Month: August 2022

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Album Tracks:

1. Ramshackle Man (Blackmore, Gillan, Glover)
   • Ian Gillan in RAW: “Biographical. ‘Green Onions’-type thing that we would have done in the early 70s.”
2. A Twist in the Tale (Blackmore, Gillan, Glover)
   • Ian Gillan in RAW: “It could have turned out really different. It was so intense, but took on an almost Country feel. I started off singing a ‘Fireball’ thing, but then I thought better of it.”
3. Nasty Piece of Work (Blackmore, Gillan, Glover)
   • Ian Gillan in RAW: “Roger wrote it. I don’t know about whom.”
4. Solitaire (Blackmore, Gillan, Glover)
   • Ian Gillan Music World Magazine: “I also like the song ‘Solitaire’. It’s funny how things workout in the studio. I couldn’t get off on this song at all whenI first heard the backing track. It reminded me of The Shadows’ ‘Man Of Mystery.’ I started doing some vocallines and it didn’t gell with the track. When I finished the words I sangit an octave lower, to see if it would work. Then I sangit again, an octave higher, and they accidentally left the two tracks on together during the playback,and it was a startling effect. They’ve Left it that way and it works really great.”
   • Ian Gillan in RAW: “A cold and lonely song which I thought sounded too much like The Shadows originally. I eventually warmed to it!”
5. One Man’s Meat (Blackmore, Gillan, Glover)
   • This supposedly came from the song “Stroke of Midnight.”
   • Blackmore really loved the original version.
   • Blackmore said this one was originally called “Lonely For You” and was the one he wanted done exactly the same as what Joe Lynn Turner did.
   • Jerry Bloom states that this is often cited as the weakest track on the album.  He mentions that it is utilizing the “L.A. Connection” riff from Rainbow which had also been reworked for “Tite Squeeze and this was the third reworking of the riff with Joe Lynn TUrner’s “Stroke Of Midnight.”
   • Ian Gillan in RAW: “Quite a fresh approach, with loaders of melody. If you use a proverb it’s nice not to use it cheaply. I deliberately don’t say ??? is another man’s poison’ anywhere, although I did write ‘one man’s meat, is another man’s aching butt.’ A cheap shot, but that’s Rock ‘n’ Roll!”

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Bustin’ Out The Spreadsheet

Reception and Charts:

• The album peaked at #21 in the UK charts and #192 in the Billboard Top 200.
• Gillan said in an interview with Rock World Magazine that there was a conscious effort to avoid screaming on this album.  “When I recorded my solo album ‘ Naked Thunder’ I wanted to get away from the screaming. On ‘Tool Box’ I probably went over the top.”
• Blackmore and Gillan were very candid in their interviews following the album’s release.
• Blackmore repeatedly talked about how good the album was without the vocals and how he wished you could hear the songs like that.
• Gillan: “The Battle Rages On was a job, not a labor of love.I was presented with an album that was finished . . . I was singing on tracks that I had no input in. They were not my songs.”
• Blackmore also stated very openly that he didn’t want Gillan back in the band.
• Gillan said: “We’ll put it to test on the road. It depends how well the tour goes down and that depends on the guitar player. He is, as you know, an unusual sort of person. He’s not only canceled almost everything to do with the launch of this record, he’s not even heard the songs yet. But those eccentricities are all part of the game. THe bottom line is the man can play.
• Gillan traveled separately and had his own dressing room. “I’ll see BLackmore for two hours a day as we walk on stage. If I see him just looking down tot the ground as he does sometime, I’ll just get on with it.”
• Blackmore: “Although none of us will ever be the best of friends offstage, it’s an explosive gelling of individuals, which hits the button on stage and on record.”
• Gillan in Rock World Magazine: “IsRitchie difficult to deal with? Oh yes. Most definitely. He’s not only canceled almost everything to do with the launch of this record, he’s not even heard the songs yet. But those kind of eccentricities are all part of the game. It would be very boring otherwise. The bottom line is that the man can play. I used to find it extraordinarily irritating and it drove me crazy. Now it just tickles me, and I wonder what prank he’s up to next.What huge obstacle is he going to put in our path next?  If we can’t get around it, that will be the end of the band again. But if we can climb over it, or smash our way through it, then we will proceed.”
• The group was set to receive an award called the NordoffRobbins Silver Clef lifetime achievement award at a ceremony in London. Gillan, Glover, Paice, and Lord all showed up but at the last minute Ritchie decided he didn’t want to go.  Glover was very upset at Ritchie’s reasoning: “We were only going to get an award for turning up!”
• At this stage with these interviews Blackmore and Gillan had spent almost no time together so it was fixing to be a very tense tour.
• In an interview in Metal CD Magazine (August 1993) this is the one with the famous picture of Ian Gillan wearing a shirt reading “I HEART Richie [sic] Blackmore.”  Gillan says: “Another album? I shall have to think about it. One thing Ritchie and I do have in common is a mutual love and respect for all Deep Purple. If it goes well and they want me to stay . . . I’ll probably just screw him up by saying no!”

Reviews:

• Darker Than Blue Issue #45, July 1993
  • Well, it’s dangerous to get too excited (we are getting on after all!), but there does seem to be something happening here.The title track doesn’t bode well; though all the right ingredients are there, it sounds like there hasn’t been much thought given as to how to use them. A lively guitar solo then cuts in, preceding an interesting instrumental passage, and after that the track gains a certain musical grandeur. ANYA heads off in the “Perfect Strangers” or “Spanish Archer” direction, although sadly they seem to have chickened out of developing this into the epic that is certainly there for the taking. Wth Jon on harpsichord and Ritchie on acoustic, we get some Romany strumming before the riff cuts in. It hits hard. Then, suddenly, you’re mentally pulled up: isn’t that the “Stranded”riff?
  • Side 2 kicks off with RAMSHACKLE MAN, with the band laying down some tight, heavy, bluesy rock. Good stuff from Jon again, and when Ritchie takes over later on the feel is there, so that the last section really moves. “I used to be friends, but now I’m second-hand” Ian sneaks in at one point. TWIST IN THE TALE is a fast moving cut with Ritchie chuggin’ away, some great drumming, and a vocal bite which adds to the power. For my money it deserved to be the opening cut. There’s a curious but hugely inventive end section that naturally deserved to be developed; just bass, splashing drums and weird guitar, but it’s as if nah, it’s too adventurous, cut it. And they do. I think above all, that’s what really has hurt most about the whole reunion, a seemingly wilful refusal to stray from anything but the expected course. Yet in the moments when they do, as here, you just know they’ve got it in them to reinvent hard rock all over again. NASTY PIECE OF WORK also begins to move ahead, a menacing heavy bassy noise, dirty guitar, and Lord chucking his weight about, cracking stuff. The trick of fading in Ian’s scream right out of the Hammond is a treat. SOLITAIRE is a good solid powerful piece of work, with Lordy again taking the honours towards the end. Great vocals, with a sort of low register double tracked effect- “I’m dancing with strangers, fighting with friends”. We’re left with an album that genuinely threw me. I’d expected it to flounder, and it would be easy to dismiss it as another lashup of old riffs, but there is, despite the obvious problems of uniting a fractious group of individuals, some very enjoyable work here. In terms of overall power and cutting edge, I think the sound probably leaves the previous reunion cuts standings.

