had almost used the New Jazz Orchestra on their 1966 debut album then later planned on working with a German conductor but neither materialized, the latter falling apart as The Artwoods broke up before it could happen.
  • On “The Book of Taliesyn” Deep Purple brought in a string section for the song “Anthem.”
  • In 1969 on their self-titled album Jon Lord got as close to his goal as he had yet gotten when they composed “April.”  But “April” was broken up into band and string quartet parts, the two were not combined.
  • In June of 1969 it was decided that they would book The Royal Albert Hall that September and put on a Concerto with the Royal Philharmonic.  The only thing needed at that point was for Jon Lord to actually write it.
  • As discussed on previous episodes the rest of the band were not 100% on board for this project but the performance went over very well.
  • Lord: “It got us labelled as a group who’d jumped on the classical/rock bandwagon. It drew attention to us at a time when we needed it, but we weren’t expecting to be labelled as a group that plays with an orchestra.  It caused a rift int he group. What they were afraid of, and what I hadn’t seen was happening, was that people weren’t sure what we were all about. They got frightened we’d get railroaded into playing hundred of Concertos. They thought I didn’t want to play rock & roll.
  • At this point Jon Lord was largely seen as the leader of Deep Purple and this caused some resentment.
  • This almost lead to Lord leaving the band but in the end management smoothed things out and Lord assured the others he was committed to Deep Purple.
  • After the Concerto they did have to fulfill one last Concerto date in America at The Hollywood Bowl where the score was lost.
  • Lord was also commissioned to write another rock and orchestral collaboration.  The band reluctantly agreed but only if it was downplayed and that it would be the last time they would do any such thing.
  • Lord got to work writing what would have a piece dedicated to each of the five members of Deep Purple, each focusing on the abilities of the individuals.
  • The writing process happened very quickly while on tour with The Faces in America.
  • They performed it once on September 17, 1970 with the Orchestra of the Light Music Society conducted by Malcolm Arnold.
  • This time they were in a much better position than a year before with “Deep Purple In Rock” gaining traction and “Black Night” having some chart success.
  • There was no publicity for this performance.  The show was reviewed by two music magazines and it aired on British and Danish Radio shortly after the performance.
  • The feeling by Lord was that this had taken The Concerto to the next level, bridging the gap a little more seamlessly than he’d done the previous year.
  • The recording was shelved and not released until 1993.  We’ll review that on a future episode.
  • Lord said that he asked Keith Emerson to play on it and that Emerson agreed if it had time.  Apparently he did not.
  • Jon Lord did say in interviews following the concert, that he would like to record it but for now was focused on Deep Purple.  Sometime was only six months later.
  • After this Lord decided to record it again this time with Albert Lee, Tony Ashton, and Yvonne Elliman.  This was released as the solo album we are about to discuss on this episode.
  • The album was recorded at Abbey Road’s Studio One.
  • The main orchestra was recorded at Abbey Road then the band convened at De Lane Lea studio to do the rock sections.
  • Ian Gillan didn’t agree to do the recording which is why he brought in Elliman and Ashton.  They were part of the same management company and recorded with Purple Records so they would have been around at the time.  This is described as being convenient contractually but also Lord very much liked both singers.
  • Blackmore, of course, was very against the project which is why Albert Lee was brought in.
  • In Ian Gillan’s Biography “Child in Time” he describes Blackmore as going “berzerk” when he saw promotional posters for the concert. Blackmore said that the Concerto had become a “millstone around their necks.”
  • In Jon’s own words: “The music on this album was originally written as a commission for the BBC and was first performed at the Festival Hall with Deep Purple and the Orchestra of the Light Music Society in September 1970, when it was broadcast live on British and Danish radio.  I composed the Suite during the first six months of 1970, each movement being ‘built’ around the musical personalities of the members of Deep Purple. However, during the period between that concert and this recording the music grew away from the initial concept and became to my mind not so much a composition for ‘Group and Orchestra’ but, more simply, music for amplified instruments and orchestra. To this end we decided not to make it a Deep Purple project but to use specified soloists.
  • “The title is an allusion to the main characteristic of people born under the sign Gemini– The Twins, my own birth sign.
  • “Many thanks are due to all the soloists, the very fine London Symphony Orchestra, and to Mr. Malcolm Arnold, for his invaluable help.
  • A special thank you to Martin, Ian and Roger.”

