Episode #273 – Deep Purple – Days May Come And Days May Go

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Lead up to the Album:

  • In April 7, 1975 Ritchie played his last show with Deep Purple at a show in Paris.
  • In May 1975 the future of the band was uncertain. Lord and Paice weren’t entirely keen on the idea of carrying on in the band without Ritchie.
  • Hughes and Coverdale, on the other hand, wanted to keep things going.
  • They were all living in LA at the time so they rented a rehearsal space at the Columbia Sound Stage in Hollywood.  The sound stage had been used for Columbia studio and was the location for a lot of horror movie shoots prior to World War II.
  • Robert Simon, who had been doing front of the house sound for rock bands, served as the sound engineer. Simon had been using this space as a rehearsal area for bands, letting them come to him rather than traveling and constantly being on tour.
  • This new facility was called Pirate Sound Studios. Simon moved out a bunch of old props and soundproofed the area.
  • While Deep Purple was one of the first to use the space it would go on to be used by Frank Zappa, Black Sabbath, and Fleetwood Mac as well as many others.
  • Simon had worked with a company called Tychobrae which worked as a company doing sound for live shows, including California Jam.
  • Simon had worked with Deep Purple in 1972 and 1973 and was called in by Colin Hart when the band was having sound issues in 1974.
  • Deep Purple still needed a guitarist and had abandoned the idea of convincing Jeff Beck to join so they approached Clem Clempson and invited him to the studio.  After a few days they agreed there was no chemistry and that’s when Tommy Bolin was brought up. Robert Simon had worked with The James Gang and said he was a very promising player.
  • Colin Hart proposed this guitarist to Coverdale who had already heard him on Billy Cobham’s “Spectrum” album and had him on his list.
  • Once everything worked out and Tommy joined Simon taped the rehearsals so the band could hear the progress they were making on the songs.
  • The tapes were, as many were in those days, reused.  However, some got put to the sided and wound up being put into storage in a rental garage in LA.
  • Simon: “I must have dropped them down onto cassette and then forgotten all about them. On one I even taped a Wet Willie show over one side, can you believe it?” Overall two hours of the rehearsal were left.
  • The tapes were not always rolling but Simon would occasionally start up the tape when something was coming together.

Core Band:

Technical:

Album Art & Booklet Review

From Liner Notes:

Recorded during studio rehearsals in the summer of 1975 with their new guitarist Tommy Bolin, this previously unissued set includes early versions of “Come Taste..” album tracks, and several lengthy instrumental jams.

Track 10 is not mentioned in the booklet, or in the Tracklist on the backcover. It is an impromptu version of “I Got You Babe” by Sonny Bono.

Recorded at Pirate Sound Studio, California, USA, June 1975.

Sound Restoration done at SRT Studios.

All Tracks published by Purple Music Ltd.,

except Track 5 published by Peer Music UK Ltd.

Credits:

Our thanks to Robert Simon (aka Captin California), his wife Rita (and Buzz the parrot) for their hospitality during a couple of memorable days in snowy Lake Tahoe and to Mark Maddock for his company. Also to Tony Edwards at Deep Purple (Overseas) Limited; Nick Robinson for the cyber connections, Mike Richards and Martin Ashberry for their input; Nick Watson for his incredible work on the sound restoration; Steve Church for his enthusiasm; Mike Drumm at the Tommy Bolin Archives for helping it happen; Ann Warburton for (still) letting me do all this – and to everyone out there who has waited patiently for this release.

Thanks also to the Official Deep Purple Appreciation Society.

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Album Tracks:

Notes taken from Simon Robinson’s liner notes for the CD release.

  1. Owed to G (Bolin)
    • Tommy wrote most of the instrumental part to this song at Pirate Studios.  He later said: “Jon and Glenn were going to call their half ‘Gersh’ and I was going to call my half ‘Win’ but we though that’d be a little too sick!”
  2. If You Love Me Woman (Bolin, Coverdale)
  3. The Orange Juice Song (Coverdale, Lord)
    • Jon’s part is based on Rodrigo’s Concerto de Aranjuez (our title is how many orchestral players refer to it!) with David doing some fine seemingly improvised singing. Simon notes that it seems to be reminiscent of “Need Your Love So Bad” that would later serve as a Whitesnake B-side.
  4. I Got Nothing For You (Bolin, Coverdale, Hughes, Lord)
  5. Statesboro Blues (Blind Willie McTell)
    • This is a well known blues standard that Tommy likely played as a young blues player.  Simon notes that it’s not very often we get to hear Deep Purple playing material like this.
  6. Dance to the Rock & Roll (Bolin, Coverdale, Hughes, Lord, Paice)
    • During the 1974 tour “Space Truckin” was reworked to give Glenn a chance to take lead and where Coverdale would join in.  This section evolved out of those jams.
  7. Drifter (Rehearsal Sequence) (Bolin, Coverdale)
    • There were a couple of goes in about 15 minutes of tape on this song with Glenn and David working out harmonies.  The opening banter features “Nicky” who is roadie Nick Bell. The other voice is Tommy Bolin.
  8. Driver (Version 1) (Bolin, Coverdale)
  9. The Last of the Long Jams (Bolin, Coverdale, Hughes, Lord, Paice)
  10. Untitled Song (impromptu version of I Got You Babe) (Sonny Bono)

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Bustin’ Out The Spreadsheet

Reception and Charts:

  • It was from these June rehearsals that Tommy went off to start work on his solo album.
  • The band then reconvened in Munich in August to record “Come Tast The Band.”
  • Tommy is said to have wanted to use the guys in Deep Purple for his solo album but was unable to as they were unable to record in the US for copyright reasons.
  • The studio at Pirate Sounds was divided so two bands could use it at the same time.  While Deep Purple were using it he was contacted by Ritchie Blackmore who wanted to use it to audition players for Rainbow. He told him who was using the other part of the studio by Blackmore didn’t care.  He thought Blackmore may balk at the price but he didn’t and so it was that both bands ended up showing up. Deep Purple were not very happy about this arrangement.
  • Robert Simon had hoped Ritchie would take him on tour with Rainbow to do sound but it didn’t happen. Later Deep Purple would get a sort of revenge on Simon by stating on the liner notes for “Come Taste The Band” that it was “written and conceived at Musicland.”

For Further Information:

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