• RAW Magazine – 21st July, 1993 (Submitted by Patron Will Porter)
  • In Too Deep
  • “Some things will never change . . . Deep Purple will always make the album that’s expected of them. Accomplished. Professional. Same as the last one. The music, style and production will remain untouched until the end of time, and only the names of the band members seem to change.
  • Sadly if you ignore the obvious fillers and the MAgnum-style “Time To Kill’, the only other highlight on Side ONe is the bouncy “Auya [sic].” But even then there’ll be a nagging doubt that you’ve heard the melody elsewhere. The creative juices are finally during up.”
  • “Deep Purple are still the same stalwarts of Rock – egomaniac Ritche B lackmore will come up with vintage solo after vintage solo; Ian PAice will never let that archetypal beat waver; and Jon Lord’s distinctive Hammond flurries will continually warm the heart – but there’s a fine line between classic and rehashed. When does ‘time-honoured’ become repetitious or ‘definitive’ slide toward predictable? The riffs to ‘A Twist int he Tale’ and the more pedestrian ‘Solitair’ are good, but vaguely familiar.
  • The dinosaur tag will hang around Deep Purple’s collective neceks like a millstone. And no matter how you package them they’ll always be a bunch of old geezers playing safe. No harm in that, but no fun either.
  • Three stars
  • Sean Tyler

• Q Magazine – September 1993 (Submitted by Patron Will Porter)
  • DEEP PURPLE
  • The Battle Rages On
  • RCA 43211 5420
  • Heavy rock’s Burton-Taylor, Deep Purple once again welcome lan Gillan backto the fold. But will the old magic return? And if not, is being fired three times from the same band some kind of record?
  • Like postwar Britain, the Purps have lost an empire but have yet to find a role. The Battle Rages On, however,is their most persuasive bid yet to recover the colonies, being a return to the basics of balls,
  • brutality and flash that vaulted them to the toppermost over 20 years ago. Thetitle track stomps Eye Of The Tiger territory somewhat gingerly, but thereafterthey juggle riffology and filigree boogie to some effect. An undoubted asset, Gillan’s voice is strangely muted in the mix, and even Ritchie Blackmore reins in the spanksmanship for the sake of streamlining. Mostly, the fusion of Gillan’s fire, Blackmore’s
  • ice and bassist Roger Glover’s lukewarm water, the songs throw up afew green shoots despite a recently fallow repertoire: Time To Kill punches the air con brio while Ramshackle Man bulldozes along on that mean and moody Green Onions riff, Jon Lord’s Hammond organ aptly stealing the show. No Machine Head, but at least a partial return to form.x x x
  • Three stars
  • Mat Snow

• Metal CD Magazine (August 1993) (Submitted by Patron Will Porter & Doug MacBeath)
  • Had this album just followed on from Gillan’s last efforts with the band, namely ‘Perfect STrangers’ and ‘The House Of Blue Light’, it’d be considered a par for the course outing that strays little from the sound nyou’d expect. Gillan disguises the fact that the passage of time has handicapped his vocal apbilities in a reasonable manner by not attempting anything beyond himself; Blackmore and Jon Lord produce their trademark sounds, although they’re hardly stretching themselves; while bassist Roger Glover (who in his capacity of producer and mate of both Gillan and Blackmore plays the mediator in this little scenario) and drummer Ian Paice perform with the competence that’s guaranteed but without delivering anything spectacular.
  • What emphasises the averageness of this whole affair, however, is Purple’s last ‘Slaveas and MAsters’ album. With Joe Lynn Turner’s AOR-tuned voice, Blackmore cultivated a relatively contemporary looking Purple, with Jon Lord’s traditional organ sound preventing it from becoming another RAinbow. With ‘The Battle Rages On’ they’ve simply taken a predictable step backwards, and the songs – of which ‘Anya’, the typically Gillan-esque ‘Nasty Piece of Work’, the title cut and the bluesy “Ramshackle Man” are the most memorable – are too undistinguised to compete seriously with their past.
  • Two and a half stars
  • Kirk Blows

• Kerrang – 10th July 1993 (Submitted by Patron Will Porter)
  • Under the circumstances, ‘The Battle Rages On’ (an ironic title, perhaps?) is a good record. After a quarter of a century, DeepPurple sound amazingly strong. The rumbling title track and the old-fashioned rock ‘n’ roller ‘Ramshackle Man’ are especially vibrant.
  • At their best, these cunning old foxes can still craft fine classically-styled Heavy Rock, as on the epic and insidious ‘Auya [sic],” which borrows a little from ‘Stranged’ By Blackmore’s Rainbow. Blackmore riffs and solos with typical good taste and economy, while Jon Lord puts in a sterling performance on the Hammon organ! An old tart he may be, but Gillan doesn’t sound like he’s marking time here.
  • Deep Purple’s last album, ‘Slaves and Masters, featured journeyman Joe Lynn Turner on vocals. It seemed like a bitter end for the band, but Gillan is back yet again and PUrple live on!
  • The band’s fans and accountants weep with joy.
  • KKK
  • Paul Elliott

• By Sylvain Cormier, Le Devoir (Montréal), August 21-22 1993 (Submitted and translated by Flight of the Rat Bat Blue Light)
  • Singer Ian Gillan can’t stand lead guitarist Richie Blackmore anymore, whether in effigy or in caricature. Jon Lord would gladly drive Ian Gillan’s head through the Leslie amp of his B-3 Hammond organ, just to see if it would change its sound. Roger Glover, because he’s nothing more than a bass player, could never have his say, but he ruminates thoughts that one can only imagine homicidal. Ian Paice would gladly behead everyone with his cymbals. The last time they reunited (in 1984) and separated (in 1988) after a deplorable overhaul of Hush, their 1968 success (adapted in French by Johnny Hallyday and Jenny Rock), they all swore to each other that they would never be caught working together again. Unable to keep their word: Deep Purple, the original band in full force, is back once again, with a phony album to deceive. Because it is indeed a question of nickels and dimes: young hard-rock fans who would pay dearly to see Led Zeppelin reunited, and frustrated because Robert Plant won’t even consider it, have money to spend. Album, tour, program, t-shirts, posters: the temple mechants are here.
  • (Sylvain Cormier is an idiot – but not entirely without comedy value)