Personnel:

Orchestra:

Technical:

  • Composed By, Score [Scored By], Lyrics By – Jon Lord
  • Conductor – Malcolm Arnold
  • Engineer – Dave Stock
    • Engineered the electric sections.  Not 100% sure if they were done at Abbey Road or De Lane Lea.
  • Engineer – Martin Birch
    • Mixed the album at De Lane Lea.
  • Engineer – Mike Gray
    • Engineered the orchestral sections with Phil McDonald at Abbey Road.
  • Engineer – Philip McDonald*
    • Engineered the orchestral sections with Mike Gray at Abbey Road.

Album Art & Booklet Review

  • 1973 North American Reissue
    • It’s unclear whether they didn’t like the British cover or if they thought it would be too controversial.
  • 2008 Simon Robinson Remaster
    •  
  • 2019 Ear Music Rerelease
    •  

Made and Printed in Great Britain

Jon Lord courtesy of Harvest Records

Roger Glover courtesy of Harvest Records

Albert Lee courtesy of Island Records

Tony Ashton courtesy of Capitol Records

Ian Paice courtesy of Harvest Records

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Album Tracks:

Side One:

  1. Guitar (Soloist — ALBERT LEE)
  2. Piano (Soloist — JON LORD)
    • Jon Lord says that his solo was the worst during the live performance because “I just did it for myself.  I re-wrote it for piano on the album.”
  3. Drums (Soloist — IAN PAICE)

Side Two:

  1. Vocals (Soloist — TONY ASHTON & YVONNE ELLIMAN)
  2. Bass Guitar (Soloist — ROGER GLOVER)
  3. Organ (Soloist — JON LORD)

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Reception and Review

  • Review in Melody Maker:
    • “it‘s all turned out rather splendidly.”
  • Review in Beat Instrumental:
    • “Lord seems to have blended classical and rock in exactly the right proportions, where both disciplines act as compliments to each other rather than as opponents.
  • Review in the Daily Mirror:
    • Blow the bigots! Knickers to the knockers! When Deep Purple’s Jon Lord unveiled his Gemini Suite in concert last year, the moaners had a field day. Now it’s out on LP they are already at it again. To me this album is exciting, colourful, aggressive, beautiful, inventive, virile. What more could you want?”
  • Review from Disc & Music Echo shortly after the album’s release:
    • Getting the best of both Purples
    • Jon Lord and Deep Purple seem to be finding their own musical levels, a compromise certain to draw the best from both. Purple lean far more on commercial rock, while Lord hides himself away writing large works like “Gemini Suite” (Purple TPSA7501, £2.05).
    • This is perhaps a natural extension of his Concerto for Group and Orchestra, but more than that, it is a showcase for four excellent musicians, combined with one vast depth of Malcolm Arnold’s London Symphony Orchestra.
    • It’s easy to dismiss works like this as pretentious nonsense, and equally easy for alleged classical music experts to dismiss it as diluted and unoriginal. Neither criticisms are fair nor justified. The main musical themes are well stated and play heavily on the emotions, alter the style of, say Elgar and Tschaikovsky.
    • The opus is broken into six parts — for guitar (by the superb Albert Lee), piano (Lord, drums (Ian Paice, vocals (Yvonne Elliman and Tony Ashton), bass guitar (Roger Glover, also doing a very fine job) and organ (Lord again). This album is very easy to listen to and you don’t have to be hip to either heavy or classical music.
    • Quality — excellent, Value — fine once you’re inside a rather revolting sleeve.
  • On January 4th, 1972 it was performed again, this time in Germany at the Munich Concert Hall this time conducted by Eberhard Schoener.  Everyone performed except for Yvonne Elliman who was busy with the stage version of Jesus Christ Superstar.
  • Update: this show was actually cancelled as Eberhard Schoener broke his arm in a skiing accident.
  • In October of 1973 Lord and Schoener again arranged another live performance of “The Gemini Suite.  Afterward Lord was asked to do a new piece with Schoener which evolved into Windows.

For Further Information:

Listener Mail/Comments

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