• Le Soleil (Québec city)(Submitted and translated by Flight of the Rat Bat Blue Light)
  • A good hard rock album
  • by Michel Bilodeau, Le Soleil (Québec city), August 08th 1993
  • No matter the motives behind this Nth chapter of the Deep Purple saga, The Battle Rages On… turns out to be a good hard rock album.
  • This disc will certainly not make history, but Richie Blackmore and company prove to be more inspired there than when creating Slaves and Masters.
  • The Battle Rages On…! Hint to the atmosphere reigning within the band ? At least that’s what some rumors suggest. Gillan’s return did not necessarily take place under the sign of reconciliation.  Surprisingly this does not prevent the group from delivering the goods.
  • All interested parties find their interest since the release of The Battle Rages On… coincides with the tour marking the band’s 25th anniversary.
  • The straight rockers supported by the metronomic drumming of Paice get the lion’s share. Talk About Love, Lick It Up, Ramshackle Man (which almost recycles Booker T. and The M.G.’s Green Onions) and Anya hit the nail on the head. 
  • Despite some weaker moments, such as Time To Kill (appropriate title !), the batting average of Blackmore and his accomplices is good.
  • Not the imprint of a classic but a disc which stands in line with of Perfect Strangers.

• Hell Patrol by Bill Peters (reprinted in Darker Than Blue) (Submitted by Jim Collins and Angelo Abele Mutinelli – original publication unknown
  • “Critics think the alternative/grunge sound is so ‘cool’ right now but exactly what will bands like Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam and Monster Magnet be doing in the year 2015? Probably working as stock brokers or insurance agents I presume . . . some of you reading this may not even be 25 years-old yet yourself!
  • The two key elements involved here are Ritchie Blackmore and Ian Gillan. Gillan’s voice, Blackmore’s guitar . . . Malmsteen can play faster, Vai can play flashier and Eddie Van HAlen looks cuter, but no one has written better songs over the past 25 years than Blackmore. He is the world’s greatest hard rock/metal guitarist – second to none. Gillan’s vocals sound as good as they did on his 1992 solo album ‘Toolbox.’ It sounds as though te’s out to prove once again what an incredible vocalist he actually is.  His voice is in such top-notch form I half-expected him to launch into a chorus of ‘Child in Time’ at any moment while listening to this record . . . This album picks up right where 1987’s “House of Blue Light” left off . . . Of the 10 selections presented, 6 are excellent, 3 are good, and 1 poor.  ‘ Solitaire is an absolute classic (in every sense of the word) and should be a mainstay of their live set for years to come. Highlighted by Jon Lord’s keyboards and Gillan’s haunting chorus, ‘Solitaire’ is a track that sticks with you long after repeated listens. ‘Nasty Piece of Work,’ laying a downright illegal dirty in-your-face sounding groove, sounds like something found on the ‘Fireball’ album and should go over well with older fans. Other standouts include the heavy, anthem0like title track, the classically inspired ‘Anya’ the bluesy hard rock of ‘Ramshackle Man’ and the high speed ‘A Twist int he Tale.’ Blackmore is in fine form throughout the album, playing his classically-inspired guitar as only the master can, and scoring big with tasty memorable solos and irresistibly catchy rhythm parts. The problem with so many of these so called 90s ‘Guitar Gods’ is that they do not know how to write a song. Technically they’re great but there’s NO HOOK! The only downside to ‘The Battle Rages On’ is the sappy sounding commercial filler ‘Lick It Up’ (downright embarrassing guys!) which was probably written to satisfy the whim of some A&R geek and a few borderline CHR-ish chorus’ on ‘Talk About Love’ and “Time to Kill.’ Fortunately for the later two, Blacmore’s heavy riffing and Gillan’s aggressive verse passages save the songs, making them quite listenable and not too much of a nuisance. The press will tell you it’s not ‘cool’ to like Deep Purple. Tell them all to f*#k off!!! 25 years from now, your kids will ask you “Alice in What??? Who were they?”

• German MINT Magazine by Andreas Schiffman (Translated from German by listener Michael Joseph)
  • Three years after the much-discussed Slaves and Masters the hard rock flagship returns with a mediocre record. On The Battle Rages On, you can hear, under which circumstances it was recorded. It is not good enough for the classic line up of a band to sound the most convincing when obviously copying itself. In addition to that, most of the songs on the record sound the same. Especially Lick It Up, Talk About Love and One Man’s Meat are built around rather weak structures, whilst Ian Gillan is – as on his last two solo efforts – not in great shape when it comes to lyrics. Anya may be a little over the top but is the only timeless piece on the album. This is mostly because Blackmore’s genius as a lead guitarist and soloist comes through one last time in the context of the band. Considering that this is the band’s swan song, the LP doesn’t hold up too well. In hindsight, though, this Nasty Piece of Work is better than it had been considered to be back when it was freshly released.

• Guitar for the Practising Musician (sent by Chris Clark)
  • Perfmrance: Heavily churning.
  • Hot Spots: “Nasty Piece of Work,” “Lick It Up,” “Talk About Love”
  • Bottom Line: Still raging righterously, 25 years on
  • For album number 25, heavy metal forefathers and scions Deep Purpel haven’t done anything new or different.  That means “The Battle Rages On…” offers churning, big -riff, guitary-busy rock as dinosaurian and dated as it is thunderously fresh. Back in the bickering fold is singer Ian Gillan, whose deep croak has lost none of the screech that influenced new metal singers like Axl Rose and Layne Staley. Basis Roger Glover co-produced (with Thom Panuzio), giving Ritchie Blackmore’s riffs the appropriate deep-bass ballast. Fifty-two-year-old (!) Jon Lord lays a devilish dose of roiling organ on the title cut and on the delicious darkness of “Nasty Piece of Work” to rework the classic Purple sound. Ian Paice beats the hell out of his drums. And the guitar of Mr. Blackmore rages and stirs up spindly blues and rock lines as if he’d never retired half a dozen times. The Battle is loaded with beefy riffs that easily pull you in, and the band still throws mock classicisms into its dark brew as if to remind us all of who was in on the birth of heavy metal back in ‘60s. With minor weak moments (the KISS-like pop metal of “Time to Kill”), “The Battle Rages On…” is both a vintage flashback and a shiny new ride worth taking. Touche, Black Sabbath.
  • -B.M.

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For Further Information:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Battle_Rages_On…
• https://www.discogs.com/release/869442-Deep-Purple-The-Battle-Rages-On
• http://www.deep-purple.net/DPASmags/dtb45.htm
• Darker Than Blue Issue #45, July 1993
• Child in Time by Ian Gillan
• Black Knight: Ritchie Blackmore by Jerry Bloom
• The Complete Deep Purple by Michael Heatley
• Smoke on the Water: The Deep Purple Story by Dave Thompson
• A Hart Life by Colin Hart with Dick Allix
• Deep Purple – Nasty Piece of Work by Jerry Bloom
• https://www.thehighwaystar.com/graphics/funstuff/puzzle/
• Help from the archives of Jeff Breis
• Help from the archives of Will Porter
• Help from the archives of Flight of the Rat Bat Blue Light

Extra Thanks To:

• Jerry Bloom
• Angelo Abele Mutinelli (@tiaensch on Twitter)
• Doug MacBeath
• Chris Clark
• Alex Jes 
• Jim Collins
• Martin Ashberry

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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Apple Podcasts Reviews:

• I love mags
• From the UK
• 5 Stars!
• Great fun podcast on Deep Purple
• I wrote this review several months ago, okay sometime last year but I forgot to send it ! So here it is ; I found out about this excellent podcast by accident & I absolutely love it. It’s a great fun listen, I absolutely love the natural humour. I’ve only played a few episodes so have loads to catch up! The House of Blue Light review was very interesting. I saw Purple on this tour at Wembley London UK. On that eve Blackmore refused to do an encore! So Lord and Glover played lead. It was definitely an interesting version of Smoke on the water! Having seen Gillan in mind blowing vocal form (the band) live in 81, it was noticeable Ian had lost some of his range/power by 87/88. Overall he was/is still great. Keep up the great work, thank you! Ps The latest “Accidentally on Purpose” episode was excellent, I had forgotten how good this album was. Like you l appreciate it more now. I bought it when it came out & wasn’t sure I liked it back then 🙂

Whitesnake Live in Illinois September 1, 2022!

• Sadly the show was canceled on August 5, 2022
• https://whitesnake.com/usa-tour-cancellation-announcement/

Postcards From The Edge . . . OF CONNECTICUT!

• Peter Gardow writes in about important matters: The Golden Girls!

Deep Dive Podcast Network:

• Deep Dive Podcast Network
• Sabbath Bloody Podcast
• Skynyrd Reconsydyrd
• The Deep Purple Podcast
• T-Bone’s Prime Cuts On The Other Side
• In The Lap Of The Pods
• The Magician’s Podcast
• Hawk Binge
• Maiden A-Z
• Diary of the Madmen
• Universally Speaking: The Red Hot Chili Peppers Podcast
• Metal Gods Podcast
• The Podcast Will Rock
• Back Tracks: Aerosmith Revisited
• So Far, So Pod . . . So What!
• The Tom Petty Project

Lead up to the Album:

• Many factors were cursing the Mark 5 lineup as they toured in the early 90s.
• Firstly, the changing tastes in music (not limited to but including the rise of the Grunge era) contributed to this lineup’s shows not being as well attended and its album sales not as high.
• In Europe with the fall of the Soviet Union the audiences were so eager for any rock shows that they still tended to do well in the Eastern part of the continent.
• The band’s iconic image and legacy helped keep it afloat in these uncertain times.
• At BMG they were not happy with the current direction of the band.  Joe Lynn Turner’s presence seemed to give the band more of a generic impact, not the impact the classic Mark 2 lineup had.
• In November of 1991 they began work on their new album at Greg Rike studios in Florida.
• Turner says: “We’d come out with some great tracks and they’d all turn round and say ‘It’s awful’ . . . Singing with those guys was a dream come true and a nightmare waiting to happen.”
• Colin Hart paints a different picture of what the tour was like rounding out Slaves and Masters.  He describes one off gigs in eastern Europe and an overall “awful” feeling.
• Colin says that Bruce Payne “always knew when to orchestrate the changes.”
• Colin describes dwindling tour receipts, lack of interest of promoters.
• Colin booked the band into BEarsville STudios in Woodstock, New York to be begin working on the new album.  The studio was built by Bob Dylan’s manager, Albert Grossman.
• They recorded some material through January of 1992 but eventually reached out to some outside songwriting help from Jim Peterik, the songwriter behind Survivor.
• Roger Glover was not happy with this move as he saw his creative input in the band at stake.
• Joe Lynn Turner had a more positive take on the relationship with Peterik.  He decitbises some “really cool stuff” they’d written such as songs entitled “Lost In The Machine,: “the STroke of Midnight,” and “Little Miss PRomiscuous.  He says “We were just ripping it up with social statements, and all that kind of stuff. We were sort of becoming like an angst band,but with a commercial attitude, and a lot of great music!”
• Roger recalls the songs, “Just Don’t Call It Love,” “Put Your Money Where Your Moth IS”  “Vicious Circle of Friends and says “it was a great idea never brought to fruition, I have a demo somewhere.”
• There was a fair amount of talk about 1992 being the 25th anniversary of the band and this, along with previously stated reasons, was another excuse to demand a change for the band.
• Apart from Blackmore the others in the band felt Joe’s style was not good for the band.  Earlier there had been initial contacts with Gillan’s management about such a reunion.
• Gillan, however, was not the only option they explored.  Blackmore had really been interested in Mike DiMeo, the singer of the band Riot.
• Mike DiMeo: “Ritchie Blackmore asked me to join Deep Purple! That’s the stuff that I like to sing, you know. I was supposed to sing on “The Battle rages On.” I had started to work on that record with Roger Glover. I only worked with them for about three months before BMG pulled the plug. They divided they wanted Ian Gillan to do the twenty-fifth anniversary. I have those same songs on a CD with me singing on them.”
• Roger Glover says that they worked with DiMeo at a studio in Connecticut.  He said “it was okay, it wasn’t too great. At least I wasn’t convinced . .. Ritchie really liked him, however.  I don’t know what was said between them. I never heard about him again, until now. I still have the tape somewhere, so there’s no danger of it ever being released.”
• Lord, who usually was one to ‘ go with the flow’ was in a different mood this time around.  Blackmore received an ultimatum to accept Gillan back on board.
• It took a lot of convincing by the label, and seemed to largely be in the form of a huge cash payout for Blackmore to accept this deal.
• The payout to Blackmore was allegedly in the neighborhood of $2 million. Some said that Ritchie, who was going through his third divorce at the time, may have accepted the offer largely because of the financial burden this was putin gon him.
• Blackmore says he was simply “outvoted” and asaid “I’ll go along with that.”  Blackmore said they needed a scapegoat and Joe was it.
• Glover was given the task of convincing Gillan to come back.  It seemed to take only one phone call and a few days of consideration before he came back.
• There was a slight hesitation, possibly because Gillan once famously said, “I’d rather slit my throat than sing with that band again.”
• Gillan had put together a four piece band called Repo Depo with Leonard Haze (drums), Brett Bloomfield (bass), and Dean Howard (guitar).  They’d toured in South America and were the final lineup of the Garth Rockett/Gillan reincarnation.
• Phil Banfield, Gillan’s manager, was frustrated with Gillan not immediately going abc to Deep Purple and threatened to quit which Gillan said finally got him to accept the offer.  Gillan said he loved Repo Depo and was very sad to leave it behind.
• Colin Hart describes Roger Glover flying to England with demos of the new material to see if Gillan could still sing at his previous level, an audition of sorts.
• Gillan describes the disgust he felt upon realizing he was being auditioned and that his entry back into the band was not a given.
• Gillan had to take it all in that he knew he was re-entering the band against Ritchie’s wishes.
• Gillan’s two releases while on hiatus from Deep Purple included “Naked Thunder” which saw lackluster sales and “Toolbox” did better but was nowhere near ths ales he saw tih Deep Purple.
• IT was then on to Red Rooster Studios in Tuntzing, Germany.  They then returned to Bearseville Studios then to Orlando at Greg Rike STudios.
• Tensions between Gillan and Blackmore were immediate.
• Colin Hart describes showing Ritchie the biggest suite in the main guesthouse at Red Rooster Studios for him to stay in.  He said Ritchie’s first question was “I want to see where Ian and Roger are!”
• Most of the backing tracks were already done.  Gillan had to come in and write new lyrics and record new vocals over what was already existed.
• Blackmore, of course, preferred the original recordings done with Joe Lynn Turner.
• Blackmore, despite accepting the ultimatum and the alleged payout was not happy.
• Blackmore said they had a song called “Lonely For You” (not sure if this evolved into something else on the final album) that he claimed woul dhave been a number 1 single.  E went to management and insisted Gillan sing it exactly the same.  He said management agreed and this would be a condition of Gillan returning.  When Blackmore spoke to Gillan he said he didn’t know anything about this arrangement.  Blackmore said, “That wasn’t Gillan’s fault, it was management’s.”
• Gilland Glover worked together in the studio to rewrite and rerecord lyrics.  While there had been other times in their history when people were in the studio at different times this was the first time that the band had recorded such a large segment without eh whole band working together.
• Mick Wall wrote in Metal Hammer (August 1993) that there was no real communication with Ritchie and Gillan when meeting back up again.  There was no “Hello” or greeting, they just had a quick discussion about the stongs then Blackmore played football and hung around for a bit before going back off to America.  Gillan and Glover finished up all the lyrics and vocals in about seven weeks.
• Gillan, in Rock World, about recording at the studio in Orlando, Florida: “I really enjoyed that. It was near a lake and I went out canoeing every morning. I went swimming and everyone was waving at me from the shore. I had no idea there was a dangerous alligator chasing me!”

Core Band:

• Bass – Roger Glover
• Drums – Ian Paice
• Guitar – Ritchie Blackmore
• Organ, Keyboards – Jon Lord
• Vocals – Ian Gillan

Technical:

• Producer – Thom Panunzio
  • Ritchie: “I was at this club in Florida and I heard this track by Joan Jett. It had a very big sound to it and it was done by Panunzio, and it was so loud so I thought maybe we should use him.”
  • Panuzio started as an engineer at The Record Plant in NEw York City.  He also worked at The Hit Factory and Rhinoceros Studios.
  • In 2003 Thom joined Universal as an Executive Senior Vice President and head of A&R for Geffen.
  • Worked with Joan Jett, Iggy Pop, Alice Cooper, Patrick Swayze, The Reverend Horton Heat
• Producer, Mixed By – Roger Glover
• Production Manager – Raymond D’Addario
• Tour Manager – Colin Hart (2)
• Tour Manager [Travel Manager] – Diane Murphy
  • Deep Purple manager from 1987 through 2001.
• Engineer – Bill Kennedy
  • Worked with Megadeth, The Tragically Hip, and Nine Inch Nails
• Engineer – Hans Gemperle
  • https://www.metal-archives.com/artists/Hans_Gemperle/518425
  • Worked with a number of German acts.
• Engineer – Jason Corsaro
  • Worked with The Cars, The Clash, and Gary U.S. Bonds
• Engineer [Assistant] – Darren Schneider
  • Worked with Living Loud, Steve Morse Band, The Hoochie Coochie Men
• Engineer [Assistant] – Devin Emke
  • Had a career working mostly with jazz musicians.
• Engineer [Assistant] – John Siket
  • https://soundbetter.com/profiles/3845-john-siket
  • Worked with Sonic Youth, Phish, Dave Matthews Band
• Engineer [Assistant] – Mark Conese
  • Engineer and drummer
  • Played drums on Roger Glover’s “Mask” album
• Engineer [Assistant] – Mike Reiter*
  • Has a production credit on Frehley’s Comet’s “Second Sighting” album  – Discogs lists him as having a writing credit as well but cannot find anything to back that up
• Engineer [Assistant] – Peter Beckerman
  • Worked with The Ramones, Dr. John, and Rusted Root
• Engineer [Assistant] – Wally Walton
  • A short entry on Discogs

Album Art & Booklet Review

• Design [Package Design] – Reiner Design Consultants, Inc.
  • http://reinerdesignconsultants.com/
  • Grammy award winning graphic design firm formed by Roger Gorman in 1984. They worked for Cameo, Madonna, Aerosmith, David Bowie, Metallica and Queensrÿche, among others.
  • Designed Metallica’s “$5.98 E.P. – Garage Days Revisited” “…And Justice For All,” Queensryche’s “Operation: Mindcrime,”
• Graphics [Dragon Graphic] – James Grashow
  • http://www.jamesgrashow.com/
  • He is a well known New York wood sculptor and artist.
  • Did the album cover for Jethro Tull’s “Stand Up.”

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Album Tracks:

1. The Battle Rages On (Blackmore, Gillan, Lord, Paice)
   • This song is said to have been formed from the original title “Lost In The Machine.”
   • Ian Gillan in RAW Magazine, July 21, 1993: “It’s archetypal Purple, but very 90s with it, very expressive. It flows very naturally and is one of the few tunes where you feel that Jon Lord was involved in the writing. Roger’s lyrical idea was that when the Berlin Wall came down everyone felt it was the end of trouble, but at the last count there were 26 wars going on around the world.”
   • Gillan in Metal Hammer (August 1993): “That song is basically about Yugoslavia and the futility of trying to make love when all people want to do is kill each other. IT’s an indictment of hate. But, of course, people see the title and immediately think it must be about us, which is why we rather wickedly, I suppose, made it the title of the album.”
2. Lick It Up (Blackmore, Gillan, Glover)
   • It’s suspected that this song blossomed from the demo called “Little Miss Promiscuous.”
   • Ian Gillan (In Rock World Magazine – August, 1993):”We hadn’t been together for a long time, when we made that one. On the new album I think ‘The Battle Rages On’ and‘Lick It Up’are really 1990s rock and get right in the groove. Apparently there’s a Kiss song called ‘Lick It Up’ but ours is nothing like it.
   • Ian Gillan in RAW Magazine: “I had no idea Kiss had a track of the same name, although i hear it’s nothing like it. It just felt dirty to me, and it’s my favourite track on the album.”
3. Anya (Blackmore, Gillan, Glover, Lord)
   • Glover says that they’d written the song but didn’t have an intro.  Jon Lord plate dan intro but when Ritchie walked in he said: “Nah. Shit.”
   • Ritchie grabbed a nearby acoustic and just noodled around for 40 minutes.
   • Jon came in the next day and asked what Ritchie thought of his intro.  Roger culled through Rtichie’s acoustic playing, stitched something together and Jon played around it to fit in with what Ritchie was doing.
   • Glover said: “It cost me almost a complete day of work. It was cutting and pasting instead of live, but I think it turned out very well.”
   • Ian Gillan in Raw (where they call the song “Auya.”): Similar in structure to “Woman From Tokyo,” where you take the spirit of people and a country and turn it into a girl. IT’s about the spirit and freedom that existed behind the Iron Curtain before it came down, the overwhelming desire in every culture to have freedom of expression. It’s the spirit of Hungary, actually, the people who were almost destroyed by the regime, but who always fought back.”
   • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puszta
4. Talk About Love (Blackmore, Gillan, Glover)
   • Ian Gillan in RAW: “Kinda Funky. Tongue in cheek. I like the words.”
5. Time to Kill (Blackmore, Gillan, Glover)
   • Ian Gillan in RAW: “A poem really. When you’ve time to kill you acn maybe think about trying to resolve some problems. The meanings of the songs are always secondary to the music but there’s some interesting stuff there anyway.”
   • Gillan in Metal Hammer “It was the first song that Rog and I wrote together. We wrote that and ‘Solitaire’ the same day.”

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For Further Information:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Battle_Rages_On…
• https://www.discogs.com/release/869442-Deep-Purple-The-Battle-Rages-On
• http://www.deep-purple.net/DPASmags/dtb45.htm
• Darker Than Blue Issue #45, July 1993
• Child in Time by Ian Gillan
• Black Knight: Ritchie Blackmore by Jerry Bloom
• The Complete Deep Purple by Michael Heatley
• Smoke on the Water: The Deep Purple Story by Dave Thompson
• A Hart Life by Colin Hart with Dick Allix
• Deep Purple – Nasty Piece of Work by Jerry Bloom
• https://www.thehighwaystar.com/graphics/funstuff/puzzle/
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Whitesnake Live in Illinois September 1, 2022!

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• Live at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, IL
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• The Tom Petty Project

Lead up to the Album:

• May 16, 1989
• Recorded at The Ritz, Manchester, England

Core Band:

• Bass – Keith Mulholland
  • Previously in bands Nutz, and Rage
• Drums – Lou Rosenthal
  • Previously in bands Export, and Father Francis
• Guitar – Harry Shaw
  • Previously in band Export and credited with vocals on Hard Stuff’s album Bulletproof
• Guitar, Keyboards – Steve Morris (2)
  • Previously in band Export, Torino, and Heartland
• Keyboards – Marc Buckle*
  • Other credits with Gillan post Moonshiners
• Vocals – Ian Gillan

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Album Tracks:

1. I’ll Rip Your Spine Out
   • From Gillan’s “Double Trouble”
2. No Laughing in Heaven
   • From Gillan’s “Future Shock”
3. Living For The City
   • Stevie Wonder Cover
   • From Gillan’s “Magic”
4. Trouble
   • From Gillan’s “Double Trouble”
5. Ain’t That Loving You Baby
   • Popular Gillan cover, early version on “Cherkazoo”
6. Brazos
   • “No More Cane on the Brazos”
   • A traditional prison song from the Southern United States
   • The Band did a version at Woodstock called “Ain’t No More Cane on the Brazos”
7. I Thought No
   • From “Accidentally on Purpose”
8. Let It Roll
   • Little Feat cover
9. Nothing But The Best
   • From “Naked Thunder”
10. Unchain Your Brain
    • From “Glory Road”
11. I Can’t Dance To That
    • From “Accidentally on Purpose”
12. No Easy Way
    • From “Glory Road”
13. New Orleans
    • Cover from Gillan’s “Future Shock”
    • Gary U.S. Bonds cover
14. Lucille
    • Popular Little Richard Cover used as encore during Deep Purple shows
15. Brazos (Reprise)
    • Reprise of earlier track

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  • Spike’s Mom
  • Blackmore’s Tights
  • John Miceli

For Further Information:

• https://www.discogs.com/release/7499798-Garth-Rockett-The-Moonshiners-Live-At-The-Ritz-89
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXng2TwkIhE
• http://www.deep-purple.net/tree/gillan/garth-rockett.htm
• Child in Time by Ian Gillan
• Deep Purple – Nasty Piece of Work by Jerry Bloom
• The Complete Deep Purple by Michael Heatley
• Smoke on the Water: The Deep Purple Story by Dave Thompson
• https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/garth-rockett-and-the-moonshiners/1989/the-ritz-manchester-england-6b85b6d2.html

Listener Mail/Comments

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Whitesnake Live in Illinois September 1, 2022!

• https://whitesnake.com/event/rosemont-il-2022/
• Live at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, IL
• With Scorpions

Hall of Fame Presentation:

• Jörg Planer

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• The Tom Petty Project

Lead up to the Album:

• In December of 1981 Micky Moody quit Whitesnake.
• Moody: “By ’81 people were becoming tired. We had too many late nights, too much partying. We weren’t making nowhere near the kind of money we should have been making. Whitesnake always seemed to be in debt, and I thought “what is this?, we’re playing in some of the biggest places and we’re still being told we’re in debt, where is all the money going?”. We hadn’t got much money out of it and to be told you’re 200,000 pounds in debt, when you just had six golden albums. It wasn’t just me, cause everybody was getting tired, pissed off and losing their sense of identity. It was over by then, we couldn’t get any further. It’s difficult for a band to go more than three or four years without getting tired of each other and losing ideas. Nothing lasts forever. Everybody wanted to do something different after a few years, a solo album or write with someone else.”
• Soon after Moody quit David Coverdale called a meeting put the band on hold.  He used this opportunity to break ties with long time Deep Purple and Whitesnake manager John Coletta.  From that point on Coverdale took over the business end of the band.
• In 1982 Marsden quit the band as well.  In Marsden’s book he states that David Coverdale called a meeting and dismissed the remaining members of the band with the exception of Jon Lord.
• In August of 1982 David Coverdale tried to get Micky Moody to return to the band to complete the album.  Along with new guitarist Mel Galley they finished up backing tracks.  Birch was there for final production and mixing.
• Marsden states in his autobiography: “How could it all go so wrong? The answer lay not so much in what we were doing as what we weren’t. We were no longer working with the seventh member of the band, its heart – one Martin Birch. He was the glue that held Whitesnake together. With hindsigh, it’s bloody easy to see. Martin was not there from the start of the album sessions and so, MArtin Birch, it was all your fault!”
• Marsden goes on to say that Birch was producing Rainbow and also Iron Maiden which was taking up much more of his time and likely because Iron Maiden was paying him more than Whitesnake’s label was willing to.  Marsden: “. . . when we were informed that Martin would not be producing us any more, not one of us asked any questions, and shame on us all for that. We should have asked why, and we should have demanded answers.”
• They got together at Nomis Studios in west London to work on the album with Guy Bidmead who’s worked with Marsden on his solo album.
• Marsden says he and David had written new material but that Moody hadn’s seemed interested in writing any new songs.
• Marsden describes this album as the beginning of the end.
• They went on to record at a studio called Rock City which Marsden says none of them liked. He described the studio as being technically fine but lacking the high-end perks of previous sessions and that none of the band felt at home.
• Shortly after they left Rock City and moved to Clearwell Castle in Gloucestershire.  Marsden said that after that move the vibe was back.
• The album was mixed at Britannia Row where Marsden did some guitar overdubs.
• Marsden describes two sessions where Jon and Ian were both no shows. He then suggested they end the band and David told him it was already int eh worlds.
• There was an attempt to fire their label, Seabreeze, to which Coverdale didn’ts how up.
• Marsden says that Coletta gathered with Lord, Paice, Murray, and Marsden tot ell thema lll he was out of the band.
• Marsden says after they all left he pulled Marsden aside and told him he’d been offered to sign him as a solo artist but that he had to sign the contract that day.
• He said the band ended without any sort of fight or anything, it just sort of fizzled out.
• After this the album was finished without all of the ordiginal contributors to the songwriting or recording.
• In Moody’s book he mentions taht the manager of Clearwell Castle, Bernard Yeates, told them that he’d booked a wedding reception during the sessions and that the bride’s parents had been warned taht there would be a rock band hanging out at the bar and the common areas.
• Moody tells a story of Billy Connolly and his then girlfriend Pamela Stephenson being wedding guests and they ended up partying with them at the wedding indulging in “a combination of toot and booze.”  Connelly picked up Moody’s banjo and began playing it.

Core Band:

• David Coverdale – lead vocals
• Micky Moody – guitar, backing vocals
• Bernie Marsden – guitar
• Neil Murray – bass
• Ian Paice – drums, percussion
• Jon Lord – keyboards
• Backing Vocals – The Paratroopers (2)
• Backing Vocals [“The Paratroopers”] – D. C.*, Mel Galley, Micky Moody

Includes printed inner sleeve (with a thumb cut) and merchandise insert.

The backing trax were recorded at Rock City, Shepperton; The Truck Mobile at Clearwell Castle, Gloucestershire and Brittania Row, London.

The vocal trax were recorded at Battery Studios, London.

Mixed at Battery Studios Sept/Oct 1982.

Runouts:

‘ƱtopiA’ / ‘ƱTOPIA’ / ‘Ʊtopia’, ‘THE GAY BLADE STRIKES AGAIN…’ and ‘WE WISH YOU WELL…’ are etched; remainder is stamped.

‘Ʊ’ in runouts represents the Utopia Studios lyre symbol.

Variant 8 – the ‘U’ of Side A’s 30354 A-6U̶-1-1-1′ is crossed out with ‘x’

Technical:

• Recorded By [Backing Trax] – Guy Bidmead
• Recorded By [Vocal Trax, Assistant] – Bryan New*
• Recorded By [Vocal Trax], Mixed By, Producer – Martin Birch
• Mastered By – Steve Angel

Album Art & Booklet Review

• Design [Cover] – The Concert Publishing Company
• Photography By [Back Cover] – Virginia Turbett
  • https://virginiaturbett.com/
• The back cover features a picture of David Coverdale alone and full band credits were left off the album amidst the turmoil the band’s lineup was going through at the time.
• Critical reception of the album cover was not good.  Simon Robinson describe it as, “a kitschy sculpture of the kind some folk insist on decorating their mantlepieces with.”

• Sculpture seems to be based on the sculpture Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss by Antonio Canova who also had a painting.

• This sculpture was inspired by a Roman painting found in Herculaneum during Canova’s visit to Naples in 1787.
• Canova also seems to have an oil painting based on this as well.

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  • Tim “Southern Cross” Johnson
  • Percival Frequency

Album Tracks:

Side One:

1. Young Blood (Coverdale, Marsden)
   • Solo: Marsden
2. Rough An’ Ready (Coverdale, Moody)
   • Solo: Moody
3. Bloody Luxury (Coverdale, Marsden, Moody)
   • Solo: Marsden, Moody
4. Victim of Love (Coverdale, Moody)
   • Solo: Moody
   • Moody put this solo down after being rushed back into the studio along with Mel Galley to do backing vocals.
5. Crying In The Rain (Coverdale, Marsden)
   • Solo: Marsden
   • The song was written about the breakup of Coverdale’s first marriage, written in Portugal.
   • Marsden describes this as a great new song that was “drenched int he irresistible humour that was Whitesnake at the time.”
   • They had seen a TV news report interviewing about a local man about the mass extermination of farm animals int he area.  The news reporter seemed very serious about the death of the animals and the local man said “Plenty more about.”  They said the band cracked up at the man’s response.
   • He said that at the point of the song where David is supposed to sing “black cat moans when he’s buringn with a fever,” David instead did an imitation of the man and said, “Plenty more about!”
   • Marsden said they were laughing too heard and the session was almost ruined.  They had to take a break for an hour and ban Coverdale from the studio until they finished the track.
   • Marsden says there’s a tape of this take and he still thinks it’s hilarious.

Side Two:

1. Here I Go Again (Coverdale, Marsden)
   • Solo: Marsden
   • Marsden said he recorded a demo of this and played it for Jon Lord who asked him to play the opening chords again.  When he heard them he said to Bernie, “You’re a clever little sod, aren’t you?”
   • Marsden said Lord loved playing the opening on the Hammond.
   • He said Coverdale went into “lyrical overdrive” after hearing the demo.  He said Coverdale wrote new lyrics to it.
   • Neil, Jon, Ian, and Bernie are all on backing vocals.’
   • Marsden said that the guitar solo has a nod to John Lennon’s “Woman” in the arepeggio.
   • Marsden said he thought they had a big song on their hands with this one as did David but, clearly, neither of them realized how big it would become.
   • Coverdale says he also wrote this in Portugal about the breakup of his first marriage.
2. Love An’ Affection (Coverdale, Moody
   • Solo: Lord
3. Rock An’ Roll Angels (Coverdale, Moody)
   • Solo: Lord
   • Marsden said for reasons that he couldn’t explain that Paice struggled with this song and had to redo it several times.  He said it was very unlike Ian and that Ian was very short on confidence at this point, which he also says was uncharacteristic.
   • After about ten takes Ian sent the band to the pub so he could record it alone with Guy.
4. Dancing Girls (Coverdale)
   • Solo: Lord
5. Saints An’ Sinners (Whitesnake)
   • Solo: Marsden

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Bustin’ Out The Spreadsheet

Reception and Charts:

• The album peaked at number 9 on the UK Album Charts.
• It’s said that Coverdale released this album “as is” based on time constraints and contractual obligations.
• Micky Moody described the album’s songs: “the songs went form the sublime (‘Here I Go Again’ and ‘Crying in the Rain’) tot he ridiculous (‘Bloody Luxury’ and ‘Dancing Girls’), with a bunch of well-performed albeit unremarkable – rockers hovering about in the middle.
• They embarked on a tour after recording but it had to be canceled due to Ian Paice coming down with mumps.
• Coverdale: “Well, there are some good songs. I mean there are always good songs on my stuff. I’m a song guy. But it was definitely a jigsaw puzzle of a record.”
• Coverdale said he was really torn and didn’t know what to do to get out of his management deal.  He said when his daughter was 4 or 5 that she had a really tough time with some illnesses and when he was really worried about her and praying for her recovery he said it gave him “the balls to turn around and say, ‘This means nothing to me; I want out.’  That was how he reformed the band and got out of his bad record deal.
• Lord admitted that he didn’t think Ian Paice was very happy in the band.

Reviews:

• Simon Robinson: “Today the album remains one of their weakest, although it does hint at the transition from the traditional Whitesnake style toward the harder musical approach which was slowly emerging, especially on tracks like ‘Victim Of Love.’ Overall the sound is poor and not particularly well mixed, with the keyboards lost and the bass relegated to some far distant place.
• Jon Lord: “It’s not my job to sit here and make excuses, but . . .. the backing tracks were made under quite difficult circumstances in terms of the band itself and the producer . . . we went through about 19 different studios. It had to be released though, otherwise we would have been sued from here to Christmas.”

For Further Information:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saints_%26_Sinners_(Whitesnake_album)
• https://www.discogs.com/release/1641977-Whitesnake-Saints-Sinners
• Help from the archives of Jörg Planer
• Help from the archives of Jeff Breis
• Sail Away: Whitesnake’s Fantastic Voyage by Martin Popoff
• Where’s My Guitar by Bernie Marsden
• Whitesnake: An Illustrated Biography by Simon Robinson
• Micky Moody: Snakes and Ladders: My Autobiography by Micky Moody
• Deep Purple by Peirfrancesco Atzori
• https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/amore-e-psiche-antonio-canova/VQH6qcg_CSzVIw
• https://www.theartpostblog.com/en/psyche-revived-by-cupids-kiss-canova/
• https://www.antoniocanova.org/psyche-revived-by-cupids-kiss/

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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Whitesnake Live in Illinois September 1, 2022!

• https://whitesnake.com/event/rosemont-il-2022/
• Live at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, IL
• With Scorpions

Deep Dive Podcast Network:

• Deep Dive Podcast Network
• Sabbath Bloody Podcast
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• The Deep Purple Podcast
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• The Tom Petty Project

Lead up to the Album:

• Where Paul Mann organized the orchestral work and list of performers with the Paice and Lord families, it was Wix Wickens, musical director for Paul McCartney, who handled everything on the band portion of the evening.

Core Band:

• Conductor [Band Musical Director] – Wix Wickens*
• Conductor, Liner Notes – Paul Mann (5)
• Leader [Orchestra] – Darragh Morgan
• Mixed By – Bruce Dickinson, Ian Paice
• Music By – Jon Lord
• Orchestra – Orion Orchestra*
• Orchestrated By – Jon Lord (tracks: 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8), Paul Mann (5) (tracks: 3, 6)
• Other [Compére] – Bob Harris
• Recorded By [Orchestra], Mixed By [Orchestra] – Andrew Dudman
• Recorded By, Mixed By – David “Skippi” Loudoun*
• Live at the Royal Albert Hall, April 4th, 2014

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Album Tracks:

1. Uncommon Man
   • From Now What?!
   • Paul Mann asked the band if he could orchestrate the first two songs from their most recent album for the show.
2. Above and Beyond
   • From Now What?!
   • Ian Gillan did the eulogy at Jon Lord’s funeral and closed with “Souls, having touched, are forever entwined.”  They ended up becoming lyrics in this song.
   • Paul Mann orchestrated the closing guitar harmonics that Steve Morse played as violin with celesta, harp, and celestial percussion.
   • He also used this effect on the line “Am I getting through?”
3. Lazy
   • Don Airey plays tribute to Jon Lord and trades off with the conductor and violinist Stephen BEntley-Klein
4. When a Blind Man Cries
   • In the liner notes Paul Mann mentions that Lord started adding the opening bars of “Adagio for Strings” by Samuel Barber into “When A Blind Man Cries”
   • In the Concerto Tour in 2000-2001 the orchestra accompanied Steve with these cuqatations and the same is done here.
5. Perfect Strangers
   • Features orchestrations by Jon Lord.
   • They were written in 2008 for Jon’s use in his solo concerts.
   • Previously it had only been done in a shorter form because it was long and challenging.
   • Jon’s orchestration is heard here for the first time and is made to resemble Hungarian folk music.
   • Paul Mann describes it as “the kind of Hungarian Rhapsody Liszt would have written if he’d been a Deep Purple fan.”
6. Black Night
7. Hush
   • With Wix Wickens, Nigel Hopkins, Rick Wakeman, Andy Wallace,m Murray Gould, Jerry Brown, Micky Moody, and Mario Argandona
   • Steve and Don duel with Rick Wakeman in the instrumental portion of the song
   • Wakeman quotes from “Roundabout” by Yes.

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For Further Information:

• Liner notes by Paul Mann
• https://www.discogs.com/release/6151112-Various-Celebrating-Jon-Lord-The-Rock-Legend

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.